It's Over

Friday 18^th September 2020 

The mooring below Big Lock proved very successful. It was nice and quiet – just a few dog walkers early on, but less traffic than a normal towpath mooring. And of course there was nice open green space close by in both directions. The other benefit was that with the Middlewich locks all behind us there was no pressure to get moving early, so we took our time.

In the end we got moving about ten. As we were approaching Croxton Aqueduct I saw a boat coming the other way towards us. This aqueduct is very narrow, just a few inches either side of a narrowboat, so I swerved over to the left to let them past. As they came by I recognised them – the Tiller People, regular vloggers based at the Overwater Marina on the Shroppie.

Tired crew on the final leg

Trent and Mersey jungle north of Middlewich

Bridge 213 - last one on the T&M

After that we were following a well-trodden path back through the wilds north of Middlewich, then through Wincham and Marston, past Marbury and Anderton, then through the tunnels. Loulie took the dogs off for a walk after Barnton, and we got back to the marina at about five, and our adventure was over.

It has been a great trip, with a strange hiatus in the middle. We have reached two landmark points on the network – Shardlow and Birmingham - as well as a number of other memorable spots; the Trent crossroads, Fradley and Fazeley Junctions, Dudley Museum and the tunnels, and the Wolverhampton flight. Given the strange year and the constraints of lockdown it’s good that we have managed to get away for a significant length of time. We have not had as many nights on board as we had planned, but something is better than nothing.

TODAY: 7:00 HOURS. 19 MILES. 1 LOCK.

Voyage: 94:25 HOURS. 176.7 MILES. 138 LOCKS.

Getting back on the grid

 Thursday 17^th September 2020

We needed to find a mooring with good mobile signal for the evening, because I had a Parish Council meeting to attend. However we needed to make a reasonable mileage, so that we would be in position to get home tomorrow (Friday). The signal is fairly poor all the way along the Middlewich Branch, until you reach the eponymous town itself, but we were unsure how slow we would find things through the locks. We didn’t make an early start – I went down into town to get a plant pot from M&S, because Loulie wanted to give it to a lady at NNC who has been very helpful to us over the years. In the end it was about 10 when we set off. 

These are very familiar waters to us by now, and we headed up to Barbridge Junction, then along the Branch. After our worries about queues at the locks, in the event we went straight into the first three; at Cholmondeston a man from the marina was working the lock as people passed through, and at the other two we got lucky by arriving just as boats were coming out, going the other way. Loulie got off with the dogs for a good walk around the middle of the Branch – it is very rural and quiet, with very few busy roads or other hazards in the way of dog walking. 

As we left Stanthorne lock another boat pulled out from the bank ahead of us, and we followed them down through Middlewich, with things becoming much slower. There was another boat waiting at Wardle lock, and others coming up, then on the triple flight we again encountered slow boaters who generally held things up.

Once down those locks we moored near the centre of town, so I could get on the bike and go to Morrisons for food. We then debated whether to go on down Big Lock, and I went ahead for a recce. It looked as though there was space in a spot we have noticed before, on the offside just below Big Lock, so we carried on and moored there. Although it is on the off side it is a CRT public mooring, beside some open green space, and we were able to squeeze on the end. It was great for walking the dogs, and since we were still inside the town boundaries the signal was great for my meeting.

 

TODAY: 7:00 HOURS. 14 MILES. 8 LOCKS.

Voyage: 87:25 HOURS. 157.7 MILES. 137 LOCKS.

Back to Base

Wednesday 16^th September 2020

The main business of the day was the Audlem flight, fifteen locks, which was only about a mile from where we were moored. We didn’t want to get caught in a queue, as we had at Tyrley yesterday, so we got up fairly early, gave the dogs breakfast, and got onto the canal by about nine.

As it turned out there was no queue at the top of the flight, but as we worked our way down the locks we encountered a fair amount of minor annoyances, mostly from boats going the other way. Nothing very major, but people not knowing what they were doing, or going very slowly. In normal years it is easier to step in and “help out” to put them back on the right track, but social distancing makes everyone keep apart. I don’t suppose it really held us up very much.

We had intended to stop at Audlem Mill, above lock 13 (three from the bottom). However in the event there wasn’t anywhere to moor right outside, and while we could have stopped below the lock and walked back, we decided just to push on.

There were only two locks left for the day, the isolated pair at Hack Green, 2-3 miles further on from Audlem. Here, however, we did encounter significant delays, as one of the locks had a leaky paddle and was filling very slowly indeed. There wasn’t much we could do about this, so we just had to wait and help out where we could. In fact only a few weeks later this lock got so bad that they closed it for a day or two in order to replace the offending paddle.

It’s only a couple of miles from Hack Green before you come to the outskirts of Nantwich, and we began to think about mooring. We didn’t want to go past the town, because there isn’t really anywhere good to moor beyond that, all the way up to Barbridge – very bad shelves where mooring is possible at all. So we were looking for a good spot all the way into town and along the aqueduct, but with no success – the public moorings were pretty much occupied. In the end we found a space right opposite the entrance to the NNC marina, where Eileen was built. We had to squeeze into a gap, and I spent a long time shuffling back and forward trying to find a place where we could get nicely in to the bank. I got it done to my satisfaction in the end, and even then another smaller boat managed to squeeze in ahead of us.

We had stopped at about 3pm, so even after tidying up the mooring there was plenty left of the day. I went for a run, two miles up the canal towards Hack Green, and then back again. After that I cycled across town to Sainsburys to get food for a couple of days. However tonight we had decided to have fish and chips, which I got from a shop on Welsh Row, which is nice and close to the canal.

Relaxed Mabel

TODAY: 6:00 HOURS. 8.5 MILES. 17 LOCKS.

Voyage: 80:25 HOURS. 143.7 MILES. 129 LOCKS.

Downhill all the way

Tuesday 15^th September 2020

We wanted to get down the Tyrley and Adderley flights today, to put us in position to tackle Audlem tomorrow, and we also needed to take on water, so we made a reasonably early start, leaving the mooring at about half nine. We sailed for about an hour, through fairly featureless country, before coming to a water point at Goldstone Bridge. With the locks likely to occupy much of the afternoon we decided that Loulie would give the dogs their walk by going forward along the towpath; I would fill up then follow and pick them up when they turned back.

It was a pleasant spot on the water point, opposite the Wharf Tavern which has a widening of the canal in front of it, presumably the site of the eponymous wharf in the old days. I had a bit of a chat about our sliding roof with some boaters moored nearby – they remembered seeing it in the magazine article back when it was built.

After half an hour or so the tank was full, and I unmoored and set off after the rest of the crew. Before very long the canal went into Woodseaves Cutting, a long, deep cutting with a lot of narrow spots. I spent a lot of time waiting, first at a bridge and then at a pinch point, hovering on the off side while boats went slowly through in the other direction. I kept expecting to see Loulie and the pack coming the other way, but they did not appear. We passed a spot where a landslip had left rocks blocking the whole towpath – I found later that Loulie had had to lift Mabel over this, and encourage the others to clamber over, and she had decided after that not to go back over it.

Fallen tree and landslide in Woodseaves Cutting

Further along there was another landslip, this time on the off side, which had left a tree, earth and rocks in the canal, making the passage even narrower. I passed a work party improving parts of the towpath, and then emerged from the cutting, now close to Tyrley. There is a bridge some way short of the top lock, and as I approached I could see a boat stopped in the bridge hole, with others visible beyond, and I thought for a while that we were queuing all the way to the lock. In the event it turned out that some of the boats ahead were moored up, or had stopped for lunch, so the queue wasn’t as bad as I feared, though there were still several waiting. At this point I was also reunited with the others, who had reached the locks and decided to wait there for me, rather than going back into the rather dismal cutting. Loulie told me that Minnie had found – and eaten – a large dead eel on the bank; happily she showed no subsequent ill effects.

Things moved very slowly as we started to go through the locks. We discovered one reason when we finally got into the top lock. When it was nearly full I closed the offside paddle, so that I could go over and open the gate without having to subsequently go back and close the paddle. However I couldn’t get the gate open, and in the end I had to go back and open the paddle again, to allow the lock to fill completely. Going down to the bottom gate the reason was clear – there was so much water pouring out that a single open paddle at the top was not enough to keep pace, and the lock had started to empty again.

Top lock at Tyrley

Even after clearing the top lock we still had a slow passage through the remaining four. One issue was the final pound, where people were saying you had to be careful and not go near the sides. In the event it didn’t give Loulie any problems, but everything took extra time.

Once we were out of the flight we quickly reached Market Drayton, but unlike our last trip we did not stop this time. A couple of miles further on was the Adderley flight, and we had some concern that this would be as slow as Tyrley. However in the event there were no holdups, and we descended the five locks in good time. There isn’t much of a gap between this flight and Audlem, which we had no intention of starting, so we were looking to moor straight away – it was after five by now. There is a visitor mooring below the bottom lock at Adderley, which had a few boats already. In previous years we would have avoided this and looked for somewhere we could moor in solitude, but now we have become used to keeping the dogs away from the neighbours so we found a nice spot and tied up for the night.

Relaxing at Adderley

TODAY: 8:00 HOURS. 12.3 MILES. 10 LOCKS.

Voyage: 74:25 HOURS. 135.2 MILES. 112 LOCKS.

Ducks on the Shelf

Monday 14^th September 2020

We’re not under great time pressure on this trip, so we have been trying to follow a tough day like yesterday with an easier run the day after. So this morning I cycled off to the supermarket, the same Morrisons I used two years ago when we came past on the Home Run. Meanwhile Loulie took the dogs out for a nice long walk – she was originally trying to find a way onto a nature reserve close to the canal behind us, but it turned out there was no way through. So she went along the towpath to the next bridge, then round a large circuit along country lanes and woodland paths. At one point they had to cross a stream by means of a large fallen tree, like the log where Robin Hood fought Little John. The Labradors trotted over without a thought, but Loulie and Mabel were more tentative.

Little John's Bridge

We eventually got under way not long before midday. It was a hot sunny day, and the canal level seemed low – the shelf was actually visible in places, and in several places ducks were using it to stand on. Not long after setting off we stopped briefly in Brewood (pronounced “Brood”) so I could walk into the village and buy some beer – it was looking like a day where we would appreciate a cold drink after mooring up.

Ducks on the shelf

This lower section of the Shroppie is classic Telford – long straight sections, and a minimum of locks. We only had one to do today, the isolated one at Wheaton Aston. After that we passed through Gnossall and then Norbury Junction, again each one providing memories of two years ago. In the cutting at Gnossall was the spot where we had moored for the night and Posie, then just a small puppy, had climbed off up the bank in the dark, with only a small light on her collar to tell me where she was.

A couple of miles past Norbury Junction we had our eyes on a couple of visitor moorings at Anchor Bridge. The first one we came to was full, but on the other side of the bridge there was space, no shelf and we found a very nice mooring on rings. We put our chairs on the stern deck and broke out the lager. Across the canal from us was a big house – we saw a woman looking out the window at us and decided she was the madwoman from Psycho. A little later she came out and walked around her grounds with a spaniel, not so dangerous looking after all.

Moored at Anchor Bridge

TODAY: 6:15 HOURS. 16.7 MILES. 1 LOCK.

Voyage: 66:25 HOURS. 122.9 MILES. 102 LOCKS.

Don't Tell Him, Pike

Sunday 13^th September 2020

We were woken a bit early for a Sunday, by the people arriving in the museum ready for the day. It’s a “living museum” with a very large area full of houses and buildings representing the industries of the Black Country a century or more ago. There are a lot of people dressed in period costume playing the parts of the various workers and members of the public of the time. The pool where we were moored is just “behind the scenes”, not part of the historical area, and there was a small gate where the actors popped out for a short break, often with a cigarette.

In the end we got under way at about half ten, and headed back to the Main Line. Soon after we left there was a small drama on the towpath – an old women collapsed, and I asked if they needed help. Her companion (daughter as it turned out) said yes, but as I was manoeuvring to land other people on foot came along and started to help. The women had two dogs with them, and ours were going wild, and in the end we were causing more distraction than any help we could offer, so we moved on.

We rejoined the main canal at the top of the Tipton locks, and turned left, west, towards Wolverhampton. Compared with yesterday the canal is more curving, this is a Brindley canal now, but it has been improved by Telford in places. Most notable is the Coseley Tunnel, which we went through quite soon. This is 360 yards long, but it is very unlike the tunnels we are used to close to home. It is easily wide enough for two boats to pass, with wide paths for pedestrians on both sides in addition, and the roof is very high as well, more like a very long bridge than a tunnel.

The water continued to be very clear, though as we travelled it slowly returned to the muddy opacity we are used to elsewhere. By the time we were most of the way down the Wolverhampton flight it was back to normal. While it was clear we saw hundreds of small fish, which we guessed were roach, something confirmed by some fishermen we passed. At one point as I was looking down at them there was a sudden rush and a dark shape shot out of the depths – a pike, trying to catch one unawares.

At Deepfields Junction we passed the end of a short (2 mile) dead end branch – originally this formed a twisting loop which would have joined the main line further back along our route. About three winding miles further on we came to another junction, at Horsley Field – this one heads out into the complicated network north of the main line; we have passed other connections to that in the last couple of days.

Just round the corner we came to a small pool and the top lock in the Wolverhampton flight, 21 locks which would be the main meal of the day. We were very close to the centre of Wolverhampton at this point, just outside the inner ring road, but it did not seem that way. It is not a high-rise city, and there was a fair amount of greenery around the canal, so we were unaware of the amount of built-up area around us.

Wolverhampton Flight

The 21 locks are well maintained and very consistent, so it was possible to get into a nice rhythm. We passed another boat coming up the top lock as we started down, and the guy working the gates made a remark to me about stepping across “or don’t you do that?”. I didn’t immediately twig, but a bit of thought and it made sense. Going down, as your boat leaves the lock you will need to close both gates. There’s no bridge at the bottom end, so one method would be to close one gate, then walk all the way up the lock, cross over and then back down to close the second gate. A faster way is to close one gate then walk out along it and step across the gap to the other gate, then close it and off you go – saving two walks along the length of the lock. The gap is only about three feet, so perfectly safe as long as you don’t worry about the drop into the water below. I worked out the optimum sequence, which included dropping the paddles and using the boat roof as a bridge as she leaves, and then stepping back across the gap once the lock is empty. Loulie refused to look back to see me stepping over the gap, but it is perfectly safe.

As I said the locks themselves were in good condition and easy to work, especially going down, when the undertow is always less so keeping the boat steady is easier for Loulie. We passed a few people going the other way as well, particularly early on, each one making things a little easier for one lock at least. Although we were still very much in Wolverhampton we didn’t see much of it, one lock had a factory overlooking it but for the most part trees blocked our view of any housing and it was all very pleasant. There was just one pound where the water was rather low. We had been warned by people going the other way and Loulie had to feel her way very carefully along, getting stuck a couple of times but getting through OK.

At the bottom of the flight at Aldersley Junction the exit from the last lock is straight out onto the Staffs & Worcs Canal – the lock landing is just round the corner. We turned right up the canal northwards, but we only had to go half a mile before we came to Autherley Junction, and the mouth of the Shropshire Union on the left. We had to wait a while as a boat was coming out, and the stop lock here had become rather difficult to work, but soon we turned in, and we were back on waters we had travelled before, two years previously.

Autherley Junction - onto the Shroppie

After squeezing through the stop lock (the gates won’t open fully so it’s a tight fit getting out) we carried on up the Shroppie for a mile or two, passing the Wolverhampton Boat Club on the left, very neat and trim. A little further on, at Bilbrook past the Pendeford Bridge, we stopped at some 48 hour moorings. There were rings there but even so, this being the Shroppie, we were not surprised to find that there was quite a ledge and we had to deploy the gangplank for the dogs. Loulie took them off for a walk while I tidied up the moorings, finding a spot which minimised the gap, and we settled down for a comfortable night.

Moorings (and a cow) at Bilbrook

TODAY: 6:30 HOURS. 9.8 MILES. 22 LOCKS.

Voyage: 60:10 HOURS. 106.2 MILES. 101 LOCKS.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum

Saturday 12^th September 2020

Although we were in the centre of England’s second city (the first is Manchester, obviously) we had a good night – it was noisier in Willington last Sunday, to be honest. We were in no rush to start – after the epic yesterday we had a fairly easy day planned, and we started by taking a walk around the centre with the dogs, up past Gas Street and the Mail Box. In the end we finally set off at about noon.

The New Main Line runs dead straight (and very wide) out of the centre of Birmingham towards the north west. The Old Main Line is still visible in this section in the form of several winding loops which head off to one side or the other. These are still navigable, and often used by the trip boats from the centre, and again we plan to come back and explore them all – for now we were taking the straight route out. At one point we saw a boat coming towards us, weaving from one side to the other. All was explained when we met and the guy asked if we were passing on the correct side, as he had only bought the boat that morning.

An odd feature of this stretch of the canal were four islands which we met at intervals. In each case they sat in the middle of the canal, leaving a channel each side just wide enough for a narrowboat. On the island were the remains of buildings, and docks, each the size of a lock – so just right for one boat. I assume that these have something to do with assessing tolls on passing traffic, from the time when canals were very big business.

After a couple of miles dead straight the canal curved slightly one way and the other. The loops of the old Main Line are still criss-crossing on either side, but here beyond Winson Green junction the loops are all disused. A mile further on, though, at Smethwick Junction, the Old Main Line proper takes off to the right, and goes up three locks. After running parallel for a mile or so it crosses over the New Main Line on an aqueduct at the same point as the M5 crosses over much higher up, quite a spectacular bit of engineering.

Just after passing these bridges we came to Spon Lane Junction, where a link from the Old Main Line comes down three locks and joined us from the right. At this point the canal curves slightly right, and there is another of those mid-stream islands. I was aiming to pass by on the right hand side – this is normal and also was the shortest route around the curve. However as I approached the narrow channel I was unhappy – it was overhung with vegetation on both sides and the water looked doubtful, so I put us unto reverse and stopped before we got far in. I reversed out and went around the island on the “wrong” side. Probably there was no issue with the other channel – there was no warning sign – but I just didn’t like the look of it.

At this point the canal started to get rather messy, with a lot of debris blown by the wind. We came around a corner to find a wide curve with most of the surface covered with stuff, everything from blown leaves to cans, barrels, bits of wood and unidentifiable remnants. It was no doubt caused by the way the wind was coming around the curve, but we took it very cautiously, not wanting to get anything around the prop, and also not wanting to ground on the outside of the bend, which looked very shallow. Happily we came to no harm and the New Main Line straightened out again for another couple of miles drawn with a ruler.

This was a dull and desolate section, through a flat and deserted landscape. The only interest was a number of branches heading off in each direction. First was the Wednesbury Old Canal, going north from Pudding Green junction. It climbs eight locks and then enters a complicated system of canals in the northern part of the Birmingham Canal Network. One arm comes down to meet the main line at Wolverhampton, while others head up as far north as Norton Canes – another branch winds up at Salford Junction under the M6, where we saw its mouth yesterday.

A little further on a short branch goes left, where it heads up three locks to join the Old Main Line. Another branch on the same side has a more interesting course – it goes under the Old Main Line and then into Netherton tunnel, 3000 yards long, which emerges into the Dudley canal and the southern parts of the Birmingham network. We will have plenty of exploring to do when we return.

As we headed along this stretch we noticed that the water in the canal was becoming clearer, so that we could see well down the bank below the surface, and eventually we found we could see the bottom, mostly green leafy weeds swaying in the currents as we passed. It was still clear when we came to the only locks of the day, the Factory locks at Tipton, a flight of three taking us up at last to the same level as the Old Main Line.

When we emerged from the top lock we turned sharp left and started to look for a mooring. Still enjoying the clear water we went through Tipton Green and passed the mouth of the Old Main Line, heading back east towards the city centre. We kept on a short way further though, along a dead end to the Dudley Black Country Museum.

Although I called it a dead end, strictly speaking the canal goes on through the Dudley tunnel, emerging further south on the Dudley Canal. However this has an extremely low profile, and normal boats will not fit in – it is really a part of the limestone mines, and special low boats were used to get the stone out. Some of these are still there, and the museum uses them to run tours into the mines. As far as normal canal boats are concerned though, this is the end of the line.

Mooring at the Dudley Black Country Museum

Water as clear as the Med

It was, however, an excellent spot to moor, by contrast with the rather uncertain suburb outside. There is a small basin, with public moorings for about four boats, and locked gates once the museum has closed – there was just one other boat there with us overnight. There is a CRT station there where we filled up with water, and we had moored up by mid afternoon. We took the dogs up the hill for a walk in a nice bit of rough woodland, and later on I walked up to a local Aldi for our supper. It was a bright sunny day and the water was clearer than ever – I believe that this is because of the limestone in the mines, so this is the clearest spot of all – it was like looking out of a glass bottomed boat in the Med. We had been spotting fish as we sailed along, and there were more than ever here, dozens and dozens of them in shoals, lots of little ones and up to about a foot long. Because the site was fenced in (to keep the public out) we were able to let the dogs off with no worries, and we spent a very peaceful evening.

TODAY: 3:00 HOURS. 9.2 MILES. 3 LOCKS.

Voyage: 53:40 HOURS. 96.4 MILES. 79 LOCKS.