August 2011

7th August. What a busy week. The roof, gunnels and front and back decks have a fresh coat of pale grey non slip paint. The front and back rope T and bollards have had the red brightened up. The rust spots and scratches on the body have been treated in readyness for re-painting.

On Friday evening Georgie and Will arrived with the exciting news that they have become engaged and will be married on 19th May 2012. I have changed my return ticket to 15th May so I can attend. We cruised to the pretty village of Aynho and back to King’s Sutton Lock for the night before returning to Banbury on Sunday morning.

Our mooring at King's Sutton Lock

Helen, Jim and Archie arrived at lunch time and we went out for a lovely lunch followed by a nice walk to look for ducks for Archie to feed.

13th Having been hanging about Banbury and Cropredy for what seems like an age it was good to get out on the cut today and get 12.5 miles and 8 locks further North. However the days at the Fairport Convention Cropredy Festival were fun. Some of the musicians were excellent, there was hardly any rain (not much sun either!) and much sillyness and wine flowed. A selection of photos of the event, shared with Kevin, Nita and Conor and Rob, Janie, Olly and Tilly, folows.

16th August. Nita, having left me with the boys, giving work as a weak excuse, returned today. Meanwhile we had inverter problems which had us chasing 20 miles to try and get as close to a repair place as possible. However we now hear that the locks at Atherstone are broken and one boater we spoke to had been in the queue for 7 hours. I am hoping that I will have better luck tomorrow. Yesterday’s sunset was stunning and Conor worked hard on the Hillmorton locks.

18th August. I got through the Atherstone locks with no problems and moored up at the workshop end of Alvecote Marina. It turns out that the batteries are dead and so is the regulator part of the alternator. I suspect this is going to be expensive. Moored up in the Marina last night with electric hook-up which facilitated boat cleaning and laundry. The repaired alternator should be back tomorrow. They have said that Marian can park their car here while we are cruising so I will wait here till their arrival on Saturday.

This afternoon I took a walk to look at Avlecote Abbey Ruin and came across this delightful family group.

22nd August. Marian and Family arrive at Alvecote on the 20th and Peter cruised in. We cruised together for a couple of days and Peter let Conor steer his boat. Having a good evening yesterday we cooked sausages outside and sat on the canalside opposite Shrugborough Hall.

24th August. Yesterday we moored up near Burlastone where the Wedgewood factory is situated and did the factory tour. It was very interesting and we came away knowing why the china comands such high prices. So many of the processes involved in the decorating of the table ware and the whole manufacture of the decorative pieces is undertaken by hand. Where gilding is involved (application of gold) 22ct gold is used and eight coats are applied. One particular dinner service plate with a lot of gold in the pattern retails at £750. Connor had the opportunity to throw his own pot which will be posted to him at home.

Today we cruised into Stoke-on-Trent where we fueled up and took on water. Stoke is not a place where you want to hang about. We stopped for a while at Hanley but there were a lot of bored youth hanging about with beer cans and no other boats mooring up. We were already in the Caldon canal but had to cruise for another two hours to find a ‘safe’ mooring. The best thing about Stone and Stroke is the victorian and earlier industrial architecture, especially the bottle kilns. The old brewery in Stone is still in production.

27th August. Quiet for a few days as there was no signal on most of the Caldon. What a lovely little canal. It forks half way along with one branch going to Leek and the other to Froghall. The Froghall branch ternimates with a tiny 76 yard tunnel which my boat would not fit into! Marian and Family left the boat here. I went for 24 hours without seeing another boat. It is incredible isolated and rural, on the southern end of the Peak District, and everything is small. The bridges are lower and narrower than usual! Also on the Froghall branch there is an old Flint Mill and a section of railway line that runs a steam engine from Cheddleton to Froghall. I took a day off and did the return train journey which was delightful. Today I went up the Leek arm which terminated in a small basin after a small tunnel, this time I could go through. Took a long walk into Leek which has seen better times. It used to be a ‘Silk’ town but looks rather run down now. I will head for Milton and the co-op tomorrow to stock up on wine and the following day do a dash through Stoke-on-Trent to the moorings by Wedgewood again.