Houdini’s Field to Crick to Welford Wharf

A couple of days ago we had placed an order with Shoes for Crews for some new shoes.  They make work wear shoes with very good grippy soles which are great for wet surfaces. The other good thing about them is that Mick’s feet don’t manage to burrow their way out of them within six months which is a rarity as he wears them every day all day. Yesterday we’d had notification that they had arrived at Crick Post Office, the parcel was likely to be quite large so we wanted to pick it up sooner rather than later. So as soon as breakfast was packed away we pootled the half mile to bridge 28 to wind so that we could return to Crick.

I was on mooring duties only today, trying to get a second good days model painting under my belt. If the set I was designing was a house or something a little bit abstract say then I’d have long finished painting the model, but this just seems to be taking forever! It doesn’t help when I change my mind about what colour to paint things. Slowly and steadily I’ll get it done, I’m quite pleased with the pieces I’ve finished, there just needs to be more of them!

Mick pootled us back to Crick, waving as we passed Lillian at Yelvertoft. The space nearest to the bridge was free so we tied up and Mick headed to the Post Office for our shoes and some locally grown beans for our evening meal. A little early for lunch, but as we were stopped it made sense before we winded and headed back the way we’d come. We’ll be back next week as there will be a yarn order arriving for a custom order from my Etsy shop, shame the lady hadn’t got in touch a day earlier as more than likely it would have arrived by today.

A boat was just turning out of the marina main entrance as we wanted to reverse up to the nearest one to us to wind, so we waited for it to slowly come past. This gave me chance to see if I could spot NB Blackbird sitting in the ABNB pool outside the office. She was just visible behind a couple of other boats, her bow button fender and pram cover giving her location away. When the way was clear we reversed and winded and were on our way again.

The afternoon passed quickly along the summit pound. Plenty of moored boats to slow for and plenty going the opposite way. Passing moving boats makes Oleanna list quite badly in shallow water. Mick slows us down but others on their lighter boats keep moving at speed, I don’t think they realise just what effect this has on deeper droughted boats. One chap had a breaking wash as he passed us, causing a five drawer moment and I picked up my water pot as a precautionary measure.

As we rounded one bend Mick opened up the rear hatch and told me to take a look out of the side. Fixed to a roof of a boat were two scaff poles which both had guide ropes, suspended between them was a very large hammock with a chap laying in it. It looked rather comfy, but a bit of a contraption to set up, bet they don’t move everyday.

Keeping an eye on our trip computer I counted down the bridges to Welford Junction. A boat coming the other way just beat us to the junction and turned up towards Welford where a mile further up the lock sat empty waiting for them. I hopped off and helped them through, the lady staying to lend a hand with the gates for us, chance for a chat. They are killing time until they can move onto their mooring in North Kilworth Marina, which is still going to open soon (this has been the case for years!). Apparently they booked their space over a year ago and were told that the marina would be open late last year, the latest date is September this year. However there are still not many pontoons with electric to them. I got the feeling that by Sunday there would be one more pontoon powered up just for them.

They elected to wind and moor near the lock whereas we carried on. Our memory was hazy as to whether there was space to wind at the end, we could remember facing the way we’d come, but not where we’d winded last time. Nicholsons shows one winding hole before the basin, but Waterways Routes shows the one at the end by the water point and pub as well. The two spaces right by the pub were taken, but we got the nearest mooring by the winding hole which will do us for a delivery in the morning (we have a birthday to cater for over the weekend).

1 lock, 17.32 miles, 2 winds, 1 reverse, 1 right,1 big parcel, 2 pairs new shoes, 2 pairs to be thrown away to make space, 500 grams beans,1 Grubberie backing, 2 tables, 4 chairs, 1 gin palace finished, 2.5 hours nowhere near as good as yesterday.

https://goo.gl/maps/Q7CqkjyBSrA2

Cracks Hill to Crick to Tilly’s Houdini’s Field

The last few days the weather has returned to normal English Summer. Overcast and at times rainy, thank goodness, I have to say I prefer the lower temperatures.

I’ve been working most days, gradually working my way through a box of set pieces. The box contents still seem very pale, there’s a lot more painting still to do.

On Saturday evening we were glad that we’d moved out of the village. Lots of gazebos had been set up at the marina and we guessed that it might be the moorers summer barbecue. It was, even with the constant downpour it sounded like everyone was having a jolly good time. Our mooring was half a mile away, but we could still join in and sing along with the music.

Sunday evening we met up with Lizzie and Gary, heading to The Wheatsheaf for a meal. Their Sunday roasts are meant to be good, but sadly as it was the end of a busy day there was only one left. Lizzie and I opted for the nearest thing on the menu, Belly Pork whilst the boys had beef fajitas and gammon and chips. All very nice finished off with puddings all round. There was lots to catch up on as it’s only a few weeks since Lizzie and Gary returned from a two week cruise up the Thames on NB Panda. They had moved her over to Cropredy in advance of their trip and had planned on leaving her there on their way back for a few weeks, but because of low water levels they legged it all the way back to Crick instead and got Panda back on her mooring. Quite a few long hot days.

It just so happens that our friends Bridget and Storm were arriving on NB Blackbird this week. One of those coincidences that was meant to happen. On Monday afternoon the curly ears of a familiar black springer spaniel appeared in our side hatch Bridget followed soon afterwards. They had arrived in the village during the day and were moored towards the tunnel where mobile signal is very poor if any, so she’d decided to walk Max over Cracks Hill to find us. Plans for a meal out at The Moorings were made for Tuesday.

So on Tuesday morning we winded and returned towards the village mooring quite near the main entrance to Crick marina, this gives Tilly plenty of space to explore not too close to the busy road bridge. There were parcels to pick up from the post office and a bit of shopping needed. At the water point a familiar green boat was moored, NB Alchemy. Neil Stuttle was busy working away on the bow, but we couldn’t see anyone else to say hello to.

In the evening we walked down to meet up with Bridget and Storm. Crick feels like home to us all, a familiar friendly place we have all got to know through the years. Mick and I started off our journey four years ago here and when we pulled out of the marina on NB Lillyanne (Lillian), NB Blackbird was waiting for us, this is when The Wasp was formed. So it was only right that we were here for their last night on board Blackbird. We had a nice meal at the Moorings. Have to say that Mick and I remembered the menu being more extensive than it was and they do not cater for those with food allergies, a little disappointing. Having said that what we had was very nice and we had a lovely evening, finished off with a couple more glasses of wine on Oleanna.

On a previous occasion there was mention of doing the Ribble Link together, which happened last summer. On this occasion there was mention of exploring the Irish Waterways, I think that after our fourth glass of wine we agreed! So watch this space.

This morning we walked down the towpath to say our final farewell to NB Blackbird. Bridget and Storm were pulling her along towards the water point but had just been beaten to it by boats coming from the tunnel. Time for one last photo before they emptied their belongings into their car and handed the keys over to ABNB for her to go on brokerage. Big hugs all round, a sad day. Their next adventure is already on the horizon in the form of a maroon motorcaravan. So we’ll be expecting those black curly ears to pop through the side hatch again, they will have just arrived by road not by water next time.

A parcel hadn’t arrived at the post office, so we shall have to return in the next couple of days. We reversed back past the marina entrance and then pulled in to fill the diesel tank. Since we were last here there is a new Harbour Master, we’d met him at Cropredy a couple of years ago. A very jolly chap who has brightened the marina back up after a year of it being in the doldrums. It was nice to see Him and Her in the office even if the diesel was a touch on the dear side.

In the past we would have waited for a lull in the wind across the marina (we’ve met all sorts of people when Lillian got blown the full length of the marina!) but today with bow thrusters reversing and turning out was easy. We then turned northwards and headed towards Yelvertoft.

Passing Yelvertoft Marina we kept our eyes peeled. We needn’t have really because very soon we could see Lillian glowing on her mooring. Minus her pram cover she looked in good order from what we could see. Wouldn’t it be funny if once NB Blackbird is sold she ends up mooring at Yelvertoft next to Lillian, the owners wouldn’t know their past.

There was a boat loitering in a bridge hole, they kept looking over their shoulders and then at us. What had they lost? As we got closer they moved towards us and warned us that we’d be coming across three boats. The front boat was towing the second which had broken down. This was then attached to a third boat which they were using as a break when needed. Luckily we’d got through the bridge before they came round a bend and we managed to hold back for them to pass.

A short distance on was our chosen mooring for the day. Houdini’s Field. As soon as the trip computer was off the doors were opened and Tilly and I went to have a look at the field. The crop had recently been harvested leaving the golden stubble. Tilly had a good shout at it all.

It is great here! Trees, sideways trees, friendly cover, someone though had stolen the tall grass that was here last time. That was fun I could pounce around to my hearts content, jumping high enough just to clear the grass before landing on top of an unsuspecting friend. The grass was short and spiky, but it did mean I could see any friends much easier.

There was a really good boat too. It had a low roof and was all made of wood, very handy for sharpening my claws. I think it should be Tilly’s field, but she won’t change it’s name!

0 locks, 5.3 miles, 1 wind, 2 reverses, 1 left, 3 rights, 2 meals out, 1 cottage, 1 final bye bye to Blackbird, 54 litres, 2 parcels, 1 still not arrived, 1 empty gas bottle, 4 days of part time work, 3 boats all in a line, 1 favourite mooring, 1 name not changing, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://goo.gl/maps/ZHdaH5GZZUD2

Welton Hythe to Cracks Hill

We pushed of at around 10am today, there was a newspaper to get, we couldn’t dawdle. This is the first time we’ve have been here in August and despite the recent dry weather the whole of the surroundings to the canal are so fat and green. Along one stretch there are quite sizable trees growing between the path on the towpath and the cut, you’d be hard pressed if you had to bow haul your boat along here. The closed Thai Restaurant is almost invisible behind all the growth in the garden and the very weepy willow trees. It’s normally a sad sight.

One boat had come past us this morning so we hoped there wouldn’t be too much of a queue when we reached Watford and we were pleasantly surprised at being the only boat. With a walkie talkie in hand I walked up the flight reaching the staircase before I met a volunteer lockie to book in. He said we could start our way up as we’d be following the boat he was with. Had we been through before? They always ask this, yes we think it’s our 17th time. I radioed down to Mick and he started to set the bottom lock. As it was ready for us a boat appeared behind us and the chap walked up the flight to book himself in.

We worked through the bottom two locks as one of the lockies emptied the bottom chamber of the staircase, open gates awaited us.

Chatting to the chaps they made sure we were aware that both Watford and Foxton will be closed overnight from Monday to help with levels. Apparently there are still problems with water levels down towards Leicester, when we came through last year there were chaps letting water down all the time and that was before the several dry months of this summer! The Lockie today told me that they have to run water down from Foxton every night to cope with the falling levels below. He said that they pump water up from the river at Stoke Bruern, then water is pumped up the flight at Long Buckby followed by being pumped up at Watford. Of course during the day all the pumped water gets used by boats travelling up and down the flights of locks, so restricting passages means the pumps can work to raise levels when the locks are closed. That’s 40 miles from the river to the bottom of Foxton and another 7.5 miles to where the chaps were letting water down last year.

Our passage up was easy and by the time we were almost up the top of the staircase boats were arriving to come down, a line of three by the time they got started. We pulled over to fill the water tank and I helped myself to some Tarragon and Sage being grown alongside the top lock in sinks. A very healthy herb garden.

In the hut at the top Mick found some old instructions on how to use the locks. Blimey! So glad it’s colour coded now.

Onwards to Crick Tunnel where we donned our waterproofs. As the bow entered the tunnel we could see that the light must have been nudged since yesterday, it was pointing to port and would blind any on coming boat. Nothing for it but to adjust it, I passed through the cabin and swivelled it to starboard before we carried on.

Mick thought the rain from yesterday wouldn’t have percolated through to the tunnel yet, but I was certain that the north end would be wet, it always is. I was correct, glad we’d warned a new boat owner to put his coat on before he got there. Part way through we could hear shouting from inside. Tilly wasn’t happy, Not happy?! I was NOT happy at ALL!! She is normally alright going through tunnels as the cabin lights are on, but for some reason she spent the next fifteen minutes shouting either out of the bathroom window or at the back door. Nothing much we could do other than get through to the other end and hope she’d calm down.

Back in the sunshine the noise from inside disapated and we made our way to moor opposite the marina. We decided to keep Tilly in for a while to help her calm down, I was calm now, the outside had got light again. But no matter how many head nudges and licks I gave her she wasn’t going to let me out. So not fare, Tom got to go out!

Mick cycled to the Post Office and checked they do Post Restante, which they do for any parcels we might want. But they didn’t have our newspaper, so he carried on to the Co-op where he succeeded. After lunch we decided to go a little bit further and see if the mooring at Cracks Hill was free. Here there is better internet and phone signal than back near the village along with rings to tie to. Contact has been made with our friend Lizzie and plans are afoot to meet up. We may also meet up with other friends whilst we’re in the area too, but now we have reached the long pound I have to knuckle down to work again.

7 locks, 4 of which are a staircase, 1 tunnel passing 1 with 0 mysterons, 7 day old boat owner, 1 tunnel light refocus, 2 moorings, 2nd shop lucky, 1 clean pooh box, 1 full water tank, 2 lots of herbs, 17th time through Watford, 1 calmed down cat, 1 better bell, 4 hours at last!

https://goo.gl/maps/wUhkWu8fmBo

Dunchurch Pools to Welton Hythe Marina

The temperature certainly has dropped and we woke to rain, constant rain. This is good as even more of the system is going onto night closures in the next week and now the eastern end of the Leeds Liverpool Canal is due to close, leaving the twenty mile long pound at Skipton lock bound for the foreseeable future. So any rain is good. We literally dusted off our waterproofs tops and bottoms and pushed off to cruise the three miles to Braunston.

A farmer rounded up his sheep as Swallows had a great feast under trees on the canal bank.  They swooped and dived and swerved to avoid Oleanna as we passed.

The first glimpse of Braunston spire (BANGERS!), we were nearly there. Our hope had been that arriving in the morning we’d find a mooring easily. Braunston is a popular place, the start of the Grand Union heading south to London and the Thames, the south Oxford heading to Oxford and the Thames, routes to the River Soar and Leicester, towards Hatton Locks to Warwick Leamington Spa and Birmingham. Because of this there are a lot of marinas in the area, therefore lots of boats.

We were lucky as we pulled round the bends to find the customer mooring at Midland Chandlers free right opposite Braunston Turn. Here the two arched bridges span the junction towards the South Oxford and very pretty they are too. Midland Chandlers didn’t have a Vetus fuse for our bow thruster. It hasn’t blown again, it’s worked fine since Finesse put a new fuse in, we just want to have a spare at hand. So we disposed of our rubbish mountain and then found a mooring.

We walked up into the village past the church the day was starting to dry out now and I slightly regretted leaving on my waterproof trousers, gradually getting sweaty knees. There are a lot of properties for sale in the village, The Shambles being the prettiest and most expensive at £750,000.

First port of call the butchers for some bangers. Several other things also went into our shopping bag including a caramelised onion pork pie, some burgers, a couple of pork steaks and some veg. The freezer would be slightly fuller and all we should really need for a couple of weeks is bread milk and fresh fruit and veg.

Then we headed to the bottom lock to Wharf House Chandlers. They didn’t have the fuse we were after either but did have a filter and some new fender hooks as we’ve broken a couple recently. Time for lunch and then make our minds up whether to cruise on today or not. The weather reports suggested that there would be more rain this afternoon, but not until 4pm, so enough time to get up Braunston Locks. The cratch was rolled up ready, waterproofs close to hand should we need them and we pushed off.

The bottom lock was full, so we decided to wait for another boat to either come down or for a boat to join us to go up, doing our bit to save water. A boat appeared behind us and kept coming towards the lock, I walked up and zoomed my camera to the next lock and could see bottoms sitting on the back of a couple of boats, we were following. So I set the lock for us and NB Ottawa who had four on board so plenty of crew to get us up the flight. It was sunny and warm, no need for jumpers now. Well until a very big black cloud made it’s way towards us, it was only 3pm.

Drops of rain, we were following four boats up. The waterproofs were handed out and I’d head on up to the next lock to set it for us. I think it was about lock 3 that the heavens really opened up, rumbles of thunder, fork lightening on the hills. Mick even lifted up the pram cover for a bit of shelter. No matter what clothing you were wearing you were going to get soaked. Up ahead there was a hire boat sitting in a lock, water pouring over the bottom gates. I popped up to see if they were okay, they were waiting for another boat to join them from the lock above. Wise, except that boat was already sharing so a full locks worth of water headed over the bywash and the gates as they waited to be joined, the other boat then had to wait their turn. By the time we reached the fifth lock everyone was soaked, but in good spirits and the sun came back out and made everything steam.

We kept our coats on and headed into the tunnel. We thought there were two boats heading our way, but only passed one, the other one was either a kid with a torch or it vaporised before we met it. Luckily we passed north of the big kink so no new scrapes on the gunnels. As we emerged from the dark the sun was streaming down through the tree cover. Works are on going near Norton Junction with a long length of armco going in, so no mooring there yet. We turned left and made our way to Welton Hythe, passing NB Happy Daze (another boat who won’t recognise us now) with a very colourful bow. Our usual mooring opposite the marina was free so we pulled in a tied up for the day.

Waterproofs were nearly dry but shoes most certainly weren’t, meaning very soggy socks. Once a warming shower had been had I popped some nice cosy socks on. The lamb steaks I’d planned to barbecue went in the oven with some roasted new potatoes, helping to warm up the boat and put us off lighting the stove.

6 locks, 1 straight on, 1 left, 1 tunnel passing 1 with 2 mysterons, 1 wet morning, 1 torrential downpour, 8 Braunston Bangers, 2 pork steaks, 1 ring black pudding, 2 burgers, 1 pork pie, 10 new potatoes, 4 carrots, 2 pints milk, 2 fender hangers, 1 filter, 0 fuse, 2 hours curtailed, 1 cat home and locked in by 7pm!

https://goo.gl/maps/wsJ1Jjpv9rB2

Newbold to Bridge 68 to Dunchurch Pools Marina

Tuesday we stayed put hiding from the sun under our tree canopy. My model pieces came out from the cupboard and I started to work on the smaller details of some of the elements and traced out a section of the set to see what colours would be good. Tilly explored when she had the energy to move and Mick sat out on the towpath trying to sort out one of his pensions, they’d lost a form then found it but then lost a birth certificate! Luckily it was only a copy, another copy printed off and popped in the post, fingers crossed they don’t loose it this time.

In the afternoon we had a walk down into Newbold to the shops. The Barley Mow had an interesting bouncy castle in the garden, a dog playing dead. A visit to the Co-op for an onion, milk and some chilled medication, nothing special but still worth having on what turned out to be the last very hot day. In the evening we finished off emptying the freezer with a sausage slop for tea. Only a couple of crusts of gluten free bread and some coffee remained, so it was turned off, lid removed so it could warm up and defrost over night.

Wednesday and the freezer was cleaned out thoroughly, how does cat hair get in there Tilly? After breakfast we pootled onwards to Brownsover to find a mooring to be able to go shopping. Four heavy bags came back from Tescos with us, I wondered if we’d over done it on things for the freezer (not everything was destined for the small box under the dinette, some wine might have sneaked in there too!). As Mick moved us over to the water point I repackaged the things that were to be frozen. I chicken jointed, mince, turkey steaks and salmon repacked into meal portions, bread, the freezer gradually filled up leaving enough room for some purchases from Braunston Butchers.

With the chores of water and yellow water done we pootled out of town. We paused at the nearest mooring to the station for lunch, this may be handy for my next meeting at Chipping Norton and then carried on a little bit further. The works on the new housing estate seem to involve a lot of mounds of sand and the works seem to stretch from Brownsover all the way to Hillmorton. A new bridge is being built over the canal and the foundations on one side look like they are in.  We passed quite a few boats moored up and then found a stretch of Arnco for ourselves, managing to pull in out of the almost constant flow of traffic.

Yesterday we’d been passed by Riverknits whom I follow on Instagram, I’d been busy rummaging for something as they passed, so Becci had sent a message to say if we passed them to come and say hello. I could see what I thought was her boat up ahead so took Tilly for a walk to see if it was them. I like going for walks with her usually, trotting along in front having chance to sniff things as I go by. There was a big bridge which needed a slight detour to check out but then I rejoined her. She didn’t go that far before she stopped at a boat and started to talk to a lady, this was boring, so I popped through the hedge to find immaculate grass with those funny little holes that my arms fit down. My afternoon was sorted.

It was very obviously Becci’s boat, inside there were shelves and shelves filled with of skeins of different coloured yarn and a small notice in the window. Having followed each other for a few months, me being jealous of her having got the good spot at Tixall Wide twice this year had kicked off conversations. We had a long chat about boats and yarn. I was invited in to have a look at the new yarns she is working on at the moment. Black Faced Leicester DK in some wonderful colours, all very tempting, but luckily she wasn’t willing to let any go yet as they are for a collaboration with someone. I’ll be keeping an eye on her website for when she adds them as they were lovely. She and her partner hand dye the yarn on their boat in big pans, once it is rinsed and ready to dry it is hung out on large hooks from their grabrail. Some of her dyed yarns are named after places on the canal, Hillmorton and a popular one is Idle Women.  It was nice to meet, our paths may cross again, hopefully when my panto model is off the boat and I’ve been paid.

Today we waited for a gap again in the constant flow of boats passing us before we could push out. Passing Becci’s boat she was occupied adding colours to her next batch of yarn a deep indigo blue, more skeins hanging out drying.

A mile ahead was Hillmorton locks, one of which is the busiest lock on the network. Today certainly wasn’t going to be an exception. We expected to join a queue, but only had to slow our pace a bit before one of the paired locks was in our favour. Two volunteers manned the bottom locks and we were soon up and on our way to the next one. A brief wait here where a single hander looked like he was about to jump infront of us but he just ended up being in the way for a boat coming down hill.

Above at the last lock one boat impatiently refilled a lock instead of waiting for the next boat heading up, so nearly 100% efficient use of the locks. These locks are now being locked overnight to help the back pumps restore levels for the next day. It looked like the pumps were on full time anyway  with a flow entering the cut above the flight.

On we pootled. Boats coming towards us all the time. Along Barby Straight you could see at least three boats in both directions slowing to pass all the online moorings. The tree house we’d spotted a couple of years ago has gone and so has the old Ambulance that has been a landmark to us since we first came along this stretch. One of the rather nice moorings had a For Sale sign, wonder how much these go for with their gardens.

Under the M45 we came across C&RT staff working on the towpath. In parts the path has been eaten away by the canal making it very narrow. Here the chaps were adding wooden poles and filling behind them with the hessian sausages that help wild life and hopefully stop bank erosion.

We passed fellow Scarborian boaters on NB Bessie Surtees and then between Bridges 80 and 81 there was plenty of space for us to pull in for the day. Tilly was given 6 hours of shore leave and off she went. Lunch followed by an afternoon of work for me whilst numerous boats came past, others moored up leaving git gaps making us look like we were at fault.

I’d been getting bored of red for a while, it is so last year! For a cat to be up to date with fashions I have to go to quite long lengths. Today I saw an opportunity and took it. The sideways trees here have had a mesh fence added to them which is quite hard to climb, but the sideways trees are dense and climbable. When I reached the same height as the top of the fence I noticed that it had prongs, this was going to be very handy. Being a cat and not having opposable thumbs means that unless I can make my collar ping with my mouth then it won’t come undone. My latest collar wasn’t a pingable one (believe me I’ve tried), but it stretches instead. I took a risk that she had fitted it correctly and I managed to loop it over the fence, I then carefully lowered myself to a lower branch. Brilliant it slipped off like a dream Fantastic! It’s quite liberating not having a collar on, this usually only happens when she puts that horrid stuff on my neck saying ‘It’s for your own good’ Pah!!

Feeling a touch hungry I headed home. Whilst calmly munching away at my biscuits there was a rush to close the doors. After much rumaging around in the cat proof cupboard she produced a new pristine clean collar in a rather fetching shade of dusty blue. That will do nicely I thought. But they will insist on adding a cat tag and dinging the bell lots. Apparently it didn’t sound like me, neither did the spare one in the pot. Tilly Too had to donate her bell to me as this was from an Easter Bunny like my previous one. I sat patiently whilst I had several collar fittings, the bell on the wrong side, a different bell, cat tag etc. Then when she was happy the back door was opened back up and I was given an hour. An hour! I had to parade along as many cat walks as possible to show off my new collar to other boaters I was going to take my time.

She did take her time, far too much of it! She was out through a thunder storm, ignored being called several times. We watch TV for an hour, then another hour, it was dark, her litter tray went out the back. Another walk along the towpath with the big torch in hand and still no sign. Where was she? At about 11pm she nonchalantly walked in the back and stuck her head in her food bowl. The bell on her collar must have been a substandard Bunny bell as it wasn’t making the right noise anymore, it was far too quiet. New tags have been ordered, now we need to find a better bell and a spare collar for the next time.

3 locks, 7.64 miles, 1 new bridge in the making, 1 empty wee tank, 0 boats at Clifton Cruisers, 12 skeins of wool, 10 degrees temperature drop, 1 thunder storm, 2 sunsets, 1 walk being deserted, 0 ambulance, 2 Scarborians, 1 marina more than it was, 2 collars, 2 tags, 0 spares, 4 ordered, 7 cat walks, 18 jealous people, 1 collar hanging on the fence at Dunchurch Pools (possibly!), 2 boaters relieved to still have a cat even if she doesn’t sound right.

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d16699.378696077638!2d-1.2378278739428843!3d52.37779981243506!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x0%3A0x0!2zNTLCsDIyJzI4LjYiTiAxwrAxMyczNS45Ilc!5e0!3m2!1sen!2suk!4v1533922694059″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=”” style=”border: 0px currentcolor; border-image: none;”> 

https://goo.gl/maps/V7HYen3HGeQ2

https://goo.gl/maps/uSPuHXvHej52

Power Station Footbridge to Hungerfield Bridge

Saturday morning, newspaper time. Google maps had been studied and Mick reckoned he might have some luck not too far away. Luckily he headed off with a bike as he had no luck and had to go further afield. After three shops and still no luck he had to resort to heading to the big Tescos back towards Coventry where our chosen weekly read sat waiting in abundance.

Back at the boat Tilly and I kept a close eye on the new grass cutter, have to say it was doing a good job. When it ventured further away it looked like it was auditioning for a Timotei advert.

They took their time! They had to have their second dingding before pushing off because the morning had taken soooo long. All this was eating into my shore leave just so that they could eat, very inconsiderate.

The sun was out again, yesterday under cloudy skies I’d managed to go a little bit pink, so sun cream was needed. Aim for todays cruise was to find somewhere for a barbecue, maybe some shade and hopefully not alongside the M6 or the railway. This being the Oxford Canal we were maybe hoping for too much.

Once we spotted a gap in the passing boats we pushed off meandering our way southwards. The Oxford Canal is one of the earliest built. James Brindley was appointed as engineer and built a 91 mile long contour canal between Longford (Coventry Canal) to the Thames through Oxford, the full canal opening in 1790 after his death. Its meandering ways were soon considered outdated and inefficient, The Grand Junction Canal  opened up and became a shorter route between London and Birmingham. Something needed to be done to keep the Oxford Canal going. In the late 1820’s the company decided to modernise the northern part of the navigation. Major engineering works began which substantially changed the route the canal took. Aqueducts, embankments and cuttings shortened the route between the Coventry Canal and Braunston by some 14 miles. The new route worked and stopped trade from going elsewhere, dividends were kept high and a respectable profit was still shown into the 20th Century despite the railway.

As you can see on a small extract from the Waterways Routes map the new route is far straighter. This is likely to save us 3 to 4 hours cruising to Braunston.

There are still quite a few bends which meant that the boat ahead of us kept coming and going into our view. At times the canal is narrow, other times it is just overgrown. The chap ahead seemed to be doing his best to widen the channel, zigzagging from side to side. Every now and then he’d come across a boat coming the other way which meant he had to concentrate, somehow two boats squeezing through where we’d have waited.

Having travelled this stretch several times before we know how hard it is to get into the sides (the angled stone bed making this hard) and the towpath tends to be narrow at best, so we kept our eyes peeled for any chance of a mooring. But possibilities were few and far between, the railway hugging the canal for some miles and most moorings full.

After six and a half miles we reached Stretton, the boat ahead of us had gone straight through the small swing bridge at the boat yard and left it for us to close. We were now being followed too, but they were too far away for us to leave the bridge open. I hopped off and swung it closed. A lady from a moored boat walked up and whilst her husband untied the boat she swung it open, we wondered who’d get there first the boat following us or the one about to pull out. Whilst we pootled away and waited to see who’d win the lady had to close and open the bridge a couple more times to let people across. We rounded a bend and never got to see who had to wait.

Through the wooded cutting in the cool, if only we could have moored there. The long stretch of moorings before All Oaks Wood were full so we carried on through the tree cover and out the other side, round the bend and there was space where we’d moored last year opposite the farm. We’d had difficulty finding a deep enough length for us last time, but that was before we had some ballast removed. A lady said that the bottom was a bit lumpy and we might have difficulty, but we pulled in with ease this time. Sadly the towpath was too narrow too get the barbecue and chairs out, so the grill had to suffice for our kebabs and sweetcorn.

I’ve been here before. It’s good here, a big field to run around in, sideways trees right by my boat, other boats (not that I went on any, honest!) and a little distance away some good trees. When she called me home for my dingding it took quite a while for me to get back, the trees had called to me, I had no option but to climb them.

0 locks, 8.2 miles, 4 miles saved at least, 4th shop, 1 towpath mowing horse, 1 pointless woodpile, 1 zigzagging boat, 2 much growth, 0 moorings free, 1 unswung bridge, 1 mooring with a view, 1 happy cat, 1 indoor cooked bbq, 1 freezer nearly empty.

https://goo.gl/maps/3d8Z3fESWP22

Coventry Basin to Power Station Footbridge, Oxford Canal

Having only achieved a visit to the Transport Museum yesterday it was a good job we’d moved over onto a 7 day mooring as we still wanted to visit the Cathedrals.

Coventry has had three Cathedrals in the last 1000 years. The 12th Century Priory Church of St Mary, the Medieval Parish Church Cathedral of St Michael and the modern Coventry Cathedral. The first is a ruin which had been left to decay following the dissolution of the monasteries.

By 1918 the diocese of Coventry was created and the Parish Church of St Michael was designated as it’s cathedral. The medieval church served the area well for 22 years until on 14th November 1940 it was bombarded by several incendiary devises and burnt along with the city.

The morning after the cathedral was burnt the decision was made to rebuild it, not an act of defiance but one of hope for the future of the world. The ruins would remain as a reminder of the follies of war. A competition was held to design the new cathedral, out of 200 entrants Basil Spence was the only entrant to have kept the ruins and linked them to the new modern building with a high porch.

The new cathedral is a vast contrast to what had been before, a modern building decorated with modern works of art.

The Great West window looks out towards the ruins and inwards towards the nave, large angels and saint figures swoop and play instruments etched into the large glass wall (John Hutton).

John Piper designed the bowed Baptistry Window which consists of 195 panes in an abstract design filled with colour (made by Patrick Reyntiens). This grabs your attention as you walk in with coloured light flooding through.

The zigzag walls towards the nave house more stained glass (Lawrence Lee, Keith New and Geoffrey Clarke) all directing their rays towards the alter.

The choir stalls hover like flocks of birds designed by Spence leading you towards the huge tapestry that covers the east wall of the Lady Chapel designed by Graham Sutherland, this tapestry took 3 years to weave. A wonderful building soaring upwards and filled with colour and wonderful works of art.

The art gallery can wait till we visit next time, but I needed some artist materials. We headed to a shop in the university complex which I’d checked would be open during the holidays, for some reason today they weren’t open! I tried other shops in the city centre hoping that they would have what I wanted, but one shade of paint was not available. Only one thing for it Hobbycraft outside the ring road getting on for a mile from the canal basin. Mick headed back to Oleanna to get a few chores done whilst I dipped under the ring road.

Hobbycraft came up trumps, better still they had some squeezy pouches of paint at half price, so instead of picking a blue and hoping it would be right I got three shades, along with several other colours! I should have enough paint for my model and several more too.

A bite to eat and we were ready to head off. Mick winded Oleanna and we ducked back under the basin wall to wind our way back towards Hawkesbury Junction. We were following a hire boat out and a short distance behind us was another boat. The weather had turned hot and muggy, a short shower though freshened up the air. Bags still hung from railings and there were more coconuts bobbing along.

We pulled in before the junction to fill with water, dispose of yellow water, etc. Even though there had been signs at the basin for rubbish, the bin store was locked with a padlock which didn’t accept our key of power, so we’d been stock piling it again.

With chores complete I walked ahead to set the stop lock as Mick brought Oleanna through the arch bridge at the junction. We’ve always had to queue here, but being late afternoon most people had already moored up for the day. With windlass in hand I set the lock the first since Atherstone at the beginning of July, good job it was only a small lock as I’d nearly forgotten how to do it!

The moorings were full as we rounded the first bend on the Oxford Canal. But opposite the Power Station there was space and armco, it being after 6pm we wanted to stop. The doors were opened up and Tilly set forth to explore, tail held high in the air. Trees and friendly cover, that’s more like it! We’ll cope with the constant electrical hum for the night and move further on tomorrow.

1 lock, 5.76 miles, 1 wind, 1 right, 3 cathedrals, 1 roof, 4th time lucky for paint, 10 shades oops, 1 city worth revisiting, 16 coconuts, 1 full water tank, 1 clean pooh bucket, 1 clean pooh box, 1 empty wee tank, 0 rubbish left, 1 humming mooring, 3 hours, 1 far happier cat, 6 more night stoppages ahead to help maintain water levels.

https://goo.gl/maps/Z7fwAv1XTBK2

Coventry Basin

Last night we treated ourselves. From the basin it is only about a fifteen minute walk to  the big blue and yellow building through the city centre, possibly the closest Ikea to a canal. We’ve been needing to replace some wine glasses for a while now so this gave us our excuse. It’s quite refreshing knowing exactly what you want so therefore being able to bypass all the living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens laid out and instead head straight for the marketplace. Only one impulse purchase was added to our yellow bag and that was some large bag clips.

We made it round the store, me pausing to check on prices of their smaller carpets, leaving enough time to head back to the top floor for some food. Our plates of meat balls came with Swedish flags stuck into them, we ate them whilst looking down over the many roof top car parks of Coventry, we know how to live it up!

Around the corner from Ikea is Spon Street. Originally it was a main route into Coventry where dyers worked their smelly magic, watch making took over in the Edwardian period which in turn gave way to bicycle and motorbike manufacturers. After the major bombing of the city during WW2 medieval timber buildings from around the city were relocated to the street in an attempt to preserve them as the city was redeveloped. Now the street is full of bars and restaurants up to where the ring road cuts it in half.

We’d heard that the Transport Museum was the place to visit in Coventry, so it was top of our list to visit today. We didn’t realise at the time that it would be the only place we’d visit today, it is vast!

During the 1850’s and 60’s the main industry in Coventry was silk ribbon and watch making. There was also a small sewing machine industry. The Coventry Machinists became the first place to build bicycles in Coventry and the first to mass produce them in the country. Factories were set up by pioneers who furthered the design of cycles from push along to Penny Farthings to Safety bicycles. The diamond frame, chain, gears and break systems all developed in the city.

By 1900 companies such as Swift, Rover, Singer, Humber were all experimenting with motorcycles and car manufacturing.

The first cars were expensive costing 100 times the weekly wage of the average man, cars needed to be cheaper to reach a wider audience. Standard released a car a quarter of the price and more than 2000 were sold. WW1 came along and the many factories that filled Coventry moved into producing vehicles and munitions for the forces.

Henry Ford started to mass produce cars and between the wars Coventry’s car industry followed suit. During the 1930’s private car ownership doubled to 2 million vehicles on the roads. Cars now could reach speeds of 70mph, the speed limit of 20mph was scrapped as it was hard to enforce. Deaths on the roads rose in number with over 7000 people being killed in 1934, style was far more important than safety.

Art Deco designs with angled windscreens, sweeping wing lines, curved roofs became fashionable, Jaguar were one of the first manufacturers to recognised the appeal.

With the outbreak of WW2 Coventry turned back to war work many companies working directly for the government. The many factories made Coventry a prime target for the Germans and on 14th November 1940 the city was devastated when 515 bombers dropped 36,000 incendiary bombs, destroying 4,300 homes and leaving around two thirds of Coventry’s buildings damaged. Even though a third of the factories were damaged full production was back in a few months.

Decimated Coventry was redesigned from a medieval city into a model of modern brutalist architecture during the 60’s. The car industry continued to grow, by 1950’s the UK had the second largest car industry in the world and was the leading exporter of cars.

‘Motor City’ attracted many workers from around the world, the average wage here being 24% higher than the national industrial average. But by the 70’s the Europeans and Americans had advanced their production lines and the British car industry took a slump in trade. By the 80’s many factories had closed others reduced their labour force by half. At the time unemployment in the UK was around 24%, in Coventry it stood nearer 47%.

The number of cars in the museum is vast, room after room of shiny bodywork. Buses, motorbikes and of course bicycles all stand side by side taking you thorough their history.

The displays are well thought out, just enough information to keep you interested. Animated displays fill you in on the history of each era.

You can decide which planes are friend or foe in the skies above Coventry (one lad did manage to shoot down Mick’s Dad’s plane though) and a ride around the city in the back of a black taxi shows you where the factories once stood with tales from the workforce.

The older cars have far more appeal to me, the deco lines of a Jaguar or Armstrong Sidley cannot be beaten.

We tried choosing a suitable sized car to have on Oleanna’s roof and ended up with a few possibilities, although we’d never get out of the basin here.

Mick spotted a few cars he’s owned and the previous model to our last Peugeot (the last to come off the production line) was on show.

Cars, bikes and motorbikes that have travelled the world, come first in famous races are on display. The final section is all about speed, the fastest cars ever built.

Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC are on display, basically jet engines with space for a pilot. The current land speed record stands at 763mph. The next car is in design.

0 locks, 120ft in reverse, 7 day mooring, (it’s still s**t!), 5577 cars, 243 bikes, 312 motorbikes, 5 hours full, 1 museum seen, 1 slightly noisier evening on the basin.

Mill Bridge 8 to Coventry Basin

More miles to do and some more work on Tuesday. My model may have been ready for my meeting but there were also sketch drawings to amend and photos to take. So whilst Mick pootled us along back to the junction I sat below trying to get everything finished before we were on to new waters. I popped out at the junction to check the way ahead was clear and only had four blobs of glue to add to my model ( to make a stubborn piece stay upright!) when we arrived at Hawksbury Junction. Here we pulled in and added our rubbish to the bins before pulling along a short distance for lunch. By now my model and drawings were packed up and ready for the morning, I was free to enjoy the cruise into Coventry.

Places have reputations, the arm into Coventry is one. The schools having broken up and it being sunny ups the odds of trouble. If you listened to all the stories then you’d never go anywhere and we like to see for ourselves and make our own minds up. It’s all comparative. If you only cruise around Nuneaton and the long flat section up to Hillmorton, the Ashby would be the prettiest canal on the system (with the minimum amount of effort). Don’t get me wrong, it is lovely, but we’ve been to far prettier canals with stunning views which of course involves lots of locks.

Heading into built up areas is better done in the morning, less chance of trouble, but we were setting off after lunchtime. We’d been warned of pieces of wood that kids put in the canal with string attached that get caught round your prop and the scenery that isn’t so good. Few cities have a beautiful route into them by canal, they were built to transport goods from industrial areas, so were never intended to be picturesque. We last ventured down the arm on Lillian to stock up at Tescos before we returned to Hawkesbury.

Our journey in was fine, we counted the ingredients of a Pina Colada floating past as we pootled our way along, one young chap offering us a coconut, we’d already seen eight others. No pieces of wood to foul our prop and we were lucky enough not to ride over supermarket trollies or have plastic bags slowing our progress. This was most probably due to all the plastic bags in the area having been used to collect rubbish and then being left on railings, handy for someone to collect, just not sure if they were aware though. Every footpath that came down to the canal had another collection of bags, at least someone was picking up the rubbish.

Where we’d winded four years ago there are new houses covering what had been wasteland. other new developments are being built and at Faraday Wharf the whole area has a modern spin to the old buildings. The steel structure left intact and then surrounded with new buildings. Here is a large digital and tech community which has start up offices and conference facilities. The grounds surrounding are well kept, just a shame nobody has adopted the canal side of the railings.

There have been all sorts of industry in Coventry. The most noticeable on our way in was weaving. Along side the canal stands a block of narrow three story high houses with tall chimneys, another block just around the corner. These were built by two brothers, John and Joseph Cash to house their weavers. Gardens to the rear, two storeys of house topped off with a third floor with large windows, where jacquard looms powered  by a central steam-powered beam engine, worked away producing ribbon. There were to have been 100 of these houses, but in the end only 48 were built.

A couple of big bends eventually brings you to the final bridge before Coventry Basin. There is a sign for a 24hr mooring just outside opposite the water points, but someone has made this their home with a tent pitched with a canal side view. Ducking in through the bridge the basin opens out with two arms. One is used by a hire company, the other has 7 day and 48hr moorings. There was space at the end for us and an ideal spot for a supermarket delivery.

We’d tied up, all three of us had a wander around when people in smart clothes started to arrive.

Then a VW camper turned up with ribbons on it’s bonnet, we’d moored up in the middle of a wedding photo opportunity! I turned my best side towards all the cameras and smiled my sweetest smile. Some little people even sat on my boat to have their photo taken, cheek! The reception was going on at a place just behind the basin, which meant we had some noise during the evening. More noise came from an expanding/contracting black van that parked up. A chap in the flats above didn’t like the heavy rock so after shouting for a while resorted to throwing a jug of water from his balcony, this got the drivers attention as his windscreen wipers started up. The music was soon turned down. After that we had a standard night in a city, some noise, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Wednesday morning and a walk across town with my model to the station. The canal basin lies just outside Coventry’s perilous ring road and the train station is on the opposite side. Here a concrete footbridge spans the speeding cars and gives you a good view over the top of the city. Then we walked in a straight line more or less through shopping areas, some seen better days than others, to cross over the ring road on the other side. The southern side is having quite a bit of work done to it, hoardings surround areas with quotes boasting why Coventry is so good. The next UK City of Culture in 2021, the area is likely to be on the up, new venues created, old ones refurbished, a lot of investment as happened in Hull. We wondered if Coventry will manage to get the city centre repaved in time for the year or would work finish in the autumn as it did in Hull!

Two trains got me to Banbury, the nearest station to Chipping Norton where I was picked up by Will the Producer, this saved me a bus ride. Today was what is known as a White Card Model meeting. Myself, the Director, Producer and Production Manager worked through the show scene by scene with the model. All very excited, thankfully, we just have to find a way to be able to afford it. The budget is reasonable but very tight, the scissors may have to be taken to parts of my design once we get prices back from builders. Gemma, the Production Manager and I had a good catch up not having seen each other in about twenty years, we both started work on the same show at The SJT in Scarborough in 1996.

Two trains back to find Mick and Tilly on board. A Sainsburys delivery had arrived to stock up the wine cellar amongst other things. We had new neighbours and Tilly still wasn’t impressed by our surroundings. It’s s**t round here! Even if I walk low it’s still pants! Luckily Mick and I don’t judge a place purely by the number of trees and hunting possibilities.

0 locks, 10.89 miles, 1 left, 1 straight, 1 rightish, 1 Ikea bag full, 1 ruck sack full, 9 coconuts, 5 lemons, 3 oranges, 1 carrot, 37 bags of rubbish, 3 extra wedding guests, 1 extremely noisy van, 1 pair headphones, 4 trains, 2 car rides, 2  smiling faces, 1 concerned face, 1 pair of scissors waiting for action, 1 very bored cat.

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