Narrowboat Starcross

Voting by Numbers

2012-02-13T10:59:00.000Z

My voting pack for the elections to the Council of the Canal & River Trust arrived at the weekend. I was a bit surprised at how little information was included about the voting process. Other than a bald statement that the election was to be conducted using "the single transferable vote", there was no explanation of what this system is or why it had been chosen over the familiar "first past the post" or any of the other alternative systems available and in use in various elections across the UK.
I understand that only four out of the 33 candidates will be elected. I can choose which of those four I would like to see win, but in doing so I have to rank them in order of preference - even when I would be equally happy to see them all succeed. To me, this suggests that although I have four choices my first choice actually carries far more weight (I won't fall into the trap of trying to calculate exactly how much more) than my fourth.

As in all elections there are some candidates that one would not wish to see elected at any price, so my first task was to run through the list and eliminate those. I struck out those who appeared to represent only one type of boater or boaters in only one particular area. I also discarded anyone with a connection to the Inland Waterways Association (IWA). I've nothing in particular against that organisation - indeed I was a member many years ago - and without it there would be no canal system as we know it today. It's also arguable that they should have been granted a seat on the council in their own right, as other organisations have, but to put up four candidates and attempt to take all the available seats allocated to boaters' interests is just too greedy!
One or two candidates didn't appear to understand the function of the Council and produced manifestos that suggested they would be involved in managing the Trust on a day-to-day basis.
Lastly, I eliminated anyone who appeared to be a serial committee member or trustee. The Council will have enough of these - we need more ordinary people!

Although this eliminated the majority of the candidates it was still difficult to choose between those remaining on the basis of the 150 word statement that candidates are allowed. You can vote for as many - or as few - candidates as you wish, but clearly only a trainspotter would try to distinguish between a 32nd and a 33rd choice on such a basis. With four seats on offer it seems to make sense to exercise at least four choices.
Andy Tidy was an obvious first choice - after all I was one of his sponsors! Sue Cawson also appealed with her emphasis on heritage and historic boats as did Alan Fincher who made an effort to emphasise the need to represent all boaters' interests. I also gave my vote for a complete unknown (to me) because, uniquely, he actually asked for it!

Then, unlike most readers I suspect, I filled in the voting form, put it in an envelope and took it to the post box. No on-line voting for little-old-luddite me!

First. . .and last?

2012-02-10T17:39:00.001Z

I'm not aware that anyone else has posted one of these - at least not amongst the blogs I follow myself - so here is the first photo of a BW service vehicle carrying the new Canal & River Trust logo, seen yesterday at Tyrley Wharf on my way back from Market Drayton.

It may also be the last photo you see of this particular design because a Welsh Nationalist mole in the sign shop has placed the Welsh name of the Trust above the English and according to the vehicle's driver this means they will have to be re-done because the English is supposed to take precedence!

Something for Andy Tidy to sort out when he is elected to the C&RT Council, perhaps?

I Love The Sound of Breaking. . . .Ice

2012-02-08T17:45:00.001Z

The weather in Lancaster has been unlike that elsewhere in the country recently, with no sign of the snow and ice other areas have had, so I didn't expect ice on the cut at Bridge 47 on the Shropshire Union this morning.

There'd been none yesterday afternoon on the way up from Norbury, from where I'd set off after a tedious drive down the M6 enlivened only by a car on fire on the hard shoulder somewhere in Cheshire. (The driver was standing safely, if disconsolately, nearby).
It took only a few minutes to break enough ice to be able to set off, but a good half-hour to untie the frozen mooring ropes. I couldn't use the time-honoured method of pouring boiling water over them as I belatedly realised that I hadn't brought enough with me from Norbury and was already down to my last two litres!
My original intention was to get to Market Drayton today, but once I was on the move the ice started to get thicker and it was only the thought of being marooned in the middle of nowhere without water ("water, water everywhere. . . .") that kept me on the move.

Breaking ice all the way, the first feasible stopping point was Goldstone Wharf. BW installed a water point here a couple of years ago as a replacement for the non-operational one at Tyrley, then promptly hung an "out of order" notice on it. The notice has gone, but the tap was dry (perhaps frozen?). The Tyrley point has since been repaired, so I pressed on taking advantage of the fact that another boat had obviously set off from Goldstone recently and cleared a way. However, Tyrley's tap was also dry so I had no option but to carry on down the locks to my original destination. On a good day I can get through the five locks at Tyrley in about an hour, even single-handed, but with snowy locksides and slippery towpaths I was in no hurry today and with all five being against me it took over an hour-and-a-half.
Market Drayton has a double water point. The first tap I tried was also frozen and I was reconciled to the idea of drinking nothing but beer for the rest of the trip but the second one produced a steady flow and enabled me to re-fill my water bottles and carrier. (I'll be able to get some beer in the pub tonight!)
I'm only out for a few days so will turn round here and start heading back tomorrow.

Here to tell the Tale

2012-02-07T15:35:00.000Z

I've just come back from my first ever swimming lesson and it's shattered a few illusionsI can tell you. I've always taken a light-hearted approach to my lack of swimming ability. When asked if I could swim I'd reply "Well, I've never failed", and I've always said that if I did go in I'd just stand up and walk out again.
Now I realise that it's not so easy. My teacher Sharon is both very competent and very patient. She came equipped with very efficient and confidence-inspiring buoyancy aids. (Even if she later confided she'd got them in Poundland!) But I didn't find it easy. It was bad enough with a planned immersion and a patient helper, but I now realise just how much I would panic if I fell in suddenly and unexpectedly!
Although what I wanted to learn was how to get myself out as quickly and safely as possible, I first have to be taught how to stay afloat for as long as possible in the first place. This was definitely not easy - at one point even the patient Sharon decided I must be one of nature's "natural sinkers"! Still, I only really panicked once and by the end of the first lesson I could just about keep myself afloat (with the help of the buoyancy aid that is) and I have learnt what to do with the arms and legs to get me out of the water provided that I'm not out of my depth.
But I've still got a long way to go and booked another lesson and we'll take it from there.

However, one thing today's lesson has shown me is how lucky the people of Lancaster are to have such a superb sports and leisure complex at the University which they are allowed - indeed encouraged - to use. It's something the town itself could never afford!

In at the Deep End

2012-02-06T14:50:00.000Z

Hilary has always been concerned about my inability to swim - particularly when I'm single-handing on Starcross. It's never bothered me - I've always said, and only half-jokingly, that if I ever fell in I'd just get up and walk out. Deep down however (if you'll pardon the pun) I've always realised that it's not as simple as that. Even our shallow and narrow canals have deeper bits and of course there are always the locks. In fact, the nearest I've ever come to falling in was crossing the tail of a lock one dark and rainy night on the Oxford Canal. I saved myself by the skin of my teeth that time, but next time I may not be so lucky!
If I ever take Starcross somewhere like the River Severn or the Trent I'll happily wear a life preserver but of course no one who's job description doesn't compel them to do so wears one on the canals do they?
Anyway - Hilary's gone and booked me a lesson, without telling me I might add, and it's tomorrow.
I am so not looking forward to it!

Canal Foot to Canal Head

2012-02-03T17:47:00.002Z

To Ulverston, on the bus. To visit the street market (excellent cheese, eggs, meat and veg stalls); for a pub lunch (local ale, hot beef sandwich) and then a look at the Ulverston Canal.

Entrance Lock from Morecambe Bay at "Canal Foot"

Always as isolated waterway and no longer navigable, the canal was built in the late 18th Century to allow sea-going vessels to reach the town of Ulverston, one mile inland, and thus help it to compete with the rival port of Lancaster on the other side of the bay, although it's now many years since either town saw a sea-going vessel. Starting at "Canal Foot" where there is a sea-lock accessible only at high tide, It claims to be (or have been) the "shortest, (1 mile), straightest, deepest (15ft) and widest (65ft)" canal in England although this claim presumably pre-dates the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal for one.
It's certainly straight as you can see in this view from the head of the entrance lock looking towards canal head.

As well as its claimed superlatives it can also be considered to be the most featureless and - arguably - most boring canal in the country.
As built its only features of note were the lock at Canal Foot and the wharf at Canal Head, although it subsequently acquired two railway crossings - a branch line into the works of what is now ~~Smith Kline Glaxo,~~ Glaxo Smith Kline, which owns the canal and maintains it as a back-up water source - and the viaduct that carries the Furness Railway which still links Barrow-in-Furness to the West Coast Main Line at Carnforth.

Railway Viaduct over the Ulverston Canal

It's a pleasant 15 minute stroll on the adjacent roadway, but that's really all there is to say about the Ulverston Canal, although for completeness having shown you "Canal Foot" I had better show you "Canal Head"!

Canal Head, Ulverston

But Where to Go?

2012-01-31T18:11:00.002Z

So with my time at Norbury Junction coming to end I'll have to start thinking about what I'm going to do for the summer. Since I've been here I've covered much of the western part of the canal system and in a series of weekend and longer trips have reached Llangollen, Ellesmere Port, Manchester, Marple, Great Haywood, Fradley Jc, Braunston, Birmingham, Worcester (almost) and Stourport. So it's time to go further afield. Droitwich is somewhere I always said I would go and I wanted to go when it opened last year, but that never happened. Unfortunately all the other places I want to visit lie in the opposite direction!

I've always been attracted to the eastern side of England - it's what comes of always having lived in the western half. So high on the list is the Fosdyke and River Witham down to Boston (and of course Black Sluice the and"Navigable Drains" - how could anyone resist black sluices and navigable drains?!). While I'm over that way it would seem sensible to take in the Chesterfield Canal as well even though this will mean spending time on the tidal River Trent.

Now I have taken a boat down the Trent. I've even steered successfully into Keadby Lock. But I'm still a bit uneasy about it and with visions of falling off the back and watching Starcross sail off into the distance as I go down for the third time (I never learned to swim) I think I'll have to recruit some experienced crew for that part of the trip.

Handing in my Notice

2012-01-30T21:02:00.001Z

After six years at Norbury Wharf it's time for Starcross to move on. It's been a good mooring and the Shroppie is - and will always be - one of my favourite canals. But I've given Simon the necessary three months' notice and will be giving up the mooring from the end of April.
This was Starcross on the day we arrived at Norbury Wharf in May 2006

And here she is in a recent photograph after a repaint, a new engine and a mooring nearer the Wharf itself.

I plan to spend as much of the summer as possible boating. Mind you, I said that last year until two house moves and a renovation rather got in the way. This year however I should be able to undertake a much longer trip and try to experience something of what it must feel like to be a liveaboard boater or continuous cruiser. Mooring fees are expensive - the biggest single expense after the boat itself - so it doesn't make sense to pay for a mooring that you won't be using. In fact, the saving I'll be making should largely finance the extra running costs and living expenses that I'll incur. It should also cover the cost of putting Starcross up in a marina for a few weeks if I feel the need for a holiday.

Moorings now are easier to come by than they've ever been, so when I've had enough I'll just look for another one, probably one rather nearer Lancaster as the 210-mile round-trip to Norbury has proved just a little too far.

Float Like a Butterfly. . .

2012-01-24T13:18:00.000Z

Moving to Lancaster I knew I'd need to find a new dentist - I just didn't expect who it would be. . .

Afterwards I may need to visit my new doctor: Doc. Torr!

Things Can Only Get Better

2012-01-23T17:11:00.000Z

A month ago it was already dark by 4pm. Tonight, sunset in Lancaster was at 4.33pm and its there's still light in the sky as I write this at nearly five o' clock. Strangely, although Lancaster is 200 miles north of London it's also so far west that sunset here is no later than at, for example, Camden lock (according to Nick Addy's Canal Planner). Poor old Halfie, in Norwich, lost the sun a good ten minutes earlier whereas Sue and Vic on No Problem will be getting an extra 5 minutes daylight down on the Kennet & Avon.

Mind you, what time it goes dark also depends on the weather and it's light here tonight only because for once, it isn't actually raining! Still, things can only get better and it reminds me, as if I needed it, that it's high time I was boating again.

The Ampelmann

2012-01-20T14:44:00.012Z

One of the more interesting Christmas presents I received this year was an Ampelmann. The Ampelmann, was the "go" symbol for pedestrians at traffic lights in the former German Democratic Republic (DDR). Upon reunification in 1990 the Ampelmann, like everything else in the DDR, was considered inferior and replacement by its western equivalent - similar to the UK's version - started in earnest five years later. But by then the citizens of the former east Germany had begun to realise that life in the west was not as perfect as they had been led to believe and a certain degree of "ostalgia" (nostaligia for the ost -(east)) had developed. A campaign to save the Ampelmann was fought and won. Its use was extended to traffic lights in the former west Berlin and, after studies have shown that pedestrians reacted better to it - and its red "stop" equivalent, it has even appeared in west German cities for which a female version - the Ampelfrau - was developed.
My fridge magnet came from an unashamedly capitalist enterprise that markets nostaligic ephemera of all sorts and its advertising suggests that its products are "beautiful images. . .from the good old times", although I'm not sure how many former residents of the DDR think of it as the good old days!

Thirsty in Wigan, Hungry at Preston!

2012-01-19T06:53:00.001Z

The 46 to Warrington is unusual in being operated by a publicly-owned bus company. Warrington Borough Transport is one of the few remaining council-owned bus companies out of almost 100 in existence before the 1986 Transport Act "encouraged" local authorities to privatise them. So I'm pleased to report it was exactly on time, clean and comfortable, with a smart and courteous driver and that it was well patronised. The route crosses the Weaver by swing-bridge twice - in Northwich and at Anderton, passes the southern portal of Barnton Tunnel (twice) and just allows a brief glimpse of the Anderton Lift as it climbs up from the river to the canal level at Anderton. Not only that, it also also crosses the Bridgewater Canal at Stockton Heath, the Manchester Ship Canal a bit further on and finally the River Mersey in Warrington itself.
Another quick connection at Warrington saw me in Wigan by 16.45. I'd intended to carry straight on to Preston on a 113, but I was distracted by this enticing sight at the entrance to the bus station.

The Anvil, Wigan. A welcome sight after six buses and eight hours on the road.

I didn't know it at the time, but the Anvil is in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide and serves an excellent pint (oh, all right then, two) of "All Black" Mild from the AllGates Brewery just around the corner. It doesn't serve food, however, so I was on the next bus to Preston, where I planned to eat. I'm not a big fan of Wetherspoon's pubs - too much like supermarket drinking, but at least you can rely on them for a decent (if unexceptional) pint and they always do food. Except they don't. Tuesdays at 'spoons are Steak Nights, with special deals on steak and beer, but at 7.15pm, Preston's Wetherspoons at no real ale, no steak and precious little food of any sort. Thwaites' Lamb and Packet, just along Friargate had a board outside: "Food All Day" and menus on all the tables, but when I asked if they were serving food the barmaid giggled and said "No, Not Really!"

So with the next bus not for another hour, I gave up, hiked across to the railway station, got a train to Lancaster and ate in Lancaster's Wetherspoon's instead!

More Traveller's Tales

2012-01-18T07:49:00.000Z

Crewe Bus Station

Crewe bus station has been tarted-up. You might not believe it from the photo but a fresh coat of paint and some cosmetic building works at least mean you no longer feel like an inhabitant of Skid Row just by being there. Even the cafe has had a makeover, although the more genteel traveller may prefer to go across the road to M&S for a sandwich. Actually she'd have had to: the cafe had run out of sandwiches by 1pm!

As well as taking you through unexpectedly scenic places, buses can also reveal that large proportions of the population of these islands actually live in areas of unrelieved mediocrity and tedium. The 31 bus to Northwich was one such bus. Although it did cross the Middlewich branch at Church Minshull and almost went past the "Badger" pub, well-known by boaters, the second part of the trip through the interminable 1970s suburbs of Winsford and Northwich was enough to put you off travelling for life. It was a relief to actually arrive in Northwich, where the 25 minutes before my next bus was long enough for another walk round the market (and another quick wotsit) as well as allowing a quick inspection of the magnificent swing-bridge over the River Weaver in the town centre.

River Weaver Swing-bridge at Northwich

Getting Full Value out of my Bus Pass

2012-01-17T04:58:00.004Z

With a whole day to do it in, and a means of doing it for nothing in my pocket I decided to try and get as far in the general direction of home as I could from Norbury using nothing but my bus pass. Believe it or not, I actually enjoy riding on local buses. They take you places you'd otherwise never go (a bit like narrowboats) and the other passengers can unwittingly provide you with hours of harmless amusement. As a professional I also can't stop myself keeping an eye on the driver and seeing how well he or she is doing their job.
The day got off to a bad start when the 08.25 Newport to Hanley bus failed to show in Norbury. I've asked the company for an explanation, but I suspect the driver just didn't expect anyone to be waiting there and chose to stay on the main road instead of coming round the village. With the next bus not until late afternoon I had no option other than to walk the two miles along the A519 to Woodseaves village where, after another 50 minute wait I was able to pick-up the 432 to Stafford.
Things got better after that. First's 101 to Newcastle-under-Lyme was bang-on-time. This bus crosses the Trent & Mersey twice in Stone and as we did so at the Star Inn I noticed I was now exactly two hours down on my original plan.

Newcastle-under-Lyne Street Market

First's "North Staffordshire Bus Guide" suggests that the only way from Newcastle to Crewe is to change from one First bus to another at Tunstall or Hanley. In fact another company, D&G Buses, run a direct service. I had just ten minutes to wait - enough time for a quick whotsit and a dash round the large street market. The route to Crewe has very scenic, even including a circuit of the duck pond at Madeley village and a distant glimpse of the summit of Mow Cop approaching Crewe, where I took a break and where I'll now take another.

I Got Stood-Up at Norbury!

2012-01-16T06:27:00.001Z

But she didn't show!

I had a date in Norbury. We were to meet in the village at 8.35 precisely and she would take me over to Stone. I turned up, but despite waiting and waiting she didn't show. Perhaps she knew I planned to leave her there and pick up another. In fact I had a plan to pick up as many as I could, until I got bored with them, or knackered or lost! I'll tell you how it went tomorrow.

On the boardwalk

2012-01-14T07:22:00.002Z

For what seems like eternity improvement works have been taking place on the moorings at Norbury Wharf. They were certainly needed.

Here are the moorings in their "unimproved" state: no proper surface, wooden edge boards that were crumbling away and nothing to tie up to except some bits of old iron rods that someone from the boatyard would periodically knock back down with a sledgehammer. As I used to say to the proprietor - these are the only moorings I ever pay for and the worst place I've ever tied up!
Eventually last Spring work began to make things better - although at first it only made them worse:

First job was to clear a track wide enough for the digger; when it rained this turned the path into a sea of mud.
By early summer work had started on laying new boarding and Starcross got a sneak preview when I returned to Norbury after a week away to find another boat in my space and Simon suggested I might like to try them out.

Note that the rings are at the back of the decking. This is to reduce the strain on what is still a rather insecure offside bank. A gravel path is promised for boaters to reach their boats, but I wonder how long it will be before someone ends up in the cut after tripping on a mooring line.
Completion was promised for Christmas but despite much progress it still isn't finished. The next two photos, taken this week show how much has been done and how much is still to do

Looking north, the tree in the distance is also in the previous shot.

Looking south

About three boat-lengths' worth of decking is still to be laid and then there is just the matter of a few hundred metres of gravel path! I hope they get it done before the mooring fees go up on 1st Feb!

Norbury Interlude Part 2

2012-01-12T11:22:00.000Z

Norbury Wharf - 9th January 2011

A whole day at Norbury with nothing to do - perfect! Except, of course, that there's never ever "nothing" to do on a boat! Over to the boatyard to buy a paper - these days it's the "i" as being retired I no longer have time to read the Guardian (and you can get six i's for the price of one Grauniad). I also picked up a copy of the freesheet Towpath Talk which along with the understandably heavy advert content does manage to pick up on a few stories that other magazines don't. At 10.07 an anonymous boat came past, southbound.
At 10.30 I decided I couldn't really do nothing all day, so decided to mop out the bilges. This is harder than it used to be since I had a Python Drive flexible coupling fitted, the brackets for which have divided the large area under the prop shaft into several small ones, which need to be dealt with separately. I can't get down to water level ~~I'm too big~~ the hatch is too small, so I have to soak water up with the mop then squeeze it into a bucket by hand. Twenty laborious minutes removed all of two litres of, presumably, rain water which wasn't bad given the length of time since I'd last done it and the amount of rain we've had since.
Another anonymous boat passed northbound at 11.00 as I settled down with a coffee and the paper. After lunch I repeated yesterday's walk along the embankment, returning along the road and passing below it in one of the two "tunnels" that take the Norbury to Gnosall road underneath.
There was a flurry of excitement in the afternoon when local boat "Mr Bo'Jangles" returned to its mooring and yet another anonymous boat, trailing two plastic ducks from the stern, came along. Another local boat "Columbo" set off from its mooring for a trip up to Grub Street and back. Just before dark the last boat of the day arrived from the south and, after an attempt to tie up on BWs visitor moorings opposite, the steerer changed his mind and headed for Norbury Wharf's moorings further up. This completed the boat movements of the day.
Starcross is in "winter mode" i.e. the water tank has been drained and pipes lagged ready for the winter frosts (you may laugh - but we've still got half of January and all of February to go yet). This necessitates frequent trips to the water point with a couple of 5 litre containers so, after tea, I combined this with a trip to the shower block (a great advantage of mooring at Norbury), stopping on the way back to chat to a newcomer to the moorings who has just bought his first boat and is a ukelele player and George Formby impersonator! (It takes all sorts. . .)
And that's what happens on a winter Monday at Norbury, although for a different view, click here

Norbury Interlude

2012-01-11T11:18:00.000Z

I've just got back visiting Starcross at Norbury Junction. Hilary dropped me off there on her way down to Hereford on Sunday afternoon. We had a quick lunch and a walk along the Shelmore embankment before she carried on with her journey and I lit the fire and then the oil lamp and a few candles and settled down to enjoy the peace and quiet in what remained of the afternoon on board. It was very still, no passing boats and, for once, not even a generator or engine to be heard - until I started Starcross up at six-o' clock to put some power back into the batteries for the rest of the evening.

The sad death of the X60 (Not waterway related)

2012-01-07T10:08:00.001Z

Apologies if you were hoping to read something about Starcross or the waterways - this is about a bus service!

The Good Old Days on the X60 at Lower Moseley Street Coach Station in Manchester.
A site now occupied by the Bridgewater Hall concert venue.

The X60 Manchester to Blackpool long-distance bus service was once the most frequent "coach" service in the world. At its peak, on summer Saturdays in the 1950's, buses left Manchester every 5 minutes for the 55 mile run to Blackpool. This of course was a time when few people had cars and nobody took cheap package holidays in Spain, let alone Thailand. Blackpool was the holiday destination of choice for people all over the north of England and for many the best way of getting there was on the X60.

Even in the 1970s when I worked on it occasionally as a conductor (or "guard" as they were known in the north-west) it was still busy enough to require the two regular operators - Ribble Motor Services and Lancashire United Transport to have to hire in extra buses and drivers from operators such as Accrington and Lytham Corporations on a regular basis, although by then it was past its heyday.

The decline accelerated in the 1980s when the service was converted to one-man-operation (as it was then known). So much extra running time was demanded by the Trade Unions - and granted by weak management - that between Bolton and Manchester the "express" X60 was actually slower than the local bus and the service became uncompetitive with faster, although less frequent, trains.

I lost track of the service during my time in Hereford, but when I returned to the north-west last year the X60 was a shadow of its former self. It had already been curtailed to run between Manchester and Preston only (thus abandoning its original raison d'etre) and reduced to an hourly frequency with no evening or Sunday buses. Sections of the original route between Preston and Chorley and through Bolton had been abandoned in favour of the motorway and the service even changed its number to X61 at Chorley to get round the EU Drivers' Hours regulations, which are tighter for bus services over 50km in length than for local runs.

It also appeared to be operated by some of the oldest and dirtiest buses in the fleet, which were no match for faster, modern and now more frequent parallel train service.

Now Stagecoach has pulled the plug. The X60 will run for the last time on 28th January being replaced by a service consisting of just two journeys a day between Preston and Manchester which will run via the abominable Trafford Centre. It's probably just as well it will be known as the X25 instead.

Its a sad end for what was once the most famous bus service in the country, going out with a whimper rather than a bang!

Even the Locals are Confused

2012-01-04T21:56:00.002Z

Hilary and I saw in the New Year at Cartmel, where she was singing in a concert in the priory. Cartmel is a small village in the county of Cumbria. At least nowadays it's considered to be in Cumbria. However, until 1974 it was part of Lancashire - a part of the county known as Lancashire-Over-the Sands. "Over the Sands" because the only means of reaching it from the rest of the county without passing through the adjacent county of Westmoreland was a route involving the fording of the tidal Morecambe Bay and the estuaries of the rivers Kent and Keer. This can still be done today, although you are strongly advised to try it only in the company of an official guide. A reminder of the route to the old county town can be found in Cartmel village.

In 1836, Lancaster was 15 miles away "over sands". It's 29 miles by road today.
Actually, the establishment of "Cumbria" was one of the few sensible changes made in the 1974 local government reorganisation. Certainly a lot more sensible - and longer lasting - than such abominations as Avon, Humberside and (worst of the lot) "Hereford and Worcester"!
Memories seem to fading in Cartmel however. In the Royal Oak before the concert we were buttonholed by the local pub bore who told us at great length that we were really in Westmoreland and how proud he was to be a Westmoreland Man!

I didn't have the heart to tell him, but if you want to check just follow the link to Real British Counties on the sidebar.

The Captain Has My Vote

2012-01-03T16:06:00.000Z

From next month all boat licence holders will have the chance to vote for one of the four positions on the 35-member Council of the Canal & River Trust, that replaces British Waterways (in England and Wales) as custodian of the canal system in April.
Andrew Tidy, better known through his blog as Captain Ahab is standing for election. Candidates are only allowed a 150 word "mini-manifesto" as an election address, which is not many words to put themselves across and seek your votes. You can read Andy's statement here but as a follower of his blog and through correspondence I feel I have got to know Andy well enough to vote for him as one of my representatives and to recommend him to others.

The election process is rather unusual. It will use the system known as the "Single Transferable Vote". This is similar to - but different from - the Alternative Vote soundly rejected for parliamentary elections last year. As far as I can see, despite their being four elected boaters' reps we have only one vote, which is used to rank the candidates in order of preference. I was going to try and explain it to you - and how it differs from the Alternative Vote - but I don't think I understand it well enough to: perhaps you'd better read about it for yourself here.

It strikes me that it might save a lot of time and effort if all the candidates were asked to explain the system that will be used to elect them: anyone who gets it right gets in!

3G, or not 3G. . .

2012-01-02T16:28:00.000Z

Last year I bought a dongle and took out a monthly contract with "3" for mobile internet access. Primarily this was because we had two house moves coming up and everyone I asked told me to expect trouble transferring our broadband connection although I also intended to use it for posting from Starcross.
"Everyone" couldn't have been more right! A minor data entry error by someone at Post Office Telecoms left us without broadband for over two months and we have now switched to the Phone Co-Op for landline and broadband.
"3"'s monthly contract came, or so I was led to believe, with an option to switch to pay-as-you-go after three months. With the home internet issue resolved, pay-as-you go appeared to be a better option for posting from the boat and eventually, just before Christmas, I got round to doing something about it.
"3"'s call-centre operative, over in Bangalore or wherever, was not happy! "Pay as You Go" is not a good option for you". She denied all knowledge of the daily rate I had been quoted and claimed that PAYG would turn out to be much more expensive than a contract. I persevered: she stood her ground. Eventually I lost my temper a little and said I wanted to cancel the contract altogether. Consternation! I would have to be transferred to another department; I would have to hold on; my details were slow at coming-up on the screen (and all this at premium rates of course). Then I was told I had a very old dongle (its actually just over 12 months old) and that they could send me a new, faster, one and reduce my monthly rate.
I still wanted to cancel. More holding-on; more slow-to-appear details. Eventually "my manager has authorised me to offer you a special rate" (about a quarter of what I'd been paying). If my intention had been to secure a better deal I would have accepted the offer with both hands and, if genuine, it would certainly have been far cheaper than even the PAYG rate I'd originally been quoted. But by now I was seeing this as a battle of wills and I was determined to stick to my guns. After more expensive hanging-on I was at last told that my contract would be cancelled - after a month's notice of course.
In the end I felt sorry for the operative: she had tried really hard and would probably lose her bonus for the week but in the course of the conversation I'd remembered that my Samsung Galaxy smartphone can be configured to work as a wi-fi router and it proved surprisingly easy to do (once I'd found the right section of the settings menu).
To prove it, you've just read the first post made using the phone as a router to my laptop.

Does anyone else still do this?

2011-12-30T21:18:00.000Z

When I started keeping a photographic record of my travels with Starcross I was still using a film camera and sticking prints in photo-albums. (Younger readers should ask their parents). By the time I acquired a digital camera with enough battery power to take away for a week on board I had several years' worth of prints so, as well as keeping digital copies, I've chosen to keep on getting most shots printed out.
These days I use Truprint. Having downloaded the relevant, free, software I can upload the jpg files, edit them and send them off to the great photo-processing plant in the sky and the prints arrive in the post a few days later.
The price-per-print falls dramatically as the size of the order increases, so I usually wait until I have a hundred or so waiting to go. The hundred prints then sit around at home for several months until I get around to sticking them in the album, by which time I have to consult the log book to work out when and where I took them! It's all incredibly archaic but it does mean I have a complete single-format record - and one that is rather more future-proof than digital formats provided that I don't lose the prints and that I can continue to buy the photo-corners to stick them in with, which are becoming increasingly difficult to find in shops.
I've just spent one of those "non-days" between Christmas and New Year, when everyone's lost track of the day or the date, bringing my album up-to-date and covering the period from June to November (later ones are still in the camera). Here are some of the highlights of 2011.

I'm not likely to forget last winter in a hurry!

Spring saw us entertaining Starcross' previous owners: Mark and Mandy (right) with daughter, Mika, who's come along since.

Summer brought the Braunston Working Boat Gathering
Chertsey is in there somewhere.

One of the highlights of the latter part of the year was this display of Autumn colours in Grub Street cutting.

So, does anyone else still get prints, or am I alone?

The Day of Reckoning

2011-12-27T18:49:00.000Z

Each year I keep a check on the use I've made of Starcross- partly to justify to myself the not inconsiderable investment that goes into the upkeep of a narrowboat - but mainly just out of interest. I count the number of days I've spent aboard, the distance travelled and the locks passed through.
Here are 2011's totals compared with previous years:

Year Days Miles Locks
2011 84 518 284
2010 69 508 276
2009 62 415 230
2008 64 396 206
2007 41 344 181
2006 60 514 378
2005 63 520 777

As expected, in the first full year of my retirement I spent more days on board, although not as many as I'd hoped due to moving house twice and finding a lot more work than anticipated needed doing on the second house. The mileage and lockage totals show that the time I did spend aboard was more leisurely - again as expected - with the 15 extra days producing only 10 extra miles and 8 more locks than last year.
My use of Starcross seems to be increasing slowly each year with the obvious exceptions being 2007, when she was out of commission for three months awaiting a new engine and 2005, when the high number of locks was due to being moored in the middle of the Lowsonford flight on the southern Stratford, when we had to pass through at least 14 locks just to turn round! (The 2005 figures include the last few weeks of 2004, when I owned Starcross but couldn't use her very much due to winter stoppages).

As usual, the annual totalling-up doesn't quite match the running totals I keep posted in the sidebar and as I have no independent record of these I have adjusted them (slightly) to match the figures above.

I wonder what 2012 will bring? I have great plans, but who knows whether they will come to fruition.. .

Good Cop, Bad Cop

2011-12-23T18:00:00.000Z

Along with the Christmas post comes the annual letter from Norbury Wharf. Actually, this year there are two: from MD, Simon, comes a news round-up: Boat hiring up, moorings all taken, improvements to the moorings and proposals for improved car parking - it's all good news.

To Manager, David, falls the "bad cop" role: A reiteration of the rules regarding tying up, car parking, locking gates, controlling dogs etc together with the unwelcome news of a 6% increase in mooring fees. In fairness, Norbury Wharf take a light-touch approach to moorings management and it will be three years since the last rise, during which time VAT has increased, and as we all know, all sorts of other costs have been rocketing.

Nevertheless, it's surprising how these things mount up. Following some hefty increases during the first few years, since moving to Norbury in 2006 the cost of my mooring will have risen by 33% and there can't be many people outside of the banking fraternity that can claim to have increased their income by such an amount!

Perhaps I'll have to consider continuous cruising after all!

And Now, A Word From our Sponsor

2011-12-22T10:04:00.000Z

To me, as to most people I suspect, canals = boats. Without boats and the huge investment made by private boaters and hire-boat operators over the last 40+ years the waterways would not now exist in their current form. Boaters are also just about the only users that contribute directly to the cost of running the system, through licences, mooring fees and the like. Despite this, private boaters will have only four representatives out of 35 on the council of the new Canal and River Trust when it takes over from British Waterways in April.

It's important therefore that the right people are chosen to represent us and I've been ~~pleased~~ honoured to be asked to be a sponsor for one of the best (In Trustland candidates "nominate" themselves but require 10 "sponsors"): Andy Tidy, better known as "Captain Ahab" of the eponymous blog. In fact, I actually sponsored him twice - the first time I didn't sign the form!

Andy, like the other candidates, will put his case forward in an election statement before the election, but in the meantime anyone wishing to judge his suitability for the post should just have a look at his blog.

I must confess - and I hope this doesn't invalidate my sponsorship - that I've never actually met the Captain; he's one of those people I only know through the internet and blogging, but when he's elected he'll obviously have to buy me a pint!

While I've Been Away

2011-12-18T20:50:00.000Z

After my last post, back in September, I intended to have a break from the blog - but perhaps actually deleting it was a step too far! I've been heartened by the number of readers that say they have missed these ramblings so, after several hours trying to understand the gobbledegook (googledegook?) of Blogger's "help" feature I finally found out how to ~~undelete~~ restore it and here I am again! The immediate stimulus for coming back was actually last week's trip on Starcross down to Compton and back and seeing Seyella, Moore 2 Life, Rock and Roll and Chertsey - all of whose blogs I follow - in the space of the few miles between Norbury Junction and Brewood! George and Carol on Rock and Roll were the only ones I actually spoke to - and that was just a snatched "conversation" as we passed in opposite directions, but they did say they read the blog and in doing so made me feel guilty for deleting it!

You haven't missed much. I had a trip up to Goldstone Common and back in October; the new title photo shows Starcross at Shebdon Wharf on the way back. The rest of the Autumn has mainly been spent working on the new house in Lancaster, which is almost finished - just like the new moorings at Norbury Wharf - both of which were supposed to be done "by Christmas"!

Last week's trip to Compton, on the Staffs and Worcs was leisurely to say the least: two full days down, with an overnight at the rural moorings just south of Brewood (my new way of saving money - stop somewhere without a pub!), a couple of days at Compton with a side trip around the Black Country and to Birmingham's Christmas Market by bus and two overnight stops on the way back- at Brewood, where I picked up my old boating mate Hugh, and at Gnosall from where we took the bus into Stafford and spent all the beer money I'd saved the rest of the week!
Starcross seemed to have developed a leaking window in my absence; hopefully some waterproofing and re-tightening of the screws holding in the windows will have done the trick. Before leaving I also drained the domestic water system and checked the pipe lagging just in case we get a cold spell over Christmas. Most of the copper piping has now been replaced by plastic following previous years' disasters but I still think its worth doing. There are no photos of the trip because half-way home I remembered I'd left the camera on Starcross, so here's one from the Goldstone trip in October!

Wharf Tavern, Goldstone

And that's it until after Christmas.

See You Later

2011-09-26T13:42:00.001+01:00

One of the joys of travelling around the country used to be the many and various ways in which you heard, or overheard, people saying "goodbye".
'Bye, Cheers, Cheerio, Ta-ta, Tara-a-bit, Tara-our kid, TTFN, So Long, See Yer", and no doubt many others that I haven't come across or can't remember. But is it just me or have all these been replaced by the seemingly ubiquitous "See You Later". I first noticed it when we moved to Lancaster. We suddenly had dealings with a whole host of new people, tradesmen, neighbours, shopkeepers and I couldn't help noticing that almost all of them ended a conversation with "See You Later". At first I thought it was a regional thing, but then I overheard someone use the expression in Hereford, then Worcester, Oxford, Manchester, Liverpool - in fact everywhere I went - and its been a long time since I heard anyone say "goodbye" in any other way!

Where has it come from? I assume its off the telly but does anyone know? Probably some Australian soap-opera and we'll no doubt all be using it until the next phrase comes along!

And on the subject of "seeing you later" as I have no plans for boating in the foreseeable future, rather than fill the space with posts on steam engines and pub toilets (to name but two recent subjects) I'm going to take a break until I have something of waterways interest to say.
So, See You, er,. . . later!

Oh, I see: It's "txt spk" C U L8R

Tornado in Lancaster

2011-09-21T20:13:00.000+01:00

The weekly steam specials from Lancaster may have finished for the season but the West Coast Main Line will still see occasional steam trains throughout the Autumn and Winter. Today's locomotive, however, was "special" for a different reason. It's a class A1 Pacific - a type that hauled crack express trains on the East Coast route between London, Kings Cross and Scotland. By the end of steam haulage on British Railways in 1968 all 49 of the class had been scrapped. Examples of all the other East Coast Main Line express locomotives had been preserved, but there was no A1. In narrowboating terms it's as if no "Joshers" or Grand Union "Large Woolwich" boats had survived. Naturally, the only thing to do was to build a new one - and this is it. 60163 "Tornado"

Here it is at Lancaster station this morning heading for Glasgow. It's due back tonight at 22.58 and I might just walk down to the end of the road to savour the unique sight of a 21st Century main line steam locomotive powering up the bank from Lancaster in the dark!

Ladies, Look Away Now!

2011-09-20T17:53:00.000+01:00

I went to Liverpool yesterday on the bus. I did all the usual things one does when one goes to Liverpool. A bus trip through the Mersey Tunnel to Birkenhead and back on the ferry; a look around the Albert Dock and the Liverpool Link; and a pint in the Philharmonic - one of Britain's most ornate Victorian pubs and one which has the country's only "Listed" gents toilets.
Want to know why they are listed? Well, I'll show you - so, "Ladies, look away now". . .

Why did it take me so long?

2011-09-17T09:08:00.001+01:00

Although there is always something to do by way of maintenance on a narrowboat sometimes it's those little jobs that take the longest.
Ever since Starcross had a new engine and instrument panel fitted three years ago I've been annoyed by the fact that with the ignition key in place the cork ball float on the keyring fouls the fold-out step that is so useful in getting between the counter and the roof - something a single-hander does a lot in the locks.
It sometimes also fouled the throttle lever when it was put in reverse - particularly annoying if you were doing it in a ~~panic~~ hurry.
I've known what needed doing for ages and I've even had the bits to do it with, but it was only when stormbound at Adderley last Monday that I got round to it.

A simple hook screwed into the panel to hook the float up to - a job accomplished in seconds, but one which took three years to do.

Last of the Summer Steam Trains

2011-09-15T16:36:00.001+01:00

Since mid-July, Wednesdays in Lancaster have been enlivened by the passage of "The Fellsman" excursion train, steam hauled to Carlisle via the Settle & Carlisle line. Yesterday, as a sign that summer is coming to an end, saw the final run of the season. The driver of the very last departure from Lancaster, ECS ("empty coaching stock") to Carnforth depot, is seen here ready for the off.
It's not quite the end for steam as there is a special visitor due through next Wednesday, which I'll tell you about at the time.

I fell off the boat today!

2011-09-13T17:07:00.002+01:00

What I'd expected to be a routine trip back to Norbury Junction came with some excitement after all. I'd come up Tyrley locks and stopped to empty the toilet cassette and fill a water bottle before moving down to the visitor moorings for breakfast. Then I remembered I hadn't emptied the rubbish, so I went to the bow, climbed into the well, picked up the rubbish bags, turned and went to step off the boat and fell flat on my face on the towpath surrounded by rubbish!
It could have been worse. There was no damage other than a grazed knee and some wounded pride and there was no one around to see. And at least I didn't fall in the cut!

What's the Opposite of "Becalmed?"

2011-09-12T21:17:00.001+01:00

Because whatever it is - that's what I've been all day!
Yesterday's trip from Nantwich to the bottom of Adderley locks was bad enough, but the wind was a mere breeze compared to the gale that was blowing this morning. In retrospect, I didn't choose a very good mooring as the wind was blasting directly over the fields and pinning me - and everyone else - to the bank this morning.
Nothing moved until 11.00 when hotel boats "Duke and Duchess" came past. Their appearance prompted at least one of the boats on the mooring to set off, but I walked up to the locks to see if the crew needed any help getting the butty through in the wind. Needless to say they could manage perfectly well on their own (they are true "working" boaters after all) but I was able to assist a couple of hire boats down the flight. At this stage it was only those boats with a schedule to keep that were moving.
By half-past three I'd had enough and convinced myself that the wind had dropped enough to make a start. The first problem was just to get away from the towpath - achieved by laying the front fender on the gunwale to protect the paintwork and pushing against it to get the bow out with a metal rod that I've been keeping on the cabin top on the basis that "it will come in handy one day" before dashing back to the counter to get some revs on. It took me three goes. Once into the locks there was the opportunity to hone some of my single-handed locking skills: Get ahead to set next lock, power straight through, start lock filling, go back to close top gate of previous lock , then forward to set next lock etc etc or, alternatively, as at lock 2, leave Starcross tied to the bottom gates as the lock emptied and I went back to close the one below.

Starcross waiting for the lock to empty while I run back to close the lock below

Despite all the running around I was able to keep pace with the hire-boat coming up behind and carried on to Market Drayton where I found a convenient Starcross-size gap in the moorings above bridge 62.

Getting Married in Nantwich

2011-09-11T13:51:00.000+01:00

As you'd expect, no one in Nantwich gets married on the cheap and last Saturday's newlyweds certainly weren't short of a bob or two. Whilst everyone else was taking photos of the bride I couldn't resist this shot of one the wedding cars: (the "other" one was a Rolls-Royce)

It's a Beauford, a classic car that you build yourself! This was a new one on me so I had to look it up on the internet.

Two Towns on the Shroppie a Million Miles Apart

2011-09-10T18:00:00.001+01:00

If Market Drayton represents one end of the spectrum of how our small towns are struggling to survive then Nantwich, just 12 miles and 22 locks along the Shropshire Union Main Line must surely represent the other.

In short, the place simply oozes money. The delicatessen is staffed by snooty men in brown coats who look down their noses at you - although you can't buy much because they obviously feel that wire baskets are beneath them so they don't provide any! Off-licences are much more likely to offer you a bottle of rare Scotch or fine wine than a couple of cans of lager and the fishmonger directs customers asking for cod or haddock to the stall on the market. (I settled for a piece of Monkfish which I roasted with cherry tomatoes and onion - delicious!) The ironmonger, however, is just having a laugh with small tins of Brasso at £3.99! The town is best summed up by Moody's Jewellers. which at first sight appears to be selling rather nice watches at reasonable prices £64.00 for this one and £85.00 for that. It's only on closer inspection that you realise there is no decimal point before the zeroes and a top-of-the range Rolex will set you back £21,250! Can it really be so much better than those on sale in the market at £2.99?
Fortunately for lesser mortals the town has a branch of "Home Bargains" and an excellent indoor market (market days Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) and, for once, the presence of a Morrison's supermarket on the edge of the centre may not be such a bad thing!

Nantwich market

Short trip to Henhull

2011-09-09T18:38:00.000+01:00

Whilst Starcross has been sitting quietly on the 48h moorings at Nantwich embankment (if you've been watching the webcam at Nantwich Canal Centre over the last few days you'll have seen her) I've been down in South Wales visiting my mum on her 86th birthday. With a mum of 86 and a dad of 92 both in reasonable health and living independently I'm planning on living for ever!!
So when I got back to Nantwich this afternoon, Starcross had just about overstayed her welcome in this very popular location and, irrespective of the rules and the possibility of enforcement, it was time to move on. However, I want to spend some time in Nantwich itself so first of all I went up to Henhull to turn. The long-term mooring site at Henhull is possibly unique on the canals.

The moorings themselves are on the offside (to the right in the photo above) but have no land access. Moorers get to their boats by means of small tenders which are kept in the car park on the towpath side and rowed across to the boats. One mooring space is provided on the towpath for loading and unloading (you can see a boat on it in the photo)and it is very jealously guarded by the local,s as I found to my cost once when we stopped briefly to transfer some stuff to our car, which we had left in their car park. I subsequently found out that although its a standard BW car park accessed via a standard BW key, they guard the car park as jealously as the mooring and have been known to blockade strangers' cars presumably until they plead for mercy and beg to be released!
No trouble today though as I was only passing through to wind before returning to Nantwich. At Nantwich the 48hr moorings north of the aqueduct are separated from those to the south by a stretch where mooring is prohibited and a length of permit holder only moorings. I've therefore concluded that they are two different sites and am now ensconced for another stay - and if you think differently, just keep it to yourself, please!

More Surprises

2011-09-08T19:58:00.000+01:00

I knew I needed water at Market Drayton. When Starcross' water tank is nearly empty the trim of the boat alters so that the practised eye becomes aware of the need to refill. But the water tap at Drayton is one of the slowest on the system, so I thought I'd get some later.
Having been disappointed by the closure of Market Drayton's branch of T.O. Williams of Wem - an excellent "high class baker, patisserie and cheese specialist" I was pleased to see not only the farm shop stall at Adderley top lock open for business but also no fewer than three lockside stalls selling fruit, veg, eggs, cakes and flowers on the Audlem flight.

A bigger surprise awaited me at the moorings outside the Shroppie Fly. As I was preparing to leave after a delayed lunch break (at nearly four o'clock!) I was hailed by Ray and Jayne, from No Direction. We've been reading each other's blogs for some time but have never met, so it was great to do so at last.

Jayne taking a picture for her blog of me taking a picture of her for mine!

Ray also helped me down the last three locks of the Audlem flight - what a shame we didn't meet at the top!

The last surprise of the day came after I had tied up at bridge 89 a mile short of Nantwich. Here the canal is crossed by the Crewe to Cardiff railway line at a place where I always make a point of looking out of the train window for a glimpse of the cut. For once, I thought I would stop and watch the trains from the boat instead. However, my evening shower was cut short when the water finally ran out, so it was back on with the outdoor clothes, untie the boat and carry on to the water point at Nantwich. The rain, which had been holding off all day, choose this instant to start and when I got to the water point there was a boat already on it filling its tank! By the time I'd waited my turn and filled up there was just time to reverse back on to the moorings on Nantwich embankment and tie up before dark.

I knew I needed water at Market Drayton

Changes on the way to Market Drayton

2011-09-06T18:03:00.001+01:00

Monday's run up to Market Drayton contained a few surprises. The visitor moorings at the Anchor pub at High Offley were almost completely deserted for one - including what I thought had become the permanent fixture of the tug "Sol III / Raggerty" (it carries both names) which, loaded down with rooftop "junk" and together with its unmamed "butty" has been moored in exactly the same spot since I first came this way in 2006. (I came across them later at Soudley were they have set up what looks likely to become an equally long-lived home.

The second surprise was the house at Tyrley wharf which for as long as I can remember has sported a Union Flag, a St George's Cross and a large "NO to the EU" on it's balcony overlooking the lock, where it welcomes the large number of German, Dutch etc tourists taking hire boat holidays.

Not only does this mean I can now bring myself to post a picture of the impressive buildings themselves but I no longer feel compelled to whistle "Deutschland, Deutschland Uber Alles" or the "Marseillaise" as I lock through.
After this, the third surprise of the day was a disappointment. The town centre of Market Drayton, already struggling in the face of strangulation by a surrounding posse of out-of-town supermarkets has been dealt a further blow by the closure of the town's branch of T.O.Williams of Wem

It may not look much, but it was the town's last remaining independent food retailler - and what town can afford to lose a Bread, Patisserie and Cheese specialist! Apart from the Wednesday market (which I hope still thrives) there now appears, sadly, very little point in stopping at Market Drayton for shopping.

Ranton Abbey

2011-09-05T20:49:00.000+01:00

Given that it has rained almost every day during August in Lancaster, we were not surprised to set off for Norbury Junction in a downpour on Saturday. Lancaster seems to get rather more than its fair share of rain and we took bets on how far south along the M6 we would get before it stopped. Charnock Richard services came and went and Hil won the bet with her choice of the junction for the East Lancs Road.
By Sunday morning it had stopped raining at Norbury although the atmosphere was still warm and muggy as we set off for a day's walk along the footpaths and tracks to the east of the canal.

Our destination was Ranton Abbey. Not that you can actually get to see very much of it - it's on private land - and it was more of a focus for planning the walk than a "destination". I did however glean some information about it from Michael Raven's excellent "Guide to Staffordshire and the Black Country" (in other words, the real Staffordshire as it existed before the modern (and temporary!) phenomenon of the so-called "West Midlands County (1974-1986) came along.
The 15th C tower on the left is an addition to and the last remaining bit of the original abbey, founded in 1150 and home to a community of Augustinian monks. The red brick house to the right is also known as "Ranton Abbey" and was built as a weekend retreat by the Earl of Lichfield in 1820, surviving for a mere 120 years before being accidentally burned out by the army during the Second World War!

Signs of the Times (an occasional series)

2011-09-01T19:19:00.001+01:00

The subway leads from the pedestrian concourse of the bus station to the pedestrianised shopping area outside. (Except Taxis, obviously).

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition. . .

2011-08-30T12:36:00.000+01:00

. . .and I certainly didn't expect the Save Preston Bus Station Campain to pick-up on yesterday's post so quickly - or at all. Here's their point of view, expressed in a comment on the blog.
I think they have a point, especially if the alternative is no bus station at all.

An Architectural Gem?

2011-08-29T19:54:00.000+01:00

The number 40 bus that passes the end of my road ends up at Preston Bus Station, built in 1969 and now considered by some to be an icon of 1960s architecture worthy of preservation in the face of the council's redevelopment plans. There is a vocal campaign to save it with, naturally, its own website

I suspect, however, that it's not so much the bus station itself that attracts attention but rather the car park above with its multiple rows of curved concrete beams. I've no idea what motorists feel about the parking arrangements but the bus station is pretty dire. Now over 40 years old and with the threat of redevelopment leading to a backlog of maintenance the bus station wasn't exactly passenger-friendly to begin with. Pedestrian access to the buses was officially only possible via subways, and when in the 1980s an underground supermarket was built so that one subway ran through the store it was allowed to be closed off when the store was closed! In practice, many people used to walk illegally across the bus apron - a procedure which has now been formalised by the provision of a pedestrian crossing.
So, what's the bus station like from a bus passenger's point of view? Well, judge for yourself:

The "official" entrance. (Reminds me of the crossing point between East and West Berlin at Freidrichstrasse station circa 1984!) (Eastern side!)

Officialdom's preferred mode of access by the public.

Bus Station?, or Abbatoir?!

Welcome to Preston!

Lancashire does have some nice bus stations, provided in recent years by the County Council, so which would the bus users of Preston prefer: This one, or this one, in nearby Chorley

(Even if the passenger information system isn't working).

Looking for a Mooring?

2011-08-24T12:02:00.000+01:00

They can be hard to come by, but if you were really desperate there's always this one in Lancaster. Separated from the canal not only by a main road but also a student housing complex! Mind you, it does come complete with a superfluous apostrophe!

Canal Therapy

2011-08-22T21:11:00.001+01:00

One of the advantages of living in Lancaster, rather than Hereford, is that I no longer feel cut off from the waterways network. In Hereford the nearest navigable water was 28 miles away in Worcester whereas in Lancaster I cross the Lancaster Canal every time I walk into town.
I suppose some would say that the Lancaster is still "semi-detached" from the main network with access only possible via the tidal Ribble Link, with all the restrictions that brings, but it certainly doesn't feel that way to me and the therapy of seeing boats on the city centre moorings almost every day is doing wonders for me given that I can't find the time to get down to my own boat much this summer due to the continuing work in progress on the new house. This afternoon I took my camera with me on the way to the shops. The scene recorded is an everyday one, but the fact that I can see it everyday means a lot to me!

Rural Life

2011-08-17T21:27:00.000+01:00

Our major cities have seen mass looting and rioting with, mostly, young people running amok and causing mayhem.

Meanwhile in my old home town in sleepy old Herefordshire, tennagers have also been getting into trouble:

Click Here for Local News Report!

Tempus Fugit

2011-08-16T13:12:00.000+01:00

A post by Ray on "No Direction" reminds me that the Cadbury's wharf building at Knighton has a sign, now almost illegible, to record the fact that it was used by working boats "between 1911 and 1961"

You can see it on the bottom left of the awning in this shot taken a few years ago but it's deteriorated since then. That means that although the wharf came into service long after the hey-day of commercial carrying it has now been disused (for cargo carrying) for just as long as it was in use.
I don't know who put the sign there, but it wouldn't it be nice if it could be re-furbished to mark the anniversary?

The Visitors Arrive

2011-08-15T17:29:00.000+01:00

David (owner) and John (Manager) of DRM buses arrived promptly at 09.30. The first call was at Norbury Wharf's cafe for tea and bacon butties - the traditional busman's breakfast. I wasn't sure how they would get on aboard Starcross and how they would cope with the limited space around the trad stern. But I needn't have worried they both took to it "like ducks to water" and were quite happy to stand on the gunwales as we went up through Grub Street and on to Shebdon, where we winded. On the way back I invited them to have a go at the tiller. In my experience first-timers either display an aptitude for steering in the first few minutes or are completely hopeless.

David at the tiller

David had first go and had no difficulty in grasping the theory or putting it into practice - I think he's a natural, it must be the bus driving experience!

Now it's John's turn

John seemed less certain, but soon got the hang of it. The dark glasses, however, hide the terror in his eyes and you can see the white knuckles as he hangs on to the grab rail on the hatch slide!

Once back at Norbury we repaired to the Junction Inn for a few beers and a long lunch, during which we put the finishing touches to October's new bus times, which probably confirms your belief in how bus timetables are drawn up in the first place!

They must have enjoyed it as now they are talking about making it a regular event!

Getting Ready for Visitors-

2011-08-14T11:29:00.000+01:00

Since I retired I have been doing some "consultancy" work for a small Herefordshire bus company - one I used to spar with in my previous role at the council, a classic case of gamekeeper-turned-poacher! The owner and his manager have been fascinated by Starcross and the canals in general and have been very keen to come and see for themselves for some time. It's not easy for people in the bus industry to get away from the office - it's a seven-days-a-week operation requiring hands-on management (a bit like the waterways in fact) but finally they've found the time and tomorrow is the big day.
Starcross has been temporarily moored at the (very) far end of the moorings at Norbury Wharf, but Simon had promised to clear my proper mooring space so that my visitors wouldn't have to walk half-way to Grub Street through the work-in-progress on the moorings refurbishment. So on Thursday I caught a train to Stoke-on-Trent, re-booking at Manchester to save £8, and then got the only bus of the day from there to Norbury village, walking the last mile or so to the wharf. Once I'd made my way out to Starcross I took her up to Grub Street to wind, then back to the wharf to wind again so that I'd be facing the right way in the morning. I could have just reversed, but with boats moored each side and a fairly steady stream of passing boats I thought it would be easier that way - and the batteries needed charging anyway, or at least that's my excuse.
Like my visitors, I don't know quite what to expect - they know they are not supposed to call Starcross a barge and hopefully they've got all the obligatory jokes about pirates and barnacles out of their system. It's not often I entertain people who have no knowledge or previous interest in waterways at all. I'll let you know how I got on tomorrow.

At the Bottom of my Garden

2011-08-03T10:57:00.000+01:00

At the bottom of my garden is the West Coast Main Line (That's "main line" by the way - not the increasingly common spelling "mainline", which was originally a drugs reference!). Every Wednesday morning, between July and September something special happens when "The Fellsman" excursion comes powering up the bank from Lancaster!

I did have to walk to the end of the road this morning to get this shot as the view from my actual garden is obscured by trees and the fact that the line is in a cutting, but even so. . .

New Moorings - Sneak Preview

2011-08-01T11:13:00.001+01:00

I spent Friday night at Gnosall and set off early Saturday morning for the two-mile run back to Norbury Junction as I needed to get away quickly to get back to Lancaster for lunchtime. It was just as well I did.
On arrival at Norbury I found my mooring space occupied by another boat! I then had to reverse down the moorings to find a free space to tie up, which happened to be Cal and Ira's space for Albion who I knew were still on their way back from their summer trip to the Thames.
As I needed to get away quickly and Simon at the Wharf was very busy with "turnround day" (for the hire boats) I agreed to put Starcross temporarily up at the far end of the moorings (which are almost in Grub Street cutting!) on the basis that it would give me a "free trial" of the improved arrangements :-)
When I left Norbury in May, my mooring looked like this

Now, at least at the far end (well beyond the tree in the distance) they now look like this:

There's a gravel path still to be added and additional water and hook-up points to come but at least you can now get an idea of what it will look like. Until then, when it rains it will still look like the aftermath of the battle of the Somme and at the present rate of progress it could well be "all over by Christmas", although Simon has already calculated how much the mooring fees will have to rise next year!
By the way, there is something a bit unusual about the arrangements here, can you spot what it is?

The Lion Roars Back to Life

2011-07-29T21:31:00.000+01:00

The Lion Hotel, Brewood

Most visitors to Brewood will know the Swan Hotel in the main square - although it's often confused with the Victorian folly "Speedwell Castle" which adjoins it.
On the other side of the road is the Lion Hotel. When I first visited it about four years ago it was very run down and served a clientele that probably wouldn't have been welcome in the village's other pubs. Then it closed, which was a great shame as its an historic building, Grade II listed and has been part of the village's life for over 200 years. It looked very much as if it would end up as ~~cheap flats~~ luxury duplex apartments so imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered last night that it is has reopened as an upmarket hotel/restaurant but one which retains a public bar selling local beers including my favourite Joule's Pale Ale at "only" £2.75 a pint!

One feature that, happily, has been retained is the original CTC plaque. These plaques were issued by the Cyclists' Touring Club to indicate accomodation that was approved by the club. This, of course, was in the days when cycle-touring was the preserve of the wealthy who could afford to stay in places like the Lion. The CTC still "approves" accommodation for its members but these days a vinyl window sticker suffices.

The re-opened Lion is a worthy addition to a village not exactly short of excellent places for eating and drinking that make Brewood such an attractive stop-over for boaters on the Shroppie.
There's more about the Lion on their website here.

Coffee To Go

2011-07-28T20:02:00.000+01:00

By 08.10 this morning I'd risen, breakfasted, walked into Penkridge and back for a paper and untied. It didn't do me any good; I was still in a steady stream of boats up the six locks to Gailey Top. Despite the early start I was obviously only half-awake at Filance Lock and neglected to close the bottom gates before raising the top paddles! Things did improve after that.
My favoured technique in uphill locks is to leave Starcross in gear against the top gate, but at Rodbaston there was so much water coming round, beneath and through the gate that I held back. That's OK, as long as you then fill slowly, but a charachteristic of the Gailey locks is a fierce undertow that sets in when the locks are three-quarters full and, if you're not careful can cannon the boat into the top gate. I'd been caught out once before but even so it was all I could do to hold Starcross back with a rope around the ladder handrails. (Sorry, BW, I know you're not supposed to do that, but those big wooden posts you put in a while back are just in the wrong place!)
Just past Gailey I felt I needed a coffee. Stopping is a faff when you are single-handed, even when there is piling to attach a hook too (I don't even consider it otherwise) but after a while spent looking for a suitable spot I decided I didn't need to stop anyway, just to get out of gear and bump along the bank while I made the drink. It worked splendidly and I got back to the counter, coffee in hand, just in time to reassure the skipper of a following boat that he wasn't overhauling the Marie Celeste. Why didn't I think of that ages ago?

Autherley Junction

Turning into the Shroppie at Autherley Junction can be tricky: it's an awkward angle and you can have no idea as to what might be happening at the stop lock underneath the bridge. I've seen some spectacular misjudgments and have also executed a perfect turn myself to find the lock occupied by an oncoming boat, meaning I have to reverse out again. Today everything went perfectly, I didn't touch the sides, the lock was full and unoccupied and, needless to say there was no one around to see it!

The Shroppie beckons. . .

Non-boaters often ask if I don't get fed up of going up and down the same stretch of canal; after all all my trips must begin and end with at least half of the Shroppie. Well, I don't and today was a perfect example of why not. The Shroppie on a sunny afternoon in high Summer is glorious - dramatic cuttings and embankments, fantastic views across to Cannock Chase and the neighbouring fields full of ripening corn and other crops. I was almost disappointed that there was space at the visitor moorings at Brewood so I had no excuse to carry on.

Well Chuffed

2011-07-27T21:27:00.000+01:00

Highlight of today's boating just had to be meeting steam narrowboat President with butty Kildare on their way to the National Waterways Festival at Burton-on-Trent. On a fairly narrow stretch near Great Haywood, with overhanging trees on one side and moored boats on the other I could see "something big" coming the other way. I'd just about figured that it was a "pair" when a blast from the steam whistle gave the game away. I interpreted that to mean "You can do what you like, but I'm coming through. . ." (perfectly reasonable in the circumstances) so I pulled over, which allowed me to get this action shot:

Even better, one of crew, presumably a blog reader, looked over and said "Ah! Starcross...good to see you!" which made me feel very honoured. In fact I was so chuffed that I didn't mind waiting an hour in the queue to get through the next lock at Great Haywood.
All the way from Atherstone the canal has followed the West Coast Main Line (although perhaps that should be the other way round given the chronology) and I've enjoyed a constant procession of freight and passenger trains both day and night. The Staffs and Worcester, however, has the considerable disadvantage in that it fairly quickly forsakes the railway for the company of the M6, so before it was too late I stopped at Milford for lunch and a last bout of trainspotting.

Trainspotting at Milford

After that it was off to Penkridge, where I completed the day by finding a BW key (my second) that someone had left at the water point

Driver Eric Goode

2011-07-26T21:42:00.000+01:00

Moored tonight at Little Haywood, I took a walk around the village ending up in the adjacent settlement of Colwich. Following a road that looked as if it might lead to the now closed railway station I came across a trackside memorial to Driver Eric Goode.

Nearly twenty-five years ago, on 5th September 1986, Driver Goode lost his life in a terrible accident at Colwich Junction. A London to Manchester train overshot a red signal and came to a stop fouling the junction. Seconds later it was hit head-on by a Liverpool to London express, hauled by locomotive "City of Milton Keynes" driven by Driver Goode and travelling at 100mph.
Driver Goode was killed instantly, but it is a testament to the quality of design and construction of railway carriages of the period that his was the only death, although 75 people were injured.
Watching today's express trains hurtle past the same spot and and knowing that Driver Goode would have had no time to react, just to sit in his cab and await his certain death was a very eerie feeling indeed.
I think I need a pint!

Back on the Move

2011-07-25T21:29:00.000+01:00

The refurbishment of New Starcross Towers has reached a hiatus as we wait for various tradesmen to finish their holidays and do what needs to be done, so I have managed a few days away and am back on the cut.

Starcross at Bridge 45 on Coventry Canal

I'd left Starcross at Bridge 45, about two-thirds of the way down the Atherstone locks, so this morning Hilary and I left Lancaster at 06.15 down the M6 to Crewe, where I left her to carry on to Hereford while I had some breakfast in a nearby cafe before catching the 08.33 to Atherstone. It wasn't any quicker or cheaper than getting the train all the way but it did let me do the first couple of hours driving for her before she carried on down the "long and winding road" (aka the A49) to Hereford.

I arrived at Atherstone station at 09.54 and after a quick visit to the nearby Co-op (will I really eat all that food in the next few days?!) I walked down the towpath to find Starcross as I had left her ten days earlier.

I needed a cup of tea and the brasses were in a terrible state, so it was just on twelve when I got away down the remainder of the flight and, after a quick stop to take on drinking water at Bradley Green, off towards Fazeley Junction.

There was a fine collection of loaded and empty working boats at Alvecote, perhaps gathering before making the trip to the IWA National Waterways Festival at Burton next weekend.

Working boats at Alvecote

Otherwise, it was an uneventful trip until Glascote, where I joined a queue of five boats waiting for the very slow-filling locks here. Two thirty-footers had agreed to share, which speeded things up a bit, but it was over an hour before I was through and 17.15 before I got through Fazeley

The queue at Glascote locks.

It was such a fine evening it would have been a shame to have stopped so I carried on for another couple of hours finally tying-up for the night at bridge 80 at Whittington where there are some very handy mooring rings.

Favicon

2011-07-24T21:33:00.000+01:00

Granny Buttons and No Problem have had one for ages. Maffi and Briar Rose have recently joined them. Now Blogger has made it (relatively) easy for the likes of Starcross to have one too! So I how have a "favicon"!
You won't see it on the site, you'll only find it on someone else's blogroll that includes a link to Narrowboat Starcross.

Hey, a few years ago all of the above would have been Double-Dutch to me!

A Night on the Town

2011-07-17T18:00:00.000+01:00

On previous visits to Atherstone I've struggled to find a decent pub and have retreated to the rather-too-posh-for-my-liking Red Lion Hotel, which at least sells local beer. I can't have been looking hard enough!
Everyone's idea of a good pub is different, but my view is that pubs are for drinking beer in. I started visiting pubs (legally) in the 1970s and at that time, with the pace of brewery-led refurbishments being less frenetic that today, many of them were still as they had been in the 1950s or even earlier. Over the years I've watched regretfully as most pubs have been modernised out of all recognition becoming pseudo-night clubs or wannabe restaurants.
Atherstone certainly has its fair share of "sports bars" (i.e. pool, football on the telly and lager) but a surprising number of pubs "as I remember them" still exist.
I would therefore recommend - and you might hate -
1. The Old Swan. Every bit as attractive on the inside. . .

as on the outside. (That's not a self-portrait by the way)

2. The Dolphin.

Opposite the Old Swan on Long Street and serving excellent beers from local brewers. Beware though, it's up for sale and may have changed or even closed by the time you find it. I hope not.

3. The Hat and Beaver

Now I must admit it took me some time to summon up the courage to enter the Hat and Beaver. It's exterior is rather unwelcoming and lacking any indication of the beers within. It looks, and is, very much a locals' pub where strangers may not always be welcome. But I'm glad I did. There is a tile-floored bar, wooden bench seats, excellent Draught Bass (once very common, now rare) and - on the night I was there - a bunch of locals who obviously knew each other well enough to air their political differences in some of the strongest Atherstone accents I heard during my time in the town. They also invited me to join in the argument, but I know better than to talk politics in strange pubs!

4. The Market Tavern

This one has been tarted-up a bit, although it hasn't been spoilt apart from the fact that the front door is no longer in use (to allow a few more seats to be squeezed in) and you have to enter from the side. Its main claim to fame is being operated by the Warwickshire Brewery - whose beers I have found disappointing (for a small brewery) in the past but which, I have to admit, were on top form here.
I shall look forward to stopping at Atherstone again!

A Day in Atherstone - part two

2011-07-15T10:59:00.000+01:00

I'll be the first to admit that, visually, Atherstone's main street, Long Street, is nothing to write home about.

Long Street

Most retail activity now takes place in two large edge-of-town supermarkets but Long Street seems to be surviving, with rather fewer of its shopping units being taken up by fast-food joints and charity shops than is often the case in towns of this size. Its helped by the fact that the Co-op, which operates the largest supermarket site, also maintains a town centre food store, helping to make Atherstone one of few places where its possible to buy a full range of foodstuffs in the town centre.

There is also a very pleasant market place with a small, twice-weekly market (Tuesday and Friday)

Market Place

The town's main industries were hatting and mining. The hat industry was, according to the Town Council's Town Trail noticeboards, hit hard by the abolition of slavery (slaves working in the fields were apparently provided with hats made in the town!) and the mining was, of course, finished off by Maggie Thatcher.

One aspect of the town that has survived is its unique accent. A few minutes spent sitting in a pub or listening in a shop soon reveals the existence of a very strong local accent - a sort of cross between Yorkshire and Brummie that definitely sounds as if it belongs to the north of England rather than the midlands.

A Day in Atherstone - part one

2011-07-13T18:40:00.001+01:00

Atherstone, like Market Drayton, is one of those places that I like very much without being able to put my finger on exactly why. I'm sure many visiting boaters consider it boring, run-down or even "unsafe" but I was quite happy to take advantage of the opportunity of spending a whole day in the town.

Perhaps it's the transport connection that appeals. As well as the canal, Atherstone lies on Watling Street, the old Roman Road connecting Dover and London with the Midlands. The actual Roman settlement was in nearby Mancetter but I do like the thought of walking down the town's main street, appropriately named "Long Street", and thinking myself in the footsteps of others who have passed this way for over 2500 years. Watling Street later became a main stage and mail coach route and Atherstone has its fair share of coaching inns, including the Red Lion, in whose forecourt lies this splendid milepost indicating that the town is exactly 100 miles from London.

Later, when motor traffic replaced the horse and a system of road numbering was brought in, Atherstone found itself astride the "A5" London to Holyhead trunk road and the main street formed part of that route. Traffic approaching from the west was directed to either London or Holyhead by this sign which, in either case, sent travellers along Long Street.

The town also sits on the West Coast Main Railway Line. It actually lost its train service for a while during the reconstruction of the line but now enjoys an hourly through, if rather slow, stopping service to London although most trains rush through the station at over 100 mph. The station buildings, once threatened with demolition, now have listed building status but are no longer in railway use - you buy your ticket on the train.

Atherstone Locks

2011-07-12T19:48:00.000+01:00

The Atherstone flight is one of my favourites. Yes, they can be a bit slow to fill and there were some queues today (fortunately all going uphill whilst I was going down). But they are never short of interest - in the form of canalside architecture. . .

Lock 5

. . .or canalside notices, such as this, which would have been inconceivable a few years back but is now considered necessary to explain our cultural norms to recent arrivals.

A recent post from Adam on Briar Rose reminded me that one of the locks in the flight still has working side ponds. At one time most of the locks here had them but all bar one are now disused, so I was looking out for it. I found it at Lock 6.

The side pond is a very useful water conservation device. It sits parallel to the lock at a level halfway between full and empty and is connected via a conventional sluice/paddle arrangement. Going down, one empties the full lock into the side pond until a level is reached when the paddle is closed and the remainder of the lock is emptied as normal. The next boat can then half-fill the lock from the side pond thus reducing the amount of water lost from the top pound by 50%. Perhaps even this simple arrangement is too complicated for today's boaters, which is why most are now out of use and certainly the boat in front of me and the uphill boat I waited for both ignored it.

Short Hop to Atherstone

2011-07-11T21:13:00.001+01:00

In Starcross' new, but temporary, career as a "bridge-hopper" it was time once again to move on. For the first time I was coming to the boat from Lancaster, rather than Hereford and it proved a rather easier journey with the 140 miles taking 3h 45m utilising two trains and a bus and including a 25-minute walk to the railway station at Lancaster. The Glasgow-Birmingham train was 30 minutes late at Lancaster "due to trespassers on the track" and this reduced the connection time at Crewe from 35 minutes to five! Just long enough to re-book for the Crewe - Atherstone leg, which saved £9 over the through fare, but not long enough to buy a coffee and a sandwich, although that's probably just as well as the cost would have accounted for most of the saving!

I spent a lazy afternoon at Hartshill, where the British Waterways yard is now looking a little neglected,

Hartshill Yard ~~2010~~ 2011

certainly compared with twelve months ago:

Hartshill Yard 2010

I wanted to time my arrival at Atherstone top lock such that most traffic would have finished for the day and leaving me with a clear run at the locks. Firstly though I needed water from the very slow tap at the top lock and also needed to empty the toilet cassette and the al-fresco facility there.

No secrets at Atherstone!

The plan worked even better than expected with no boats going down, but a steady stream of uphill boats meaning that I didn't have to stop and close any bottom gates, which is always the most awkward part of the solo-boatman's job in the locks. I was so pleased with this that I didn't really mind when the gas bottle ran out halfway through my evening shower!

Taken Away on a Trailer

2011-07-08T15:12:00.003+01:00

As part of our long-drawn-out move to Lancaster we needed to get rid of a lot of furniture, particularly those items too big for our new house. (What it must be like moving onto a boat I can't imagine. . .)

I managed to find someone at the local bus company who was interested in our three-piece suite and dining table and chairs. So, this morning, two burly bus drivers arrived to collect it. They came with a two-wheeled trailer that wasn't much bigger than the sofa itself, but despite not being professional removal men, or perhaps because of it, we managed to pack the entire suite and the table and chairs aboard the trailer, half-covered it with a tarpaulin and lashed it all down with string after which it disappeared in the general direction of the bus depot!

I was really glad to have got rid of it and breathed a sigh of relief. . .and then realised that we will have nowhere to sit down or eat for the next two days!

A bit of Local History

2011-07-06T17:19:00.000+01:00

When we bought our new house in Lancaster we were surprised to see that the house and garden were conveyed separately with each having its own entry at the Land Registry. Talking to a neighbour, we've found out why - and I think its a tale worth repeating.

The houses were built on what was once railway land - they back onto the West Coast Main Line just south of Lancaster station. For some reason the gardens remained in railway ownership when the houses were sold and they remained in the benign ownership of British Rail and its predecessors with residents allowed full use and access.
In 1994, British Rail was privatised and the gardens became owned by Railtrack, a property company that maintained the railways as a sideline to its main business of making money from land until a series of serious accidents caused by poor maintenance saw it forced into administration and replaced by Network Rail.
At an early stage in its history, Railtrack announced that it was selling off our gardens. Requests from residents for a private sale were refused and the land was put up for auction. At this stage, one concerned owner - our new neighbour - organised residents to set up an association to bid for the land, which would then be sold back to each householder. Arriving at the auction, conveniently held in London, with a fund of £3,000 they were personally offered £5,000 by a firm of property developers not to participate in the sale. But the group stood firm and eventually outbid the developer even though they had no idea where the money was going to come from at the time. (It was eventually raised by our neighbour's house being re-mortgaged).
The association then went about the task of selling off each plot back to the householders. Some, of course, had chosen not to participate and others took the view that as they were continuing to enjoy the use of their gardens there was no need to pay up after all! It took six years in total to recover the money and a recalcitrant few were only brought into line by threats to sell "their" garden to the next door neighbour! (Even so, some residents now own more than one garden).
Sale of the gardens to the developer would have left each house with only a tiny back yard and probably by now a row of houses where the trees that border the line now stand. We would have lost our view of the line and the trains - except that we wouldn't, because without the garden we wouldn't have bought the house in the first place.

The Shortest Day

2011-07-04T09:50:00.000+01:00

So far this summer boating has consisted of a series of marathon runs of up to 15 hours whilst I try to fit it in with all the other calls on my time that have arisen. This was different.

Starcross had been on a 7-day visitor mooring for - ahem - eight days. Actually it was worse than that as when I arrived to take the last free spot on the mooring I was asked by a local boater how long I intended staying. When I told him, he suggested I move back a few metres because, although on an official mooring, I was fouling the launch area of the local canoe club "and the old dragon that runs it won't be very pleased. . ." (apologies, Madam, if you are reading this!)

I was now in an area signed as "No Mooring, Reserved for Disabled Anglers", but when I asked about them I was told he'd been mooring opposite for four years and had never seen one.So on the basis of it being better not to upset someone who did exist rather than someone that might not, I did as he suggested.

In any case it was now high time that Starcross was moved, so we diverted a Hereford to Lancaster car journey to call in and do the deed. I'd spotted a suitable piled area occupied by a number of other boats and with unrestricted (i.e. 14 day) mooring nearby so we arrived at the boat, untied, moved the boat, tied up again and had a cup of tea all in the space of half-an-hour.

At 250 metres, or as Nick Addy's Canal Planner would have it, one and a quarter furlongs, it was the shortest day's run we've ever had.

And before anyone accuses me of "bridge-hopping" or "continuous mooring", I have a perfectly good permanent mooring at Norbury Junction that I pay handsomely for!

My Dad

2011-06-30T13:06:00.002+01:00

One of the reasons I had to dash away from Braunston was to get down to south Wales for my Dad's birthday. He's 92 not out!
You could say he's led an unremarkable life. Apart from his war service he's never lived more than a mile from where he was born, has been happily married to my Mum (86) for 64 years and they still live in the ex-Council house they moved into after it was built in 1953.
Apart from a spell of unemployment after the factory he worked at closed down in the 1960s he's always held a steady - if unexciting - job.
But I think he's a remarkable man: Having never enjoyed perfect health at any stage of his life, he finds himself at 92 with one working lung, a dodgy heart, severely restricted vision, deafness and a number of other medical problems as well as the usual ailments associated with old age. But does it get him down? Certainly not! Mentally he's as bright as a button and he maintains an optimistic outlook on life, with his only regret being the vision loss that resulted in him having to give up driving a few years back. He still dresses up smartly to go out, still has a sense of humour and he and mum are obviously still very much in love.
All of the character traits I am happy with in my own make up - patience, tolerance, being satisfied with what I've got, come from him and those parts of me I don't like quite so much self-evidently don't.
So, "Happy Birthday" Dad. And here's to next year even though it will clash with the show at Braunston!

Another Mad Dash and Missed Opportunities

2011-06-29T21:41:00.000+01:00

It wasn't meant to be like this. This year I was going to have plenty of time to take things easy. I was to spend the summer meandering along the cut, calling in at events such as the BCN Challenge and the Braunston Working Boat Rally as the mood took me; returning home for a few days as and when required or when I felt like it. Then we decided to move house. We decided to sell and buy as two separate operations - moving into rented property in between. It certainly made the actual selling and buying much much easier but it's turned the move into a long-drawn out process in which significant events are happening at the most inconvenient times.

I never got to the Marathon Challenge and only got to Braunston by dint of a four day race from Norbury, which may have been enjoyable but certainly wasn't what I'd originally had in mind! Then, I'd hoped to spend the weekend at Braunston and meet up with some of the other bloggers whose blogs I've been following and who sometimes read this rubbish in return. But it was not to be. I did see Sarah aboard Chertsey (and recognised Bones amongst the cargo) but they were stuck in the middle of the morning boat parade which lasted until late afternoon. Herbie was moored not far away from me, but I didn't see Neil at all and I didn't realise that "Halfie" was aboard Shadow, which is a shared-ownership boat. A few bloggers seem to have made their way to the beer tent on Saturday night, but I couldn't stand the noise that passed for entertainment (I don't actually need entertainment to entice me to drink beer!). Then on the Sunday, when half the boating blogosphere seems to have been there I had to leave on another marathon dash back to Norbury. Getting away soon after 8.30 I headed up the Oxford Canal to Hillmorton,where I took a short break to allow the two boats in front and one behind to all get out of the way, before making my way down the three locks there. I stopped at Newbold for lunch and to top-up the suncream (some medication I'm on makes me extremely sensitive to sunlight and also means no shorts or tee-shirts for me even in a heatwave). I was at Hawkesbury Junction by 5.45 where I put the kettle on whilst in the queue for the stop lock and made the tea while I was in it. After a perfect rounding of the 180 degree turn onto the Coventry Canal I was complimented by a spectator saying "You've obviously done that before!" (Although it's easy in a mere 50 footer) and then it was off towards Nuneaton, which didn't look as bad as I had remembered, making a good three-and-a half miles an hour all the way except for a stretch just beyonl Marston Junction where I came up behind a very slow boat whose steerer never checked behind and who obviously had no idea I was there until someone on the bow looked back and saw me. Even then all she did was move over slightly and I was left to assume that she wanted me to pass. My cheery wave and "Thank You" was ignored, but perhaps she was just too embarrassed at not having noticed me or perhaps she couldn't actually steer and converse at the same time?

I had to slow down myself shortly afterwards when the setting sun was shining directly in my face and I suddenly realised that I couldn't actually see the front of the boat let alone have any idea whether there were any other boats, either oncoming or tied up, or even whether the canal went straight on or not!
Eventually, I tied up at Hartshill at 8.40pm just over 12 hours after leaving Braunston, 27 miles and 4 locks away. Sorry for the lack of photos to illustrate this post: I just didn't have time to take any!

Six Boats in the Basin

2011-06-27T21:48:00.000+01:00

Over the years I've watched the slow progress of the restoration of the Droitwich canals from the window of the Hereford to Birmingham train as it crosses the Barge Canal just outside Droitwich Spa station and then runs parallel to it through Vines Park. In the last twelve months or so the most obvious sign of work in progress has been the arrival of pontoons in Netherwich Basin, for permanent and visitor moorings.

When this photo was taken almost twelve months ago work had only just started. But the Droitwich Barge Canal, which links the town to the River Severn, opened on 20 June and the Junction Canal, which completes the through route to the Worcester & Birmingham, re-opens this weekend and I was pleased to see, as I passed through on the train today, no fewer than six narrowboats in the basin. Ironically, I'm due to take the Birmingham train from Hereford for probably the last time on Friday - the day of the opening ceremony - as we are just about to move house and home to Lancaster, but I'm pleased to have seen the canals open before I leave.

More Photos from Braunston

2011-06-26T18:03:00.000+01:00

Don't they look great when they're loaded?

Historic boat - historic bike.

Star of the show: radio-controlled model narrowboat "Eagle" complete with smoke and engine noises!

Total Gridlock

2011-06-25T18:36:00.002+01:00

This was the main line of the Grand Union Canal outside Braunston marina this lunchtime. Some say 110, others 120 but the consensus is that over 100 historic working boats are gathered at Braunston this weekend. The first of today's parades, when boats run en-mass from the marina to the triangular junction at Braunston Turn and back started at 11.00 but boats were still making their way back to their moorings at 16.15 - over two hours after the second parade should have started.

Things were not exactly helped when steamer President, hauling its butty Kildare, ran aground almost opposite the marina entrance.

After a considerable delay, Callisto was dispatched to rescue them. The first attempt at a snatch resulted only in a broken rope - which snapped with a crack that could be heard across the marina; but a second, gentler attempt was more successful.
Later, the Narrowboat Trust's Nuneaton, also hailing a butty - Brighton - got stemmed up on the way back from the turn and after all the crew's efforts to refloat her had come to naught, also had to be rescued by another boat.

How much these incidents contributed to the delays is unclear - and it could just be that at over a hundred boats the event has outgrown it's site. It was all good fun for us spectators, but I felt sorry for the crews of the pleasure boats held up, sometimes for hours, and even some of the working boat owners appeared to be getting fed up - and some were seen to be leaving early.

The Boats Arrive

2011-06-24T20:14:00.000+01:00

The Historic Working Boat Gathering takes place this weekend and if you are a working boat fan then Braunston is the only place to be!
Boats have been arriving throughout the day. Highlight of the morning was a convoy of eight or nine - pairs and single motors - coming in down the Oxford Canal and passing Starcross on her mooring. All I had to do was stand in the hatches and watch them go by. I was so entranced that I completely forgot to make a note of their names or take any photos, but I did recognise David Ray from Norbury Wharf steering one of the pairs.
Later I did manage to get these shots of newly-restored Greenock approaching Braunston,

and this distant view of former steamer, Monarch just about to pass Starcross' mooring.

By mid-afternoon boats were four-deep on the mooring outside the marina.

and even as I write this at 8pm more boats are still arriving.

Worcester to Braunston

2011-06-23T21:09:00.000+01:00

Nick's Canal Planner suggests that from the River Severn at Worcester to the Grand Union at Braunston - via Banbury - should take about 75 hours. With a day to spare and a free pass, I thought I'd see if I could get back to Starcross any quicker by bus!
Via Banbury isn't the most direct or the quickest way even by bus (that would be via Leamington Spa and Rugby) but it was a super ride. Out of the Severn valley at Worcester and then following the Avon through Pershore and Evesham as far as Stratford-upon-Avon, where there was time for lunch on a bench overlooking Bancroft basin.

Bancroft Basin, Stratford Canal

I'd forgotten how pleasant and interesting these towns could be and was sorry that the timetables only allowed a stop of 30 minutes or so at each, although if I'd been driving all I would have seen of them would have been their bypasses.

From Stratford we left the waterways and climbed up to the edge of the Cotswolds at, naturally, "Edge Hill" before dropping down through a series of implausibly pretty villages - each far too affluent to provide many bus passengers - and arriving in Banbury, where the bus drops you right beside the famous cross.

Banbury Cross with its cock horses. No sign of the fair lady!

At Banbury I joined the lengthy route to Rugby via Daventry, which as I hadn't read the timetable fully (not that there was one on display at the terminus) surprised me by taking me over the Oxford Canal at Cropredy, before eventully depositing me at Braunston church from where I could walk along the field path to the canal.

All the buses were modern, clean, comfortable, well-driven and on time! I was also glad to see that at least one of the bus industry's traditional jokes is still alive and kicking: The Evesham to Stratford bus has a tight timetable that requires some spirited driving with a double-decker along hilly and winding roads. At Stratford a female passenger approached the driver as she got off and said "That was a scary run!". "Scary", said the driver, who was obviously waiting for the opportunity, "Scary, You should have been sat where I was missus!"

And Another Thing (about Glasson Dock)

2011-06-22T11:12:00.001+01:00

Possibly the most interesting thing about Glasson Dock is that it is still a working commercial port. Despite being situated several miles up the narrow, twisting and tidal River Lune and despite the proximity of much bigger ports such as Heysham it still handles regular seagoing commercial traffic.

Ships don't actually enter the old dock any more but are unloaded (I think it's all inbound trade) on the river quay - a most unexpected sight in these days of mega-docks and container ships.

Commercial shipping at Glasson Dock

The port of Glasson was originally developed to replace that at Lancaster, four miles further upstream, but even with a direct canal link and an available disused wharf in the city centre it is, sadly, too much to hope that goods will ever be taken to the city by water again.

The Lock, the Dock and the Swing Bridge

2011-06-21T15:49:00.000+01:00

As well as having a propensity to fail at inconvenient moments, the sea-lock at Glasson Dock is notable for one other thing: it's one of only a very few canal locks that are spanned by a bridge.

The bridge is fairly substantial: the road it carries is a bus route and road traffic is controlled by traffic lights. (Those are the bottom gates of the lock by the way).
There's another of these bridge/lock combinations on the soon to be re-opened Droitwich Junction Canal, where it joins the River Salwarp, although this is only a footbridge.

There's a third, much grander affair on the New Junction Canal at Sykehouse lock, where the bridge and lock mechanisms are controlled by the same automated programme and where I once set the very lengthy operating procedure irrevocably in motion seconds before a vehicle appeared wishing to cross.

Can anyone think of any other examples?

Dock Lock Shock and a few Floating Vessels

2011-06-20T17:40:00.000+01:00

That's how the Lancashire Evening Post reported the failure of the sea-lock at the end of the Glasson branch of the Lancaster Canal that has marooned several sea-going yachts both in the marina waiting to get OUT and outside it trying to get IN.

The faulty lock at Glasson Dock

Yacht shippers with holidays booked and trips planned to places like the Scottish islands were not amused but Waterscape now reports that "temporary fix" has been found.

Guardianista!

2011-06-19T16:15:00.004+01:00

Hey, After reading it for 40 years I've had a letter published in "The Guardian" - the proper Guardian that is, not the online version. You probably won't have seen it as it was "only" in the Money section yesterday (18 June). It concerned my favourite topic - transport fares and how to get a bargain without actually breaking the law. The letter was in response to an article in last week's Money section that you can read here.
I wasn't responding to the main thrust of the article - that someone had been threatened with prosecution for using his wife's Oyster Card that, due to her circumstances, allowed her discounted travel to which he wasn't entitled, but to the fact that ANY Oystercard that includes a travelcard cannot be transferred between users.

This doesn't seem to make sense as only one person can use the card at a time and a "travelcard" is merely a bulk advance purchase of travel - the equivalent of buying a tankful of petrol for your car rather than putting in just enough at a time for each journey you make. In many parts of the country bus companies explicity allow - and even encourage - transferable use so why should London be any different?

The Guardian doesn't seem to publish Letters to its Money section-as opposed to mere "comments" - on its website so I can't link to it from here but my argument was that if Transport for London was in charge of petrol retailing it would, presumably, require all cars to be fitted with a separate petrol tank for each user and would carry out spot checks to ensure drivers weren't using petrol that someone else had paid for - and I think that's a fair analogy.

Back to boats next time!

Droitwich Barge Canal Open

2011-06-18T10:08:00.001+01:00

New moorings under construction in Droitwich earlier this year.

The Droitwich Barge Canal, linking the River Severn to the town, re-opens on Monday (20 June). Dear old "Waterscape" announced the re-opening as a "stoppage" on the Staffs & Worcester Canal as well as a "Stoppage" on the Worcester & Birmingham, neither of which have any connection with the new stretch. Despite the Barge Canal having it's own page on the stoppages section of the website it's not mentioned there at all!
There's no word on the Junction Canal, that completes the through link to the Worcester & Birmingham, but with the official opening of both routes set for 1st July it can't be far behind.

Where the Grass is Greener

2011-06-16T15:31:00.000+01:00

The Braunston to Rugby bus diverts off the main road to serve Onley and Rye Hill prisons. At the bus stop which serves both establishments a young man got on. It's wrong to be judgemental,but I don't think he wanted to buy a return ticket.
After the bus left the prison grounds and rejoined the main road he looked around him and said: "Cor, Its all fields round here, all fields and farms!"

None of the other passengers had commented on the scenery, but I suppose it depends on what you're comparing it with!

Journey's End

2011-06-14T13:09:00.001+01:00

With only eight miles and three locks between me and Braunston, today was always going to be a doddle. I had a lie in and even found time to polish the brasses before setting off at 10.00. At Calcutt locks I teamed up with a local boat that had just come out of the marina and so had an easy passage, hardly having to get off the boat. As usual, the other crew were very helpful towards a single-hander.
The stretch of the Oxford / Grand Union canal between Napton Junction and Braunston is one of my favourites on the whole system. That's probably because of the memories of my first canal trips in the 1970s, where a combination of a shallow cut and inexperience with a 70-footer had us aground more than once on the Shuckborough bends. But I also find the gently-rolling Warwickshire countryside, the lack of high hedges and consequent views and wide-open skies particularly appealing. I tried hard to find a photo-opportunity to convey this feeling, but this is the best I could manage.

Approaching Braunston from Napton Junction

By early afternoon I was tying up in Braunston on a 14-day mooring at which I can legally stay until the Historic Working Boat Rally and which is about two miles nearer the action than I managed last year!

Stockton Locks

2011-06-13T21:00:00.001+01:00

Finally I'm able to slow down a bit and today's run was the short hop from Long Itchington up to the Boat Inn at the top of the Stockton Brook flight.
For the first time I had no one to share with, but that didn't matter as it gave me the chance to hone my broad-lock, single-handed skills!

Stockton Brook Locks - and no one else in sight.

My way of working is this: Open one gate, preferably on the right hand side to eliminate any danger of a rope fouling the roof vent for the water-heater. Take boat in slowly and give a touch of reverse before stepping off with the centre-rope and running up the steps to bring it to a halt using a strapping post. Close gate and open one top paddle gently and in stages to minimise turbulence. When lock is nearly full make sure boat is loosely but securely tied up and go ahead to set the next lock. Take boat out, stopping in the mouth of the lock to close the top gate - and repeat until done. This way of working avoids any use of lock ladders, minimises the number of times you cross the lock and is still reasonably quick.

Starcross in one lock whilst I go on to set the next.

I did get some help when I passed a downhill boat, although as they left both bottom gates open it was a mixed blessing and the eight locks from the Blue Lias to the Boat Inn took just two hours - an average of 15 minutes a lock - which I was quite pleased with given most of them were "against" me.

I have fond memories of the Boat Inn at the top of the locks from a time in my hire-boating days when an unscheduled stoppage somewhere down the locks meant we had to spend a couple of hours drinking some of the best-kept beer (Draught Bass) that I've had before or since; but it's glory days are behind it and like so many rural pubs it's mainly a food pub now, so I contented myself with a single pint before returning to the boat for the rest of the evening.

The Bascote Shuffle

2011-06-12T16:06:00.001+01:00

A timeshare boat was approaching just as I left my mooring at the Cape, heading for the locks. The crew tured out to have had some experience and it was a pleasure to share the two locks with them before I stopped for breakfast outside Tesco in Warwick. I did need a few bits and pieces of shopping but decided that the chances of the a) finding what I wanted and b) choosing between the ninety-eight varieties of everything meant that it would be quicker to go on to Leamington and use the Co-Op there.
The timeshare boat had also stopped and again came along just as I was setting off. This meant we could share the nine locks from Radford up to Bascote top. I was going to stop at Fosse wharf to empty my cassette but the chance of sharing locks with a competent crew was too good to pass up.
The top lock at Bascote is a staircase and as our two boats approached the bottom a single hire-boat appeared at the top. This gave me a chance to show off and do something I'd always wanted to do since reading about it years ago. It is, of course, perfectly possible for two uphill boats to cross a downhill boat in a staircase but it didn't seem to have occurred to the other crews. I was having some trouble explaining how it was done but enjoyed seeing realisation dawn on their faces as we completed the manoeuvre!

Doing the Bascote Shuffle

The Marathon Continues

2011-06-11T22:02:00.002+01:00

Despite yesterday's efforts we still had some way to go to reach our target of getting down the Hatton flight before Bernard had to go home, so it was another early start at 06.50. We quickly came upon our first obstacle at Bridge 26, which is a manual liftbridge.

Lift bridge 26 on the northern Stratford Canal

No problem with a crew of two, but when I came through here on my own shortly after buying Starcross I made a complete pig's ear of things and succeeded only in damaging the cratch when I came into contact with the bridge deck. I've treated such bridges with the greatest of respect ever since! Then came the flight of 19 of the Lapworth locks, taking us 2h 40mins, before turing onto the Grand Union at Kingswood Junction. Bernard had once had an excrutiating passage of Hatton, stuck behind a know-all boater who, in fact, knew very little, so he was very keen to press on. We arrived at the top of the flight at 11.50 and were joined by Namur from Shaprness and her knowledgeable crew for an almost trouble-free descent in 2h 45mins.

Waiting for the accident report to be filled in on the Hatton flight.

There was one brief hold up about half-way down. It was reported that a lady had fallen off her boat and that BW were in attendance. We were asked to wait whilst the "accident report form" was completed! I can't say I've ever come across this before but apparently she was OK after all. Sorry to say that much hilarity was occasioned to bystanders and boat crews when it was revealed that the boat from which she had fallen was "Double Fracture" This is a blogging boat and the lady in question was presumably Marlene, but don't seem to have blogged about this yet.

Bernard and I shared the work between us: he did the lock-work and I steered - but that was his choice!

He was still keen to push on when we got to the bottom, but I'd had enough (steering is tiring too, you know) and we called it a day at the Cape of Good Hope at 15.00, having covered another 10 miles and 40 locks in just over eight hours. By early evening I was sufficiently recovered to take a walk into Warwick. I set off, but a bus came along just as I got to the stop, so I used my new bus pass instead!

My Own Marathon Challenge

2011-06-10T23:04:00.000+01:00

I wasn't able to participate in this year's BCN Marathon Challenge, where contestants try and cover as much of the more obscure parts of the BCN as they can in 24 hours plus a six-hour break, but today has been almost as exhausting!
Of course, we survived the night at "unsuitable" Autherley Junction with the only incident of note being Bernard finding a £5 note on the towpath in the morning. I hope it was dropped by the angler who came past with his fishing trolly bumping along the towpath at 03.30!
We'd agreed an early start and let go at 05:45 starting the climb up the Wolverhampton 21 ten minutes later. Below the third lock we passed the very surprised crew of local boat "Solstice Bell" who were up and about; but still tied up and without their engine running they couldn't really complain when we took the lock. We did agree not to re-set the anti-vandal locks to save them a bit of time and I did raise a few bottom paddles for them until I realised they were catching us up. The ascent took 2h 54m, which isn't my fastest time, but we did have a couple of low pounds to contend with. Then it was straight on to Tipton along a very weedy Main Line that required three weedhatch visits. Between Wolverhampton and Birmingham I'm usually tempted to use the Old Main Line or some of the loops such as Soho or Icknield Port and I realised that I hadn't just blasted straight along the New Main Line for ages, so that's what we did.

Bromford Junction: The New Main Line continues to the right

We stopped briefly in Birmingham in the early afternoon and then carried on through the Worcester Bar and on to the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. Crossing the new aqueduct at Selly Oak we soon arrived at Kings Norton Junction - a very deceptive junction for boaters turning left onto the Stratford Canal.

Kings Norton Junction: The Stratford Canal goes off immediately after the bridge

Bernard hadn't been this way before and was almost caught out, but made a splendid recovery, taking Starcross round in fine style despite my telling him at one stage that he'd never make it.

Although we'd now been on the go for almost twelve hours, there was no thought of stopping. Bernard can only be with me for one more day and we aim to get down the Hatton flight on the Grand Union before I'm left to carry on single-handed. In fact, we covered a further ten miles eventually stopping at Hockley Heath at 20.50 having covered 31 miles and 24 locks in a 15 hour day.

Work in Progress

2011-06-09T17:11:00.000+01:00

I arrived at Norbury Junction to find work on the moorings progressing, with Steve on his mini-digger having reached exactly as far as Starcross.

It had been an unremarkable journey except for the fact that for the first time I was able to use my new bus pass to travel to the boat, saving me all of £2.50 (not even the price of a pint!).
Given the proximity of the "work in progress" I was happy to get away and move off down to the wharf for 88 lites of diesel and a copy of Waterways World (if you buy only diesel on a debit card, Norbury Wharf charge you an extra quid!). Then it was down to Gnosall to meet Bernard, my crew for the next few days, off the Stafford bus and then, after a quick trip to the shop for supplies, off again heading south.
Our goal is Braunston, where the annual historic working boat gathering takes place at the end of the month and as Bernard is only available for three days we mean to cover as much ground as possible in that time. It was three o' clock by the time we got away from Gnosall and as we wanted to go as far as possible, stopping at Wheaton Aston or Brewood was not an option. However, there wasn't time to go up the Wolverhampton locks, so that left Autherley Junction -" not recommended for mooring" by British Waterways and the last time I stopped there I was immediately warned by a local not to stay the night!
Well, I happen to think that the dangers of stopping at "unsuitable" places are usually overstated - so Autherley Junction it is - to see whether we survive, tune in tomorrow!

~~Bomb Alley~~ Autherley Junction

It'll be Lovely When it's Finished

2011-06-06T11:11:00.006+01:00

I've spent most of last week in our new house in Lancaster - knocking out fireplaces, stripping walls (and finding damp!) buying new furniture - our old stuff is too big or too knackered- and seeing various men about woodburners, electrics (bad news, that one) and kitchens! I did, however, manage a couple of days on the way up north at Norbury to visit a rather neglected Starcross.
And what did I find? - Well, Simon at Norbury Wharf Ltd has been promising improvements to our moorings for some time now and he's finally got round to it. The current arrangements leave a lot to be desired:

The towpath is narrow and uneven and the trolley we used for carrying heavy stuff to and from the boat was wrecked in weeks and all there is no tie-up to are some bits of old angle-iron loosely embedded in the path, so I was glad to see that work had begun.
Of course, as with any renovation (such as a house in Lancaster, for example) there is pain to go through before the pleasure. It didn't help that the two days before my visit had been unusually wet for this year and what greeted me was rather more reminiscent of the Somme in 1916 than the next photo, that was taken after then path had had chance to dry out a little, suggests.

Norbury Wharf's blog has been keeping us up to date with progress, but the promised photos have yet to arrive, so I hope David and Simon won't mind me posting this. There will have been progress since it was taken and I'm sure it "will all be lovely when its finished!"

Going Continuously Cruising

2011-06-02T09:30:00.001+01:00

Another local boater has told me he's giving up his mooring and going what he calls "continuously cruising". Well, it makes sense: He and his partner both have jobs near the canal and don't live too far away so moving the boat from time to time won't be a problem. Permanent moorings are expensive, so why pay for one when you can use all those nice, free visitor moorings instead!

Thwarted

2011-05-25T20:11:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow I should have been taking Starcross out from Norbury Junction and heading south along the Shroppie on the first stage of our summer cruise. Friday evening would have seen us at Wolverhampton ready to start the BCN Marathon Challenge on Saturday morning (if you follow the link, please note that BW has got the dates wrong!). But it's not to be. I will be getting a couple of days aboard but won't be going far as I'll be spending all next week at our new house in Lancaster. As well as "routine" painting and decorating we have to see a man about a woodburning stove (to make it just like being on Starcross) another man to design us a new kitchen and a third to check out what seem to us to be some very dodgy electrics. We then need to get hold of a plumber and also have to finish dismantling a wardrobe so we can get it up the stairs. Then we need to decide whether we really want to proceed with reinstating an interior wall that was taken out by a previous owner.
Oh yes!, we also have a rather large and ugly rough stone fireplace to knock out and remove. So, cue smug looks from any readers who have the good fortune to live aboard their boats and I just hope I can find time to get to stage two of the trip - the Braunston Historic Working Boat Rally at the end of June.

Boat Gathering in Hereford

2011-05-23T20:44:00.003+01:00

Starcross' boating activity has been somewhat constrained recently, but one event it was never going to be able to attend was the Hereford Boat Gathering held on the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal last Sunday. Hereford wasn't connected to the national waterway network for very long. The canal reached the city in 1845, only ten years before the railway, and was already closed by 1881. Since 1983 the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Trust has been working to restore the full 31 miles of the waterway bewteen Hereford and the River Severn at Gloucester. They are necessarily undertaking this work in small stretches as and when the opportunity arises and one such opportunity has allowed about 300 metres on the outskirts of Hereford to be made navigable once more. The Trust also took the opportunity to install a slipway to allow small trailable boats to make use of this stretch, which it hopes to extend.
I wasn't able to attend myself - even without Starcross - but I do have some pictures "that I took earlier" that show the slipway and the challenges facing the Trust. But how ironic that as after 25 years I prepare to leave a boatless Hereford, the first boats arrive!

Aylestone Park Slipway

Looking towards the city centre from the slipway

Aylestone Tunnel is 300 metres from the slipway

Thumbs Up for the North

2011-05-09T21:33:00.001+01:00

Thumbs up for Lancaster

After 25 years (or two life sentences) I now have an address in the North once more. I moved to Hereford for work, intended to stay 5 years at most and ended up spending a quarter of a century there!
Before moving to the graveyard of ambition I lived in Bolton, Preston, Carlisle and Salford and I've been waiting to get back to the North-West for quite a while. So, what does Lancaster have that Hereford doesn't? Here's what I've noticed so far:

Proper pubs with landlords who know how to look after the beer.
Houses built from stone.
Buses that run four times an hour, not four times a day (or week!)
Shop assistants who call you "luv"
Rain
Cycle lanes that are all linked up and don't disappear when you most need them.
And, of course, Navigable water in the form of the Lancaster Canal.

Starcross will be staying at Norbury Junction though, at least for the foreseeable future: I don't fancy doing the Ribble Link every time I want to go anywhere, but I'm going to have my hands full getting the new house how we want it so I may not have too much to post about for a while.

What a morning at Compton!

2011-05-06T17:57:00.000+01:00

On the morning we were due to depart from Compton, Mika wasn't well and her parents were sufficiently concerned to find a pharmacist, who in turn suggested they see a doctor. The nearest surgery that would accept her was a mile or two away but a couple who had been waiting at the chemist's offered to take them in their car.

In the meantime, I was trying to telephone the Nationwide Building Society - as I had been asked to do - to transfer the money to pay for our new house, which had to be done before noon. No signal on the towpath and too noisy on the bridge - but there was the perfect place - a phone box! Once inside the phone box I decided I might as well use it. I don't know how long it is since you used one, but the minimum fee is now 60p. I had 55p and a pound coin. Given the amount of money I was trying to spend I was happy to insert the £1 but the coin box would only accept 50s, 20s and 10s. So, into the shop nearby to get a paper and back to the box with the requisite coinage. Now I found that the box was in fact out of order and available for emergencies only!
So - back to the mobile: the usual voice mail response - press 1 for this, 2 for that and 3 for the other, followed by music - punctuated by recorded announcements telling me how important my call was to them (but not, you understand, important enough for them to actually employ enough staff to answer it). Finally, after 14 minutes I got through to a human being who informed me that it was completely impossible to make the transfer over the phone and that I was silly to even think it could be done (he didn't actually say that in fairness). I would have to find a branch and conduct the transfer there.
After a few Victor Meldrew moments I was resigned to a bus ride into Wolverhampton city centre and returned to the boat just in time to find Mandy and Mika about to depart for the surgery with our guardian angels. "I don't suppose you know where the Nationwide office is in Wolverhampton?" I asked. "Oh, we never go to Wolverhampton, he replied, but I think there is a branch about half-a-mile away - hop in, I'll take you there!"
So the upshot was I got to the branch just in time to transfer the cash (and had it confirmed again that it was a laughable idea to think about doing it over the phone) and Mika returned from the doctor's with some appropriate medicine and we were soon on our way - only two hours down on the schedule.
Unfortunately that late running meant we were unable to do more than wave at Lesley from Caxton as we passed at Wheaton Aston and I hope she heard our explanation why we couldn't stop. That's the second time I've done that to her -we've been reading each other's blogs for a few years - one day we'll meet and have a chat, honest!

Buying a house at Gnosall

2011-05-05T18:07:00.002+01:00

Mark and Mandy could spare three days from their busy schedule so from Kinver we carried on along the Staffs & Worcester towards Autherley Junction and the Shroppie. This involved another passage of Bratch locks of course and, once again I was surprised not to have to wait at all, being granted entrance to the bottom lock as soon as we arrived. I always seem to be steering at the Bratch and one day I'll get some decent photos - but for now here is a shot of the top lock taken from the middle one.

The Bratch

After an overnight stop at Compton (of which more in the next post) we were heading back to Gnosall, where our guests had to leave for the bus to Stafford station when I got a phone call from our solicitor to say that he had exchanged contracts on our new house at Lancaster - the first time I've ever bought a house on a boat although we did sell our previous house from a train!

Memory Lane

2011-05-04T15:43:00.002+01:00

On the way back from Stourport we had a visit from Starcross' previous owners. Mark and Mandy, with their daughter Mika, were back from Tasmania, where they now live and as part of their tour of friends and relatives had asked if they could have a couple of days aboard Starcross with us -and of course we were happy to oblige!
Having a car available, we picked them up at Kidderminster station and brought them to the boat at Wolverley, moving on later as far as Kinver for the evening. Pre-dinner drinks in the garden of the lockside Vine Inn were disappointingly served in plastic glasses but when it was my round I was allowed proper glasses "because I looked a respectable sort of person!".
Mark and Mandy thoroughly enjoyed their time with us and it was great to see them again, especially as we could be completely relaxed about having them on board and helping with the steering and lock work - which isn't the case with all our visitors I'm afraid.

Mandy, Mika and Mark

Even Mika helped with the steering - under close supervision of course - and like most children or other non-car drivers understood the basics of it pretty quickly. From what I've read, children not much older than her were regularly seen steering loaded working boats in the old days.

~~Five~~ Five-and-three-quarters year old Mika at the tiller

Interlude at Stourport

2011-04-30T17:45:00.003+01:00

I've enjoyed a couple of days in Stourport. Without the canal, Stourport would be a fairly unremarkable town, except that without the canal it wouldn't exist at all. The town came into existence solely as a result of the building of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal in 1771, being situated where that waterway met the River Severn. The renaissance of the canals and the associated tourist trade greatly benefited the town and unlike many small towns, the High Street retains an air of purpose, with butchers, bakers, greengrocers and a hardware store all apparently flourishing despite the existence of two or three large supermarkets nearby.
Centrepiece of the town is undoubtedly the complex of locks and basins that connect the canal to the river.

The Clock Warehouse

But the town has another role: as a sort of surrogate seaside resort for the inhabitants of Birmingham and the Black Country with riverside promenades and an amusement park situated somewhat incongruously alongside the Lower Basin.

Not exactly a peaceful mooring.

I've no idea who these characters are, but I wouldn't want to meet them on a dark night!

Needless to say I also had to investigate the town's pubs and am pleased to report that I found them (well nearly all of them) excellent.

The riverside ~~Anchor~~ Angel at Stourport.

That Wedding Day Timetable in Full

2011-04-29T15:43:00.002+01:00

08.00 Wake up, switch on radio - wall-to-wall wedding coverage on all stations.
08.02 Switch off radio, turn over, go back to sleep.
09.00 Resurface. Find Radio Three has no wedding coverage, tune to Radio Three.
09.30 Breakfast
10.51 Depart York Street Moorings for Upper Basin.
11.00 Arrive Upper Basin, tie up at water point.
11.05 Filling of water tank commences.
11.14 Ceremonial emptying of toilet cassette in disposal facility.
11.20 Filling of water tank completed.
11.40 Wedding Day Photographs

Starcross in the Upper Basin, Stourport on Royal Wedding Day

12.30 Official reception for Mrs Hum of narrowboat Humdinger who just happened to be passing and called in to introduce herself. Good to meet you!

13.00 Official lunch (pork pie, pickle, beer)

14.00 onwards - joined rest of population in sleeping, shopping, drinking and sundry other bank holiday activities!

The End

2011-04-28T17:45:00.002+01:00

Stourport marks both the end of the Staffs & Worcester Canal, where it joins the River Severn, and the farthest point of our current trip. Hil having had to go back to Hereford to work, I took Starcross single-handed from Kinver, leaving before breakfast and tying up after an hour or so for a "full English", which I can appreciate much better after some time in the fresh air. One of the advantages of a busy canal for the solo boater is that there are always plenty of other people around to lend a hand with paddles and gates and, in fact, a combination of other crews and fortuitously-timed oncoming boats meant that I only had to stop and close the bottom gates once all day.
South of Whittington lock the canal, which has been in Staffordshire all the way from Great Haywood finally enters Worcestershire - the boundary being marked by this modern marker post.

Erected in 1999 but, unlike the canal, not wearing very well. Will it still be here in 200 years time?

Wolverley Court lock was being operated by a self-appointed volunteer lock keeper - one of several to be found in these parts - and at Kidderminster I met John, who was watching me lock through with his bike. "Have you cycled far?" I asked. If it was the question he was hoping for he didn't show it, merely replying "I'm doing the End-to-End". Then I really made his day by assuming, when he said he'd set off five days ago, that he was heading north; but no, he come from John O' Groats in that time and was now "nearly finished"!

It took me another couple of hours to get to Stourport, by which time John was probably in Bristol or somewhere!

The approach to York Street Lock and Stourport Basin

On the Edge

2011-04-27T17:31:00.001+01:00

After a brief halt at Greensforge for water we set off southwards again for the relatively short run to Kinver. We had a couple of hold ups at locks and at Stourton Junction the Blackcountryman trip boat came off the Stourbridge Canal in front of us just as we approached Stourton Junction, putting us behind him at Stewpony lock.

Stewpony lock

I always expect there to be more to stop for at Stewpony than there actually is - it's one of the few locks on this stretch that doesn't have a lockside pub for a start - so we carried on behind the trip boat to Kinver.

Kinver village centre - note the church above the village.

There is certainly lots to see here. The village is most famous for its rock houses - caves in the red sandstone rock used as dwelling houses well into the last century. Unfortunately, they are only open to the public on Thursdays to Sundays, but you can get a good idea of what they were like from the path past the bottom of the rock, which is open at other times.

Cave houses at Holy Austin Rock, Kinver.

From Holy Austin Rock, a footpath leads steeply up through woodland to emerge at the top of Kinver Edge. From this local landmark there are spectacular views over a large part of the south-west midlands and to other Midlands landmarks, such as Clee Hill, the Malvern Hills, Clent Hills, Sedgeley Beacon and, er..., the tower blocks at Wolverhampton.

Kinver Edge

After all this exertion I decided I needed a pint and here Kinver certainly comes into its own. Most boaters will know the Vine, at Kinver Lock, but there's also the Cross Keys - for the best choice of real ales -

and for fans of real pubs, as well as Batham's beer, my own favouite the Plough and Harrow.

The Plough and Harrow, Kinver. The flags are out; is someone getting married?

We interrupt this Cruise Report . .

2011-04-26T18:09:00.001+01:00

. . . to tell you a bit about cycling. Hil had brought along her touring bike, whilst I had to make do with my Dahon folder, which normally only see use between the mooring at Norbury Wharf and the bus stop at Gnosall. Starting from Hinksford we went back to Swindon, recrossing the canal, then north to Halfpenny Green, Seisdon, Pattingham, Albrighton, Worfield, Badger (yes, there really is a village called Badger), Claverley, Enville and Kinver, where we had a pint of the local brew in the canalside Vine Inn before joining the hordes of cyclists and walkers on the towpath back to Hinksford. Somewhere along the way we came across this superb signpost

(and you can just see the rear wheel of my folding bike on the right!) We measured it later at 44 miles so you won't be surprised to lean that it was another quiet night in back at Hinksford.

Down the Bratch and on to Hinksford

2011-04-25T20:55:00.003+01:00

Hil joined me at Compton, leaving the car on the up-market housing estate we usually use for parking in such circumstances (although to think about it, our car probably stands out a mile there). We found ourselves following a very slow boat being steered rather erratically and resigned ourselves to a slow journey south. It just goes to show that one shouldn't be judgemental on the cut (although I often am). A conversation at the first lock with her crew member revealed that the lady steerer had lost her husband ten days ago and was now having to come to terms with handling the boat on her own.
With so many boats about and it being a hot and sunny bank holiday weekend I was beginning to get concerned about potential hold-ups at The Bratch. For those that don't know, there are three locks here so close together that they have to be worked as if they were a staircase. At busy times, the lock-keepers use a "three up, three down" system to control the queues. Oncoming boats at locks were telling tales of a three hour wait yesterday so I was surprised to find no waiting boats at the top and amazed when the locky said we could just go straight on down.
I usually take all the photos for this blog which means, of course, that I don't appear in any of them. However, as Hil was steering she was able to take this very rare blog shot of yours truly in action!

Bratch locks

Bratch locks are soon followed by the conventional two-rise staircase at Botterham. Here we came across "Hope", which not only has a very similar livery to Starcross but which from the cabin side we saw was owned by "Smith, Davies". This amused us as Hil is a "Smith" whilst I, am "Davies" although she has contrived to keep her name off the side of our boat "so I don't get the blame when things go wrong!"

After all this excitement we were happy to tie up at Hinksford, cycle back to Compton, take the car on to Greensforge and, finally, cycle back to Hinksford for a quiet evening in!

Overnight mooring near Hinksford

Compton has a lot going for it.

2011-04-23T18:32:00.002+01:00

Compton comes highly recommended as a mooring spot. It may not look too much in this photo, but the visitor moorings extend quite a way and it's easily possible to get away from the road. Once a village, but nowadays more an up-market suburb, it has a chandlery, too good supermarkets - one privately owned, the other a Spar, two pubs, which between them cater for most tastes, restaurants, a fish and chip shop, a chemist, laundrette and a frequent bus service into Wolverhampton. There's no water point or service station but that means it's less of a magnet for continuous moorers and means more space on the visitor moorings for passing boats.
The only thing it doesn't have is a decent internet signal, but if you are reading this then it's been adequate even if I have had to post from the counter step!

Contrast at Compton

2011-04-22T11:29:00.002+01:00

The Shropshire Union was the last main-line narrow canal to be built but at Autherley Junction it joins one of the first. Whilst the Shroppie strides confidently across the landscape using cuttings and embankments to keep a direct course, the Staffs & Worcester meanders along almost apologetically and its hard to believe sometimes that it was ever a major commercial artery.
Everything on the Staffs & Worcester seems to be built to a smaller scale, in particular the bridges and especially the diminutive variety found at the tails of locks like this one at Compton.

Compton Lock

Having spent most of the winter tootling up and down the Shroppie, I'm looking forward to the change.