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!

York, but not by boat

Tasty smelling morsels were being put into my magic food bowl Saturday morning. I like my magic food bowl, it magically opens up and produces my evening and morning Dingding without being told to do so, the dingding doesn’t happen like it does when they are here. It just seems to know when I’m hungry. How magic is that?! But then she got another thing out of the bathroom cupboard, I don’t like this bag, it means there will be outside and no feet to keep warm in the morning and it most certainly isn’t magic!

This weekend we’ve been up to York to help celebrate one of Mick’s eldest friends 60th birthday. With a hire car we drove up Saturday morning stopping off to purchase some foody things and some wine when we reached the outskirts of York. Before we crossed town we made a phone call to check that we wouldn’t be arriving at just the wrong time. Mark didn’t know there was to be a party on Saturday (he’d thought something suspicious was going to happen on Sunday) and our arrival at the wrong moment could have blown it. However we had plenty of time to get to the other side of York to Sally and John’s house where balloons greeted us on the gate and if Mark hadn’t twigged by that point, then the number of cars outside the house along with banners would kind of give it away.

Three generations of the Harford family had gathered, all of Mark’s siblings, his four kids and their children, the youngest being 6 weeks old. Other old friends from Scarborough and York were there too.

Mick had spent some of Friday making some Yorkshire Cruncheon (almost flapjack, but with more crunch) to take with us, Harry (Mark’s youngest) had also made some, so a lot of time was spent comparing the two batches.

Mark hadn’t twigged and thought that he was going to The Pipe and Glass near Beverley with some friends for a meal. Instead those friends were absent, but all his family had gathered for a good afternoon and evening of celebrating.

Once the surprise was over we got back in the car and went to check in with a nice Italian couple at our AirB&B, our first time. After removing our shoes we were shown up the stairs to our floor, a bedroom, bathroom and living room all to ourselves for £65, half the price of any B&B or hotel in York this weekend. They started to give us directions of how to get into the city centre and advice on the best route to walk to the Minster. I explained that we both know York very well, me having been born and breed, Mick having worked in the city for many years. We asked if they had any questions about York, they did and we did our best to answer them.

The afternoon back at the party soon turned into the evening and night followed on. Food was consumed (too much by one dog!), wine and stronger drinks drunk, conversation had. A lovely catch up with them all and chance to meet the two youngest members of the family.

I was relieved to pull the amputee card when the drunken party games started. My grip would no way allow me to walk across a rug balancing with my hands on two beer bottles. Young and old tried their best, Jacob aged 6 did quite well, but then he was allowed to cheat. By the time we left everyone was looking tired and a bit merry, including the three dogs.

Our walk back to our accommodation was thankfully dry after some thunder earlier in the evening and we managed to tiptoe up the stairs in stocking feet without disturbing our hosts.

Sunday morning we made full use of the bathroom being connected to mains water and checked out squeaky clean to walk back to retrieve the car.

Everyone was awake so we manage to say goodbye to them all again before heading to find some breakfast in a supermarket cafe. Next port of call was Hobbycraft and WH Smith so that I could stock up on materials to be able to make my panto set model, a new sketch book and have some files to fill with reference pictures. It was then time to leave and wave goodbye to York and head back to the boat.

Oleanna sat where we’d left her a large gap behind her now that boats had moved off. Tilly was so pleased to see us that she immediately went out to explore before I could suggest when she should come home. There was a lot of shouting going on on the towpath from her, maybe that had something to do with us leaving a wrapper from some mackerel in the bin, the boat did whiff a touch!

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire car, 2 flipping food bowls, 60th, 1 surprise, 18 blood family, 6 weeks to 66 years, 2 lots of cruncheon, 3 dogs, 1 ravenous (Bliss), 1 elegant (Scout), 1 ponderous and obedient (Archie), 2nd floor to ourselves, 2 pairs of shoes on the ground floor, 1 crescent moon, 1.36 miles walk Pip’s way, 1.32 miles walk Mick’s way, 2nd round of goodbyes, 50p more for scrambled eggs, 2 sheets mount, 1 card, A2 foamcor, A4 sketchbook, 1 ringbinder, 3 wallets, 1 pleased to see us cat, 4 hours to cram in, 4 leg nudges, 1 absent cat, 1 stinky boat, 2 hatches open, 2 sets of doors too!

Lapworth

When we all got up this morning I thought I’d try my charms to see if I could get to spend the morning outside. It’s always worth a try, but this morning there seemed to be no need, one head nudge and I was told ‘Ten Hours Tilly’. I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly so came back from the opening door, ‘Ten Hours, no bringing friends home dead or alive or putting them on the roof for later, no going on other peoples boats, no jump…….’ yada yada yada. TEN HOURS!!!! That’s all that mattered, I was off into the friendly cover. See you later!

We’ve not being cruising long days by any means, but a day staying put was on the cards. After breakfast the Fertan was washed off where it had been left to do it’s job overnight. I applied some filler to where we used to have some press studs for the cratch. Very early on we lost one either side when entering locks as they were positioned just where the bow catches the most, so these we’ve not bothered to replace, so they were sanded back and filler applied to stop the area from rusting. More recently we’d lost a couple more, not sure how, but these are less likely to be knocked off. Mick got our new rivet gun out and replaced them. Once the filler had gone off this was sanded back and primer applied, with a second coat going on the grab rail.

There are going to be more days of not cruising in the next few months as I have some work to do. My Theatre Designers hat has been dug out from behind the freezer and is being dusted off so that I can design this years Panto, Aladdin, for Chipping Norton Theatre. Today I’ve read the first draft of the script. He’s behind you! Oh no he isn’t! Oh yes he is! It doesn’t quite seem right in mid June!

Mick took the opportunity to have a walk up the Lapworth flight. When he reached Lock 11 or there abouts, there’s twenty in the flight after the junction, he spotted a familiar boat, NB Tilly Mint. We’d crossed bows with him the Caldon Canal late last year. The chap on board is a single hander and Micks offer of help was a welcome one. Time to give him a breather so a windlass was handed over. He’d originally planned on pulling up after the top four, but had seen a C&RT chap who said that there would be volunteers on today, so he’d carried on waiting to bump into one, which didn’t happen.

A little after midday I’d just started on Act 2 (Aladdin with the lamp, rich now and got the girl) when there was a knock on the roof. Debby from NB Chuffed had stopped to introduce herself whilst a boat came down the lock above and Dave brought the boat from the one below. We had chance for a short chat before Debby’s windlass services were required. Later on in the afternoon, when Tilly bothered to come home, we walked round the corner to find them and introduce ourselves properly. It was nice to finally meet them, after the last couple of months with us just being ahead or falling behind them on the Severn, G&S and the Avon. Hopefully our paths will cross again later in the year.

So she lied this morning! Ten hours my ….! But I did get to make a new friend popping out of the sideways trees at the right time to meet Debby. She smelt of woofer, but I won’t hold that against her. When they came back from their explore I was allowed out again for another hour. I suppose nine hours isn’t that bad. Yawn! Think I’ll have a lie down now…night…..zzzzz

0 locks, 4 assisted with, 0 miles, 1 outside, 10 9 hours, 2 new press studs, 2 old ones filled, 1st and 2nd coat primer, 1 cratch board to be done another day, 62 pages, 1 lamp, 2 boats, 1 submarine, 2 new boaters met, 47 throws of a ball, 5 friends, 3 trees, 2 other boats (even though she’s not allowed on them!), 1 thug Tilly, 1 bloody paw, 21 poppies.

Lock 29 to Lapworth Lock 22

Our good friends Bridget and Storm have decided to put their narrowboat Blackbird up for sale. They have been spending less and less time aboard and it’s time for them to have new adventures, even so a hard decision. Blackbird was built for continuous cruising in 2010 and has covered much of the system. We’ll miss cruising with Blackbird and The Wasp is now a thing of the past, but I’m sure they’ll come and visit us for a boat fix every now and then.

Here’s a link to Blackbird’s details. http://www.apolloduck.net/569368

We got moving at the same time as others today. One boat came past just as we were about to push off and when we got to the next lock NB Hekla was ready to go too. They had found some rings and slightly deeper water just before the lock so had elected to stop there last night. So we were third in line for the first lock of the day. We helped Hekla up, then the next chap who was on his own, incidentally he’d also had problems with the previous lock. Soon there was another boat behind us.

The chap behind was a bit exacerbated, every single lock on this trip out had been against them. I offered to lift a paddle on locks as we left them if nobody was coming and checked where he planned to get to today, in case he was stopping short of us.

The convoy up towards Lapworth worked well. I think NB Hekla was lifting a paddle for the single hander in front of us and when we arrived I was able to close the gate behind him as he left. As we rose up the second lock Mick waved back at me as there was a boat coming round the bend in front of him under the M40 bridge, so I opened up the gate again and left them to reset the lock for the chap behind.

I went ahead after the next lock to help and then reset it for us, but there was a boat coming, so I signalled back to Mick to leave the gate below. The boat then pulled over some distance away and a crew member hopped off, even though they could have stepped off in the waiting lock that they’d just been waved in to. It then took forever for them to get past one moored boat and the single hander who was waiting patiently. I closed the gate after them and went to chat with the lady. They had been up to Birmingham and had decided the next time they hire they’ll do Birmingham. She was struggling a bit with the paddle so I offered to lend a hand. ‘I only open them half way until we’re half way down’, she accepted my offer. But as I turned to check that her husband was okay I couldn’t see him, where had he gone? Inside right to the front to get something. I waited for him to return so that someone was at the helm should the boat drift backwards, he took his time.

Once down he exited the lock and was far too busy taking photos of the lock cottage to bother steering, so was on full collision course with Oleanna! Mick shouted out and the chap did his best to stop and reposition his boat to avoid us, but then just brought himself back to hit us anyway, at least he’d slowed down some by now!

I’d remembered a nice mooring just below the junction, but the next pound looked inviting and there was space. We had one of those moments where I was sure it was still further ahead and Mick was dubious about my memory. At the next lock I could see up the next two pounds. One boat was moored in the middle of the next one, not leaving enough space and above looked busy too. We carried on and at the second lock there were the trees I’d remembered from December 2013, and one space which was Oleanna sized and in the sun.

Six hours she said, six! Bloomin’ marvelous!!! The field behind the sideways trees is great and there’s a good fence to sharpen my friend finding claws on. What an afternoon. She came out too and I got told to be careful of wet paint.

Mick undid the loose fairlead on the starboard side for us to look at, there was also a small bubble of paint under it. One of the screws had been pulled right through the grabrail, so no just tightening it up again. Under all our deck fittings Finesse has put what I call Black Tack, a substance that never goes off and should stop water from getting under the fittings. It’s a bit like chewing gum and takes a bit to clean off, but working slowly I collected it to be reused and cleaned off the residue with white spirit. The paint bubble was removed, sanded down and treated with Fertan. The patch I’d treated yesterday got a coat of primer.

They were doing interesting things, so I came to check on them. Big mistake! She’d said six hours, I’d only had two and was being bundled up into the boat. This was only so we could walk to the shop for a loaf of bread and pick up a parcel from the post office, she was allowed to go straight back out on our return.

6 locks, 1.15 miles, 4 in a convoy, 1 absent helmsman, 1 photo op not to be missed, 1 boat that should have been missed, 1 memory better than another, 4.5 hours not 6! 2nd rust patch treated, 1 screw knackered, 1 solution needed (might have to nudge it along), 1 big blob of tacky black tack, 1 loaf bread, 4 films.

https://goo.gl/maps/X62MCTnjyny

Claverdon Top Lock 33 to Rowington Middle Lock 29

The water point below Lowsonford Top Lock is popular but seems to cause misunderstanding whenever we’ve been here. Coming up hill you approach it and the lock past a line of permanent moorings. There are two taps just before the bridge at the bottom end of the lock, but if you don’t know this then you might think that there is a queue and hold back. The position of the bridge means that if you approach from above you have to walk down through the bridge to see if anyone is approaching from below, well that’s if you bother to do such things! But are the boats waiting for the lock or just filling with water?

Today we arrived with the washing machine going and pulled in to the two free taps to fill up, dispose of rubbish etc. We were soon followed by another boat wanting to do the same who pulled up in front of us. A few boats came past, one came down the lock and saw us at the water point and decided to leave the gates open thinking we were waiting to come up. However another boat was approaching from behind and thinking there was a queue had pulled in some distance back, a crew member walked up to the lock, saw it was in their favour and walked back to relay the information. So this ex-blue boat started to approach the lock, slowly past the permanent moorings, all as it should be.

Mick then noticed a lot of water coming from the lock, the water was boiling (our new technical term from the C&RT chaps yesterday) but the bottom gate was open! So he walked up to the lock to see a Diamond Resorts boat with it’s bow up against the top gate and a chap with windlass in hand, having just opened up the top paddles.He was stood staring at the open bottom gate. Obviously nothing was computing in this chaps head, so instead of saying anything Mick just leant against the gate and closed it, helping to conserve the levels in the pound above. The lady on the ex-blue boat was now approaching and wondered why the gate was closing in front of her, Mick explained, she wasn’t happy.

When the Diamond Resorts boat came down the gate was closed behind them, good practice, but there was a boat waiting to come up! The chap still had no clue as to what he’d been doing wrong and neither did the lady at the helm. We wonder how long the chap would have stood there before he realised why the lock wasn’t filling? Anyway they were out of the way now and normal operation of the lock could resume. The ex-blue boat made it’s way up another came down, by which time both boats on the water point were filled, some negotiation was had as to who would go first. I stood up at the lock awaiting our turn, helping other boats up and down and passing on information about the lock cottage.

Lengthman’s Cottage is owned by the Landmark Trust dating from 1812 and can be booked to stay in. It was built by the engineers who built the bridges on the Stratford Canal, they used the same techniques that they knew so well hence the barrel roof. To mark the 50th anniversary of the Landmark Trust in 2015, Antony Gormley was commissioned to produce five sculptures, one was positioned here by the lock for a year. Sadly we missed seeing it as we last come through before it was erected and it has now long since gone. I tried looking for where it might have stood, but there were no obviously new stones or holes.

Having helped four boats through and being asked if I was a volunteer I elected to climb aboard Oleanna and leave the next crew to work themselves through. We didn’t feel we’d travelled far enough for the day so resisted the mooring rings in the next pound and hoped for a space a little bit further on. At the next lock there are large signs guiding you to a Farm Shop, it’s a bit further than suggested and up quite a steep hill, but is worth the effort. They have a lot of meat and the lady we’d met a couple of days ago who’d been hoping for a leg of lamb at Wootton Wawen would have been better off here.

The spot we’d hoped for was taken so we came through one more lock and found a length or armco that would do us for the remainder of the day. The whirligig came out and so did some sandpaper and Fertan. There has been a rust patch on our grab rail for a while so today the loose paint was scraped away, the area sanded back and a coat of Fertan added to work it’s magic overnight.

Oleanna has also got very filthy and a layer of stickiness has appeared from somewhere, so half the roof and one cabin side had a good wash down. It does feel better when she looks how she should, even Mick had started making comments on how filthy she was, so she must have been really bad.

Late afternoon we began to list. Mick picked up a windlass and wandered down to the lock behind. A boat had been trying to come up, but the level had stopped increasing, the bottom gate was leaking just as much as the top paddles were letting in. So only one thing for it, empty the lock, open the gate and try again hoping that whatever was stopping the bottom gate from sealing properly had moved, it worked. However the boat following them had difficulty too. Around 8pm we saw a chap with a blue t-shirt zoom past on a bike, in his hand a long pole with a biscuit tin on the end, presumably he’d come to clear the gate.

This is a good outside, they came out to play with me and there were plenty of friends to find too. I’m enjoying this Stratford Canal, just a shame there’s no yoyo flies though.

4 locks, 1.18 miles, 1 full water tank, 1 empty pooh bucket, 1 deceptive queue, 1 total numpty, 0 statue, 0 joint, 1 rust patch sorted, 0.5 clean Oleanna, 1 bag coal off the roof, 1 anchor ready to go away, 1 chicken jointed, 2 good outsides, 3 friends, 1 boat with all it’s doors closed, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp.

https://goo.gl/maps/vhUvTU76of92