Towpath troubles  

Sunday 28^th April; Black  Flat bridge to Market Drayton

Yesterday there was heavy rain forecast till lunchtime, then maybe not quite as heavy, but though it rained overnight and during breakfast, by the time we left at 9 it was dry.  There were a few light showers but the main problem was the cold and wind, right in our faces across the open countryside. Very unpleasant, but there were compensations.

It’s the first time I have managed to get half-way decent photos of a heron in flight.  This one obligingly kept landing a bit further along the cut and I had 4 opportunities for a photo before it finally wheeled round to go back behind us.

Once we entered Woodseaves Cutting we were sheltered from the wind.  At the first access point to the cutting was a CRT notice saying the towpath was completely closed and it certainly was, though  to start with it was just its usual wet and muddy self.  There are two ‘High Bridges’ along the Shroppie, one with the telegraph pole in (see yesterday’s photos) and this one in Woodseaves.

Very high bridge

After this point we lost count of the number of rock and mud slides, probably around 10.  The first, on the offside, had brought down a rock at least as big as a car.

Most consisted of wet mud and trees.  You could have picked your way round them if you were careful, and had stout waterproof footwear.

This one on the offside

Then we came to the blocked bit.  If you were prepared to sink into the mud and possibly start another slide, you might have picked your way round.

Then we were surprised to see another,, which was much more serious.  I wouldn’t have wanted to climb past this, bearing in mind it's soft mud and not firm earth.

I wonder how they will manage to clear it, they will probably have to close the canal as the cutting is often only wide enough for one boat.  Maybe it will be left for things to stabilise and dry out a bit.  At some points in the cutting there are stone-filed gabions between the towpath and the slope, but as they are only about three feet high I don’t think they would be up to the job here.  As we approached Tyrley locks, the boat that had been a long way ahead of us was just entering the lock.  We found out later that the leakage from the bottom gates is so bad you need all three paddles up on the top gate to be able to open it

The owner of the house has wanted to have the winding hole closed for ages as he had moored his boat there.  I don’t know its legal status but he seems fairly sure its closed as he has strung a rope across it, which you can see to the left of the stern.  I just checked on the stoppages notices and the winding holes either side are given as Goldstone Wharf and Market Drayton, so I guess it's now closed.  A CRT employee was clearing debris from the water at the top lock and gave us a hand down.  There was a boat approaching behind us, so three were on their way down and three were coming up too.  You don’t see a boat all morning, and then ……

Strong bywash below lock 4

It is well known that the bywashes at locks 4 and 5 are difficult, but we didn’t always know this and it’s the sort of thing you learn by experience.  Once, years ago, we were coming up these locks in the summer when there were long queues, and people were being nagged to leave a lock as soon as they could, so the person behind can ascend.  But if you get too close to lock 4 on your way up, unless you can go straight into the empty lock, the bywash pushes you onto the rocks opposite.  We weren’t the only ones – apparently someone was stuck for 40 minutes this morning.  Luckily a volunteer had arrived and went ahead to ready the bottom lock for us so we had no problems, and he urged me to get back on the boat before we descended.

Looking back at the bottom lock’s bywash

We passed the funny stump-man soon after the locks.  We have seen him before but had forgotten all about him, it’s so long since we’ve been north of Norbury Junction.

Sid’s Nook. Sorry about chopping your blue fish in half Sid!

There was room for us on the Market Drayton embankment just past the aqueduct, where we arrived in sunshine, in time for an early lunch before walking down the steps and into town.  It was further than we remembered so Dave took Jessie back to the boat, as he had a football match to watch.  As it was Sunday the best option for shopping was Morrison’s.  I wished I had taken my trolley.  I did spend a bit of time taking a diversion along the High Street, so I could take a photo of a one of the half-timbered buildings.

Black and White

… where I was amused to be asked directions to somewhere I'd not heard of.  I wasn't too surprised, as my strategy if I need directions is to ask a woman carrying shopping (a man will do but there are not generally so many of them about, unless they are boaters of course).  I was tempted to call in here for a pint and sample their wares …

Filtered through Drayton’s red sandstone

But although I was by now rather hot and tired I didn’t.  At the aqueduct I waited for people to finish walking up the very steep steps, and to give my arms a rest.  I had a heavy rucksack too!

Stairway to Heaven, aka a nice hot cup of tea

I got back to find a sad and frustrated Dave watching Spurs get tonked by arch-enemies Arsenal.  A roast chicken dinner soon made him feel better (well, a bit better!)

5 locks, 6½ miles, steep stone steps and a long hot trudge from town

 

Cuttings and embankments

Saturday 27^th April; Gnosall to Black Flat bridge no 47

It was cold and overcast this morning.  We set off about 10, went through the rocky Cowley tunnel and stopped in Gnosall for the paper and some milk. 

Vertical ferns by Cowley tunnel

Then we moved on to top up the water while I grabbed a quick shower.  There are some interesting gardens fronting the canal in Gnosall.  I liked this one -

Gnomesall

But not this.  I found it creepy, especially the baby ‘climbing’ up the pole.

Definitely not Charity Dock

We went on to Norbury Junction, where we stopped for lunch, before walking round to the boatyard to dispose of rubbish and buy a sack of kindling.  And a Magnum.

I’d rather have a cup of tea in this weather

We cruised on into Grub Street cutting, where I took the obligatory photo of High Bridge –

Then into the woods where another photo has to be taken, of the Rolls (if that is what it is) under the trees

Then there is a long stretch with boats moored on the offside, where NB Percy is moored, but nobody was in.

NB Percy

Across the Shebdon Embankment, mostly sheltered by trees, and past the old Cadbury wharf at Knighton.

Knighton Wharf

The notice that explains its former purpose is showing its age and could do with a repaint.  But the surrounding area has works and units which are clearly still operational.

We moored after bridge 47, Black Flat bridge, where there are rings.  It was cold, but not late.  Before he came in, Dave had a lock at the Morse control which hadn’t been operating properly, needing to be pushed to the limit of its travel to get power in both forward and reverse.  I’d sort of noticed this when I steered for a while this afternoon but hadn’t realised the significance.  Had the throttle cable come loose?  It had only been replaced last year.  He checked the connections at each end, then realised that the red button which you push in to disengage drive when you start the engine was pushed half in.  How that happened we are not sure – either of us could have accidentally leant on it, and so could Jess.  Most likely to have been  me, faffing around to correct a steering error.  Well after 6, when we were tucked up warm inside, a man came along with a boat-hook – he had clearly been checking the depth for mooring.  Unsurprisingly his boat pulled in in front of us.  The crew looked frozen.  There is a little bit of the Shroppie Shelf here, but once you stop moving around inside there is no bumping.

8 miles, Cowley tunnel, Shelmore and Shebdon embankments, Grub Street Cutting.

Cold, mud and kingfishers

Friday 26^th April; Between bridges 7-8 to Cowley, near Gnosall, between bridges 30-31

It was a glorious sunny morning when I pulled back the curtains, though there was frost on the ground when I took the dog out.  We decided to do a few tidying jobs before we set off, which wasn’t till 10.30, with the larks singing high above in the sunshine.

Lovely open mooring

It was still chilly once we were moving, so we stayed well wrapped up although we did see one hardy soul in shorts.  

Yellow rapeseed beyond the snowy cherry blossom

There has been a towpath closure before Brewood for a little while – the bedrock has split, and although I am sure you could scramble over it they decided to close the path for safety reasons.  The pictures aren’t very clear – of course the best view is while you are switching your camera on, or focusing – but it looks to be a big thing to repair.

 

There are several ‘must photograph’ spots along the Shroppie, and this is one, though I nearly didn’t bother.

Avenue Bridge

Once there must have been an avenue to some big house, but Nicholson’s shows nothing and I haven’t done any research.  Now it is mostly overgrown, though there is a footpath over it.  We didn’t particularly want to stop in Brewood – the butcher has unfortunately closed down and although we could have gone up and got cake, we didn’t need bread so we didn’t stop.  As Alchemy has noted, the Countrywide Cruisers fleet is looking distinctly worn, although we did spot one boat apparently with a new livery. 

After a while Dave took Jess for a walk along the towpath, so no photos for a while!  I can’t multitask while I am steering.  At the boatyard just past the Stretton aqueduct, someone was working on a boat called Little Kingfisher.  Just then there was a high-pitched Tseee! and a real one flew past – one of the few times I have seen one and Dave hasn’t.  He luckily got back on board with the dog just before an extremely boggy stretch just before Wheaton Aston lock.  We managed to squeeze onto the moorings between the winding hole and the bridge for a lunch stop.  After lunch we had to wait for the previous customer to return before pushing over to Turner’s for fuel and a gas bottle.

We cruised on in intermittent sunshine, seeing a couple more kingfishers though none were considerate enough to pose for a photo.  The towpath was extremely muddy in places.

We were beginning to get cold, and started looking out for a mooring.  The first one we had earmarked had about 6 boats on it, so we went on a bit past bridge 30 where we had a spot marked on our Nicholson’s, though it’s not on Waterway Routes.  It had a good edge, was empty and also had a short stretch of armco which we snaffled.  As the edge was good and the weather not bad, Dave washed the port side and polished it too.  A couple of hours later a cold-looking chap arrived, armed with a boat hook.  He had clearly been testing the depth for mooring and not surprisingly, his boat moored in front of us.  There is a bit of the shelf here but once you stop moving around, the boat stops bumping.  We will get around to sorting out our fenders one day – we left the go-kart tyres on Chuffed when we sold her.

And a lovely view on the offside too

10 miles, 1 lock

 

 

Stopped at the stop lock

Thursday 25^th April; Autherley Junction to 48-hr mooring between bridges 7 & 8

It was certainly cold early this morning but at least there was some sun.  I walked to Morrison’s for a few supplies, crossing Pendeford Park, which is being developed as part of a series of green spaces for the local community between the canal and the main road.  A great place to walk your dog too.

Clocks

I got back just after Jess had had her play in the park.  I went off round the corner to set the stop lock down on to the Shroppie, while Dave started the turn off the Staffs and Worcester.  I always have trouble working out which way is up and which way down at a stop lock, as the fall is so small.  There are no mitre gates so I had to look in Nicholson’s.   The bottom (far) gate was open so I went to close it – but something very solid indeed was in the way.  Back to Bonjour so Dave could pass me the boat-hook and secure the bow-rope on the gate.  I couldn’t do more than establish that the object was hard, quite large and heavy.  Dave continued to investigate while I went to borrow a keb from the Anglo-Welsh hire base.  This is a very long-handled implement like a muck-rake, which is like a long-handled garden fork with the tines at right-angles to the shaft, so theoretically you can hook the object out with it.  It’s just by Dave’s foot in the photo below.  Dave continued to try and hook the thing and after a few minutes two other chaps were clustering round, itching to have their go too.

What can it be down there?

I went off to meet the boat waiting behind us and say what was going on.  After 5 minutes of the men taking turns at fruitless poking around I called CRT, as two boats were now waiting to come up the lock as well as the two of us coming down.  And wouldn’t you know it, it wasn’t long before the offending item had been hooked.  It was a large log, so completely sodden and heavy it was right on the bottom of the canal. 

Extremely heavy!

Just then the local team called back, so I could give them an update.  The gate still wasn’t closing fully, but it was good enough to operate the lock.  We made it through and tootled up to wait for the water-point to be free.  Once we were tied up – just a single ring here - and the tank was filling I walked back to dump our accumulated rubbish.  The CRT team had arrived and the bottom gate was now closing fully.  They told me that there are often problems here, as the fall of the lock is so small that silt and gravel doesn’t get flushed away and builds up – along with any other sunken rubbish.  We pulled a car tyre out here once.  By the time we left the very slow water-point it was nearly lunchtime, so we stopped at the 48-hour moorings at Pendeford bridge.  There are rings here, but the notorious Shroppie Shelf is so wide at this point you would need car tyres to keep your boat away from it.  We cruised on to moor for the night at the next ‘official’ moorings, between bridges 7 and 8 – a good edge and no shelf, thank goodness.  Out in the country, quiet and peaceful with only the birds and a tractor for company.

Not sure what he was doing here, definitely not ploughing or adding nitrogen

Dave went out and gave the starboard side and half the roof a good wash down.  I had done far too much yesterday, so I did quiet stuff inside.  It hadn’t been particularly cold today and we didn’t need a fire in the evening for the first time this trip.

3 miles, 1 lock

Perfect locking weather, and an interesting descent down the 21

Wednesday 24th April; Coseley Stop to Autherley Junction
After a quiet night, as long as you disregarded the geese, we made the decision to try and get down the Wolverhampton 21 without having to stop.  We knew there would be opportunity to stop in the longer pounds, but you have to go through 16 locks to get to them!

Coseley tunnel

It was very cold, and dull too.  There was a lot of plastic in the water as there always is round here.  Some of it found its way into the many coot’s nests we saw today.
                                

We saw lots of other waterfowl too, little grebe, swans, moorhens and mallard including one very unfortunate female who was not having a good day.

Three onto one is not fair!

She was able to get away in the end and flew off, hotly pursued by her would-be suitors.  This isn’t our favourite part of the system, with industry (or ex-industry) lining the waterway, with the wildlife gradually becoming less abundant.

Concrete and feathers for a nest

 

 

 

 

 Our plan had been a good one.  Pull into the facilities area, water up and dispose of the rubbish we have accumulated.  Then make up some sandwiches to keep us going down the flight.  But we had to go with plan B as there were two boats already in the little arm.  We were surprised to see Alchemy still moored above the flight.

It transpired they were in the middle of sorting out a weed hatch problem.  We pulled in at the top of the 21 locks.  Although we had passed a boat which had come up not long before, it was already empty.  Not without some trepidation we started down.  It wasn’t too difficult – maybe we would be ok.  On to the second.  This one was full, but it turned out to be the only one – we had to turn all the other locks.  We tentatively started our normal teamwork for descending a flight, and Dave’s knee worked and my stamina held up.  I open the top gate, leave Dave to deal with that and start the emptying while I walk on to raise a paddle at the next lock.  Then I come back, we open the bottom gates together, he gets back on board and drives out, I close up and walk down after him to open the next top gate.  Before long it was warm enough to start shedding layers.  As the weather was dry, once I had warmed up I was even able to step across the bottom gates.  With water and flapjack to keep us going, we made steady progress, though not as speedily as usual.
Once we were over halfway, I was beginning to flag a little, but then it started to get interesting.  Below one lock were a couple of magnet fishers.  I always ask if they have found anything interesting, but this pair really had.  I commented how pleased I was they had removed a length of wire netting – they must be boaters?  No, they just enjoy magnet fishing – and they take away what they pull out, unlike some.  Though they didn’t personally remove their ‘best’ find - a World War One bomb!  The canal was closed of course, while the bomb was recovered and taken away to be exploded.  It was good they recognised it for what it was and didn’t get blown up!

Thanks ladies, great job!

It wasn’t long before we were at lock 15.  Long ago, possibly in our share boat Padworth 15 or 20 years ago, we met a delightful elderly gentleman sitting on the bench at this lock.  He asked us to look at the gardens behind him, in front of a row of terraced cottages, about 20 I would say.  And each one had a Torbay Palm in the front garden.  He and his late wife used to go to Torquay every summer, and once they had established their own they bought a Torbay Palm back every year for a neighbour.  Over the years, the whole row got a palm for their front garden.  Some years later I heard he had gone into a nursing home, and later still we transited the flight and noticed that most of the palms had gone – we blamed cars for taking their place in the little front gardens.  But we were wrong!

All that is left

A lady was getting out of her car, the one in the photo.  I boldly called across to tell her about the old chap and his story (I would never have dared to do that back in the day).  Tom, she said?  What a lovely man!  She actually lives in his house.  She didn’t know the story of the palms but she did know that a lot of them died in a severe winter about 10 years ago.  Tom passed away some years ago.  I am so glad she was getting out of her car at just the right moment!
The next lock was the last of ‘the thick’ and the final five were spaced apart.  Should we stop for some lunch?  We decided to press on.  A boat behind us had been catching up, and with an extra crew member we had had a bit of extra help now and then with the bottom gates.  The locks were too far apart for locking ahead, so while Dave was floating about waiting for me to open top gates he cracked on and made some sandwiches which kept us going to the bottom.  Above the bottom lock the cherries were in magnificent bloom.

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now / is hung with bloom along the bough …

Finally we had made it down!  Though we met no boats coming up, which would have made it easier, the antibiotics had kicked in so I’d had enough energy to cope, Dave's knee had worked and we had made it in one piece.  Thankfully there was plenty of space at Autherley Junction visitor moorings and we were soon tied up.   I can’t remember how long it took us, but considering that all but one of the locks was against us we were quite pleased with our time.  Anyway, that was it for the day!

21 locks, 6½ miles, Coseley tunnel (bit wet).  No fire needed tonight.

 

 

 

Cold cruise to Coseley Stop

Tuesday 23^rd April; Birmingham to Coseley Stop

Last night we were wondering whether to try and find a temporary mooring locally and go home till we were well again.  But this morning we both felt a bit better, so with only 3 locks to do today we thought we’d give it a go and carry on. 

Bonjour from the Legoland bridge

So after Dave had topped up the engine oil after yesterday’s change, and I had popped round to the Spar for some milk and a paper, we were off – well wrapped up as it was another cold day’s cruise into the wind.   There are yet more new houses in the Icknield Port loop settlement - I wonder if the people in the row facing the canal knew that an ugly great block of flats would be plonked down in front of them? 

We turned right towards Smethwick locks.  Last time we came this way, the whole area was a demolition site, with long views up towards a pub which I think may have had a popular appeal to halt its destruction.  I’ve no idea what happened to it – the view is completely obscured by smart new housing. There was a bit of a delay at the first lock – we haven’t needed to use an anti-vandal key for a long time and I’d forgotten to put one in my pocket when I got off the boat.  I struggled with the bottom paddles at the first lock, the effort just about the limit of my abilities today.  I got the bottom gates sorted, then found myself unable to open the offside top paddle.  Sometimes you can’t, you have to open the other side first and then it unsticks itself.  Just then a large and delightful CRT guy came up to lend a hand.  He went on to help us up, for which I was profoundly grateful, otherwise Dave and I would have had to swap jobs.  He even took away the cycle inner tube I picked up for binning.  The octagonal building at the top lock was burnt out last time we passed – now, it looks in quite good nick if you ignore the graffiti tags.

We made the sharp turn into the Engine Arm and tootled along to the facilities block at the far end, for our first go with a CRT pump-out machine, newly converted to payment by bank/credit card.  Well, it took our money.  Ever the optimist, Dave waited for it to reset and tried again.  No luck.  So I put in a call to CRT, dumped the rubbish and swapped a book, and we started lunch while we waited.  Someone arrived outside so Dave went out.  I finished my sandwich and joined them – Dave Baker lives on the moorings and had retired from CRT, but knew how to over-ride the controls behind a locked door, to which he still had the key.  By the time it had finished, and I had called CRT to say what was happening and request a refund of the first £20, Jessie had slipped inside and polished off Dave’s ham sandwich!  There is no drinking-water tap there so we would need to fill up later – you can use a permanent moorer’s tap if any boats are out, but the only gap wasn’t big enough for us.  There was a bit of a wait at the end of the arm.

The last of three boats travelling together was coming up the lock, and the boat arriving to go down was floating about waiting.  We stopped while everyone cleared out of the way.  There are two excellent carvings on the offside round here – an owl (no picture, I fumbled the camera) and a fox, though I nearly missed that one too.

Fuzzy fox

We used to be quite excited to cruise under the M5 and over the New Main Line; however parts of it are still swathed in scaffolding while the underneath has repairs competed, and it’s extremely noisy as every hammer blow, drill and even footstep echoes around. After we had left that behind, Dave got off to walk Jess, and I picked them up at Tividale aqueduct – though that took a bit of time as he had to get a traffic cone out that wanted to disappear under the stern every time I put the boat in gear.  We saw our first ducklings the other day, though I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture.  Today there was a clutch of cootlets sitting atop their nest while Mum pottered about around them.

Fuzzy little blobs

I wonder how many will still be around in a few days’ time?  We pulled in at Coseley, just as a loud rattle announced there was more than just plastic caught round the prop.  Apart from the usual collection of plastic, Dave removed some kind of throttle cable which had caused the noise.  After a noisy early evening, when two dogs on the offside shouted at every dog on the towpath, and two scramble bikes roared up and down a couple of times, Dave took Jess out for a walk.  When the bikes returned, they slowed right down and were as polite as could be before going away for good.  They probably know the local dog walkers would dob them in if they caused much of a nuisance.

Will we be able to cope with the Wolverhampton flight tomorrow?   We'll find out ....

3 locks, about 9½ miles

Really not what we planned for a day in Birmingham!

 Monday 22nd April; Birmingham

With the forecast set for rain most of the day, and both of us with heavy colds, we had rather thought a few jobs and a generally quiet day might be in order.  The Museum/Art Gallery is closed for refurbishment, except for an exhibition which is closed on Mondays.  We could have walked to the cathedral to see the Burne-Jones windows.  We have seen them before when the rest of the cathedral was shuttered for major renovations which made for a very narrow experience so another visit would have been good.  I quite fancied a lunchtime concert at the Symphony Hall too.  Instead before 9 I found myself walking through Symphony Court in the rain on the way to the NHS drop-in centre at the big Boots.  I paused at Gillian Wearing’s sculpture of ‘A Real Birmingham family’.

This family – two sisters and their children – was chosen from many applicants by a panel which included representatives from local organisations, including faith organisations. 

In Boots I was startled to find a sexual health clinic instead of a drop-in centre (and I think the young women on duty were just as surprised to see me!)  The pharmacist found me the next nearest – less than two miles away and incidentally closer to the boat.  I sat in a bus shelter to find the way on my phone and it occurred to me to ask a bus driver … 5 minutes later I was upstairs in a steamy crowded bus and arrived in less than 20 minutes.  After a bit of back-and-forth I discovered you ‘dropped in’ to A and E to be triaged first. I assumed I’d just got a chest infection and would be packed off home with antibiotics, but hadn’t considered that chest pain and shortness of breath would ring alarm bells for NHS staff!  After the ECG and bloods I had plenty of time to read my book 

and observe my fellow patients.  A very mixed bunch indeed from babies to the elderly, many languages could be heard, and some people looked very poorly indeed but there were no frayed tempers in spite of the lengthy waits.   Anyway, I wasn’t having a heart attack.  After a chest x-ray and seeing a couple of doctors I was sent off with antibiotics and strict instructions to get a follow-up x-ray at home.  The rain had stopped at last and I enjoyed a lovely stroll back, joining the canal near the end of the Soho loop, and then along the Main Line in the weak evening sun.  Home by 6, with three-quarters of my book read, to a lovely warm boat and a cup of tea.  We had a take-away from Banerjee which is opposite the bench on Black Sabbath bridge.

I hope the anitbiotics will have kicked in by the time we go down the Wolverhampton flight in a couple of days' time.

Rain, No 87 bus, excellent NHS staff (as always💖)