June 2012

1st June. Cruised to Tixal. Passed Peter with his new boat owner on board heading back to Aston. Moored up by lunch time and went into the village to post mail. I it really good to be out on the cut again even though it was a wet and chilly day.

2nd June. Tixal to Penkridge. Met a nice Aussie couple at the locks, Lyn and Ken. They also moored at Penkridge and came over for a cup of tea. Had a good chat and agreed it was a shame that we were not going in the same direction from here.

3rd June. Wet and cold day. Took coffee & Newspaper back to bed. Never do this and really enjoyed! Business work and schedule this morning then after lunch the boat was suddenly high and dry at a terrible list. Went up the cut two locks to let some water through and after battling to get her afloat decided to move up one mile and one lock to ensure that I would be ready for off tomorrow. Ken & Lyn came past the lock while I was in it and helped me to Moore up. Got back in and lit the fire! & this is June!

4th June. Cruised to Gailey and had the engine serviced. A clear day with not rain for a change but not very warm. Graham and Jean were taking on water when I arrived and I went aboard for a coffee. Soon after they had left Lyn and Ken came through the lock. Andy Main phoned to arrange to get together.

5th May. Short cruise from Gailey to Compton where there is a really good grocer/deli and a good chandlers.

6th May. Even shorter cruise to br 56 from which Wightwick Manor is accessed. Had the best of the weather, it has now turned colder and wetter.

7th May. Met Lisa Li at The Mermaid and we spent the afternoon looking round Wightwick Manor. The most interesting aspect being a photo of the visit be a Chinese delegation looking to enter into trade for the owners paints and varnishes. The Chinese were all in traditional dress and sporting cues. The weather was still pretty bleak and we retired for super and an early night.

8th May. cruised for three and a half hours in strong winds and persistent rain. Lisa seemed to enjoy despite the weather. She left to return to The Royal School at about 3.30pm. I am not going any further this afternoon, weather too miserable!

                 

9th May. Cruised down to Kinver. Stayed mostly dry which was good as it was a long day.

11th May. Moored at Wolverley. Andrew Main came on board yesterday morning with Stewart and Zack. We cruised here and met his wife Jean and their eldest son Jake at the pub for lunch. After lunch we cruised on down to the winding hole where we turned the boat around and cruised back to Wolverley again. We had the best weather for days. The sun actually came out however by the time they left we had enjoyed the best of it and it started a light drizzle. As I am ahead of schedule  & the weather is not expected to be great today I will stay put and catch up on e-mails.

                                 

Wolverley is a tiny and quaint village built into the side of a sandstone hill surmounted by a C17 church. Some of the houses are built using the stone of the hill as part of their walls like the ones in the narrow street below that has been cut into the rock.

12th August. Cruised quietly back to Kinver today and climbed up to Kinver Edge, a sandstone ridge. Went to have a look at the Holy Austin Rock, Stone House but was disappointed. Not sure what I was expecting but lets face it Cappadocia is a hard act to follow! Reading the map book when I got back I might have missed something and might try again tomorrow. The Edge is a pleasant wooded heath.

13th May. Lazy morning. Didn’t leave my mooring till 9am. Cruised for 5 hours and moored up at Swindon just below the locks. Bottled my Elderflower cordial (v. good) First day since I started cruising that I have been in short sleeves but it looks as though the rain gear will have to come out again tomorrow!

14th May. Early start and a long day (14 locks) as the weather forecast is talking about 80mph winds and three months rain in 24 hours for tomorrow. Now hunkered down at Compton where I will stay till Monday and the assult on the Wolverhampton 21!

18th May. It was good to get going again after a few days waiting for the weather to brighten and the kids to go back to school before tackling the Wolverhampton 21. John and Brenda who were moored up near to me at Compton said that they would like to help me through the locks and that they would catch a bus back to Compton afterwards. This was an amazing offer and we set off together at 7am. The rain held off, having poured all night, and we made it from Compton to the Broad Street Basin in four hours. Brenda and John came aboard for coffee before going off to catch their bus. They were a complete Godsend and good company as well.

After they left I pulled into the BW yard for services (water, refuse, elsan) made a sandwich and headed out for the Black Country Museum where there is secure and quiet mooring on a short arm just shy of the Dudley Tunnel portal. The Dudley Canal Trust staff allowed me to moor alongside one of their boats as there was not other space. The day had consisted of 6.5 hours cruising, 21 locks (none of which I had to operate, lazy cow!) and a 360yard tunnel. I was amazed at the clarity of the water which had a lot of various water weeds growing in it. I was equally amazed that my weed hatch was clear. I shall stay here tomorrow and ‘do’ the museum. I might even take the trip boat into the tunnel!

         

19th June. My 69th birthday and a lovely day it has been too. After a quick walk into Tipton, an unlovely town, for a few provisions, I spent the rest of the day in the Museum. The Black Country Museum consists of a reconstructed village with houses, shops, a garage, a Fun Fair, a coal mine, foundry and various workshops. A chain maker, a canal boat builder etc. All the buildings are completely authentic and were moved brick for brick from other Black Country villages and towns where they had been scheduled for demolition. There is a primary school, a chapel and a Union Hall. All the buildings were dismantled brick by brick and re-assembled at the Museum site to creat a complete village with lifestyles of 1910 and the 1930’s represented. Staff man the various exhibits in the dress of the era and class. They are well-informed and give good commentary. It was a nostalgic experience. A lot of the household items, decor and lifestyles were familiar to me from my own childhood but the changes that have taken place in the last 30 years, mostly due to new technology, make this seem a “foreign country” to the youth of today.

I finished the day off with a boat trip into the Dudley Tunnel and Lime Stone Mines.

        

20th June. Travelled into the centre of Birmingham this morning via the Wolverhampton levels which is the older of the two lines that run more or less parallel with each other. The New Main Line is very straight and a bit like a motorway while I had been told by other boaters that the old route was more interesting. The clean clear water stayed with the canal for the first few miles but it gradually got dirtier, murkier and more filled with litter. At one point the motorway (M5) straddled the canal which was a bit gloomy. The area arround the Engine Arm was interesting with an aqueduct carrying the arm over the New Main Line. The locks were a pain with no bollards to tie off on within the flight. Once in the centre all was clean, bright and modern with pubs, clubs and eateries proliferating. The weather held up and I had a good walk through the network of arms and basins.

        

        

           

23rd June. Left Birmingham early this morning, cruised for 7.5 hours, 11 miles and 34 locks. Moord up near the Kingsbury Water Park where we took a quick walk. We will explore it at greater length tomorrow. I was not sorry to leave the built up and heavily industrial area that is Birmingham and even this far out there is a lot of rubbish in the canal, I took a fair amount of plastic out of the weed hatch this afternoon.

24th June. Once the weather settled we went off for a walk round the Kingsbury Water Park. It is a series of filled gravel pits. Some of these are devoted to wild life and bird watching and have good hides for the purpose. There are fishing platforms at others and still others are available for water sports. We saw wet bikes on one, sailing boats on another and incredibly fast remote controlled power boats on another.

           

25th June. Cruised to Tamworth and had a walk to the retail park for provisions via the wetlands. I went back later for a more extensive walk ro do some birdwatching. Black Headed Gulls and Common Terns were nesting on an Island in the flooded gravel pit.

              

26th June. We intended to go round the Castle that opened at 11.30 this morning and so walked into town via the wet lands and the park. Had a browse round the market and looked at the church and other natable buildings while we waited. Whe we went to get the tickets we were told that we wouldn’t be able to access some of the rooms as there were school children using them for a project. As we were not offered a discount on the entry fees we decided not to bother, they missed a trick there I think. I went round it last summer so it was not an issue for me. We returned to the boat and decided to cruise on to Polsworth where there is a C10th abbey which we will visit tomorrow.

         

27th June. Nice walk back to Avecote Abbey ruin followed by a walk into Polsworth to look at the very active Abbey, now a church, in the village. This was a nunnery and is built in two parts, one Saxon and the other Norman. It is now the heart of a very active community and congregation. There are two services every day at 8.30am and 6pm. The Nuns Gatehouse built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries has been totally refurbished. Part of it is a museum and the remainder is two beautifully appointed five star appartments that are available to rent. Although it is usually only open to the public on Saturdays we were taken in and shown round by a very enthuisiastic young man called Ben. A lazy afternoon sitting on the deck in the sun watching the world go by!

                 

28th June. Although we only travelled for six and a half miles and 11 locks we did not finally moor up till 3pm. We stopped after fpour locks where Stuart & I walked up the hill to Merevale to look at the ruined Abbey and the C13 Church. The Church was locked and we didn’t immediately find the ruin which was in the garden of a B & B. On the way back it started to rain. By the time we got to the canal it was tipping it down with thunder, lightening and hail. We got very wet before we got to the boat. We decided to wait for it to stop. Once we got going again we had noty gone far before it started raining hard again. I do not know how much rain fell but it was a lot.

       

29th June. Managed to get to Hawkesbury Junction without getting too wet. There was a strong head wind though that had us taking three and a half hours to do 8.5 miles! Just South of last night’s mooring was the delightful old BW Yard.

        

30th June. Cruised through to Coventry Basin in the morning and after a bit of challenging manouvering in a strong wind managed to reverse into a mooring. Anne and I went exploring while Stuart went to the pub. I liked the way the bombed out shell of St: Michaels Cathedral had been maried with the new cathedral building but found the architecture of the later somewhat austere. It was also interesting that another very sustantial church, that of The Holy Trinity had been built right next door to the Cathedral. A lady oin the church suggested that this one was for the less elite of the town! It had a very nice painted cieling, good stained glass and a medievil “Doom” painting. Spon Street offered some reconstructed medieval shop/houses which were singularly unimpressive. The Basin is quiet, conveniently situated and well maintained. Otherwise the iner city within the ring road is more or less dedicated to shopping and has little to recomend it.