Shiralee Cruise 2011 #24

Saturday 13th August (late PM)

We left our moorings on the Stratford on Avon, just three locks below Kingswood Junction, at about 08.30, only to find, when we reached the basin at the last lock, some idiot had moored there overnight. When will these fools learn, the moorings by water points and waste disposal units are not for overnight mooring?

When Sheila knocked at the hatch of the offending boat, the owner agreed to move his boat, but added that a ‘good morning’ would have been nice’. To which Wifey replied, ‘you not being here would have been even nicer’. Nice one Wifey! His excuse for being there? ‘I arrived late and could find nowhere else’. Oh, really! What a load of tosh. He had obviously come down the Lapworth Locks and, when he left us, was heading for the Grand Union. Just a few minutes more and he would have easily found good moorings there, in either direction. Sheer bloody-mindedness, that’s all.

Great! That’s that off my chest.

So, having finally topped up with water and disposed of our rubbish and such, we left Kingswood Junction and made our way to the top of the Hatton flight of 21 locks. Oh no, we’re not even going to attempt those today, they are for Monday morning, assuming the weather is kind to us. Meanwhile, having sorted Rusty out – she always demands immediate attention when we come in to land – and enjoyed a cup of tea, we made our way to the local Garden Centre, supposedly just 200 yards from the bridge behind us. Now, where’s that pesky tape measure? By the time we arrived at the actual centre it was more like half a mile.

The aforementioned Garden Centre is, in fact, a whole collection of shops and manufacturers outlets, plus a huge kiddies playground, café’s and other wonderful areas to keep people occupied. Sadly, although they boasted a Pet Shop, nothing could be further from the truth. We saw chickens up for sale, but pet food and such that you would normally find in such places was conspicuous by its absence. So too were any plants needed to fill our roof-top boxes. Those that would have been suitable had been dead-headed so often as to be virtually worthless. We did come away with a 25litre bag of compost though and now need to find a decent Garden Centre with fresh plants.

Tomorrow’s pub visit is about half a mile away, past the third lock down. When we last came by this way about three years ago, we had to climb all 21 double locks in one go, and we did so without benefit of an accompanying boat. On Monday we will be going down all 21, which is a much easier proposition. If we happen to meet up with a boat going down, the trip will be even easier.

Monday 15th August.

There’s a big pub on a hill, to the east of the third lock down, called “The Waterman”, which we had earmarked for our Sunday lunchtime drink. As you all probably know, the price of beer and spirits varies wildly up and down the country, nowhere more so than this neck of the woods. But there are some greedy, unscrupulous, money grabbing gits around, and “The Waterman” falls into that category.

The last time we ‘heard about’ a pub charging £3.60p per pint, was on the Montgomery Canal in Wales but, since we had already been put off by the prices on their menu, we can only go by what we were told by a local farm shop owner. Apart from that possible exception The Waterman is the only pub, anywhere near a canal, that has charged such an exorbitant price for Guinness in over four months of travel. There really are some greedy landlords out there but, the problem is, I don’t know what price they are charging until I go up for my second pint. Rip off England is alive and well!

We always try to watch Countryfile on Sunday evening, particularly for the weather forecast for the week ahead and yesterday was no exception. We rarely bother with Saturdays, simply because there’s such a load of rubbish that it is hardly worth erecting the aerial.

So, yesterday afternoon I put the aerial up and tuned in, everything was perfect. Would you believe it, come 7 pm and the picture and sound started breaking up? We then had to retune to the analogue programmes and watch a very much weaker signal. Still, we now know that at least today should be fine, which is just as well because we have 21 locks to tackle, and they are all doubles.

Tuesday 16th August.

Yesterday was a day full of fun and frolic, but only if you can say as much about a breakdown.

The day started really well and, after topping up with water, we began our descent of the Hatton Flight of 21 locks just after 8 am. With double locks such as these it is necessary to tie the boat to a bollard whilst rising up or, as in our case, descending a lock. But, unlike most locks around the system, those at Hatton have bollards that, in shape, are similar to the acorns seen on gate posts of entry gates to big houses, round but with a very small waist at the bottom.

Now, when descending the lock and just when I am still able, I would flip the rope over the bollard and coil it up on the boat, ready for the next time. However, with these bollards, this is not possible. So, I either have to leave it to Wifey to unhitch the rope, or do the Chamberlain Flip earlier than normal, which leaves the boat able to drift inside the lock.

There we were then, about eight locks down, when I decided to flip early and allow the boat to drift. What harm could it do? In this instance though, the boat drifted rather too far away from the gate that Sheila would open when it came to exiting the lock. This resulted in much manoeuvring before I could line up with the gate.

After plenty of forward and reverse thrust I finally exited the lock and made my way to the next one and, upon entering that, put the engine into reverse in order to come to a stop, which is when I noticed a problem. With boats, as with cars, we all recognise peculiarities in sound and behaviour. In this instance the tiller arm was juddering but, what was more alarming was the odd noise coming from the engine bay. Something was complaining most bitterly about its treatment at the hands of this ham-fisted boater.

After the next lock was a large pound where I felt it would be safe to moor up and take a look. On inspection I discovered that a couple of bolts had sheared from the coupling between the gearbox and drive shaft. With no spares on board this was a job for River Canal Rescue, the AA of the waterways.

The efficiency of this organisation deserves nothing but praise here. From the young lady who answered my call, to the engineers who attended, I was treated with the utmost courtesy and respect. Also, where the broken coupling would have cost us £90 plus labour, we only paid £50 in total.

The only fly in the ointment was the pleasure derived from our misfortune by a certain ‘friend’. But, what are friends for if they can’t have a chuckle at one another’s disasters? No offence taken Al, honest!

Anyway, on with the descent of Hatton locks which we were able to do alongside another boat thus negating the necessity of tying up inside the locks. We eventually found our way to a mooring spot at about 2 pm, only six hours after starting out. And a good day was had by all, including absent friends. Hmmm!

Today we move on to goodness knows where, but only after passing through two more locks and stopping off at Tesco in Warwick to top up with victuals, which have become sadly depleted. Even the dog has been short of her sausage treats for more than a week.

Wednesday 17th August.

The sun is up, the sky is blue…………………etc. It’s looking like a good day for cruising through 10 locks to Long Itchington, which is about five miles away from our present position, between bridges 35 and 34 on the GUC.

Yesterday we only had two locks to negotiate and just five miles, but with a stop off at Tesco in Warwick. It’s been a while since we did a ‘real’ shop and boy, did we know it! I won’t say exactly how much we spent, but it was more than two figures. Still, we’re well stocked up now.
Long Itchington boasts several pubs and, since we will probably be moored miles from nowhere on Sunday, I could be persuaded to partake of a few libations.

Thursday 18th August.

It has just turned 5.30 am and so far we only have some thin cloud above us and calm conditions. According to the weather forecast on Midlands Today yesterday evening, we are due for a considerable amount of rain. Goodness knows we need it, quite badly, and I shall now tell you why.

Yesterday morning, after much discussion, we decided not to complete all 10 locks ahead of us, but instead cover just five of them and do the rest today. After the 21 we did the day before, Wifey thought that 10 would be a bit too much, even though, as I explained, all of the 10 were pretty much spaced apart at more than a short walk, thus giving her plenty of breathing space in between.

However, just a few locks up and with it being a very nice day and rain expected today and Friday, Wifey, as all women are apt to do, changed her mind and decided to go for the burn.

Now, when we arrived at Lock 17 of the Bascote Flight, we discovered two boats waiting in the pound above it. We also noticed that the water level was considerably lower than it should have been. Having pulled into the lock and filled up with water, well, as far as we could that is, we could see that the lock was far from full. Wifey then went off to ask the boaters ahead what the delay was all about and was told, that there was trouble at the two staircase locks at the top of the flight. Apparently one of the gates couldn’t be closed and BW had been called. We were now having to wait about an hour for their engineers to turn up.
Meanwhile, with me sitting on the boat and the water level dropping at an alarming rate, I had visions of the level going down to that of the pound behind us and, since the gates of our lock leaked like the proverbial sieve, the pound above us emptying completely. So, in order to prevent the latter, we closed our top gates, which did slow the problem down somewhat.

Eventually, after about an hour or so, BW arrived and solved the problem and we were all able to continue on our way. But, due to the amount of water lost whilst awaiting repairs, when we finally arrived at the end of the flight we found the canal ahead to be too shallow to moor up on the towpath side, this despite attempting to do so on two occasions. We were left with no alternative therefore, other than to continue on to Long Itchington, a stop we had planned for Friday, which is where we have moored overnight and will continue to do so until Saturday morning, maybe!

Considering the time of year, when all should be bright and sunny, we are desperately praying for rain. Although the water level has risen somewhat overnight, having spoken to the boaters who accompanied us through some of the locks yesterday, there are serious problems throughout the canals and rivers this year. I’ve already mentioned the state of the River Avon in a previous blog, but these folks had already grounded this year, somewhere up near Manchester I think, so we really do need rain, and lots of it.

Despite what the experts say, it doesn’t look like raining any time soon.

Friday 19th August.

Despite what I said, it did rain yesterday, in bucket loads and for most of the day too.

We took a walk into Long Itchington via the nearby disused railway bridge, which has now been turned into a footpath cum cycle track and is also a designated nature reserve for the Small Blue Butterfly. So, loads of nettles and such which the SBB needs to thrive.

The track leads to a road bridge that takes walkers and cyclists into the village, coming out at a T junction. Now, which way to the local Co-op? Spotting a man with a push chair with child inside we made a 50/50 guess that he might be heading in the right direction and followed him. He was actually going to the local nursery school which, fortunately for us was next door to said Co-op.

Not wishing to return by the same route, and wanting to see more of the village, we asked the way to the main road that would take us the longer way back. Along the way we spotted several older buildings, one of which had 1823 painted on the brickwork. We also found one with very dark, heavy timbers, possibly dating from the Tudor period. Even the Nicholson Guide mentions the fact about old buildings and refers to the local church too. Apparently the steeple on this was blown down during a serious storm in the 18th century and was only replaced with a stub. Shame!

Anyway, should my dearly beloved decide to move on today, and this very much depends upon the weather, we will be going down another 10 locks – I think – so, not knowing if we’ll have a strong signal on the Internet, I think I had better post this now.

Cheers to you all and have a great weekend.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.