Staffordshire – Page 3 – Narrowboat Firecrest

warning low water levels

Notices had been coming through thick and fast from CRT about water shortages and closing lock flights. One of the Stone locks was closed for a couple of days for repair, Heartbreak Hill was padlocked temporarily. Those poor holiday makers, how frustrating to have planned to do the four counties ring in a week, only to find themselves unable to plough on with their 9 hour cruising days. Poor hire companies as well for that matter. We’d already felt the bottom at Whitebridge lane as lock usage drained the pound, (section of canal “impounded” between two locks) but as we were sitting in our nice comfy dry boat eating our tea, the heavens opened and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Eric and I shared a sympathetic smile with boat going past us at 6.30pm in the pouring rain. “Why on earth don’t they moor up here where there’s space and call it a day?” we thought, they’ve got to get up the 4 Meaford locks in the rain now, where’s the fun in that. No wonder we didn’t see any more boats that day. Just before we turned in for the night I checked my emails, oh no, another closure….. boat sunk in Meaford locks, rescue squad arriving to assess at 9am…..was it those poor bedraggled holiday makers, or had they got through.

Only one way to find out, as soon as we’d had our first cup of coffee we walked up to the flight. Bottom Lock all clear,
Second lock, the pound looked low,

Mmmm, not much water going over that overflow

Oh dear as we rounded the corner we saw a sight we didn’t want to see again

It was our unfortunate holiday makers,

There was already a gathering of CRT men, I suspect they were the local volunteers and the hire company staff on sight

Not what you expect to see in the engine bay.

The engine had obviously been under water

Theres a lot of weed where there shouldn’t be weed

But the bow was clearly stuck on the cill,
No one could be quite sure how it happened, apparently it happened very quickly. The lock had obviously been full as they had been able to open the gate and had started to leave the lock, when probably due to low water levels they had caught on the cill. Unable to close the gate to add more water as the leaky lock gates then drained the lock and the boat tipped back. It must have been terrifying. Apparently they all got off safely.

And with the top gates open the pound above drained completely.

You can see why it’s so horrible cruising when the water levels are low with so many stones on the bottom.

We debated about whether or not it was acceptable to post pictures of a boat in distress, but as neither the crew or the boat are identifiable we decided it was a salutary lesson to us all. We don’t think the crew was actually at fault, possibly just inexperienced, What they should have done, was let more water into the pound above the lock to refloat their boat. But would we have thought quickly enough to do that in the heat of the moment, who can say. The RCR (river canal rescue) turned up at 9 and they set about planning how to sort it out. So we returned to Firecrest for some breakfast. We planned to walk back up later to see how they were doing, but we couldn’t quite believe it, by lunch time the boat was rescued the pound refilled and boaters were on the move once more. The hire company even managed to get the engine running on the sunk boat and were cruising it back to base.

4 new solar panels

Having realised how much the boat’s solar panel array enhances our lifestyle, (eg saving hundreds of pounds on diesel not running the geni) we really wouldn’t want to be without it. The original 4 panels that we fitted in April 2019 were showing some signs of delamination, there were tiny air bubbles under the surface. Although we hadn’t noticed any reduction in efficiency (although that’s hard to quantify with 7 panels and the British weather). We decided to replace them now while the boat was repainted.
Of course technology doesn’t stand still and the identical panels were no longer available, but Photonic Universe is.

Eric put in hours of research browsing for what would fit, what would match, and most importantly which would give us the maximum power output. Photonic Universe came up trumps again. He did contact other companies, but one failed to reply to the email, and another company had done something daft like listing the size of the transport packaging rather than the panel itself. Whereas we’ve had good service from PU in the past, and they have enough choice to find something to tick all our boxes. Unfortunately, we found some panels go out of stock, and there’s no guarantee that the exact panel will reappear. So decisions were made and panels ordered back in the autumn, and had them delivered back home. Eric unpacked them, checked for faults and consolidated their packaging for easier storage until the time arrived to fit them.

We’d already had a few false starts with mooring locations being unsuitable for DIY or it being too wet or too hot. But goldilocks eventually found the golden spot at Whitebridge Lane moorings in Stone. We set to washing the roof of the boat, -again.

Panels were unwrapped on the bed for final inspection before fitting

Frog tape was applied to the roof carefully marking out the exact position the panel was to go, and glue was applied to the back of the panel. Eric is using “Sticks like sh*t” this time because the last time he used CT1, his glue of choice, he felt it handled differently and had lost its grip. Rumour has it that there’s been change in the formula and in our opinion, it’s no longer so good.

Working together and at speed, cause there’s only 15 minutes before the glue starts to cure, we flipped the panel into place and meticulously smoothed and weighted it down, ensuring the glue came right to the edge. There are two schools of thought, some installers like to leave a few mm gap between roof and panel. Eric thinks this will make the panels less stable to walk on, and potentially problems with rain/condensation getting underneath. So we have opted for bonding the panel firmly to the roof without a gap. The frog tape was removed and the edges checked that no glue was visable on the roof.

The weights we using are our moveable balast. We have 140kg in 10 and 20kg weighs. They usually live under the well deck and very rarely need to be moved, but they do come in handy for jobs like this. Because we’ve only got this many weights we can only do one panel every 8 hours or so, to give it time to set.

We certainly felt like we’d done a thorough workout after shifting all that weight. My job was to tape anti scratch protection to the weights (ie cardboard) which we realised we needed after the first oops. One of the nice things about the Whitebridge moorings is that there is a winding hole, which meant we were able to work on both sides with the safety of the bank. .

It took us 4 days to put all 4 panels on (rain stopped play inbetween 2 and 3) . Anxious, intense and tiring work. We had bought a 5th smaller panel, intending to put it cross ways between the dog box and the cross strut, but when we looked at the extra power we’d gain and the aesthetics, we both felt we could live without it.

Of course having the panels stuck into place is only half the job. Eric will have to wire them in before we can take advantage off them.

The new panels 170w each, and will be wired in pairs
The 2 older panels at the front are 350w each
Giving us a total of 1380w.
In the summer this means all our cruising power comes from solar, (Admittedly being liveaboards, we don’t cruise every day and we rarely cruise for more than 3 hours in any day), and we run the generator maybe once a month.

From Stoke to Stone

Whilst we were living it up in Alnwick, Firecrest was enjoying a peaceful weekend in Stoke’s Festival Park Marina.
It’s not somewhere we’d choose to moor permanently, the power hook up trip is only 6 amp and the H&S fairies shouldn’t be allowed to look at the state of the pontoons. But for a few nights, it’s ideal. It gave us peace of mind, the staff are friendly and helpful, it’s got facilities, and a big Morrisons close by. And the Iris were in bloom so it was pretty as well.

I’d collected the replacement solar panels from home, so our plan was to cruise towards Stone, looking out for a suitable mooring for some serious DIY. Cause those panels were too big to be stored in the boat for long. We’d also treated ourselves to a new boat pole that was still being oiled ready for its life under the elements.

not an ideal storage place for the panels…. or for my temperament

We’ve cruised through Stoke a few times, and love the heritage buildings along the canal

I’d love to know more about what goes on at a Bone and Flint mill

Some have been preserved and are still in use, Whist sadly, some are ready to fall down if they don’t recieve any care and attention.

The conical kilns of the potteries might not be unique but they are a special part of our heritage and should be valued.

But mooring in central Stoke isn’t the most appealing so we cruised on to Barlaston for a rural view.

And some ducky company

No, you can never have too many photos of ducklings

We thought we’d be able to do the panels here, but the spring pollen, blossom and seeds were swirling through the air fast and furious, which meant that by the time we’d got to washing one end of the roof, the first end was already covered in bits that would pollute the glue. So pretty though it was, we moved down through the equally pretty Meaford lock flight.

And onto the Whitebridge Lane moorings at Stone,

Looks like Eric can wash the roof here to his hearts content

With a Heron for company and trees that wanted to keep hold of their spring leaves.

I don’t believe it

I don’t believe it….. We finally get cruising, and ….. the memo comes through from CTR that there’s been a landslide and trees down ahead of us stopping navigation for at least 2 days. Not only that but the weather is perfect cruising weather.

We were sitting at the Fazeley Junction

Sitting at the junction, waiting to turn onto the Birmingham and Fazeley canal

Our options included staying put until we got the allclear, detouring through Aston and centre of Birmingham, or …. back tracking back to Fradley Junction, and carrying on along the Trent and Mersey then up the River Soar. Rightly or wrongly, we didn’t fancy sitting it out, or facing all the Aston locks with unknown mooring options, so we winded and back tracked.

We’ll do the Fazeley canal another time. As I’d just had another few days off the boat sorting out mum’s affairs, we were desperate to be cruising again, and my reward was seeing our first ducklings of the year.

I had an easy lock free day, and even when we turned right at Fradley the volunteers were ready and willing to help us through,

Then we got to Alrewas, such a pretty place,

Until you see this

It didn’t take us completely by surprise to see the red warning signs but we’d spoken to the lockies and we knew the river levels were falling. Much to the consternation of a holiday boater we went through the lock knowing we could moor up on the other side of the village and await our go ahead.

We walked along the towpath to see what awaited us

Sure enough, CRT came along and removed the padlocks giving us the all clear ride the rapids. Several boats were itching to go through ASAP, but we decided to wait until the morning.

I think those fields would be more suited to water buffalo than our cows

Thought for the day

Speed Boating

Speed boating, or Endurance boating, ….Well it felt like it for us. We rarely cruise for over 3 hours a day, but with so many delays both Eric and I were keen to push on. 5 or 6 hours cruising on a few days.

Back in mid December, a few days before the breach at Scholar’s Green halted our journey south, we treated ourselves to a Gold Licence intending to spend the season cruising the East Anglia waterways. 10 weeks later we finally broke free and sailed through to Kidsgrove.

10 and half weeks later I got the phone call to return home, but now 4 weeks later we’re finally on the move again. We dutifully checked our route maps and CanalPlanAC says 115 miles, 69 locks, 57 hours.. Kidsgrove to Northampton.
But no, there’s been a major landslide at Brinklow and our direct route is blocked until mid June. We’ll have to travel via Birmingham, 125 miles and 128 locks and 68 hours. That’s almost twice as many locks to do. (James if you’re reading this, be warned we’re coming via Hatton.)
But we all love locking, especially when the sun’s shining, and we’ve already done 23.

Approaching one of our 128, somewhere below Stoke

We got very lucky with the Easter Bank Holiday weather, and we had some perfect cruising weather from Stoke. Even the occassional heavy showers ended with a rainbow

No one offered to swim across to find the pot of gold

We were surprised at how quiet the canal was, despite it being the start of the hire season and a 4 day weekend,

Dead quiet, This person obviously spent too long on their mobile

Perhaps the wild swan at Weston had seen everyone off. We’ve cruised this way a couple of times and for the past few years, this territorial swan has chased us off his patch, pecking at the boat. This time we were brave enough to moor overnight in Weston and saw him attack several trespassers.

The much nicer Swan at Fradley was doing a roaring trade and has provided a photo fit for next years self print calender

Leaving the Trent and Mersey at Fradley junction, and joining the Coventry canal

What Eric hauled up from the prop wasn’t quite so pretty,

It could have been worse, only a rope fender this time

And talking of pretty

We had a rained off day, so we caught the bus into Lichfield to have a wander around. The weather didn’t make for good photos, but we did both enjoy our mooch. It’s quite a historic place, in the 7th century, Chad established his Bishopric, and it became the ecclesiastical centre of Mercia. Unfortunately the famous 3 spired cathedral was wearing scaffolding so not looking its best.

One of Lichfields other claims to fame is that it is the birthplace of Samuel Johnson, who complied the first English Dictionary

But whilst I might enjoy words, not a lot beats sunrise on your own boat.

A month ago

A month ago….

we had made it down the Bosley Flight, and we both rejoicing and bemoaning to be heading south… straight into the morning sun.

We meandered our way into Congleton. I met up with one of my many knitting friends scattered around the country. Gilly introduced us to fantastic little place, called the Wonky Pear, wine bar/pub/coffee stop just up from the canal off Park Lane, they don’t usually do food, other than cake, but they had a pop up evening of Thai Street food. And if we were local, we’d definitely make if our local. But we were on a mission, so set off as soon as the sun rose, we ignored the dire warning from the red sky in the morning and the frost on the ground (it was still the end of february)

looking towards the railway from the Congleton Aqueduct moorings

And we set off, but it was cold cruising, so we stopped near the Ramsdell Railings and went for a brisk walk up to Mow Cop which certainly warmed us up.

This old ruined castle is actually an 18th century folly where the gentry came for picnics. You can see for miles and it’s the intersection of the counties of Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire. It’s also the first meeting place of the Primative Methodists, a breakaway revivialist group wanting to refocus on the socialist aims of Christianity, caring for the community, being part of the trade union movement and taking an active role in women’s emancipation. I offered my prayers of thanks for such a place and we carried on journeying south. Where we also gave thanks that the culvert breach from Mid December had finally been fixed

And onto the Hall Green Stop Lock at Scholar’s Green

Before our travels came to an abrupt stop at Kidsgrove

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

A few days of firsts

We could happily have stayed a few days soaking in the tranquility at the lower end of the Stourbridge canal. But we were ready to continue our journey north.

just four more locks before the junction

And onto the Stafforshire and Worcestershire canal.

This canal was built in the 1770’s to service the potteries around Stoke on Trent. However trade declined when newer canals provided a more direct route between Liverpool and the South. In order to remain competitive the canal company increased the lock opening hours and reduced the tolls. Now there’s an interesting idea. It’s a very pretty canal that cuts through the red sandstone rock in places, and follows the meandering rivers and Smestow Brook.

Within minutes of turning north, the smell of wild garlic hit us, so I leapt off to gather a bunch to make pesto our first spring foraging treat.

You just need to harvest the leaves, but make sure you identify what’s garlic and what isn’t, everyth8ng looks lush and green right now

Our next first was seeing our first ducklings of the year, 24th April. Out of interest I looked back to last year and my first duckling photo was on 23rd April.

there were another 5 who were a bit camera shy

And another first, this time for James Brindley in 1770, as he managed to combine a lock and road bridge in one crossing.

And whilst we were ticking off firsts, we realised that this was the first time we had done the Bratch Locks in sunshine. It was raining so hard last time we had to bribe the lockies to leave their toll booth to help us

It’s an amazing feat of engineering, originally a staircase lock of three, the water level changes by over 30′. Although technically its now individual locks it still needs to be treated as a staircase and there’s usually a lock keeper on duty to make sure no one sinks. Sadly James Brindley died a few months before it became operational.

The locks are fierce and powerful, we often chat to the families watching at locks and always remind the children never to play close to the edge because of the undercurrents. We had never seen a whirlpool as big as this one at a lock

The vortex was between 8 and 12 inches across.

Finally something we’ve come to enjoy peaceful mooring

The Midlands March, up the Merry Hill

As we feared the canal was frozen over when we woke, but when I gingerly leaned out the side hatch and poked it, it was obvious, we’d be skating on thin ice, which was thawing rapidly

So when we saw the door of opportunity floating towards us we set off. Turning immediately right onto the Stourbridge Extension canal.

Past Delph wharf, which, as the notice says, offered hard standing for boats of all sizes

Under Black Delph bridge, which marks the start (or end) of the Dudley No 1 canal, part of the Birmingham Canal Navigation and the start (or end) of the Delph flight of 8 locks. As luck would have it, as I set the first lock, we struck gold, not one but 3 CRT gems. Two of whom were volockies, who helped us up the flight in under an hour.

That’s what we like to see, helpers at locks

And we were mightily glad we made good speed because as we emerged from lock 8 (or was it lock 1) there were snow flurries in the air

And 5 minutes later, we were cruising past Merry Hill, the huge retail complex, but although there was lots of mooring, it was very exposed.

So we rounded the corner to moor at the Waterfront Basin, by the time we finished tying up it was almost blizzard like.

We hadn’t intended to go further, so we battoned down the hatches and snuggled up to keep warm, we could have ventured over the bridge to enjoy the delights of Wetherspoons and the shops.

I imagine it is a lot more inviting in the sun

But the thought of catching pneumonia appealed even less than catching that other nasty bug doing the rounds. It did look nice at night though.

We travelled 4 miles and did 8 locks