Lessons learnt, questions asked and things forgotten

Tardebigge New Wharf to Lady Lane Wharf, Earlswood
16 miles, 1 lift bridge, 4 tunnels

A rash of new blogs - we were moored at the top of Tardebigge for a while, so waited until we were off before publishing.  Today sees the start of our first longish trip - well long to us, but I am sure once we really get going next year, this will be a very brief trip.  We are heading for Stratford in the first instance and are meeting up in Wooton Wawen with Boatwif and the Captain from nb Cleddau on 18 Sep and we can play host to them on our boat for the first time.  An appropriate place for us as it is where we took our first hire boat from more years ago than I care to remember.

Yesterday we moved Tentatrice from the non tow path side (we were with Pinders for a while), to the water point to fill up and load the boat with a car full of 'stuff', we winded (turned around) and moored up on the tow path side of the canal.  The weather was dire and we got very, very wet.

This morning our daughter and her family came to join us for the first part of our trip to Withybed Green.  This was a first for our youngest grandson (J aged 22 months and yes I know he should not be wearing pink with flowers, but it is a borrowed lifejacket from nb Cleddau and he is too young to notice!) and our son in law.

Welcome aboard

a

 Trainee helmsman

 Just supervising

 Farewell

 A final wave

 We are off!

It was dry and as the day wore on the weather got better and better, so we continued as far as possible as we have seen the forecast for tomorrow!

So to the lessons learned there were many!
1. The floor is like the Forth Rail Bridge before they acquired long life paint.  It was swept 4 times and mopped once!!
2. When you get off to walk the dog along a muddy footpath - change your shoes when you get back on board - see above!!  Guilty as charged I am afraid.
3. There are some curmudgeonly folk out there - why would anyone go past in a boat and ignore a 22 month old waving like mad?
4. Tunnels

Monty does not like them.  Tardebigge and Shortwood were okay as we still had the family, so we were all in the bow.  When we got to Wast Hills I thought I would go inside with him and clean the floor.  No chance.  He cried and whined, so there was nothing for it but to sit and 'hold his paw'!

5. Having seen more rubbish than we are used to we realise how lucky we are with the two stretches we litter pick for C&RT.  They are brilliantly clean compared to the places passed today.  Is that because we do a good job and people keep clean places clean, or because we work in rural areas?  A mixture of the two we feel.
6. When you light the fire the sun comes out!
7. Steering - I am very much in need of L plates, but did okay today apart from nearly sweeping Chris off the gunwhales with a tree when he was changing the chimney!  More practise needed I fear, but I will win through - just give me a wide berth if you see me coming!!
8.  There are loads of places to moor between the northern end of Wast Hills Tunnel and where we moored.
9.  Monty does eventually lie down whilst we are motoring, but he fights sleep.

10.  Having paddles, but no canoe!

11. Meeting a boat on a bend with a tree stump on our side of the canal is 'interesting' to say the least (no I was not in charge at the time!).
12.  Anyone need a bike?  Not quite up to the standard of the one Graham from nb Jannock fished out some years ago.

10.  We will have quiet evenings from Monty whilst we are doing this boating lark.

Questions asked:  Just three:
1. Fishermen - we always thought that part of going fishing was to get away from home for the day, so fishing from the end of your garden seems to negate the reason for dangling a bit of string in the water?  Also there is no excuse to go to the pub on the way home?!

2.  Graffiti - why oh why do people feel the need to deface things?

3. Where has the water gone?  When nb Cleddau went past here on 24 June there was water tumbling down these steps, but today it was bone dry.

Forgotten things - well what we have discovered so far:

Mayo, salad cream, sandwich spread (all used to make egg sarnies), ketchup, mustard, horseradish sauce, butter - all left in the fridge at home.
A really old pair of trousers and kneeling mat for getting down to clean the floor
The clothes airer
Poker and tongs for the fire
A small bin to keep the dog bags in until we find a 'dog box' - definitely non existent round here.

How many other things will we discover we need before we get home in around three and half weeks time?  We have to be back by 11 October (Grandparent duties) and then the 15 October when Chris and I (if there is space) are going to the Museum at RAF Cosford for the unveiling of the German Dornier Bomber that was raised from the Goodwin Sands in June.  It is very likely that Chris' father was the gunner in the Defiant that shot it down.

Job Done!

Thursday 6th September
One side of the canal to the other
A few yards

The signwriter was booked for today (before the bad weather arrives) and now the job is done.  One side, then we moved across the canal for the other side to be done, then back to where we started.  Our shortest 'cruise' to date!

 Graham at work - note the supervisor!

 Job done - just checking all is well!

and these can be put away somewhere safe!

A long, slow climb

 Tuesday 2 September 2013
Stoke Pound to Tardebigge New Wharf

2.5 miles, 30 locks


Yet another glorious day dawned and we set off at 08:30.  We were aware that two boats had gone ahead, but we had left a good half an hour after the last one before we started.  We set off at a cracking pace, but within half and hour we had caught them up.  The one immediately ahead of us was nb The Chiseler who we last saw at Dunhampstead moorings on 7 July and they are also fairly near neighbours of ours at the Marina.  It was the boat in front of them that was very slow and on a couple of occasions they managed to leave a paddle open!

It certainly is a long climb, but with wonderful weather, fabulous scenery and good friends to help it was a very pleasant day

There was a lot of waiting

Pushing of gates

A certain amount of athletics

Yes I do exist and I even get to steer sometimes!

Pateint as ever

My nemesis on this flight - the radio ham's house just before bridge 51

It is running the gaunlet of this chap (or maybe he is a she?) and his/her housemate.  I am sure they are both lovely dogs, but they do their job well guarding the house and poor Monty just hates going past and being 'shouted' at.  One time there was a cat lying on the tow path by the orange fencing, so it was a bit of squeeze trying to get past the house and the cat.  Monty was so worried about the dogs he did not even notice the cat was there!

One of my favourite views from the top of the reservoir looking down over Bromsgrove

This was the result of the second open paddle between locks 56 and 57 (penultimate lock)

To add to the confusion there was a boat in 57 coming down - we had to hold that one in the lock and flush a couple of lock fulls down as the pound was so low nb The Chiseler could not make her way from 56 to 57.

All was well in the end and we finally made it through lock 57 and all jumped on board for the longer stretch to 58

We have made it out of lock 58 - it took around 5 hours which is a lot longer than we had hoped for.  We were, however, not in a hurry and we just settled down to enjoy the day.

The plan was to moor (with permission as we are hoping to get the C&RT reg number painted on to the boat whilst we are here) on the non tow path side right by the place where Tom & Angela Rolt first met Robert Aikman and they decided to form the IWAin 1946?

 No it was 1945 as shown in the amended plaque below

However the canal had other ideas - it was too shallow and we could not get the stern near enough to the bank

so it was full steam 'reverse'

  back to lock 58 down again and planning to reverse back to the 14 day moorings and think again when Chris decided to go back up

wind and see if we could moor facing the opposite direction

We could

 

 So safely in position by Pinder's for the job to be done - we both love the whole Tardebigge flight (I even did some litter picking on the way up!) and what an idyllic spot to spend a few days.

  Thank you to our crew mates - they certainly halved our work load and we really enjoyed their company.  Monty was quite lost once his friend Kiera had gone!

We are off!

Monday 1st September
Droitwich Spa Marina to The Queen's Head, Stoke Pound
4.5 miles, 15 locks

Today saw the start of our first 'proper' cruise.  We were joined by another set of friends (Jane, Chris and their black lab, Kiera) who did their first trip aboard with us along with their granddaughter on 25th July.  We all boarded on Sunday night, so they are our first non family overnight visitors.  As they were sleeping the in saloon we took Monty into the bedroom with us - big mistake - he cried and whinged most of the night!  We are not sure is he did not like being hemmed in (he was trapped on the far side of the bed by the bow doors) or whether he wanted to be with Kiera. The next night we left all the doors open and he was fine, so lesson learnt - do not put him in a confined space!

Anyway I digress - the plan was for Jane and Chris to be with us for two days to get us to the top of Tardebigge - help we were very grateful for.  Yet again the weather was on our side - warm and sunny.  Sometimes too warm, but maybe I should not say that!

This stretch is all very familiar territory to us, so not a lot to say.  There were two boats coming down at Hanbury locks, so once again these were easy.

Jane and I walked from Hanbury to Astwood so Kiera and Monty could work off some beans!

 

 Astwood flight

They are getting used to waiting!

One of the Astwood locks

 

 We stopped at Pinders to collect our fuel dip stick.  We were hoping they might have the second shelf for the oven, but no, not yet.  I have to say it seems daft supplying a cooker with just one shelf, but that is how it came!  Then it was up the Stoke Flight which we know well from our time as VLK's.  An easy task with four adults on board.

The moorings at the Queen's Head are rather popular now it is open again, so when we arrived we were moored right opposite the garden, which was very busy.  It would have been rude not to pop over for a beer in the sunshine!

 A great spot, but further along would have been better - less noise from what is now a very busy pub.

 By the time we got back there was a space further along, so a dirty dart was made and we are safely moored again.  It does not look a lot further away, but it was far enough not to hear the music

 and the view the other way was much better

The Queen's Head is now a very busy pub, so if you are passing this way and want to eat I would advise booking as early as possible.  We met someone at the top of Tardebigge one Tuesday who was planning to eat there that night.  We advised him to phone which he did.  This was mid-morning and all they could offer was 17:30 or 21:30.  I booked on Saturday 24th August for Monday 1st September for 18:30 and I got the last table by the window!  Prices are not cheap (£12.95 for fish and chips (but the best I have ever had), £22.95 for a rib eye or sirloin steak), but the food is excellent and if you order between 17:30 and 19:00 (hence our early booking of 18:30) you get 25% off the food.  Also much to our surprise we were within 'Happy Hour' and got a fiver off the bottle of wine.  Each meal comes with a salad bowl which you can fill from a great selection and we had that as our starter.  No one had dessert or coffee, but none was needed as we were all full and went back to the boat for coffee.  The bill for four including the tip was £94 - for that we had 3 G & T's, one large glass of rose wine, 1 bottle of Merlot, 2 rib eye steaks, one lamb meal and a Cajun chicken burger.  They were all very good, so although not a cheap meal out we felt it was worth the money. Just choose your time.  The other offer they have is between midday and 7pm you can have two pizzas for the price of one.

Dunhampstead and back

Thursday 29th August
Droitwich Spa Marina to Dunhampstead and back
5 miles. 6 locks, 2 tunnels

I am a bit behind, so a catch up is called for! 


A different day out today with a friend, Helen, who we have known for, well let's just say we go back a while!  This is the first time we have tried this route and it is a better one if we want more time to chat and relax!  Yet again we were lucky with the weather - warm and dry with some sun.  There was a boat coming down at Hanbury, so the three locks there did not take long to get through.  No VLK - he was on holiday!

Setting off

 Waiting at the first lock

 Out of the top lock - I think I must have run along to catch up again!

 This was the aim of the day - sitting in the sun relaxing with a cuppa

 We 'chased' this little family out of Dunhampstead Tunnel

 A gloriously rural stretch

We stopped for lunch at the The Fir Tree Inn in Dunhampstead and were able to sit outside in the sun.  A lovely relaxing time before we went a little further along, winded and headed back to the Marina.

 Getting close to Hanbury Turn

 Back to the locks and we did get Helen working!

 We all had a great day out and even Monty was ready for a kip when we got home!