From dominicfam@proweb.co.uk Mon May 3 18:25:43 1999 Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 19:08:16 GMT From: Brian L Dominic Reply-To: canals@blacksheep.org To: canals@blacksheep.org Subject: TRIP REPORT: The Voyage of the Doris Katia (4) Part the Fourth - in which we get near to home. (Glascote - Weston) Cast: Brian Tristan - younger son (17 and built like a brick s***house) Paul - Tristan's mate We awoke rather earlier today, and were under way with all checks completed by 0740! Passing under Sutton Road Bridge on the outskirts of Tamworth brought back memories of my childhood, when we used to regularly travel to Birmingham to see my maternal grandparents on the Midland Red X99 Nottingham to Birmingham service. Despite its "X" prefix (which one might reasonably suppose could stand for "Express") this bus stopped at every lane end in Beeston, Long Eaton, Sawley, Castle Donington, Ashby, Measham, Tamworth, Sutton Coldfield and all points between! I always used to look forward to this bridge, as sitting on the back seat I used to "leave my stomach behind" over the bridge - once we acquired our own car I used to urge my father to "go faster!" over this bridge. I at long last have cruised under it.... Moored by Bridge 80 at Whittington at 0950 for bread and coffee - left 1015. Stopped at Streethay Wharf at 1100 for diesel - only cost us 17-25 at 90p a gallon - not bad for propulsion and heating! Arrived at Fradley Junction for lunch, waste and water at 1210 - also visited the Waterways Office and picked up a wodge of comment postcards, a set of the colour postcards of posters and a handcuff key for the Erewash - I'd forgotten to bring mine. Left at 1245 and pottered gently down through the more widely-spaced locks. Having batted up and down the A38 for years, it seemed strange 9but much more pleasant) to be pottering down the canal and seeing things from a different and slower perpective. This was something which applied later in the day as we passed south of Derby - an area I know well by car, but not by boat. We rendered assistance to NB "EDZELL" near Alrewas - he'd got problems with his fuel pump and was bow-hauling, so a short tow to Bridge 49A helped him out. The prop needed clearing below Bagnall Lock..... Bridge 36 near Barton is very narrow (no towpath under). How did horse boats manage? Beery and yeasty smells indicated we were getting near Burton - we called into Jannell Cruisers for pressies as the lads suddenly realised they hadn't bought anything for their girlfriends! I tried to obtain a Bond End Canal plaque, but discovered you have to PAY to use their dry dock and PAY for the plaque as well! We moored at Willington for dinner (Balti turkey) before continuing into drizzle which petered out as the evening wore on. As we were about to enter Stenson Lock, the engine damn near stalled - investigations down the weedhatch revealed an extremely heavy men's knitted jumper which must have fallen off a boat at some time - it was a nice jumper once.... The new Derby Southern bypass now parallels the canal most of the way to Shardlow but we lost it for a time around Weston and Aston and found a quiet mooring between Bridges 10 and 9 near Weston at 2150 - it was so quiet we couldn't get a thing on the telly! 34 miles 16 locks Brian Web Sites: (Golden Valley Light Railway) http://www.proweb.co.uk/~dominicfam/ (Canals) http://www.proweb.co.uk/~dominicfam/boat.htm