Fair-weather farers

Life on board NB Kantara is all rather... not very lively at the moment. OK, it's true that we'd be out enjoying ourselves on the cut right now if we weren't bothered by the weather. But it's also true that it's currently pouring with rain yet again, with a very strong wind, and there's a cracking thunderstorm. We've had a few decent days, sure, but generally we're not encouraged to venture out at the moment. Fair-weather farers I guess we are. I know several folk who've been out for a few weeks, and the bad weather's featured large in their experiences.

It's not as if we've got nothing to do while we're here. Roy and Lee came a few days ago to replace our central-heating pump (which alone cost £180!!), then to flush gallons of black, gunky water out of the system and top up with fresh water/antifreeze mix. They'll be back soon to do some woodwork and tiling in our shower room, too. And Grace is painting castles and roses on the cabin doors.

My role at the moment is that of "the domestic". Well, why not? I ask. Grace played that one for thirty-odd years!

Kantara is sitting in a wide, open space at the moment. Lindsey Ann vacated the berth two away from us on one side for a couple of weeks, but she's back now. The space between her and us was empty for some months after Cream Cracker left, until The Hodma'dod came along, but she was only there for a few days, and I suspect they won't be coming back. And, on our other side, Emma Jane has now been away for several weeks, and no-one seems to know where they are or when they'll return. It is rather nice to have good light and views on both sides.

Whether or not we get to cruise for a short while in the next few weeks remains to be seen, but we will be out with Dorothy, Christine and Mike for a couple of weeks in the middle of September. What we have to do now is decide on a suitable route. Four Counties Ring starting at Fradley Junction? Leicester Ring starting from here? Decisions, decisions!

A week out at last!

It had been our intention to take Michelle along the Trent & Mersey from Fradley Junction to Nottingham on the Trent, and back. We'd planned to meet her at Fradley, where she would park her car for the duration. This called for us to spend five days travelling to Fradley, and five back, of course. We'd arranged for Caroline to come and see us there the day we arrived. Caroline is an old friend of Madeline's we'd been reacquainted with at Madeline's funeral.

The problem was, I'd messed up some dates in my calendar, and we couldn't actually afford the five days for the return journey at the end of the week. We changed plans, then.

Michelle arrived at around midday on Sunday, and we set out soon after. It was a lovely afternoon, and there were lots of boats about. Moving on after lunch just above Watford Locks, we had a short wait at the busy flight. Chatting with the husband-and-wife vollie team, we discovered that they both used to live in Boreham Wood, the town of our birth, and that the wife had been born there, too. Small world, huh?

We arrived at the place of the rusty butties - Norton Junction approach - at about 5:00, and were glad to find just one mooring space. It was here I had something of a painful surprise.

Monday morning was breezy. The dawn chorus was fabulous - they'd rehearsed well.

Braunston Tunnel would have been fine but for a very timid skipper in front of us who moved very slowly, and bounced off the wall several times. He even reversed at one point. We're generally patient, but slowing down means less control over the steering, so it made things a bit more challenging for Grace, let's say.

Boats were queuing at the top of Braunston Locks, as they were below and, no doubt at each successive lock. Most travelled in pairs, which made the whole matter that much speedier and more efficient. One of the boats was a party of Norwegians on NB Rock Thrush who were on their fourth annual two-week UK canal holiday. They considered themselves quite expert, but I didn't have the heart to disabuse them of that idea. We were to meet up with them several times over the rest of the week, since their itinerary was much the same as ours. They planned to stop and visit Braunston.

"How big is the city?" they asked.

One balance beam at Bottom Lock bore a CRT sign I'd not seen before.

"Warning! Bee activity in balance beam!"

It's amazing how often we come this way and find Roy and Lee of Days Afloat inside Roy's boat having morning coffee, lunch, afternoon tea... And still they manage to get their work done!

Just beyond Braunston, on the Oxford Canal North, we had a bite to eat. It's a lovely place to stop at.

On we went afterwards. Willoughby, Barby, then Hillmorton Locks. We'd hoped to moor above the locks, but there was no room, so we made our way down, and tied up just around the corner after Bottom Locks. It had been a longer day than we'd expected.

A bit of a drive

The past week’s been strangely empty. We’re waiting to hear when Madeline’s funeral is to be, but Brian’s had several problems with the offices involved with deaths, not least that the issue of the death certificate itself has been delayed because of an administrative error. He’s hoping that the funeral can be held on Madeline’s birthday, and has insisted that Dorothy’s 70th birthday celebration should go ahead as planned two days later. Madeline would have been sharing the party with her. So it looks as if we’ll be spending a few days in Devon at the end of the month.

Just a couple of days after that, we’ll be heading off to Fradley Junction, where we’ll meet Michelle and take her for a week’s trip up the River Trent. Our “Strange Cruise” up and down the GU Leicester Line summit for the purpose of getting the Roses and Castles painted has had to be postponed until later in the year.

On Sunday, we had a very welcome day out. Jess and Steve had spent the whole of last week in Suffolk with Hannah and Kathy, recording Said the Maiden’s next album. Yesterday was going-home day, but Jess wasn’t going home. She had to get to a friend’s wedding in Oxfordshire by midday, but it really wouldn’t have been practical for Steve or Hannah to drive here there. Mum and Dad to the rescue! We set out at 6:30 to drive the 100 miles to the tiny village of Elmswell. We met Jess at 8:15 and drove another 130 miles to Minster Lovell, arriving there half an hour before the service started. Bourton-on-the-Water is just a 15-mile, beautiful cross-country drive from there, and that’s where we went to spend the afternoon.

It was Sunday, and it was very warm and sunny, and the lovely village was packed with visitors. It was lunchtime, and we’d not eaten since 6:00, so we walked straight to a favourite restaurant of ours as soon as we’d parked the car, and counted ourselves very fortunate to find a vacant table.

The village green was packed, and dozens of children and dogs played in the river as Grace and I wandered the main street. A visit to the Cotswold Perfumery was a must, and we were drawn into an amazing gem shop, too, where Grace bought two pair of delightful, very unusual earrings. The children within us took us to the model railway, too, and I chuckled at the simple pleasure we got from pressing buttons to control trains, change signals and revolve turntables. It took us back a few years!

I have to confess to being knackered when we got back to Kantara after another 53-mile, return drive, but it was a very good day. Now we wait in eager anticipation of hearing the new CD as Steve produces and engineers it over the coming weeks. It’ll be launched at the Water Rats, a rather prestigious venue in Kings Cross, on November 1st at the start of the Maidens’ nationwide tour. If any of these venues are within your reach, you’ll not regret going to see them.

Meanwhile, I’m doddering around the boat like a bent old man. A zimmer frame, unruly white beard and toothless grin would perfect the likeness. On Friday, I installed a new stern bilge pump, and this required a good deal of doubling-over and twisting of my body into small spaces. I’m assuming it was then that my back took exception to the way I was treating it, and now it’s wreaking its vengeance upon me. It’s doing a very good job of it.

Faring and sharing

Three months ago, I wrote in the blog,

"Several friends and family members have asked us recently what our cruising plans are for next year, and answer has been, "not to have any plans". Basically, we'll go to the gate and turn left, then see what happens."

Already, it's looking as though that might not be the case this year after all. We still have no idea where we might go, once we get moving, but we have already made plans around friends and family which are bound to restrict our movements.

In May, we'll have three friends with us - Frankie and Andy, and Colin - all old friends from years ago when Grace was designing knitting patterns with Frankie, and with Elaine, Colin's wife, who, very sadly, died last year. Having five on board, albeit only for three nights, is going to be... erm... challenging! But it'll certainly be fun, too. The three of them have no previous canal experience, apart from Frankie and Andy's one day with us at Foxton Locks.

Andy, Frankie, Grace and Colin

Probably before then, we'll have Jacqui visit us for a day, and Trevor another day. These two were students of mine in the late 70s and early 80s, two of the many I've recently been reconnected with through Facebook. It was Jacqui's jewellery fair we went to see in December.

Grace's eldest sister, Dorothy, has a 70th birthday celebration at the end of June - she shares it with her youngest sister, Madeline. Michelle's booked her break from work to spend the first week in July with us - Fradley Junction and back via Nottingham. A few days after that, we need to be back in the house for a week.

Fradley Junction

Some time in August or September, it'll be the turn of Christine and Mike, who've not holidayed with us for a couple of years now. They'll be with us for a week, but we'll be looking to find somewhere for them to meet us while we're already out on the cut, away from the marina.

Now, me being something of a grumpy git at the moment, that looks at first sight to be very fragmented, and not very good for faring (bargee writer and blogger Val Poore's word for travelling - as in wayfaring, seafaring). However, when I do the counting, we do actually get three decent stretches of time that amount to a total of 24 weeks, which would do us nicely. It'll be more if October turns out to be as good as it was in 2014, when we had a brilliant trip to Stratford-upon-Avon.

So I'm not complaining. We get the best of both worlds - faring and sharing. We like it that way!

I love the Trent & Mersey, too!

We left our Fradley mooring at around 10:30, and turned left at the junction. We were now in waters previously unexplored. There were two locks to ascend, with a vollie at each. The first was having issues with clouds of midges and his hi-vis jacket. They must have thought he was a flower! He quickly ripped off the yellow garment, dropped it, and ran away from it.

T

he next vollie had the midges, too, but wasn't doing the flower impersonation. He thought they just liked the way he smelt. He recommended that we take some time to go up the Caldon Canal on our way to Liverpool. Really beautiful, he said. Unfortunately, we probably won't have the time, since we have a day and time to keep at Liverpool Docks, but it sounds as though we ought to cruise it some time.

It was from this vollie that I learned the story of The Swan pub at Fradley. Back in 2011, the powers that be (whoever they were) told the proprietor to clean the place up. The vollie spoke of the place smelling of stale, sour beer all the time, and the food being dreadful. I read on the web customers reporting extreme rudeness from the staff - and the smell, and the lousy food. Well, it seems they never did get their act together. The pub closed, but was under new management from last December. The vollie says the new people are making a go of it, and things have improved. I hope so. Fradley and its visitors need a really good pub.

On up the Trent and Mersey now. One more lock, Wood End, and off into gorgeous countryside again.

The canal was busy, not with boats, but with swans, ducks, coots, moorhens and geese, all with their young. It was a lovely sight.

Now, Grace and I have been on Kantara for nearly five years. Before that, we'd done numerous holiday weeks on the canals. And never in any of that time did we see so many women at the tiller of their boats. It's a new phenomenon to us, new since we started out last week. And I'm not talking just one or two women a day, it's several. Very strange. But very welcome!

When we needed lunch, we didn't really get the choice of beautiful spots, but Armitage village served the purpose.

Armitage Tunnel is odd. The original roof of the 150 year-old, 130-yard long tunnel was removed in 1971 because of the dangers of subsidence due to coal mining. It now has road bridges over much of its length. The cut is only wide enough for one narrowboat, so boaters are warned that a member of crew needs to go down to the far end of the tunnel, to make sure no-one tries to enter while their boat is coming through.

Approaching Rugeley, the scene became more and more urban.

Bishton Hall - now a school

Does anyone know who this is?

We finished the day in Rugeley, just before bridge 56, and very close to a large and useful Tesco store. Time for more shopping!

Crazy garden shed!

 

This is where we spent the night.

Thursday to Saturday - end of week 4!

It's just five lock miles from Alrewas to Fradley Junction, where the Trent & Mersey Canal meets the Coventry Canal, and we arrived there in around an hour, used the facilities there, and moored up across from the BW Information Centre, shop and cafe.

It was then that Grace noticed that the batteries weren't being charged. I checked, and found the drive belt to the alternator, generator and engine water pump to be all but broken. The engine was too hot for me to attempt a replacement, so we went across to the café for lunch.

Back at the boat later, I rolled up my sleeves and got down to replacing the belt. We have spare belts of all sizes, so it all seemed very straightforward. However, when I couldn't even loosen the bolts on the alternator – yes, I did have the right size of spanner! - I had to admit defeat. I called River Canal Rescue. After about half an hour, I got a text from an RCR mechanic to say he'd be with us between an hour and an hour and a half. He arrived two hours later, having come from Manchester in very heavy rain and consequent bad traffic. At least it had stopped raining on us by the time he arrived.

It turned out the job wasn't nearly as easy as I have envisaged, for it took the expert three hours to replace the belt, and also the separate generator belt which was showing signs of wear.

Drive belts!

He also spotted another small problem which might have worsened without us knowing – a leak in the pipe taking water to the calorifier. Unfortunately, he was unable to replace it, but fixed it temporarily, and we'll have to replace it when we get back to the marina. But we were hugely impressed by the young man, Dean, who worked solidly for three hours to get a very fiddly job done, with a smile, great patience and real determination. RCR is most certainly a service worth paying for.

Our evening meal was at 9:30, and we went to bed early.

The weather for Friday was due to be heavy rain, so we decided to stay where we were. Dean had left a number of greasy fingerprints around where he was working, and I had water in the bilges that needed to be pumped out, so I got those jobs done while Grace did some vacuum cleaning inside the boat. We took a stroll around the site, too, which has a lot of character.

Saturday's weather was much better, and it was time for us to move on up Junction Lock, then turning left onto the Coventry Canal.

Our rooftop garden's doing well at last!

The scenery was lovely, the weather perfect for cruising, and we saw more boats out and about today than on any other day since we started out four weeks ago. There were no more locks on today's journey. The canal is narrow in places, and somewhat winding.

We moored for lunch above Cheadle's Bridge (no. 81), and at the end of the day below Dunstall Bridge, just north of Tamworth.