Narrowboat Just Heaven

Another bright, sunny, frosty start. Several ‘Viking Afloat’ boats came past very early while we were still in bed, presumably heading for Gailey on ‘turnround day’. We went along to Hatherton junction, winded and headed back again. Having had the fire on all day and all night for several days we were begining to run out of fuel. Heddi remembered seeing the coal boat at Awbridge, so we thought that we’d stop there tomorrow to stock up.

It was still lovely and sunny when we got to Autherley where we stopped for breakfast. Whilst we were getting breakfast I heard the thump, thump, thump of a working boat approaching, but by the time I realised that it was the coal boat from Awbridge it was too late to stop him.

We stopped again just below Compton lock to go to the freezer center and post a letter. On the way back from the Post Office I tripped on the pavement kerb (due to a car coming up behind me in what looked to me like a pedestrianised area!). I had my hands in my jacket pockets because of the cold, but this meant I was unable to put my hands down to break my fall. So I crashed headlong to the ground, gashing my knee and ripping my trousers. The car drove on apparently without even noticing!

Limekiln were out of coal, so we hoped that someone would still be at Awbridge when we got there, but they were’nt.

We could hear, and see, some fireworks going off in the distance, presumable for halloween.

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We awoke to another cold, frosty but clear & sunny morning.

The frosts of the previous two nights had loosened the autumn leaves and they were falling from the trees like a snow storm! The bright sun on the trees brought out the autumn colours beautifully.
We stopped at Limekiln Chandlers in Compton to top up with diesel. As the new tax rates were due to start on the 1st of November we thought that this would be our last chance to fill up at the old rate. Another boat ‘Ossie’ that we had met the previous day was there for the same reason. The guy at Limekiln was not looking forward to the new system at all! He was sure that it was a recipe for chaos.

The plan for the week was to get to Tixall wide. We hadn’t been there for a few years and, though we had passed through several times, we hadn’t ever spent the night there. We had identified several walks in the area and thought that we might go to Shugborough Hall.

The cold weather, and Heddi not feeling very well means that we abandoned the plan. It was clear in the afternoon that even if we did get to Tixall it would only be to turn round and head back. So we stopped at about 2:30 at Laches bridge no. 73.

I spent a significant part of the afternoon simply watching the sheep in a field across the canal !

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At around 6 o’clock, just before dawn, the frost stat turned the heating on! So it must have been only about 3° in our bedroom. At around seven I got up to make a cup of tea and check that fire was still in, it was, so I stoked it up, opened up the air a bit and went back to bed with the tea. We eventually got up just after eight.

When I put my head up through the hatch it was obvious that the rain from the previous evening had frozen during the night. The boat was covered in a layer of ice.

We stopped for breakfast at Kinver.
When I when to tie up I found the ropes rather stiff!

Pleasantly sunny but uneventful day, not much boat traffic about. Arrived at the bottom of Bratch to find the locks empty and waiting for us. Dave the lockie said that he had been busy earlier, but after we went up only one other boat went down. We moored for the night on the visitor’s mooring at the top.

We dont usually watch TV when boating. In fact we previously hadnt’t had a TV set on board. But for this trip I had brought a small flat screen set from home togther with a digibox. I’d checked that they were 12v compatible and stopped at Halfords in Kidderminster to get the bits & pieces I needed to make up the power leads. It wasnt until I started to do the job that I realised the plug connections needed to be soldered.  It was still only about half past three so we decided to walk into Womborne to see if I could get what I needed. Womborne has a hardware/DIY shop which may  stock soldering irons, but I couldn’t check because it closes on Wednesday afternoons!

No TV tonight.

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Arrived at Kiddeminster around 10:30 after stopping at CountryWide on the way to buy some Taybrite. It was £12.99, a considerable increase since the last bag we bought back in April. We chugged round to Sainsbury’s to do the week’s shopping.Then just about 4 miles and 4 locks north to near Caunsall bridge. Saw a kingfisher on the stretch below Wolverley Court lock, he just sat there on a branch as we went by. Of course we diddnt have the camera with us.

By about 2;30 the weather was getting cold and dark so we stopped early for the night. It started to snow, huge flakes, but later turned to rain.

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We had to get back home to cook Sunday lunch for our daughters, sons in law & grandchildren so we left at 8:00, it was very misty but looked like it would be a nice sunny day.

Back at the mooring by 8:50, packed up and off home in glorious boating wetaher

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The morning looked good, even though the weather forecast wasnt, so we decided to go for a short run up to Kinver and back.

Called in at Sainsbury’s on the way, and then on in lovely warm sunshine to stop on the visitor’s mooring at Kinver for lunch.

Up to wind just above Hyde lock and then back again. As we were approaching Debdale lock I suddenly lost all power. It was clear that there was something round the prop. Thinking it was just some leaves, sticks etc I tried a blast of reverse, but no it was jammed solid. By now the boat had drifted over to the far bank, so I poled across to the towpath and got down the weed hatch. Twenty minutes later I had removed a tangled mass of nylon netting, twine, sticks & string.

At the next lock (Wolverley) as the boat entered it suddent stopped dead partway in. There was a large log jammed between the boat and the lock wall. I tried removing it with the boat hook, but no luck. I started hitting it with the lump hammer. It was was moving but slowly, then a man from the adjacent pub came and helped and we managed to free it.

On down to just below Wolverly Court lock for the night.

Well after dark a hire boat from Portharb came past going north. We guessed that they had planned to go down the Severn to Worcester, but found it closed and so had to go back the long way.

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Just here for a couple of nights. There is always a traffic queue when we come here these days. It took 1hr 50m instead of the usual 1hr 15min.

The battery was low so, whilst the engine was running, I cooked a meal - Heddi had a glass of of wine!

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