Category Archives: BCN

Oozells To Look At. 4th January

Oozells Street Loop

The chap across the way had been running his engine until 11pm both nights we’d been moored opposite the giraffe. The first night we considered going over to see if everyone was alright on board, but it’s quite a long way round. So on the second evening we were relieved to hear the engine going, but not for the length of time it ran for! So this morning we decided to move.

NB Sola Gatia had been round on the Oozells Loop along with another boat, both had moved off. So we decided to move round the corner and see if it would be any quieter, less foot fall for certain.

There was plenty of room for us, so we chose to tie up in the middle, leaving room for boats infront and behind, but we’d be away from both bridges.

In the afternoon we headed into town. Should we walk down into the Jewellery Quarter to look at museums? Go to the Art Gallery? Or go to the top of the Library?

There’s Lillian down there, lovely and yellow

Back in October 2014 Mick had discovered the wonderful gardens and views from the library whilst I was working. He even managed to get a photo of NB Lillyanne (Lillian) moored at Cambrian Wharf. When I had free time we tried again, but high winds meant we could only stay indoors as the gardens were closed.

Today we went to the top, to the viewing gallery and the Shakespeare Library. Then we walked down the 90 steps to the garden. From here we could see for miles. If we hadn’t moved Oleanna this morning we’d have got a photo of her too from up here, but now she was tucked away behind the Sealife Centre.

The boat with the noisy engine on the right

Below was busy and the new trams came and went from the station.

It was a touch late in the afternoon by now to pay to go into a museum, so we opted for the Art Gallery and headed straight for the Pre-Raphelites and Burne Jones. Mick said we’d been before, but neither of us could remember when. It turns out that after we’d been to see Dippy the dinosaur we had a little look round, that was only 18 months ago!

The same paintings caught my eye. One study for Burne Jones painting Briar Rose is my favourite, I prefer it to the final painting.

But this time we also got to see a bit more of the display. Superduperspective by Patrick Hughes could not be ignored. It’s first view should be straight on, an image of paintings from the gallery in two corridors. But then as you move round you realise the whole thing is 3D and painted in such away to trick your eye. When fooled the furthest parts of the painting are actually the closest to you. Very clever use of shading, but a touch nauseating too.

0 locks, the same 0.14 miles mentioned yesterday, 150 yards from engines running, 1 library, 1 art gallery, 100 Euros, 1 adaptor, 1 bored asleep cat, 1 sock finished.

BUMingham! 4th January

The Giraffe to Ooozells

Guide Dog Oakley-Retired calls this outside Bumingham. I feel it needs a touch more BUM in it’s name than he gave it.

I’ve been patient with this outside, but it just hasn’t improved. So this morning Tom suggested changing it to an Oozells one. Well that sounded better, Ooooozells better, anywhere would be better.

Whilst She sat mumbling under her breath at the computer Tom got us ready to let the outside go. Unusually he decided this one needed backing away from, carefully. It didn’t take him long to pull in and catch one again, the usual conversation of ‘Inny……Straight……Outie’ went on between the two of them, then She came inside and gave me the rules.

She said I wouldn’t like it. What did she know!

Well….

Where are the sideways trees?

Brick walls can’t be climbed.

Interesting bits blocked off.

She was right! This outside is Oooozles more BUMingham!

My tail hasn’t got the message yet about BUMingham!

I came back inside, pulled my best sad face and got some REALLY good ‘Thank you for coming home’ treats. The rest of the day became one very long cat nap.

0 locks, 0.14 miles most backwards, 1 left, 1 big wall, 0 trees, 0 sideways trees, 0 friends, 0 point!

https://goo.gl/maps/obYZh7K9rGh87qaA6

White’s. 2nd January 2020

The Giraffe, Birmingham

This years daffs are starting to show their heads already

The two of us have spent a bit of time trying to hunt out where or how we could get a new ash can. Getting one delivered to a Post Office or Amazon Locker would have been great, except they are too big according to Amazon! So instead we’ve been concentrating on trying to find a hardware shop that might just have one.

This morning we walked down the Farmers Bridge flight. We like this flight but have realised we’ve only ever been down it, never up. The BT Tower sits high above as the locks work their way under buildings, roads and the railway.

Once off the canal we followed a dirty rubbish strewn road to our destination, White’s Ironmongery. Sitting on the corner of Lower Loveday Street and Summer Lane the 1930’s building melded in with it’s background.

The window displays of hinges, brushes, bolts on boards totally filled the windows. We opened the doors and went in.

Shelves and shelves and shelves, older than the RSJ’s above them

I was immediately taken back to when I was four, with my Dad going into Stubbs in York for some screws. Shelves lined the walls, each opening once filled with boxes of screws, nuts and bolts, all manner of things. The wooden drawers covered in decades maybe centuries of patina. Labels for many an imperial sized object still in place. As a kid I used to imagine the shop assistants sliding along the shelves on their ladders to reach the top boxes, pushing from one end of the shop to the other.

Today in White’s the shelves were not so full, but still the atmosphere. There were a few displays in the middle of the room, more boards advertising their wares, a few gaps where the last hinge of its type had been removed. Hanging from the ceiling were mop buckets and two galvanised buckets. A lady appeared a touch like Mr Ben bringing with her some warm air.

Unfortunately the suspended buckets were all they had, none with lids. A bucket however would do us for the time being. It would give us somewhere for hot ashes to cool off before being disposed of with our rubbish and mean the ash pan could stay in the stove rather than sit on the towpath. If we were going to get anything else nicked, we’d rather it was a bucket than the ash pan from our corner stove which would be hard to replace without ordering one from Yorkshire.

Whilst here we had a routle through boxes of bolts. Back in the summer Mick had wanted one for our batteries. A good look round and he may have found just the one. When asking of its price the lady said 10p! When our hand written bill was finished she said call it £7, the bolt now 5p.

What a wonderful shop, with just about everything, except an ash can with a lid. How do they stay trading in this modern world? Hopefully local builders and joiners give them plenty of business.

A walk back through town to get some food for this evening. The trams now run into the centre and many of the hoardings we’d got used to seeing 18 months ago have now gone. Old buildings surrounded by new glazed towers.

Then it was time for me to do a touch of work. A script was printed out, read, notes made, photo references added to Pinterest. Then my tickets for my flight to Vienna were printed out. These are all in German, so I spent a while trying to translate them in case there was something I needed to know other than the obvious times and flight numbers. It’s a long long time since I did German at school and only the bare minimum has remained with me.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 flight walked, 1 bucket, 12, 1 bolt, 1 time warp, 8 page script, 105 images, 4 flights, 22 letters in a word, 2 many consonants!

A Funny Sort Of Burger. 1st January 2020

Earlswood Motor Club to Birmingham City Centre, BCN

Mick checked the weedhatch using his new pair of pond gloves. His original pair (now five years old) had sprung a few too many leaks to do their job properly. Despite being able to have a good feel around the prop there was nothing there. Our slow progress must be more to do with our depth and the canals depth.

Not that much later than normal we pushed off to make our way into Birmingham, well we tend not to be early risers. Estimates reckoned we’d reach our chosen destination in around 4 and a half hours, a longer cruise than normal at this time of year. We wanted to make the centre of Birmingham today so had to push on.

Extensions and upgrade to the service mooring

The club house at Earlswood is having major building work, extensions on both sides. What looks like a new Pump out machine and new blue pipes stick up out of the ground along the cut.

The mooring round the corner was occupied, the view not as good as we’d had last night, so we’d stopped in the right place. Dickens Heath looked as it always does, incongruous. The water feature no longer flowing and just turning green instead. Here the number of towpath walkers increased.

Washing was on our minds, the drawer overflowing. A good long cruise into Birmingham would be useful to charge the batteries as we washed two loads and ran the dishwasher.

Shirley Drawbridge was our first obstacle. The control pedestal is hidden behind the barrier box, so took some finding, even though I’ve had this problem before. Once the bridge was clear I pressed the open button wondering how many vehicles I’d get to hold up. Only 1! Two others turned away just at the last minute. Oh well.

We avoided a fisherman just after Bridge 5 who had plonked himself on the bollards for the waterpoint. But there was still plenty of space for us so we topped up the tank as a second load of washing went through the machine.

Cups of tea in our thermos mugs and snacks taken out the back we continued onwards, through Brandwood Tunnel and Kings Norton guillotine lock. Here much of the graffiti has been cleaned away. A homeless man had made himself and his dog comfortable under the bridge, a good place to keep dry.

Kings Norton Junction Toll House is swathed in scaffolding. Back in February last year ( it’s odd saying that) the building was set alight, arson was suspected. Fire crews had limited access so had to carry much of their equipment to the scene with them. Hopefully the building will be restored.

The nearest we’ll get to Worcester for a while

Here we turned right up towards Birmingham. Shortly before Lifford Lane Bridge, Oleanna reared up, listed and eventually rode over a submerged obstacle. Looking behind us into the murky depths I thought I could see a wing mirror of a red car. Up ahead there was a wide enough opening and ramp down onto the towpath for someone to have brought a car for disposal. Were we the first to come this way this year? I sent a facebook message to Canal and River Trust, but so far have heard nothing back, well it is New Years day.

Not the most romantic of roving bridges, but it would do the job if horses were still in use today

On we pootled in the chilly grey afternoon air. At Bournville there was a space we could have pulled into, but we decided to carry on. The new Sainsburys at Selly Oak is right by the canal and looks huge. Wonder if mooring rings will be put in for passing boaters?

At Edgbaston Tunnel the handrail and lighting reminded me of my panto design.

By now it was dusk, so our lights on the roof stood out twinkling in the gloom, we got lots of smiles and comments from those on the towpath.

We turned left at The Mailbox and carried on to Worcester Bar. Should we moor on the visitor mooring there or carry on to a more familiar mooring? We carried on under the buildings into the big lights of the city.

Mick waved at a familiar boat down the Ouzels Loop, but the occupants were a touch busy to notice, hopefully we’ll catch up with them whilst we are in the area.

Once moored up there was the matter of what to do with the ash from the stove? MIck lifted the ash pan out and left it on the towpath, hoping that it would cool down enough before we headed to bed to be able to go into a bag, sadly this wasn’t the case. Tomorrow we’ll be hunting round for an ash can.

With our loyalty card in hand we made our way to The Handmade Burger Company, just around the corner. Today we’d get a free drink. Well that’s what we thought until we got to the doors to see a sign saying that they were closing at 5pm!

What to eat instead? We’d both really fancied a burger. Other places seemed quite empty, many had no lights on at all. Pizza Express however was open so we opted for the usual in there. Gluten free dough balls and Pollo Ad Astra each. Mick’s pizza being nearly twice the size of mine!

Returning to the boat we sat down to watch the first episode of the new series of Dr Who. Verdict, we think it’s got potential to be better than the last series. The monsters might just be worth pulling the sofa out for!

1 stop lock on the flat, 12.41 miles, 1 lift bridge, 1 car, 2 tunnels, 1 right, 2 lefts, 0 other boats moving today, 1 resigned cat, 1 wave to Tim, 0 burgers, 2 pizzas, 3 glasses wine each, 1 baddy Lenny.

https://goo.gl/maps/SZL8VUTgDMTBXgBp8

2018 Round Up. 2nd January

HOORAY!!! Proper signal again, sorry for the delay. Here at last is a round up of 2018 and our vital statistics, who they are vital to I don’t know!

We started off the year up on the Llangollen having spent Christmas up in the basin, if it hadn’t been for me getting some work I think we’d have headed back there this year as we enjoyed it so much. On our return journey we dropped down onto the Montgomery Canal for a few days. Then we gradually worked our way along the canal stoppage hopping, the last bridge holding us up by a few days whilst work over ran, but we were first through and soon back down on the Shroppie at the end of January.

A pootle up to Chester and then Ellesmere Port where we spent several days looking round the museum, mooring on site made this very easy.

Oleanna had a day in the dry dock at Chester to check out why our bowthruster had stopped working and gave me chance to do a quick touch up of the blacking.

We then made our way back to Nantwich where we sat out the Beast from the East and at last got chance to meet and spend a bit of time with Jaq from NB Valerie.

Then we climbed the Shroppie to Autherley Junction turned right onto the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal and made our way down to Stourport where the river rose on us over night and left us stranded for far too long. This did mean that Tilly had her annual jabs gaining shore leave for another year. A hire car gave us a few days away from the flashing lights of Stourport, a trip to Beverley and to catch up with the John Godber Company in Bromsgrove along with a recky trip to Droitwich.

In the end we got bored of waiting for the river to drop and decided on going the long way round to Droitwich. Of course about two or three days into ‘the long way round’ the levels dropped and we could have done a quick journey down the River Severn.

Oh well we enjoyed all the locks having good weather for the Tardebigge Flight.

Once in Worcester we turned onto the river and made our way down to the Gloucester Sharpness Canal where we pootled down to the end with all the swing bridges being worked for us, met up with Jaye and Duncan (I’d have got into big trouble if I didn’t mention them!), saw the hulks, all sorts of flamingos and got to watch tall ship Kaskelot pass us.

Back up the Severn for Micks 60th birthday weekend where all our siblings joined us to celebrate. We watched cricket at New Road in Worcester, ate in Droitwich, caught steam trains in Kidderminster and ate some more in Bridgenorth, a very good weekend.

By now the summer had already started with wall to wall sunshine and our Sunday roasts became Sunday barbeques. We made our way back to Worcester and turned back down stream to Tewkesbury (I do like a good Tewkesbury!) and the river Avon. The last rain storm for a while slowed our progress upstream, but we stayed safe.

The Avon was a picturesque cruise and we met up with friends from Australia and old work friends of mine in Stratford, taking advantage to see as much theatre as we could.

Whilst in Stratford I heard that I’d got the job designing Panto in Chipping Norton this year. This would now affect the remainder of the year slowing us down somewhat. We headed back into Birmingham up the Lapworth flight (meeting NB Chuffed) to rendez vous with NB Blackbird and crew.

Here we planned to explore all the back waters of the BCN, but the sun was now on permanently and the thought of spending weeks surrounded by brick work and concrete reflecting heat at us was not attractive. So we chose a route out of the city that we’d not done before (via Ryders Green and Perry Barr) and headed for the shade of trees.

Work and heat were the feature of the next few months. On days we wanted to cruise we tried to be up early to make the most of the cool hours before the sun got too high in the sky to avoid. We hopped from mooring to mooring hunting out good places with maximum tree cover, not so good for the solar panels but it meant we didn’t cook inside.

We gradually cruised the Coventry Canal, the Ashby Canal for the first and second times, all the way into Coventry, down the North Oxford onto the Grand Union and on up to the Leicester Section. All our favourite moorings on the summit pound were visited and the London Leckenbys visited us at Foxton. All this slow cruising was interspersed with Panto meetings in London and Chippy, necessitating being near to stations, but this worked out well with a bit of planning.

Leamington Spa was a handy station back on the Grand Union for my final model meeting in mid September, freeing us up until rehearsals started a month later.

We made use of the Heritage weekend visiting places in both Warwick and Leamington. Oleanna got to visit the Saltisford Arm where we worked our way through the dirty washing drawer before heading back towards the Oxford Canal crossing bows with NB Tentatrice on the way.

The South Oxford Canal then became our home for the next three months.

First we cruised all the way to Oxford taking our time to return to Banbury. I then spent four weeks working my socks off in Chippy enjoying being creative again on Panto, returning each weekend to wherever Oleanna was with my head full of song lyrics and dance moves.

Once Aladdin was open and hoards of kids were shouting ‘He’s behind you!’ I could return to my normal life at 3mph, the boat, Tilly’s friends and Mick’s breakfasts.

Due to winter stoppages leaving the south Oxford couldn’t happen until near Christmas so we slowly made our way northwards breaking off to have a pre-Christmas in London and then once Napton Lock 9 was open we headed into the middle of nowhere for Christmas. The year ended with us returning to Crick and sadly missing out on the festivities at The Red Lion with friends.

We’ve had a great year travelling, meeting up with old friends and new. We’re looking forward to where 2019 will take us and who we shall meet along the way.

So our final statistics for the year are.

Total distance is 944 miles, 1 ¼ furlongs and 614 locks. There were 170 moveable bridges of which 77 are usually left open (although three of those weren’t); 131 small aqueducts or underbridges; 39 tunnels and 2 major aqueducts.

This is made up of 669 miles, 1 ¼ furlongs of narrow canals; 118 miles of broad canals; 35 miles, 5 furlongs of commercial waterways; 42miles, 7¼ furlongs of small rivers; 78 miles, 3 ¾ furlongs of large rivers; 476 narrow locks; 129 broad locks 9 large locks.

1084.6 engine hours, 7 hire cars, 1,383.63 litres diesel, 10 gas bottles (we do have gas central heating), 54 bags of coal, 2 waterway museums, 3 big houses, 3 versions of tuperware, 60th birthday, 2nd solar panel fitted, 7 overnight guests, 6 packs of Dreamies, 26 friends, 1 snake, 9 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval moorings, 7 pairs socks, 6 pairs gloves, 11 supermarket deliveries, 56 boxes wine delivered!

The Last 11ft 6” To Birmingham. 15th April

Merry Hill to Sheepcote Street Bridge, Birmingham

As we sat having our breakfast the sound of fishermen’s trolleys kept passing us, we were going to be in the middle of a match. The start time was confirmed by the chap sat just behind us, luckily we had enough time to get past them all before they started. A far greyer day than yesterday and we soon wished we’d not let the stove go out over night. We dressed back in waterproofs and plenty of layers which we were grateful for.

Just short of a mile and a half further on was the last lock up to the level of Birmingham, Blowers Green Lock. A couple walked up and offered to help with the gates. They were on their Sunday morning walk and always stop for a little rest at the lock, each having their own lock beam to sit on. Gradually the lock filled and Oleanna had finished the climb up to the New Main Line level. We pulled up round the corner to top up with water and dispose of our rubbish.

Another boat appeared and proceeded to wind above the lock. There is plenty of space here but they managed to get very close to the off side where two fishermen were sat. Using the throttle a great deal the poor chaps sat on the bank must have got wet legs!

Now on the Dudley NO 2 Canal we wound our way around Primrose Hill making our way towards Bumble Hole. The towpath has informative steel sculptures along the way. Some inform you of distances other about the history of the Black Country. The bouncing bomb shell casing, the anchor for the Titanic, and how graffiti changed the name of one of the bridges.

We pulled in opposite the cafe at Bumble Hole for lunch. If ever there was an M mooring here was one. But try as I did they wouldn’t let me out, I could have stayed for days and not run out of trees to climb.

Fed and watered we were ready for Netherton Tunnel.

At 2776m long it was the last canal tunnel to be built in the Canal Age, opening in 1858. Being 27ft wide it allowed two way traffic and has a towpath on both sides which helped greatly with the bottle neck that occurred at the Dudley Tunnel. You can see straight through and the only other traffic we encountered was walkers paddling their way along the towpath. It must a thing to do with the kids on a Sunday afternoon, but very damp and extremely cold today.

Popping out the other side it had taken us 30 minutes. Under the Old Main Line and four picturesque cottages sit by the canal. One is for sale, but I’m sure the anti-theft shutters would put quite a few off viewing it! Straight on until we had to turn at Dudley Port Junction, here we chose to go right, just as well as to the left the canal is closed at the moment!

The New Main Line is straight for what seems like miles. It’s depth and lack of moored boats mean that the miles get ticked off relatively quickly, just as well as it was now raining!

My navigation duties were hard trying to keep Mick on a straight course, so many junctions and loops. Every now and again you came to a central island forcing you to go right to the side. Were these the canal equivalent to speed bumps, designed to slow boats down? Several Canada Geese were making use of them for nesting sites, keeping a beady on us as we passed.

We were getting quite wet and chilled to the bone by now, familiar landmarks passing us by. The Spon Lane locks taking the canal up to the Old Main Line level and it’s pretty bridges, Steward Aqueduct the M5 and railway all crossing each other, Galton Bridge with it’s high span followed by the short tunnel, the Engine Arm on it’s ornate aqueduct.

Relieved to see the signs for Sherborne Wharf we had reached our destination for the day, we just needed to find an Oleanna sized gap. A familiar boat loomed out before Sheepcote Street Bridge, NB Leon. Only a few days ago we’d been wondering if ever we’d get to meet up with this boat on the cut and here she was. We could just make out a waving hand at the front doors. But before we went to tap on the roof we found a mooring, got the stove alight, and warmed up.

Sorry, but new crew are required! The outside earlier on was where they should have moved us to, not here and this brick wall!

NB Leon belongs to Noel and Carolyn, Noel used to work at Crick Marina and we’ve got to know him over the last few years. He kindly let us moor Oleanna next to Lillian in Crick Marina last year for us to move from one boat to the other. Invited in we were given a full guided tour of NB Leon. A Tyler Wilson Northwich shell built to Noel and Carolyn’s spec, she had arrived at Crick as a lined sailaway with a few extra bits, this is when we last saw inside her. They have done a beautiful job with the fit out and Noel certainly has mastered scumbling for the back cabin. A very handsome boat indeed.

We finished off the day by treating ourselves to a burger and chips each at The Handmade Burger Company around the corner. When we were in Birmingham about three years ago they had no gas so we’d been given two vouchers for future use. Today we at last got to use the second voucher. They also do Gluten Free bread buns which is great, I can actually enjoy a burger as it should be.

1 lock, 12.9 miles, 2 tunnels, 7 mysterons, 1 right, 10 straight ons, 1 rightish, 25 fishermen, 2 soggy chilled boaters, 1 miffed cat! 1 familiar boat, 1.5 hours boaters chat, 1 pretty back cabin, 2 glasses wine, 2 burgers, 2 chips, 0 Torvil and Dean for us.

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 1.719m.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna