Friends – Narrowboat Firecrest

The Past is our Key to the Future, National Memorial Arboretum

Alrewas has a real community atmosphere. And had it not been for enduring the second heatwave we would have taken advantage of joining in a few more communal activities. We’d enjoyed the Open Gardens on Saturday and Sunday. We quite fancied trying our hands at bowling on Monday but gave that a miss, especially as our friends on NB Peru cruised past and were able to stop for a glass of something cold. But the local walking group that meets on Tuesday mornings promised to be finished in time for a pub lunch so off we set to meet the group. I’d emailed the leader in advance so they were expecting us. What the website
didn’t tell us is that the group is subdivided – the striders and the strollers, thankfully the striders had sensibly set off early to beat the heat so we weren’t faced with the embarrassment of wimping out of doing the full 6 miles. The group had decided to show us, the newbies their pride and joy, the National Memorial Arboretum, roughly a 3 mile round trip and with the advantage of lots of shady trees. We walked and talked and shared stories. And as promised finished off with lunch at the Crown. which I’m happy to say, was a very good lunch.

I decided to go back to the Arboretum the day after for some personal contemplation. It’s a large site that is constantly evolving with new memorials being added all the time.

I did wonder what the stick man was commemorating, but he was there to add appeal for the youngsters, as he tries to find his family hiding in amonst the trees. I’m sure the kiddies love it but I thought there was enough awe and wonder in many of the military memorials to keep everyone interested

Not all the memorials are regimental. Many acknowledge civilian and political efforts to create peace,

But many are so poignant that they stop you in your tracks when you think about the tragedy of war. And what it makes leaders do to their own people.

I stood a while at this garden Memorial, not because it was the most impactful, but because Eric’s family, served in the GPO during WWII

And this Memorial made me smile, as I never imagined I’d be crossing the Suez canal

Were those Egyptian pyramids across the water, oh no, it was more gravel extraction that is happening all around this area. And once this pit is exhausted I believe the lake will become part of the NMA site.

There were many many more sculptures, plaques and gardens on site, recognising selfless acts of service or suffering not aligned with the armed forces. I’d say this is a place everyone should visit at least once, it packs a punch where youre least expecting it, and it made a lasting impression on us. Back in 2018 I wrote 3 blog posts about the NMA which has a bit more information.
but for today I shall leave you with this image.

National Memorial Arboretum part 1

Pershore

A gentle 9 mile, 3 hour cruise, river cruising at its best. The Avon doesnt feel like a wide super highway that parts of the Severn or Trent do. It meanders through pretty farmland, it’s peaceful and calm- at least on a sunny day like this.

I was taking part in the annual international spinning challenge known as the Tour De Fleece, which runs along side a certain french bike ride. So with such favourable conditions I got my little electric spinning wheel out and sat atop the boat and spun my yarn.

We must have been feeling very energetic mooring alongside the Pershore Recreational Ground,

France was at it again with little football competition going on, The club house, only 100m across the grass, was showing the matches live, whilst I was watching “live” on iplayer, so hearing the cheers a second or two before I saw a goal was scored rather spoilt the anticipation, but at least we knew when to look up at the screen.

Looking out from the boat we saw the leisure centre to our left and the football club behind the tree, with the Abbey beyond.

The Pershore leisure centre is also part of the Rec grounds so we took the opportunity for a swim as the pool was right on our doorstep. I’d have liked to have gone paddle boarding as well but we just had to watch this group having a good time.

Our friends John and Tina joined us for the day and we all walked over to Pershore Abbey. Another Benedictine monastery that has undergone mixed fortunes over the centuries, but survived to remain a sanctuary of peace and wonder. My photos don’t do justice to how if feels inside a building like this.

Of course not everyone shares my love of heavenly old churches, sometimes nature can be just as inspiring and dramatic and moments later those black clouds broke and the heavens opened.

Quick, batton down the hatches cause there’s a lotta rain about to fall

Most of the mooring on the Avon is restricted to 2 days, so we begrudgingly moved on. Attempting to stop at the water point at the opposite end of the Rec. If there’s anything we like to have a good grouch about its overgrown mooring places, today it was an over-hung water point. Eric couldn’t see where the tap actually was to get in, so it was lucky I’d walked along and was able to call him in. So whilst Firecrest was being filled up Eric got the secateurs out and gave the weeping willows a good haircut.

Hopefully the next boaters along will appreciate the extra visibility. Our next stop was exactly what we love about a mooring. Beautifully maintained grass just perfect to sit on. (And do more outdoor spinning)

And a stretch of river so clear you could see the fish nibbling the boat,

And warm enough to tempt me in for a bit of wild swimming. In fact when we told our friends from Wawick about the swimming, they jumped in their car to join us for a dip

Me, James and Maggie enjoying a refreshing dip

Yes we like river cruising

Next stop Tewkesbury

A brief change of scene

I had an unexpected call from my cousin, whilst we were having our breakfast…… “what are you doing this weekend?…. “
Di lives in Sussex had been given tickets for Glynbourne. It’s not often all our stars align so perfectly. Eric was tinkering with the boat and trainline provided an affordable off peak return, 6 hours later I was sipping something chilled in Di’s back garden.

What a giggle, we were teenagers all over again, and of course ending the day sitting in bed with Chris Martin headline at Glastonbury,

Sunday morning walk along the downs

Di forgot I wasn’t used to climbing hills on the towpath,

Followed by brunch with family and friends before we went to get our glad rags on for the afternoons performance. I have to confess that whilst I enjoy most classical music, opera isn’t anywhere near the top of my musical choices. But experiences rate highly and Glynbourne is certainly an experience.

Everything about Glynbourne is spectacular

I don’t keep a ready supply of evening gowns on-board Firecrest, but that didn’t stop us enjoying our champagne garden picnic in during the interval. Glynbourne really is an experience. The 16th century manor house is impressive in its own rights, but in 1934 the Christie family’s amateur musical soirees became the professional Glynbourne Festival Opera. John Christie added an extension to his home to accommodate a stage, a symphony orchestra and an audience of 300. In 1994 a whole new theatre complex was designed and built. It’s size allows for some truly impressive productions. Di and I were treated to a mind boggling performance of Mozart’s Magic Flute -thankyou Helen. And I can honestly say i thoroughly enjoyed it.

The next day Di and I treated ourselves to a girly trip to Brighton. We saw the sea, played the slot machines on the pier, shopped in the Lanes, drank cocktails and came home and slept soundly.

I promise we did a lot more than pose for selfies with a glass in our hands

Eric came to meet me on Firecrest on my homeward journey back to the canal, as the station at Wilmcote was a little closer to the canal than the station at Wootton Wawen. And what a spectacular station, looks like Agatha Christie might be waiting in the wings

Continuing my theatrical experiences, next stop Stratford….

South Stratford Canal

This month, it’s exactly 7 years since we were last on the South Stratford canal, and that time we were hurrying to meet a friend in Braunston. Now we know better, and “encourage” our friends to come to us. The Stratford on Avon canal actually starts at King’s Norton, but the little village of Lapworth is is a busy junction on the canal system, with routes going north, south, east and west, and the North Stratford becomes the South Stratford

This is where we left the Grand Union Canal and the Lapworth link to squeeze through the narrow gap to head south,

Lapworth junction turn right for King’s Norton turn left for Stratford

And where our friends James and Caroline who live locally joined us for the day.

It’s an incredibly pretty canal, with a lot of unique features. The bridges were built in two cantilevered halves which allowed the horse drawn boats to be pulled through the gap without having to untie , simple and sensible really

And there are 6 very unusual houses built for the Lengthmen, these were the men who were responsible for maintaining the Lock and their length of the canal. The navvies who built the canals weren’t house builders so they put the skills they did have and constructed the roofs the same way that they did building tunnels, hence the barrel shaped roof

The Lengthmans Barrel cottage, most of these cottages have been extended now,

James and Caroline saw us through several locks so we thought it only fair to make James take the helm

Mmmm another scratch on the paintwork doesn’t matter that much

Yes James they really do fit into that narrow gap

After all that hard work

we moored up at Lowsonford and went for a very enjoyable meal out at the Fleur De Lys.

Sharing the load

Turning right at Wigrams, onto the Warwick and Napton canal section of the Grand Union is a good place to have friends. The next 21 miles has 46 double locks, and pretty though it may be, it’s hard work without a crew, at this time of year, there are usually other boaters to share the load.

We struck lucky, making friends with a party of Australian men who had left their wives back home and come to explore the UK by narrowboat. Our heritage is certainly something to be proud of.

I hope that, if and when HS2 ever gets completed it will mellow into the countryside again just before Radford Semole

It will mellow and the trees will grow again, but I doubt it will last as long as our fabulous canal network. We said goodbye to our aussies who wanted to get to Warwick to visit Castle. We decided to have a few days in Royal Leamington Spa. Leamington is an odd place, you don’t see it at its best from the canal, although there’s some amazing street art

The town itself grew up around its mineral spring, when taking the waters became a fashionable cure all in the early 1800s. (Apparently the waters were actually a mild laxative so no wonder you felt well cleansed) Parks, promenades and bandstands with fabulous floral displays were created to entertain the visitors but despite the arrival of the railway, bringing more wealthy victorians, this prosperous period didn’t last. And nowadays its sadly rundown although the local council seem keen to maintain the gardens now, so it’s still a pretty place to walk around.

A Japanese Lantern flower in the glass house

Leamington and Warwick are so close, they seem to merge into one with only the River Avon between the two.

We’ve moored in Warwick before on the Saltisford Arm, but not this trip

The Saltisford Arm, well worth £10 a night to moor if you want to explore Warwick

We’d had the offer of a helping hand from my friend Jude

who was keen and eager to help us up the Hatton flight, so we set off straight away.

I’m not sure if Jude realised what she’d volunteered for but we never say no to sharing the load.

As we keep reminding ourselves, it’s cheaper than going to the gym

It’s a great sense of satisfaction when you reach the dragonfly pond,

Glad we don’t meet any dragonfly that big for real

Although there’s still 3 more of the 21 locks to go.
The Hatton Flight was opened in 1799 as part of the Warwick and Birmingham canal. Not only did it carry coal but also tea sugar and spices were being brought to Birmingham, it was hard work for the boatmen but it became known as the Stairway to Heaven because they knew that once they reached Camp Hill in Birmingham they would get paid. In the 1930s the unification of the network incorporated as part of the Grand Union canal and the decision was made to improve capacity by widening the single locks to double width. Not only was it unusual for canals to be improved like this, the new locks were unusual because they were built out of that revolutionary new material, concrete. Economic and efficient the new flight might have been, you’d have thought those engineers would have spared a thought for us leisure boaters, who don’t get paid at the top of the flight.

Those fellas don’t look like it’s too much of a struggle

Unless you count the evening view as a reward. Thankyou Jude, your help was very much appreciated, it was lovely to spend time with you and also to meet your family.

Looking down the Hatton flight towards the castle

And just thrown in for good measure, I’ve also squeezed in a flying visit back home to Suffolk to check out the view from my back garden.

A Creative Week in Weedon Bec

Heading south on the Grand Union Canal, below Whilton Marina

We had almost reached our summer destination; East Anglia, albeit a good 2 months later than we’d planned, so what would it matter if we dawdled in Weedon Bec for a week. Theres a lot of opportunity for creativity here, and I had friends close by, so with us bagging a mooring in full sun, ie good solar power, and no need to run the generator..

A misty morning but by 10am the sun was cracking the flags

…Eric took the opportunity to return home, to do some essential house maintenance, leaving me to play. There is a brilliant quilting shop in Weedon called the Bramble Patch. It stocks even more fabric than I have in my stash back home. Inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee, I bought myself a little pattern, some coordinated fabric to make a summer sunhat. This sewing machine rarely gets used on the boat, and even though it’s the tiniest of models I was debating whether or not it earnt its storage space. Its won a reprieve for now.

Weedon also has a creative hub housed in the Depot. The Depot was built during the Napoleonic war by George III to house the English ordinance, (gunpowder) in a more central location away from the south coast, in case Napoleon invaded.

Looking towards the clock tower at the Depot

Nowadays the historic warehouses, which have seen a variety of military use right up until the 1980s are home to antique warehouses, offices, classic car showrooms and bike showrooms, book stores and cafes.

We might live life in the slow lane, but I’ll always hanker after a sports car,

But my favourite is the Riverknits studio. Home to Becky and Marcus, who have created an artisan yarn brand, which they dye themselves. They regularly hold open days and knit and natters, and the week I was there there they hosted a mini yarn festival with a host of other independant yarnies. I met up with friends and we were in our element.

And yes I bought wool and a book.

Weedon Bec is a great place for a boats to stop. It’s simple and non fussy, but there’s 2 good convenience stores, a revolution outdoor laundrette, a variety of eateries, but sadly no dedicated boating facilities such and water, bins or fuel. But there’s plenty of mooring, and the neighbours are cute

Even Louie the sidecar dog in my header photo has his own website http://louiethesidecardog.com/

Soaring into Leicestershire

So much for my good intentions suggesting we take the Leicestershire route, down the River Soar. I’d checked all the relevant websites and confirmed that the Soar was no longer in flood, but I had forgotten to check that short stretch of the River Trent between Derwent Mouth lock and Sawley marina, and yes you’ve guessed , we were still hovering on red and the flood gates were closed.

Luckily it only held us up by 2 days, and our friend Jo popped in to say hello whilst we were twiddling our thumbs. Jo has recently discovered the joys of drumming and took me to her group that meets in Nottingham.

And I’m happy to agree that it was a great way to spend an evening. But when the sun rose the next morning and CRT gave us the go-ahead we weren’t hanging around, we were off, hurtling through the swirly currents at a heady 6 mph, under the M1,

Where the Derwent River and the Trent cross paths

Throught the Sawley cut, waving to the Erewash canal and turning off before Nottingham’s cranfleet cut.

Make your mind up time, which way shall we go…

And onto the River Soar.

Turning right onto the Soar, cruising up stream, does that look a bit autumnal to you, have we missed summer?

We quite enjoy river cruising, its usually wide and has a sense of greater freedom, although we were glad to be off the strong currents.

We made it through to Loughborough, and who should we meet but Jo and her trusty windlass to help us through a lock.

We were making good progress so didn’t stay long, We wanted to moor up at Birstall,

Words fail me, not my idea of fun at all.

This is where Jo had moored in December, and why we don’t cruise rivers in the winter. But as she says, she had a whale of a time and lived to tell the tale. In the mean time we took advantage of that nice solid edge and the sunshine to do some spring cleaning.

Just in time to welcome another visitor, my friend Carol from back in the day when we were student nurses together

Having had an enjoyable day we got ready to cruise into Leicester but guess what Birstall Lock had problems,

It had been knocked off its hinges and although CRT said it was still operable with care, it took ages to empty and we had to enlist the help of 4 burly young men to help us open the gate to let us in. It didn’t take long to fill and we got through safely but not surprisingly the next day CRT changed its advise and closed it for a week until it was repaired.

But we’d made it to Leicester and within walking distance to the train station cause I was jumping ship for my next adventure

The Journey Home-Iceland part 7

a delivery of flowers from my mum and Mike wishing us a memorable holiday

What a fantastic holiday, Iceland really is a place I’d like to go back to, more things to see and do and more things to see and do again, But Amanda and I had 2 whole days of cruising left to enjoy, and yes I’d quite happily become a continual cruiser on a bigger ship than Firecrest. But what’s to stop me having crispy bacon, pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast every day on Firecrest?

Just because we could…and I didn’t have to make it myself

And I’m not sure I would really want a dining room quite this big

And I discovered the pleasure in having a pedicure, we’ve been back in England 3 weeks now and my toes are still sparkley

We tried to persuade the sommelier to come home with us to keep the fizz flowing

We were supposed to be heading for a game of table tennis but when someone stops you with a glass of fizz you don’t say no

Infact Julius our lovely cocktail waiter told us he could cook and clean and quite fancied coming home with us

Amanda was very tempted to smuggle him out

I’m not sure I smile so much when it rains so much in an English summer

Standing over the great divide, between the American and Eurasian tectonic plates

And it was very disappointing when our whale watching trip got cancelled at the last minute

So disappointing, all dressed up and nowhere to go

But we really did get to see some magnificent sights in Iceland.

The rain didn’t dampen our spirits

Dressing for dinner was fun

And cocktail of the day was a must, although we tried to hold off until 5pm when we had a plate of canapés delivered to our cabin

And nothing beats live music

It’s been hard to pick out the best bits, I think perhaps Goðafoss was my favourite waterfall

The lupins were my favourite flower on the island

lovely Alaska lupins, brought in to help reduce the soil erosion

The sunsets were memorable

And the company was the best,

I wish that Amanda had been able to share this with David as they’d planned back in 2022, but his memory travelled with us and this holiday was dedicated to him, his love of life and his love for Amanda. Thankyou Amanda for letting me share it with you.

A few days of treats

We enjoy several spring time birthdays in our family, so declare whichever days are appropriate to celebrate a royal birthday, any excuse to eat cake and see family.

We picked up ‘Rito and Nova in Stone and set them to work doing the locks,

And we rewarded them with yet more ducklings

Can you ever see too many ducklings? What a daft question

No cygnets yet though

But we did see our first goslings in Etruria

We stopped to fill up with water under the watchful eye of James Brindley at Etruria junction

And moored up outside the Middleport pottery.

Where we had the good fortune to meet up with Reginald on her(?) way down to the Crick show, we might be biased but, it’s a beautiful boat, and full of some very clever innovations, not to mention James exceptional woodworking skills.

Always a nice treat to see friends and family,

Meeting at the Manor

Would you like to come to our house? Our friends Helen and James asked us as we travelled north up the Staffs and Worcester, well not actually their house but their local NT property and only 5 minutes walk from the canal. And so after a mornings cruise together,

we moored up at Wightwick Bridge Visitor Mooring

and strolled across to the Manor.

Built in the late 1880’s, Wightwick Manor, was built for Theodore Mander and his family. They were inspired by the Arts and Craft style so lots of William Morris and Rossetti to see. It was also a period known as the Aesthetic movement -basically art for arts sake.

The family still have an apartment in the house and are known to enjoy Christmas there, although I’m not sure if they still use the dining room.

But I bet they are tempted to play the odd frame of snooker

As always you can’t visit a NT house without a visit to the bathroom, and in this case the sluice, containing a collection of slipper bedpans, not all that dissimilar to the sluices and bedpans in the hospital where I did my nurse training and that was in 1983.

Lots more laughter as we enjoyed the gardens

Definitely a property I’d visit again. Even if just to walk around the garden.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/birmingham-west-midlands/wightwick-manor-and-gardens

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