FRESH FRIENDS

SATURDAY 1ST TO MONDAY 3RD MAY 2010

What good fortune, if you are going to run out of gas, make sure you are just the other side of a bridge to a boat yard, in this instance the very obliging man at Talbot Wharf provided us with two full bottles of gas. The BW sanitary station on the other side of the cut allowed up to do a poor mans self pump out and fill with water and then we were ready and waiting for Steve and Caroline.

Against all the forecasts the sun was still shining when they arrived and after a quick cup of coffee we set off. We did tell them about the flight of five Adderley locks, but kept quite about the fifteen Audlem ones. Steve hadn’t forgotten his lessons from their previous visit and soon made short work of these locks, he was quite happy to cross the gap between one top gate and the other whereas Jacquie and I won’t. After a pause for lunch and against advice that it was going to poor with rain, we whizzed down eleven of the fifteen locks, with me cycling on to set up the next lock. We moored, walked down to the busy Shroppie Fly for a pint or two and got back well before the rain arrived. All thoughts of playing cards after dinner disappeared as one after the other we fell asleep.

Bank Holiday Sunday was dry but chilly. Steve and I enjoyed a stroll around the village of Audlem and I am glad to say that in contrast to Market Drayton, it looked smart and prosperous.

Back on SKYY we passed the, not so, secret Nuclear Bunker at Hack Green, I plan to visit this after we return from the Llangollen arm. Lunch was taken on the outskirts of Nantwich and in the afternoon we approached Hurleston Junction. It’s a tight turn immediately after a bridge and straight away four locks take you up onto the Llangollen arm and it’s an awkward junction and it’s best to drop your lock wheeler off before you turn into the junction, although there is a resident lock keeper to assist you.

It would seem that water points are few and far between so I suggest filling up above the top lock. We pushed on past another couple of locks before stopping for the night in a quite wooded location.

By lunch time on Monday Bank Holiday we got as far as Wrenbury and moored between the two lift bridges. Dusty Millers provided an enjoyable lunch and although we arrived early the management were soon overwhelmed by the holiday rush and we gave up on the deserts, opting to return to SKYY and polish of Jacquie’s apple cake and custard.
After some difficulty in contacting a taxi firm we waved goodbye to Steve and Caroline at 3.30pm as a taxi returned them to their car in Market Drayton, some twelve miles by road and two and a half days by boat, but whose is counting.

HIGHS AND LOWS

WEDNESDAY 28TH – FRIDAY 30TH APRIL 2010

We didn’t go far before we stopped at Brewood, a lovely village with a mix of very ancient black and white and elegant Georgian houses. The most spectacular is the, so called, Speedwell Castle, right in the centre, apparently built from the winnings of a horse called Speedwell.

Soon after we crossed the A5 Watling Street on the cast iron Stretton Aqueduct and a little while later stopped again at Wheaton Ashton where a village garage also serves the cycling set and the boating community from its own jetty.

The canal hereabouts is lock free and continues in long straight stretches, either high on embankments or deep in red sandstone cuttings, we stopped for Wednesday night at Gnosall, just after the dramatic, rough hewn Cowley Tunnel.

The weather was still very pleasant on Thursday as we passed the picturesque Norbury Junction. I lived for many years in Norbury, near Streatham in South London and I am so pleased to say that there is no comparison. The canal here is carried on the immensely high embankments of Shelmore and Shebdon which caused so much trouble to the builders. Between these embankments is the strange High Bridge and it stubby telegraph pole and at the end of the embankments is a covered wharf which served the factory complex below which used to make chocolate, but sadly now dried milk is the only product.

A narrow rock cutting brought us to the five Tyrley locks, all deeply set into the sandstone, the work involved in these cuttings and the embankments must have been immense and all done with nothing more than muscle, men and horses.

A few more minutes and we arrived at the well presented moorings for Market Drayton. We intended to stay Thursday and Friday night as chums Steve and Caroline would be joining us on Saturday. A short bike ride on Friday morning to Lidl provided us with most of our requirements, but must be said that the town centre was very depressing, with many empty shops and even several of the many pubs were closed, what did remain in business looked tired and the old buildings seemed to be uncared for.

Our disappointment in Market Drayton was compounded when Jacquie tried to light the oven, only to find that the gas had ran out. I had only changed over bottles a few days before and hadn’t yet replaced the empty one. The gas locker did smell strongly of gas so I can only surmise that I hadn’t properly tightened up the connection on the fresh bottle and when I opened it’s tap the gas gradually leaked out, lesson learnt, must check the hose connections when changing over bottles.

POTTERING

MONDAY 26TH – TUESDAY 27TH APRIL 2010

After the exertions of Sunday and having found such a peaceful mooring we decided to stay put for a couple of days and catch up with chores, like washing of all the volcanic ash and then polishing the starboard side of SKYY, whilst Jacquie gave the insides a thorough clean, but not before catching up with the blog and emails. In between all this activity we heard a toot on a boat hooter and looked out to see ‘Retirement No problem’ coming towards us. Great to see Sue and Vic, closely followed by ‘Moore to Life’; one day we will going in the same direction and be able to have more than just a few passing words.

KNIGHTS ON WHITE CHARGERS

SUNDAY 25TH APRIL 2010

Time to move on, Wolverhampton and the flight of twenty one locks lay between us and the rural delights of the Shroppie. Surprisingly the water is very clear and clean and shoals of little fish could clearly be seen, but apart from that on the approach to Wolverhampton there was not much to delight the senses. Surrounding the canal on both sides are old factories and warehouses, but great swathes of it is now nothing but rubble as much has been demolished. Right in the centre, by the railway station, just at the top lock there is a lovely BW cottage and on the other side a garden and a small boat yard makes quite an attractive scene

The locks are all single, but with double bottom gates, neither Jacquie or I like crossing over from one open gate to the other side. Jacquie is happy to walk around the lock to open the other one, but I prefer to use the boat hook to either push open or pull shut the gate. When I cycle down to the next lock with the boat hook under my arm, Jacquie says I looked like her knight on a charger about to go jousting, should have gone to Spec-Savers I say.

A few spots of rain and soon we were at the bottom of the locks at the very attractive Aldersley Junction with the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. Less than a mile later and we turned left through what was once a white painted bridge, where a stop lock lead us onto the Shropshire Union Canal. We moored for the night before the M54 intruded onto the tranquillity of the canal.

BLACK COUNTRY MUSEUM

SATURDAY 24TH APRIL 2010

There are in fact two separate experiences here. The Dudley Canal Tunnel Trust, which takes you by electric boat deep into the Dudley Tunnel complex and the living museum, both excellent. Jacquie was dubious, but enjoyed them both, but did decline the walk into the drift coal mine.

It is possible to take your boat through the Dudley Tunnel, but it would first have to pass under a height gauge, which ours certainly wouldn’t and then it would have to be towed through by an electric tug. What is different about this tunnel is that it was a mine for limestone with numerous shafts going off from underground basins, long before it became a through route. We passed through massive caverns with the knowledge that there were vastly bigger ones a 100ft below us. Our guide was informative and dryly humorous in a typically Dudley manner and managed to persuade a couple of chaps to try legging the boat through the tunnel.

Back into daylight and into the Museum, which is an urban Victorian village peopled by friendly staff in period costume, either cooking in the kitchens or making nails or chains, or running the local shops and a bobby on the beat is trying to stop somebody jumping of the bridge completes the image. Many of the building have been reconstructed here prior to demolition in their original situations, but you would never know, it has been done so well and in reality it would take more than one day to take it all in.

Supplies were running low and the internet told us that there was a Tescos less than a mile away. After we had rested a little, a fifteen minutes walk got us there and a three minute taxi trip brought us back to SKYY loaded with all the necessities for life afloat.

GOSTY OR GORSTY

FRIDAY 23RD APRIL 2010

The whole of the area surrounding the end of the Netherton Tunnel is now landscaped park land, with many lakes and pools and evocative names, like Bumble Hole and Boshbiol, Not so many years ago the place was full of coal mines, brick kilms, foundries, furnaces, boat yards and railways. One major claim to fame was that the anchors and chains for the ill fated Titanic were forged here. The lakes have been formed by mining subsidence, otherwise the only other obvious testament to all this activity is the huge empty engine house and chimney for the pump that kept the mines dry.

Whilst we were this end of Netherton tunnel we decided to explore the remains of the Dudley No 2 Canal. There is only about two and a half miles before reaching the end of navigation at Hawne Basin, Halesowen. Gosty Hill tunnel, 577 yards long, or in local literature Gorsty Hill Tunnel, had to be passed, however Gosty is far more appropriate what it lacks in length it also lacks in height. The high North Portal gave no cause for concern, but soon a grim picture of Dracula indicates much lower headroom and I did for moment wonder if our top box would clear, fortunately it did, but not by much, the thought of having to reverse out was not something I wanted to think about.

I wouldn’t recommend this route to the faint hearted or the claustrophobic, you have to return this way, although as we knew we had clearance the return journey seemed much quicker. There is a lively boating community at the end, but we only stopped briefly for lunch. Back through the Netherton Tunnel and a left turn and we were on our way to Tipton, approaching the Factory Locks exactly as two BW men were about to padlock them at six o’clock due to water conservancy caused by the draining of that big reservoir, the name of which I can’t remember. They agreed that this was not a healthy place to stay the night and happily they quickly assisted us through the locks and ten minutes we were tied up right beside the Black Country Museum, protected from the scary outside world by a gate secured by a BW padlock.

ALTERNATOR DIRECTION

THURSDAY 22ND APRIL 2010

The wind had dropped and the stove was behaving perfectly with its new chimney hat as we left Birmingham City, destination The Dudley Black Country Museum. We left The Birmingham Level Main Line at Smethwick Locks and climbed up to the old Wolverhampton Level. Almost immediately the Engine Branch left us on the left and crossed the Main Line on an Aqueduct. The main line ran parallel with us but in a 40ft deep cutting. Apparently at the time this cut was being digging dug, it was the biggest earthworks in the world and it still very impressive.

The M5 provided a roof over us as we crossed the Main Line via the Stewart Aqueduct, eventually we left the shadow of the motorway and carried on through a mix of industry and housing estates, when the phone rang and it was Pete the RCR engineer who said he had our alternator and if we could get to the south end of the Netherton Tunnel, he could fix it that evening.

It’s a strange experience when you cross over another canal via an aqueduct, but even stranger when you look down and see the entrance to the tunnel that you will soon be travelling through. The Netherton Tunnel is on the Main Line level so we did a U turn and retraced our steps to Bradeshall Junction, dropped down three locks, did two left hand 90deg. turns and was soon entering the tunnel. A big tunnel, 3027yds., long, wide enough for two boats to pass, a tow path on each side, gas lighting, in fact it was the last canal tunnel to be built. April 1856 work started and completion was in two years and seven months and the maximum error of alignment was one inch, an amazing achievement even by today’s standards.

Pete was waiting for us at the other end. He had promised a safe and attractive mooring for the night and the surrounding of Windmill End were exactly that. Forty minutes later and the new alternator was fitted and producing a fat healthy charge, fortunately the old one had been intermittingly producing enough charge to keep the batteries topped up, but we could relax now and turn the TV on.