Wandering Canuck

I’m in Evesham, having travelled back to Tewkesbury, spent the night there beside a boat, washed up during the floods last spring, and perched precariously hanging overe the edge of the river bank. How not to moor the boat!

I revisited the marvellous town of Tewksbury. They have really worked hard to make the town historic, colourful and attractive. Lots of half-timbered buildings. The flags are the coats of arms of the knights that fought in the battle that took place nearby.

Then up the Avon river. What a difference from the Severn: there the banks are tall, and there are trees and bushes, which is about all you can see. The Avon has much lower banks, and there are fields to the water’s edge, so there is as much to see as in most canals. Idyllic! The weather has also been late summer sun (I got burned a little in patches where I hadn’t got the sunscreen properly spread). I managed the very difficult river locks: they are wide, and the upstream paddles shoot water directly at the boat. I need to manage both bow and stern lines, while staying at the paddles on both sides of the lock (15′ apart). Needless to say, I run around a lot, and am quite slow so that things don’t occur so quickly I cannot respond in time.

I stayed overnight in Pershore, a lovely little market town, with the remnants of an abbey, destroyed mostly in the 1500’s when most abbeys were dissolved. There is a remaining church, and the stonework of former attachments is fascinating- a good glimpse into how structures were built.

I am now in Evesham, another delightful market town, with a market this morning. Lots of pedestrianized lanes and street, preserved from medieval times. Another abbey; this one with less remaining, except there are two churches within 50m of each other. One is preserved by the histroic church society, the other is still in use. The trip from Pershore was interesting: there was a couple moored ahead of me in Pershore, who departed within minutes of me. They were obviously completely new, and had no clue what to do in locks, or driving the boat or whatever. My hope was to have someone to help with the lock duties. Instead, I ended up doing ALL the lock work, managing my boat, AND helping them. Both stayed firmly on their boat looking completely helpless and forlorn. We made without significant incident.

I’m still in Gloucester, and spent the day touring in the city. Gloucester seems to be a little ‘tired’ and looking for a vision economically for the future. The city center is full of shops- but there are lots of vacant ones as well. Worcester is much busier feeling in the center of the city. Gloucester docks are very large and full of 6 story brick warehouses around the harbour basin. There is a maritime museum detailing the history of the canal and basin, and some of the warehouse buildings have been renovated and adapted for other purposes- a college, some retail and office spaces, but there are also several derelict, and abandoned.

The basin has a couple of graving docks (dry-docks) where one is the refit of a large barqu ship. Interesting to see them working on a real, wooden-hull vessel. The ship has been used in many movies, and is being refitted as part of it’s normal cycle of maintenance.

I have been trying to get the time-lapse idea of my travels working, and I am failing miserably. The idea is like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaDjF0e4k_I which is someone else’s really fantastic view of a section of the Grand Union canal we did earler in the trip. We were going the other direction, from Leamington Spa to the top of the flight pictured, but this will give an idea of the kind of experiences we had. Enjoy. (and if anyone knows how to do this, I’d appreciate assistance!).

Change in plans: I was going to stay in Worcester but see yesterday’s post. Then I planned to stay in Tewkesbury, before going up the Avon River. Tewkesbury is really nice and I will spend more time there, but the choir was on holiday at the Abbey, and I had to pay for mooring, so I decided to leave early and go to Gloucester. Wise move! The Cathedral had a visiting choir for evensong who were awesome. I listened to their rehearsal (with the background of the bells ringing changes). Then the service itself which has awesome music and really made a good start to the week. I will explore Gloucester; the old port and the city as well.

The river Severn from Worcerster to Gloucester is really pretty boring: all that can bee seen are the wooded river banks that are at least 2m high with trees and bushes on top. There are few glimpses of anything else except sheep, cattle, and waterfowl. Bucolic, but not really stimulating. The water level is quite low, as there has been little rain, which made the cruise very gentle. I’ll watch the weather carefully for the return trip!

I spent several days in Kidderminster, partly because the place is quite interesting, and partly to do some work in the boat.

Kidderminster is the center of carpet manufacturing in Britain. At one time, the manufacturing was THE industry, and employed many people in more than 20 factories. Most are closed, though some of the former factory buildings remain in other uses: the big one beside the canal is now an hotel and shopping complex, and another is still warehousing for all sorts of businesses.

I also spent a day as a tourist on the Severn Valley Railway. This is a cross-country line, abandoned in regular service in the 1960’s when British rail underwent a complete rationalization and many lines closed. The line is now just for steam and heritage diesel trains, just for fun. Run almost entirely by rail enthusiast volunteers, the trains looks like those used for the Harry Potter movies. The engine is relatively small (no large hills or great speeds here) and the railcars vintage from 1930’s – 1960’s. I was in a compartment that was almost exactly like the one in the first Potter film. Neat! I explored Bridgnorth (sic) and Bewdley along the way. Very interesting. I took some pics and video, but am having a VERY difficult time in posting directly, so here is a you tube link for someone else’s video to give you an idea. I rode all of the steam trains (you get on and off along the way if wanted). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2W115dQXRE

I have finished the installation of the composting toilet (I know- the most important info you didn’t really want to think about). Also got some insulating plexiglass for the roof hatch, and a flagpole for the tillerbar. I am preparing for colder weather, as I am sure the really great weather I have experienced cannot last forever!

I met a friend (Sue Blake) who we had met in March at Devizes- we shared a trip up the Caen Hill locks). She stopped in for coffee on her way to a tall-ship experience in London. It was great to have a chat with one of my new British friends.

Then, on to Stourport and the end of the Staffs and Wusts canal.  I spent the night in windy weather here, then onto the big river: the Severn. Very docile and nothing unusual at all, but I’m told this can be a very different experience when the water is high. It has been dry for a while, so summer river lazy days. I am spending time in Worcester, where I went to evensong in Worcester Cathedral last night, and will explore the city center today.

I’ve travelled down the length of the Stourbridge canal, and what a contrast: immediately upon moving on from th Stourbridge arm, the cana changed from an urban, often industrial one, to an absolutely tranquil rural canal. Sheep, horses, the inevitable swans and ducks looking or a handout, and NO other boats. Despite being a bank holiday weekend (holiday long weekend for Canadians), there was no traffic at all.

I arrived at the top of the daunting Stourbridge flight of locks, (16+) and found then set against me. Lots of work ahead! I arrive at lock 8 (of 16) and met a foursome of 9-10 year-olds, all of whom were eager to help. Ben Weal, Lottie and Leo Morse, and Callum Grant assisted me through the next 6 locks, and had a chance to ride on the boat, operate the losk paddles and gates and generally were a big help. I hope they enjoyed the experience: I was certainly grateful for the help. Reminded me of back to school days, though!

Arriving at the bottom locks, I met the Staffs and Wusts Canal (Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal for the purists). A hire boat, hell bent for leather almost T-boned me and didn’t even pause to comment… I am beginning to develop the standard British distain for hire boaters (those that rent a boat- like I did the previous 3 times…)

I turned south onthe recommendation of a local who was also there to assist in working the locks, and went to Kinver for the night. Being a holiday weekend, Kinver was crowded, and the only mooring was in the nettles. Oh well. Kinver is a nice village, but not on my list of favourites. The mooring, and no internet, led me to move along, and I arrived in Kidderminster after a short journey.

Kidderminster has lots to see and do, and I will report soonest. I had time for an extended chat in the local parish church with some obviously bored ladies tending the building. I expect to take the Severn Railway, a steam excursion train tomorrow, and explore several of the recommended villages along the route.

I toured to the end of Dudley #2 canal, and have descended from Windmill End junction along the length of the Dudley #1 canal to the bottom of the Delph flight of locks.

Stopping for major shopping, provisioning, and their installation, at the monster Merryhill Shopping Center (rivals West Edmonton Mall in shopping size, but without the ice arena, waterpark, etc). This was the site of one of the larger steel mills that closed in 1980’s. The whole area was very depressed with the departure of much of the heavy industry, and so there has been a significant attempt bring in lighter industry, and facilities like this one to provide economic stimulus to the area.

I got new LED lighting for much of the inside of the boat, which will make the increasingly dark evenings brighter without the same drain on the batteries. Installed the new composting toilet- which I know probably doesn’t rate with most readers of this blog, but for boating people, toilets are a very big deal. Taking toilet facilities for granted is pretty much my experience on land, but that has all changed on the boat. The composting idea makes lots of sense to me, rather than the only other two options, but there are mixed reviews on effectiveness. I will post my evaluation as things go.

The Delph flight was hard work. Single-handing (operating the boat and locks alone) makes for a great deal of too-ing and fro-ing back and forth. It was also very windy yesterday while doing the locks, so one had to tie up all the time, or hold the lines to make sure the boat didn’t get blown away from the sides of the pounds (the ponds betweeen the locks). Swimming was NOT on my agenda! There are 8 deep locks, and it took me 2.5h of really constant effort. Holding the lines while operating the locks and making sure all was correct made for really focussed effort. The fishermen ensconced along the canal edge had lots to watch and comment upon.

The next canal bit is the Stourbridge canal. This area is the glass-making center of Britain, and a great deal of the glassware for everything from utilitarian pub glases, through the finest Sturat crystal glass was made here. Most is now gone as well, and I will see  what I can of that which is left. The canal was an essential transport method, as breakage was significantly reduced compared to shipment by wagon on the roads. I have lots of locks to do as well so it will be a busy couple of days.

Today was again one of those days that reminded me why I wanted to do this. I have left Birmingham city, and toured along the main line: There are so many choices…

I did my first 3 locks single-handed. Lots more work, and much slower, but I can manage in narrow locks where I don’t have to power the boat to keep from banging into things.

I got to Tipton, and moored for the night in the clearest canal water I have ever seen: I could see the bottom of my boat! There were loads of weeds and lilypads, but I would trade that aggravation (gets around the prop) any day for clear water. Walked around some, watched cricket (but didn’t understand a lot of the subtleties of the game) on the tube in a pub while I had supper, then back to the peace of the boat where I did some reading.

Today I went towards Dudley tunnel. This is so narrow, long, they won’t let powered boats through. If you insist, they will let you ‘leg’ through (lie on the top of the boat, and push yourself along by ‘walking’ on the roof of the tunnel.) The tunnel is almost 3000 yards long. I’d be exhausted after 100 yards, so no go for me. However, there was a ‘living museum’ beside the canal, and I didn’t understand until i got in what that meant. This is a museum of buildings, with people playing their roles as if they were really there during the time (about 1925?) The buildings are much older, however.

I even got to go into a real coal mine. Something like that would simply not happen in Canada: too dark, slippery, with obstacles about 5′ from the floor. I did the mine at Brittania Beach on the way to Whistler, and this was much more realistic and less ‘tourist-proof’. You really got a good idea of the working conditions from 1700 – 1940 or so. The whole place was great, and the area is famous in Britain for forging almost all of the metal chains that were used throughout the country. It was hard, miserable, and very poorly paid work, but much was done right in the area. I have a link of chain the blacksmith forged while we watched. They can’t sell or even give away the chain because it is not proofed for safety, so all the work they do now is simply recycled. What a pity.

Late in the day, I went through the Netherton Tunnel. This is a wide-bore, with room for boats to meet, and with 2 tow paths. It was constructed to relieve the congestion caused by the slow working of the Dudley tunnel. Very easy (but long) passage. I then turned south on the Dudley #2 canal, which used to go through a third major tunnel, the Lappal tunnel. It is closed to navigation at the present so this is a dead-end branch. Lovely views towards the west as the canal follows the contours along the side of the ridge that the tunnels go through. This ridge, made of layers of limestone and coal, provided much of the raw material that made Birmingham the center of the industrial revolution here, and led to the county being known as the ‘black country’- pollution from iron smelting, coal fired industry, and all associated with that. There is little left, except vast numbers of large, brick warehouses and industrial works, largely abandoned.

I went through a VERY tight tunnel to get to the end of navigation: there was less that 15cm clearance from the upper corners of the boat on either side, to the curving tunnel walls. Made driving a little sketchy!

I am in Birmingham at Cambrian Wharf. This is a secure mooring area for visitors right in the heart of the city.

Pat and Kerry have returned to Canada after a wonderful month of exploration and cruising. We have travelled from Devizes on the Kennet and Avon Canal, up the Thames to Oxford, on the Oxford Canal from Oxford to Braunston, then up the Grand Union Canal to Birmingham. I’ve settled the mooring issue, and will be based at Braunston Marina for the foreseeable future.

The trip into Birmingham was interesting: the northern part of that canal (broad locks until Birmingham city is reached) was heavy going, and very shallow and dirty with lots of debris that kept the weed hatch busy. We were somewhat late in arriving, and had planned to stay in Typhoo basin, but found that to have no walking access in or out, so while secure, was really inconvenient. We moored along the canal with one other boat in a very industrial area. Few amenities, and definitely forbidding canal-side scenery. Lots of wharf remnants of when the canals were a major transportation system for industry. Only one was still used, and that for a movie studio (no mooring though).

The next day we climbed 19 locks into the city center, and what a difference: here things are rejuvenated and there are lots of amenities and action. Birmingham is a very vibrant city, and there is an international food fair in the market center, as well as some of the largest markets anywhere in the Bullring area. We explored that area and I will have a chance to return nd explore some more, as I will stay here for a couple of days to get in some needed shopping and all. Phone replenishment, etc.

Warwick

We toured the castle, spending the day doing lots of the ‘tourist’ things. We saw two falconry (well, osprey, vulture, owl, eagle, and faclon) displays with amazing large raptors. Several flew close enough to the crowd so people ducked.

Vulture demonstration: Warwick Castle

Bald Eagle

Sea Eagle

We saw a couple of jousting matches, where rival ‘knights’ duelled for the ‘king’s’ favour.

We toured parts of the castle (though that was abbreviated, as all of us had toured here extensively in March a number of years ago).

We saw the trebuchet fire a flaming fireball the length of a rugby pitch.

We also toured the town and saw the parish church where one of my great (x lots) aunts is entombed. Katherine Mortimer married the Earl of Warwick, and both have a magnificent memorial tomb at the front of this large parish church.

Yesterday, I went with new-found friends to Birmingham to a quilt show where they were exhibiting. I helped with striking the show, and then they took me to their home in Devizes, where I picked up my car, returning to the boat in Warwick. We took the car to Stratford on Avon today, touring that very well preserved (and touristy) town of Shakespeare fame.

We are in Warwick, having spent a couple of very laid back days. We stopped in Long Itchington, a delightful little village, with a sleepy, open feel to it. There was a very old house that Elizabeth I stayed in, across the duckpond at the center of the village. We had supper in “The Duck Pond” (guess where that was?) pub. We then made our way to Royal Leamington Spa, a quite large town with ‘famous’ spring-fed baths. These are now closed and converted to municipal buildings such as museum and library. Famous? There was a very large parish church (locked up tight), and we had ?difficult? mooring, so we moved along to just outside a posh pub, where we had a lovely (though expensive) meal. Called “The Moorings”. Yesterday we moved along to Warwick, where Pat and Kerry found a kindred spirit (a quilter) exhibiting her crafts in a large show in Birmingham. They went in to the show while I stayed and slept in the boat (I have a nasty allergic reaction/cold? at the moment, leaking everywhere). We are off to the Castle here in Warwick today, and there will be a number of pictures to follow.