rainbow – Narrowboat Firecrest

Five and a Quarter Miles

Another week of gentle cruising- although I should say one day’s cruise and a week of watching the world go by. Before the heatwave hit us the weather was a bit iffy. We’d moored up in Alrewas under a rainbow.

Looking towards Bagnall Lock at Alrewas, the river navigation board is on green, good to go

Not only do rainbows require rain, so do rivers, and if CRT get lucky, they get a lot of rain, but at Alrewas that means the short quarter mile section where the river Trent and the canal merge, it’s prone to fast flow and unsafe navigation. We didn’t want to hang around and wait for that to happen, so we donned our life jackets

And set off through Alrewas Lock past the “Quarter Mile Bridge” which the Trent flows under

Leaving Alrewas Lock to cross the River Trent

and across the canal where the water suddenly becomes clear enough to see the bottom- or you could if there wasn’t a garden of green down there

Makes a change from the usual muddy water

and out the other side around the floating barrier that prevents narrowboats getting swept the wrong way over the weir.

At this point I want to recall an incident we witnessed the day before at Alrewas Lock, as a reminder of the need to take Lock safety seriously. A boat had entered the lock to come up the canal. The crew had wound up to let the water in, and were walking across the top lock gate ready to open it. but there was a big splash, they had fallen off the lock gate into the canal. Not because they were being careless but because the boat had shot forward and hit the lock gate with such force that it shuddered and knocked the lady off. We rushed to help but there were enough people around that we weren’t needed and the lady was hauled out with only her pride injured. If the lock had still been filling she could have been sucked under never to be seen again. What we then found out was that the driver of the boat had left the helm and climbed off the boat because their dog was misbehaving on the bank, so there was no one actually controlling the boat, and the lady who had been knocked in was actually from the previous boat who had stopped to help. We all know accidents happen, but could this have been prevented if there had been someone at the helm? who knows. This time everyone lived to tell the tale and learn some lessons, – control your dogs, don’t bash into the lock gates and hold on tight when you cross a lock gate.
Anyway, back to our own story. Although the Trent isn’t a mile wide at this point, we think the bridge gets it’s name because it runs parallel to the canal spanning the flood plain for a Quarter Mile, between the Lock and just beyond the weir.

After the river section, we passed through Wychnor lock. The canal is quite busy at the moment and there was a crew waiting to come up in the next boat. They were already in position and offered to work the lock for us, hence a rare opportunity for me to post a photo of Firecrest leaving a lock

It’s about 5 miles down to Branston from Alrewas, and it feels like half of it is running parallel to the A38, its tedious and noisy, but we make it to one of the pretty locks, Tattenhall Lock

And find ourselves a pleasant mooring at the Branston water park

Just in time for another rainbow, whilst we were here, Adam and Adrian cruised past on Briar Rose, just enough time for a quick hello- must make it longer next time

And yes, Branston is the home of…..

Although it’s no longer made here.

And with it being a water park, no shortage of youngsters enjoying themselves

Staying in Stratford

We downed a hearty breakfast to fuel us down the last 16 locks towards Stratford.

Fortunately they are all single locks and being a popular destination we met enough boats coming up as going down, some very helpful volockies, and some very pretty lock landings adopted by a local couple.

I think this is the best lockside garden we’ve seen

I have to confess we’re never sure how we’re going to feel arriving in such a busy tourist destination.

Generally we want to run a mile back to the tranquility of the countryside, but occassionally, we arrive just get a sense of, yes, let’s treat this as a holiday and be tourists, and enjoy the atmosphere. I think a lot depends on where we actually get a mooring.

The Stratford canal terminates at Bancroft Basin. The basin is in one of two remaining wharfs. The other was filled in in the 1930s and became Bancroft Gardens. It’s a hub of entertainment for all the visitors with buskers, icecream vendors, and peddlers all willing to lighten your purse.

In the mid 1800s however, I doubt it was quite so pretty. The area was heaving with commercial activity, 50 000 tonnes of coal passed through Statford each year. There were also glass and lead wharfs, a cooperage, a cider press, a skin yard and a timber yard all served by a tram way. Nowadays, Warwickshire can expect well over 6 million tourists per year and I think half of them come to take a ride on the trip boats that now operate from the basin.

Of course Statfords most famous face is the hurdy gurdy playing busker in the town centre.

He confessed to me that his wife was just glad to have him out of the house

closely followed by William Shakespeare.

And there are monuments all over the place

The fabulous Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre dominates the gardens and river. We chose to go to one of the fringe theatres, even closer to Firecrest than the RSC. The Attic, housed in the old wood yard at the end of the basin, we saw Noel Coward’s Private Lives, and thoroughly recommend this little theatre company to anyone passing through Stratford.

Mooring is restricted to 48 hours in the basin, and whilst we got one of the prime linear spots, most of the mooring is on pontoons, which aren’t quite long enough to make for the easiest of mooring venues. Although this is terminus for the Stratford canal, there is a lock which opens out onto the River Avon.

We bought our ANT licence, (£70 for 2 weeks) and spent another night on the River Avon

Leaving the lock and entering the River Avon

With everything in such easy walking distance we could easily have stayed another few nights in Stratford. Good fish and chips from the Kingfisher on Ely Street, worth the extra 10 minutes walk.

Makes a change from Canada Geese, but just as noisy

Spitting distance

After sitting down last December and deciding to purchase a gold licence so we could spend the summer in East Anglia, we are on the final few days of our very protracted and frustrating journey, we set off with spring in the air and a spring in our step.

Only to have it clouded over by the time we reached Gayton Junction. We picked up some fuel from Blisworth Marina, (about 15pl cheaper than nearby marinas ) and off we set up the Northampton arm.

Gayton Junction going onto the Northampton Arm

Only 17 locks down

The first 12 are a flight so easy for Eric and I to work as a team, I set the lock, he cruises in, whilst I walk on to set the next one, by the time he’s let the water out I’m usually back in time to close up as he cruises on. And thankfully there’s only one lift bridge which is usually raised.

And as we were working our way down the flight, my adventurous Sister in Law was in South America ticking off her bucket list visiting the Iguaçu falls in Brazil, Lock 9 did its best to impress….

There’s some interesting art work along the 5 miles between Gayton Junction and Northampton

And the M1 motorway thunders overhead .

And another friend was visiting Chelsea Flower show as we made our way down the flight. Sometimes simple is just as good.

And we made it. Well almost, the heavens opened just as we reached Cotton End in Northampton, which is still on the canal, and under CRTs management and there were rings so we moored up. Our final, lock, Lock 17 is within spitting distance . Once the rain stopped we thought we would take a walk up to the Marina office and talk to the Enviroment Agency about river etiquette, buy ourselves the required access key, and prepare our anchor etc ready for the River Nene after a good nights sleep…..

This is a trip of 165 miles, 1½ furlongs and 137 locks from Macclesfield Visitor Moorings (Pontoons) to Northampton Lock No 17. And had we cruised for 7 hours a day (which admittedly we wouldn’t even contemplate let alone achieve) we could have done it in a fortnight. (Screenshot swiped from AC Canal plan)

Avoiding the weather

It seems like we are planning our cruising around the weather forecast these days. This time last year we were bemoaning the fact that we were locked in the Salthouse Dock in Liverpool when the sun was cracking the flags and it was perfect cruising weather.

12 months ago in sunny Salthouse Dock not allowed to cruise

But this year, April showers have turned into May monsoons. Ok perhaps not that bad, and the bright moments have been snatched and glorious.

We cruised up to Burton, travelling alongside Deep Dale Lane, which always makes us chuckle. We’re wondering if the signage is warning cars not to fall off the road into the canal, or warning boaters of the to be on guard for cars landing on their boats.

I’ve never seen any signage warning the sheep to take extra care,

And sadly yes, I have seen more animals floating belly up, than cars going for a swim. Perhaps this heron is on sentry duty keeping an eye. Herons are used to canal life but usually fly off at the last moment so it was quite a treat to get up close and personal to this one standing on the side at Dallows lock.

It’s always a relief to see Dallow’s lock as we cruise into Burton. It’s the first of the single locks, which are so much easier to work through. But we moored up shortly after this in Burton.

This stretch of Towpath is maintained by the homeowners who take great pride in their section, even the Armco edge had been neatly trimmed. But oh boy when it rained, the footpath took on the appearance of a new canal in its own right. We called it the Baby Burton Branch

If it hadn’t been so miserable I’d have made some paper boats to float down in. Instead we sat inside and waited until it was dry enough to continue another few miles west.

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