Boat Blog – Page 20 – Narrowboat Firecrest

Happy Easter

Easter and spring, a time for new beginnings and fresh starts, a time for moving on.

The past few weeks have thrown up some emotional turmoil for us to deal with and as usual when my mind is confused I struggle to put pen to paper. But now I hope I can start sharing some of the joy we have to be thankful for again.

At Napton Junction we turned right onto the Oxford canal

Our goal was to get to Banbury so that I could travel back to Suffolk by train. I was going to help Heather trade at the East Anglian Yarn Festival. She’s a talented lampworker making glass beads and glass knitting accessories but its still a big jump from selling through a small online hobby site to making enough stock for a two day event, but what do you know, she smashed it, perhaps not the right phrase for someone who works with glass but not only was the whole event great fun, but FlameKnits was awarded visitors award for best stand in the show.

I’d like to say she gets her talent from me, but I think it would be fairer to say I get my inspiration from Heather. Sadly after we had said our goodbyes, I got a call from one of our family. Cancer was about to get the better of us and we had to say our final goodbyes to David.

It hasn’t been an easy time but we have picked ourselves up and started to cruise purposefully again. It has been an absolute joy to be cruising with happy holiday makers and content cruisers leaving mariners at the start of the season. And we have spent the bank holiday around the lovely village of Cropredy

And with that, we are on our way, heading south, looking forward to a new adventure on waters new to us.

The Midlands March, where are we now, Warwickshire.

My last post was in February, we had just left Birmingham and we cruising roughly eastwards along the North Stratford canal.

We sat out storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin in a pretty little village on the edge of the Solihul district, called Hockley Heath. It had both a well stocked Co-op, first class butchers, a nice pub, and good TV reception. So we were sorted for a fortnight. Especially as I was taking part in a competitive knitting event running parallel with the winter olympics, so my enforced down time was not put to waste.

But as soon as the winds abated we set off once more on our travels. Down through the Lapworth locks towards Kingswood Junction. Such a pretty set of locks, but you’ll have to take my word for that, because that’s where disaster struck. Absolute calamity. As I was struggling to wind up a stiff paddle, my phone camera decided to leap out of my “secure” pocket and take a dive into the swirling waters of the emptying lock. In a flash of madness I was tempted to leap in after it, but despite my distress I only plunged my arm in as I watched my entire life being sucked away into the locks murky depths.
Alas no more Midlands photos. And if you have ever tried to buy a new phone online, without a mobile number to verify purchases, you’ll understand when I say I wont ever ever ever let my phone go swimming again. Thanks to some very helpful friends and family, it is now all sorted, and I am reconnected, albeit with a few missing contacts, so if you are a friend who hasn’t heard from me for a while, please get in touch.
Since that fateful day we have continued our travels, onto the Grand Union canal, down through the Hatton Flight, into Warwickshire. Which got me thinking about where we were, and more to the point, when do I draw our Midlands March to a close.

Where exactly is the Midlands? We often hear the definitions “northerners” or “southerners” bandied around, equally with pride or derision depending upon the point being made or the person claiming heritage. And I think both parties would include or exclude areas of the Midlands to their advantage or disadvantage as the mood required. But until this particular part of our canal life, it’s not a part of the country that either of us were that familiar with. Having consulted Google, the fount of all knowledge, we have come to the conclusion it’s not a straight forward question. Yes it is the mid section of England, from the Welsh borders to the Lincolnshire coast,

But there’s the West Midlands and the East Midlands to take into consideration.

The West and the East, with more detail below.

The West Midlands and East Midlands regions are NUTS 1 statistical regions and were formerly constituencies of the European Parliament. Local government in the Midlands is as follows:
• Boroughs: (1) Birmingham, (2) Coventry, (3) Derby, (4) Dudley, (5) Leicester, (6) Nottingham, (7) Sandwell, (8) Stoke-on-Trent, (9) Solihull, (10) Telford and Wrekin, (11) Walsall and (12) Wolverhampton.
• Shires: (13) Derbyshire (Districts: (a) Amber Valley, (b) Bolsover, (c) Chesterfield, (d) Derbyshire Dales, (e) Erewash, (f) High Peak, (g) North East Derbyshire and (h) South Derbyshire), (14) Herefordshire (Districts: none), (15) Leicestershire (Districts: (a) Blaby, (b) Charnwood, (c) Harborough, (d) Hinckley and Bosworth, (e) Melton, (f) North West Leicestershire and (g) Oadby and Wigston), (16) Lincolnshire (Districts: (a) Boston, (b) East Lindsey, (c) Lincoln, (d) North Kesteven, (e) South Holland, (f) South Kesteven and (g) West Lindsey), (17) Northamptonshire (Districts: (a) Corby, (b) Daventry, (c) East Northamptonshire, (d) Kettering, (e) Northampton, (f) South Northamptonshire and (g) Wellingborough), (18) Nottinghamshire (Districts: (a) Ashfield, (b) Bassetlaw, (c) Broxtowe, (d) Gedling, (e) Mansfield, (f) Newark and Sherwood and (g) Rushcliffe), (19) Rutland (Districts: none), (20) Shropshire (Districts: none), (21) Staffordshire (Districts: (a) Cannock Chase, (b) East Staffordshire, (c) Lichfield, (d) Newcastle-under-Lyme, (e) South Staffordshire, (f) Stafford, (g) Staffordshire Moorlands and (h) Tamworth), (22) Warwickshire (Districts: (a) North Warwickshire, (b) Nuneaton and Bedworth, (c) Rugby, (d) Stratford-on-Avon and (e) Warwick) and (23) Worcestershire (Districts: (a) Bromsgrove, (b) Malvern Hills, (c) Redditch, (d) Worcester, (e) Wychavon and (f) Wyre Forest).

On that happy note, (if you have made if this far,) we shall consider our Midlands March closed when we turn South at Napton Junction.

The Midlands March, is that chocolate that I smell,

We were now heading due south on the Worcester and Birmingham canal, Much to our surprise the Edgbaston section around The Vale seemed pleasantly rural for such an urban area. It transpires that Lord Calthorpe decreed that whilst the canal could be built on his land, it was not to have any wharfs. So whilst he might have missed out on some lucrative 18th century investment opportunities, we benefit from a leaf soup in February.

What happened to winter spring and summer, this looks like leaf soup

However the beautiful beech trees and trim young university students out for their daily jog, were soon replaced by even more graffiti and detritus, so we focused our attention on some interesting boats along this section. This pedal powered raft might get you from A to B but it’s not very water tight

And this one caught our eye, a Pod boat designed and marketed to provide extra space for boaters missing their garden shed. Definitely a tempting thought.

But most useful was seeing the fuel boat, NB Roach cruising towards us, we flagged Richard down and transferred a few litres of diesel, refuelling mid canal.

I’ll say this every time we buy our diesel from a fuel boat, it brings such a sense of satisfaction that we have the opportunity to support these hard working traders and equally they support us. Use it or loose it. With the sweet smell of diesel permeating the air we cruised on to the other very distinct fragrance that pervades the atmosphere around Bournville, the Cadbury factory. Frustratingly the visitor mooring was all taken, by what looked to be winter mooring, so we didn’t stop. But unlike Lord Calthorpe who didn’t want any trade on his land, the Cadbury factory grew and thrived here because of the canal access bringing the raw ingredients and finished goods to and from the site. Nowadays there is a canal side train station, sporting a familiar purple livery.

Bemoaning the fact that Eric wouldn’t let me loose in Cadbury world, (though I admit we have been before). Mr Tesco had the foresight to build a superstore canal side in Selly Oak, he didn’t have the foresight to provide mooring rings on the brick edge so Eric hovered whilst I nipped in to stock up. With fuel tank and fridge full we continued on to the next nice mooring, which turned out to be at Kings Norton Junction. It had taken us nearly 4 hours to move 4miles with all the distractions, but we ended our day at the start (or end) of the North Stratford canal.

Think we’ll got this way, down the Stratford canal

The Midlands March, breezing through Brum

Much as a big city has lots of exciting things to see and do. This time, we only stayed a few days.

We needed water so set off onto the Fazely branch for the water point and rubbish bins, not a pretty sight.

But the backdrop was of the Birmingham BT tower, and many years ago this was were Eric began his career as an enthusiastic electronics engineering student with a sponsorship from the GPO. He tried to locate some of the offices he’d worked in but alas the landscape hasn’t stayed the same.

I bet he never thought he’d be back by boat

Then it was back onto the main line, under the Black Sabbath Bridge

Renamed in 2019 in honour of Birmingham’s famous sons

And through Gas Street basin

Capturing the significance of this place on camera isn’t that easy whilst you’re on a boat but fellow blogger, Captain Ahab has recently shared some historic photos of the development of the area and I really can’t do any better than refer you to their blog please take a moment to read what Captain Ahab says

But we do love seeing the old and the modern nestling in together.

With the television studios in the Mail Box,

the area attracts creativity, some amusing

We’re not sure if this is or isn’t a Banksey

Some weird

And some just out of this world

One of our favourite iconic buildings is the Cube

But all these buildings funnel the wind making it tricky cruising, we rounded the corner onto the Birmingham and Worcester canal

And half an hour later moored up in the university quarter.

Outside the Shackleton buildings in the university quarter

The Midlands March, Made it to the middle

And we’ve made it, we are now moored in the centre of Birmingham, just a stones throw from the popular canal hub, celebrating heritage and entertainment.Admittedly it doesn’t look a very exciting mooring,

but we weren’t sure if or when the brummies went to bed

And we were only a minute from the some real culture

But the first thing I did was get us some tickets for a Symphony Hall concert We hadn’t planned our arrival so we had to take what was on offer, I was hoping for some classic orchestral magnificence and I think we struck gold

What we got was an orchestrated Abba tribute evening. Not quite the sort of classical we had hoped for, but definitely a classic, and it was fun. We both love Abba and we were encouraged to join in and dance. Brilliant to be moored 5 minutes walk from the ICC, home of the symphany hall. We were set us up for a good few days exploring.

Birmingham is getting ready to host the commonwealth games later this year, so there’s quite a bit of revamping the attractions, unfortunately the big museum was closed. But the famous library was open. It’s quite an iconic modern building from the outside,

but if you take the time to climb up to the very very top, not only is the view spectacular, (if you look beyond the construction)

But you can still the 1882 Shakespeare Memorial room, that was dismantled and reassembled in its new home, combining the old and the new

Birmingham seems a progressive city which embraces changes in society. In 2014 a controversial sculpture called “A Real Birmingham Family” was unveiled outside the library, it depicts two single parents, who are sisters, and their children. Whilst I love the support they obviously give each other, I hate seeing fathers sidelined.

But I’m sure my favourite sculpture in Birmingham has to be the giraffe.

Of course another of Birminghams big draws is the Bullring shopping centre. But as it was at least a 25 minute walk from Firecrest and I’m still hesitant to mingle and browse in shopping centres just for the fun of it, and I couldn’t persuade Eric to take me shopping in the jewellery quarter, we decided to explore those areas on another visit.

The Midlands March, looping the loops

If we had a penny from everyone who told us that Birmingham has more canal than Venice, we’d be very happy. I wonder how many Venetian’s would claim something different. I think the truth depends upon where you draw the boundary line. Certainly the Birmingham Canal Network has well over 100 navigable miles, with about 35miles within the city itself. We were currently moored on the Old Line, built by Brindley c1770. It follows the contours and for the commercial barges has time consuming locks, but we were enjoying our journey so with the sun shining we set off down the 3 Smethwick locks.

Under Popes Bridge. We had to wonder who this warning sign was aimed at, or perhaps it’s an instruction

And shortly after we merged the New Main line.

As the sun was shining we decided on a short detour around the Soho Loop, which served the prison, lunatic asylum and sanitorium. Thankfully we weren’t detained although it was slow going, shallow and full of debris. I don’t think we’ll bother with any of the other loops on this trip.

We had also lost the sun, which doesn’t make for enjoyable cruising. We were unsure what mooring would be available in the centre of town, and whether it would be noisy or safe.

But we struck gold and spotted the rings at Ladywood wharf, right on the edge of the central hub. We had arrived. The middle of the Midlands March.

The Midlands March, Blue Sky at the Engine Arm

Having escaped the scumbags disturbing the tranquillity on board Firecrest and travelled along the M5 at 2.6 mph, we found ourselves briefly cruising along another surprisingly quiet and peaceful stretch. But although we had blue sky it was still quite chilly. We had earmarked the old Pump House as a place to moor.

Nowadays, it houses the Galton Valley Heritage centre, but in its heyday it was a pump house., Brindley’s original old main line(c1769) was 18 feet higher as the canal climbed up the hill and then back down again, thus requiring locks both up and down and 2 steam engines to pump water back up to the summit. However the amount of traffic transporting coal was sufficient to warrant a new cutting to be built at the lower level which in 1829 became part of Telfords efficient straighter and wider and lockless, New Main Line. Steam powered pumps continued to used on the old line up until c1930. During WWII two ex submarine diesel pumps were installed as the canal was part of the fire fighting water supply for the essential factory’s in Birmingham, thankfully they weren’t actually needed and the building fell into disrepair until the 80s when work began to restore it as a heritage centre.

Unfortunately although there are mooring rings, the centre is currently closed and there was a lot of fast food takeaway trash next to the bin and bench indicating a congregating place for thoughtless people. And we didn’t want to risk a repeat of our Oldbury experience. Quite odd standing on a Towpath looking down onto another canal.

We only needed to cruise a short distance before we arrived at the Engine Arm junction

The short branch takes the old line over the new line on an aqueduct onto what is now mainly residential moorings, but must have served a wharf at some point in the past. The aqueduct itself is a beautiful iron structure

We took advantage of this open quiet mooring and whilst Eric got on with some DIY on the roof,

I took advantage of some Seville oranges and made some marmalade.

The Midlands March, Fast or Slow on we go.

Much as I love visiting Mum, it was lovely to be back on board Firecrest, until we settled down for tea. Someone was banging on the back of the boat…. huh no one there. Kids mucking about but after 3 hours the game was wearing thin, every 20 minutes or so, bang bang bang. We could, perhaps should, have ignored it, but what if it really was someone needing help, or what if they decided to get braver with their dares and did something that caused damage. We probably should have called 101, the non emergency police number, but it must have been a school night because they stopped at 9pm. We slept fitfully but awoke to sunshine and on inspection, no damage to our precious home. We had always planned to move on, but it irked that the scumbags might have thought they’d won and scared us off. They didn’t.

We had studied our map to see that James Brindley was way marking for future transport needs. The M5 motorway was to be built directly over the canal for the next mile or so.

No electronic central controlled interactive signs for us down here

We are used to seeing some incongruous things on the canal, but this really was weird, the noise was phenomenal, quite unlike when we cruise from side to side underneath a motorway

the amount of scaffolding did make us worry for our safety. With more “road works” going on but these weren’t causing a logistics nightmare.

Should we be worried? Or is it installation art?

probably a good job because the next thing we saw was the DPD headquarters. And oh boy was it huge. The loading bays were numbered, about 230 canal side and possibly the similar on the other side.

But we still passing under some reassuringly familiar cute little bridges

Some not so cute causing us to duck

And then we wondered if we’d reached canal spaghetti junction, as the “old line” passed under the train line, over the “new line” with the M5 towering above us all.

There are several junction branches for boats to cross from the old (c1770s) to the new (c1820s)

But we stayed on our chosen route and shortly said goodbye to our motorway canopy to return to more familiar bridges and tunnels

Summit bridge and summit tunnel, it’s downhill from here

And what a difference, back out in the countryside again

The Midlands March, onto Oldbury.

Having ground to a halt in the ice we decided that Dudley Port wasn’t too bad a place to moor, except that every time a train went past we lost TV signal. And what we saw floating past the boat wasn’t all that inspiring either, we counted at least a dozen used syringes in this one debris island.

But at least the ice was melting and the titanic was still afloat, so we set off to complete the next two miles of our aborted trip to Oldbury.

A work boat had broken enough ice for us to cruise without concern along the Birmingham Canal Navigation (BCN) New Main Line, past Dunkirk Stop Island and turning right onto the Gower branch.

We reached Brades Locks, only to find the pond drained, fortunately the CRT team were already on site letting water down the staircase locks. Though unlike most of the team, I can’t say I was very impressed with these guys, as soon as there was enough water to traverse the pond, they left, leaving all the paddles raised, and me needing to set the locks. Perhaps I’ve been spoilt by too many helpful people, perhaps they had an urgent job to attend to, perhaps they were just cold and miserable. But not to worry, we were also cold but cheerful so got on with it.
We turned left onto the BCN Old Line for the last mile to Oldbury, where there are mooring bollards and a Sainsbury’s only 5 minutes walk. It doesn’t qualify as a pretty mooring but it’s adequate, And I liked the Bridge is called Whimsey Bridge.

And one of its claims to fame is that it’s where John Judge lived, and he wrote Its a long, long way to Tipperary.

Oldbury town is part of Dudley and Sandwell which has a railway station and a direct like up to the Lake District. So knowing that Eric could look after himself, I took advantage to hop on a train to spend a few days with Mum. We’re not sure why there is a peacock outside the station but he’s very impressive.

And when I stood on Platform 2 I could look back to the Turners Hill transmitters, that we had walked up to from the Bumble Hole.

after a few days counting the sheep, no Herdwick lambs till March or April I’m back on Firecrest

2 miles and 3 locks by boat, and about 250 miles by train

The Midlands March, Goodbye Bumble Hole

Time to move on, we had unexpectedly stayed nearly 14 days at the Bumble Hole but despite the early warning…

The ice had almost all gone by 11 and we made the decision to go

Our real need to move was that we were running low on water so we crossed over to the water point outside the Bumble Hole visitor centre. Whilst we were filling up we realised there was an angry mob gathering, but no not angry at all, the lovely team of volunteers who look after this site so brilliantly. We had chatted several times during our visit, both about the area and our journey, we had even been allowed a sneek peek inside the visitor centre as it was being prepared for re-opening this week. Its well worth stopping of to have a look as its full of photos and artefacts from the days gone by. And I think they do refreshments as well. They had just returned from their daily litter pick so posed for a photo.

We really had enjoyed our stay here. Lots of friendly people, beautiful scenery and good weather. We even had a visit from our friends who live in Worcestershire. But now that we had untied the ropes it was time to go. We could have turned south at Windmill End Junction to complete the Dudley 2 navigation at Hawne Basin. But it would have meant going through Gosty tunnel which is notoriously shallow. So much so that the marina will send a search party if you don’t emerge.

So we returned to Plan A to continue our Midlands March and set off through the tunnel

The Netherton tunnel was built at the end of the great canal age, to relieve the congestion caused by the narrow Dudley tunnel. It is unusually wide and has a Towpath each side. It also had the luxury of gas lighting. It took us 45 minutes to cruise the 2768m (1.7miles) and when we emerged another 15 minutes to reach the Birmingham main line canal.

Goodbye Dudley 2, hello Birmingham Main Line

This is when we realised we should have taken note of that red sky in the morning. The ice on the Main Line was still thick. We had planned to get to Oldbury, but instead it took us over half an hour to get around the corner and moor up. Eric stood on the bow smashing the ice to create a channel while I inched us forward. We’ll try not to make that mistake again. We might have only moved at a snails pace but I was too concerned to take any photos so you’ll have to use your imagination