New years eve

We are still on route to Nottingham having had a full day of cruising and are currently moored amongst some trees and fields somewhere in between Shardlow and Willington. I am seeing in the changing of the year with gin and tonics and some brilliant music provided by Leigh.

Since my last post we spent boxing day in lovely and rather posh Alrewas and then last Tuesday cruised throughout the day to Willington, a rather small Derbyshire village. From here I spent the rest of the week commuting to work leaving my lovelies on the boat. We had no phone or Internet signals the whole time and there was very little to do, Leigh went a bit stir crazy and Delia, who was kept in due to the train tracks opposite us was climbing the walls.

Fortunately today we made a move for it and now we have better reception. From Willington the larger locks appear on this stretch, suitable for wide beams and barges. One snag is that the gates are heavy and stiff and they take ages to fill up and drain. I guess we have got used to whizzing through single canal locks. It is a nice tree and field lined route aside from the roads and rail lines that so frequently frame the route.

The highlights today included filling with water, washing my hair and sharing a lock with a swan.

Tomorrow we will spend New Years Day cruising through historic Shardlow village and on to Trent Lock. From there it is a good 8 miles into Nottingham so we should be there by Monday.

Ok friends and followers, all the best for 2012, cheers!

Christmas Day Cruise

Merry Christmas! We started this morning with a good breakfast, some wonderful gifts and the joy of a move ahead.

We left our mooring point...

from here...

and took the 90degree turn...

into the first lock of the day.

At this point we are now on the Trent and Mersey Canal.

We were very luck with the weather and had high spirits throughout the day...

What a lovely scarf...

We passed some christmas swans on our journey today...

and went through 5 locks over a few miles. It was really lovely, not like hard work at all. Our final lock of the day took us onto the river section of the Trent and Mersey.

We decided to look into mooring up in the lovely, historic village of Alrewas. Every time we've passed through in the high seasons there hasn't been one single space to moor. However, we were in luck today, the whole stretch was free except for one other boat.

It has been a lovely day and now I'm recovering from a festive feast. I think that winter cruising is a new favorite past-time of mine!

Leaving Birmingham

The Christmas market in Birmingham is winding up and with work opportunities in Nottingham we made the decision to move. It has been a lovely experience in Birmingham and I would like to return at some point to explore the canals further than our mooring point at Cuckoo Wharf in Aston.

It has been a joy at Cuckoo Wharf with easy access to the city centre, a garage nearby for emergency wood, coal and snack supplies, water on tap and good security.

We have so far survived the start of winter. The burner has been going day and night to keep away the cold. We have 6 bags of coal left from the 12 we purchased from Ken Warring in Stoke Golding, which should see us through to February. I've just stocked up on three sacks of wood from the garage but at some point in the New Year hope to drive down to the folks in Saltdean where there is a heap of wood I can pickup.

So in the build up, or count down to Christmas (however you choose to see it) we've planned the route to Nottingham. I am still in dispute as to us mooring in Nottingham as I would rather live else where and travel to work there. Birmingham was just that little too far - I couldn't do a 4 hour commute each day.

There are positives and negatives to each mooring spot and winter rules out some places. Redhill Marina was a possibility but when we moored up there over winter 2009 the pontoon was covered in ice and not properly secured was at a 45degree angle, not easy to get onto or off the boat without slip-sliding into the icy river soar!

There are good reasons to be in Nottingham, Sainsburys is a 2 minute walk plus it has a garage, Castle Marina is there with water, pump out and diesel too. From the canal you can walk into town, I can walk to work. It's easy and if it freezes it'll not be a big hassle.

This week I finished work late on Tuesday and travelled back to Brum with Leigh helping me out with my luggage. On Wednesday we did a lovely food shop, getting some fine foods from M&S for Christmas. With the cold weather we have a free and instant fridge to keep our food fresh! So we have enough to see us right through to next week.

We said goodbye and Merry Christmas to our neighbors at Cuckoo Wharf, who were lovely folk and untied the ropes and reversed out.

There wasn't a spot large enough for us to wind before the locks ahead so we reversed through the bridge, aqueduct and right back to the main junction under Spaghetti Junction.

This was not an easy task but with a bit of shouting, laughing and concentration riding the throttle and tiller we did it!

It was a superb day, the weather was fantastic - sunshine and a chill in the air. My lovely thermal gloves from Sis worked a treat keeping the wind from my hands. We passed the backs of industrial units on our way out of Birmingham and the strangest of all things under a building....

On the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal we passed Erdington and reached the first lock at Minworth. It was these three locks we were caught out on before. They require a special key to unlock the anti-vandal padlock.

We now have the key and whizzed through.

The padlock is a simple bar that pops through the top of the ground paddle bracket.

The key...

turned in the hole triggers something to pull the bar through so the paddle can we wound up or down. To re-set you just push the bar back through and it clicks into place.

After the locks are a few miles overlooking fields and farm land. We passed through lovely little Curdworth Tunnel

and under the M6 where we reached Curdworth top lock. This is a flight of 11 locks with cruising inbetween. We made it to lock 10 and I was tired and had enough so we moored up at a lovely spot.

During this winter period there is a lack of boats cruising the network, I wonder if this impacts on the amount of rubbish that accumulates around the lock gates. We had several examples where the boat became wedged in the lock due to debris inbetween the wall and the boat. I pulled out an entire wooden crate the size of a bath in one lock!

Delia loved being back in the countryside, she was out for ages in the evening, probably on the prowl for live, small creatures. She has loved the fire blazing in the burner and cooks herself as though she were getting a lovely sun tan. She is currently being a little darling which we are relishing.

This morning I set off on my own buy preparing the lock ahead, untying the ropes and pushing out the bow. A gentle cruise into the lock was made easier by lining up the boat at a distance. There is a process to single-handed working on a lock. Taking it slowly is a must as far as I am concerned.

By slowing the approach into the lock and then gently reversing allows the boat to head in allowing me to jump off onto land with the rope and tie her off. One annoying thing about this final lock was that the bollards were on the left but the gate balance beams were on the right. Anyway I closed the rear gate and ensuring the boat was forward of the cill, opened one of the paddles to let the water out. The boat naturally rides forwards when lowering in a lock which is good for missing the rear cill. When it had gone down about half way, I opened the second paddle. Each time I ran back to the rope to give it the necessary slack and pull the boat away from the cill when necessary.

Opening the gate is easy when there is no water pressing against it and I pulled the boat through with the rope. It is rather amazing how you can pull a 15tonne boat without much bother. I tied her off at the bollards, closed the gate (ensuring I'd put the paddles back down) and was off on the straight run.

It was three miles to Fazeley Mill Marina where we planned to stop and use the facilities. The stretch was lovely with winter colours along the towpath, a nature reserve next to us and a beautiful horizon of low hills. I couldn't believe my eyes when in amongst the red woods and brown bare branches I saw a flash of brilliant turquoise. It was a Kingfisher!

Leigh joined me at the marina and we left £45 lighter but with a full water tank, a canister of gas and a light toilet tank. Leigh took over as I warmed by the fire.

We took the turn at Faseley Junction towards Whittington and then the heavens opened. My lovely was drenched after a good hours cruising so we pulled over and moored up at Hopwas. We didn't cover the miles we had hoped today, but things never quite go to plan. We made the most of snuggling down in the warm with a hot sausage casserole and thoughts of Christmas! That's right, Christmas 2011 will be spent afloat The Dove of Belgrade!

Birmingham Winter

A month since my last blog post and we are still at the same mooring point in Birmingham, Cuckoo Wharf in Aston.

I'm rather enjoying Birmingham overall. The narrow canals carry their history as they weave under dark brick bridges. It has such an industrial landscape surrounded by Scalextric roads and people live dotted between the industry. Transport is great, with three train stations within the center. My favorite being Moor Hill station with the Chiltern service.

I'm getting into the Festive spirit these days too, spending time at the Christmas market in Birmingham's centre. I've spent a bit of time inside one or two of the wooden huts selling jewelry and bespoke knitted goods.

I do in fact write this from Nottingham as I now have a 'proper' job and am living a double city life at the moment; weekends in Brum on the boat; mid weeks in Nottingham in a house. It's all very strange and I'm having a culture shock but coping just fine in the same token. I am looking forward to the spring-time moment we un-tie the ropes, cuddle on the stern deck and head off into the countryside again but City living is a survival mechanism I guess. Just how it is.