BELLE

I know I said that I had been ultra-busy in my previous post, but I did manage to get a weekend away in Paris with my better half a couple of weeks back.  Boy, what we would not give to have one of those Dutch Barges you see moored alongside the Seine.  Something modest you will understand, maybe about 30m or so long, with a roof garden.  No need to go all the way by having one with a small crane installed for lifting the car on and off as we would probably do away with the car.  Cruising the mainland European waterways in one, without fear of being rolled over by the wash from one of those whopping cargo vessels that share these waterways, certainly appeals.

Unfortunately I only had my crappy little phone camera with me so I could not get any decent photographs of any of the tasty craft on show whilst we were whizzing up and down the river on the ‘Bateau Bus’.  However, if the mooring fees are hiked up anything like the prices we were paying in the restaurants, bars and bistros, we would not be spending much time moored in Paris, that’s a fact.  The prices have gone through the roof since we were there a few years ago.

I reckoned to Stelle that it was the French attempting some payback for Waterloo as we were whisked along the river.  She put me right by pointing out the portals on this bridge that we passed near Notre Dame - suggesting to me that the French are quite sporting with us really, because they have included a ‘N’ for ‘Nelson’.   I agreed, so the high prices must be attributable to the struggling French economy.

Due to commence our journey home today, we awoke to find the canal frozen over.  As such, we opted to delay casting off for a while so as to allow the nutters and the blatently determined amongst us to smash the ice up with their boats.   We’d much prefer them to remove their blacking down to bare metal around the waterline instead of ours.  My guess is that they have not expereinced a weekend’s worth of hard graft in a dry dock applying the blacking in the first place.  Alternatively, they might like painting, or its somebody elses boat that they have been let loose in, or maybe they just don’t give a toss.  Still, whatever, it works mostly in our favour, so I shall shut up.

We decided to stop over at Taft Bridge (B69) again this evening.  We seized this opportunity to purchase our first lot of hens eggs and ducks eggs from the new small holding here that we mentioned the other day.  A couple of each have been scheduled for tomorrows breakfast – we shall let you know how they turn out.

Bound to get busier on the canals this weekend we reckon, so its  going to be an early start for us tomorrow.

Cheers, Chris.

Today we have mostly been ‘basking’, still located just below Sandon Lock (L25) – could not resist really as the weather was so nice. I am beginning to understand why Pike do it. We did find the time to wind ready for commencing our return journey tomorrow and we elected to do this at the winding hole just above this lock. We are 65′ long and it was a struggle I can tell you, owing mainly to the accumulation of silt in the hole. So, anybody longer than us take note!

The next winding hole is just south of Stone, so it would have denied us at least half a day’s worth of basking time had we been forced to go there!

The solar panels have also been basking today, which is more than can be said for the last few months. At one point today the current peaked at just below 11 amps. It has actually been sitting at around 6 amps for most of the day. A bit more justification for purchasing these panels in the first place and a further reminder that we must try harder to get BW to trim the trees on our mooring so as to reduce the shade.

Cheers, Chris.

Today has been another terrific day on the canal for us, albeit clouded over for most of the time.  We set off from Wolseley Bridge (B70) at about mid-day and we are now moored at another one of our favourite spots just below Sandon Lock (L25).  Yes, you’ve guessed correctly – we decided to go straight past the LH turn into the S&W at Great Haywood and opted to stay on the T&M instead.

The following pictures show the approach to / exit from the bottom lock at Great Haywood.  We were amazed to learn that there were no boats whatsoever on the approach and only two on the exit.  All previous trips through here to date have been whilst the area was stacked with boats and boaters.  I know its early season and many folks are at work (the unlucky ones that is), but even so, there are usually more boats and boaters about than this.  Even the cafe next to the lock was deserted.  Is the recession actually biting now we were wondering as we passed?

Great Haywood Lock - Approach

Great Haywood Lock - Exit

A little further on above Hoo Mill Lock (L23) we spotted this old boat again.  I say again, because we saw it and blogged about it in July 2007.  Spot the difference – it would appear that there has been very little done externally since we last saw it nearly three years ago now.  I think that it is a really well proportioned boat and with a bit of TLC it could be a head turner.  I wonder how things are shaping up inside?

Hoo Mill Lock - Old Boat (March 2010)

Hoo Mill Lock - Old Boat (July 2007)

I was forced yet again to spend most of today on the counter.  Stelle and Beth walked all the way and apparently, according to the iPod, that equates to 20, 425 steps!

Cheers, Chris.

There was a hard frost last night but it had more or less gone completely by the time we set off at around 10:00 this morning in blazing sunshine and clear blue skies -more, more, more – we want more!

We really like this stretch of canal between Woodend Lock (L20) and Kings Bromley. Trees overhang for pretty much the entire stretch and there is usually lots of wildlife down here, including the odd Buzzard, Herons and Kingfishers. We have actually seen a Kingfisher before now on this stretch bashing its catch onto a short length of scaffold tubing so as to stun it before swallowing whole (the fish that is, not the scaffold tubing!). Unfortunately we did not have our camera with us at the time. How long will it be before we get another photo opportunity like that one do you reckon?

Having called in at Kings Bromley Marina for some boating essentials, we set off again, firstly for Armitage and then Rugeley, deciding eventually to moor on the Rugeley side of Taft Bridge (B69). We have had a terrific day, with next to no boating traffic in either direction. Stelle and Beth walked it all the way from Kings Bromley to here, whilst yours truly was forced to stand on the counter. I was reliably informed upon arrival that this trip equated to 14, 820 steps on Stelle’s iPod. Funny, I do not remember counting that many steps en route.

We came here in April 2009. At the time, there was a 4.2 acre patch of land directly opposite that was advertised for sale by auction as a ‘pony paddock’. We thought that there was some scope to use this land as a home mooring, although we admit to being a bit put off by the noise from the nearby WCML. Nevertheless, we contacted the land agent and learned that there was a guide price of circa. £35k-40k. That price, in combination with the land agent not really having a clue as to whether or not mooring rights had already been negotiated with BW, put us off completely. It’s far too much in the circumstances. We subsequently learned that this land was sold for £49.5k! Strewth, that’s one lucky pony.

Things certainly have changed a lot since we were last here nearly a year ago – there are now two boats moored adjacent to this land and what looks like a small holding being developed. One can only assume that mooring rights were granted by BW and that there will ultimately be a great deal more than a pony grazing here.

Watch this space as they say.

Cheers, Chris.

We decided at short notice, i.e. today to go on a mini-cruise, motivated mainly by a desire to make the best of the relatively quiet waterway and a slight improvement in the weather. Nothing spectacular you should understand; just a dawdle to Great Haywood and then further up the T&M, or maybe a jaunt down the S&W, depending upon what takes our fancy when we arrive at the GH junction (stoppages permitting that is). It’s a tough life on the canals, but somebody has to do it.

We shall be taking our GPS with us to plot our journey and (bearing in mind our previous post) to waymark any significant waterways defects seen en route. Make technology work for you I say. I wonder if sending BW a route file and a link to Google Earth when we get back to our home mooring would be looked upon positively, or whether it would come across to them as techno-babble?

Cheers, Chris