Slow travel

25/7/2019 The green tunnelled, rural Shropshire Canal, graceful bridges, can produce some unexpected even exotic moments. At a couple of small towns along the canal we stumbled on  canal festivals. Trading boats, some original others replicas, of the barges of old, now travelling shops. Some sold fenders, rope mats, fascinating to watch being made. Craft abounds, jewellery, rag rugs, knitted goods. Plastic toys, like the little dog's determined possession. Some barges are now simply homes, with old chug chug engines, even with a butty or unpowered barge in tow- needing interesting, arduous manoevres through locks. And a first for us, an example of the exotic if you like, a boat with a wood fired pizza oven occupying its front deck. a fine useful way of making a living. We were mightily amused as we passed an ordinary sort of boat. From its front deck we spotted its 3 black chooks, casually jumping onto the towpath to graze. And accompanied by the boat's cat. T...

25/7/2019 When Queen Victoria took a train through the black country, she asked for the curtains to be drawn as she found the poverty and industrial landscape to be depressing. Certainly as the canal takes you west from Birmingham, some decaying industrial sites are evident, but more depressing now is the litter by and in the canal. Still, the main impression is of a heavily treed, green land on the day's climb through just 3 locks to reach the Wolverhampton level. Dudley is at the heart of the black country, with its story of coal, glass, lace. The term dates from around the 1840s, with this and other regions of rural England becoming industrialised, wealthy for some. Tunnels from the canal lead south to the Severn, transporting goods to the Bristol Channel and the world. A favourite mooring for us is at the Black Country Museum. It is actually a 26 acre old coal mining site, where it is claimed Dud Dudley (!) first smelted iron using coal rather than wood. In the 1970s so...

21/7/2019 At Warwick we were joined by 2 energetic capable friends, kindly devoting a long weekend to boating, and locking! Excellent company, and we hope to welcome them aboard again. Sara has given us a painting of Santiago, herself the excellent artist. The Hatton flight of locks climbs 146.5' from Warwick, westerly towards Birmingham. It is an energetic 2 to 3 hours of windlass wielding, pushing gates, walking. At the top lock is a very popular cafe, boaters, cyclists, walkers stoking up for their next exertions. The Stratford Canal joins the Grand Union at Kingswood, but we are heading for the metropolis of Birmingham. A further 5 locks at Knowle, rising another 42'. green lovely country, farms, hamlets. Footpaths snaking across fields, styles. Ovaltine was manufactured nearby, and from 1925 coal was delivered to the factory in canal boats emblazoned with 'Drink delicious Ovaltine for Health'. At times the trees form tunnels over the canal, home to...

12/7/2019 An ingenious idea, staircase locks, as they save water, time, space. In the past week we've climbed up 2 sets of such locks, the Foxton flights, to reach the summit of the Leicester arm of the Grand Union, down the Watford flight and yesterday down the Stocktown flight. A real sense of the topography of the place, as you take your 20 tonne boat up and down hills. If going down a staircase, you first have to ensure Lock 2 is empty of water. This is because the lower gate of Lock 1 is the top gate of the 2nd - so when you raise the paddles to let the water out and lower your boat, it needs an empty lock into which to pour it. The Stockton lock yesterday was the first time I can recall passing a boat in a staircase lock. We were descending with another boat, and a very long narrowboat was climbing. It was in Lock 2 as we let the water out of Lock 1. Two boats were then nose to nose. In the photo below you can see the number of boaters scurrying around managing this manoe...

5/7/2019 Canal naming seems to fall mainly into one of 2 categories. An exception is when 'navigation' is in the title, or a person's name is the canal name - the Bridgewater is an example of the latter, named after the supposedly misogynist and certainly unmarried Duke of. Place name canals •    The Leeds to Liverpool Canal leaves you in no doubt of its beginning and end. The northern most crossing of the Pennines •     the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, which leaves me wondering why it is not 'to' Birmingham? •     Gloucester and Sharpness is another with a stated  city for its start and finish. •     other place name canals simply take one major place name, ignoring a less known finishing place. Examples include the Oxford, Stratford-on-Avon,  Llangollen, Huddersfield, Rochdale - the latter two also Pennine crossings. •      and not to fo...

4/7/2019 Loughborough, steam train to Leicester on an old section of rail, walking back to boat, the bomb squad.  A WWII grenade had been pulled from the canal by a magnet fisher.  Apparently the Home Guard AKA Dad's Army, used to practice nearby. Excitement over, we set out for Leicester by boat, finding a mooring in the city centre, a pontoon provided as part of a new waterside apartment development. The Richard III story, the discovery of his remains under a car park, formerly Greyfriars Priory, has boosted visitor numbers- from 20000 to 140000 pa. Interesting detective  work to locate the grave, and to also find 2 descendants of the maternal line for DNA matching. From Leicester we hired a car and scooted north to cousins in Lancashire, a quick sortie into Wales, a visit also to some long case AKA grandfather clocks. Now approaching Market Harborough, where JJ has high hopes of more uranium glass. Lovely rural landscapes, hungry swans. Weather fine, sunny. E...