Part 1; January to June
The year’s cruising was very much shaped by outside influences, not least the drought. But that came later.
Our first visit to Bonjour was in January. The leisure batteries needed replacing and we had the new ones ready, but quickly discovered that the design of the battery tray, coupled with the inconvenient factor of us both getting on a bit, meant that Dave was unable to remove them himself. They were, after all, 31 kg apiece and tucked away underneath the stern locker.
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| The pale horizontal bar is the edge of the engine hole where the deck board rests. The battery tray could not be dismantled, or Dave would have done the job himself. |
The weather was either very wet or very windy, so we stayed in the marina, doing a few jobs and preparing the boat to come out of the water for blacking in early March. When we came back towards the end of March, we went down to Worcester where we had an appointment at Lowesmoor Basin to get the leisure batteries replaced.
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| First lock of the year - Hanbury bottom lock |
It was spring-like with lots of sunshine but early frost, and it was very cold cruising. At Lowesmoor Basin, Stuart the engineer declared that our batteries, at 31kg each, were at the limit of his strength. Any heavier and he would have needed another pair of hands, and a winch.
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| A very heavy job – battery no 3 |
The basin was sheltered from the wind and Stuart was quickly down to a t-shirt. Once the job was completed we pottered off again back towards Hanbury Junction. The skies had clouded over and it had become very cold –it was still March, after all.
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| Violets shivering in the wind |
Now we were travelling northwards the wind was in our faces, and it was definitely wintry cruising. It didn’t stop Dave washing the winter grot from the starboard side, and he had a go with the polish to see if he could improve the paintwork. It didn’t do much though.
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| Maybe we should start thinking about repainting |
We wanted to get to the rest of the network for the summer, and we should have had a choice of three routes. The Tardebigge option was quickly scuppered. The top lock had been closed in mid-February when one of the walls started bulging, but it soon became clear that repairs on this listed structure would be extensive and the lock would be closed for months. We really fancied going south on the Severn to join the Avon, returning to the canals via Stratford. But with a stoppage near Stratford on the Wilmcote locks until the end of May, we would have had to leave the boat at Shakespeare marina on the Avon with the additional cost of an Avon licence for the duration, as well as any marina fees. Instead, in April we left Droitwich marina to join the Severn at Hawford junction.
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A new mooring for us at Salwarpe on the Droitwich Barge canal
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| The Severn is beautiful, but with no views over the flood banks it can get a bit tedious at times. |
With no moorings left on the river at Stourport we decided to get out of the centre and moored at the Bird in Hand. We’d had a long 8-hour day cruising, and thought we deserved a pie and a pint – though no pies, as they weren’t serving food. But we enjoyed a pint and the sight of a male swan patrolling the busy towpath opposite his nest where the pen was brooding her eggs.
Kidderminster isn’t far from Stourport, and is a useful stopping point for supplies with a choice of supermarkets. But the place is busy and the roads are noisy. Once you have risen up Kidderminster lock the much-photographed church signals that the more rural part of the Staffs and Worcester is not far away.
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| Springtime in Kidderminster |
At the Kinver facilities we spotted our first food waste bin. By the end of the summer it was clear that the roll-out of these bins has been very patchy and not many people seem to be using them, which I think is a great shame. Most marinas don’t seem keen on the idea either. We were aiming for Calcutt marina, so needed to pass through Birmingham and chose the Dudley canals route rather than the Wolverhampton 21.
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| Our progress up the Stourbridge flight was delayed by this coot, which crashed into the boat and ended up in the lock. I raised a single paddle very gently to let it recover and it hopped out once the lock was filled. |
Already in April the weather was very warm. We left Birmingham down the Farmer’s bridge flight, cool in the canyon between the buildings, but the rest of the journey to Fazeley Junction was scorchingly hot.
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| Horse Chestnut at Minworth bottom lock |
After all the heavy lock work we had had so far it was a delight to reach the Atherstone flight. The weather now reminded us it was still spring, with hat-and-glove starts in the morning!
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| The blossom this year has been prolific |
We had run out of time to get to Calcutt, so left the boat at Springwood Haven on the Coventry near Hartshill.
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| A different view of the famous telegraph pole near Hartshill. |
Our timings in the first half of the year were governed by several visits to the dentist, both planned and not! We also needed a flat roof replacement at home; the old one, already well beyond its expected lifespan, was no longer responding to Dave’s repairs. It was an expensive time, and about to get worse. A couple of days after we got home in early May, our water supply failed - and we are not on the mains. The foot valve in the original well fittings (which could be 70 years old) had fallen apart and the copper pipe it was fitted to creased as it was lifted out. Our lovely neighbour let us run a hose from her garden tap so we could fill our tank in the roof, and a firm from Exeter rigged up a temporary supply from our well a couple of days later. At least with the boat we are accustomed to being careful with water use!
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| A new blue alkathene pipe was temporarily installed to run above ground down to the house. The full repair will need a 100-metre trench to be dug. |
Our June trip had to be fairly short, as we were waiting for a quote to complete the work on our water supply, and more dentist visits were looming too. So we had a gentle time pottering up the Ashby and then down to Coventry before returning to Springwood Haven. There hadn’t been much rain but the Ashby had been dredged over winter, and we had no depth problems. There were even showers on this trip to keep the vegetation looking fresh and green.
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| The small winding hole at the current Ashby terminus. The unrestored part of the route stretches away in the middle of the photo. |
We pottered on down to Coventry basin, where we went to visit Dippy the Diplodocus (on holiday from the Natural History Museum)
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| Hello Dippy |
and we popped into Coventry Cathedral, where the glorious stained glass has to be seen in person to appreciate the way it glows.
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| Piper's burst of glory |
It had to be a short visit, as there was a large conference taking place and it was crowded with clergy on their lunch break. Instead, we treated ourselves to lunch at the Playwright’s café and cruised back to Hawkesbury Junction.
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| Bye bye Mr Brindley |
A couple of days later, we were soaked in a heavy shower as we waited at the marina for fuel and a pump-out – we weren’t going into our berth till the next day, but that would be turnaround day for the hire base so we got the domestics done in good time. And that was the last rain we would see this summer! We winded at Mancetter and found a quiet mooring for the rest of the day.
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| The clock tower at Hartshill yard |
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| This area around Springwood Haven is one of the loveliest stretches on the Coventry. |
The rest of the year, as we all know, was to be severely affected by the lack of rain.
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Teenage gang at Hartshill |
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