Narrowboat Vegvisir

Up and busy this morning,  after a disturbed night. There was a fox shrieking its way along the canal, which was fine, except that our neighbouring boat left their dogs outside overnight. The dogs took exception to the fox and started barking right outside of our boat. Their owners took something like 30 minutes to respond and a other 10 minutes of faffing to calm them down. The plan was to get up the 16 locks of Stourbridge flight before the rain showers forecast for midday, so we were unmoored by 8.20am. Well, it's early for us. No sooner had we arrived at the bottom of the flight, than concerned locals were telling us the canal was empty further up. A CRT volunteer (vollie) came past and said he'd go and have a look, but that we should also report the issue. So we did, and carried on uphill, passing the Glass Museum on our way. No time to  stop though! The locks were very closely spaced. And you can tell we are on the Birmingham canals be...

Well the sun is out, mostly, but the wind has turned chilly, so it's on with layers for my turn at the tiller. We dropped another couple of locks and filled the water tank.. 100 litres taken on. After a couple of hours we were at the junction Making a sharp turn left. And straight into a flight of four locks. I messed around in the middle while waiting for the crew to get the first one ready. Once in, it all went smoothly.  It made quite a change to see the locks from below. Lovely view looking back: And in fact the whole canal was eye candy, all the way along. And In a short while we came to the junction for the Stourbridge Arm. Sunday afternoon and the towpath was busy with people taking the air. And as we headed into town, you would think we were still in deep country.   Went as far as we could, turned at the end, back a couple of hundred metres, and moored up. A...

We enjoyed our allotment mooring so much that we stayed for a second night. Andrew had an Amazon order to collect from the post office nearby, and we needed a hardware shop. But there was also sightseeing to do. Local magnate Thomas Bantock had bought a perfectly ordinary farmhouse and transformed it into a mansion with grounds. His son inherited, and had 6 daughters, none of whom wanted the place. So on his death he gave to the Council, as you do. We were advised that all the furniture could be used unless marked otherwise, and indeed encouraged to make ourselves feel at home. So there's Andrew, snug beside a Hobbit fireplace. After such grandeur, we decided to treat ourselves to an upscale Italian restaurant just a few metres from our mooring, which was most enjoyable.  Next morning, we had deal with a downside of boat  life. The loo had been blocking increasingly often, and it was time to take action. I will draw a veil over what Andrew h...

Festival complete, our voyage continues. Our future base is at Nuneaton, so we are unlikely to return to these waters any time soon. It was a beautiful morning, of course, with the bank holiday over. From Norbury we cruised to Gnosall to top up our water tank. From there down to Brewood for some shopping and an overnight stop.  The South Shroppie is dead straight, striding over embankment and through cuttings with barely a need to move the tiller. And fairly quiet, not many boats on the move. Those we did meet, inevitably,  were at bridge holes. The right of way belongs to whoever is nearest, so there is always this weird dance 80 yards apart, as each boat tries to work out who hangs back and who pushes through. The day was sunny but cold, so we pushed on through, looking forward to soup, hot showers, and a siesta to warm us up. By early afternoon we were almost there And then through the stop lock and onto the Staffo...

Thursday dawned beautifully sunny, and since the forecast was not so good for Friday, we decided against a day off exploring Market Drayton in favour of getting down to Norbury Junction to find our allotted mooring. We're the IWA Support Boat, don't you know. Tyrley locks are always picturesque  despite their notoriously fierce bywashes. Even Woodseaves was doing its gloomy best.. it is a very deep, heavily wooded cutting, shallow and narrow. And i was at the tiller so could not take time to find a pretty view. But we did snap local celebrity, Henry the Heron. A quiet afternoon on board, very much the calm before the storm. Friday 1st May - set up Display stand, banner, A frame, teardrop banners, tables, literature, bric a brac, you name it, everything turned up in the back of a car.  Except for extras, which are always legion.. to display a jumper, a hanger from on board.. a bit of wire to display a watercolour.. a bolt to replace a missing one.. each ...

The final break made with our landlords at Nantwich marina, spare keys handed back, refund off the electric meter, and away. No rain but a cold north easterly wind, and 14 locks to get through.   As is our usual practice, we take turns, 7 locks each.  The cooler temperature made lock working quite pleasant,  but standing at the tiller can get chilly. The  wind also gave Andrew pause for thought when stopping at Overwater Marina to take on diesel and pump out our black water tank .. an expensive but necessary call.. So after 5 hours cruising we were glad to stop by a sheltering hedge at Cox Bank above Audlem for the night. Wednesday morning, still windy but much  milder with a completely blue sky. We had seen steam tug Tixall and dumb barge (no engine) Kessel go by the previous evening and soon caught  up with them at Adderley locks.  Tixall had gone up the flight of 5 and were bowhauling Kessel.. a slow process. Another boat cau...