• Home

Canal 2011

This year we decided to go to Curdsworth and back.

Day one - Thursday 31st March

We got to Mercia Marina at 1.45pm, having gone via Stow and the A38 past Litchfield.

Ophelia was out with some Americans as the boat they were due to use had developed a fault. So we ended up on Flagstaff again, a little disappointing as we like Ophelia.

When we arrived the staff were fixing a micro switch on the heating boiler. Any way we were soon on our way. The weather was quite mild and sunny. There was very little activity on the canal and we arrived at Branstone at about 6pm.

Instead of having a meal at the Bridge Inn we decided on a Chinese takeaway. Its a short walk to the shopping area using the A38 underpass. There is a pub which serves meals, including steaks, and a fish and chippy besides the Chinese. I think there also a small shop and a pharmacy. The Chinese, I must say, was very good.

The Bridge Inn was very good when it served English food but it now serves Italian and while it is always crowded we are not too impressed with the food or service.

Day two - Friday 1st April

We slept in this morning it was 10 past 8 before we woke up. In the night the inverter alarm sounded continuously at 2.30am. We assumed that the engine had not run a sufficient number of hours the day before to fully charge the domestic battery. We turned the inverter off to kill the alarm noise, though this also turns off the AC supply to the refrigerator.

After a slow start we finally pulled pins at 10.15am, though we ran the engine from 8.30am. It was dull and windy though the latter only caused us a problem at Common lock because it is rather exposed with no tree cover. The wind direction held us against the bank, after several attempts to get off the bank, including backing up the canal, we had to resort to using the brickwork to move the boat in to the lock.

By the time we got to Fradley locks the sun had come out. We had lunch with bacon and egg sandwiches. We noticed that the water point has still not been fixed.

After lunch we moved on to Huddlesford though it took longer than expected. Part of the delay was a slow boat ahead of us, a hot and cold boat, going slow or very slow at times with no obvious reason for doing so.

We arrived at Huddlesford about 4pm. We had a good meal at the Plough Inn. Ann unusually had a Patti starter and cheese cake pudding. We both had fillet steak with Stilton cheese and a good salad for our main course.

Day three - Saturday 2nd April

The inverter alarm woke us at 7.20am. We were on the move by 9.45am. The day started dull but very mild. We had an uneventful cruise to Fazeley Junction. We pulled over near the old mill at about 12.10pm for lunch. Edward also bought some bread and milk at the Tesco Express close by.

After lunch we moved to the water point, then on to Bodymoor Heath and the nature park doing 3 locks in all. We took the last available mooring spot alongside the Dog & Doublet pub.

The weather was now really sunny and mild. There was a large number of people out and about on the tow path and at the pub.

Later in the afternoon we both showered and ran the engine for an hour to make sure the battery's were fully charged.

We had a good but simple meal at the pub, Ann had a cheese and onion omelette with a decent salad while Edward had a chilli con carne with rice.

Day four - Sunday 3rd April

We woke up about 8am to sunny morning. Compared to yesterday afternoon the wind was slightly chilly but pleasant enough. We set off about 10am and started up the remaining 8 locks to Curdsworth. Fortunately all the locks were in our favour so we made quick progress. Some of the locks are close so Ann was able to move on to the next lock once the boat was in and filling started.

A boat coming the other way waited for us at the 2nd lock from the top so we could leave the top gates open. They were moaning about the 30 plus Anglers all the way from Curdsworth. They apparently moved too close to the far bank and grounded. Naturally they had to churn the mud to get off, exactly the place where the fishermen fish. Harsh words were exchanged.

The boaters appeared to be old hands but they obviously don't understand fishing.

Serious Anglers use those long black rods to fish the opposite bank. So slow the boat to a tick over, this boat moves very quietly at 700 rpm. The last thing Anglers want is you to be in a rush. Assuming the Anglers are on the towpath move the boat as close to them as possible. If there is Armco about 1.5 metres (5 feet) is about right, if not a little more is desirable to avoid grounding. If in doubt go down the centre, but really the closer to the Angler the better.

At least six Anglers actually thanked us when we passed.

We are getting slightly ahead of ourselves. At the top lock a bloke with some kids and dog helped out. The top gate would not open fully, Ann fished out two quite heavy branches. There was a lot of flotsam in the lock and some got caught on the propeller. I had do some forward and reversing to shake it off, which thankfully it did.

We passed Curdsworth and continued on to the turn point in Minworth. It hardly looks like a turn being at a funny angle to the canal and quite narrow. We poked our nose in as far as we could under power, then Ann on the front rope pulled the bow round. We then slowly reversed out with the help of the centre rope. All went very easily considering that the manoeuvre was against a light breeze.

We took a short lunch break and then headed back to Curdsworth, mostly to secure a mooring spot at the limited moorings at Curdsworth but also to beat the rain, as heavy clouds were building up. We tied up at about 2pm, leaving space for one more boat. Two other boats were here already.

It started to rain heavily at about 2.30pm. By 4pm it was starting to brighten up.

While changing the gas bottle the owner of the boat next to us and his dog arrived. He was a British Waterways Volunteer. We chatted for 40 odd minutes about the effectiveness of volunteering and many other aspects of the waterways.

Later we went to the White Horse Pub for a meal. We both had Pea soup. Ann had a Chicken and leek pie while Edward had Gammon and Eggs with salad. When we arrived the pub was very busy, families were out for Mothers day.

Day five - Monday 4th April

We woke at 8am with the sun shining, though being in a cutting only a little could be seen at a higher level in the trees. By the time we got moving, at 9.30am, it had clouded over and it felt quite cold.

We made good progress going down the locks until Marston Lane pond. We waited for a boat to come from the locks below as our next lock needed filling of water. When the other boat was on our level and ready to come out of the lock we went to move our boat. Unfortunately the pond level was low and we were grounded. The bloke in the other boat was an old hand and he immediately went to the next higher lock and opened all the paddles to fill the pond.

Within 5 minutes we were on our way. The other bloke then preceded to turn his boat around, its not an official turn but he walked his 54 foot boat around from the tow path.

We completed the 11 locks by 12.45 and pulled over for lunch. As we did it started raining.

We had bacon and egg sandwiches and a short rest. We then moved on to Frazeley where we topped up with water. We got to Hopwas about 4.30pm. The afternoon was quite cold and blustery with a little rain and an occasional glimpse of the sun.

After taking showers we went to the Red Lion Pub. Ann had a spinach and ricotta Cannelloni and Edward had a chicken Caesar salad. The other pub in town, the Tame Otter, had the same menu as we had last night at the White Horse.

Day six - Tuesday 5th April

Again we woke to sunshine but by the time we started moving at 9.30am it had clouded over. It rained quite heavily in the night with the wind moving the boat.

We had an uneventful journey to Fradley where we stopped for lunch at 12.30pm. We bought some baps at the local cafe and had hot dogs with fried onions.

The wind progressively built up during the day and turned slightly colder.

At 2pm we move on through Alrewas to Barton Turns, arriving about 5pm.

We saw more boats on the move today than we have seen all week, the new season seems to have started. Quite a lot of the boats had Americans on board.

We went to the Barton Turns Pub for our evening meal. Ann had ham, eggs and chips while Edward had soup, steak pie and salad and apple pie and cream. The meal was very good.

Day seven - Wednesday 6th April

Today turned out to be a lovely warm and sunny day.

We started moving about 10am, there were more boats about than on previous days, but they were mostly in the opposite direction. We did the final 3 locks and arrived at Willington about 1pm.

We pulled over and had a bacon and egg bap for lunch. Ann then read till 3pm while I took a few photographs. There was a swan on the opposite bank building a nest.

Quite a lot of people were out walking along the towpath.

We arrived at the marina about 3.30pm and were settled in on mains power by 4pm. Later Edward fetched at Chinese from the Dragon Court in Repton, it was very good.

We started packing later in the evening.

Day eight - Thursday 7th April

We got up about 7am and finished packing. We were off the boat by 9.40am and on our way to Ann's uncles.