Birmingham

Not the best of moorings last night at Cuckoo Wharf with smells and strange noises from the nearby works. A boat went up the flight this morning sometime before 9am. so all the locks would be against us. It was a mucky old morning that clearedslightly with the rain. We pushed off at 0945hrs and sure enough  the first lock was against us. While Diana was emptying it she spotted the earlier boat reversing back towards the lock, so from that we deduced that the pound between 9 and 10 was still empty. We turned the lock for them and then reversed down to Salford junction. I did consider trying to wind in one of the old arms above CuckooWharf but as there was no wind and a clear wide canal I decided it may be easier just to continue backwards. Once at the junction we headed up the Grand Union and Garrison Locks which were all with us. Its the only place I have ever seen a unicorn resting by the canal.

Once at Bordesley Junction we turned right passing The Bond which is having major restoration work carried out on it. As we passed a local on the towpath called out “Have you been this way before” when we said we had he replied then you will now to go through the lock and not to the left. Once through Warwick Bar it was hard right again at Digbeth Junction and under Curzon Street tunnel which is build on a curve. At the end of the tunnel is the first of the 6 Ashted locks, the last one is at the far end of Ashted Tunnel. We are now really into University World with university buildings both sides of the canal, it is also the site of HS2 which will cross between lock 1 and the mouth of Curzon tunnel.
Before long we were at Aston Junction, the head of the Aston locks where we should have come up from. We went round to the left heading for the Farmers Bridge flight passing this official graffiti onthe off side. The Farmers Bridge flight of 13 locks are not bad but not only were they all against us but over half the top gates were open and every third one had a duff paddle.
Work is ongoing removing cladding from the buildings by and over the canal, this work hadn’t started last time we were this way but the exhaust had to come down due to overhanging scaffolding.

As you make your way up the flight lots of the offside has been fenced off for the overhead work, this young Heron found it a very useful floating fishing platform.
Looking back you can see all the offside scaffolding to remove cladding, you can also see the BT tower disappearing into the mist.As we needed water and knowing the tap at Cambrian Wharf is dead slow we wend through Gas Street Basin to  the services at Granville Street only to find a row of boats moored right across the service moorings. You may say why didn’t I draw along side and clamber over the boats, well the decks were covered with bags of rubbish. So back up to the mail Box and then return to Cambrian Wharf. The tap was so slow we were able to sit in for a cup of tea while it filled. Once topped up we reversed, yet again to the moorings on the Old Main Line.

Todays Journey 6½ miles 24 locks in 6 hours

Cuckoo Wharf, Birmingham

First let me say we had no plans to stop at Cuckoo Wharf tonight.

We set off at our normal 10am. the temperature had just touched freezing over night and there was a tiny touch of frost on the grass. We didn’t see any boats on the move today but we did see several Kingfishers darting along. With the lack of boat movements the water is much clearer than usual which is good as not only could I see the growing weed and fish before Minworth I could also see the bike behind the lock gate an the Aston flight.
For some strange reason I like seeing chickens running round the garden and these ones have free range of quite a smart one.

As we approached the Minworth three locks we past this chap standing up to his thighs in the water just looking.

We had a problem at each of the locks, thankfully they are on this years stoppage list, but I have my doubts that all the faults will be fixed as I have been reporting lock one for the past 4 years, we will see. The top of this truck was just visible over the wall of one of the vehicle repair yards, unfortunately I couldn’t see the rest of it, maybe I will try standing on the roof on our way home.

Continuing on it wasn’t long before we reached Troutpool bridge ( what a lovely name) and under the work building. the reflections from the light coming in from the side looked loads better than this photograph shows.At Salford junction we turned up the Aston flight still on the B&F canal, passing Cuckoo Wharf we read the sign carefully, there were only two boats there and one was on the 30 minute service area, but which are the 14 day and which are long term I don’t have a clue. I said to Diana if ever we needed to moor I would just drop onto any vacant spot, I didn’t expect that to come back and bite me. We carried on up through lock 11, that is where a rather smart bike was behind the top gate and then on to lock 10. Diana walked to set the lock, finding the top gate wide open and as I nosed the bottom gate she walked back to say the pound above was a bit low, bit of an under statement with les than a foot of water 6 feet above the top gate. Normally I would just refill a pound, but this is quite a long one so would need water dropping down from Aston Junction and would take quite so time. Decision time, and that was to drop down backward and moor at Cuckoo Wharf for the night, contact CRT and we will then do all this flight and Farmers Bridge flight tomorrow. So we reversed back to lock 11, dropped down backwards and then reversed back to Cuckoo wharf for the night.. This can be seen on the map. Once tied up I rang CRT to report it and tell them we plan to continue up the flight tomorrow.

As I type this at 5pm it has started raining, will it stop by the morning? will it have filled the pound?

Today’s journey 6½ miles, 5 locks in 3½ hours

Kingsbury

Last night dinner was purchased from Peninsular Cantonese, the beef is wonderful, the rest was very good.

This morning the workmen were quiet quiet until about 8am. maybe they have an agreement with the local residents or maybe they just get fired up slowly.
I was preparing to make a 10am start when two boats came by, first thought was, well that’s all the 11 locks against us today,so we set off behind them, the first turned into Fazeley Mill Marina and the second moored outside, so no one ahead again. We made our way along the B&F canal to the Curdworth flight, not only were the locks with up, the bottom one had the gate wide open, so straight in, the next three were just the same. The BCN lock cottage by the bottom lock has a date in Roman numerals high on the wall. Correct me if I am wrong but I think its 1820, I have seen the date in Roman Numerals on BCN bridges but I think it a lot less common on lock cottages. On the offside just below lock 10 there is this small memorial, no name, just Dad and the dates.
After lock 8 all the locks were still with us but the gates all closed up so we made reasonable time going up the flight.
The work on HS2 is moving on near lock 5 with a couple of solid fences up and a crushed concrete base down.   The chaps in the High vis jackets were manhandling a rather large wacker plate machine back to the site after using it on the towpath. There is a pond opposite where they are working with a rather large dead tree beside it, I think it may be on the path of HS2 but today the Cormorants were taking the opportunity to sit out on it

Lock number 2 caught us out as both the bottom paddles were up by about 3 inches, the racks are hidden behind the walkway as you approach the gate, its not until you look back on them you see the rod is above the guide. 
Confession time, I didn’t bother fitting the headlight to come through Curdworth tunnel.  We carried on past the Cuttle Bridge Inn at Kingsbury to moor a short way past bridge Wiggins Hill Bridge. There have been plans to build an industrial estate opposite where we are moored on what was open farm land, work has now started preparing the ground.

Please click the map to open a Google Map showing the trip so far

Todays Journey 7 miles, 11 locks in 4 hours

 

Fazeley Junction

Our original plan was to travel to the boat on Sunday, but as we had patchy fog at the weekend we decided to leave it until today, a good move as we woke to a clear bright morning.

We hit the road at about 9am and were at the marina around 12 35, the only holdup being a broken down vehicle in the outside lane of the M6.

Once at the boat and the car unloaded I had to refill the potable water system. Not too much of a job, open the valve on the cold water tank and switch the pump on, as the water comes out of the taps turn them off.
By 2 pm we were ready for the off, I noticed this on next doors roof, I have seen a few of them on boats, The Little Chimney Company has about three on his roof.
Leaving the marina we turned left and only met one boat before we got to the Glascote Locks, maybe that is why they were almost full and with us. We stopped in Fradley Junction and filled with water before backing to swing the bows round to go up the B&F Canal, it was there we met the second boat, just popping out of Watling Street Bridge, so forward again and give him a clear road to Glascote. Once through Watling Street Bridge we moored up by Tolson Mill for the night.
If you click on the map it opens a Google map and you can enlarge it to see the shuffling I did at the water point.

Today’s Journey 4 miles, 2 locks in 2 hours.

CRT information

 

Canal Map UK | UK Canal Network | Canal & River Trust (canalrivertrust.org.uk)

Home moorings

We enjoyed our takeaway Indian meal last night,  one of the joys of mooring in Polesworth.
This morning we were away about quarter to ten for just a one hour trip back to the marina. As we arrived back at the marina there was a chap opposite fishing right into the marina mouth, I was approaching on tickover passed all the moored boats and the chap sorting his tackle was oblivious to me until I pipped the horn. He was quite swift reeling in.
Needless to say as soon as I swung into the marina and started backing down to our slot the wind picked up, there hadn’t been a breath until then.

Back in our slot we soon packed up and I set to draining the fresh water system in case we have a cold snap between now and when we return.

Todays Journey 2¾ Miles in 1 hour with no locks.

Polesworth

Harnser's Travels (nbharnser.blogspot.com

 

As the evening progressed the weather got slightly warmer until about midnight when it dropped to freezing, by this morning we were back up to 5 Deg. and very overcast. Just as we were about to set off at 10Am a single hander boat came by so we expected to follow him all the way down the flight, however he stopped at the water point at the top of the locks. To our surprise there was a Volockie on at the top lock and he had the gate open ready for us, most of the rest were against us. At lock 5 it decided to start to rain, not heavy, just that fine thick misty rain that wets you through without you noticing it. Looking back from just beyond the road bridge at lock 5 is this building, I don’t know what it was but I think its a real shame when painting on buildings get lost . Its just a big a bit of heritage as a building.

When we left lock 7 I could see a hi-vis jacket down at lock 8 moving around, could it be a boat coming up, then I decided it was a boat going down, but boy were they slow, I hopped off at the bridge and walked forward to see what was happening. It turned out to be three Volunteers with a CRT work boat making their way down the flight cleaning the lock walls and gates, they said they would be about 10 minutes before they finished so I waved Diana over to the lock moorings. While we were waiting we could see a boat coming up lock 9. Once the chaps had finished and moved out we helped the other boat to ascend before dropping down our selves, The work boat waited between the locks for us to pass and the chaps were cleaning what they could with a full lock. We even met another boat coming out of lock 10.

We stopped at Grendon Wharf services to top up with water and empty rubbish, while we were there Effingham came through the bridge hole.We continued on to Polesworth to moor for the night meeting several boats on the way including Lord Toulouse again, now wearing a brand new set of fenders which I guess came from Glascote.

Todays Journey 5 miles, 11 locks in 4 hours

Atherstone

It turned cold again over night dropping below freezing, there was even a sprinkling of snow but this morning it was bright sun shine. We were off about 1030 and met two boats in quite quick succession. It was also a day of dicky birds. First a Kestrel quickly followed by a Buzzard and then a Sparrow Hawk. This was all in the first 20 minutes.

Later in the day it was a King Fisher, I thought something had fallen in the canal but then it sprang out of the water and into a tree, It looked a bright green rather than blue. Confession time I tried to photo them all and failed miserably.

At the end of the Ashby we turned right on the Coventry Canal. It looks as if they are building a housing from just beyond Marston Junction right up to the existing houses on the edge of Atherstone. Although the sun was out it was still cold and the white was hanging around where the sun hadn’t caught it.

One for you Aeronautical folk out there, this flew right over our head.

Just beyond Mancetter Marina there is the remains of a tree that must have come down in the latest storm, it couldn’t have happened in a more useful spot as its owned by the Rother Groupe and just round the corner they were removing it.

Our plan was to moor near the top of Atherstone Locks, but as we passed under bridge 30 it was nose to tail moorings and when we got to the next bridge we could see it continued so we reversed back passed all the mooring and through the bridge to moor for the night.

Todays Journey 11 miles in 4 hours with no locks.

Burton Hastings

What weather, last night we experienced more wind than we did during the storm, it even blew a rope fender off the roof, then today at times it was raining stair rods coming in sideways. It did brighten up a bit this after noon but moments after we had finished mooring up it started raining again.

As we were moored at Sutton Cheney wharf last night we just had to have another cooked breakfast again which meant we were a bit later getting away. 1045hrs.   Thanks to all the rain the canal was well on weir and flowing into the spill.

The rain eased as we got to The Ashby Canal Centre, for some reason many years ago BWB put some lovely towpath moorings in along here, I always thought they belonged to the Canal Centre just through the bridge on the off side, but it seems not.

Yesterday I posted a picture with the bridge parapet walls split down, I wonder it it would prevented the parapet wall collapsing when this happens to the stone work beneath it.

From lunch time onwards we had thick cloud ahead and bright blue sky behind us and some interesting cloud formation at the interface, I took several pictures hoping to get a good one.

I noticed this CRT notice post against the hedge, the farmer has obviously flailed his hedge and didn’t see the post creeping up on him. I don’t know if he lowed the hedge by a couple of foot or maybe he just wasn’t looking.

 

Todays Journey 9½ miles, no locks in 3¾ hours

Sutton Cheney (again)

What a change over night, 10 Deg C this morning and all the snow and ice had gone, it managed to get up to 12Deg during the day.

We set off at 10 am. the red overalls were put away and the blue ones were back out with the warmer temperatures. For those of you with Eberspacher similar heaters please watch out for where yourexhaust is pointing, this was wood but there is a lot of plastic used on the Ashby Canal. We made quite a long stop at Market Bosworth so that Diana could go into town shopping, I topped up with water and, confession time, remained on the water point until she returned. On our way up I photographed some mammal exclusion fencing, it enclosed a strip of land that has the railway on one side and the canal on the other, all the way from opposite the water point, south beyond the next bridge. I looked to see if there were any planning application in for it but drew a blank. It turns out the land has be “acquired”  by Owl Homes. for a new development.
We made a short stop Shenton Aqueduct again for Diana to visit the farm shop, but there was nothing that took her fancy.
I take it this style of construction is to prevent the bridge spandrel walls cracking as they have on many other bridges.

While we are talking bridges, this one has an Ordinance Survey Datum mark which marks the level above mean sea level. This year is the 100 birthday of the system see here.  I often wonder how accurate these are both  from when they were first surveyed and also for ground movement over the past 100 years. We pushed on to our mooring for the night, back at Sutton Cheney Wharf, only this time instead of mooring on the 2 day moorings made from recycled plastic we are moored against the wharf on the one day mooring by the waterpoint.

Todays Journey 7½ miles in 2½ hours with no locks

Shackerstone

At 8 o’clock this morning the temperature had dropped to –4Deg. C this was the coldest point overnight. Beside and behind the boat was clear water with a small section of ice ahead so we walked round to the aqueduct to see what it was like there, with the aid of a stick I estimated it to be about ½” where yesterdays ice had refrozen, so we went for a walk round the village and decided to give it another look after lunch. During the morning the sun came out and the temperature rose nicely to about +4Deg. C so about half one when the ice ahead had turned to like floating slush we gave it a go, all was fine until we went under the bridge and then it was no different to this morning so we called it a day on the 48hr moorings.

Todays Journey 200 yards no lock in 13 minuets

Shackerstone

This morning when we went out the canal ahead of us was frozen over with about a ¼” of ice.

 

Just as I was untying a boat came round cutting a nice channel through it for us, the down side they had only come about 250 yards from the other side of the bridge. As we made our way along the canal we didn’t meet any more boats but we did pass through sections of open water and some all iced over. As its been near freezing all day and forecast to be colder tonight we may not be moving tomorrow. As we passed the moorings at Shackerstone I saw this diddy little boat up on stands, its probably only 15 foot long, by coincidence we are moored opposite it tonight.

Just before Snarestone tunnel we passed a fishing match, I think the first three fishermen were please to see us as they were fishing in ice with just a small hole whereas the rest had an open canal, one from the last was definitely not pleased as I could hear him swearing about us. We continued through the tunnel where I spotted a fox making its way across a field of sheep and cows, they all seemed completely at ease with it.

At the end of navigation we winded and then took some jigsaws down to The Ashby Canal Association to sell in their shop.

Just as we set off south along the canal it started to snow very lightly. I don’t know why CRT think its necessary to erect double identical signs at both ends of the tunnel.By the time we had transited the tunnel it was snowing heavily, it was nice and warm as well as being dry in this broad but wiggly tunnel.

We had less than an hours travel to our chosen mooring for the night, the snow was fulling steadily with big wet flakes and laying on the roof of the boat.An hour after leaving the terminus we were mooring up directly opposite the small boat in the earlier photo and Snarestone, we are not far from the preserved railway and can hear the occasional steam whistle.

Todays Journey 8½ miles in 3¼ hours with no locks.