Free at last. Free at last!

So there we were, in Gloucester Docks - a week ago last Monday - ready to head North on the River Severn, on Tuesday morning ... but; sadly; 'twas not to be.

It has rained quite a lot, recently, in England. Actually ... it has raided an AWFUL lot! This occasioned exceptionally high flows on the Severn; such that traffic was halted until the levels ameliorated. That didn't happen until last Monday morning! Gloucester Docks is not the worst place to be incarcerated aboard our cosy floating home, but six days is rather beyond a joke. However ... 
        ... once out of the lock, we found ourselves beating upriver against a 2-3 MPH current, and pleased to be achieving a speed (over-the-ground) of between 3/4 MPH. One tends to be fastidious when mooring, overnight, to a pontoon in a stream of 3MPH water. Even having double-checked before retiring; a fragmented night's sleep ia all that can be had.

After two days of 'bucking the trend', we finally entered the canal system at Stourport Upon Severn. Our hearts were gladdened to note that the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal has lovely narrow locks; only about six inches wider than Moonstone. This makes them easier - and faster - to negotiate, than the fourteen foot wide locks.

We made good time up through Kidderminster, to the junction with the (quite narrow) Stourbridge Canal; wending its way up through Dudley, to the southern end of the Dudley Tunnel. As this is so poorly ventilated; no combustion engines are allowed, so we were quite excited (we're easily excited!) at the prospect of being towed - by an electric tug - through a small, two-mile tunnel; into the Black Country Museum.

As Rabbie Burns (of immortal memory) tells us:
       "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, gang aft a-gley".

Did I mention that, of recent times, precipitation rates have been somewhat excessive? The water level in the Dudley Tunnel is such that Moonstone was about three inched too high to safely negotiate said tunnel. BLAST!!! (or words to that effect.)

However ... we had a fallback plan. Should it eventuate that the Dudley Tunnel were to be impassable for us; Plan B would find us using the 'Dudley No. 2 Canal' and the Netherton Tunnel; a deviation adding only about 2-3 hours to our planned route.

However ... as Rabbie Burns (of immortal memory) tells us:

       "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, gang aft a-gley".
During the previous evening, some spotty-faced young vandals decided to brighten their drab lives by joy-riding a 'cherry-picker' along the towpath of the aforementioned Dudley No. 2 Canal. The towpath not being quite wide enough for this unaccustomed vehicle, it toppled into the water ... thereby blocking the navigation in the middle of a narrow ravine. Viz:

So, Tom, (I hear you enquire) did you have a Plan C??? Well ... we do have options ... 

Option 1 - we can await the removal of the obstruction from the navigation; at the bottom of a fairly steep, and difficult to access, ravine. Canal and River Trust have no estimate of a time frame for this operation!
Option 2 - We can, similarly, await falling water levels in the Dudley Tunnel. God has given us no estimate of her time frame on this alternative.
Option - 3 Go the long way around ... entailing an excess 3 days of cruising. Oh, well ... Plan C it must be. Or ... 
Option 3 point 2 - we can shanghai a crew to assist our passage down the 30 locks towards our our newly mandated route!!! We managed to lure Mike Halpin and Hilary Spencer (yes; she of Artisan, Mrs. Ackroyd and Quicksilver)

to join us, and then pressed them into service. They've done this canal-boating thing before, so their service was invaluable.... three miles and 24 locks in less than three hours ... huzzah!

I'll let you know how we get on. Cheers, Tom.

STOP PRESS

Sunday morning.

We've just been informed that the impeding scissors-platform was removed from the canal about an hour after we turned around!!! &^%$£"^%$£&^%*)&^(*&

The Gloucester-Sharpness Canal.

To avoid the treacherous (30 ft. rise and fall) tides,currents, sandbanks and narrow winding of the lower (navigable part) of the River Severn; the 16-mile long Gloucester-Sharpness Canal was opened in 1827. This enabled Gloucester to become quite a major port. Its many brick-built warehouses and factories are still extant, and this part of the city has become a lively hub of retail and recreation ... never envisioned when I lived here from 1952 to 1959.

The two dry-docks of T Nielsen and Co shipyard are now greatly in demand for the restoration of heritage craft; of which this Pilot Cutter is particularly graceful example.

Wanting to include as much exploration as possible: we set off down the canal, to Sharpness. Approaching the southern end of the canal, we spotted this unusual structure,

and found it to be the sole remaining part of what had been the Severn Railway Bridge ... 

 ... until 1960; when this crashed into it and damaged it beyond repair! Treacherous indeed.


Whilst in Gloucester - the focal point of the trip, in fact - I had an excellent (standing room only!) concert, at The Fountain Inn, as a fund-raiser for the SECOND ANNUAL GLOUCESTER SHANTY FESTIVAL. It was a great success; raising about £500.

Whilst we were in the area, our new friend: Robin Burton; was a wonderful guide and mentor. One day he took us to see the MECHANICAL MUSIC MUSEUM, in Northleach ... fascinating! Additional to the superb examples of some beautifully crafted musical boxes and Edison cylinder recording players, we saw mechanical pianos, barrelorgans, juke boxes which play (about 20' diam.) steel 'floppy' discs and even a mechanical 'player' button-accordion! There exists a small factory - near Portsmouth - which still makes those steel discs; which is why we were able to listen to a David Bowie melody!!!

This plays better than ever I will be able to.
You just pump the bellows and press the switch!

Then there was the gig at the Tooting Folk Club; on Saturday evening! Being over a hundred miles from where we were moored, this involved getting a train to Warwick, collecting the car, and driving to London. It was all very well worth the effort, as Ruth and Rupert (no mean musicians, themselves!) organize a really nice club and turned out a large and enthusiastic audience ... thanks guys. Right now - Monday morning - Lyn is driving the car back to Warwick whilst I prepare for a solo run, back up the canal to Gloucester ... in the rain!!! I'll meet her there this afternoon, then we'll wait for the weather to clear before proceeding upriver towards Birmingham. 'Bye for now friends!

Left high-and-wet ...

Don't panic ... that's not Moonstone! Here we are in Tewkesbury ...

 

 ... high-and wet but, thankfully, perfectly safe and comfortable.

Our voyage down the River Avon; from Stratford-Upon-Avon to Tewkesbury (Gloucestershire, not Massachusetts) was pleasant and quite uneventful. (42 miles and 17 locks.); though we did observe the salutary lesson (above) at one of those locks. Presumable, at some previous high-water event, she freed herself of her moorings and came to grief whilst unattended. As there is no road, or even stable dry land, anywhere close; the difficulties in salvaging her are immense! There but for the grace of God ... etc.. Pursuant to torrential rains, overnight on Easter Sunday, this morning - Tuesday - finds both the Severn and Avon a few feet higher than when we arrived. All traffic on both rivers is at a mandated standstill; though we are still hopeful of arriving by boat in Gloucester Docks, for 'The Ship of Fools Concert'. To be forced to arrive by road would be, surely, both ironic and ignominious.

I have vague, 60-year old, memories of Tewkesbury; living - as I then did - less than 20 miles away, and being a keen cyclist. The town's main claim to fame is its stunningly beautiful abbey ... 

 ... to which, of course, we paid a visit ... 

Consecrated in 1121; by sheer dimensions, the abbey is of 'cathedral proportions'. This image of its impressive columns evokes visions of Ken Follet's: Pillars of the Earth.

It was from this place; after his Wars of the Roses victory at the Battle of Tewkesbury (1471); that Edward IV 'violated sanctuary', by having a number of Lancastrian rebels dragged out from the abbey and executed.

This small town displays an impressive array of half-timbered, buildings; dating from the Medieval, Tudor periods ... 

So ... more than at any time of our cruising, we are greatly subject to the vagaries of the weather. However; whilst there is nothing pressing in our immediately upcoming itinerary; Lyn and I are content be wonderfully slothful.

Last time out I posed the question regarding the use of some stone, mushroom like things. A gratifying number of you - from all parts of the globe - responded with the information that these were 'staddle stones', and instrumental in raising a building; often a tithe barn: ibid (entry May 5th. 2015) out of reach of dampness and - even more important - hungry rodents. Viz ...



Well done, the lot of you! More anon. Tom.

To Straford-Upon-Avon, and beyond.

Sloth is one of the Seven Deadly Sins; as portrayed in 'The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus', by Christopher Marlowe (more about this below) ... and I must confess to having been slothful about this (B)log. Mea culpa ... no excuses.

Our journey up the few remaining locks of the Hatton Flight were without incident, and soon we were on the Stratford On Avon Canal, with 13 miles and 32 locks between us and an evening at the theatre. A public omnibus from Warwick to Stratford-Upon-Avon will complete the journey in less than 25 minutes. A fast trip by narrowboat would take about a day and a half!!! We dawdled, and took almost three days.

A unique feature of this waterway is to be seen on the - still standing, and very charming - lock-keepers' cottages. Once the canal had been constructed - nearly 200 years ago - the arched supports; used when building the proliferation of bridges; were recycled to become the roof structures of the aforesaid cottages, viz:

and

On the way we stopped in at Wootton Wawen - no, I haven't developed a lithp - and a lovely old (17th. century) pub: The Bull's Head.

The ales were more than'acceptable' and here are some images of that establishment:

These were just outside ... 

Kudos for whomever identifies their purpose???

There was also a lovely old (13th. century) church; (many such abound in the English countryside) with sadly weathered gargoyles.

Anyway ... when, eventually, we arrived in Stratford-Upon-Avon; we moored in the handy, purpose-built, canal boat basin, only a hundred and 50 yards from the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. On the Monday evening we availed ourselves of this proximity and purchased tickets for Marlowe's: Doctor Faustus; which was being staged in the lovely, bijou, Swan Theatre ... at the rear of the main playhouse.

We sat in the two seats seen on the extreme bottom right of the above image.

I have always been intrigued by Christopher Marlowe because of his personal history. Apart from having been suspected of being the actual writer of of some of Shakespeare's works (they were contemporaries), he was reputed to be an agent of Sir Francis Walsingham: Elizabeth's spymaster; and died in a knife-fight in a pub in Deptford. The staging of the play was arresting, almost anarchic, and riveting ... then we strolled home for a glass of wine! We love this boating life! More soon. Tom.

Start the Spring cruise.

Monday, March 14th. 2016

This is the Hatton Flight ... 21 locks, in all; from our 'winter home' to the top; but actually, only 18 to our present (temporary) resting place in Knowle Hall Dry Dock. We needed to do some essential maintenance, so this funky little facility is convenient and cheap ... perfect!

We should be un-docking tomorrow (Tuesday), and then proceeding - via the last 3 locks, Stratford-upon-Avon and Tewksbury - to Gloucester. It is there that; on the First of April, I'll be presenting the 'Ship Of Fools' concert; to raise funds in aid of the second annual Gloucester Shanty Festival. I won't be able to be there myself (over Spring Bank Holiday weekend) but - somehow or other - I've been designated the festival's 'PATRON' ... so I'd better do something to assist.

So ... this start to our 2016 cruising - about 2 months - will take us up to our departure for California; and the WEDDING OF THE CENTURY!!! Watch this space ...

Signing off for the rest of the year.

Hello folks.



It's nearly November and we've brought Moonstone into the Saltisford Arm for the winter.

From now until March we'll only be floating out on an occasional (very) short trip; for the delectation of various visiting friends ... from as far as British Columbia and South Australia!

Since last May we have cruised: 844 miles of canals and rivers plus 37 miles of the North Sea; negotiated 573 locks (and over ten miles of tunnels!); visited castles and cathedrals, pubs and restaurants; met countless good-natured people; seen widely differing panoramas and vistas; and explored a great deal of our own country which we've never before encountered ... all from a point of view rarely experienced by visitors and tourists.

Now; before we hunker down for the non-cruising season; I'm adding the final episode - for this year - of Watery Peregrinations. For those of you who want to catch up from the earlier reports, just click on the appropriate month in the 'Blog Archive' at the r/h top of each page, or click on 'Older Posts' down at the bottom of each page.

Thanks to those of you who've written with comments or queries. Lyn and I will be back 'on the cut' in March; and I'll send a heads-up before we cast off!

Remember ... sometimes the light at the at the end of the tunnel ... 

is, actually, something coming the other way!

Good wishes to all of you. Tom.

Back to ‘narrow’ locks!

Apropos of nothing: we observed this in the cafe at Foxton Locks ... 

 ... and that's too good for them!

For the past couple of years; and for most of this Watery Peregrinations expedition; we’ve been experiencing ‘wide’ locks. ‘Wide’; in this instance; means locks about 14’ or wider, though – for the most part – still around 72’ in length. As Moonstone has a beam of barely 7’, wide locks are handy for two boats to share a lock, and imperative for a ‘wide-beam’ boat (i.e. wider than 7 feet). However; when there is just a single narrowboat negotiating a wide lock, the inconveniences become apparent. Rather than being encompassed, snugly, by the wall of the lock just inches on either side; the turbulence of the moving water requires that a line be secured on the shore – and attended to – whilst the boat rises and falls and attempts to drift sideways in the lock chamber. Additionally; the lock-gates (doors) are much larger on wide locks, hence much heavier for us to manoeuvre.

Nearly all of the locks in the southern part (England, South of Birmingham) of the canal and river system are of the wide variety and are – at least by your narrator and his travelling companion - not so well favoured as the narrow variety. On the way down the Northampton Flight; between the Grand Union Canal (Main Line) and the River Nene; all 17 locks were ‘narrow’; though the locks on the Great Ouse system where; in some cases; enormous. Likewise; all the locks on the Foss Dyke Navigation, The River Trent and its tributaries and, latterly, the Grand Union Canal; have been wide locks. We were surprised, and delighted, to arrive at Foxton to find that the flight was comprised of narrow locks.

Foxton was a famous (infamous?) ‘choke point’ on the system, in the 19th. and early 20th. century; by reason of the 10 locks being a mere 7’ 4” wide and arranged as a ‘staircase’ (immediately out of one chamber and into the next; with no passing facility.) This arrangement was hugely inconvenient, and inefficient; so much so, that the canal company devised a scheme to use (then) cutting-edge technology to by-pass the flight. This entailed the construction of a steam-driven contraption called the Foxton Inclined Plane to haul boats up the hill. The technology was, sadly, TOO 'cutting-edge' and did not live up to expectations. Consequently; it operated for a mere 12 years. Now that barely a skeleton of the original remains, this video of a model representation is the best illustration of its workings. Of course; there is an active society to re-install a full-size, working replica!!!

The horses which towed the canal-boats are memorialized in bronze

There are 3 tunnels on this stretch of the canal ... here's a shot of one ... 

There have been three tunnels over the past two days of travelling; totalling over two miles!

Ta-ta for now.