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Canal 2007

In 2002 we purchased a week on a Narrow boat in April, a lifetime of one weeks holiday a year on a narrow boat. The boat is Shakespeare Classic called Ophelia and is moored at Barton Turn Marina, Burton under Needwood.

We arrived at 2.0pm, the boat was almost ready. We have Ophelia back again, she has been refurbished and looks almost new the hull has been painted and the soft furnishings have been replaced, it is good to be on her again. Edward likes the light steering, we finally got underway by 3.0pm the new suitcases caused some concern, Edward didn't think they would fit under the bunks but they did. We did 2 locks both were easy to do the Trent was very quite which surprised me, as there have been warnings for the last couple of weeks.

We arrived at Alrewas about 4.30pm, finished unpacking and got ourselves sorted before going for dinner at the Crown Inn, Alrewas, Edward had Tomato and Mint soup followed by Cod in mushroom and garlic sauce and salad. I had lasagne and salad, I couldn't finish mine the landlord gave me a doggie bag and it was shaped in a bag how thoughtful. We were in bed for 11.0pm the first night.

Day one

The day started off raining and cold, it stopped raining about 8.30am, it remained cold and damp all day. We started out early after a light breakfast and left Alrewas just after 9.0am, the plan is to reach Weston on Trent for dinner at the Saracens Head it will be a long day. We did 12 locks today, Colwich locks have been replaced and were easy to open. We did get a lecture on how to work a lock from some old bloke, he said "we needed a minimum of three people to work a lock" and thought myself and two other people were from the same boat. We had a giggle, he was saying that, he was working the lock on his own!.

The Fradley locks some of the lock gates arms are so short, its hard to get a purchase even using your weight to open them. I find them hard to move and Edward had to climb up the chamber ladder to give me a hand. Edward wore his new hat today, he thought he looked silly he didn't everyone else was wearing similar hats it kept him warm, which is the main thing on such a cold day as today. I got both pairs of gloves wet and had to dried them out on the radiators. We stopped for lunch at Rugley we made time for a sarnie before we started off again, we did nearly 9 hours today and if we are to get to Froghall it will mean the same again on day two.

The meal at the Saracens Head was good it has changed a bit and the good pasta dish wasn't on the menu, so I had steak and salad with chips I couldn't eat all the chips, but managed the steak, Edward had pea soup followed by Gammon, egg and salad, no pudding tonight and we only had one glass of wine each. We were going to watch NSCI tonight but it isn't on so I am doing this instead.We are worn out tonight so will turn in early.

Day two

We started at 9.15am and wanted to reach the Cauldron Canal, before we stopped for the night.

In Stone we met a bloke who was helping his brother in law to move a boat from Stoke to the Thames, the brother in law had never been on a boat before. But had gone out a week before and brought a boat, arranged the moorings. He decided to move the boat over Easter, he had two weeks off work to do it in. I liked the boat it was called Layla, and it was old, he may have brought a pig in a poke. He was enjoying himself and that is the main thing.

In Stoke we met lots of Black Prince boats, some had no idea what they were doing. One boat had a few little kids on board and about six adults, only one had experience of boating, the others had no idea they dropped of two to do the lock and just drifted into the middle of the canal there was no way we could get out the lock, it took Edward and the other two doing the locks to get the boat back at the side. In the mean time a young kid, decided to throw a temper tantrum, while his dad was trying to make up his mind, what to do next. I stood at the side, and said this is no time for you to be throwing a temper tantrum get inside. The next lock in Stoke was a 70 footer being steered by a single woman and her sons, it was a slow job the lads needed a hand to get the gates open. By the time they got through the lock, 4 other adults came out with booze in hand, they had sat inside watching, while the 2 lads and me were doing all the work lock side. I don't understand how adults can do that. Another boat we spent some hours with, was a small boat which had an outboard motor and they were having a family afternoon on the canal, again loads of kids, one lock they had trouble with and decided to just go up and down the canal for the rest of the afternoon between the locks.

We turned into the Caldron Canal, about 6.30 and needed to reach our destination, in the next hour or so before dark. There was a party going on at the junction so we pressed on, the area was not looking very safe, a few young people were wondering around and I just didn't feel safe. After a few minutes we got to the Bedford Staircase, having never done one like this before, it is not surprising, we had trouble! it took ages for it to fill, but we got there eventually it was a long job, I hadn't closed the paddles properly and thats why it took so long to fill the chamber doh. It was bitterly cold the wind was biting they say an east wind is lazy it goes through instead of around.

After going through the industrial part of Stoke and Hanley we came across a sports field with public moorings, but again I didn't feel safe so we pressed on again, our next hurdle at 8.0 was an electric bridge. We called it quits and stopped for the night on the edge of a building site. I cooked on board tonight, potatoes and peas served with cold Roast Beef. After I had a hot bubble bath after all those locks I needed a soak before going to bed.

Between 9.15am and 2.0pm we did 10 locks and between 2.30 and 8.00 we did 9 locks through Stoke and one was a two flight staircase.

Day three

We got up 7.30, as I was cooking breakfast, I watched someone coming through the electric bridge it looked easy. After breakfast and before we set off at 9.30.Edward and I went up and had a good look at what we had to do it was easy, You have to stop the traffic with barriers, I liked that bit and then hold down a switch till the bridge is raised. I just started to lower the barrier and a van stopped waiting for me to carry on. so I raised it again and signaled him through. After that it was me in control I put both barriers down and started the bridge in motion, Edward steered the boat through and I let the bridge down and removed the barriers, saying thank you to the motorist who was held up while we did the manoeuvre.

It took another hour before we were out of the industrial and housing estate area. We had some sharp bends in the canal to get round, one house on the side of the canal had a garage door on the side of the house and we couldn't see how they used as there was no driveway, we missed the fact we had to turn sharply so came to a halt. It took some back and forthing to get back on the right track. We proceeded to bridge 21 which was a manual lift bridge that was easy, they are so light to wind up and down. The wind was not helping today it kept taking the boat of in a different directions to the one we wanted. By 1.30 we had done 6 locks and 3 lift bridges we stopped for lunch near the Fine Feathers and filled up with water.

We decided as yesterday was so tiring we would turn at bridge 33 and not continue to the end of the canal. On the way down the flight of 5 locks one of the locks had no moorings, other then a slippy slope, Edward gave his Left Leg a unscheduled bath in the canal along with his shoe sock and trouser leg, he was most upset I hadn't raced to his rescue once he was in the lock. I told to him best go and change into dry clothes while I empty the lock, there is no one around so no one knows what happened. At the next lock there was a load of kids hanging around it transpires that one of them had never seen a lock or how they work so they were showing her how it was done as the paddles were stiff, I asked one of the lads to do it for me and they jumped in and took over, they were very nice kids asked loads of questions, the young girl didn't know that people lived on board all year round. She had no idea that we have central heating and TV, and some people even have SKY TV and run computers just like the land living people. We returned to the first lift bridge we had intended to stop between the two lift bridges, but couldn't decide which was the best place to stop. While I was operating the bridge I was chatting to a bloke who has a permanent mooring near by and he said it would be ok for us to moor between his boat and his neighbours only on the tow path side it was a good place to stop and it was quite and I cooked a sausage casserole for dinner.

Day four

We left Norton Green at 9.30 heading back towards Hanley for the trip back to the Trent and Mersey, from here its semi industrial and very twisty the boat didn't like it and kept going in the opposite direction. We got to the electric bridge about 11.00, I started the bridge in motion, there were no cars in sight and we got through with out holding anyone up. Two young lads waited for the bridge to be secured and went down to chat to Edward about the boat, they were so engrossed in what he was saying, they didn't notice me walking back to the boat from the bridge. They were really into the mechanics of the boat and how things worked, how much diesel it held, how much it cost, then they got into how big it was inside could Edward stand up in there and did it have heating and electric, Edward enjoyed explaining it all to them. We finally got away 20 mins later.

We arrived at Bedford Flight there was a queue, while waiting for it to go. I chatted to a BW painter, who asked if I was going down, I asked if it was holding him up, no he said. He usually works on the Shropshire Canal and had came out today to help this gang out. Not realising he was helping first timers through the locks, the two boats which had came through, while we were waiting had no Lock experience let alone a flight. He then helped us go down, the middle paddles were very stiff and it took me all my time to do them but with his help I got them done and we were down the flight in double quick time. I do hope he finished his painting job and got back to the Shroppie before night fall.

At Stoke lock I met up with three very young lads and their dad, he was explaining how it all works, I told them it was magic. They then helped me move the gates under close supervision of dad and Edward to make sure they did it right. Our faith in the younger generation was getting better by the day, till we met a group by the Britannia Stadium, who wanted us to stop and let them drive our boat, we said no, your not covered by the insurance. He came out with a what a load of rubbish, I am going to nick that one over there and have ago by myself. Thankfully, it wasn't our boat he was referring to, but a clapt out old thing, mind I don't think he meant it.

We stopped for lunch just past the stadium. We took longer for lunch then we have been, as we got through all the Stoke locks quicker, then we did going up and decided to relax a bit, about 2.30 we got under way again. The only lock in the afternoon was a fun one. An old bloke cycles down every afternoon, to help out at the locks he does it all. He chats away about his life, its all done before you know it. Edward had trouble getting the boat to the side so I could get on, we tied up and he looked in the weed hatch to find a tyre had got its self rapped round the propeller, some 30 mins later we were once again on the way and decided to stop in Barleston, the pub there has a good reputation for food, we didn't fancy anything on the menu, so popped to the local Londis for some provisions and I cooked dinner on board again tonight, we had Faggots and potatoes with peas. I am glad we did stay on board, the local youths were having a get together near the pub and I don't think it was a good idea to leave the boat for long unattended.

Day five

Today started it looked wet all day we are aiming to get to Great Hayward tonight, I didn't have the full English breakfast just bacon and bread, the full English does not agree with me like it used to. We left Barleston at 9.30 and was surprised at the number of boats we were seeing.

We got through Stone with a certain amount of team work, every lock seemed to be going or coming, so it halved the amount of work we did. Every thing was going well until we got to Aston on Stone, there was a four boat queue. One boat was ok, till it tried to come out of the lock, no propeller it was a weed hatch problem it took 30mins before anyone could move, then a Canaltime mechanic appeared, one boat had engine trouble big time, it was throwing out white and black smoke like no bodies business. So we jumped the queue only to be held up once again, another boat had weed hatch problems in the lock, not much you can do but let them sort it out. One bloke decided to boss every one about, and manually moved the boat to the side, so every one else in the queue could get on. The queue was both sides of the lock, so he was right to get things going, it was bitterly cold most people were feeling thats it we have had it for today the wind was the coldest. We lent an Australian couple one of our boat hooks as there was no where to tie up, they had been boating for five weeks and had never come across a queue like this. I must admit in 6 years, I had not either it just seemed like the lock was a weed problem lock.

The afternoon was cold and quite we didn't see the number of boats that we had in the morning. Haywood was full up we took the last mooring place, we decided to eat out tonight and had a lovely meal at the Clifford Arms the last time we were there it was very mediocre. Tonight it was great we had fillet steak and salad, the chef(Rob Evans) let us into his secret he hangs the meat for 12 days, before cooking which is why it tastes so good. I was going to have a long bath tonight, but it was to late after sharing views on animals and chatting with the locals it was to late we had a very nice evening. I hope tomorrow is better weather wise than today.

Day six

We started out later today about 10.00 we only had one lock to do before we started to go through Fradley. At Colwich lock an old timer decided to come down to the lock every day to help with the lock work. He told many tales about horse drawn locks and how it is today very interesting. We stopped for lunch just before Kings Bromley Wharf it was very pleasant but we couldn't stay to long we had lost about hour behind a slow boater he was enjoying the slow pace a bit to much. After the first three locks at Fradley where the Coventry Canal joins the Trent and Mersey at Junction lock 17 a queue had started to form, by the next lock we were 7th boat waiting and the weather was getting warmer by the hour I had taken my coat off at Kings Bromely and by lock 16, I had even taken my jumper off it was warm. What a contrast from the day before when it was bitterly cold.

At Fradley there was two boats of Italians or Spanish people who made so much noise, they were on Shakespeare boats, we hoped they would stop at Alrewas for the night, so we could get a mooring closer to the marina car park, we wanted to go for a meal at the Swan. Yes they stopped at Alrewas so we had the mooring to ourselves and had a good evening meal at the Swan. When we got back we noticed the boat was cold, Edward changed the bottle but still no gas, a quick phone call to Donna who gave us the ok, to go to a boat that was in the marina and try another bottle of gas, it worked the heating was back to normal with in a few minutes.We think what had happened the red stopper had been put back on the gas bottle, and wasn't replaced so instead of three full bottles of gas we only had 2 bottles.

We had lovely weather all by two days and saw a lot of new faces and sites, we are looking forward to our next Canal Holiday.