Birmingham from all sides

Sunday 12^th March to Wednesday 22^nd March 2017

Well we have put a few miles under the base plate since I last blogged and it is about time that I bring this up to date.

After spending our time at MerryHill, the boat was winded under Diane’s expert use of the tiller and we headed back the same was that we had come – up through the one lock and we moored at Bumblehole for one night before we would head back into Birmingham.

 

Ignore the washing and admire the lovely day which greeted us

We did enjoy the one night here and it was so very quiet indeed, but we did need to get back into the city, so after readying the boat we were off.

This time the transit through Netherton tunnel involved me being the complete passenger for the whole trip – I was in charge of photos and teas – whilst Diane was in charge of the boat – this was by far the longest tunnel that she had ever attempted and no problems at all.

 

The "Tunnel-Queen"

Whilst the sun was out for the entire journey back to the NIA the air was still quite cold.

During our cruiseback we had a phone call from the jeweler to advise that all of Diane’s rings and her chain were ready to pick and they were ready to lighten my wallet.

Without any delay we were on our way (after mooring up) and it was all worth it see the smile on her face to have the valuables all fixed and ready to wear again.

 

Happy to have her rings back - her smile was more glittering than the rings

Once back and all moored up we got a text from Diane’s cousin (well her husband anyway) – were we free for dinner that night – all set; we would meet them there – a new restaurant on us – 1847Birmingham – a vegetarian place – two of them were vegan.

 

Diane's cousin Debbie and husband James....

...and youngest daughter Rachel

Dinner was excellent and we really enjoyed it all, so we can recommend it.

The following day Diane was heading down to Watford to see her doctor about the results of all of the blood tests and pick up new prescriptions – all standard stuff, but she needed to talk to him in person about a few issues which were all resolved to Diane’s happiness and she was back late afternoon – our time in Birmingham was now at an end – but we did stay for one more day before heading down the Farmers Bridge Locks and after that we mad a right turn at Aston Junction to go down the Ashted flight.

 

A trip to the new Birmingham library and to prove that we really are here,
the  BT tower in the background

I was on locking duty and Diane was on the back of the boat – all was going well until we arrived at Ashted Tunnel; my normally placid and even-headed wife became a bit distraught.

The tunnel is well lit with good lighting, but all it helped to do was show up the spiders hanging down from the tunnel roof and the light themselves – did I mention that she is a confirmed arachniphobe.

 

Not a happy face there - the spider's got to her

Ashted Tunnel - she won't be going through there again - ever!!

After that I had to inspect all bridge holes and the final tunnel before she would go through any enclosed space.

 

I do appreciate good graffiti....

We turned left at Bordesley Junction to do the locks on this stretch – we hadn’t been through here since 2008 when we had a hire boat – I have to say that the state of this section has not improved – it was still full of rubbish and we regularly picked up stuff on the prop – fortunately it mostly came off with some hard reverse.

 

...but I can't abide by the amount of rubbish in the canals - just a small amount here.

Some may have come from here

We had thought that it might be a nice idea to check out Star City – we had not been here before and our understanding was that it was another large shopping centre.

Imagine our surprise when we found out that it was essentially an entertainment centre – movies, fast food outlets and some restaurants as well as miscellaneous games centres.

Not quite what we had expected, but the mooring was very good, very quiet and we felt secure.

Needless to say we were off again the following morning. Our cruising schedule is about to be governed a bit by the weather conditions that were about to arrive – not that it would stop us from cruising, just the time of the day.

We took the very sharp turn at Salford Junction in a couple of passes and then we were away – the Birmingham and Fazeley was a great deal cleaner and after a couple of miles it was pleasant country scenes – the weather was starting to get a great deal colder by the time that we moored up at North Wood at lunchtime – and the rain was not far away after that – luckily we were in the pub enjoying lunch – this cruising life is pretty well easy – by the time we left, most of the rain had gone.

We had needed to have a drink as a celebration for St.Patricks Day.

The mooring was far enough away from any noisy roads and the views were pleasant.

Have to say that locks down through the Curdworth flight are as good and pleasing as any that we have seen anywhere on the system – just a delight to work and a delight to enjoy the well-kept nature of them.

It was onward again on the following day – our aim was to complete this end of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal; fill up with diesel at Fazeley Mill Marina; fill the water tank and then moor up at Sutton Road Bridge.

This was all achieved all before 11am – not bad eh?

 

The background at Fazeley Junction - like I said earlier - good work by the artist
is always welcome

A visit to the retail park; a coffee at Costa (we were hanging out for some coffee); back to the boat.

Someone had mentioned that the Fazeley Fryer was a great shop for it’s chips and although it was a mile back we hardly hesitated – the walk would do us the world of good – it was not a wasted trip – recommendation to you all.

Rain and wind were forecasted for the next few days so naturally as we were in a favourable place, we just sat right there.

One of the items on our list to do was a visit to Tamworth Castle – we had been through here a few times and never been before – it was simply a lovely visit – a castle situated on an ancient location; a castle that had over the years changed its purpose and a castle that had been lived in until around 1900.

 

That's the old castle up on the hill; the old bridge a bit further forward, and the
___-battleaxe in front

The revamped gate

The church

Looking down into the central courtyard...

...not quite the same view that the guards would have seen almost 900 years ago

Probably the sight my mother-in-law would like to see

Diane in her "let's look like a statue pose"

One other reason for the prolonged stop here was that we had put the new prescriptions for Diane into the Boots Chemist and on Monday morning all was ready – there were some new pills to be sourced in for her.

You know, there are some days when you just say to yourselves that it would be nice to just spend another day where you are and relax and so we did and had a thoroughly cosy day inside the boat – the wild wind outside made it an easy decision to make.

 

Yes, it was cold outside - thanks for asking.

By Tuesday morning the wind had subsided and we decided that it was time to move – as lovely as it is here we had the desire to go on and after untying we were off – it was slow going along this section of the Coventry – really nothing new in that.

In 2008 we tested this life on a hire boat and on our 3^rd day on the boat, our 3^rd day of learning the ropes, our 3^rd day of testing it all out, we had made it down the T and M to Fradley Junction for the first time and made that right hand turn onto the Coventry and through that narrow section with the swing bridge. We slowly passed by the moored boats and then past a boat going the other way.

The comment that I still remember coming from the guy steering the other boat was “bloody Coventry, it’s always been shallow, hasn’t it?” – as if I had any idea, so I simply replied “yes”.

An early memory of boating but it has always stuck with me – pity that the Coventry  hasn’t changed in all of that time.

Diane thought that the mooring point closest to the water point before the junction would be nice – save having to move to fill up – luck was with us – perfect positioning.

There was a cassette that needed emptying; rubbish to get rid of; a perfectly lovely lake to wander around; and a café waiting to be occupied – where they sold gas cylinders as well (just so happens we needed one) – Diane thought that it would be OK for me to wait for the rain to ease off from the torrential and simply be downpour before I headed off to replace our empty cylinder.

Like a drowned rat I returned, but full cylinder was in hand.

There are scary things that happen to us all on our boats – I have a couple of scenarios that haven’t arisen as yet, but the scariest of all possibilities happened to Diane on Wednesday early evening.

She got up to close the curtains; it was quite dark outside and just as she peered out to see what it was like, suddenly a face peered in at her and scared the livin’ bejesus out of her.

The culprit on the outside was Martin (nb Moriarty), who with other half Cathie, had moored up not far behind us.

Needless to say we met up after having some dinner, and made our way to The Swan for a quiet drink – it was however a crowded bar, with the main one closed for renovations and there was a make-shift one downstairs in the “crypt”.

Warmer inside The Swan with Cathie and Martin

Yep - two giggling schoolgirls

The girls were on one side of the table acting like giggling schoolgirls, whilst Martin and I were on the other talking sensibly yet again – don’t be surprised to see the photos of black eyes for Martin and I later on.

38 Miles, 39 Locks, 6 Tunnels

YTD:  150 miles (241 km), 119 Locks, 13 Tunnels, 3 Lift Bridges, 2 Swing Bridges

Total: 4782 Miles (7696 km), 3270 Locks, 137 Tunnels, 69 Lift Bridges, 174 Swing Bridges

Movement - I've seen it again

Wednesday 1^st March to Saturday 4^th March 2017

Wednesday came along and with it a lovely morning with the sun out quite brightly. After breakfast our first task was to venture up and see if there was or had been any activity in relation to the tree across the canal.

We knocked on the hatch of NB Rune and had a chat to Julia and John about the area and where the facilities and shops and most importantly, the pubs where located; we had the inevitable chat about the blockage up ahead and the skills that they shown the previous day in bringing their boat back to moor where they did – reversing quite a fair way and between moored boats.

So onwards to the downed tree, and as we neared I could hear distinctive sounds of a chain saw in the distance – too much to hope that the tree was being worked, but sure enough as it came into view, there was less of it and about a half dozen guys working on both sides of the canal.

In fact it looked almost like it was navigable, but of course it was not quite there yet.

We spoke with the guy in control and he estimated that it would be about another hour and we could get through – which would make it just before 12 noon.

We were impressed with the amount of work that they had got through and their estimate of such a short time to finish.

So back to the boat we went, advising of the situation to John and Julia; Diane was eager to get going – not from any other point of view than it meant that we could make in to Birmingham that day and save her a 40 minute walk to The Lakes railway station for our planned journey to Watford the following day.

Anyway, we cruised slowly through Bridge 15 and up to the tree, which unfortunately still had a bit of resistance in its limbs; the guys needed help to get close to the sections in the middle of the canal so one of them jump on the bow and was able to attach a steel cable to the offending trunk and the JCB at the top of the cutting dragged it clear; a couple more precise connections of cable to tree managed to allow a second tree to be moved out of the water.

Edging slowly closer to the tree in the middle of the canal - the guy on the extreme right is John from nb Rune

If you look closely at the right side of the boat you can just see the top of the head of the contractor reaching to tie up
the top of the 2nd tree - I am holding onto the back of his gear to make sure he doesn't fall in

There were a few “smaller” limbs to remove but we were cruising through by 12:30.

Apparently most of the delay was CaRT getting the landowners permission to gain access to the place to extricate the tree(s).

We were both impressed with the work that all of these guys were able to achieve; given the heavy workload that they have had since the previous Thursday when the storm hit, they have done a remarkable job and they were on their way to another tree clearance near Bridge 25 after they finished this one.

I have said it before, we both think that the work that CaRT and their contractors do for the canals and for boaters is excellent; perhaps in this case we might have hoped for a bit more information about when it would happen, but we cannot complain justifiably about the work that they all do.

It was with a little regret that we had to leave such a lovely place – the mooring were very good and once you look around you do find facilities that you need or find ways of getting through.

Boating is about facing situations that arise – it simply is not and will never be the same as living in a static residence.

We now had about a 12 mile cruise with just one lift bridge to negotiate and as we found a few more smaller trees in the water to steer around, but all went well on the trip.

We stopped at Lyons Boat Yard for diesel and had a great chat with the owner about his cruising plans and other plans that he was doing.

That too is something else that is remarkable about this boating life – the manner in which we all talk about our lives and what we are doing to people we have only just met but with whom we have this incredible bond of a love of narrowboats and getting out and about.

Lock No. 1 - always open - thankfully

King's Norton Junction

Gas Street Basin

Diane will tell you that you are not really in Birmingham until you can see
the BT Tower - so, here we are

We cruised into Birmingham after just 4 hours and as you always can do, easily found a mooring spot where we prefer to stay when we are there; it was definitely still light – being just on 5pm, but after securing the boat we started to feel quite exhausted and simply collapsed in the lounge to recover, knowing that we had another journey the following day, albeit by a different mode of transport.

By getting into Birmingham the previous day, there was less of a rush for us as we had eliminated a long walk to the station and a train to catch into Moor Street.

So we were able to take it a bit easier; managed to get rid of the rubbish; use the other CaRT facilities opposite Cambrian Wharf; Diane was able to have her customary coffee in bed; and we managed to secure the boat properly for us to leave her for a day whilst we headed down to Watford for a meeting with the vampires (sorry that should read the lovely nurses who take the blood for the tests) and of course catch up with Maggie and Paddy and collect 3 months of mail.

There was quite a bit of news to catch up on, not the least being that after 36 years they had sold their house and would be moving in about 8 -10 weeks.

We had suspected that they were thinking about it when we last visited them late last year, but sometimes you just think that it is a “that would be a nice thing to do” and nothing comes of it.

Anyway they had done everything, including finding a new place to buy – a very large bungalow – a situation that works so very well for everyone concerned.

So now we will have to change our postal address with so many companies that we have dealt with and stop some of the junk mail that we have kept receiveing but doing nothing with – a bit of a “clean-out” if you like.

I had neglected to mention that we booked with Virgin trains for the two return tickets (a total cost of £40 with reserved seats) but it was the first time we used the electronic tickets to the phone to travel – Diane had done it with flights in Australia – so a first for us and it turned out so easy – now converted.

The return trip was a routine affair; rain all morning continued until we reached Birmingham as we made our way back to the back to restoke the Reflecs back into life and warm the boat up; returned all of the gear that we had moved back to the usual places and for me to start getting some work done.

At last the weekend and the first planned job that I had was to make sure that Diane’s first coffee of the day would be one directly from Costa – which just happened to be no more than 50m away – in the revamped NIA (or Barclaycard Arena).

But….

… I thought a lovely long got shower would be a good start to the day and by the time that I had returned, she who must be obeyed was already out of bed, dressed and ready to go to Costa with me – so why not.

Well, we left the boat at 7:30am, the Costa store was only just opening, so we thought, why not go and get a paper – easier said than done, but we found one.

We did have a coffee at Costa, just not the one near the boat; we did return briefly to pick something up and by the time we did get back to stay on the boat it was after 2:15pm – where did just on 7 hours go.

This shopping arcade reminds us of the great number of similar
ones in central Melbourne

The something that we picked up were a couple of rings and a chain and we had headed to the Jewellery Quarter, found a jeweller to reshape the band on one ring, do some repairs to the chain and fix the other ring including replacing a lost diamond; from there it was to Ikea, then to Primark, spent a bit of time in the Apple Store learning how to work with the iCloud better and looking at a new iPad for further down the line, dropped into the Walkabout pub on Broad Street for the Man United match against Bournemouth and some lunch and THEN it was back to the boat.

Ahhh! - Guinness, 5 screens that you can see at any one time,
now if only ManUnited had won

Needless to say that by that time we had easily reached our 10,000 steps goal for the day and knackered ourselves out – ready for a sit down and rest – luckily, not long after we did get back, the rain started – I did feel for the guy on the boat across from us who was down the engine hole on his cruiser stern attending to secret men’s business, but was getting wet in the process – the things we men have to endure.

But we were cosy warm and comfortable and stayed that way until bedtime!

12 Miles, 2 Tunnels, 1 Lift Bridge

YTD:  94 miles (151 km),73 Locks, 5 Tunnels, 3 Lift Bridges, 2 Swing Bridges

Total: 4726 Miles (7606 km), 3224 Locks, 129 Tunnels, 69 Lift Bridges, 174 Swing Bridges

She who must be obeyed returns!

Friday 10^th February to Friday 17^th February 2017

I had a very important engagement on for Friday morning and certainly could not afford to be late – simply to make it to Birmingham Airport to pick up my lovely wife – nothing could be easier – could it?

In my defence, just let me say that when I arrived she had only just come through from Border Control and Customs – the plane arriving 30 minutes earlier than scheduled – but all appeared forgiven (and the bruising has now subsided to a dull yellow).

Naturally Diane was a bit tired after coming all the way through from Brisbane in the 23 hours – but with some sleep on the first leg of 14 hours – she had managed about 5 hours, being able to stretch out in her unoccupied row.

She was remarkably awake and lucid – more so than usual – but we had a busy weekend planned, with a trip to Manchester; a two-night stopover; a visit to Old Trafford and catching up with "Mad-Eye" Paul Macey.

 

A frosty and cold sight to wake up to - it had snowed during
the night, but we were snug and warm inside the hotel

There certainly was snow on them thar hills

Macclesfield behind us and the snow had melted away to leave a bit of slush around

Even the local constabulary got into the swing of things -
there's Paul between two nags

just part of the action on the field

and some after match celebration - at least Paul was happy

It was just so great to see Paul again - it didn't matter about anything else

It really was a super weekend and we had a great day on Saturday – well at least Paul and I did – with Man United beating Watford 2-0 (we didn’t say too much in the car on the trip back for fear that we would have each got a good clip around the ears from the lone Watford supporter in the back seat – Diane – but she was a good sport about it all).

Follow that match up with a lovely meal out at Paul’s favourite Thai restaurant in Macclesfield and it was a great day.

Paul’s main visit back to the UK started out as a desire to see a game at Old Trafford, but it was tinged with sadness to begin with – his mother was in hospital and would not have too many more days left (as it transpired she passed away on the following Thursday morning).

We had met Margaret on a number of occasions whilst we were moored in Bollington a couple of years ago and got to know her reasonably well and understand how determined and strong willed she was – a trait that Paul had with the women in his life – and now she is no longer with us.

It has not been a good start to the year.

Sunday came and this meant the trip back down to Rugby where we had left the boat – we didn’t meet up with Paul – he was already on the road to see his mum – but we took the opportunity with having a car to pop in to meet up with Dot and Gordon at Aston Marina where they were moored up for a couple of months.

An obligatory trip to The Echange in Stone and a couple of drinks (sitting at the old table in the window – our favourite) before back to their boat for a wonderful meal and just simply enjoying the company of two very good and lovely friends.

 

Back in their favourite seats The Exchange

There never seems to be enough time and so it was again – we needed to get back in time to run the engine and charge the batteries on the boat before the 8pm curfew – which we made.

Monday and Tuesday were occupied with mundane things like Diane unpacking and putting stuff away; shopping to more fully replenish the pantry and fridge; sorting out a few things in town before the inevitable cruising would begin.

We said our goodbyes to Carolyn and Gary (nb Inca) who had kept an eye on the boat and again compared our cruising schedules for the year to see where we could catch up again (and there are times and places in there).

Finally we untied on Wednesday morning and started heading south, making it as far as Braunston for the day, where we moored up – took a walk up into the village for Diane to visit the butcher; Thursday we continued on our travels, turning right at the junction, filling with diesel along the way and negotiating the Calcutt Locks and moored up outside Ventnor Marina – we had never moored here before – such a lovely, nice and quiet place – would like to do it again; finally Friday and we were off again, this time down the Stockton locks before settling for a mooring below the end of the flight.

Back cruising again - it was still quite chilly out

She hasn't lost it - still able to control the boat as usual

Just a lovely shot of the sun over Braunston, the church
on the right and the tree reflected in the canal

Some years ago we were in the village for their annual beer festival, which I think no longer happens, and wandered around taking in the sights – it has been a while and took us a little time to sort out where everything was but it was a lovely day anyway with the sun shining just to wander and enjoy.

It sadly is just another village to us without the hustle and bustle of a festival and something for the locals but we enjoyed the walk and the drink at the pub before retiring back to the boat.

Our intentions are to head into Birmingham, so we will be heading that way – how long it will take us we cannot be sure; how long we will stay there we cannot be sure; where we will head to afterwards is something we do know.

Our cruising schedule for this year will be the tidal Trent taking in the canals and waterways that run off from it; we will be heading further northwards to York and then west over the Pennines (somewhere) to do the Ribble Link (and the Lancaster Canal) before a last trip into Liverpool docks – after all of that we are not exactly sure, but we do intend to be somewhere around Stone for Xmas.

19 miles, 16 Locks

YTD:  60 miles (97 km), 21 Locks, 2 Tunnels, 2 Swing Bridges

Total: 4692 Miles (7551 km), 3172 Locks, 126 Tunnels, 66 Lift Bridges, 174 Swing Bridges

Too many goodbyes

Saturday 21^st January to Thursday 9^th February 2017

The flight back from Australia was relatively uneventful as it usually is – this time however I had to take the flight that stopped in Singapore on its way to Dubai rather than the 14hr straight through flight from Melbourne direct to Dubai – no great hardship.

Landing back in Birmingham to a rather chilly morning was a little bit of a shock to the system but infinitely better than it being hot and humid.

Train back to Rugby and then taxi to Barby Marina and I was back on board a little bit over 2 hours after landing.

The boat was naturally quite cold – having sat there for the last 7 weeks, but happily it was nice and dry.

After getting the diesel running again, the reflecs was lit and pretty soon the boat was starting to lose it’s chill – getting warm took a bit longer.

Before we left it, apart from the usual winterising that we do, we also had moved a great many things inside the boat; set the mattress on it’s side to air and there was a general upheaval of a great many things.

All-in-all it took a few hours to get it all back into shape and everything more or less in their correct places – by which time the boat was now warm.

That wasn’t half as bad as the fact that we had cleared the fridge out and anything else that was likely to go off, so there was very little in the way of food that could easily be made into something – but managed to scratch something together – also no milk or bread – that would be for tomorrow.

First morning back and the canal had frozen over, but the sun was out and very bright – the ice was starting to melt by late morning so I figured it was time to move along; with the knowledge of the marina staff, I untied Ferndale and gently eased her out through the ice – it is always difficult to manoeuvre around turns but after an hour we were out through the entrance and heading in a straight line northwards.

I didn’t want to go too far and so I moored just above the Hillmorton Locks and was able to do some much needed shopping up on the main road – just the basics really.

Next morning and the ice had cleared and I cleared off, heading down to Rugby to do a proper replenishment,

The time between then and now has been spent in Rugby and cruising up to Hawkesbury Junction, into Coventry and then back again, with non-cruising days in all locations – primarily to get everything going OK whilst I wait for Diane to return. By the time that this blog is published she will be on her way back.

She has been with her Mum and Dad in Queensland to see how they have been since she had last seen them before Xmas – she has noticed some changes even in that short time and her Dad has had some problems which will means loss of some past functions – most notably, not being able to drive anymore.

Diane had spent many hours on the cross-stitch and then having it framed
for their anniversary next year

A good day - able to be out and about

Still looking pretty good

Not sure about the selfies in the car - shouldn't you be driving

Swimming costume for the new season

Not so much the water-baby - just the water-babe

We are concerned about their general health and there are some specific problems that each has which are also of concern – we will just have to see how they progress over the next few months and the next year -  this will have big impact on our overall plans, but we were prepared for this type of thing coming along.

Trying out the new scooter to give more freedom.....

....at least until it is nap time

Sneaking out for a coffee

It is worrying for them just as much as it is worrying for us – two very wonderful people in our lives who have done so very much for us when we were first starting out and we would like to be closer to them but equally we want to finish what we have started here – the time-frame will need to be shortened.

Having bad news such as this on the homefront has been of concern to us; the news of our dear friend Frank (as I had mentioned in the last blog); terrible news about Lauren (a second stroke for someone so young – just 30 years old); but the additional news that we have had of late with the passing of Les (nb Valerie) and now Fiona (nb Epihany) has been a blow to us.

We had the pleasure of meeting and enjoying Fiona’s company (with her husband John) a few years ago and given her medical history and recent health it was still a shock to hear of her passing.

We only spoke to Les (and Jacquie) in passing them outside Napton Marina last year, but we had followed their exploits with interest like so many others in the boating world and beyond.

We pass our deepest condolences to both John and Jacquie and wish the very best for  both for the future, whatever it may bring.

Sorry to end on such a sad note but most of what we have been doing for the past two months has been tinged with a great deal of sadness, but we also have to remain positive about things getting better for the rest of the time that we all have.