Where We Came In . . .

1976 seems a very long time ago (it is!) but around this time of year we were finalising the booking for our first canal holiday at the end of September. We had no idea that it was going to be one of the hottest and driest summers on record. In the mid to late summer the hire company told us that 'our' boat, along with all the others from their Wootton Wawen base, would be moved to a different location. So it was that our first canal trip started at Great Haywood in Staffordshire, down to Stourport and back in a week – with a 3-year-old, a 1-year-old and Mike, a single friend of ours. It rained every day!

More than 31 years later, we arrived back on the 'Staffs. & Worcs.' at Stourton Junction and turned left for Stourport. As you can see, the weather was much better, in spite of the fact it was February. Soon we began to see some of the special characteristics of this canal, like the way the towpath often dives into a tunnel under the bridge below a lock.

A ridge of soft red sandstone runs down much of this canal and sometimes (like here at Dunsley) the canal 'navvies' had to tunnel their way through it.

In other places, like here at Debdale lock, the rock was carved out to make caves for stables.

And all the time, as we chugged slowly south, the canal dropped down lock by lock towards the River Severn. Beautiful scenery, and incredible weather for early February!


Other little features of this canal include iron split bridges at many locks. We first saw these on the Stratford-on-Avon Canal last year, but these are made to a different pattern. Same idea, though – to be able to cross the lock but also allow the horse's towing rope to pass through. And many of them still in excellent condition, well over 200 years later.

We reached Stourport on February 2nd and spent a couple of nights there before turning round to head back northwards. We had not planned to go on the Severn and could not have done so anyway, as it was still in flood after the heavy rain. It was good to see Jeremy when he visited us there.

Travelling back northwards, we soon passed Stourton and found ourselves on 'new ground' again. We climbed through unusual locks, like the 'staircase' at Botterham and the Bratch flight near Wombourne, rising 20 and 30 feet respectively, and this distinctive one at Awbridge.

As Adam's girlfriend Rachel lives in Wolverhampton, we had arranged to meet them there as we passed through. We went out for an Indian meal together and left Boo, Rachel's ferret, curled up cosily in front of the woodburner. By then, the weather was still remarkably good, but not summery – morning mistiness near Compton!

Some parts were vaguely familiar after 30-odd years, but some were too distinctive to be completely forgotten, like the Round House at Gailey, where the ancient Watling Street (A5) crosses the canal. The lock-keeper could see boats coming from either direction and so could prepare the lock as needed. No such luxuries for us, of course – we have to work our own way through – and now we we had started going downhill again towards the Trent and Mersey Canal.

Not much further on, we came to Tixall lock, the first lock we ever worked through. The bottom lock gates even had the date on them – 1976, would you believe! These are probably the oldest lock gates we have seen, as most have been replaced in the last 20 years or less.

Then out into Tixall Wide, where the canal briefly becomes a lake before joining the Trent and Mersey Canal at Great Haywood. Our journey from Stourport had taken us 8 days, nice and leisurely. Back in 1976, we did the whole return journey in a week!

We have moved since then, but we'll tell you about that next time . . .

Getting There . . .

For the last few weeks, we have been steadily plodding along, gradually getting through the heart of the Midlands. The canals in winter are different from summer time – for one thing, we seem to be almost the only ones who are moving! In the summer, we often passed several boats each hour; now we sometimes go for several days without meeting another moving boat.

We had originally expected to moor up for a few months in the winter, but we are pleased that we didn't do that after all. Keeping on moving is much more fun, though of course we are not covering so much distance, as the days are shorter and sometimes we just 'stay put' if the weather is bad.

In our last blog 'posting', we were in Blisworth for a few days. Good friendships developing there – we expect to be back again! Then on up the Grand Union to Braunston again, (a very familiar stretch) and along a short length of canal that we haven't been on for a couple of years, joining up with where we came down in late April last year.

Once again, we met up with Jeremy on his 'home turf' as we spent a few days in Leamington Spa, enjoying a birthday meal for Val in the 'Delhi Palace' (really good Punjabi food – home from home!). And again, he helped us work through the towering Hatton flight of 21 locks, though we made more progress before he arrived than any of us had expected. This picture shows you just about half a dozen of the higher locks. As the canal was virtually deserted, we 'broke the rules' and moored up between the top two locks to enjoy a meal in the little café there.

As we were moving gradually closer to Birmingham, we phoned Noona, the daughter of our friends in Punjab, who is studying there. When would it be good to meet her for a day together? With a date agreed, we found we had a few days to spare, so (once again) we took a short trip down part of the Stratford-on-Avon Canal. Oh, the luxury of a narrow canal, with easier locks and just a cosier, remoter 'feel'! Even some interesting oddities, like a tiny aqueduct leading into a lock. You can just see it in the photo. (Do you like Val's new winter hat?)

Yes, sometimes it's cold outside, but isn't it beautiful?

Back to the Grand Union again, and a bit of a shock to the system as we came to the next flight of locks at Knowle – big, wide locks (enlarged in the 1930s) climbing up the hill and exposed to vicious south-westerly winds. We had a few bumps as we battled the breeze to go from lock to lock. Well, they say that boating is a contact sport!

And so to Birmingham! The grand scheme to widen all the locks 70 years ago came to an end before it reached the Birmingham locks, so we found ourselves winding through the hidden back ways of the city in narrow locks (and one short but VERY narrow tunnel). Noona joined us for her first experience of canal boating, and she seemed to enjoy her unusual day out, even joining in with operating the locks once she had got the idea of how they worked.

Birmingham canals are full of contrasts. It has always been the heart of the British canal system, and they say that it has more miles of canal than Venice. Noona had seen the canal in the city centre, and knew she would recognise where she was when she came to 'the bit that looks like Venice' – so we went there! Right in the heart of the city, with a little tunnel under Broad Street, the International Conference Centre, the National Indoor Arena and the Sea Life Centre, not to mention the very continental-style canalside bistros. Despite the cold weather, it was still pretty busy!

And then, just a few miles along the 'New Main Line', an old brick pumping station, only just rescued from demolition, fairly recently. We also took the opportunity to wander along some of the side loops that were left when the Main Line was straightened in the 1820s and 1830s.

Our planned route was to go south-west to join the 'Staffs & Worcs' canal, and that meant going through the Netherton Tunnel, nearly 2 miles long but high, wide and spacious with towpaths both sides. Straight through in exactly half an hour, and we were out of Birmingham and officially in the Black Country – we are told there is a BIG difference between the two!

Our journey has taken us DOWN through Dudley and Stourbridge. We had not realised how high Birmingham really is! Eight locks at Black Delph brought us down 85 feet on Tuesday, and another 16 dropped us a further 145 feet into and through the old glass working area around Stourbridge on Wednesday. You can see the famous 'cone' of the Redhouse Glassworks right alongside the canal.

We planned to just spend one day in Stourbridge, but wondered whether our visit might be extended when we found that a tree had fallen across the canal in this morning's high winds. Dave phoned British Waterways and it was cleared by mid-afternoon, when we wanted to leave. Good old BW!

We are now back out in the countryside again, with the canal following the River Stour down to the 'Staffs and Worcs'. This is going to be a trip down memory lane, as this was the first canal we cruised on, back in 1976!

Dodging the Deadline!

After two weeks in Lapford, it seemed a little strange to leave our bungalow again. Despite 'camping' there with minimum furniture, it somehow began to feel like home again, and it was tempting to try and get stuck in to too many tasks. There were things that needed to be done before handing over to Steve and Lin (our new tenants), but there were plenty more that we just did not have time to tackle – just as well we had a deadline, or we might be there still! Here's a little reminder of the lovely light of a December morning over Lapford School.

So, back to 'Zindagi', safe and secure at the moorings in Cheshunt on the River Lee, northeast of London, then in to Stoke Newington the next day to meet Adam at Shireen and Frankie's home and give him back our car – and to enjoy seeing Shireen and the baby again, of course! Still no name at that stage, but we shall reveal it below! Jeremy was also in London and came over, so we had a big family photo on the massive sofa! Then back on the train to Cheshunt.

When we looked out of the boat the next morning, the canal was covered with ice! Not too thick, so we thought we should be able to get moving. Fortunately, some other boats had been moving, so we didn't need to do all the ice-breaking ourselves. Southwards to London!

Once again we found ourselves really enjoying our route through London and this time we almost had the canal to ourselves – very few other boats on the move, though the mooring sites were full – 'double parked' in many cases – as here in Islington, where we stopped to do a little shopping. The light had that crisp, winter clarity but there was no ice as we chugged through. Here are the locks at Camden – rather different from when we came through on a Sunday in the summer, though there were still quite a few people around.

Then out west again – not stopping in Paddington this time – to a strangely picturesque mooring near the gasometers by Kensal Green cemetery. Ice on the canal the next morning, and quite thick; we were glad of our central heating and woodburning stove and waited to see whether other boats would be on the move. Sure enough, some were, so we moved on a little further.

The next morning, starting the engine, Dave saw a warning light to say that the alternator was not working properly. Where could we find anyone to fix it on the Friday before the Christmas break? Boatyards were closed or closing, no electrical engineers around, certainly! Fortunately, we were heading towards 'Little India' – Southall – and if anyone would be able to fix it for us, that was a good place to try. A little cycling around eventually revealed an auto electrical dealer who would do it for us (Punjabi – of course!) and we were off again on the Sunday!

Our main reason for travelling at this time of year was to avoid the 'stoppages' (canal closures for maintenance), some of which were due to start on 7th January. The most northern of these on the Grand Union were at Stoke Bruerne, several miles (and locks) north of Milton Keynes, so we decided to keep going in case we HAD to stop again for bad weather. So it was that Jeremy joined us at Rickmansworth and travelled on with us to Berkhamsted, where Adam drove to meet us and Shireen brought little Thor for his first trip on the train. We enjoyed a very tasty takeaway on board together.

Yes, that's our little grandson's name, and actually the name they originally had in mind for him. It just took time for them to be sure about it! Here are some more up to date snaps of him, taken by Shireen (rapidly transforming into a doting mum!)

Shireen took Thor back on the train that night, Adam drove off the next morning and Jeremy stayed on board for 2 more days, getting some exercise by running back along the towpath to collect his car a couple of times! Then he went back home and Adam brought Rachel for a visit. First time she had steered a narrowboat, but she doesn't look TOO worried, does she?

We continued chugging northwards, including the long process of getting through Milton Keynes, which seems to treat the canal as a sort of linear park. Nicely done, but there is a lot of it! Just after MK, we crossed the Great Ouse over an iron trough aqueduct dating from 1811, still in good order after nearly 200 years, and half a mile later the first lock for 11 miles started the canal's climb up towards Norton Junction.

You will be pleased to know that we got through the Stoke Bruerne locks on 2nd January, beating the deadline by 4 days, came through Blisworth Tunnel (3057 yards) the next day and are now enjoying a little break in Blisworth again before heading on northwards.

Thoughts of Home

And just where is our home? A good question! It has been getting a little confusing recently. Let us explain . . .

With all the coming and going to visit Shireen and 'the wee man', we have spent a few nights at Shireen and Frankie's maisonette in Stoke Newington. Val stayed there for rather longer, and was especially helpful to Shireen as she was getting used to being home with him and needing extra pairs of hands all the time. They are both really flourishing now, and he is feeding very well and putting on the weight!

Dave used the time on board to get the replacement diesel hob fitted and to do the re-piping of the fuel lines to it and the oven. All done, and at last we seem to have 'all systems go'. It seems a long time since all the appliances were working!

With Frankie home for a few days, Val came back to 'Zindagi' and we travelled up the River Lee again, getting as far as Stanstead Abbots.

Then back down to Dobb's Weir, where we arranged to meet our friends David and Gwenda. They had been afloat with us in 2005 (here's a picture of them in the icy March weather), but had not yet seen our new floating home. We didn't travel anywhere this time, but had a good chat on board and a hearty meal together at the 'Fish and Eels'.

Time to make preparations for a visit down to Devon again. Our tenant was due to move out at the end of November, and we needed to check through the bungalow before the next tenants moved in. With a family wedding in Sussex on 1st December, we needed to combine the two journeys.

Adam very kindly brought our car up to Shireen's on the Thursday (another chance to enjoy being an uncle!) and then we arrived on Friday morning, giving Dave time to finish off the installation of the shelves in their living room before we drove back to the boat in heavy rain. Loading the car on Saturday (fortunately NOT in the pouring rain) with all the stuff we needed for the wedding plus probably 2 weeks at Lapford, then down to Sussex. When we stopped at a service station to change into our tidy clothes, we found that Dave's trousers were missing – tidy jeans had to make do and no-one seemed to mind too much!

Sunday morning, and time to drive on down to Devon. A very strange feeling, to be leaving home to go home! What would it be like? How much work would we need to do, and would we have time to do it?

In the event, it has not been too traumatic. We are in Lapford still, 'camping' in Wilanson with minimum furniture. The heating had not been on at all, so it smelt musty as we came in, like a holiday bungalow that hasn't been properly aired, the fridge had 'died' and the drains were blocked! Quite a few crops growing in the field, some ready now and some preparing for Spring, and too many weeds to even start doing anything about!

With the lack of heating, some of the doors didn't fit, but most of them are now OK. We needed to sort out the drains immediately, but fortunately that was fairly quick and easy. We have also had to do a little maintenance on the central heating and some pointing on the chimney and boiler flue, and have been able to replace the front bumper on our old Peugeot 205, which was damaged during our visit to Devon in September.

As we have been around the village for a week now, various folk have asked, "Are you back now?", and we have said "Not really, just for a couple of weeks and then back to the boat."

It has been good to come back and remember that this WILL be home again sometime, but not yet! Our new tenants, Steve and Linda, have been over a couple of times and seem keen to get started. We would like more time with them to pass on lots more information but, as they have said, there is always the phone and e-mail!

Val visited the doctors' surgery to get some more postdated prescriptions and they wanted her to try a new blood pressure medication, so she will be back there on Wednesday to see how it has worked. All being well, we should be back up to the river Lee soon after that, maybe before the end of the week. No doubt we shall be meeting up with various members of the family over the next few weeks, probably in various places, before heading north again.

And 'the wee man'? No official name yet, but ideas are firming up! He is sure to have changed a lot since we last saw him. No apologies for all the baby pictures – there are sure to be more!

It's All Been Happening!

When we last wrote, we were visiting Shireen in London while Zindagi was stuck in Berkhamsted, waiting for a lockgate to be fixed. We got to know Berkhamsted quite well by the time we left on 7th November! When Dave cycled down to the broken lock to check progress on 30th October, British Waterways (BW) were at a nearby marina, in the process of loading a crane onto a floating pontoon to be taken to the lock to lift off the broken gate.

All looked very promising until BW discovered that the swing bridge between the marina and the lock was out of action! So that needed to be fixed first! No chance that they would be able to do that AND the lockgate by the original target date . . .

Meanwhile, we needed to meet up with our new prospective tenants, so we agreed to meet them 'halfway' at Reading. We had a useful and long chat with them and headed back via London to Berkhamsted. Well, Dave did, but Val stopped off in London to spend a couple of nights with Shireen.

BW had managed to get to the lock. They left the top 'balance beam' and took the gate away for repair, but the re-opening date was still a bit vague! Shireen's baby had still not arrived, so Val came back to Berkhamsted and we went on waiting. Lovely crisp mornings gave us some more autumnal scenes.

And then, at last, the lock gate was fixed and we could go! Here's the finished article, leaking a bit as BW were not able to fit it perfectly without draining that section of the canal right down. Never mind, it worked, so we (and all the others who had been waiting) were able to move. Compare the second photo with the picture of the broken gate last time!

On our way at last, BUT . . .

Had we told you that the washing machine and microwave problems were still not solved? The replacement machines did not work either! In the end, we contacted the manufacturers of the inverter, which turns 12 volt battery supply into 240 volt 'mains' and asked whether there could be any way that there was a problem there? A very quick e-mail reply suggested that we check some DIP switch settings on the back of it, as it could possibly be delivering 60 cycles per second AC instead of 50 c/s. Sure enough it was, so we switched it back to 50 and both the replacement washing machine and microwave started working.

How on earth had that tiny (and well-concealed) switch been moved across? We can only guess that we must have knocked it somehow. Anyway, all the electrics are now fine, and there is a bit of tape over the DIP switches to prevent any further problems!

So, on down towards London, through the remarkably scenic outskirts of Hemel Hempstead and Watford, always expecting to get a call from Frankie and Shireen . . .

. . . and then it came! On Monday 12th, Frankie phoned: please could Val come, as Shireen had started labour and he had to leave later that afternoon/evening. Good thing we were within the reach of London Transport! Val got on a train and arrived at the hospital before Frankie had to leave. He was able to stay until just after their little boy had been born, after quite a difficult labour for Shireen, but all safe and sound – hallelujah!

Dave then had some single-handed boating to do, bringing Zindagi on down into London. Different, but quite fun in its way, though of course going through locks is a bit slower!

When he got to Paddington, Dave was able to moor up in evactly the same place as back in the summer, so he just jumped on train and bus to Stoke Newington. Time to get some shelves up for Shireen and Frankie as well as to go and see our grandson! Adam came up for one night and made a valuable contribution to shelf-building as well as seeing his new nephew.

He doesn't have a name yet, as somehow the names they had thought of didn't seem to suit, plus he has been having some difficulty getting enough food, and so has been kept in the special care unit for a few days until he starts gaining weight properly. Hopefully both these issues will be resolved soon!

Jeremy has been with us since the early hours of Saturday morning, so we have had a bit of a family gathering. He may be around for a day or two more.

Meanwhile, we have moved from Paddington down to Limehouse Basin, coming through lovely autumn colours in Regents Park and views of Canary Wharf dominating the Regents Canal at Mile End. We shall probably start up the River Lee tomorrow.