Back To Alvecote - Ready For The "Gathering"

(Boat Chalice - posted by Cath)

Only a fairly short journey today, so no great rush to get going early.

We did the final two locks of the Curdworth Flight, passing the nature reserve and bird sanctuary which seems to be undergoing major construction at the moment, with entrances blocked off and large diggers and road making equipment (what my mother used to call "yellow dragons") chugging up and down behind the hedge.

Footbridge at Drayton Manor, is it based on traditional canal art?

Another quick stop at the titchy Tesco's at Fazeley then we carried on towards Tamworth.

At the marina the first thing we saw was Sickle, which had been moved right up to the very end of the moorings.

Sickle - bow positioned well for everyone entering and leaving the marina

We didn't know where we would be able to moor Chalice, we'd heard it was pretty full already, and if you miss a mooring it's a very long way to the next winding hole. We sent David ahead, past the marina, with a radio. Luckily we got the same mooring as last year for Chalice - near enough to the marina and the Samuel Barlow, far enough to be quiet.

Looking for a mooring - not on this bend

After this a procession of boats started to arrive from the South:

Otter

Holland

Nutfield and Raymond

Raymond

Fenny

Planet

Emu

Greyhound

A bit of polishing up Sickle's tarnished brasses and a lot of chatting to friends before we managed to get a table in the Samuel Barlow for the evening, and had the excellent Mushroom Stroganoff and the Goats Cheese and Vegetable pie.

the Samuel Barlow makes a big thing about the 'cranky chef'

Bodymoor Heath, Curdworth to Alvecote Marina
Miles: 8.0 (Chalice), Locks: 4

Total Miles: 337.0, Locks: 192

Almost exactly the same trip we made a year ago to the day.

(Boat Chalice - posted by Alan)

This time I spot we are about to lose a chimney, and David has rescued it.

When in Birmingham, and planning to leave through the many locks in the Farmers Bridge & Aston flights, and move on to a lot more on the Birmingham and Fazeley there is a good bit of advice that we usually fail to take good notice of - that advice is "Leave early!".

Sadly several people were sleeping rough in this part of Farmer's Bridge

Basically you know that only if you are the first boat out of Birmingham are you likely to find many locks in your favour, or at least not until you have been through an awful lot.  It is unlikely that anybody will have started off up the first two flights in the opposite direction, as nobody really likes overnight mooring in the areas involved.  If you leave Birmingham much later in the day you will not have time to clear its rather unattractive outer reaches, and actually spend the next night somewhere a whole lot more attractive.

This family had spent the night aground in the middle one of the Aston pounds.

So when "Odin" unusually had us awake early, we decided to get moving, and I think narrowly pipped another boat into the top lock of the Farmers Bridge flight.  Virtually all locks in the flight we full, or near full, making it very easy to prepare locks ahead in minimal time, and unusually Cath and I handled it alone without needing to invoke David.

Aston locks, however, the next flight, were not so favourable, and it is unusual to arrive at a top lock where paddles are open at both ends.  In fact it wasn't an act of vandalism, it was Canal and River Trust men running water into the flight to deal with low water levels in pounds lower down.

Curious factory straddling the B&F we now know to have been "The Birlec"

Half way down we were more than a little surprised to meet a hire boat coming up - where had they spent the night, then?  Te answer proved to be "aground in ine pound below, stuck on an obstruction they couldn't extract themselves from",  Unable to do anything they had called CRT but had to remain there overnight awaiting their rescue!  I shudder to think how we would handle that situation if Odin was on board!  The crew, (possibly Scandinavian?) seemed undaunted, but what a lousy place to spend the night.

Bricked up entrance under "The Birlec" - Did they unload here?

When we got to the pound involved it was still very low, and, despite trying to find a channel down the middle, "Chalice" was crashing over much solid debris on the bottom.  "Chalice" is fairly shallow draughted - I doubt "Sickle" would have made it.







 

Pausing for an obstruction in Curdworth tunnel

We passed on to the Birmingham and Fazeley, which is fairly unappealing as you start off on it, and very infested with rubbish - I made certain I didn't get entangled with about 20 feet of heavy duty flexible hose that looked like a large eel waiting to attack us.  At Minworth a former BW rmployee lamented with Cath about how uch worse the B&F has become since British Waterways transitioned to the Canal and River Trust.  He reckoned that regimes of clearing much from the canal had been heavily ramped back, and that waste facilities once regulary serviced are now emptied far less frequently.  I'm not sure how much is down to this though - the state of this part of the canal has always been bad in our experience.

What is the betting it floated straight back in after we got through?

Further on we saw where temporary repairs, and large amounts of plywood are shoring up a bank that was leaking and giving concern.  Although it has already resulted in a summer stoppage, it is obvious a much longer stoppage, and presumably a lot of money, will be needed soon for full repairs.

First lock at Curdworth is a new one replacing one lost during road construction.

Usually the going gets easy on this stretch by Curdworth, but today the tunnel was filled by a very large chunk of floating vegetation.  I didn't fancy trying to get the boat to push it ahead of it in case it got jammed between boat and the tow-path or the tunnel wall, so we had to stop and pull it out.  It looked easy, but it proved quite hard to keep a shaft hooked into it to achieve this.

Hire boating about 1971 - the now lost lock replaced by the one above.

As you go up the Curdworth locks the whole character of the Birmingham and Fazeley changes.  Semi or completely derelict industry gives way to very attractive rural scenery, and it is this that makes it worth having a major push to get this far out, even if it pushes the day's lock count into the thirties.

The Curdworth locks are pleasant and easy to work.

Cath suggested we tried to eat at one of the two restaurants or pubs near Bodymoor Heath.  The first proved to be expensive with only one poor choice for vegetarians, but the second was far more down to earth, and offered us a much better choice of meals,  Odin entertained the public doing tricks, and we had a good evening.

By sheer coincidence we did a near exact trip out of Birmingham on exactly the same calendar day last year. - Blog post 22nd August 2012 Had we gone one more lock today, I could simply have copied trip details from last year, but today we decided to have a"short" day, stopping after only 36 locks.

Birmingham to Bodymoor Heath, Curdworh
Miles: 13.4 (Chalice), Locks: 36

Total Miles: 328.9, Locks: 188

An excuse to visit yet another short length of canal new to us.

(Boat Chalice - posted by Alan)

Attractive cast iron bridge crossing one entrance to Icknield Port Loop

Today we planned to stay in Birmingham, but needed to go urgently and buy diesel.  Dipping the tank revealed that whilst my estimate that we had enough to get here had obviously been correct, we certainly would not have gone a lot further.

This entrance is at a cross roads - the Soho loop is opposite the Icnirld loop.

Also last night, although we had found a slot to moor not far from gas Street, it had actually been quite noisy outside, and we could also take advantage of the many boats leaving moorings to move on to find a hopefully quieter spot for tonight.

Once there were thousands of BCN dayboats - these days not that many.

Diesel comes from Sherbourne Wharf, located on the Oozells Street loop.  Here we could also exchange a Calor Gas cylinder that had run out.  Unfortunately their diesel is fairly expensive, but we didn't have a choice.

Same boat, other end, with other craft beyond

The exit from Oozells Street Loop onto the main line of the canal is at a very tangential angle, making swinging around back to the central moorings a bit of a "shunt", and I thought it would be easier to head away from the centre, then turn in the entrance to one of the basins or side arms beyond.  It was at this point I realised we have never traversed the short Icknield Port loop and that we could incorporate this as a way of making an extended turning around operation.

Largelt CRT owned maintenance boats of many generations.

The Icknireld Port Loop is part of the original winding main line before it was re-engineered with a new straight route, leaving many parts that had been cut through by it still connected, but now only serving anything that lay down them.  It is unusual in not having a tow-path, so you can only get to see it all if you take a boat down it.

Tug "Nansen II"

I had simply not expected to see a very large number of boats down it, but in fact it is used to store a large number of maintenance craft.  First you encounter a lot of very rusty old "mud hoppers" and also "Joey" boats.  It would appear a lot of these could belong to the canal contractor Rothens, but I'm not sure.

The Birmingham Buddist "Vihara" apparently.

However you then pass CRT's own depot with many of their own maintenance craft also present.  The vary from the latest hydraulically powered tugs right back to further Joeys I couldn't really see, but which were really interesting looking BCN "day boat" types.

Interesting old factory

Also present was the historic boat "Nansen II", which for example was at the tug event we took "Sickle" to at the Black Country living museum.

Further round the loop, as you start to return towards the main line, there are a lot of derelict or near derelict factories of the type that the BCN used to have tousands of, but which are increasingly being eradicated from the system.

Almost unbelievable this is central Birmingham, though.

As much as anywhere we have been this loop gives a glimpse of how things used to be, which you largely miss if you just pass down the New main Line.

Leaving the loop through a rather less ornate bridge.

What has changed though, since I first boated on the BCN in the 1970s, is that you can go the whole way around such a loop with few worries, and keep a clear propeller throughout.  Back in the 1970s I recall peering down the end of it at the weed and rubbish, and thinking it would be quite impossible to ever again get a boat down it.
















Birmingham including Oozells Street and Icknield Port Loops
Miles: 3.5 (Chalice), Locks: 0

Total Miles: 315.5, Locks: 152

A long day

(Boat Chalice - posted by Cath)

Anglesey Basin from the top of the reservoir bank

There was some debate about how far we would go today, but we set off with the intention of stopping near to the Tame Valley Junction, mid to late afternoon. However, we really didn't know where we might get a quiet mooring, we decided to stop wherever looked good. A number of people had suggested that we would enjoy Walsall Town Basin, but that was a considerable detour from the shortest route to the middle of Birmingham, and we were running very, very short of diesel. We couldn't find anywhere nearer than Sherbourne Wharf for diesel, and we had to go by the shortest way. I was concerned about trying to go the whole distance in one day, as I didn't want to have difficulty finding a mooring, which can be a problem later in the day.

Setting off from Anglesey Basin

We saw almost no other boats moving - a maintenance boat heading out towards Anglesey Basin fairly early on, the others were much later in the day. There were a few boats moored up, but these are very quiet canals - mostly well dredged, except for the Daw End Branch, where we stirred mud most of the way.

Top Lock, Rushall Flight

 There was a low pound in the Rushall Flight, but other than that we had no problems.

 

Rushall Canal, below the bottom lock in the flight

We decided that because we had made good progress, so were early, and because we didn't really fancy mooring at the Tame Valley Junction, we would press on into Central Birmingham. This goes against what I have argued strongly for this year - that we should no rush around so much, and should tie up early - however, I agreed that getting to Old Turn would be far nicer than the alternatives - but I was concerned that we might not get a reasonable mooring.

Fortunately, as we arrived at the bottom of Ryder's Green Flight we met with a single hander coming down. He'd left all the other locks our way, including the gates open, so we had an easy task. David decided to start blackberrying.

Looking up the Ryder's Green Flight, from lock 6. Wheelbarrow man is just visible

At lock 6 I noticed a man running down the flight from the top. He appeared to be pushing a wheelbarrow. We were just discussing why anyone would be running down the flight with a wheelbarrow when he suddenly swerved towards a factory wall, and threw the barrow over the wall, then strolled off back up the flight again.

When we got to lock 6 we took a photo over the wall, which shows the wheelbarrow lying in the yard - presumably where he or a friend would pick it up from later.

Battered wheelbarrow

The interestingly named Great Bridge Bridge

David and Cath blackberrying

Galton Tunnel

We arrived in Birmingham at about 5:30 pm, spent a short time finding a suitable mooring (towards the Mailbox), then went out to eat at the Slug and Lettuce, who were prepared to allow our well behaved dog sit outside with us in the 'beer garden'.
 
Anglesey Basin to near Gas Street Basin, Birmingham
Miles: 22.6 (Chalice), Locks: 17

Total Miles: 212.0, Locks: 152

A special place where Odin learns to swim.

(Boat Chalice - posted by Alan)

Secure mooring at Lane Head, but with immediate access to pub!

Where we spent the night is a very secure locked offside mooring, and even had a sign proudly announcing it had had European development money to create it.  Whist all very nice, it would not even have accommodated another 50 foot boat, and to be honest the area didn't feel like one where you needed the security of a locked mooring.  Whilst it is good to see investment in this little used canal, it did seem to have had a lot of money spent on it for a canal with virtually no boats on it even in mid-Summer.  Some of the several full facilities blocks might be more usefully spread out around other canals that simply don't have enough, for example!

I had been meaning to check the diesel tank for some days, but had given it no urgency, believing we would still have plenty.  It came as a bit of a shock to find we had far less than I imagined!  Fortunately there was a garage very nearby, and they could sell me a can, as well as the Diesel, but only a 5 litre one.  I made three round trips whilst the man at the garage looked suitably confused, even though I tried to explain what I was up to.

A very confusing 360 degree panorama by David - the cast iron bridge we are heading for, the brick one is on the Cannock Extension Canal to Norton Canes

We realised at this stage that buying canal-side diesel was going to be a problem.  There are almost no boatyards anywhere near, and a call to the one possible supplier at Norton Canes, up the Cannock Extension canal, eventually produced the answer they had not stocked it for several years.  We had been undecided about going into central Birmingham on this trip, but now realised this was the only way we were likely to buy bulk diesel before we ran out, so started modifying our route accordingly.

The Wyrley and Essington canal is nick-names the "Curley Wyrley" because of its long deviating path it makes around the North of Birmingham following the contours of the land on a route free of locks.  At its Northen-most parts, around places like Pelsall & Brownhills it becomes very rural and very attractive, and quite different from how many probably perceive many of the Birmingham Canal Navigations.

Ogley Junction on the way to Anglesey

Several people had suggested that a detour to Anglesey basin was well worth doing.  This is a canal built as a feeder, and at the end is the massive Chasewater reservoir.  We thought we now had enough fuel on board to allow us to do this, although were uncertain initially we would make an overnight stop there, as it would make today another very short boating day.  We decided we would give it a go, and again it has much attractiveness along its route.

Tied up in the feeder at Anglesey Basin.

However the real appeal of this arm only really starts to emerge as you reach a very large basin at the end.  Well, I say "basin" because it is described that way, and there is a large expanse of canal, but only at the very end is there anywhere to really moor narrowboats, and then only two can be got against the sides, and only in the actual feeder that supplies the canal from the massive reservoir who's banks loom ahead of you.  The limited mooring options was not a problem, as the canl is deserted, and we were the only boat there, and remained so.

A quick "scoot" up to the reservoir convinced us that this was not somewhere to whip in and out of, and we must stay overnight, (athough there were some reservations about the waterfall immediately behind the boat, and whether it might disturb sleep!)

Odin regularly takes on bigger "sticks" than is entirely sensible!

We all then went for a very extended walk around the reservoir with Odin, who was far too excited to ever really calm down.  David was attempting to photograph some very large birds of prey fling overhead, but they were not coming close enough, when Cath said, "If you want to photograph a bird of prey, why not ask the man over there!"  A man was carrying what turned out to be Harris Hawk, and he not also agreed to be photographed, but also suggested he put in in a tree for a more natural picture.  Its strange what we find on our walks some times!

Harris Hawk and trainer.

A very handsome bird.

Shortly after this was the momentous moment that Odin learnt after having not realised for 15 months that Labradors could swim, that if he wanted to he can.  The whole process took literally about ten seconds between looks of "this is very frightening - I don't like it at all" to "I have now got this completely cracked, what's next please!?".  Far from returning immediately to be within his depth, you could see him consciously practising turns, and deliberately swimming away from us as well as towards us, until he had it sussed.  Needless to say, we are now considerably more fearful that he will either start going into the canal uninvited, or (much worse), will actually leap from a moving boat.  We are watching him more closely now, as the edge of the boat has tended to be a demarcation line he hasn't generally crossed unless invited to.

Just getting used to the idea

"Splashy Cannonball" dive for a stick

Fully confident after probably less than a minute's practice

Anglesey Basin has to be one of our most unusual overnight moorings, and is recommended as well worth a visit.  But please no more than one boat at a time, in case we want to go there again!

Lane Head to Anglesey Basin
Miles: 13.3 (Chalice), Locks:0

Total Miles: 289.4, Locks: 135