Had a visitor last night – a young toad had moved in and made itself comfortable in Bruno’s bed. Liberated him back to the great outdoors.

Set off at 09:35, with just 5 minutes to the first lock. Had a good run through today’s 12 locks, most of them in our favour.

Autumn arrived at Lock 59

Rumps was a problem, though. Couldn’t open the top gate no matter how hard I tried. So enlisted the help of 43 BHP by hooking the bow line around the end of the gate and reversing the boat.

Stopped for lunch and a bit of shopping at Wheelock, but did not fill up with water. The last time we did here, it was horrible. I thought the name was canal related, but it seems that it is derived from the Saxon for “winding river”. There is a river Wheelock just to the south of the village.

Finished the day on the edge of Middlewich, above Kings Lock. Would not normally moor so close to houses or a busy main road, but we’d promised ourselves fish and chips. Wish we hadn’t bothered, they weren’t as good as they have been in the past. Also we need to stock up with provisions before our internment at Orchard.

Enough for several doses of hypertension.

12 locks, 7 miles.

Relieved to say that Bruno is back to his old self today. We think maybe he had strained something, or pulled a muscle jumping on and off the boat. As I jogged between locks on the flights today, he was trotting along happily beside me. A great weight off our minds.

We got up early, as we planned a heavy day, starting with Harecastle Tunnel and then carrying on with about 15 locks. We left at 07:35, and arrived at the tunnel at 08:05. We had to wait for a boat coming through from the north, but also I’d stoked the fire up, not thinking that naked flames are not allowed in the tunnel. So I had to empty it all. Still, I was able to save the fuel.
We filled up with water while waiting, and entered the tunnel mouth at 08:45, on our own. A fast run saw us out and emptying the loo at the north end by 09:30. The new lamp (actually, an old chrome one I kept from my store of classic car parts), worked a treat.

Got rid of rubbish at Red Bull, and had an easy run through 18, yes 18 locks, finishing just past Hassel Green. One minor incident in one of the Lawton flight when I had forgotten to close a ground paddle at the top of the lock before opening the gate paddles at the bottom.
Caused some strange effects in the lock, but I sorted it out before affecting the water level in the pound.
Lock 42 and Poole Aqueduct. The spot (arrowed) is the head of the lady steering a boat across the aqueduct on the Macclesfield Canal.

We had such a good run we moored up at 13:40. Rain started at about 16:00.

18 locks, 8¼ miles.

A pleasant day at the Wedgewood mooring allowed me to get the other side of the boat painted below the gunwale. I’m glad to have got rid of the patches of primer I’d put on at Redhill. Now we’ve just got to avoid scraping it again. To be fair, trying to put a 6’ 10” boat into a 7’ 2” wide hole, from a distance of over 50’ away, often with a cross wind or an overflow stream pushing the boat sideways is a bit like threading a needle in sunglasses and mittons, in a gale.

Bruno is a lot brighter this morning, up and taking notice. Still not yet 100% though Sunday’s rest seems to have done him good.
We let the mooring at 09:50 and worked our way through Trentham lock and the Stoke locks. They were taking a long time to fill so I was opening both ground paddles at once. BIG mistake; I did the same when we got to Stoke top lock at Etruria junction which fills a lot quicker. The boat accelerated forward under the force of the incoming water, and hit the top gate with a jolt. A repeat of several weeks ago when we lost several glasses. This time was no different, but they were joined by the small teapot and a vinegar jar. My fault entirely. I’d not put the catches on the cabinets.

After the locks I set off into town to B&Q to get some odds and ends.

Squashed the chimney under a railway bridge in Stoke. It's not had a lot of luck - it has also spent 24 hours 8 feet down in the river Soar, till I could get a strong enough magnet on a string to lift it back out. Note the chain now fitted!

We stopped at Westport Lake again, a lot quieter than earlier in the year. I moved the central heating controller from the engine room to a more convenient spot in the bedroom, and replaced the push fit fittings on the loo plumbing with conventional compression ones.
Can now dispense with the saucer and sponge (see earlier post).

6 locks, 7 miles

Set off at 08:50, clearer morning today but overcast. Stopped in Stone for a bit of shopping. Like Tom Rolt in “Narrow Boat”, I like Stone, nice people and good shopping close to the canal even though 70 years have intervened. We bought some storage boxes to go under the well deck for fuel, they look tidier than plastic sacks. I am resisting stacking bags of coal on the roof, but may have to as we move into winter.
Moved a little distance to Stone Boatbuilders to top up with diesel and get some solid fuel. We still seem to averaging around 1 litre an hour, running the heating or the engine.

We finished another long day near the Wedgewood factory at bridge 104. Hard work today, all the locks seemed to be against us. There was very little traffic in either direction.

Bruno is still looking unwell, he’s listless and uninterested in anything. He’s spending a lot of time sleeping. I’ve done an internet search for vets near Stoke, just in case.
We’ve decided to stay here for Sunday, to give him a chance to rest.

11 locks, 12¼ miles.

Left our overnight near Common lock at 08:50. Very misty autumnal morning, visibility down to about 50 yards. A very atmospheric run through Fradley, with the locks looming up out of the mist.

Emptied the loo and rubbish, and topped up the water at the services, and carried on towards Armitage now heading Northwest. I didn’t get a picture of what they make at Armitage last time through…..

Lots of Loos

Stopped at bridge 66 for a shop at Morrisons, mainly to make sure we had enough dog food for a while, then off past a very quite Great Haywood junction, finishing for the day just past bridge 77.

Not a lot happening at Great Haywood
10 locks, 14½ miles.

Bruno is not so good today, maybe tired as he will not settle down when we are moving. We’ll keep an eye on him.

The forecast for today was dry and bright, and for a change was correct. Cool morning, with a mist on the water when I took Bruno out for his morning walk.

A really enjoyable run through Burton, past Barton Turn and through Alrewas. Quite a fast flow on the river section through the village, had to use a few revs to get across the stream to the lock.

Had a problem with a sticking ground paddle at Wychnor lock, reported it to BW.

Stopped quite early near Common lock, as most of the day we had locks in our favour. Took advantage of the pleasant evening and the low bank to paint the RH side of the hull below the gunwale. I had already prepared both sides while at Redhill.

7 locks, 13 miles.

Set off from the mooring at 09:20, heading through Shardlow. Rain started about 10:00, and set the scene for the rest of the day. We took a 2 hour break after Weston lock to see if the weather would improve. The rain stopped, but started again as soon as we set off.

A pretty miserable day generally, but at least the view is different heading back up the T&M. We wouldn’t normally travel in poor weather, but we are on a deadline to get back up to Northwich.

Finished the day at Willington at about 17:45, and popped to the Co-op for supplies.
At least the broad locks are out of the way.

5 locks, 12 miles

Max and Reg are not ready to start on the boat yet, so we left it in their hands, picked up a hire car and went across to see Dad and Ann and pick up the mail, which included my race number and entry details for the Great North Run.

Had a restful day on Saturday, and set off north in the evening. In the past we’ve usually had a pitch booked on a caravan site near the finish, but obviously this isn’t an option this year. So we spent a poor night trying to sleep in the car (must get something a little bigger next time).
Even so, I had a really enjoyable run, another PB this year, now doing ½ marathons in less than 1:53. OK, I’m not breaking any records, but it’s not so bad for an old ‘un. Contrary to the poor forecast, the weather was excellent, and only broke with a heavy shower as we were heading back to the car.
Mag’s granddaughter, Zoe, had come up from Middlesborough with her family to see the race, it was good to see them.
Instead of going straight back down to Redhill, we had arranged to stay Sunday night with Howard in Ingleton and catch up with everyone back home. After a shower and something to eat, we spent the evening going from house to house to see as many of the friends and family as possible.
We left Yorkshire on Monday afternoon, arriving back at Redhill after dark.

Max had the frame built and fitted on Wednesday, so Reg was able to start on the cover on Thursday, a little later than planned. I’ve never known a more laid back operation – canal time IS considerably slower than normal, but Redhill is in a world of it’s own. Still, nice people, a pleasant place to be, and what’s the rush anyway.

While the guys were working on the front of the boat, we had decided to replace the carpets in the saloon and the bedroom with laminate flooring, a rather more practical proposition to keep clean. After 2 days (and 2 attempts!) got the saloon done to my satisfaction, so pulled up the carpet in the passage past the loo and the bedroom. Revealed a horrible damp patch on the floor, and rising 2 inches up the bulkheads. The water (luckily fresh, from the flush system) was leaking from 2 loose joints. One was quick to fix, requiring the tightening of a jubilee clip, the other needs a replacement fitting. The pipe work is HEP2O poly pipe, nothing wrong with that, but the joint assembly needs care. I’ve decided to replace the push fit fittings with standard compression ones, so will pick them up when I can. Meanwhile, a saucer to catch the drips and a sponge to empty the saucer will have to do.
As we were on shore power, I dug the fan heater out of the bottom of the bed locker, and dried out the floor before fitting the new laminate.

I’d picked up a car radio in Argos while we had the car, so I fitted that in the top face of the front corner cupboard.

By Monday, Reg was nearly finished with the cover, so I did the engine checks ready for moving out on Tuesday. When checking the batteries, I noticed that the “odd” one, the extra one I asked to be fitted at the yard, was once again short of water, and is showing signs of swelling on the ends of the case, an indication of failure. With the charger off, the battery bank showed 13.4 volts, but with the bad one disconnected, the remaining 3 go up to 13.7 volts, and the disconnected one down to 12.8, and dropping.
I rang Mike at Orchard and explained the problems, we will have them dealt with when we get back to Northwich later in the month.

Finally got away from Redhill at 14:00 on Tuesday, and set off down the Soar and onto the Trent. Up through Sawley (no lock keeper on duty, so pushed the buttons myself. If only all locks were this easy!), through Derwent Mouth lock and back onto the Trent and Mersey. Stopped for the night just East of Shardlow.

4½ miles, 2 locks.

Not a bad morning after the bad night, took Bruno for a walk back to Shardlow and saw Digbeth again. Gave them a shout, and arranged for a delivery of smokeless fuel as they passed our mooring.
Caught up with them again at Sawley Locks, but we parted company just after when we swung into the Trent backwater for the services. We wanted to be full/empty when we arrived at Redhill for the cratch frame and cover to be fitted.


Arrived at Redhill at 12:00.

You can see on the above picture the top bend design I finally finished earlier this week. The geometric circles and diamonds are a traditional decoration on working boats.
Close Up

2 locks, 4 miles.

Left Willington around 09:40, and hit the tail of a queue of boats at Stenson Lock. Lots of Canaltime boats coming the other way, I guess from Sawley.
We shared the next 4 broad locks with NB Flimby, which made it easier to work them, and stopped for the night after going through Shardlow, just before Derwent Mouth Lock. Spotted NB Digbeth selling fuel in Shardlow.
Bad night, thunderstorms and heavy showers meant that Bruno could not settle, so we couldn’t either.

5 Locks, 11½ miles.

Woke up to a beautiful morning, went for a run and then took Bruno for a walk. Spotted these Red Admirals sunbathing and feeding on Ivy flowers.


Easy run to Willington through 7 locks, arrived just as 2 boats were leaving so slotted in to a mooring in the centre of the village.

7 Locks, 12¾ miles.

A 12 mile run (ending in a thunderstorm) led to a restful day Sunday, tightened stern gland and cleaned bilge, polished some brass, bits and pieces like that.
Left our mooring at Whittington at about 09:30, and had a 5 minutes wait at the junction of the Lichfield Canal where there are bridge works in progress, laying new railway lines. The first set of traffic lights we’ve seen for a while!

After this, we had an uneventful cruise up to Fradley Junction, where we filled up with water and emptied the loo and rubbish.

Up through Junction, Keepers, Hunts and Common Locks, and stopped for the day before Bagnall Lock, where we’ve stopped before.

4 Locks, 6½ miles.

Went for a run first thing to Whittington, which was were we had planned to stop the previous night. The moorings looked good, so we moved from Hopwas at about 10:30, and had a gentle 2 hour run to just past Bridge 80. Went shopping at the Co-op, and spent the afternoon "chilling".

0 Locks, 3½ miles.

Lost the peg bag last night! Hung it on the door while we pegged out the washing, it was very blustery and it disappeared. Must have gone over the side, groped around with the boat hook to no avail, and kept a sharp lookout for the first mile or so, but no luck. So apologies in advance to anyone who has to disentangle a tartan bag filled with pegs from their prop between bridge 48 and 49.
Overcast start to the day, with rain forecast for later. Into Tamworth and joined the queue for the Glascote locks. These, like Atherstone, are slow to fill and quick to empty, so take a while to pass. We were clear by about 13:00.
Heading down to Fazeley the forecasted rain started with a vengeance, so we pulled over and had lunch waiting for it to ease.
We left it for an hour, but, with no sign of it slowing, decided to press on to get clear of Tamworth. Passed Fazeley junction and the attractive Peels Wharf in the rain, so are now, for a while on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.

Peel Wharf


Had enough by Hopwas, so stopped on the visitor moorings in the village. Bit too near 2 pubs for our liking, though.

2 Locks, 10 Miles.

Margarets Birthday!!


Beautiful morning, warm with blue skies. I’d saved the Atherstone flight as a birthday present! She has 6 cards, but there are more waiting at Dad's for when we get there.
About an hours run to Atherstone top lock, a very attractive flight, but with the steel replacement top gates are very heavy, much worse than the original wooden ones.

Atherstone Top Lock

Atherstone Locks

It took about 3 hours to pass through the 11 locks, some in our favour, some against. Met NB "Ebenezer" at No 6, last seen at Kilby Bridge on the Leicester Line about a fortnight ago. She is a Steve Hawkins boat, with fine lines, built at his yard in Tamworth.
Filled up water at Bradley Green bridge and moored about ¼ mile further on.

11 Locks, 4 Miles.

Moved off about 09:50. Lots of moored boats around the junction. Through the lock and round the 180° bend onto the Coventry Canal.

Hawkesbury Junction

Around the western edge of Bedworth, but little of the town to be seen, only evidence of it’s existence; today has taken the shopping trolley record, 7 in all.

They come in pairs, here…..

Cruised past Marston Junction (Ashby Canal). Another we will save for some other time.

Marston Junction

Around Nuneaton, from the canal this is "Allotmentland", with about 2 miles of continuous weekend endeavour. Still, much better than Loughborough’s "Factoryland".
Finished the day on good moorings at BW’s Hartshill yard.

Hartshill


1 Lock, 9 Miles.

As arranged we stopped at Rose Narrowboats in the morning to have the 240v system checked out.
Colin was very helpful and informative, advised that we should be running a minimum 2.0kva inverter, with the wiring upgraded to suit. He suggested we should look at Mastervolt or Victron as these are very reliable units. He did point out that the Studer fitted is also well thought of, just too low capacity for this installation.
After changing the fuse holder and fuse, we were on our way again. Many thanks to Colin and Roger.
I spoke to Mike at Orchard, and we have arranged to take the boat back up to Northwich to have the necessary upgrade work carried out. This will be after the cratch frame and cover are fitted at Redhill, the first week in October.
Heading towards Hawkesbury at our usual sedate pace, we were overtaken by an idiot in a hurry who, with the help of a stiff cross wind, ran us aground on the offside. Took us 5 minutes to get moving again.
Stopped for the night about 1 mile short of Hawkesbury.

0 locks, 7¼ miles.

Off at about 10:30 down through the 3 Hillmorton Locks. These are paired and numbered 2 & 3, 4 & 5, and 6 & 7, from bottom to top. I wonder what happened to lock 1?
Stopped at lunchtime at Bridge 58 in Rugby to visit Tesco’s, mainly for dog food.We decided to do a wash on during the afternoon run, so started the machine. However, it stopped part way through it’s cycle. On investigation, there was no power coming from the inverter. A 200A fuse in the battery feed had failed, and also showed signs of heat damage.I rang Mike at Orchard to advise him of the situation, and also to tell him that the inverter fitted was only rated at 1.3KVA, and not 1.8 as assumed. As the washer is rated at 1300w average, this is obviously under specified. I then rang Rose Narrowboats at Stretton Stop, who were the nearest boatyard, and arranged to call in the following morning.
Continued on to our overnight at All Oaks Wood, a very popular spot for mooring, through Newbold Tunnel with it's fancy lighting scheme.

Newbold Tunnel

It makes you wonder if this would still have gone ahead if BW knew they were going to get the funding cuts recently announced.

3 Locks, 7 Miles

Off at 10:00 after my early morning run. Down to Norton Junction and turned right (West) towards Braunston on the Grand Union Main Line. We are as far South as we are going this time.

Norton Junction

I’d heard that Braunston Tunnel was narrow, although wide enough for 2 boats to pass. This would be the case if boats coming the other way kept to their side of the tunnel!

Braunston Tunnel

We had a glancing collision with one boat, even though I was close enough to my side to take the paint off the right hand top bend. 2042 yards of nail biting and we were out into the sunshine again. We had passed 8 boats coming the other way, more than on a whole day’s cruising on the Soar!
Shared Braunston Locks 6 – 3, then 1 and 2 on our own as our companions stopped for a pint at the Admiral Nelson. Very busy with boats through Braunston, but we managed to secure a 48 hour mooring near Bridge 1, so will stay here till Sunday afternoon.

Braunston


6 Locks, 4½ miles.

Had the great "Daddy Long Legs" invasion last night! They were coming in through any nook and cranny, heading for the light. We finally lit candles instead of having the electric light on, then they fried themselves! Don’t know what is the cause this year, or maybe we’ve never been so aware of them before, but there seem to be a lot more than normal.


Just up from where we moored was another narrowboat with the name "Duck Duck, Charlie Brown" I’ve seen some obscure names, but this is about the best. Had the chance to ask the owner later, turns out that they are his 2 daughter’s nicknames.
Moved off at 10:00, filled up with water and emptied rubbish at Yelvertoft, but there was no place to moor, so we moved down to Crick.
They must get up to some arcane rituals down here, saw this Whicker Man at Crick Marina.


Also saw this restoration project for a brave individual. It still has an engine……


Did a small shop at the PO/ General stores and it started to rain as we got back to the boat. This developed into a full-blown thunderstorm, so we held on till about 14:30 before setting off again.
Through Crick Tunnel and arrived at the Watford Flight at about 15:30 and had a noisy hour’s wait under the M1 bridge till we could start down. Took about 40 minutes to clear all 7 locks.

Watford Flight

Ran for another 2 miles and stopped opposite Weltonfield Marina at about 17:45.

7 Locks, 8 miles