From owner-canals@blacksheep.org Wed Sep 3 09:11:11 1997 id AA22245; Wed, 3 Sep 97 09:10:12 EDT Wed, 3 Sep 1997 13:59:43 +0100 Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 13:59:40 +0100 From: Colin Saunders To: canals@blacksheep.org Subject: Trip Report = Warwickshire Ring WARWICKSHIRE RING 23rd August - 30th August DAY 1 - Saturday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The day had finally arrived. We got to Coventry, dropped some people off at the boatyard and I went to pick the rest up from the railway station. Clubline Cruisers d 15:00 Underway at 3pm - a good start. Soon realised that steering a 50ft narrowboat isn't easy with people all over the roof. Wasn't before long before I grounded it when trying to let people off to walk along towpath... of course it rained at this point :-( Thankfully the rain didn't last and we enjoyed a lovely evening's cruise upto Atherstone and moored just before the top lock. Atherstone Top Lock a 19:40 13.5 miles done in 4:40 ... slow but we got to where we needed to be. DAY 2 - Sunday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At 1:30am realised that we hadn't chosen a good mooring point as a small overflow pipe out of the factory opposite started to overflow... that kept me awake for awhile. Then the ducks woke me up at 5:15am! Up properly at 8:00am but it was raining.. had to press on through the Atherstone locks. Atherstone Top Lock d 08:40 Doing locks in the wet isn't much fun... but if you see the funny side of it then its ok. These were my first real locks... why won't the boat just stay still! Made quick work of the 11 locks with most being set for us. Atherstone Bottom Lock 11:20 Soon followed by second grounding of the holiday.. this time we were well and truly stuck. Thankfully we were eventually pulled off my a people on another boat - if you are on this list then thanks. Filled up with water at Fazeley Jct, made a mess of reversing the boat and headed off down the B&F towards Birmingham. Since it was raining we decided we might aswell press on and so did Curdworth flight. I seem to be lumbered with driving the boat into locks.. no one else likes it. A couple of times heavy overflow coming down channel pushed me off line at last moment causing a big bump. What was to become a common problem of knowing where good moorings are - why don't guides include this? Wiggin's Hill Bridge a 18:45 A storming day - 16 miles and 24 locks in about 10 hours. DAY 3 - Monday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another cold damp morning.. but there is something very refreshing about such a morning... a few deep breaths of clean air! Wiggin's Hill Bridge d 08:20 Indeed.. one can really appreciate the scenery as the boat chugs along at 3mph. Reached Minworth Locks only to get grounded next to solid (ie brick) moorings and so lost our place in growing queue - the lock was VERY slow to fill. As Salford Jct approached, had to make decision as to which route to take. Had been advised by Clubline to take longer route via Gas Street and Stratford Canal but there had been plenty of rain and recent report on list of depth being ok so went for Knowle route. Met someone in Garrison locks who had tried to go through Aston locks but one of the bottom gates wouldn't shut so had to backtrack! Glad I went the way I did! Continued through Birmingham to Camp Hill Locks. Some of them looking in a bad state even though they had dates of late 80s, early 90s on them. No depth problems and so we made good progress and decided to move our rendezvous with friends from Catheraine de Barnes to Black Boy. Rang them from CdB, including a shopping list ;-) Knowle Locks 17:20 Made a pigs ear of manouvering between locks here.. confused by two boats coming out of next lock down - thats my excuse anyway. Enjoyed another pleasant evenings cruise down to Black Boy. Black Boy a 17:00 Great food! Ahead of progress! Couldn't have expected that. 19 miles & 20 locks, inc 2 stops. From owner-canals@blacksheep.org Thu Sep 4 07:56:23 1997 id AA04615; Thu, 4 Sep 97 07:56:04 EDT Thu, 4 Sep 1997 12:30:06 +0100 Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 12:30:03 +0100 From: Colin Saunders To: canals@blacksheep.org Subject: Warwickshire Ring (part 2) DAY 4 - Tuesday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yet another cold damp morning.. noisily interrupted by BT engineers driving their digger along the towpath. All for a new telecommunication infrastructure or something like that. Black Boy d 0845 Having made good progress previous days, we only had about three hours cruising upto Hatton Flight. The boat seemed to be going slowly.. I thought it was due to a depth problem. Shrewdley a 11:05 d 11:50 Good stores. We tried the "loud music in tunnel" thing but it failed miserably because the CD player kept jumping due to shuddering of the barge. Hatton Top Lock 12:50 Waited for the requested 45 minutes... while filling up with water which hadn't finished - VERY low pressure. So we eventually started the flight and got grounded between locks 46 & 45 (first and second)! Had to wait for the people going up to let the water out of their lock again to float us off. Then the REALLY depressing point of the day.. I looked at my camera to check how many photoes I had left.. only to notice there wasn't a film in it! The silly thing had moved the counter up after each "photo" despite being empty - NOT happy! So we plodded on down the flight on our own which was hard work. Two boats caught us up later on.. and one block told us that there was another boat that had arrived with them.. but that was now waiting at the top.. oh well. As we got to the bottom of the flight with larger gaps between locks we noticed a growing problem with the boat.. it didn't go forward very fast at all. By the time we got to the last pound, it was quicker to pull it. Hatton Bottom Lock 17:00 We then pulled it into Saltisford Arm, with a little help from the engine, and moored alongside another boat. Rang Clubline and they said they would come out tomorrow morning 8:30. Saltisford Arm a 17:30 The days cruising very definitely over.. we enjoyed a BBQ on the grassy area next to the arm. DAY 5 - Wednesday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What would today have in store for us? The plan had been to go to Warwaick Castle but we'd have to see what the mechanic said. He arrived on time and set right to the task. The problem was that the reverse gear hydraulic thingy wasn't releasing itself properly so limiting power forwards. So he tweeked that back a bit and hey presto! plenty of "splashing" from the back of the boat. Off to the castle! This was BRILLIANT! Definitely worth the 9.95 admission fee.. but you need several hours to do it all... there is SO much to do. I won't say much more except "Go there!" (can't be bothered typing it in really). Couldn't stay in the arm for a second night (without paying) so decided to move on a little bit. Saltisford Arm d 19:50 Where to moor, that is the question? Found a spot between factories, some which obviously had a night shift on. Warwick a 20:50 From owner-canals@blacksheep.org Fri Sep 5 08:40:17 1997 id AA15540; Fri, 5 Sep 97 08:40:04 EDT Fri, 5 Sep 1997 13:38:00 +0100 Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 13:37:58 +0100 From: Colin Saunders To: canals@blacksheep.org Subject: Warwickshire Ring (part 3/3) DAY 6 - Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately the derelict factory we moored next to wasn't derelict.. as we discroverd at 7:45 when Radio 1 came blaring through our windows. Oh well... might as well get up. Warwick d 08:10 Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the problem with going forward returned.. I think it was just after we used reverse to get out of a tricky spot. So decided to moor up next to next bridge and go and find a phone. Bridge 45 a 08:45 This bridge turned out to be just a farm track.. so onto Bridge 44. Main road.. bound to be a phone.. we ended up walking all the way back to Warwick! Don't anyone dare say there is a phone the other way :-) Clubline arrived soon after, did the same as the day before to move the boat along a bit and then whipped out the gearbox and took it apart on the towpath! The problem? Was that the forward "clutch-pad cone" looked more like a brake disc ie it was rather shiny, and so we weren't getting ANY traction! They had the right replacement bit and put it all back together again. I didn't mind.. we just sat in the boat and enjoyed the nice Summer day.. playing Civilisation which takes about a day anyway ;-D Rebuilt gearbox in place, we were off again with PLENTY of traction now ;-D Eight hours from breakdown to fixing isn't bad when it needed such sever measures. Bridge 44 d 16:45 During our wait we noticed our toilet was full.. but we the next refuse disposal point was just for porta- potties (why don't they have a different symbol in the guides for pump-out?). Radford Bottom Lock 17:50 Thankfully we arrived at roughly the same time as another boat and so shared all the work with them.. I was a bit wary of going up double locks on our own. We pushed hard that evening and reached the Two Boats Inn where we went for dinner, having decided that we all needed warming up - off course it had started raining just as we got underway again :-( Two Boats Inn (Br 25) a 20:50 Yes.. it was rather dark when we got there ;-D What a day! We still managed 8 miles and 8 locks. DAY 7 - Friday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thankfully they had given us until Sunday morning to get the boat back... so we had a lie-in. Without a doubt our best mooring of the week (so far). Two Boats Inn (Br 25) d 09:50 We set off when we saw the boat we'd shared the Radford Flight with yesterday intending to do the same today. With relief we found the pump out station two locks up the Stockton Flight Stockton Shop a 10:20 d 11:00 Waited for our "buddy" and pressed on again. At the next lock we noticed one of our windlasses was missing... and we hadn't dropped it in the canal :-( Stockton Top Lock 12:05 Next stretch was frustrating because a boat being used for a "youth holiday" was going VERY slowly and couldn't get past.. eventually they let us past (after I nearly rammed them - oops!). Braunston Junction 15:10 A nice scene with the mini triangle island and double bridge... spoilt by modern buildings behind. Of course two other boats arrive at the junction at the same time which made for a bit tricky manouvering. Hillmorton Locks a 17:00 d 17:45 Topped up with water... which took ages. Gave up in the end because one member of the party had decided to get the train from Rugby tonight since we would not get to Coventry until late Saturday afternoon. Carried on until Newbold-on-Avon so that we had a pub at hand, should we need it :-) After dinner we duly did. Newbold-on-Avon a 19:00 Spooky plave to moor - last space just before the tunnel. A nice day... 21 miles and 16 locks. DAY 8 - Saturday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Extra long lie-in... but then realised that since we wanted to get to Clubline today, we had to do that by 5pm, so got going. Newbold-on-Avon d 10:45 It was nice that the last day wasn't just an hours cruise from Hawkesbury Jct to Clubline, but a few hours to enjoy. Stretton Stop a 12:15 GUTTED! No Warwickshire Ring plaques left... and I had seen them earlier in the week at somewhere else. Rose Narrowboats were busy on their turn around day.. nearly hit one of them as it came out of the little arm next to their yard. Stretton Stop d 13:05 We chugged our merry little way back to Clubline, while trying to tidy the boat up as much as you can when its still full of stuff. The holiday was nearing its end... Hawkesbury Junction 15:00 SUCCESS! The little shop and chandlery had a plaque.. that made my day. Made our way back through Coventry to finally reach the end of the cut for us this summer Clubline a 16:20 An enjoyable last day. CLOSING THOUGHTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well.. we made it all the way round the ring in a week. I know I was sceptical.. but people were right.. you can do 6 locks an hour. It was an energetic week, as stated in the brochure, but a VERY rewarding and enjoyable one... probably because of the return one gets out of putting in some energy (you know what I mean!). All in all... it was a GREAT week. **** Thanks to all those who gave much advice before we went! ****