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
Upper Burston Bridge
And more daffodils
Burston 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.
….and 25 locks from the bottom lock at Wheelock to the top lock at Red Bull, Kidsgrove. No wonder it’s known as Heartbreak Hill. Even the summit of that big hill Everest is only 5.5miles above sea level, but I’ve more sense than to attempt that only carrying a windlass. Not to mention my dodgy logic. We set off from Ettiley Heath at 7am so as to beat the heat.
Early morning mist at Ettiley Heath
The forecast was for the hottest day of the year so far, mid 20’s, so we only planned to cruise until 11 then find a tree to moor under.
Entering Wheelock Bottom Lock, the start of the flight
As per ususal we gave a big sigh of relief that our chosen mode of transport took us under the M6 and not along it. Although to be fair, the country would be a very different place if we still relied on the canals to get goods from A to B.
That caravan is nearly as long as Firecrest,
We found our tree after 12 locks and settled down to watch the world go by, except it didn’t, the canal is exceptionally quiet, only 6 boats in the whole day cruised past us.
Chells Hill
The next day was a lot busier, although some people had the right idea.
Wonder what they serve at the Red Bull pub?
We’d done the hill in 2 days, and it really wasn’t too bad. It’s a pretty section of canal and there’s several nice mooring places to break up the journey. Plan B had been to turn onto the Macclesfield canal here, but alas, due to the April breach we were now onto Plan C, travelling south. We topped up at the very convenient canal side Lidl, and set off through the tomato soup to go through the Harecastle Tunnel.
“Who said red and green should never be seen”
I didn’t manage to catch the skeleton on camera very well this transit, it must have been running away….
The Harecastle skeleton
or was it running to catch us, either way I wasn’t hanging around to find out. After 38 minutes underground we were happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
the end in sight
We moored up outside the Middleport Pottery to plan our next adventure
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.
River Avon
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.
Spinning a yarn
We must have been feeling very energetic mooring alongside the Pershore Recreational Ground,
Pershore Rec, a really good mooring
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.
Inside Pershore Abbey
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.
Good deed for the day
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)
Great Comberton rural mooring
And a stretch of river so clear you could see the fish nibbling the boat,
Enough for dinner I think.
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
It was a ridiculous sense of relief to have, having finally given up on the East Anglian Adventure. We were back on the Grand Union and had a plan, not one we were going to allocate to the second half of the alphabet, this is the New Plan A. We are now heading towards Gloucester and Sharpness. We will enjoy the journey and embrace all the new opportunities it throws at us. The DIY tweaks and improvements intended to be done whilst close to home (and Eric’s much missed workshop) will get tackled another time. We’re heading west, towards the sunset.
As we’d only just come down the Grand Union, we decided not to dwardle on this section of our journey. Although we did take time to pay hommage to our two service heros deep in thought at bridge 21. I dont know if they have official names but we call them Tim and Prue, always impeccably turned out, although missing a large glass of red today.
Tim and Prue marking the 80th anniversary of D Day at Bridge 21
We struck lucky at the bottom of the Buckby flight by meeting a lovely couple renovating an old boat. They had minimal boat handling experience but were happy to follow our routine.
Company up the Buckby flight
Experienced or not it still makes double locks easier if you can share the load. As we gazed longingly at the lovely cottage a at Norton Junction a familiar face approached us, well familiar to me, unless he can magically see out of the TV not my face to him as it was Robbie Cummings from the Canal Diaries tv show.
Norton Junction
We didn’t stop to exchange autographs although I thanked him for an entertaining show. The storm clouds were gathering so we opted for a good nights sleep before doing the Braunston tunnel and flight. As luck is now on our side we buddied up again for the locks into Braunston
And found a mooring before the next storm clouds hit
We’ve spent many an hour mooching around Braunston, it’s got history, culture and butcher who sells the Best Braunston Bangers.
Braunston marina
However, we might be in good spirits but what had happened to summer.
Somewhere around Bridge 100, the meeting point for many marina dwellers over a weekend G&T
But when dark clouds amass, the only thing to do is get the knitting out and try a bit of reverse psychology. Having knitted a boat chicken for Firecrest,
Meet Nen the Hen, knitted in Northampton where the Nene is known as the Nen
It was time to finish a wooly jumper for me in case the weather never improved
But you know what they say, it only rains when you forget your umbrella. Let’s hope the weather warms up
And sure enough we woke to blue skies and the temperature soared.
Do you ever get the feeling we should have seen the writing on the wall. We’d moored up in Northampton, keen and eager to get into East Anglia, ready to enjoy some river cruising on the Nene. The drizzle had stopped so we set off on foot to speak to the team in the Enviroment Agency office around the corner at Northampton Marina …..as we were stepping off Firecrest we could see someone “doing something” at Lock 17. That “doing something” turned out to be turning the boards from green to red, indicating strong flow, navigation not advised. Undeterred we started a conversation with the man who just so happened to be from the marina office. We picked his brains as we walked along hoping to glean some local knowledge…. the board would probably be up for 4 or 5 days depending on the weather, and Warmington Lock (between Oundle and Peterborough) was closed for winter maintenance until 30th of May although that was likely to be extended and Salters Lode lock was closed for the foreseeable, at least all summer, meaning we wouldn’t be able to get to Ely or Cambridge, both being anticipated highlights for our summer. As we returned to the boat through the town it appeared that the “whole” of the centre was being dug up, there were barriers “everywhere”, not somewhere you’d explore for pleasure. We felt totally dejected. I didn’t even take any photos. At least the red boards would give us some thinking time and Aldi and B&Q were only 5 minutes walk from our mooring.
Looking towards us at Cotton End, Northampton
It wasn’t all bad, the train station was also convenient and I’d got chores to do in the Lakes so I could go home from here
Home sweet home
But as they say, it never rains but it pours. A CRT notification arrived by email, the beam at Lock 11 on the flight has suffered a catastrophic collapse and there could be a major delay in its repair. So now we were well and truly stuck, can’t go forward and can’t go back either.
I wonder when this was last inspected….
Fortunately CRT was actually on the ball and once they had done their assessment, they instigated an emergency evacuation plan before they shut the whole flight down in order to do a full repair. There was a very helpful CRT officer called Abby who was keeping us personally informed. By this time Eric and I had decided to cut our losses and make a run for it. 1)We couldn’t leave Northampton whilst the boards were red, and talking to locals it seems there were only 2 people authorised to make decisions about the river levels so if they weren’t on duty, the red boards got left up longer than necessary. 2) we didn’t know how long it would be before Warmington Lock winter maintenance was complete, for that matter when would winter be over 3) we wouldn’t be able to get to Ely or Cambridge at all, because the “authorities” were playing politics 4) and now we risked potentially getting trapped by the Northampton Arm closure, because the oak beam had rotted through.
So we turned around, this time going up the locks
Lock 16
Back under the M1
Back through the well rotted lock 11, which instead of being airlifted by helicopter, CRT had actually cobbled together quite a substantial temporary fix,
Functional for now
Then traipsing through the long grass offside to work the locks Come on CRT, you might claim this is nature friendly, but this is not boater friendly, it’s downright dangerous: the ground is uneven with rabbit holes, you can’t see the bollards or the edge of the lock, its swarming with bugs that bite in the sun and soggy and wet in the rain. It might be due to lack of funds but its neglect, and negligent. And no, more signage warning us of potential trip hazards isn’t enough, one strip of mowing would suffice, then boaters and wildlife will happily share the space.
Where are we supposed to walk
But despite my grumbles it was a very pretty journey back up the flight
And we ended the day feeling more confident now we were back on the main canal network
After my little jaunt away living the highlife, counting puffins Eric had moved Firecrest through Leicester and was waiting for me at Kilby Bridge. The weather was perfect and we were keen to be on our way.
South of Bumble Bee lock
Sometimes there’s no need for lengthy details as we watch the world go by
Sometimes the scenery and tranquility just speaks for itself as others just watch us go by, whilst we disappear into the tunnel
Sometimes quite a lot of people watching us go by, but what do you expect going up Foxton Locks on a sunny Sunday afternoon
Lots of helpers on hand
Just so long as they evenings are peaceful
But its in the tunnels that you really hope you don’t meet anyone,
Mmmm that looks like 2 boats coming towards us, hope they move over. Crick tunnel is two way
But meeting a lockie on the Watford flight is always welcome.
The Watford flight would be very pleasant if it weren’t for the M1 thundering alongside the canal
And finally, Norton Junction. We’ve arrived at the point where our current Plan xxx route and our original plan A route rejoin, and we thought we’d have been here in March.
After the disappointment last June when Amanda (my sister in law) and I had our whale and puffin watching excursion cancelled,
All togged up but our trip was cancelled at the very last minute
we promised ourselves we’d go to see some British puffins this year. And oh boy did we see puffins, we felt like mini David Attenboroughs.
And as we can see this little puffin is busy lining their nest with bracken
We booked ourselves an AirBnB in Milford Haven. Not your usual chocolate box seaside holiday destination, but actually there’s a very nice promenade overlooking the harbour that draws the eye away from the oil and gas refinery. Its all newly built and above the shops and fancy restaurants there’s some rather nice apartments.
The view from our appartment
We were all set for our trip to Skomer Island. We’d booked 2 trips, the first was a sunset cruise around the island. We togged up very well cause although the sun was shining, the wind was also competing for supremacy.
in our icelandic sweaters of course
We were amazed by the number of puffins we saw both flying and bobbing around. My camera skills and equipment doesn’t quite make BBC standards for wildlife photography so you’ll just have to believe me that there were not hundreds, but thousands of these comical little birds, entertaining us, crash landing into the sea, cause they arent the most graceful fliers.
I think these are guilemots
And we didn’t just see puffins, but many other seabirds as well, kitiwakes, manx shearwater, gannets, gulls, storm petrel, fulmar, guillemots and razorbills. Or at least according to our very informative guide we saw them all. We also saw a peregrine falcon, a blackbird and a Robin.
Puffins in the water and I think kitiwakes on the cliff
And we saw common grey seals and harbour porpoise
Apparently the week before there were over 200 seals on this beach
It was an exhilarating trip
We got what we wanted, we saw puffins the sunset and Wales
The next morning our beautiful view was somewhat obscured,
But it didn’t dampen our spirits because one of us had a birthday to celebrate
One thing we discovered, that as a tourist, the Pembrokeshire coast is heavily geared towards outdoor attraction (and quite rightly so) we drove over to St David’s and enjoyed the cathedral but the rain was coming down in barrel fulls and even exploring the little streets wasn’t much fun. Outdoor attractions need sunshine, cause despite there being lots of castles in the area, non of them still have a roof.
St David’s Cathedral
And of course as soon as we called it quits and trudged home for a nice meal in one of the fancy restaurants,
the sun came out and provided a bit of a sunset
And we went to bed looking forward to the night day tomorrow
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.
Approaching Aston Lock, below Stone
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.
Almost at Kidsgrove, still on the Macc
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.
Pick on someone your own size, mate
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.
Lichfield cathedral
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.
Time to set off up Heartbreak Hill and give the old lock muscles a workout. But before the aches set in we decided to take a detour on foot, to explore the lovely little market town of Sandbach. It’s a familiar name on the M6 junction signs, but we had never taken the time to visit it before, and I’m glad we did. It has lots of character, independant shops and some real medieval history, I have a feeling we will come here again. (If only to visit the Cafe on the Square for another Handmade sausage roll)
Sandbach
Fortified, we set off under bridge 152 at Wheelock bottom lock to tackle the 6 miles with 26 locks.
Entering Wheelock bottom lock
But unlike the hire boaters who do the whole flight twice in one week, we stopped off at the top of the Wheelock stretch
Wheelock top lock
Waking to a fabulous sunrise, we set off nice and early, just cause it felt so good to be out in the fresh air and sunshine.
Red sky in the morning, sheperds warning
But whilst we were enjoying the sunshine and just a few flooded fields,
At least the canal hasn’t burst its banks here
our family in Suffolk were half a mile away from the devistation left by Storm Babet, luckily high enough up the hill not to be in need of their own boat.
The River Deben, the nearby houses were badly flooded (photo swiped from internet)
And whilst the country was still reeling from the mindless act of vandalism that destroyed Sycamore Gap, we’ve been enjoying some beautiful trees on our route.
That’s Mow Cop in the distance,
From setting off at sunrise we were moored up at Church Lawton for sunset
Bridge 135
With only 5 locks left to complete the flight we took it easy on day three, stopping for water at Red Bull before flying ove the aqueduct at Hardings Wood Junction, where the Macclesfield canal crosses over the Trent and Mersey Canal
The Shropshire Union Canal is definitely one of the prettiest, although the double locks are heavy going, but it’s worth it to get to Chester.
Approaching Beeston Stone Lock
Chester is one of our favourite cities and we were lucky to get moored at King Charles Garden, under the wall. ( that’s Charles I, we’re still waiting for an invitation to moor in our current King Charles garden)
King Charle’s Tower on the wall
It’s so close to the cathedral that I managed to almost managed to fit in a whole years worth of soul refreshment into one week
The cathedral from the wall
And we still had plenty of time to explore the city as well,
Eastgate Street, from the wall
Of course it became a daily challenge to walk the wall
Looking up to the wall to Eastgate clock
Thankfully we had left Chester before storm Babet arrived and flooded all the rivers. The river Dee still looked a lovely place to stroll along outside the wall.
The Bandstand on the River Dee
We took advantage of being able to stay 14 days in Chester before we turned round to head south, like the Airbus dolphin that flies to Toulouse everyday delivering parts from its Cheshire manufacturing plant and headquarters.
One of the Airbus dolphins flying above us
Lots of idyllic rural mooring
Although we knew we’d be cruising straight into that sun after breakfast and we wouldn’t be able to see a thing.
We stopped at the Shady just in time to avoid a torrential down pour, and took advantage of eating out, although it was a nice meal, neither of us thought it justified the price,
Bates Mill Bridge 109, with the Shady pub just the other side
As it didnt entail any more locks, we decided not to turn off onto the Middlewich Branch straight away, but to go on to Nantwich for a few days. And contrary to what we saw in the shop windows Nantwich really isn’t a dead end place
It’s a very interesting historic town, and if all the mooring wasn’t restricted we’d have stayed a whole week,
just some of Nantwich
As usual I made a beeline for the local church St Marys , besides the deep spiritual calm, they are some of the most accessible historic buildings usually full of hidden gems. This time I couldn’t tear myself away from the two hanging embroideries, worked to commemorate both the queen’s silver jubilee and the people of Nanwich.
Nantwich also has a very good cheese shop, several craft brewery’s and a good market. Not to forget also mentioning some nice mooring, although it’s 2 days throughout the entire stretch of the town.
