The Greater Manchester crew.

Saturday 28th August:

Crew: Simon, Ellie, Ralf and Elin.

Aston Lock to Handsacre

Having car-shuffled the night before, and returned at 1am (after getting lost in the dark round Lichfield and Tamworth) Simon and Ralf weren't popular in the morning. Especially when Simon had the crew awake at 8.15 ready for a full day's cruising.

Locks were few and far between, and the miles passed as the crew marvelled at their luck with the weather. We did pass Mike and Krystina Wooding on Draco who were towing a butty northwards.  Sunshine was occasionally interrupted by the odd spit of rain from a passing cloud, but the weather held...just. Ellie and Elin had their first canal boat driving experience, with Elin's Swedish sailing experience proving useful with figuring out the steering. Ellie, however, took a little longer to get used to the reverse nature of rudder steering.

Jannock took on water at Great Haywood junction while the girls ventured to the farm-store over the bridge, returning with delicious raspberries. As we moved off, the heavens opened, so a unanimous vote decided to stop for lunch while the rain passed. A delicious quiche and a number of cinnamon rolls later, we moved on, only to find ourselves held up at each and every lock by a slow boat in front. Frustrated, Simon decided, while waiting for Colwich lock, to hover the boat on the wrong-side of the cut while the crew raided the blackberries from the bushes next to the railway - thus untouched by countless walkers beforehand.

We passed the Boaters Christian Fellowship at Taft. Although we didn't stop, Ralf thought it very admirable that the BCF had allocated part of the bank as a "Swan area", although didn't understand how the swans would read the sign to know it was intended for them!

Rugely passed without incident and finally the crew moored in Handsacre, resisting the temptation of the Fish and Chip smell that drifted down the cut. Instead, Simon was making prawn thai curry, but forgot the thai curry spices and the coconut milk (later found in the car) so had to adapt the plans using a jar of Indian Tikka sauce in the cupboard (sorry Mum!).

In the evening, after a few drinks, Ralf (being German, and a huge Uno fan - ask him about his homemade 'Speed Uno'!) discovered Oh-No-99. The rest of the evening passed amid tears of frustration as we (a) kept losing games and (b) slowly lost the ability to count reliably. Elin was judged to be convincingly the most unlucky, managing to play half the time with at least two '99' cards in her hands...

Sunday 29th August

Crew: Simon, Ellie and Ralf.

Sadly, Elin had to return to Manchester, and a few hours were spent in the rain trying to organise her journey back home. Thus, cruising only commenced at 11.30, and so the remaining crew rushed to make good progress, hampered a number of times by heavy showers. Thankfully, full waterproofs were donned and the weather passed by the time we were most of the way down the flight to Fradley Junction. Strong winds meant that Simon crashed into everything possible while trying to navigate the turn onto the Coventry canal.

Frustrated by his less-than-elegant turn and the weather, he suggested that the crew take a break for a visit to the Swan to soak up the history. Sadly, the pub was rammed full of people eating Sunday lunch, but a quiet corner was found in the tardis-like basement. Suddenly, the sun was out again, so we moved outside to the tables around the back, finished our drinks and went back to the boat to make the most of the conditions.

Sadly, the wind picked up leading to several hair-raising 'drive round the corner sideways only to find a boat in a bridgehole immediately in front of you' moments which necessitated drastic action, generally resulting in a cruise under low branches, the crew jumping into the cabin and the driver's hair left full of twigs. Some of the weeping-willows on the Coventry canal need a serious trim! Two miles from Fradley junction, Ellie said "Ah, I've left my expensive coat in the pub..." Thankfully, the Nicholson's guide came to the rescue with the Swan's phone number, so arrangement were made to collect it on Monday.

North of Hopwas, Simon was appalled to see two hire boats moored up in the wood on the off-side, right next to the signs written in big red letters saying "DANGER - LIVE FIRING RANGE. KEEP OUT!" as the children ran off into the woods. Thankfully, the boats must have noticed my critical stares and decided to move on. Ralf and Ellie were pleased to see a traditional working boat and butty also moored in the wood (in a somewhat safer place, thank goodness) before we came into Hopwas. As we passed the visitor mooring, we were told "this is the last mooring for miles" but we continued, to find a 48 hr mooring in the middle of the village. Conveniently, this was about 50m from the Tame Otter pub, which was selected for dinner, drinks, and the venue for teaching Ralf and Ellie how to play Soddit. We then decided to see whether the Red Lion (on the other side of the cut) was worth a look, but the thumping music, "Two meals for £5" offers and the drunken people playing Wii bowling on a big screen put us off. We retired to Jannock for some more drinks and another game of Soddit.

Monday 30th August

Crew: Simon, Ellie and Ralf.

Monday heralded a beautiful sunny day, without a cloud in the sky: in fact the largest object available to obscure the sun was actually the moon! We left Hopwas fairly early, hoping to reach Atherstone before it got too late, but as soon as we reached Tamworth bottom lock, found ourselves in a queue. After proceeding through the Tamworth locks, Ellie and Ralf proceeded to perfect their driving skills as we headed back into the countryside, dodging low hanging trees, and boats steaming towards bridge-holes with ease. Finally, we arrived at the final challenge: Atherstone flight. We were due to do a pumpout before hitting the flight, but the sanny station at Grendon, below Atherstone flight, didn't cater for self-pump systems. Never mind - it can be done at the top of the flight...

Since we were now running behind schedule, it was agreed that we should attack the flight while snacking at regular intervals, and then eat an early dinner before heading home. By this time, the lock crew was a well oiled machine, and we kept having to wait for the boat ahead of us to leave the lock in front. After about 2 hours, the 11 locks were completed, and Simon went to find the sanny station across the way from the top lock. However, according to the resident of the lock-keeper's cottage, this station also is unsuitable for self-pumpout, as the connection to the main sewer system has been removed. He said that the official reason for this was because careless use kept leaving it blocked, but he strongly suspected that it was simply a ploy to force self-pumping crews to spend money at boatyards to have the deed done... If that's true, that's practically criminal!

Eventually, the tired (and slightly sunburnt) crew made it to Hartshill. Simon and Ralf had - lost on the car shuffle late on Friday night - parked Simon's car in the wrong place, and so Simon wandered a further half a mile down the cut to the Anchor pub to collect it. After cleaning, tidying and packing up, it was time to leave. Just as Simon was locking up, he found the suncream...

Thank you for a pleasant weekend. We hope to see Jannock again soon!

 

Edited by Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Shugborough Hall

Sunday 22nd August

We have tried many times to visit Shugborough when passing by on the T&M but have failed for numerous reasons including it being closed or the Trent flooding the grounds. This time we decided to moor up on Saturday, lock up and take the car to visit it instead.

We arrived just before 11am and immediately visited the craft exhibits situated in the old stables between the entrance and the main house. We left here a little poorer due to the purchase of a couple of very nice turned Birch goblets which we'd watched one of being made whilst chatting to the lathe operator and his wife. We also explored the walled gardens.

We then decided we needed some sustenance before hitting the main house so we visited the restaurant and had a wonderful cooked meal. In future I would consider stopping here and wandering in from the boat just to eat an excellent meal as you would not need to pay the full admission fee to do so and the food was that good. I had game casserole whilst Brenda had a chicken breast cooked in a tarragon sauce. Both meals came with two types of potato, broccoli and parsnips. Excellent!

The estate was quite interesting being split into three sections, the main house, the servants quarters and the farm.

Brenda fell in love with the chandelier (pictured left) in the main room. We finished the visit with an ice cream and then set off for home at about 3:30.

I would recommend this visit to any passing boater even though the ticket pre-booking system is not practical, we had a great day out even at the full 'on the day' price!

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

A short penultimate day

A short run to a suitable 14 day mooring for our penultimate day on this trip. I hoped an early start would allow me to fetch the car from Stafford before it started raining - WRONG - I got a good drenching during the last two miles on the Di Blasi to Stafford Boat Club. We breakfasted on Staffordshire Oatcakes with 3 varieties of home made preserves  before passing down through Meaford flight meeting only one northbound boat at the bottom lock. Good to see the top lock gate paddle ratchet has been mended since I reported it to the BW guy at Etruria last Monday. We continued down through Stone locks and then stopped to visit Aston Marina for a look see. They have a very good butchers stocking unusual meats like goat and venison as well as a deli and a selection of wines and local beers for sale in their farm shop. The prices in the shop were not of a Lidl standard but the selection of stock was high quality including upmarket ready meals available in frozen or chilled form. I got a couple of frozen croisants and chocolatines for tomorrows breakfast from their self service section. Laundrette facilities are also available to passing boaters with £3 giving you a wash and dry. We didn't check out the Bistro menu as MegaPixie has promised me a tinned Fray Bentos steak and ale pie (eat your heart out Beeky!) for dinner tonight but the establishment was very busy. We then moored up and I got the car ready for tomorrow's visit to Shugborough on the way home. Simon will be using Jannock next weekend so say hello if you see them.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

'F'ingberry Jam

We started the day trying to pre-book tickets to visit Shugborough on Sunday. The saving was attractive however you have to collect booked tickets from Stafford theatre and the box office doesn't open on a Sunday. Useless then if you are unable to get into Stafford, no deal if you can only make Sunday, canal visitors forget it, you'll have to pay full price.

This morning we 'caused' blackberry rage! Having spotted an abundance of the blighters on the off-side we pulled over, only to find we were being followed by two other boats. There was plenty of room so we waved them by whilst hanging onto a substantial tree. As they passed us another boat arrived heading the other way. I signaled that he should stop for the overtakers. As they passed us they asked if we were OK, could they help? We explained we were harvesting blackberries and then reversed a bit after they had passed to allow the other boat a bit more room. As he came past his comments were frankly unprintable, suggesting we make up our effing minds  and why let effing boats overtake there (on a wide straight stretch?) Our explanation that when we pulled over we didn't realise there were boats behind us caused more expletives. He passed us with plenty of room and more profanities. We can only hope he has the good fortune  to meet inexperienced boaters in excessively long boats on tight and shallow bends during his trip on the Caldon ;^)

If the owner of the rather smart jacket that I had to clear off our prop after passing through Ivy House lift bridge would like to contact us I'll tell him which skip it resides in at Etruria.

On arrival at Planet lock we discovered that Cap'n expletive had caused some nasty paintwork damage to the first of the overtaking boats when they passed each other. We also had difficulty working all three boats through due to an obstruction behind the towpath lower gate and so I notified the lengths man at Etruria when we stopped for water. We saw that the Bywater hotel boats had winded at Etruria and we pointed back up the Caldon so there is hope for a spectacular meeting with Cap'n expletive as well as the boat they damaged yesterday.

We stopped for the evening at Oldroad bridge near the Wedgewood factory. I managed to polish the whole of Jannock's starboard side and Brenda made four pounds of blackberry jam before the rain set in.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

We beat the rain again ;^)

Yet another very peaceful night, is it our overnight mooring choice or Jannock's new(ish) double glazing having this effect? We breakfasted whilst watching squirrels in the trees opposite gathering food whilst dangling precariously over the river. We then set off up the Churnet by 10 am, passing through Cheddleton and Denford before finally stopping at Park Lane Sani. Stn. where I used the wonderful shower facilities. Whilst we were moored there another boater was busy taking note of all of the BW telephone numbers he could find on the notice board. It would appear that he has been struck by the butty Karmataka, of the Bywater Hotel boat pair, and had suffered serious damage. He was most miffed that they had not stopped or shown any concern at all despite their guests bracing themselves for the impact. I gave him our 2009 copy of the Waterways World annual which contained all their contact details. Above Stockton Brook locks we happened across a BW volunteer work party busy clearing undergrowth from the bankside and tarting up the lock with fresh white paint. They had a tug and lighter which was blocking the bridge-hole on our arrival. They moved out and beckoned us forward without realising that another BW work-boat was ascending the top lock and we would have no-where to go if we'd moved forward. Brenda finally got Jannock through and into the lock once the other work-boat had come out through the bridge. We continued on to stop for the night at Milton and had moored up and moved inside just before it started raining hard and two hours later it is still doing so.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

What? The Black Lion is shut!

Wednesday 18th August

Last night's mooring near Denford aqueduct was so quiet that we had a lazy start this morning. Round to the junction and then a very tight turn into the three Hazelhurst locks and back to Denford again. We continued on through Cheddleton locks and then stopped just after Basford bridge to go in search of a post-box. Mission accomplished we returned to Jannock and had lunch during a very heavy rainstorm. After lunch we continued on to Consall Forge where it rained again as we arrived. We filled the water tank and then winded and moored up for the night. The Black Lion has a sign on the door saying they will be closed all day Wednesday due to a planned power outage by their REC for some tree trimming work up the hillside. Luckily I have it on good authority that they will be opening in the evening so I'll still get my dinner ;^)

All afternoon during our run down from Cheddleton and our stay here there has been a DMU and a steam hauled train passing back and forth on the Churnet Valley Railway.

The Black Lion opened at 6:30 in the evening but were not serving their usual menu. They were only doing filled baps and baguettes so we ordered and added chips and onion rings to bulk it out into a main meal. We need not have bothered with the extras for when the hot beef baguette arrived it was about 15" long and really loaded which made it a lot to eat. We both had great difficulty in finishing our meals and felt totally bloated in the end. Brenda tried the 7% rum matured cider whilst I stuck to Celtic Gold bitter although I did finish the evening with a pint of Dartmoor IPA. We definitely recommend this establishment now it is in new hands.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Quiz night at the Holly Bush

Tuesday 17th August

Well ...... last week, whilst at home, we had a text message from BW telling us that Jannock had been reported as showing an out of date mooring licence and how much money we needed to send to rectify the problem quick sharp. I rang the sender and explained that I only paid for a BW EOG mooring for the winter months when Jannock is at her mooring and spent the summer weekending around the system and not on my mooring. The BW person on the end of the phone found it very confusing as their computer did not specify my mooring as winter only. I suggested that as they had seen the boat on the Shropshire Union then it was unlikely to be a summer mooring either.

So ...... should we now ring her again and tell her that boat registration number 4000196 on the Caldon is showing an out of date licence (by 4 months now) and no mooring licence at all. It is after all one of theirs! (We know it doesn't need a mooring licence as it is a workboat - but fair's fair) The next one we passed, not 30 minutes later, was 'Not Displaying' at all.  Come on BW, you make the rules!

We thought we'd go as far as possible along the Leek branch, moor up and then enjoy the delights of Leek on the morrow (market day apparently). We went through the tunnel, winded and then found no free moorings, they were all occupied. Two hire boats were locked up and abandoned to we thought they might move on before too long but they was no-where to wait for their return. So, having abandoned all shopping plans, we returned towards the junction and moored for the night by the aqueduct so that I could get some work done on Jannock (repack stern tube, adjust neutral switch and radio aerial filter) when the hire boats cruised past - Bah Humbug!

After dinner we went for a walk and wandered into the Holly Bush for a drink where we ended up helping a local quiz team, well joining it really! Brain cells were lubricated by a delicious perry straight from the barrel and Theakston's Grouse Beater. After the quiz Hot Staffordshire Oatcakes stuffed with cheese were served, a very pleasant evening.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

The sun came out today

Our timing was perfect as we set off, the locks set by a boat coming down but not taken by the boat that followed us closely. We met Will Chapman on Quiditch and had another 'bobbing about' chat. At Etruria we set off to find the Pakistani shop recommended by the Gecko crew. We found it and bought more snacks than we should, savoury and sweet. Note to Geckos :- we got Citric Acid there, no questions asked. Onto the Caldon, spotting lush blackberry bushes ready for jam making. As we approached Milton we saw an advertising hoarding for the Millrace pub "Home Cooked Food". Himself, in the hope of a beer, offered to treat me to supper. We entered a rather nice pub ( turn left if you don't want huge TV), ordered a rather nice pint and a menu. "We dont serve anything other than a hot pie or baps" was the response. We pointed out that the canalside notice said otherwise. "Gets the punters here" was the answer. Mine host did recommend the local Indian so we went there instead. Head South from the canal bridge, through most of the village and it's in the old bank premises at the traffic lights. (For chippie turn right at the lights) We had a super meal, the veg was fresh even in the curries, real indian deserts were available and we had to turn down the complementary drinks as we'd eaten so well. They do take-aways too! info at http://www.spice-exchange.net

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

A day for meeting friends

I started the morning carrying out a repair to the TV aerial system and Peter and Margaret stopped for a chat as they were on their way out for the day. Repair completed we set off North to join a 4 boat queue for Hoo Mill lock. Near Weston we met Brenda and Brian (BCNS) heading south so hovered stern to stern midstream whilst catching up on a whole years gossip. Above Aston lock moored nb Red Admiral was displaying a Cutweb sticker but there didn't appear to be any sign of life aboard. At Stone we met a newby who was causing a 4 boat traffic jam at the approach to Star lock. His in-experience was due to the fact that he'd just picked up his latest Ebay purchase - an old narrowboat - and as he'd no experience or knowledge he was regretting his purchase already.  Buyer beware par excellence. We hailed Nigel aboard ndb Enseabee as we slowly passed by on our way out of town before finally mooring for the night before Meaford locks. Here I fitted the new bicycle rack that I've fabricated for the stern rail and chained the bike onto it before retiring for the night. Brenda tested her new (to replace the one broken during Matt's cruise) slow cooker and did an excellent joint of beef ready for when we moored up. Delicious.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Jannock heads back to the Caldon

Saturday 14th August

We arrived at Stafford Boat Club during a showery period and so spent a couple of hours getting Jannock ship shape after Matt's cruise. En-route from home we visited Aldi in Cannock to get some bread as Brenda had left her newly made loaf at home. Whilst there she was tempted by their "half chicken in Piri Piri sauce" from the chiller cabinet. 20 minutes in the oven and we can heartily recommend it as an affordable tasty treat. Our plans to do the Severn and Avon have been shelved in preference for a peaceful return to the Calden which will place the boat in a suitable location for Simon to use her over the bank holiday weekend. I reversed Jannock back to the winding hole and turned her whilst we chatted to Ann (nb Margarita) and her husband who had wandered across from their boat to introduce themselves. Nice to finally put a face to a Canals list poster. We set off North towards Tixhall wide with hopes of being able to moor there but all spaces were occupied and so we continued on to Great Haywood where we moored bow to bow with nb Gecko. Peter and Margaret joined us for an enjoyable evening before we finally called it a night at midnight.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Biscuit Pirates and other Ne'er Do Wells hoist the Jammie Dodger.

Crew: Mat - Cap’n Garibaldi, Robin- Custard Cream. Ben - pirate Bourbon Benji,

Jonny - Fleet Commander Fox's and newly pressed Varney- pirate Nice.

Saturday 31st July

Here you will find the tales...nay the chronicles of the Biscuit Pirates. My crew travelled hard and far to meet at the good ol' tub Jannock. (Thanks Dad) With an 'argh' and a 'hoorah' we set off just as the cruel Mistress Drizzle backed off. Me crew looked like an untrustworthy bunch of landlubbers, and they are, but they took to the seas extraordinarily. Five locks later we came to shore after already having stopped for a flaggon earlier. (could have been worse, could have been a floggin'. ed.)We were enticed by the mystical arse tree (pics to follow). Drinks and joviality were to be had late into the night, with a few falling over mishaps (Ben).

Biscuits consumed: fig rolls, custard creams, Fox's crunch, malted milk, cookies.

Sunday 1st August

We set out for our first real voyage, a whole day of cruising, yargh! A flight of 20 locks lay ahead. After some hours of cruising and near enough 20 locks we sighted land and set ashore for a carvery and a beer at the pirate friendly Bridge Inn. With full bellies and an eye full of norks we boarded our vessel for the last locks and started looking for a place to weigh anchor. Pirate Nice (pronounced niece, it's a biscuit see? ed.)was initiated to the helm and once he'd learned left from left (right) he was as scurvy as the scurviest of sea/cut dawgs. We went ashore certain of an evening of rum and liars' dice. Yargh!!!

Biscuits consumed: Hobnobs, Bourbons, Pink wafers, cookies.

Monday 2nd August

We started the day off with 2 locks and bacon and brie sandwiches made by Fleet Commander Fox's. After that we cruised for a few hours to find many deep locks, none of which the Cap'n couldn't handle. We travelled through a very gray town and by about 7 we decided to moor up after we saved a girl from a silty, watery grave. Yargh! Pirate Nice cooked up a BBQ on the bank, 24 burgers and 8 sausages. We then sat and watched the sun set with a few beers until retiring for some gambling and more beers. It was a good day yargh.

Biscuits disposed of: 1 pack Jaffa cakes, 2 of Bourbons, custard creams and cookies.

Tuesday 3rd August

Today began with the usual cheer of 'Yargh!' from all of the crew before setting sail for Heartbreak Hill. many a double lock was encountered along the way, but each was made light work by the skilled crew. We stopped to pillage the wares possessed by the folks at Lock 57 and had ourselves some drinks and merriment at the nearby pub. Though we were tempted to loot and plunder the establishment for failing to provide food for our bellies we decided to try our remaining meat and eggs. Chef Jonny (Fox's)was displaying his fine cooking skills again. Later that evening pirate Bourbon Benji cooked up a mean lasagne to quench our thirst for meat and cheese. The evening ended with cards, beer and more cheer. (wot, no biscuits? ed.)

Wed 4th August

Me crew were up 'n at 'em early on a flea-bitten, extremely wet day. Leaving port at about 10.00 hrs the locks started immediately and clad in ship's waterproofs even these were made light work of. Captain Garibaldi piloted Harecastle Tunnel, claiming to be the responsible adult, ya-har-hargh! Landlubbers be easily fooled. Bourbon Benji left a souvenir, in the form of the magic light-box that requires neither gas nor candle. (That'll be Jannock's emergency zillion candle-power tunnel torch then ed.) A quick resupply of water after the tunnel was followed by a well deserved lunch of leftover lasagne with extra pasta mixed in. Lots of cruising and locks led us to turn into the Caldon Canal. It's extremely windy and quite nasty to start with but don't let that put you off. It's quite Birminghamesque but soon turns picturesque and nice and lovely. We stopped on a precarious mooring in order to be as close to the pub as possible. Good thing too as yet again we left with bellies full o' grub and eyes full of norks.

Thurs 5th Aug.

Our day began with the usual stirring of bodies at half 9ish. We set of fairly promptly after a walk to the local Co-op for more biscuity supplies. We pressed on down the Caldon at a good pace. The scenery kept on getting better throughout the day. A short lift given to some kids who really wanted to go on a real canal boat was granted after having spoken to a parent on the phone to make sure it was OK. As we passed more and more scenes of nice traditional buildings to do with the flint and limestone industries of the past, including a waterwheel, we were oblivious to the haven around the corner. The most amazing pub, 'The Black Lion' was the centre for our amusement, surrounded by lush, dense forest the pub is set back from a railway as well as the cut. Chickens roam the garden as well as crazy regulars. The cider selection was AMAZING. Both the rum and whiskey casked scrumpies were favourite @ 7.5% with the strongest being Ruby Soozie @ 10.5%. Black Hole, a local bitter/stout also comes highly recommended. We met a nice couple from the elder generation, called Andy and Liz who live aboard their boat. An extremely comical pair that we all got on extremely well with. So after Bourbon Benji had finished destroying the train station - you can't take him anywhere - we returned to the boat and ended up drinking the night away chatting rubbish with Andy and Liz, and offering Varney up for adoption.

Friday 6th Aug

The day began with a hefty hangover shared by all after much cloudy cider. We gave our last goodbyes to Liz and Andy and set off back down the Caldon. We made it all the way to civilization only to get a huge chunk of carpet around the prop. After pulling it out we made our way down the Trent and Mersey. We pushed as hard as we could to catch up on lost time, testament to this was catching up with a boat that had left half a day before us. A way down the Trent and Mersey we came to a section of canal with high concrete walls where we opened up the full power of the mighty Jannock. We finally moored up, had a few drinks, some card games and some more biscuties (sic) followed by bed.

Saturday 7th Aug.

With the holiday approaching the end we made haste to reach our destination before dark. Again the temporary crew of Jannock sprung into life to ensure we got there in plenty of time. Once again we encountered our Anglo-Irish friends whom we had overtaken and been overtaken by many times throughout the course of the week. Clearly we had the locking down to fine art! Once again Jonny organised a lovely pizza lunch which was consumed on the move to save time. After another few hours of steady cruising, and overtaking, dinner followed courtesy of Robin, a very cheesy affair. Soon we found ourselves at our destination, The Stafford Boat Club. We met with the folk at the club, all very friendly and hospitable, had some drinks at an extremely reduced price and talked about the events of the past week. An immensely enjoyable week had by all.

Almost two weeks ago.

I've been so busy recently that I forgot to post the report for two weeks ago - Ooooops!

Saturday 17th July

It was raining when we arrived at Jannock and so we took our time preparing for the off and finally pulled the pins at 12:15. We immediately found ourselves 'piggy in the middle' in a three boat convoy until Cap'n Slow stopped at Gnosall. Brenda declared today to be 'National Peering into Windows Day'. A young girl passenger on a southbound dayboat exclaimed "They've got beds in their boat - it's not fair because we haven't" as they passed. We continued onto Norbury wharf where we stopped for diesel (59.9ppl plus tax at whatever rate you want to declare), a pumpout and a waterfill during which another gongoozler inspected inside every window from stern to bow exclaiming "this boat is just like a small house, it's even got a kitchen".  That is the problem with large windows on a narrowboat which I'm sure porthole owners do not suffer from. The BW service block at Norbury is excellent with ironing board, shower, loos and a bookswap.  We then continued on to Bridge 42 at High Offley so that we could pay our first ever visit to the Anchor where we spent an enjoyable evening with the locals which involved stories and songs, mostly about the Anchor and themselves.

Sunday 18th July.

We continued North out into the countryside, across Shebdon embankment until we found a suitable 14 day mooring where we pegged in and I then went to collect the car. Brenda had done a meal which we ate on my return before loading all of our stuff into the car ready for the homeward journey.

No. 2 son, Matt, and his crew will be using Jannock for the first week of August when they intend to travel up to Barbridge, across to Middlewich and then head South down the Trent and Mersey. Say Hello if you come across them and let me know if they're not behaving themselves. Also keep your biscuits hidden ;^)

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

No boating but 2 micro-GiGs

On Monday Brenda and I travelled to Woolhampton for an evening meet up with Bruce and Sheila (nb Sanity Again) in order to deliver some papers, enjoy a pint in the Rowbarge and inspect their new home. We had a great evening of chat and catch-up which ended with a cup of tea before we left for home and my early work start on Tuesday morning.

 

Wednesday we collected Matt and drove to Salford for son Simon's (pictured) second graduation at the Lowry centre. Pomp and ceremony over, we headed into town for a meal and then walked through Castlefields on our way to Knotts bar to top up the beer levels. We spotted nb Gecko moored in the basin with no-one aboard. I tried ringing Peter but no reply so left a note in the cratch and sent him a text. This was responded to and so he and Margaret (aka She Who Must Be Obeyed ;^) came and joined for a chat before heading back to Gecko after an evening on the town.

 

Back to boating on Saturday, our last before Matt uses her for a holiday with his mates.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Sorry for the re-post

I deleted a lot of spam from the Blogger site in-box and managed to delete the latest post - so I've had to repost it!

 

In response to the comment posted by Tom - thanks for the info about Selly Oak hospital. Unfortunately your comment was deleted when the linked post went into the void.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

A rapidly diminishing three days.

Friday 2nd July

I took leave today to get an extra days boating in but ended up volunteering to get a tooth removed after the previous three days of excruciating pain. Consequently we didn't leave home to travel to Jannock until 2pm.

We arrived and unloaded and set off North towards Kinver where we stopped to fill the water tank (the rest of the service block is still out of use). Although the boss reckoned I should be on light duties I decided to wash the towpath side of Jannock whilst we waited for the tank to fill - which included the removal of an extended family of slugs that had moved onto the blacking at the last mooring. We then moved out into the woods North of Hyde lock before settling for a night amongst the tweeting and shrieking of mother nature. So much for peaceful countryside ;^)

Brenda prepared an excellent meal of braised duck, saute' ed potatoes and crushed petit pois au Cannes (OK - tinned mushy peas) It was very scary as nigh on 20 ducks turned up and were definitely giving us the evil eye as we munched ours.

Saturday 3rd July

We awoke to a lovely sunny morning and set off after breakfast at 9am. We had no queuing at any lock, not even the Bratch (Wow- turn up and straight in!), until we approached Wightwick lock below Compton. Here  we found a Hudson boat reversing back up through the lock as they had missed the winding hole above it. We decided to continue onto the Shroppie as we were so early rather than stopping at Compton as planned. At Oxley we said Hello to Orph but didn't see Wendy at all although Felus Catus II was open.

At Autherley junction Brenda went ahead to operate the lock and ended up joining a 'steering committee' of three people advising a newby hirer how to get his boat around the tight turn onto the Northbound S&W. Once through the stoplock we travelled up under the M54 and moored for the night on one of the S.U.C.S 48 hour moorings.

Sunday 4th July

Bird of the day - a very splendid Jay

A quiet night, a quiet breakfast and then off. Most of the canal traffic today was Southbound and we were lucky to meet most in the pounds rather than in bridgeholes. I was hoping to do a diesel fill at Wheaton Aston but they are not open on Sundays and as all the local moorings are 48hour we couldn't leave Jannock there till next weekend. We moved on in an increasing wind until we found a suitable 14 day mooring and stopped. Whilst we were eating our lunch a hirer scraped past, having had to move over to avoid an oncoming boat he then got caught by the wind and successfully clouted three out of three moored boats. The first boat owner gave him a right mouthful. We just shrugged shoulders and by the time he'd hit the third boat his wife was desperately trying to hide her head under the slide in embarrassment. Luckily the owner of that boat didn't mind either s shame on the prawn on boat 1.

It was good to see a charity bike ride go through - Helly to Selly(?) in aid of Help for Heroes. Not so good to see kids on motorbikes whizzing up and down the towpath in both directions. They were certainly underage, so uninsured, so heaven help anyone who became 'inconvenienced' by them.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Fathers Day on the Stour Cut

We left a nice clean shiny Jannock at Stourport last weekend and in the week it rained. We arrived to find a really dirty Jannock. It's not 100% water ,that rain, it's 30% mud I reckon.

A beautiful day with the addition of a cooling wind. The canal and it's countryside corridor is very pretty hereabouts and we've awarded Kidderminster the most aesthetically improved town since 1999. OK, the improvements are basically retail parks and housing estates but they look better than the decaying industry that bordered the cut when we last passed through. However we still mourn the demise of manufacturing industry in the UK, those that spawned and were serviced by the canals we love. Some of the old canalside buildings have been re-styled very well. Kidderminster lock took the art prize. There are superb murals depicting a young male face of the 20s, 40s, 60s, 80s, 2000 and 2000+ all along the wall under the long bridge before the lock. Watch out Banksy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have dug out a photo taken when we did this route in Lacewing during 1999, the last year we hired before buying Jannock and have put it here with one taken on Sunday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued North passing through some quite deep locks (I didn't remember them being that deep) and moored on a 14 day mooring so that I could go and fetch the car from Stourport. On my return Brenda had prepared dinner and so we ate, washed up, closed up and set off homewards. A crying shame as the weather is so nice at the moment.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

A bit of river for a change

You know you've been busy when you find yourself updating the blog for last weekend on the Friday evening of the following weekend - Oh well, I can blame 3 days in Glasgow and a funeral for that.

Saturday 12th June

Today, Jannock has mostly been attacked by an ASBO swan defending his mate and new brood from the nasty narrowboats. We started off from Oddingly and almost immediately came across Idleness moored just south of bridge 25. I spoke to the skipper who asked me to pass on his best wishes to the last owner when I next see him. It was then between the two Bilford locks that we came across the angry father of 3 very young 'ugly ducklings'. Not content with hissing and biting the rear fender he took to flapping down the cut like a demented ecranoplan and then gaining enough height to swoop down at the steerer who was suitably scared.  Definitely an example of extreme family protection duty. Having survived that we continued down into Worcester and joined a queue for Blockhouse lock. I spoke to a BW guy there, who was cutting the towpath hedge, and enquired about the provision of 14 day moorings in Worcester. He advised that the only suitable moorings were here immediately above the lock and so we reversed Jannock past the three boats already on the moorings and pegged in up stream of them. I then went and fetched the car from Oddingly whilst Brenda went to mourn the Royal Worcester works (still cursing because she didn't have time to do the tour last time we were here in 1999) and wandered into the  Commandery shop. A ceramics artist and lecturer was demonstrating his technique there but due to a lack of customers Brenda managed to get a one-to-one demonstration as well as a good long chat. Whilst I was driving back to Worcester in the car I spoke to Matt and arranged for him to feed the cats overnight so that we didn't have to go home. I then continued on to a handy car parking spot at Ombersley, half way to Stourport, and returned to Jannock on the Di Blasi again. Brenda quickly accepted the change of plan as nice weather was forecast for Sunday. In the evening we went on a walk around Worcester finishing up in an excellent Thai restaurant for a meal before returning to the boat.

 

Sunday 13th June

We awoke from a good sleep at a quiet mooring and set off down through Blockhouse and Sidbury locks into Diglis basin. As I was setting the top lock a CanalClub boat cast off and joined us down through both locks onto the river. We entered the river just as the rain started, not too heavy but just enough to dull Brenda's pictures of Worcester from the river. Well done to all the cheery souls who were doing a 'Walk-for-Life'.  A lovely sea of Pink. Ooh-er missus - quote of the day! Brenda saw a group all dressed in tu-tus & bunny ears and said she'd like to get a photo of them as we passed under the bridge. My comment - "you can take them from behind!" and then I was confused because she laughed so much! We had a lovely day on the river including being over taken by a ladies coxless four at full pelt. Once we passed through the first lock it became fairly quiet boatwise and we shared all next two locks with the CanalClub boat as well. After leaving the last lock, following our partner, a large gin palace pulled out from its mooring and rushed past both of us towards Stourport. When we arrived at the entrance of the Stour cut, who should we find moored on the lock landing? Yes Cap'n gin palace. Brenda eased Jannock's bow into the bottom gates so that I could jump ashore and start setting the lock. I then spoke to Cap'n gin palace pointing out that there was another boat approaching who would need to stop on the lock landing. He pulled his boat back about 4 foot and then sat there drinking whilst watching the poor CanalClub boat flap about in mid-stream until Brenda took Jannock into the bottom lock and he could bring his boat up to the bottom gates. It was lucky that Mr CanalClub had more experienced boaters about as he had not come across a staircase lock in his previous 8 years hiring and started lifting paddles before we had left the lock he was emptying. We navigated our way through the basin to find another boat (narrow this time) moored on the lock landing for York Street lock right alongside the "No Mooring unless........... " sign. We just managed to get in front of him but let another boat who had just finished watering up on the opposite bank go into the lock first. Whilst we waited for a southbound boat to descend the owner of the narrowboat on the lock landing then took his dog for walkies whilst our CanalClub friends were once again floundering about trying to find somewhere to wait for the lock. As Jannock ascended the lock the aforementioned illiterate boater, and his dog, was sat enjoying a cuppa in the cafe garden alongside the lock. One word sprang to mind!  Ho hum!  We pulled over to moor on a 14 day mooring just as the weather failed us and the heavens opened. Luckily it stopped by the time I was ready to fetch the car from Ombersley.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

The six mile cycle ride

We were only doing Saturday on Jannock this weekend and when we arrived at Stoke Prior I parked the car near the lock to make loading the Di Blasi onto the boat easier. We walked across the yard to find Jannock now had two more boats moored offside of her. We opened up and prepared to leave and then extricated Jannock from within the other two boats without the lass doing the turn-round on Robin (the most offside boat) even realising what had happened. Another Black Prince boat was ascending the lock and so Brenda expertly reversed back to collect me once I had secured the other two boats into our vacated slot. Having said our farewells to John Lucas at B.P. we then passed down through Stoke Bottom lock and set off towards the Astwood flight. Past Stoke Works where Jannock was built by J L Pinder & sons back in 1996 and straight into a fishing match. Fortunately there were only about a dozen rods of a very pleasant disposition which was a rare treat as they chatted and joked with Brenda as we went past them. The trusty lock wheeling bike was brought out to speed us down through the flight picking up a dozen free range eggs for £1.50p at the lock keepers cottage en-route. On past Hanbury wharf and through Dunhampstead tunnel before finding a suitable 14 day mooring and pegging in. It was at this point that I realised that I had not loaded the Di Blasi onto Jannock whilst passing through Stoke Bottom lock and so I had to cycle the 6 miles back to the car to fetch it. Not a good thing to do on such a warm day but luckily we hadn't travelled further.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Two fine days

Sunday 30th May

We went to Crick show by car for a day out. What a change to do it in the dry weather.  No queues to get in and then was asked by Sean to steer Laplander for a couple of test runs up and down the marina before he got all the Presidents men to come and play. Luckily I was wearing a white T shirt under my nice white shirt so I stripped off the top layer to let the T shirt cope with the inevitable smoke stack smuts and then changed again afterwards so that I didn't look too spotty whilst visiting the rest of the show. Didn't spend too much money but got some good ideas.

 

Monday 31st May

With the able assistance of our neighbour Bob we have mostly been descending Tardebigge flight. We left Alvechurch and passed through the two tunnels before arriving above the top lock. I have done this route before but never really noticed how the 580yd Tardebigge tunnel is mostly unlined with bricks being carved out of solid rock. I'll make sure I've got a good torch alongside the steering position when we next pass through to get a good look. We had a good run down the 29 locks in the flight following two other boats so Bob elected himself as lockwheeler and went ahead setting the next one ready whilst I worked Jannock through. A pause for a boat ascending the flight allowed us to eat the pre-prepared lunch and completed the flight in about 3 hours meeting a total of three boats coming the other way. We wanted to moor below the flight but the towpath was very wet due to excess water overflowing from the cut so we continued on down through five of Stoke Prior flight. As we were filling the bottom lock I popped into the Black Prince office for a chat with John Lucas who immediately offered us a mooring for the week in his yard. Now that's what I call after sales service as it is now almost 10 years since we bought Jannock (previously Powys) from him.  Brenda was amused by the Duck castle located in their yard, fit for any MPs property! We ate dinner before closing up and heading home once I had fetched the car from Alvechurch.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

A few pictures from this Spring

  

President and Kildare at Cosgrove

 

 

Looking back down Lapworth

 

Adder passes us on the Northern Stratford

 

Doing a pumpout at Kings Norton

 

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

What a difference the sun makes ;^)

Saturday 22nd May

We arrived at Jannock and I immediately moved the car to an easier parking location after unloading. Started her up and moved for 2 minutes onto the waterpoint to refill the tank and wash down the port side to try and remove some of the ash cloud that seems to have settled on our boat. Then off up the G.U. to Lapworth junction where we turned left and then right onto the North Stratford and the eighteen locks of the Lapworth flight that we had to pass through today. As we rounded the bend and approached lock 14 we espied two Alvechurch boats heading down the flight, the second boat was emptying it's lock before the one in front had started filling his and so a lot of water was being wasted over the weirs. We passed the first boat between 14 and 13 and then noticed the second was winding in the side moorings below lock 12 so we sat tight in lock 13 and watched with interest whilst consuming an ice cream I purchased from the shop alongside. They finally managed to turn and so we then followed them all the way up to above lock 6 where they moored up for lunch. One of their crew obviously felt guilty about the delay and so he back emptied for us to make the road slightly better. There was a definite shortage of water above lock 10 with the bottom being too close to the top even for Jannock.

It was a really beautiful day weatherwise. Brenda had never noticed before how luscious Wisteria smells when in full bloom. Amongst all the meadow flowers I spotted a Jay in bright spring plumage. We finally moored for the night just after Earlswood MYC in the wooded cutting, immediately below an Oak tree. A very peaceful mooring with plenty of wildlife to watch whilst relaxing in the cool of the evening. No sign of the badgers in what looked like a sett in the opposite bank before I finally retired to bed.

Sunday 23rd May

Blimey - two dry sunny days in a row, this must be summer 2010. An un-eventful day's cruise, after sweeping all the caterpillar droppings off the roof, with a self pumpout at Kings Norton being the highlight of the day. Even the fishermen were pleasant, especially the one who hauled in a goodly sized fish immediately in front of us as we passed him. Wasts Hill tunnel was wetter at the Southern end although the steerer didn't resort to a brolly like Braunston. Finally moored up on a 14 day mooring, after a pizza lunch on the move, and I returned to Lapworth on the Di Blasi to fetch the car whilst Brenda packed and tidied ready to go home. Wouldn't it be nice if this weather stays for the bank holiday weekend next week - I quite fancy a day at Crick, haven't been for many years now.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Soddit Cruise #1 2010

Saturday 15th May

Having settled in on the Friday evening by playing 5 games of Soddit before retiring to bed the crew of three (yes, we are missing one abscondee) stirred into action with a couple of bacon sarnies before setting off from Long Itchenden towards Warwick. We shared the first six locks with a Canalboat Club craft but then changed partners when it's crew decided to stop for breakfast. Luckily there was a single boat (Victoriann) following us down the locks so we waited and let them join us for the last three locks down to the bottom pound. We stopped for lunch and a session of non-contact fishing after Bull bridge and then continued on through Leamington and Warwick to the Cape locks which we passed up through solo. Above Cape we paused for a short chat with Kev Day who was moored on the visitor moorings there, we met him last year on the BCN Explorer cruise. As we were quite early we decided to start ascending the Hatton flight (last completed by Brenda and I in 2007) and passed through the bottom lock solo following a solo hire boat who was in the lock above. I sent Ian to let them know we were following and to try and get them to wait but they were chasing their friends who were also going up solo one lock in front. They paired up and having followed them up three locks we decided to stop for the night above lock 30. Whilst waiting for dinner to cook the evening entertainment was provided by Saffron the spaniel who, ignoring her owner, leapt into the canal and proceeded to chase a mother duck and her brood of 13 ducklings up and down the pound until she wore herself out. Throughout this Saffron's owner was desperately trying to coax the single minded dog across to the bank to haul her out  but Saffron was having none of it. She finally gave in and submitted herself to the bank to be un-ceremoniously dragged from the cut and taken home. We ate Paella (without Saffron in it ;^) and then played another 4 games of Soddit before calling it a night at 11:30.

Sunday 16th May

I had intended to arise early and fetch the car from Long Itch. but the persistent rain on the roof at 5:30 and then 6:00 convinced me to stay in bed and collect the car later. As we untied to start the next 16 locks of Hatton flight I noticed a single boat coming up lock 30 and so we waited until Black Velvet joined us before making remarkable progress up the rest of the flight meeting only 3 southbound boats. As we ascended through the top lock Brian had Land of Hope and Glory playing loudly on Jannock's stereo much to the amusement of the gongoozlers present. We celebrated with an icecream from the cafe before passing, and saying farewell to, the moored Black Velvet crew and continuing on. Another rendition of Land of Hope and Glory followed by the Dambusters march saw us pass through Shrewley Tunnel with applause from a southbound boat. Crisis on the provisions front - the Vale beer supply has run out midday on Sunday. The only fish seen all weekend was in the Paella last night. We  moored up on a 14 day mooring and had dinner before I went and fetched the car. Surprisingly we had no rain all weekend other than that experienced during the early hours of Sunday morning although it could have been a lot warmer without that strong wind.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

What a difference a day makes

Saturday 8th May

We arrived at Jannock during persistent light rain and so spent the first couple of hours sealing the joints on the new secondary double glazing. Once this was completed we set off in the drizzle and followed an ABC hireboat through Braunston tunnel. We smelt the booze aboard the second southbound boat we met before they had even reached us mid tunnel, they were partying big-time and making a lot of noise in the process. We shared the flight with the ABC crew - it was their first ever lock and so Brenda and I turned into instructors. By the third lock Brenda had their steerer running parallel with Jannock between locks whilst another member of their crew was setting ahead - Result! Out of the flight and through the melee of boats commonly known as Braunston till we espied Draco and Allsorts moored on the towpath together. We pulled alongside for a chat with Mike and Krystina for a while before heading down to the junction and turning left towards Napton. We moored for a very peaceful night, at bridge 102 near Flecknoe, after a very cold and wet day.

Sunday 9th May

I was up at 6am and went to fetch the car from Welton to move it to tonights destination. We breakfasted on my return and then cast off in nice sunshine accompanied by a cold north easterly wind. As the sun got stronger and the clouds became fewer the wind also dropped - what a difference from yesterday. We did the top two locks at Calcutt solo but the boat in front waited for us to share the third lock with them. We though this bode well for Stockton flight but they announced they were returning to their mooring in Calcutt marina - shame. Today must be 'Charity activity' day because whilst we were descending the flight solo we had a charity bike ride coming up the hill and a charity "Hula" walk going down. We got into a good rhythm and completed the flight in 1hr 15 mins. We pulled onto the water point opposite the Blue Lias and enjoyed a chat with Sean, who was supposed to be painting Laplander, whilst the tank filled. We then went down the next lock and passed Virgo where there was evidence of the cat being at home but no Guy. We finally moored up on 14 day moorings ready for a Soddit cruise next weekend, had a meal and then headed for home.

 

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

A veeerrry cold day in May

We arrived at Jannock and were off, heading North, by 9:45. By eck it's cold at tiller. There was a very strong northerly wind that cut right through and within the hour insult was added to injury by the first downpour. The weather forecasters obviously got it wrong when they stated Monday would be the best day for weather during the bank holiday weekend. We cruised up through Bugbrooke, Heyford and Weedon with very little to comment on until we reached Buckby locks. The boat that had been following us since Heyford decided to wind between Diamond bridge (19) and Muscot Mill Bridge (18) and so it looked as though we would be doing another flight solo. Every lock had lots of foamy bubbles floating in it which multiplied when the paddles were opened. Brenda discovered that if she squashed the foam between the boat and the offside lock wall she could shoot it about using the exhaust as she left the lock. We met three southbound boats but also had two downpours during the flight and my waterproofs were wet inside as well as out because I was so warm working the flight. Finally cleared the top lock by just after 3pm and moored up for the next four days. Did a Di Blasi run back to Gayton (17 miles) to collect the car and then had dinner aboard Jannock before setting off homeward.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

A good workout at Stoke Bruerne

We arrived at Cosgrove just after 10am and I prepared Jannock and moved her up to the lock whilst Brenda chatted to the couple bringing their hire-boat down. Once traversed we then pulled Jannock over above the lock to load the Di Blasi and the Polycarbonate sheets for the secondary double glazing we are installing. The suppliers originally supplied 3mm Makrolon panels but they had been stored badly before cutting and were so bent that the magnetic strip designed to hold them in place over the window frames could not keep them there due to the warp in the sheets. They have since supplied a replacement batch of totally flat 4mm panels which should do fine.

We travelled on past Thrupp and Yardley wharves (and marinas) to the bottom of Stoke Bruerne flight of locks. The first set of five (16 - 20) were traversed alone with me having to close the top gates and empty every lock so that it was ready for us. As I arrived by bike at No 15 another boat was just entering and so we shared the last two with them. I'm not sure whether it was them that were ahead of us during the first five as they were moored around the corner when I checked for southbound traffic before turning No 16. All in all the flight was a good work-out and I actually feel tired tonight. On through a very wet tunnel to emerge the other end into a very wet grey landscape so Brenda, having steered her first long tunnel since she 'came over all peculiar' in Wasts Hill several years ago, went inside to keep dry. The rain stopped and the sun came out just before we decided to call it a day and moor up.

I returned to Cosgrove on the Di Blasi and collected the car. We then fitted all the Makrolon panels onto their magnetic strip fasteners and then fitted them to the window frames. We immediately noticed a big reduction in noise from outside so look forward to seeing how well they work in colder or warmer weather. Home this evening due to other things to do this weekend that do not involve getting wet on a boat ;^)

 

Graham

Well, one out of two aint bad!

Sat 24th April

We arrived at Jannock and immediately moved up onto Slapton waterpoint to fill the tank whilst unloading the car at the same time. We then set off through Slapton lock and arrived at Church lock just after a single handing lady had left ahead of us. We then shared Grove and Leighton lock with her but did Soulbury three solo as she had paired up with a Wyvern hireboat ahead. Between Leighton lock and Soulbury Brenda managed to disturb a very well camouflaged tabby cat who was enjoying a snooze in the sun by casually tossing her pear core into the hedge where it landed on the mog's head. Did it jump!

As we passed the layby on the Bletchley to Stoke Hammond road we picked up a fisherman's tackle on the prop. His reel was squealing and as he was a novice he didn't know what to do. We stopped and untangled his line from the propeller without breaking it. All of the fishermen there were very apologetic about ruining our afternoon. It was funny because it was his first catch - all 62' and 15 tons of it! We moored for the night just past the proposed MK to Bedford waterway junction and so we went for an evening walk along the signposted route and back past Willen lake. A wonderful day with warm sunshine and nice fishermen.

 

Sun. 25th April

Rain in the early hours modified my plans for a pre-breakfast car shuffle on the Di Blasi whilst Brenda slept in.  She'd promised the weather gods that she'd not be cruel to neither man nor beast, cat nor fisherman today. Did they listen? No they just did cold and wet until we finally moored up for the day - then the sun came out.

We were pleased to finally say Hello to Mike Askin as he passed on a resplendent Victoria en-route for Canalway Cavalcade. Hot on his heels ( in canal terms obviously ) were President and Kildare, bound I am sure, for the same destination. Then Bletchley and Argus went past Northbound before another working pair, Kestrel and Vienna, passed by heading South. It was definitely 'Working Boat Day' today. With car fetched from Slapton, we closed up and headed home. Roll on next weekend cos it's a long un!

Graham

It must be weird living near Heathrow at the moment!

Saturday morning we moved our stuff onto Jannock, said farewell to Julian and Caro and set off North for the summer. We travelled solo up to Berko where I admired the new signs that adorn the bridge adjacent to Raven's Lane lock. We then followed two boats working up ahead of us through Northchurch, and Dudswell locks but they were kind and backset for us when no-one was coming South. The trip up to the summit was made much more pleasant due to the amount of work that BW has done to the overhanging vegetation and also the lock gates. Onto the summit and a well earned rest for the lock wheeler. The new gel-cover for the bike saddle is excellent. We turned into the Wendover arm at Bulbourne Junction and made our way down to the winding point where we moored for the night. The last couple of times we have stopped here the noise from the aircraft using Luton has been quite intrusive, this weekend it was wonderfully quiet with only sheep and frogs making any noise.

 

Whilst moored for the evening I fitted my new large Cutweb stickers to the bows of Jannock, and I am very pleased with the result. Not quite as good as Harnser's painted ones but maybe we'll do that next time.

 

 

Sunday morning started bright and sunny so we set off for the Marsworth flight. The wind decided to hinder Brenda's attempts to get Jannock round into the top lock from the arm and so I had to assist with the long pole. We shared the next eleven locks with a Wyvern hireboat until they decided to stop for lunch. Aviation is still grounded and so the skies are owned by the skylarks. After we had moored, I did the car shuffle on the Di Blasi and returned in the car for Sunday dinner. We then returned home via Aylesbury. A wonderful weekend in great weather.

 

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Spring has sprung ..

.. and so it's time to turn Jannock round. We arrived at the mooring just in time to find Julian and Caro setting off North in Parglena for a weekend trip to Berko. I then washed the winter off of Jannock's roof, also did the port side, rear deck and front well before we cast off for our regular trip down to Winkwell winding point to turn her around. Nothing much to report, we did all the locks solo and Brenda performed her best turn-around so far. It does help when you haven't got some jerk moored on the winding point like last year. Back up through locks 61 and 60 without issue. Took great delight in holding up a youth in his souped up Peugeot at Winkwell swing bridge, he just kept revving the engine making a lot of noise while he waited. As I was walking up the towpath from 60 towards lock 59 I noticed that the canal is leaking water quite badly through the bank into the river below about a third of the way up. I have notified BW of my observations so hopefully they'll send someone along to have a look before we get a full scale breach. Back to the mooring to wash the starboard side so she's all clean ready to start the 2010 cruise. Back home tonight as we have a birthday related event tomorrow. If we're lucky we might set off North next weekend.

Graham

A Happy New Year from Jannock

Here's wishing for another good years cruising in 2010.

Let's hope that the current economic/BW issues do not force us into travelling the canals like this!

 

Although final plans for this years cruising have not been finalised I suspect we'll be heading for the Midlands again as we didn't get round to completing the Stourport ring last year even though it had been planned - the BCN Explorer cruise and a re-located GiG (Great Internet Gathering) at Stafford boat club got in the way.

 

Best wishes

 

Graham & Brenda

www.jannock.org.uk

Learning in Stourbridge

This weekend I left Brenda at home and attended Phil Speight's boat painting course held in the bonded warehouse at Stourbridge. Over the course of two days, Phil took us through all of the steps needed to turn a bare sheet of steel into a decorated and signwritten boat panel whilst regailing us with numerous stories of historical interest and a couple of bad 'shaggy dog' style jokes. My interest in being there was to try and learn better ways of keeping Jannock's paintwork looking good whereas a lot of my fellow students were really into the idea of giving their boats complete DIY paint jobs. Phil is such a master craftsman that he made every stage look so easy - adding insult to injury by continually stressing that he had not done anything difficult yet. On Saturday evening, instead of driving back to Thame, I had booked a cut-price room in the local Travelodge and so I met up with Terry Streeter and we went for a curry preceded and followed by a few pint of Bathams bitter partaken at the Vine. On Sunday the course moved on to panel decoration and sign writing and Phil stopped trying to convince us it was easy. All in all a great weekend during which I have gathered lots of interesting tips to achieve my goal of preserving the paint finish on my boat. All I've got to do now is find time to practice it.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Back to Bourne End

Sunday 18th October

Having returned home on Saturday night, the weather forecast for Sunday was now good so we returned to Jannock first thing in the morning and completed the run back to Bourne End. It proved to be a journey slowed right down by locks set against us and fishermen. We started up the Marsworth flight and soon caught up the single boat ahead and so we shared the last two locks in the flight with them. They were stopping at Cowroast marina so we set off down the other side of the summit solo again. Cowroast lock had the bottom gates and both paddles all left open when I arrived and so I had to turn it as no-one was ascending. Dudswell top lock was in the same state and between the two locks was a broken down narrowboat. They asked for assistance with their gear selection and I asked them if they had been leaving all of the bottom paddles up. They firmly denied this but admitted to leaving the gates open as this was normal on the Grand Union. Obviously there must be a Gremlin following them and raising the paddles again after they had passed through the lock. They found the fault in their gear cable and fixed it but decided to remain tied up for lunch so we continued on solo. Brenda decided that the big fishing match that was going on along this stretch of the G.U. should be available as an advice notice through the BW stoppage notification system. At least we could then choose not to boat and then not have to suffer the miserable looks and muttering that accompanied our passing every rod. A Northbound boater told us about how they had an altercation with a fisherman who had positioned himself on Winkwell winding hole. This fisherman decided that the boat owner had no right to turn his boat during the match and it almost came to fisticuffs with the boater getting off and squaring up to him on the towpath. Some match pitches were adjacent to the public car park at Berkhamstead. As Brenda moved Jannock past one fisherman slid his rob back across the grass and gave a parked car a heavy clout with the end of his pole. He didn't even bother to look round so we wondered how many times he'd done that during the day. Brenda had to wait for a northbound boat to ascend topside lock where one bloke was fishing off of the lock landing so she slowed right down and waited with the engine out of gear in order to not ruin their swim. Was it appreciated? Not likely, she was moaned at for taking too long to pass his rod. We arrived back and tied up to our mooring before I got the Di Blasi out and fetched the car from Marsworth.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

A lot of catching up to do.

I have been very busy with lots of things and so updating the blog has been ignored and Sue from No Problem commented about it when I told her she'd missed Jannock at Braunston.

So here goes:-

Friday 25th September.  

We arrived at Jannock about 11 am and took her down the Stockton flight to Blue Lias where we winded at the end of the arm and moored alongside Harnser for the Cutweb rally weekend. Friday evening was spent in the pub having a meal and social evening with fellow club members, some of which we had not seen for a while so a lot of catching up was in order.

Saturday 26th September. 

I appeared to spend most of Saturday morning rushing around getting things sorted for the weekend and taking everybody's money, the joys of being a treasurer! After lunch Bob from Sambuka arrived and so some of the rally attendees spent the afternoon learning how to do Samba drumming etc. In the evening we have a very entertaining solo performance by Kate Saffin about a boat of ill repute based on the Oxford canal, followed by a ploughman's meal and an especially speedy version of the Cutweb raffle all culminating in a performance by the Cutweb samba band (thanks to Andrew D for recording this video).

Sunday 27th September.

The morning started with the charity auction followed by Sunday lunch in the function room. In the evening we rounded of the rally with a Bingo quiz read by Glen assisted by Brenda. 

Monday 28th September.

We left Blue Lias and shared the Stockton flight with Harnser, but we got split up at Calcutt locks by a boat out doing a training course. Brenda was of the opinion that the trainer could do with some training, let alone the student. We met up again and did a communal self-pumpout at Braunston before we left Harnser at the water point and made our way to U.C.C. where Jannock was booked in the dry dock for a blacking. As we passed under the bridge in Braunston we met the Irons' coming the other way on Quidditch, they had left the rally on Sunday morning with firm plans for a route back via the G.U Leicester section and the Soar but had decided they were short of time so had turned about to retrace their trip along the North Oxford, Coventry and T&M.

Sunday 4th October.

We are a lock missing. We left Jannock below the bottom lock last weekend and appeared out of the dry-dock above it sporting a shiny black bottom and gleaming tunnel bands. We joined a hire crew in an ABC boat. they were apologising to all cut users for some of their less than professional cruising over the weekend. They'd even had one moored boater throw a mooring stake at them as they passed. The problem was that no one at the boat yard had told them about the 4mph limit or even slowing down past moored boats. They had figured it all out for themselves from the angry shouting they attracted. They complained that all the boatyard told them was how to do a lock. They were totally un-aware of boating rules and etiquette and even had to work out how all the on-board appliances worked for themselves. I am amazed that there wasn't even a manual on board. Once up the flight we passed through a surprisingly dry tunnel and then down the Wilton flight and on to Weedon where we stopped on 14 day moorings until next weekend.

Saturday 10th October.

I got up and cast off at 7am whilst Brenda spent some time catching up with consciousness. After Blisworth boatwash tunnel we teamed up with a day-boat crew and descended the locks with them. Oh that all day-boat crews were as skilled and sober.! They had met up for a family re-union, coming from all over the country, and got the weather to suit. It was a glorious day and Brenda took photos to prove it, so why did she not have her camera handy when I spotted a large kingfisher sunbathing on a bush? The sunshine made the best of his magnificent colours - and he knew it, sat there showing off as we passed. As we approached Cosgrove lock there were boats in all directions, 2 of them widebeam and one winding. On the lock landing there has been an outbreak of bollard-rash, the worst we've seen and one boater said she'd hurt herself getting off her boat as she'd crunched into one. They are taller than standard rope bollards and each has a red band around the top. A local residential boater said the only reason for them being there was " that BW had too much money and not enough to waste spend it on. A cynic then, any thoughts anyone? As we approached the Grafton Street aqueduct there were 2 women and a child in a pushchair on the offside looking very perplexed. I realised they were trying to work out how to get to the towpath side. I suggested they board our back deck and we ferried them across with a little push from the bank. Not only did this solve the problem but it seemed to be the most exciting thing they'd done in years. Brenda pointed out that they must have very boring lives; the response was "oh yes! we are from South Africa!" Now, I might be wrong but I believe that recent events in South Africa can not be described as boring. We moored up at 4pm and I went to do a car shuffle on the Di Blasi calling at Ikea on the way back to exchange so items that we'd bought last Thursday. The mooring out in the wilds of Stantonbury Park farm were very peaceful.

Sunday 11th October.

A later start today at 8:30 but still Brenda remained a-kip. The run down through Milton Keynes is very slow, working out at below 3mph, due to the number of bankside moorers about. We passed Thorn and Persephone moored near Black Horse bridge resplendent in their new grey livery. When we arrived at Fenny lock there was a short Wyvern boat tying up to get the lock ready, as I had walked ahead from the bridge I had the gates open and Brenda put Jannock in before he'd even got his boat untied. Another short Wyvern boat was approaching from the North and so we managed to squeeze them in as well. Three boats in one go - I wouldn't try this with these craft on a lock with a deep fall, but Fenny was OK. We stopped at Willowbridge Marina for diesel and two 13kG gas bottles. They allow you to select your tax rate here and then charge the extra duty as a separate item. It obviously helps them keep track of what they owe the taxman. Base price was 60ppl for domestic use. At Stoke Hammond I hopped off armed with my windlass and moved the car to Soulbury where I had the bottom lock empty and open when Jannock and another boat arrived. We shared with them up the three locks following a single Wyvern boat with no-one coming down.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

A weekend for rescuing!

Soddit Autumn 2009 Cruise

Friday 18th September

After a delayed start the crew set off from Thame in two vehicles for the drive to Stockton. After leaving one car there we travelled via Coventry, and a fish and chip shop found using Google, to Ansty where Jannock had been left 12 days ago. Un-packing followed by 4 games of Soddit found us well into Saturday morning before retiring to bed.

Saturday 19th September

We left Ansty after breakfast and headed South, under the M6, to Stretton Stop where the boys were robbed of the task of opening the swingbridge by a kind boatyard member of staff who did it for us as we approached. Just beyond the road bridge we came across a "Mary Celeste"  boat floating across the canal with both front and back ropes hanging down into the water. The trusty crew sprung into action getting the boat back against the bank and re-pegging the mooring ropes. We did notice a third line, still firmly attached to it's stake in the ground, that had a T stud and four screws attached to the other end. This had obviously been the last remaining mooring point when the pressure became too much. Feeling very proud we continued down the North Oxford where a stop was made for lunch just before Newbold tunnel. After lunch (and No fish caught) we passed through the tunnel with 'Jerusalem' playing on Jannock's stereo much to the amusement of the crew of the boat moored immediately South of the tunnel entrance. They even complained about Brian turning the volume down as we left the tunnel because they were enjoying it so much. A brief stop was made at Rugby Tescos to allow Pete to fetch a newspaper as his pre-breakfast papershop hunt had been as fruitfull as the fishing has been.

Approaching Hillmorton we happened across a day-boat with novice crew firmly aground on the off-side of the canal. A few wise words of advice from Cap'n G soon had them off the mud and on their way again. Up through the three locks in a left-left-left formation found us on the Braunston summit heading for a peaceful overnight mooring near Wise's Bridge (80)

The lower ranks have adopted a large spider who is sat in Jannock's bath as a pet and named him Boris. After an evening meal of Steak and Kidney straight from the slow cooker, three more games of Soddit were played before it was deemed time for sleep.

Sunday 20th September

A bad start to the morning as during the fishing, the Cap'n evicted Boris from the bath into the cut. Ian then caught him on his fishing rod as he passed the front of the boat (the only thing he  caught all weekend I might add) but then flicked him back into the canal for some unknown reason. Down into a very busy Braunston we went meeting more than a dozen Northbound boats en-route. We wanted to use the rubbish point as well as a water fill but another boat had just pulled onto the waterpoint so we just dumped the rubbish in the skip and made for the junction to turn right towards Napton. Still more craft coming in the opposite direction specialising in meeting at bridgeholes and sharp bends. The sun finally appeared just as we decided to stop for lunch near Flecknoe.

After a good lunch and more fruitless fishing we set off and almost immediately found a sheep stuck in the canal unable to get out. The Cap'n put Jannock into the bank in front of the frightened sheep to corner it and Ian and Peter then hauled it out of the canal whilst Brian held the bow rope to stop the boat moving. Once out onto the bank the sheep ran as fast as it could away from the canal and the rest of the flock started following it in a sort of mini-stampede. At this point I must praise camera phones as I never would have got this shot if I'd had to find a camera first.

There were delays at Calcutt locks due to boats leaving the service wharf, below the first lock, and interfering with the smooth passage of boats up and down the flight. We finally moored Jannock, packed up and tidied and then drove back to Ansty to fetch Ian's car before heading home. A great weekend with good company, good weather, good food, good beer a few rescues and not many fish.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

A post-operative trip for Brenda

Having had Saturday to recover from Friday's face surgery to remove a Carcinoma, I had to take Brenda and Margaret (our neighbour) with me to move Jannock on Sunday as we are away in Manchester next weekend and she wouldn't let me do the move on my own. We arrived at HartsHill Yard just after 10 am and were soon on our way south. I spent most of the trip steering and Brenda stayed inside, out of the cold wind, chatting with Margaret. The Coventry canal is still nice and open around the quarries near Nuneaton since BW performed the major vedge-pledge work two years ago. We did seem to meet several other boats in obscured bridge holes even though there were two other boats travelling South in front of us. As I commented to a Northbound boater that there was no one following me he added "It's a pity they never said about you" indicating to the boat in front. Oh well, no damage done due to effective avoidance. At Sutton's we were 4th in the queue for the lock with another boat behind us. I hung around on the Coventry until there was room to turn into the basin outside the pub. Once through the lock and I managed to get my lunch, the crew had eaten theirs just before we arrived at the stop lock. We finally tied up on a 14 day mooring, had a flypast from a Mk 14 Spitfire and then the crew picked Blackberries whilst I went back to Hartshill on the Di Blasi for the car. All secured and on the way home by 4:30.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk