Sheepcote Street Bridge to Perry Barr Top Lock, BCN Tame Valley Canal

Yesterday an email changed all our plans for the rest of the summer, this years goal posts had been moved, we’re not sure where/when to yet. But the next few months we are free to cruise where we want. The question now was where? Last night we’d talked about routes  but not come up with a definite plan. Overnight whilst Mick snored away in bed the canal planner in his brain had got to work, he awoke with an idea. With the forecast set to continue being hot for at least the next week, did we really want to be in Birmingham where all day long the heat reflects off the concrete surfaces whilst also soaking in only to be released overnight? Or would we rather head out into the countryside where shade is easier to find, cats can pounce to their hearts content and barbecues are easier to have sitting on green towpaths. Our cruising is limited to the midlands as I’ll still need to able to get to Chipping Norton and London for meetings every now and then and would rather not spend too much time on trains. Mick’s canal planner had come up with the idea of heading to the Ashby, the canal we’ve passed many times but not had enough time to turn into.

Over breakfast he set about finding us a suitable mooring for tonight. Getting out of Birmingham no matter which way you go involves locks, lots of them and areas you wouldn’t really want to moor up. Our most direct route has a closure on it, we could head round the closure one of two ways. One way meant few miles but a lot of locks, the other fewer locks but more miles. It was already getting hot outside and we still needed to go to the Post Office, so we opted for the fewer locks and some new water.

Sadly neither of our parcels were waiting for us at the Post Office, we may have to have a day trip back for them. The Victorian Street was no more, having been brushed aside now for the new tram extension.

It was rather hot outside, setting off or waiting whilst we had lunch wasn’t going to make much difference so we had a quick butty, slapped on the sun cream before rolling back the covers and pushing off towards Pudding Green Junction. We’ve come into Birmingham quite a few times along the New Main Line but we’ve never left this way and we’ve never been along this stretch when it’s been so green and sunny! There are 2,000 miles of waterways to explore, but then there are four seasons to see them in, there and back again, so that’s 16,000 miles to cover.

Under the Engine Arm.

Under the M5

Past Spon Lane Locks, all familiar sights to us.

At Pudding Green Junction we turned right onto the Wednesbury Old Canal, the atmosphere of the cut changing almost instantly, new water narrow and reedy. We refrained from trying to carry on up to the terminus and turned left onto the Walsall Canal where Ryders Green Locks waited for us. A chap moored at the top said the locks had been chained earlier in the day, they were open now and in our favour. The penny didn’t drop with either of us until we met a battered cruiser being bow hauled up the flight, they mentioned something about the flight being locked at 4. Ryders Green has had a spate of vandalism over night, so now it is locked from 4pm to 8am. We knew about this but had forgotten, it was now 3:30pm and we still had at least four locks to do!

Not the most picturesque locks, with flattened warehouses to one side with barbed wire fencing we didn’t mind not taking our time and tried to be as efficient as possible. Below at Lock 7 we could see a couple of C&RT blue t-shirts, paddles were being wound up to fill the lock for us and we were still one lock away, it was 4pm and there was still lock 8 to go. We apologised to the two chaps who helped us into the lock and then they vanished through a hedge to go and unlock the bottom lock.

Chatting to the Lockies at the bottom lock they said that they are playing Cat and Mouse with three youths at the moment, regular drinkers at the previous lock have passed on information about what the kids get up to, they are all known by the Police. But sadly emptying pounds, breaking antivandal locks and lifting lock gates out from their seating causing thousands of pounds worth of damage isn’t worth following up. So the Lockies are hoping that the youths tire before they do. As soon as Oleanna was in the lock the top paddles were chained shut and the chaps headed off only twenty five minutes late.

Not quite a mile further on and we reached Ocker Hill where the Tame Valley stretches off to the east. Far straighter than the Walsall Canal the Tame Valley was built around 50 years later, a long stretch on the flat built on embankments and through cuttings.

Roads cross over and then pass under the canal. The M5 splits here and lanes pass under the canal heading to meet up with the M6 which runs along almost level with the canal.

There were views back towards Birmingham to where we’d started, the BT tower not even four miles away, we’d done a big loop round. Then we were into cuttings with bridges high above again, a great mixture reminiscent of the Shroppie, just far more urban.

Perry Bar Top Lock came into sight, we decided to top up with water before pushing over to the 24hr mooring saving us time in the morning. Apart from a couple of motorbikes that sped up and down the towpath once our mooring was quiet. At around 9:30 we could hear noises, a boat was coming up the locks. Mick went out to check we’d left them enough space to moor, not imagining they would be pressing onwards at that time. A request for a Nicholsons guide to show them the way to Stourbridge. They were delivering the boat for someone and they needed to be in Kidderminster by the end of tomorrow! They were without a guide and hoping to negotiate their way around the BCN where there seems to be a junction every mile or so. They pressed onwards to moor below Ryders Green Locks so that they could be there when they open in the morning, not a place we’d moor.

Mick came back into the boat as the chaps said thank you for his help. We then heard a paddle being dropped and the boat came past us. Only one paddle had dropped, what about the other? It was still wide open for all to see along with the gate! Mick wound the paddle down and closed the gate, it was too late to walk down the flight to see if all had been shut up, here’s hoping we’ve got water in the morning.

8 locks, 12.92 miles, 3.73 miles as the crow flies, 2 goal posts moved out of view, 1 big change of plan, 0 parcels, 37 minutes before they lock up, 25 minutes late sorry chaps, 2 motorways, 1 over and under, 1 alongside, 7 straight ons, 3 rights, 1 left, 2 unders, 3 professional drinkers, 5 practicing drinkers, 0 shore leave! 1 armchair, 2 coconuts, 2 motorbikes, 9:30, 2 men, 1 boat, 19 hours cruise!

https://goo.gl/maps/YQNgPg3Nuws

Sheepcote Street Bridge

Our post hadn’t arrived this morning, so we decided that staying put another day would make sense. What to do with ourselves though?

On leaving the post office there was a crowd gathered by a netted gap in the hoardings around the building site in Victoria Square. I’d noticed the gap yesterday and that there was what looked like an old cobbled street that had been revealed during the works. Was this possibly Roman? Today high-vis clad people stood around, one with a camera as a digger scraped away at the stones and surface. Surely if this was Roman a digger wouldn’t be being used? Every now and then the digger was stopped for someone to have a look and take photos, the crowd joined in clicking their cameras. Later on I found an article in the Birmingham Mail which says that the road/path dates back to Victorian times. Various items were recovered from the surface, clay pipes, porcelain which all date from post medieval times. We left them to it and decided to go and see something older!

At the Museum and Art Gallery they currently have Dippy visiting. Dippy is a full skeleton cast of a Diplodocus and he is standing tall and long in the Gas Hall of the museum a rather wonderful setting for such a dinosaur. For a chap so big, Dippy looked weightless with his neck stretching out towards the entrance and his tail sweeping round at the other end of the hall. He’s well worth going to see and will be continuing his tour for the next two years. Details here.

Surrounding Dippy the museum has put together a display about modern day dinosaurs, birds and how they evolved into 10,000 species.

A large range of different shaped and sized eggs are on display.

Numerous stuffed birds ranging from the smallest Hummingbird to an Albatross, along with skeletons including one of a Dodo.

There was a lady who’d brought her grand daughter to have a look. They were having one of those conversations, as she put it ‘interesting yet difficult’. as they were looking at all the stuffed birds. ‘Why are they all dead?’ In days gone by the answer would have been easier but today stuffing an animal or bird for scientific study and accessibility to all isn’t quite what it once was, conservation and filmed footage are more suitable for todays youngsters. The exhibits could be flying around in their natural habitat accompanied by a David Attenborough commentary. To show scale a Hummingbird could be shown buzzing around the head of an Albatross or Ostrich even though the two would never meet in nature. We left Granny trying to explain.

We then had a wander around the rest of the museum. There’s a lot to look at, so I shortlisted rooms that I thought would be interesting. The top floor hosts an exhibit on the history of Birmingham. We skimmed through this, stopping to press buttons. The history of trade in medieval times was amusingly re-enacted around the modern day markets, selling cloth in bubonic times in short films. Local industry such as pen making and buttons (not silk covered like in Macclesfield) and of course chocolate. An interesting display worth more time.

Across the top galleries we passed through the ages to the Egyptian gallery, interesting for me at the moment. A beautifully wrapped mummy lay on it’s back in one display, the wrapping more important at that time in Egypt than the embalming. A cat also sat bound up below, it’s ears pointing upwards suggesting it was happy to be passing into the next life.

Then on to look at the Pre-Raphaelite paintings and the Edward Burne-Jones room. The gallery has the largest watercolour in the world The Star of Bethlehem, however I prefer his designs for the stained glass windows Last Judgement and his studies for Briar Rose.

0 locks, 0 miles, 0 parcels, 1 ancient Victorian road, 20,000kg, 26 meters, 155-145 million years old, 4 dippy feet, 20 dippy toes, 2 heron chicks, 101 by 152 inches, 1 bound cat, 2 Egyptian chairs, 1 frustrating email, 1 more hot day, 1 porthole removed.

Sheepcote Street Bridge

Bananas! Bananas! Sadly not ‘Picked fresh this morning!’ as a vendor used to shout at Surrey Street market in Croydon in my college days, no-one believed him but it brightened up your day. At the Bull Ring Markets the sellers are not quite so imaginative.

The market legally began in 1154 when a local landowner, obtained a charter from Henry II. It initially began with the trade of textiles and over it’s first hundred years the area developed into a leading market town and a major cloth trade was established. By the early 18th Century the trade of spices and meat was starting to take over from that of cloth. By the late 18th Century properties were being bought and demolished to create a central market area. Small streets such as The Shambles, Corn Cheaping and Cock Street were demolished, The Shambles having been predominantly butchers shops close to where Bulls were slaughtered. By the 1830’s a grand facaded sheltered market was being built which housed some 600 stalls. 1869 saw a fish market completed followed in 1884 by a sheltered vegetable market.

During WW2 some damage was done to the buildings and in the 1960’s new buildings rose from the ground. An outdoor market and a new indoor shopping centre, the first in the country with a submerged indoor market area. At the time it was considered the height of modernity, but high rents in the shopping centre meant that traders went elsewhere. It did not age well and soon became regarded as an example of 1960s boxy grey concrete architecture, isolated by ringroads and only connected by pedestrian subways, part of Birmingham’s concrete jungle.

After numerous proposed plans to redevelop the area work began in 2000 with most market traders moving to the Rag Market. The new design mixed both a traditional market and modern retail units. Selfridges, John Lewis, Debenhams now sit high above the markets with St Martin’s Church half way up the hill in between.

Today the area was filled with people. I had a good wander around the three areas of market. The first selling your standard market tat, but the lower half of the building filled with butchers and fish mongers. Here you could buy Pigs feet, two types of Tripe, just about any fish you could imagine. I wish I’d known what half of them were and what to do with them. Four fish for £10, but no freezer space. I so wish my Mum had been with me she’d have loved it and would have insisted on buying enough fish for a least one meal and more for a fishy soup.

The next building was full of textiles, braids, ribbons, wool. I was tempted, but I have no space for anything at the moment. Each stall groaned under the weight of everything for sale, one hardware stand beating the stall at Newark market hands down.

Further on in the outdoor market was the fruit and veg. Just about every stall was covered in plastic bowls full of one type. I wanted bananas, so got a bowl of slightly green ones for £1, but the blueberries looked past their best. Other things I only wanted one of, not six, so it took some time to find a stall selling items by weight rather than bowl. I’d hoped to get everything I wanted for some new salads at the market, but ended up having to fill the gaps on my list with a visit to Tescos.

Next time we are in Birmingham I’ll be back and have done some research on fish before I go.

Meanwhile Mick headed off with a bike to get some oil from Halfords, which turned out to be near Warwick Bar on the canal, so instead of wiggling his way back through the streets he followed the canal back to Oleanna in the midday sun. He just needs filters now before Oleanna gets a service.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 bike sherpa, 10 litres oil, 5 nectarines, 2 apples, 9 bananas, 1 pomegranate, 0 fish, 0 chickens feet, 0 (most definitely) tripe, 9 drawing pens, 1 parcel not 4, 1 more sketch, 1 email sent , 1 designer hat back in the cupboard for a while, 1 boating hat back out, 1 wilting cat.

Cambrian Wharf to Sheepcote Street Bridge

The sun was up early it was going to be a hot day. At Cambrian Wharf there is no shade offered from buildings or trees, the solar would do well, but we might keel over inside. Our jaunty angled mooring was not a place we wanted to stay. If another boat came and moored along side the lock we would then be stuck, not having enough space to swing the stern out and extricate the bow from it’s cosy position behind another boat. Decision made early, we’d move and head back to where we’d come from yesterday.

So before breakfast we were out Mick pulling Oleanna backwards, she moved much easier than we’d thought off the silt and I was soon able to push the bow out from behind our neighbour. The chap from NB Hakuna Matata then took the stern rope and gave Oleanna another pull enabling Mick to be on the back at the helm. We were free, and only just in time as other boats were coming in to find space to moor.

We made our way back to where we’d come from where there was a big gap. We pulled up and tied to the same bollard as the boat ahead leaving a good sized mooring behind us.

I got their number, they have only moved the pants outside to the other side of the boat! Why can’t we go back to the Stratford Canal it was good there, none of this Birmingham outside with walls too smooth to climb. I stayed inside, no point in venturing out. Anyway this outside had become very hot and made it’s way inside so I had to spend much of the day being a long cat, trying to keep cool behind a hanging t-shirt.

As the morning progressed school parties came along the towpath all amused at us sitting inside with the hatch open. We did a lot of waving! Some were lucky to see Tilly which caused another distraction only to be totally upstaged by the sight of the lego giraffe across the way.

Since being in Birmingham the furthest I’ve ventured has been to Pizza Express due to working. I needed a few things and wanted to see what the big building site outside the theatre looked like. You are funnelled through the site with colourful hoardings either side. From what I could make out two new buildings are going up and the tram system is being extended to here. The sun was high and baking the buildings, work men and office staff stood in what little shade there was out of the sun all studying their phones.

I ended up going further than planned to a couple of art shops and back to have a look at the shiny exterior of Grand Central. Wibbly wobbly reflections down onto the railway were quite good, but the reflection of the tables and chairs outside All Bar One were the best. I had a good couple of hours out exploring and left myself more to do tomorrow. Mick in the mean time walked to Sherbourne Wharf to see if they might have a chandlery there where he could get some filters for Oleanna’s next service. He had to negotiate a locked gate and a security guard only to find out that they don’t.

The afternoon was spent doing some more work, I’m now at a point where the director needs to see what I’ve been up to and make his comments before I can do much more. A few anomalies on the theatre plans need to be sorted before I can go much further.

Some boats have moved on, not willing to put up with the building noise from the arena car parks, others have arrived. Today we have watched a master class in the creation of git gaps. Not one single boat across the way has been willing to share a bollard with another. Sometimes the bollards are not in the right position for the length of your boat, we know that, but these bollards all seem to be evenly spaced, so any bollard is as bad as another.

Tilly must have been sat on the Houdini shelf shortly before we turned the bedroom light out. A group came past and spotted her. They all cooed at me and chatted away. I turned to show them my best side and maybe a little tear in my eye, it always gets them! ‘I think I’m going to cry now’ said one lady. My cuteness work for the day was done.

0 locks (Water Explorer says 1 lock), 0.25 miles before breakfast, 1 hard days cruise, 1 familiar mooring, 27 sketches scanned, 300mm out! 9 cartridges ordered, 1 reluctant cat, 2 hours of freedom, 0 filters, 1 gate, 1 disinfectant smelling fountain display, 47C in the pram cover, 5 git gaps, 0 space for two more boats, 1 set of heart strings plucked, 1 black and white floozie in the window!

Sheepcote Street Bridge to Cambrian Wharf

We’ve been thinking of mooching around the back streets, as it were, of Birmingham for the next few weeks. This morning we looked at our maps and considered going up Oldbury Locks to the Titford Canal. Along with Waterway Routes’ suggested moorings we printed off the BCNSociety moorings list so that we’d have all possibilities at our finger tips. However we are also waiting for some post to arrive that will come to the Post Office here, yes we could come back in a few days or just stay put. It being a sunny day, a weekend and the next England match this afternoon, we thought that the big screen through the bridge would attract large crowds. So we decided to head for water, do our chores and see if there might be space for us at Cambrian Wharf.

After an interesting cooked breakfast (who ever thought turkey bacon was a good idea!) we pushed off waving goodbye to Blackbird and headed to the slow tap above the Farmers Bridge flight.

With a load of washing on we knew we’d be there for some time. Yellow water tank, Tilly’s pooh box and all rubbish dealt with it was time to move on. Where we’d moored Lillian a few winters ago was free on the pontoons and there was a gap alongside the top lock. Should we go in forwards or reverse in, which side would it be good to have the hatch, these are all important considerations. Mick paced out the gaps, we should just fit.

We winded and then reversed in towards the available spaces. A chap from a shareboat gave a hand. Our stern was too low in the water to enable us to moor by the lock, the bottom being too near to the top. So we swung over to get the bow in behind another boat at the end of the pontoons. Oleanna’s bow fitted nicely and there was enough room to swing the stern round, sorted. Well except the bottom was still to near to the top! Mick hopped off with a rope and tried pulling Oleanna over to the pontoon, the prop not wanting to help us. She moved a touch, but not much. We’d heard that the level of this long pound was down by some four to six inches, so this wouldn’t be helping.

At our jaunty angle we decided that as we were in no-ones way we’d tie up and consider our options. Mick checked the weedhatch and found only a few bits around the prop, so it was the depth that was our problem. Maybe we should head back to where we’d come from? Or should we stay put and leave dragging Oleanna off the bottom to when it would be cooler?

This outside had potential. Trees, grass even! Tom was washing his hands so I took the opportunity of the open hatch to have a scout about. This outside had very little side to it, water surrounded Oleanna. Just what were my crew thinking of?! It didn’t matter as it was a very simple calculation to reach the bank. She soon came out and disturbed my calculations for scaling a wall. Back inside in no time, but this outside was so good. I settled down again resigned to another boring day, when they changed their minds, I could now go out!

I’d just about worked out where I wanted to explore fully when a man came along on a Honeysuckle, two wheels are scary, one is terrifying! That was it for the day, I decided that this outside was as bad as the last one.

We stayed put. Moored up before the match started the world seemed quiet, then we could hear what the score was likely to be from the crowds in the pubs, I suspect this would have been even louder back at Sheepcote. Once the match was finished the general hubbub noise increased, everyone pleased that England had won. Inside Oleanna we were pleased that we’d moved away from much of the noise, along with England having beaten Australia Five Nil in the One Day Internationals.

0 locks (we didn’t notice doing the two Water Explorer had recorded), 0.3 miles, 1 left, 1 wind, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 1 clean pooh box, 2 attempts, 1 cosy bow, 1 stern surrounded by water, 1 whirligig full, 1 incredibly large fish, 1 quiet afternoon, 6 cheers, 1 groan, 1 escaped cat, 1 poor mooring, 1 hot noisy evening, 1 set of watercolours drying too quickly, 5-0 to England.

https://goo.gl/maps/Ep8zzuqJpnC2

Sheepcote Street Bridge, Birmingham

Whilst having our morning cuppa in bed we could see that Mandy and Andy were getting ready for the off. When we heard voices by Blackbird we quickly got dressed and popped out to say goodbye to them. All boats now are heading separate ways, some sooner than others. Mandy and Andy were heading towards Lapworth today. We waved them goodbye as they cruised off under the numerous iron bridges spanning the centre of Birmingham, maybe our paths will cross later in the summer, who knows.

Storm very kindly offered to pick us up our Saturday newspaper from a local shop. Today our choice was available but theirs was absent from the shelves.

Tilly was allowed a bit more freedom this morning, as she’d not ventured too far yesterday we thought it would be safe. The wall in this outside looks interesting, it is taking a lot of calculations to see if I can climb it. So far I haven’t come up with a mathematical route to the top yet, still work in progress.

I continued with my work, starting to get things ready to send off to the director. As Panto will have a twist towards Indiana Jones, I have bought the box set (I thought there were three films, not four!). Mick isn’t too bothered about watching them, so in the afternoon Tilly (now bored of here) settled down with some crocheting and my old camera to watch the first one. Mick meanwhile headed off to John Lewis to get a new mobile, one with more memory. He also took my camera to see if someone could look at it as it has developed a grating nose whenever the lens opens up. This of course didn’t happen until the fifth attempt in the shop! It is most probably dust that needs cleaning out. Our tardiness of keeping receipts safe (I did hunt round for it as I know we kept it) means that if we don’t find it my camera will have to be returned to Sheffield before being sent off to be mended. A plastic wallet is now on the shopping list for such receipts.

During the afternoon more and more trip boats came past, most with large parties on board, drinking and enjoy the sun. One Stag Do, although not obvious, the others all Hen Dos. I did wonder if Mick had actually gone to work this afternoon instead of shopping. The first boat came past with a party of loud girls wearing sashes and two topless men. Was one of them Mick? A bow tie and his pecks out? I couldn’t see below the high gunnel so who knows how much costume wasn’t being worn. A second look and I realised that both chaps had too much hair on their heads to possibly be Mick!

Despite there being no England match on today, the football fans were enjoying themselves at The Distillery on the other side of the bridge. We certainly knew when Sweden scored a goal against Germany. Mick isn’t bothered about watching the game tomorrow afternoon, so we may move on to pastures new.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 wave goodbye, 1 newspaper boy, 1 new phone, 1 old camera brought out of retirement, 0 receipt found, 456 x 642 / 62.6 claw factor x – 0.143 + 542267 / tail 3 swoop = hmmmm, 12 sketches inked in, 1st film, 7 sheets of reference, 1 new baseball cap, 1 stag, 3 hens, 2 topless crew, 2 bow ties, 1 inflated groom, 1 noisy evening.

Dickens Heath to Sheepcote Street Bridge, Birmingham Main Line

I’ve just checked today and realised that Oleanna yesterday came through her 1000th lock. Water Explorer, a program we use to track our trips, occasionally counts locks twice, very annoying. It also counts flood locks, but we tend to only count locks that alter our height. So it is hard for me to pinpoint exactly which lock was her 1000th, but we have decided that Narnia Lock was most probably the one.

Today was flat going all the way into Birmingham. We’ve done this journey now a few times, so I decided to spend the day sketching out ideas for panto, leaving Mick at the helm. I was available for crewing duties, but whilst we cruised I was to be below.

Working again is going to change our boating way of life for a while. If I was back in the house I’d spend five days out of seven working, unless I was waiting for a director to get back to me. Sometimes I had more than one project on the go, so days off became few until work ran out. Certainly during rehearsals for a show I was more than likely to be working a 10 to 12 hour day, often an hours drive away from home. Our lives have changed since then, we are boaters and I don’t want to be that busy again. So a balance between boating and work needs to be struck, so both can be enjoyed. Yesterday I decided that whilst there is work to be done, I will work three days and then we’ll have a boating day. Weather may affect this along with deadlines. Designing doesn’t just stop when you put a sketch pad and pencil down, yesterday I came up with some ideas whilst walking between locks, today those have been put on paper. I’m hoping that tomorrow there will be more ideas to commit to paper too.

The hatch slid open as we approached Shirley Draw Bridge. Mick slowed Oleanna as we approached, we’d not caught up with a boat that had passed us just before we set off this morning, but there was a boat at the bridge. A hire boat was just coming through towards us, but as the approach is narrow, only one boats width, we couldn’t pass them and take advantage of their key of power in the control pedestal. Cars were waiting anyway, so they did the right thing by dropping the bridge and letting the cars cross again. We swapped positions with them and I hopped off, key of power in hand. It took a while for the constant stream of cars to clear and a lady with a dog to cross before I could turn the key and press the ‘close’ button to set the barriers in motion, but all went as it should.

Down below the occasional look up brought with it familiar sights, so I knew when we were passing the house that has been done up through the years by the water point. It has a very original name, Canal Cottage!

Then as the canal narrowed I realised we were at Lock 1 the Guillotine Lock, an old stop lock before the Stratford Canal joins the Worcester and Birmingham. With a handy stretch of mooring bollards I checked with the helm if it was lunchtime, it was.

At the junction we turned right to Birmingham. Passing the Bournville offside visitors moorings, I’m glad we didn’t want to stop, the whole length has been taken over by C&RT for dredging purposes. Skip boats and dredgers were dotted up the canal, making our progress slow. One of the skips hadn’t been tied up, so was pulled across the canal after we passed only for the bucket of the dredger to pull it back across.

When we came through Edgbaston Tunnel earlier in the year work was on going to increase the width of the towpath. Today it is all finished and with lights in the tunnel I didn’t even notice we’d passed through. Good job there were lights, as for some reason our tunnel light isn’t working.

I noticed the boat turning and realised we were by the Mailbox, time to pause what I was doing until we’d moored. There were some places up to Gas Street basin, but we carried on hoping for a space at Cambrian Wharf.  But when we got there there was only one obvious space. Both of us knew it was too short for us, but we tried anyway. A lady came from one boat and said she could lift her stern fender if that would help, a chap came from in front. There was space behind him, but nowhere to tie to. The gap was about two foot too short for us, so we backed out and winded, a boat in the top lock of the Farmers Bridge flight kindly letting us go ahead of them.

Next we tried round Oozells Street Loop. The first section is visitors moorings, but was full. I could see there were gaps towards Sheepcote Street Bridge, so we hoped one would still be empty for us when we returned. Another space came into view, NB Waterways Routes’ mooring. Paul has recently set off to reach the opening of a new stretch of the Pocklington canal in Yorkshire.

Where Oozells Street Loop joins back onto the Birmingham Main Line it is too acute for most boats to turn right, so we had to carry on towards Monument Road Bridge where you can wind at an old side arm. The gusting wind helped with the start of our wind, but meant using the bow thruster to assist finishing our turn. We headed back towards Sheepcote Bridge. Just a couple of spaces free on the two day moorings, we pulled into the first one as another boat pulled into the other.

What is this outside! They say I won’t like it, how do they know? They won’t even let me try it to see. There are plenty of people who stop to say hello to me, well that’s when I’m in a window rather than shouting at the back door. Tilly and I may fall out if she keeps up with her shouting. We may have to let her out when the towpath is very busy, she’ll soon understand and go to sleep!

0 locks, 2 counted on Water Explorer! 1000 since launch, 12.43 miles, 1597 miles since launch (ish), 2 rights, 2 winds, 1 straightish, 1 left, 1 lift bridge, 10 held up, 25 sheets of plans not to scale! 1 website at odds with dimensions, 12 set sketches, 1 noisy day with Tilly! 0 exploring allowed!! 1st home grown salad, 1 slightly smaller green monster in the cratch.

https://goo.gl/maps/3WyNkTw9STD2

Lapworth Lock 22 to Nearly Dickens Heath

With the car returned and enough water left in the tank to do some washing the engine was started and we watched boats come and go past us until we knew that the rinsing of our clothes was nearly complete. Lock 22 was in our favour so we quickly untied before another boat came up the lock below.

The water point was slow to say the least, most probably not helped by the dishwasher having gone on as soon as we’d tied up. I made use of the time and strained the elderflower cordial and bottled it into suitable containers that I’d been keeping.

After an hour we were ready to push onwards and upwards towards Birmingham. But there was mizzle in the air, the sort that before you’ve realised it you are soaked to the skin. Normally we’d stay put until it dried up, we could go through the link towards the Grand Union, wind at the junction and then tie up on the moorings there, or we could push on through and get wet. We looked at each other, we’d been here too long already, ‘Let’s get wet!’ we said in unison.

The next lock up was full, I checked that a lady wasn’t wanting to come down, she was having some difficulty with a tap to wash her boat. I did ask if she could give the port side of Oleanna a spray as we went past as her boat looked very clean and she’d not even started, but she was having serious problems with her hose attachments.

From here on the bottom gates revert to double gates. The single bottom gates are handy in that you don’t have to walk round to open or close the other side (unless you have long legs and can jump across) they are just quite heavy. Not sure which I prefer, the extra walk or the extra weight?

A boat was coming down so we paused for them to come past. This meant the next few locks would be in our favour, up to the long pound before the flight really gets going. The rain came and went, we really didn’t know whether it was best to wear a coat or remove it, which would keep us drier? After seven locks we decided to pull in on the rings and have some lunch before continuing up the next thirteen, other boats did the same including one coming downhill.

Once we’d fuelled ourselves we pushed off, the flight ahead was mostly empty apart from where the top gates leak. I walked up ahead to get the next one ready whilst Mick closed up behind. The rest of the flight was ours no boats ahead and no boat coming down to meet us between locks 7 and 8. This pound is shorter than most on the flight and has a bend. We’ve had to wait below lock 8 before for a 70fter to come through, but not today.

I chose to walk all the way, including the half mile pound to the next two locks. This is where a couple of years ago Tilly lost a collar in the sideways trees, a reflective one that didn’t reflect when a torch was shone around the area to try to find it. I didn’t bother looking for it. The last four locks were all full so my walk saved Oleanna waiting below.

At around 3:30pm Oleanna was coming up Narnia Lock (Lapworth Top Lock). Our first journey through here on our shareboat was on a very snowy morning. The canal was covered in slush and the world looked magical in the snowy light. We’ve been through here now several times since, but today was by far the hottest, now the waterproofs had been abandoned and sun cream applied.

Next through the lift bridges, the first being harder than the second. In fact the second was so easy I over wound it and it bounced back some! Through Hockley Heath with it’s strange expensive shops. The chap who gave Mick a lift back from Solihull this morning explained that the hot tub shop, Rolls Royce and McClaren show rooms are there because lots of footballers and managers live in the area.

Passing under bridge 20 and we still didn’t stop to go to Wedges. Bakers don’t have the appeal they used to have, a nice crusty loaf just fills me with the thought of indigestion. After seeing so few boats on the flight it turned out they were all waiting for us at bridge holes! In quick succession we passed five.

We wanted to find a mooring to have a barbecue, even though it was a touch windy. Mick kept wanting to stop where there were boats moored on the off side, but I kept wanting to carry on to where we’d stopped on Lillian. On we went and found the mooring I’d been thinking of, just short of Dickens Heath. The towpath could have been a touch wider, but we weren’t going to smoke out other boats.

Why couldn’t they have sorted this outside sooner! Giving me two hours, my feet! Instead I came and went whilst they had their dingding, but then they left me to it. I made the most of it, climbing trees, digging holes, rolling around. The two hours became very long and I returned just before the lights dimmed. Apparently I’m not going to like tomorrows outside!

Once we’d eaten we retired indoors, the evening cooling down. But after a couple of hours the inside of Oleanna had also cooled down somewhat, so the heating was put on for an hour!

20 locks, 6.4 miles, 2 lift bridges, 1 soggy morning, 1 load washing, 1 dishwasher load, 0 rubbish left, 1 full water tank, 1 straight on, 1 boat in the flight, 5 on the flat at bridge holes!

https://goo.gl/maps/c9nGj7bBmh62

Chipping Norton and Crick, by car

The real reason for keeping the car longer was to make a trip to Chipping Norton a lot easier. The unfortunate thing with Chipping Norton is it’s lack of train station, so using public transport involves a bus ride. An hours drive or three hours by train and bus from Lapworth. So for an extra £20 for two more days it made a lot of sense to keep the car.

We were last in Chippy in December to see Panto, it was a bit chilly then to be eating sandwiches sat on a bench, today we opted to sit in the car instead even though it was a lot warmer. Will (Treasure, not Shakespeare) the producer met me and gave me a guided tour around the theatre. The stage is more spacious than I’d imagined, but then there is no Panto set in the way at the moment. I’ll still need a shoe horn to fit everything in, but there will be space for actors to breath backstage, so that was a relief.

I came away with plenty of drawings and a model box of the theatre stage and wings. This is a scale (1:25) model of the building to which I will add a scale model of the set. This will be used by the set builders, director, actors, lighting designers, everyone as reference . They had a very handy box to keep the model safe, but this was several inches bigger than it’s contents so I elected to leave it with them. I can find room on the boat for the model, but not it’s box and Tilly would more than likely want to take up residency in it anyway, chewing the odd corner too!

Whilst I’d been shown round Mick had been to Corbetts Electrical in West Street (handily mentioned in my panto script) to buy some longer cables to connect the new Venus GX in the electrics cupboard. The ones he’d bought at Springwood Haven were fine to connect everything together, but making the cupboard neat and tidy they needed to be longer. Corbetts came up trumps.

Back at Oleanna my first and very important job was to find cupboard space for the modelbox. The cupboard I had in mind was emptied, just the right size, except for a big electrical box at the back of it, which meant I’d have had to reduce already small wing space of the theatre by 2ft 6”! So half my clothes cupboard was emptied, shelf moved up, a perfect fit and with some space for bits and bobs alongside. I was happy now I knew there was a safe place to tuck work away, just one small task of finding somewhere else for half my clothes! It all worked out in the end and we now have two throws covering the sofa as we used to on Lillian, they had been taking up a whole cupboard, so selfish.

With the car for one last evening we first headed over to Hillmorton to pick up some food from the Chippy there and then carried on to Crick. Our friend Lizzie, NB Panda, has bought herself a cottage in the village. We had a quick look round and caught up on each others news. NB Panda is at Cropredy awaiting a trip out onto the Thames up to Lechlade this summer. All too quick we jumped back in the car to drive to the other end of the village. There was just enough space for us on the lane leading to The Moorings where Mikron were performing this evening. Lizzie had planned to join us, but her hay fever was bad and she didn’t want to aggravate her asthma.

NB Tyseley was moored up alongside the restaurant and crowds had already gathered taking up much of the outside seating area. No spare chairs to be seen. I did manage to spot Neil Stittle who was moving chairs around and commandeered two of the last seats.

Revolting Women is all about the Suffragette movement, a subject a touch more serious than a normal Mikron show. Full of songs the show took us through Edwardian history and the events that led to some women getting the vote after WW1. The four actors took on the roles of various women and their families in London and politicians voting in the House of Commons. Lots of hats, voices and faces pulled and that was before a note had come from the trombone! It’s the third Mikron show we’ve seen, an enjoyable evening at a venue with a bit more space than there was at The Rising Sun in Berko last year. If you’ve been to see a Mikron show you will be aware that you don’t pay to get in, but you pay to get out!

Once we’d paid our exit fee and said hello to Marianne we were back in the car. We thought we’d been quick to leave, but others had beaten us to their cars, so we joined the long line. Whenever we sit in traffic like this Mick recounts the night he went to see Tina Turner and how long it took to just leave the car park! At least back then he didn’t take a wrong turning in Warwick (due to lack of road signs), then struggle with Google maps and a road atlas, resorting to a good old fashioned OS map too finally get us back on track.

0 locks, 0 miles by canal,  1 Spring Street, 200 seater, 20 plans, 1 modelbox, 0 modelbox box, 1 tight fit, 1 wardrobe downsized, 2 slightly grotty throws back on display, 1 fish and chips, 2 chicken kebabs, 1 chips, 1 dinky immaculate cottage, 1 Lizzie, 3rd Mikron show, 2 boaters hoping to see their other show this year, 1 left, 0 straight on, 2 many white roads on a white background! 1 long route round Warwick, 1 bored cat, 1 ever so boring day again!