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| Cruising companion for the day |
We set off
for Kings Bromley at nine on Tuesday morning.
There had been no frost overnight, but it felt chilly on the back of the
boat as there was a fairly brisk breeze.
Still, the sun was shining, and we saw the odd kingfisher as we headed
towards Great Haywood junction.
Great
Haywood junction is where the Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal leaves
the Trent & Mersey and winds its way 46 miles down to the River Severn at
Stourport. We first went down the Staffs
& Worcs in February 2015 – click here for a link
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| The beautiful (I think) bridge at the start of the Staffs & Worcs at Great Haywood junction |
We stayed
on the Trent & Mersey going down three locks and got through Rugeley before
mooring up for lunch just before Armitage tunnel. It started raining as we got to Rugeley and
it didn’t stop for the rest of the afternoon.
Saying we
moored near Armitage tunnel is a bit misleading as it is no longer a tunnel. It is thought to be the first canal tunnel in
the UK when it was opened in 1770. The
roof was removed in 1970 as the tunnel was suffering from subsidence caused by
coal mining. Now it is just a long
cutting wide enough for one boat and with a kink at the end. As there is a kink someone has to walk ahead
to make sure the way is clear and stop any boats about to come the other
way. Fun when you have to do it on your
own which I had to do twice when taking the old boat up north to swap it for
the current one and then bring it back.
We moored
by bridge 55 at Kings Bromley on Tuesday evening having covered 11 ½ miles down
three locks. Talking about miles and
locks, Karen has pointed out that I made a mistake in the last entry rather
than having 155 miles and 111 locks left to Aylesbury, I should have said 118
miles and 74 locks!
The rest
of the day was spent indoors, and we finally decided what to do with the car
when we’re in France next year. We have
been weighing up the pros and cons of various options including leaving it SORNed
for a couple of years in the UK and hiring a French car if we come home for a
holiday. We have now decided that we
will leave it in a port in France whilst we cruise and, when we pop back to the
UK, find a way of picking up.
I also got
in touch with the ropemakers at Braunston to order the remaining lines and zigzag
fenders we need for France. We will pick
these things up when we’re cruising through Braunston next Monday.
Wednesday
was our CRT boating buddy day. This
meant Adnan Saif, their West Midlands regional director, got to taste life for
a day on a narrowboat and was able to try and see things from a boater’s perspective.
He was
dropped off at the boat at nine and after our introductions and a safety (?)
chat from me we set off. We were heading for Fazeley and there were
only three locks on the journey and he and Karen did them together under her
excellent instruction.
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| Karen and Adnan getting ready to close up Wood End lock |
Other than
talking about boating, CRT and waterways we also covered some of the history of
Yemen. Adnan and his wife are both Yemenis
and it was interesting hearing about the history and the current political situation
of Yemen. In return he seemed to be
really interested in our way of life and our views on CRT, its current
direction and what we think is good and what’s bad about the organization and
its approach as a charity.
After the
three locks we arrived at Fradley junction which is usually a honey trap for
gongoozlers; today there were none to be seen.
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| Fradley junction with just Karen and Adnan in sight |
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| Waving Adnan goodbye |
While we
had been cruising in the morning, we were on the look out for kingfishers as
Adnan had never seen one. He was unlucky
I’m afraid and, ironically, we saw three in the next hour after we dropped him
off.
I’ve
probably mentioned this at least once before, but the northern stretch of the
Birmingham & Fazeley is called the Coventry because the company building
the Birmingham & Fazeley ran out of money, so the Coventry company stepped
in and paid for the final five miles to the Trent & Mersey, so they could
have the through link to those rivers and their cities.
After 13 ½
miles we were ready to retire for the evening when we arrived at Fazeley
especially as it had turned a lot colder during the afternoon.
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