Halfie Delays the Outer Circle!

Halfie's "Jubilee"

My planned tour of Birmingham's "Outer Circle" bus route ("the biggest bus route in Europe") was delayed today, but for a very good reason - a visit from Halfie, and Ben, who had brought Jubilee into Brum for the day from their temporary mooring outside Yardley Wood Bus Garage! (aka: Bridge 5, Stratford Canal). Despite following each other's blogs for quite a while we'd never actually met and we had a lot to talk about over coffee aboard Starcross before moving on to Jubilee for more chat and more coffee!
This took up most of the morning but then I was further delayed by a phone call from the boss of a small Herefordshire bus company I do some consultancy work for who had a small, but urgent, job that needed doing NOW. 
By the time I'd done that and emailed it off it was lunch time and then by the time I'd walked up to Broad Street and got a bus to Bearwood (the Outer Circle, by definition, doesn't come anywhere near the city centre) it was  14.30 before I actually got aboard the number 11A ("A" for anti-clockwise - the clockwise version is the 11C, but strangely I never contemplated doing it that way round!)

There's lots of stuff I could tell you about the Outer Circle, but if you are interested you can read its own Wikipedia page. To me, the highlights were:
Bourneville Village:

High-quality housing provided by George Cadbury for his chocolate factoryworkers
as part of a planned village with every amenity for the staff - except a pub!

Sarehole Mill

Sarehole Valley was the childhood playground of JRR Tolkein and supposedly the inspiration for the locations in Lord of the Rings. This has given Birmingham City Council's Parks Department the idea for some pretty desperate marketing!

Acocks Green

Acocks Green Garage provides the buses for the Outer Circle. It takes over 50 vehicles to provide the service: as many as I had to run the entire network of subsidised routes throughout Herefordshire.
The banner to the left reads "Home of the Outer Circle. The biggest bus route in Europe!

Erdington:
Where the number 11 used to rattle the glass in the door of Ray of No Direction's childhood home.(but of which I didn't get a photo)


Handsworth:
A touch of the orient in deepest Brum
and
Winson Green Prison: (of which I though it would be most unwise to take a photo)


Canals, of course, are crossed throughout the route and I saw the Worcester & Birmingham, the Grand Union, the Birmingham & Fazeley, the Tame Valley, the BCN New Main Line and the Soho Loop. If you're going on any of these keep your eyes peeled for the number 11!


On a good day, the 26 mile route can be completed in under three hours but with the stopovers and the rush-hour traffic it was 18.30 by the time I alighted back in Bearwood, but at least I have now seen the real Brum.


Birmingham also has an Inner Circle; but I'll spare you that!

Bus Routes of Birmingham: Number One: The No. 1

The Number 1 at Acock's Green

I've always been intrigued by Birmingham's number 1 bus. You'd expect a service with the number 1 to be an important trunk route, perhaps to a nearby town or at least a main line service to a major suburb. But not in Birmingham. Brum's number 1 leaves the city via Five Ways heading south-west. Once out of the central area however it turns south-east, crosses the Worcester & Birmingham Canal and proceeds to link a succession of leafy suburbs, all of which have much more direct services to the city, until coming to a halt at Acock's Green;  a point chosen no doubt because it's almost on the city boundary. The route does serve the county cricket ground at Edgbaston, but even this has a more direct service via the Pershore Road.The bus timetable describes the terminus as "Acock's Green Village". It looked more like a small town to me: in fact in my old home county of Herefordshire it would be a large town!  
I've wanted to ride the number 1 for some time, so today, after moving the boat to St. Vincent Street's 14-day moorings (the pub at Cambrian Wharf having proved too noisy after all), I walked up to Broad Street and caught one. (A "one" that is)
The bus, especially a double-decker, really is the best way to see a city. You can look around you, don't have to worry about the traffic or which road to take and if you see something that interests you you just get off and pick up another bus later on without having all the bother of finding somewhere to park - or even to stop. Most of Birmingham's buses run every 10 minutes (some much more often) and many of them are double-deckers too.
Tomorrow: The Outer Circle!

Cambrian Wharf

Cambrian Wharf, Birmingham

The Hopwood House Inn has had yet another makeover since my last visit, which has destroyed the last vestiges of "pubbiness" it once possessed. It's now a totally food-led operation and the only place I felt comfortable with my pint was in the garden (which is the size of a small municipal park) - neither is beer quality the top priority, or so it would appear, so I confined myself to one.
With no reason to stay in Hopwood I untied about 8.30 this morning and set off for Brum. I was the first boat of the day through Wast Hill Tunnel, but then met a steady stream of southbound boats for the rest of the morning.


I need to stay in Birmingham for longer than the 48-hours permitted on most of the visitor moorings so I was lucky to find a space at Cambrian Wharf (can you spot me? I'm right at the centre of the pic.) I winded at the entrance and reversed onto the pontoon successfully and without hitting a thing: needless to say there was no audience.


Most of the boats here appear to be unoccupied and I'm a bit concerned that the (keg beer) pub that overlooks the basin might be noisy with "balcony drinkers" later in the evenings, but it's only Tuesday so I'll give it a try. I can always move down to the other 14 day moorings at St. Vincent Street if it gets too much.

Home from Home

Starcross has been sitting happily in Alvechurch whilst I've been home for a few days. Coming back has made me realise what a lucky b*stard I am! As soon as I'm back on board it's just like coming home - and when I go home, that's just like coming home too!


Alvechurch was a convenient place to leave the boat with a railway station right next to the cut with regular trains to Birmingham for connections back to Lancaster (re-booking at Manchester saves a tenner, naturally). When I got back I found my neighbours to be Jandai, who I last encountered in Stourport. They were heading for Droitwich via the Scenic Route* whilst I went direct, so I was able to brief them on the route, including the crossing of the M5 by culvert, which all first-timers to Droitwich are - or should be - concerned about.


Whilst I was away someone had been enquiring after me. Captain Ahab (he of the Watery Tales) had been passing through. Andy and I "met" (in the electronic sense) through a shared interest in the works of Gerard Morgan-Grenville a few years ago, although we've never yet set eyes on each other, despite a few near misses. 


I had overstayed my welcome on the Alvechurch moorings (if you know what I mean) so as soon as I was ready I untied and moved onto Hopwood for the night.


* Scenic Route: The busman's euphamism for the long way round!

Stopped by the Weather

Today was a day of locks - and little else. We set off early from Stoke Works "to beat the rush" and specifically to get in front of the two hire boats moored next to us, but hardly saw a soul all day. Unaccountably the first six locks of the Stoke flight took an hour, but once we started on the thirty of the Tardebigge flight we quickly got into a rhythm and fairly flew up. 

About to start on the Tardebigge flight

The folding bike came in very handy here and enabled us to ensure the next lock was always ready.

Nearing the top

We regularly swopped jobs between steering and lock-wheeling and made pretty steady progress up the flight. Towards the end we were taking exactly six minutes a lock and we arrived at the visitor moorings below the top lock 3 hours 25 mins after starting (so, say 3h 35m for the whole flight?) and that included a coffee stop at the Halfway House.

View from the reservoir (which was full).

By now though the weather was taking its toll. With temperatures approaching 25 C our lunch stop became an afternoon stop as it was judged too hot to continue. Mark took the bike over to Bromsgrove to spot freight trains on the Lickey Incline whilst I had a kip and did a few jobs on the boat until late afternoon when it was cool enough to continue.


After posting this I went to update the days/miles/locks counter on the sidebar and found that Tardebigge Top Lock was the 2,500th lock that Starcross and I have done together.

Please do not remove from lock

Yesterday's earlier than expected start had left us with some time to kill. I'd have been happy to take things easy but Mark, of course, had come for some boating so where better to go than Droitwich again.The volunteer locky was absent today and at the first lock on the Junction Canal Mark came across this peice of wood on the balance beam

Of course, when he opened the gate it promptly fell (or was it pushed?) into the cut and disappeared. We had a good look for it as did the crew of an uphill boat but it was nowhere to be seen. Currents are funny things however and after we'd gone down the next lock I spotted it floating on the surface and was able to reverse and retrieve it using the green  metal rod (on the right) that has no purpose but which I keep on the roof "just in case". I can't imagine what it's for - does anyone know? (There was a identical one on the other beam).
I was glad of another opportunity to visit Droitwich as it gave me the chance to take some photos of Norbury House - a former hotel from Droitwich's brief attempt to brand itself a Spa in the 1930s, now converted into apartments and sitting rather incongruously in the main street.

Norbury House

Then it was back up to Hanbury Wharf. The top three locks are fitted with side ponds. Number two's were locked out of use but three and one were workable, although I noted that the volunteer locky hadn't used them when we came through last week, another example of their lack of efficient working unfortunately.

Last night's pub was a bit disappointing having been modernised by a new landlord only two months ago. He was proud of his work but I didn't have the heart to tell him that for me at least he had removed any reason to revisit it. Tonight we'll give the Boat and Railway at Stoke Works a try.

God Speed the Plough

When speaking to other boaters heading for Droitwich I was surprised at how many of them were planning their itinerary so as to avoid stopping in Worcester. One of them even said to me that the moorings there were not at all suitable for an overnight stay. Quite a few boaters seem to have this antipathy towards urban areas but all I can say is that the two nights I spent in Worcester were pleasant, quiet and trouble-free and when I returned to Starcross on the Blockhouse moorings after three days in south Wales I found her just as I'd left her.


Mark, my crew member for the next stage of the trip, arrived today at 14.00 off the train from Oxford. Despite an earlier idea that we might spend a night in the city, when he got to the boat he was keen to set off and make the most of his time on board. As large urban areas go the route out of Worcester is quite pleasant with a few landmarks such as the iconic railway viaduct at Lowesmoor that really needs a GWR Castle and a rake of chocolate-and-cream carriages to complete it.

Lowesmoor Railway Viaduct

At Bilford the canal passes through a modern industrial estate where this wharf looks for all the world as if the next loaded boat will arrive at any minute

Bilford Wharf

The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is still very quiet, with just a few hire boats and timeshares on the move and we had the locks almost to ourselves all the way to Offerton Top, although we did meet a single-hander who had started from Tardebigge, the best part of 50 locks away, this morning in a boat ironically called "Slo-Motion"

Offerton Locks

Our destination for the day was Tibberton, where we are now on the visitor moorings surrounded by hire-boats one of which made a spectacular attempt at mooring; aiming originally for a point at the far end of the moorings but ending up almost on top of us!  Later we'll be off down to the "God Speed the Plough" to see if it's the unspoiled village local I remember from my last visit here five years ago.

Up the Junction

Thursday 17th May
From Netherwich Basin the last few metres of the Barge Canal take you through Vines Park, where there are a surprising number of swing bridges to negotiate, including the rather unnecessary one across the lock that leads up into the River Salwarpe and hence to the Droitwich Junction Canal.

Why not just walk across the gates?

After a short river section, the Junction Canal proper begins, a curious mixture of restored old line and, where this wasn't possible, a brand new cut. The first obstacle is the M5 crossing. Here, the restorers used an existing culvert with very limited - and variable - headroom. I was a bit worried about this as Starcross is a bit more high-sided than many boats and the air draught has been further increased by the new, taller, flue I was required to have fitted when I replaced my water heater a year or so back. So it was with some trepidation that we approached the crossing.

Advance warning!

OK So far. . . 

Loads of room (as long as you don't want to see forward to steer!)

Shortly after the culvert are the brand-new locks, including a staircase, swiftly followed by the three old locks that were restored several years previous to the main re-opening. We were assisted up these by a volunteer lock-keeper, whose help was welcome even if his method of working wasn't completely efficient.


At Hanbury Wharf we called in for diesel and gas and I realised what a sheltered life I've had on the Shroppie where the close proximity of Norbury Wharf and Turner's Garage keeps diesel prices to a minimum. I paid up (and was "reminded" that I didn't have to declare 60/40: we settled for 40/60!) but I did draw the line at being asked for £3 by the New Boat Company next door to empty my toilet cassette. That was just taking the p*** (literally!)


Then it was off along a relatively lock-free stretch of the Worcester & Birmingham Canal down to Diglis Basin, where we winded and returned to the Blockhouse Lock, where we left Starcross for the weekend whilst I went down to south Wales to visit my parents. Before leaving, however, we called in at "The Anchor,

The Anchor, Diglis: where a pint is a pint!

Although not quite as basic as its namesake on the Shroppie, this "Anchor" hasn't been overly messed about with and is a proper boaters' pub. It's also one of the last pubs to serve cask beer through a metered electric pump into oversize glasses, which means you get the full pint you've paid for with plenty of room in the glass for the "thick creamy head" that cask beer drinkers are expected to want these days. Revolutionary!

Down the River to Droitwich

Ken, an old boating chum from the 'seventies hire boat trips, arrived at half-past nine. With some sea-going experience, he checked my anchor arrangements and suggested a few improvements! Then it was down the staircases - where I was able to put into practice the lessons learned from watching other boaters efforts at the offset angle of approach to the bottom pair and onto the river.

Lincomb lock

The locks on the Severn seem huge by comparison with the narrow canals, but they are 'keeper-operated and the only problem is in manoeuvring both ends of the boat close enough to the wall to allow front and back ropes to be threaded through the hawsers at the same time. 


In what seemed like no time we were at the bottom lock of the Droitwich Barge Canal, but as I

Entrance to the Barge Canal from the river

approached the junction and made ready to turn, a boat that had been moored on the pontoon suddenly untied and set off at a rate of knots. I assumed at first he was just trying to assert his "turn" at the lock, but no, he just cut straight across my path, headed up river and forced me to make a less-than-optimum approach myself!


The Droitwich restoration has taken a long time - it started in 1973  - but it's been well-worth the wait.

On the Barge Canal

It does require at least a mild sense of adventure, particularly if, like mine, your guide book shows it as "unnavigable". My copy of Nicholson's also numbered the locks but not the bridges whilst on the ground it was the other way round so that we didn't always know what to expect around the next corner. It tooks us most of the afternoon to get to Droitwich where we tied up on the pontoons in Netherwich Basin, which is overlooked by the Droitwich to Stoke Prior railway line and thus qualified for inclusion in my (notional) list of "moorings for trainspotters", although the absence of overnight trains and heavy freight relegates it to the second division!

Diversions

The passengers on this morning's bus to Worcester weren't at all fazed when the driver stopped at Astley Cross and announced that owing to a road closure they wouldn't be following the usual route and instead would be taken  "via the scenic route" , which is bus-speak for a diversion that would add several miles and a fair amount of time to their journeys. In fact, when he told us that we would be travelling via Dunley, Great Witley and Little Witley there were audible gasps of delight and sighs of "lovely!" as the passengers realised they would get an unexpected chance to enjoy a trip along roads they wouldn't normally get to see.


I've enjoyed a few diversions of my own here in Stourport whilst waiting for crew. David Morris, who runs a small bus company in Herefordshire and with whom I used to spar with in my days as Public Transport Manager for the Council, called in for lunch one day and three former colleagues from my days at Worcester council offices took me out for meal last night. As there are, apparently, no pubs that do food on a Monday night in Stourport we went over to Bewdley amd the Woodcolliers Arms, which has a Russian chef and hence offers a chance to try, amongst other things, Attabanya; which turned out to be a sort of spicy pork schnitzel.


I've also found time to assist a few other boaters down the locks into the river, picking up a few tips on how not to manage the tricky passage between the top and bottom staircases, which are fiendishly offset. Everyone I spoke to seemed to be heading for Droitwich, although Jan and Dai on - what else - "Jandai" had decided to turn around and go "the scenic route" via Stourbridge and Birmingham instead.


After sitting on the York Street five-day moorings since Saturday I moved down into the upper basin today to take on water. It looks at first glance as if there are no visitor moorings here but perusing the notice boards carefully uncovers the fact that visiting boats can moor overnight anywhere on the basin walls, so this is my view from the kitchen window tonight.

Stourport basin

Unlikely Bedfellows

Who would have thought that the owners of these:

A motor yacht

Would have enough in common with the owners of these;

A bungalow

To form one of these:

Visitors

Dave and Annette

Visitors today in the form of Dave and Annette whom I know from my time in Worcester. They had walked up the canal from Stourport to meet me in Wolverley and to have a ride back. It was good to see them again and to have them on board. Although not boaters themselves they have done enough boating to know how to work the locks, giving me an easy day at the tiller.
Their garden backs on to the Staffs & Worcester Canal just outside Stourport, so we were able to tie up under the bridge that carried the Hartlebury to Bewdley section of the Severn Valley Railway and adjourn to their house for lunch.

Out to lunch!

Later, I moved Starcross down to York Street moorings, just above the basins, to wait until mid-week for my crew for the next stage of the trip. The river level indicator at the entrance lock had just dropped into the amber from the red so unless it rains heavily in Wales (!) over the next few days we should be able to keep to schedule.

A Help for the Single Hander

I was delayed in getting back to Starcross on Friday owing to a visit to the bank to try and get myself listed as an authorised account signatory for the Friends of Williamson Park, of which I have just become treasurer. I filled in the forms and was then asked for proof of ID.
"Here's a driving licence"
"Thank you - and proof of address?"
"Er, it's on the licence!"
"Oh No Sir, we need a separate document, perhaps a utility bill?"
"I don't actually carry those around with me, but can you take the licence as proof of address and something else as proof of identity?
(Reluctantly) "Yes, I suppose"
"Well, here's a bus pass - it has my name and a photo"
"No, that won't do, it's not on our list."
"So, you mean that even though I've given you two separate forms of photo ID, one with an address on, that's not good enough?"
"No, sir."
Bankers - don't you just love 'em!


I knew I'd never find a deal as cheap as my £3.30 Kinver to Lancaster "fare" but I did manage to save a tenner on the quoted fare by getting a bus to Preston and another from Wolverhampton to Stourbridge (oh! and re-booking at Crewe, obviously). Because of the fruitless visit to the bank it was after four o' clock by the time I got to the boat and half-past five before I was ready to leave. I had to make a start, however, as I'd arranged to pick up two temporary crew members at Wolverley in the morning.
One of the worst things about single-handing is having to close the gates after you when leaving a lock. It's often possible to stop just outside and nip back and close-up but there isn't always anything to tie up to and you run the risk of the boat floating away as happened to me once at Colwich. So I was happy to see this handy device at Hyde Lock.

I've no idea what it's called and I've never seen one anywhere else, but it was certainly useful.

Cropredy Preview

Fairport Convention - not as I remember them!

I won't be going to Cropredy this year. In fact, I've never been - but I'll get there one year. This year, however, I don't need to go because last night I saw Fairport Convention - in Morecambe where they were performing at "The Platform" - a venue created out of the old Promenade railway station.


They played a blend of old favourites and newer material, as most bands of this era that are still going tend to do, but for those of us who are old enough to remember their music when it was new, numbers such as "Matty Groves" and "Fotheringhay" took us back in time to the 1970s (I can remember the 1960's too, so I obviously wasn't there).


The band's line up has changed regularly over the years but I'm afraid to say they'll never be the same without female vocalist, Sandy Denny

On The Ribble

"The Ribble", or Ribble Motor Services to give it its full name, was once one of the largest bus companies in the country with over 1,000 buses. Its operating area stretched from Liverpool and Manchester in the south to beyond Carlisle in the north - and that was just the "local" buses: the coaches could been seen anywhere. It survived nationalisation and retained its identity as part of the National Bus Company, but after privatisation it was swiftly swallowed up by the Stagecoach group.


But its memory lives on and a band of enthusiasts - the Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust - maintains a fleet of former Ribble vehicles and cares for them in much the same way as working boat enthusiasts care for their charges.  It's a bit easier for bus enthusiasts when it comes to re-creating the past. For a start the "cargo" loads itself(!) and the legislation surrounding old bus operation is surprisingly liberal - as long as you don't charge fares. This has given rise to the concept of "running days", when old buses operate in public service, much as they would have done years ago, except of course that travel is free, and a recent addition to these events is the Morecambe Running Day, which is where I was last weekend.

There was a "static" display of vehicles on the promenade. Seen here are one of the revolutionary double-deck motorway expresses of the 1960s with a touring coach and, on the right, a "Yelloway" express coach that would have run between Lancashire and London in competition with National Express.
But the highlight of the day is the opportunity to ride on the vehicles themselves - either along the prom between Heysham and Carnforth (where you can call in at the railway station for a "Brief Encounter") or on the town service around Morecambe.

We left the car at Heysham, strolled along the promenade to the Winter Gardens and caught a bus to Carnforth. After a look round the station we returned to Morecambe and had a cup of tea on the "stone jetty" - the nearest Morecambe has to a pier after one burned down and the other was washed away in a storm!. Then a last bus ride back to Heysham and a final walk around Heysham Head before heading for home.

The ruins of the 8th-Century chapel on Heysham Head

Back at Heysham with Hilary and our friend and sometime Starcross crew member, Duncan

The Best of Tea. . . The Worst of Tea

Everyone has their favourite tea. Mine happens to be Ridgeways Organic, Sarah on Chertsey , for example, prefers Yorkshire Gold. So be it.
But I can now say that having arrived at Preston Bus Station after the cafeteria had closed for the day and with only one source of hot beverages available the worst tea in the world (if indeed it was tea)comes from here:

I'd have been better off shredding the cardboard cup and pouring hot water on that!

How to spend more on refreshments than you do on fares.

Even the booking clerk was impressed at the cost of my ticket when I had to ask him for it after the automatic machine at Wolverhampton wouldn't issue it to me. Wolverhampton to Liverpool on an Advance Purchase, Internet Discount, London Midland Half-Price sale (with railcard)  for £3.30! (walk-on fare £19.20). 
Not that I was going from Wolverhampton to Liverpool you understand. My journey had started in Stourbridge and I was headed home to Lancaster, but that would have cost ten times as much.
Stourbridge is hardly a centre of the rail network anyway. All journeys from the town must start with the short ride to Stourbridge Junction and a change of train. Going anywhere north of Birmingham requires a further change there, so my bus to Wolverhampton didn't take any longer and even without my free pass would have been considerably cheaper. It also gave me a chance to inspect the brand-new bus station at Stourbndge, opened only last month and which replaced an extremely run-down facility which was a major disincentive to bus use.

The new Stourbridge Bus Station

When booking ahead I like to leave a bit of extra time for connections, because cheap tickets are usually train-specific and if you miss your booked train you might as well throw the ticket away and start again. Today though, everything went smoothly and I had plenty of time for a couple of pints in the Great Western, the best pub in Wolverhampton and one of the best in the country.

The Great Western

These of course, more than doubled the cost of the journey!  The "Great Western" sounds as if it ought to be near the railway station - which it is. Unfortunately it's near the GWR station - Wolverhampton Low Level - which is a fine station not much good to the traveller now that all the trains go from the LMS station formerly known as Wolverhampton High Level

Wolverhampton Low Level - across the road from the Great Western

My London Midland train got me to Liverpool in an hour-and-a-quarter and I then had a 40 minute wait for the X2 bus to Preston, which mysteriously changes to a service 2X in Southport to get round the law on drivers' hours! I must admit that the passenger on the top deck of the X2 does not see the north-west of England at its best. The journey out of Liverpool along the Scotland Road is very slow and passes mile after mile of dereliction, the area never having recovered from the mass dock closures of the 1970s and 80s. In Bootle, the bus stops at "The Strand", but that is somewhat different from it's London namesake.


Things got better after Preston. The number 40 is allowed much less time for its journey in the evenings, when car and passenger traffic are, in theory, lighter. In practice this means it has to charge up the A6 flat out, but it does show that modern buses can easily keep pace with the traffic when they need to and we were rarely overtaken.


Another advantage of public transport is that arrival times are exactly predictable. The number 40 stops at the end of our road and I was able to tell Hilary I would be home at 19:32 precisely - which I was. It wasn't the fastest of journeys, but it was certainly the cheapest and a lot more interesting than a thrash up the M6 or even the West Coast Main Line would have been.

I Should Cocoa

I think I deserve this today. In fact I think I deserve something a little stronger, but that may come later!
People on the towpath often say to boaters "What a nice life, peaceful and relaxing - no worries!" They should have been with me today.
Not only has it been cold and miserable, with torrential rain this afternoon but just after I'd set off this morning I noticed my instrument panel was dead: rev counter, temperature gauge, voltmeter, oil pressure - the lot. Oh, and so was the engine stop button!
Time to call out International River Canal Rescue. But then I remembered this had happened before - and when RCR arrived the engineer went straight to the wiring in the engine, uncovered a connection I didn't know was there and squirted it with WD40! "We always look there first with an Isuzu". Now I remembered what he'd done, but that's not the same as being able to do it myself (If I was mechanically minded I wouldn't have joined RCR in the first place). But I found the connection, got inside it, sprayed WD40 around at random and, Hey Presto! everything came back to life.
I was still feeling pleased with myself when I stopped at Stourton Junction for lunch. Tied up quickly and went inside to find the whole of the boat full of smoke! Luckily it was only smoke: the door on the stove had come ajar (It was OK when I checked it at Gothersley lock) and smoke was pouring out of the fire. I presume it had only just happened, perhaps when I stopped, and I certainly hope so otherwise that expensive smoke alarm I've bought has been a waste of money!
Yes, boating is a nice life, peaceful and relaxing - no worries : usually!

All Quiet on the Staffs & Worcs

I wasn't surprised to see only three other moving boats yesterday - and two of those came past late in the afternoon when the rain had stopped - but although today has been much better (and we even had an hour or two's sunshine at lunchtime) there still aren't many boats around.
Perhaps the fact that the Severn is in flood and the canal to Stourport is temporarily a dead-end is having an effect and I did meet one hire boat that had set out rather optimistically last weekend but had had to turn round at Stourport. Anyway, it's certainly quiet - not that I'm complaining.
This part of the Staffs & Worcs Canal is well-known for its circular weirs at the locks, but that at Marsh lock is even more unusual

I'm sure this geometric shape must have a name, but the only definition of a shape "with parallel sides and semi-circular ends" I can find on the 'net is a running track!
This lock also has an interesting tail bridge

Can you see the slot in the centre of the bridge which allows tow ropes to pass without being unhitched? Or at least it did before someone added a strengthening girder below it!


I'm now at Greensforge, where I spent a happy half-hour at the water point/sanitary station, doing what boaters do at such places and I'll be taking a walk along to the Navigation later to see if it's any better than the Round Oak at Wombourne was last night, which won't be difficult.

Guilty at the Bratch

Castle Croft Bridge

Today was another of those days not for moving on. It was a day for lighting the fire, making the tea and reading the newspapers. But to do that I needed firelighters, tea and, er, newspapers and as I was moored in the middle of nowehere (or Castle Croft Bridge on the Staffs & Worcs) it was on with the waterproofs again and off into the wetness.
I felt guilty dragging the lockie out of his warm and dry office at the Bratch. He said "Ah a brave boater, the first today" "A stupid boater, you mean", I replied. I'd have been happy to go through on my own, but that would have left him feeling guilty and it's probably against his job description anyway, but I was glad of his assistance, especially as he hadn't yet unlocked the bottom gates.
The first opportunity to stop near a shop was at Wombourne, just below Bumblehole Lock (the Staffs & Worcs has some great names for its locks and bridges) so I took it - and after a quick walk to the shop and back it was fire, tea and newspapers all day (although when it stopped raining this afternoon I did clean out and tidy up the front well.