Narrowboat Firecrest – Coddiwompling with Narrowboat Firecrest

Messing about at Middleport

We have a vague memory from back in 2017 when we moved aboard, of us saying we’d always try to moor in a different place. Middleport pottery quickly fell through that net. Its not the perfect mooring, but its a mooring we enjoy and we seem to keep coming back to it. Probably because its within easy reach of the Harecastle Tunnel, and we dont have to put up with honking geese and goose poo if we were to moor at Westport Lakes. And of course, we love the architectural heritage of being able to moor right opposite a pottery built in 1888. I can’t get enough of bottle kilns.

Being Easter Weekend we assumed we’d get some bad weather, but Saturday proved to be dry and sunny- until storm Dave put in an appearance and blew the cobwebs away. The pottery was hosting a Steam Punk extravaganza on the Saturday, alas victorian sci-fi fashion isnt the most practical boat wear so we donned our jeans and waterproofs and went to admire what others were wearing.

I love the idea of creating a unique outfit, where rules are meant to be broken, but not all steam punk is quite so relaxed. We came across the highly competitive sport of tea dueling.

These two starving urchins had been dragged off the street for our entertainment with the temptation of being allowed to eat a whole malted milk biscuit. However, they were first to endure a tortuous duel. Having dunked their biscuit into a freshly poured cup of tea for precisely 3 second, (as counted down by the audience) they competed to hold their biscuit upright, without it breaking, for the longest time without devouring it in one greedy mouthful. One urchin lasted 41 seconds the other 42. And the audience was well entertained.
We resumed our self guided tour of the pottery, which although it has developed as a heritage site, preserving its old buildings, it is still a working pottery and a teaching site for budding potters. I’d have loved to have joined a class but they were all full up this weekend. Instead we had a look at the bath house. Right up until the 1950s it was unusual for the workers terrace houses to have an indoor bathroom, or even a zinc tub of their own, so the Mills would often have bath houses available for their employees to use. During world war II this bath house was the designated bomb shelter to accommodate 38 people. The factory employed over 200.

Whilst we were enjoying Middleport, I saw directions to Oatbakers. Which according to various online reviews serves the best Staffordshire oatcakes available. As you would expect Eric opted for the challenger, a giant Oatcake. I always thought an Oatcake was a crisp biscuit that you’d eat with cheese. These however are more like a pancake, served with a sweet or savoury filling. We chose cheese and bacon. If you moor at Middleport or at Westport, the bakery is within easy walking distance, and worth a visit.

Despite the area being quite run down, theres a great community spirit. Even though Port Vale lost against Chelsea in the football FA cup quarter final. Someone has a sense of humour creating the secret garden

I was curious to know what was behind the doors. And I just happened to meet a local who had lived in Middleport all his life. This building used to be a state of the art bakery. But it is now crumbling away and the secret garden is just a teaser, someone covering up a boarded up entrance.

We stayed 4 nights at the Middleport Pottery, this time. I am sure we will be back. But for now we were preparing to say goodbye to Staffordshire as we cruised towards Cheshire, so I couldnt not share this Staffie who came to say hello to us.

From Stone to Stoke

But first, a special first, the first ducklings of the year 6th April.

After 10 days in Stone we were itching to get moving again. We’d gone exploring, seen family and friends, visited the dentist to have a broken tooth repaired, returned the car to our daughter. And much as we’d enjoyed those 10 days- apart from the bill from the dentist, our obligations were done and we were free to just be boaters again. Setting off up the Meaford locks filled us with excitement and anticipation about what lay ahead.

I’m always been fascinated cruising through Stoke. Its an industrial town striving to make its way in the 21st century, the old red brick factory yards are being wiped out by the many modern equivalents, huge warehouses compete with huge new housing estates. The canal runs through the centre straddled on each side with the multi lane Queensway and the high-speed intercity railway. Its noisy, hemmed in by concrete and razor wire fences, and nothing on earth entices me to stop and explore. But on this trip north, perhaps because it’s spring and the sun was shining it felt to me like there was an undercurrent of regeneration. Not quite so much litter or graffiti. Someone cares about this place, and I’m glad. People we spoke to were friendly and welcoming.

There are 5 locks climbing up through Stoke, and I usually walk that mile, and theres always something to make me smile, especially the Fritillary that im fairly sure someone had planted rather than it seeding naturally.

Some encouraging art work, even though it feels like fighting a loosing battle against the plastic.

Is that a mermaid lounging by the canal?

This boat always makes me smile with its grass roof and wooden cladded face

Stoke on Trent’s heyday began in the 18th century when the combination of natural resources and local talent came together to create the Potteries. Back in the day there were over 2000 bottle kilns firing the pottery now there are just 47 remaining standing. The Clean Air act in the 1950’s put an end to their commercial use, and the remaining kilns are all listed. Some have been lovingly preserved and integrated into new housing developments

But sadly even though Olivers mill continued into the 1990’s for the calcination of flint, where the flint is heated to over 1000°C then ground to use in ceramics production. It doesn’t seem to be so loved now.

The bone and flint mill at Etruria is a private heritage site

Etruria junction is the final lock north of the town. The Cauldon Canal branches off here into the peak district to transport products for the potteries.

There used to be a CRT bin facility here but it has moved to Festival Park Marina. And to give CRT its due, after my post 2 weeks ago from Stone, these bins deserve 5 stars.

That one cardboard box on the far bin belongs to me.

Stories from Stone

We like Stone, it’s an interesting town with a lot of history, especially for the canal. This is true Brindley country, where James Brindley met to discuss the building a canal to link the River Mersey to the River Trent, thus providing an infinitely more practical and profitable way to transport goods. Particularly the raw products needed for the potteries and a much safer way to transport the finished pottery both throughout the country (ie London) and around the world.

Despite its blue plaque, the Star Inn predates the canal by some 200 years and is more famous for its entry in the Guinness book of Records for having the most levels of flooring in a public house. Which although I can’t confirm accuracy of that claim, I can confirm that carrying 2 pints of beer across the original flagstones doesn’t lead to good photographic evidence.
The Star has many other notable claims to fame, but the story I like is the one that happened during the opening ceremony of Star Lock. Someone had bright idea to fire a cannon to mark the event….. subsequently the lock required a bit of a rebuilt to repair the damage.

We were too early in the day to enlist the merry helpers with opening the gates

Of course The Star of Stone isnt the only pub in town. The quality of the water, (from the river trent, not the canal) and the presence of an Augustine Monastery, ensured that Stone’s reputation was also for good beer, both the big breweries have gone now, but Joule’s Ales still makes use of the canalside building for its micro brewery.

If this is a micro brewery, id like to see the size of their pints

Stone’s name is derived from the Anglo Saxon word “stan” meaning stone or rock. There are several stones that Stone could be named after, including a nearby prehistoric megalith, a roman stone bridge or mile stone, but the most appealing is from the cairn of stone placed over the graves of princes Ruffin and Wulfad by their mother, after their father, king Wulfhere murdered them for converting to Christianity in AD665. this particular tale is now known to be inaccurate. King Wulfhere himself had already converted to Christianity so who knows what his sons had done to deserve their fate. The town still proudly displays the tale on two artistic railings at the entrance to the high street.

Sadly it isn’t only kings and princes that fall foul of being murdered. Colin Dexter, who wrote the Inspector Morse stories highlighted the sad fate of a young woman called Christina Collins. In 1839, she was travelling as a passenger on a Pickfords barge when she complained to the Stone lock keepers about the lewd behaviour of the crew and that she feared for her safety. Her concerns were dismissed but that night she was viciously raped and murdered, her body was weighted down with an iron chain and thrown overboard. After a lengthy trial the crew were found guilty and 2 were hung and one was transported. Last time we travelled through Stone in May 2025, Christina was so overgrown with weeds I couldnt see her, but she’s been tidied up and although I doubt she’s looking her best at least shes presentable.

I think perhaps its time to move on, it seems Stone isnt such a safe place after all.

ps apologies for our disappearance from BlogLand last week, we were subjected to some unexpected site maintenance, we think its all sorted now.

You light up my life, just one of the reasons I love waking up on a narrowboat.

What a difference a few hours make when the light changes. This is actually just over a week ago when we all thought summer had arrived. We had moored at a favourite spot of ours at Burston. It was peaceful and calming, (apart from the Canada guessed

I’m usually up at the crack of dawn to make the most of the sunrise, (and a cuppa). Only the view had disappeared

I’d like to pretend I watched the mist clear over the next hour, but I didnt, I snuggled back under the warm duvet. However the next day the world had turned pink.

And I remained mesmerised as the colours changed over the next hour

The day was going to be another good one.

Im not the only one who enjoys early mornings

Of course I couldn’t ignore the sunset, although that was looking the other way.

Burston is a pretty little hamlet, a half hour circular stroll takes you over the bridge and up to the village pond where the swans stand guard

And more daffodils

Now the good thing about the clocks springing forward is I get another week or two of seeing the sunrise at a reasonable hour, but I’m off the boat this weekend returning the car to our daughter so no 7am photos today. Unfortunately it also means I missed meeting Adrian and Adam on their new boat Kingley Vale yesterday.

Calling out to Canal and River Trust

Come on CRT, this is RUBBISH and that’s the polite way of saying it. I am fed up with not being able to dispose of my rubbish in a civilised manner. This is the bin facility site at Stone Visitor Moorings (westbridge park). Seeing overflowing bins like this is a regular occurrence. It’s not rocket science, its inadequate provision. We need either more bins or more frequent collection- preferably both. Don’t blame boaters for fly tipping. If there isn’t enough space in the bin what are we going to do with our rubbish- the bin is going to get overfilled. We live on boats, we don’t have a back yard to store our rubbish, we dont have cars to drive to a local council tip- not that we’d be allowed to use them, cause they tend to be for local residents only.

I walked over a mile from the Whitebridge lane moorings (other end of Stone) to dispose of my rubbish today, and over another mile back to my boat. I am angry, very angry. The next facilities on our route north are 9 miles from here. And as a continual cruiser, I cruise gently and slowly, it will take me several days to get there. I choose to make compromises over my lifestyle but I pay an increased licence fee to help cover the “increased strain” we put on the system. It’s not unreasonable to ask for adequate facilities.

I have contacted CRT and I urge all boaters to do the same, every time we see something like this.

POST SCRIPT.

I think it only fair that I share this timely response from CRT. Recieved the same morning that I sent in my complaint.

Good morning Cheryl,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

I have just spoken to the local Area Operations Manager who said that contractors were scheduled to have emptied this yesterday.

He will contact them to query why it wasn’t collected on due day; and he is sending his team to check it out and clear some of the rubbish so the refuse site can be used.

Kind regards,

Andy Foxall

Customer Support Administrator

And I would hereby urge all boaters to take the time to not only send in photos of such a mess, but also to act fairly and not abuse our facilities by dumping, inappropriate rubbish such as cushions, wood, bits of DIY etc. Campaign to have facilities to take larger items provided.

Has Spring really Sprung?

How can the weather go from being rubbish to perfect in a blink of an eye? I can’t answer that one, but it wont stop the big grin on our faces to be cruising in the sunshine.

Although we’ve still had a few misty frosty mornings.

We made it up to Fradley Junction at the beginning of the week

and turned left onto the Trent and Mersey Canal. Time to flex those lock muscles that have been atrophying for the past 4 months.

Not sure if we’ll make it all the way to Preston Brook, but we are heading towards Northwich so maybe we’ll sneak in a trip to lovely Lymm whilst we are up there .

We can’t go too far each day because Eric has to saddle up to fetch the car. Then find somewhere safe to leave it, where it doesn’t cause any inconvenience to the locals.

Stocked up with groceries at Rugeley in time for a day two relaxing at Great Haywood, taking in a wander around the estate at Shrugborough Hall. The daffs are at their finest.

Although wa are watching our steps around the imfamous two bodied swan gracing the River Trent

Lights out and away we go

After three months in a marina, on Thursday Eric woke up to what felt like hurricane winds. He decided there was no way he was reversing out with several boats within bashing distance and begged an extra night on the pontoon. I, on the other hand, was still snug and safe in the house. But escape he did, on Friday he joined the multitude of other boats waiting both for the barricades at BoneHill to be lifted and for the fuel boat to make it through for the first time since the winter closures blocked her way in December. By 4pm we had a full tank, thankyou Kat, £136pl expected to rise to £169 in the next fortnight. And most of the boats had moved on through the now open bridge. On Saturday I said my goodbyes at home, defrosted the car and set off at 6am to make it back in time for breakfast. What a glorious sight, even if it was with a sense of deja vu. Firecrest was moored on the same spot where we were grounded in last summers drought.

But breakfast would have to wait. I’d barely unpacked the car before we cast off the mooring ropes, so desperate to get cruising again. We cheered as we went through Bone Hill Bridge, which had been closed for culvert repairs (for which we are truly grateful)

And I am now back in my happy place, sitting on the roof, with my knitting in my hand and Eric at the helm. Its still chilly so I doubt we’ll be cruising for more than an hour or two a day until the sun warms us up. But right now we are heading north, back up to the Paint Shed for a bit of tweaking after last year’s repaint.

Today is Mother’s day. We shall be enjoying some special memories of both our mums and our children. We hopeits a good day for you too.

Emerging from Hibernation

At the end of November we, packed up and waved goodbye to Firecrest. Headed home to the security of firm foundations that bricks and mortar provide. We relished spending time visiting friends and family, pavements that weren’t muddy, cupboards that didnt need checking for mildew, and a dishwasher, yet every time the sun shone, (which admittedly hasn’t been very often) a sense of restlessness and the muttered refrain, “its a good day to cruise” could be heard. Being home is indeed a mixed blessing, I value the space and security more than Eric. I have more friends that I like to meet up with for girly giggles, cake and coffee. Eric enjoys being able to pick up his DIY tools from their convenient shelf in the garage without having to unpack storage boxes to find the right one on the boat. But we miss the peaceful simplicity of life afloat. Admittedly Eric is still running his own design business, so during the winter months he has plenty to keep him occupied, whereas I miss the opportunities to be outside exploring, and simply soaking up the ambience of the canals. We have just under 2 weeks left of marina life. Eric is now back on board making Firecrest shipshape and I am taking final advantage of being able to use our car to travel further afield visiting family. 3 months, a whole quarter of a year, doesn’t half fly past quickly these days. I’m not going to promise how often I’ll post our progress but hopefully this year won’t be as fraught with closures as 2025. We are looking forward to moving again in just a few weeks.

Just some of the people and places we have enjoyed over winter

From Summer lockdown to Winter closures, Where are we now….

What a year. We normally cruise between 600 to 700 miles a year. I don’t think we’ll make 200 this year. After scraping the bottom over the summer, and CRT advising us to find a safe place and stay put, we joined the queue to get through Glascote locks so we wouldn’t be trapped without facilities, we settled down at Fazeley Junction for August and Septemer. We ended up there until the Grand Union, Oxford and Coventry canals reopened on October 10th.

With Glascote locks only being open between 10am and 2pm long queues formed each day. We were number 10 to go through and I suspect there were another 10 boats behind us

Yet we still didn’t know where to go, because the grand reopening notice was accompanied with a caveat……it might only be for 2 weeks to allow boaters to return to their marinas before the planned winter closures begin. And despite some heavy rain in parts of the country, the resevoirs feeding the Coventry and the Grand Union were still chronically short of water.

This chart is taken from CRT’s website, showing the water levels in the resevoirs supplying the canals. As you can see there’s still a significant shortfall

Usually during the late summer we start to talk about where we will be for Christmas. The winter maintenance plans have been published and we have time to cruise leisurely towards a region which will provided us with what we need -that’s enough distance to both cruise and moor whilst maintaining the 14 day mooring rule, and with easy access to services if we were to get frozen in. We’d tentatively talked about Milton Keynes for this winter. However, we’re cautious cruisers; we’ve opted for an easy lifestyle that doesn’t revolve around deadlines and restrictions, or for that matter cruising for long days in the rain just to reach a destination. The path towards Bedfordshire was not going to be plain sailing. The number of emergency closures and planned restrictions this year has sucked the joy out of cruising. It’s been hard work and frustrating.

This is a screen shot of the closed sections of the canals taken at the end of August. We are slap bang in the middle

Not knowing if or when or where we would be able to cruise helped us make the decision to put Firecrest into a marina from December. So for the next few weeks we are mooching around south Staffordshire bidding our time until all those cruising uncertainties no longer concern us. Ironically, this week CRT published another notice saying they wouldn’t be reinstating the closures on the Coventry and Grand Union, so we could potentially, with more room to roam, have remained on the cut over winter. But with the decision made – and the deposit paid, we are now enjoying one month of gentle meandering.

All that said, it wasn’t an awful summer. We made the best of what we had. And really, choosing to moor at Fazeley Junction for the duration of Lockdown 25 was a good move. Eric went out at 9am every day to measure the water levels.

We would expect the water to be lapping the water mark on the black boarding

And in true Eric style, he produced a graph showing the daily changes in water levels from the day we moored up on 21st August till restrictions being lifted on 10th October. We left on the 11th. With the Coventry canal closures actually starting on the 26th and the Fradley closures between 2nd September to17th September.

This is our records of the speed with which the water dropped and rose once the fradley locks were closed. And although levels are cruisable they are still on the low side.

It was scary and unnerving. Our biggest fear was that with the boat resting on the bottom, it would tilt over making it horrible to live on board. And for us in particular, there wouldnt be sufficient water in the skin tanks to cool the generator, meaning we couldn’t keep the batteries topped up. We were able to avoid this by pushing the boat away from the shallow edge, but being on a boat that doesnt bob and rock just doesnt feel right. Others werent quite so lucky and several boats were having to use their planks to get on and off their boats or had just abandoned them altogether.

Eric was trying to shift debris on the bottom to gain us a precious inch. He didn’t succeed

Unwelcome as it was, as far as Fazeley goes it’s an almost perfect mooring to be stuck at. We were in full sun so the solar panels were able to do their best, and Kat and Teddy on the fuel boat made it down to top up the tank one last time before they also got stuck.

We are eternally grateful to the fortitude of fuel boat crews, yes we might provide their livelihood, but they provide our boats lifeblood in diesel

We overlooked Peel Wharf and enjoyed getting to know some of the local residents as well as the stranded boaters. We were within walking distance of a choice of shops, buses and train services. It was close enough to the water point to barrel roll a few days worth of cups of tea

We even photo bombed a drone shot of a house that was being put on the market.

Who wouldn’t want to buy a house with a boat like ours moored outside

And of course guess what happened the day the drought restrictions actually started. Biblical rain that even Noah would have run from.

Once CRT had made the very overdue decision to also close the locks at Fradley junction the water levels started to rise almost as dramatically as they had fallen. But all the boaters were in agreement, we did not want navigation reopening until CRT could guarantee the levels wouldn’t fall again, leaving us stranded in a place without facilities. In fact we were so sceptical that the resevoirs would fill up, we started planning our Christmas party incase the restrictions weren’t lifted this year. Despite there being plenty to keep us amused around Fazeley and Tamworth, by October the canal water levels were more or less cruisable, mooring up might have been difficult in some places and going through bridgeholes is always a risky business because they naturally silt up and are shallower than the main cruising channel. And as soon as CRT lifted the restrictions on the Coventry canal we knew we would have to start complying with the 14 day maximum mooring rule again. Our itchy feet got the better of us- or rather, as one of my less delicate family members said, it was our itchy bottom that made us move. We made it all the way to Hopwas for our first night away.

And then we meandered along to wind just beyond Rugeley

Brindley bank winding hole, north Rugeley

Right now we’re now mooching around this area throughout November making the most of some gorgeous autumnal weather, and trying not to groan when it rains, because believe me, as continual cruisers we need the rain and we need it to rain heavily every night from now until spring if we stand any chance of filling up those resevoirs. Im going on record now to say we suspect there will be similar water level restrictions imposed next summer. In the mean time let’s enjoy autumn

Have you seen the table?

….. we were asked when we finally got the bus into Lichfield. No we hadn’t, but our interest was piqued. What could be so special that a stranger on a bus asks us that. We would find this table in Lichfield Cathedral, so off we set to find out what all the fuss is about. And I have to say I am now quite happy to ask you the same question because the table is quite magnificent.

the table in Ely Cathedral-Swiped from website

The table is known as The Table for the Nation, and came about through the discovery of a truly impressive piece of Bog Oak. Its creation was overseen by The Fenland Black Oak Project team

5000 years ago there was an oak forest in the Norfolk Fens. But unlike today’s oak trees, that grow to roughly 20m tall, these oak trees were giants, and grew to 50m tall. ( Firecrest is 18.3m long).

At the time this particular tree fell, the rising sea levels on the East Anglian lowlands were creating stagnant anaerobic lagoons. The lack of organic life and soluble iron deposits all helped to preserve the wood and turn it black. Over millenia it became buried in the peaty bogs, until in 2012, during routine cultivation it was exposed. Fenland farmers are well aware of how rare and valuable Bog Oak is so they had the presence of mind to call in the experts. And so the Jubilee Oak (named in honour of the late Queen’s diamond jubilee ) began a new journey.

What was particularly amazing about this piece of oak is it’s length, 13.2m long. It was undamaged, it was straight and there was no insect or fungal damage. It is incredibly rare, probably unique and a plan was made to preserve it for the nation.

Glad that didn’t get stuck in the prop, (Swiped from website)

The story of the of how this piece of wood became The Table for the Nation, is told so well on their website that I am not going to attempt to reproduce it. It’s a short easy read and I strongly recommend you take a look.

The Fenland Black Oak Project (where most of my photos have been Swiped from)

In 2022, after 10 years of skilled craftsmanship, borrowing a mobile sawmill from Canada, developing new innovative techniques, and a lot of love and care, this magnificent table was unveiled in Ely Cathedral

The tables intended home, Ely Cathedral (Swiped from website)

The craftsmen managed to keep the 13m length, and echoing the period when the acorn became an oak, they incorporated a bronze understructure and a wheeled folding mechanism that allowed the table to be moved by just two people.

Showing the undercarriage. (Swiped from website)

I don’t know how heavy the table is, but during construction it took 18 people to move just one plank.

Showing drop leaves (Swiped from website)

The size of the table means it requires an equally impressive sized venue, and if you have such space you can apply to host the table. Useful for family dinner parties

Who would you sit at the far end…. (Swiped from website)

The table is currently on display in Lichfield Cathedral for 10 months. One of the lovely things about this table is that the public are at liberty to touch and stroke it unlike many precious artifacts, although one of the guides nearly had a heart attack when I little boy bored of her explanations decided to race his toy tractor along it. Lichfield Cathedral itself is a beautiful building.

Both inside and out

And just for good measure, here’s Firecrest’s table