In our last blog I mentioned we would be ascending Garrison, Ashted and Farmers Bridge Locks on Tuesday morning in case anybody wished to help.
Our daughter, Susan, who had been with us for the main part of our cruise came back to help and we made our way slowly up through the locks in the morning.
Part way up Farmers Bridge locks a gentleman appeared with a windlass tucked into his belt. |  | I was a little intrigued as there were no boats either side of us. He explained he had just helped another boat down the Farmers Bridge and Aston flights and was walking back up.
The he introduced himself as Jim Shead, waterways writer and photographer who I knew held the number 1 spot on Tony Blew’s UK Waterways Ranking Site. He jumped at the chance to steer his first electric narrow boat and we made even faster progress than expected.
Thank you, Jim, it was great to meet you at last. |  |
The delightful Coventry Canal entertained us today with our travels through the Atherstone and Glascote flights. They are so very slow to fill it gives plenty of time to talk to other boaters and walkers on the towpath.
The sun was shining and it was a great day for us filming as we went – this time for the East Midlands or Leicester Ring.
Which name we should use for our DVD? |  |  |  | Eventually we reached Fazeley Junction where we’re watching lots of dogs taking their owners for a walk along the towpath.
We’ve finished filming for this trip and we’ll be heading back to our home mooring at Sherborne Wharf in Birmingham by Tuesday Lunchtime.
If anyone wishes to help with Garrison / Ashted / Farmers Bridge Locks on Tuesday morning they will be most welcome. |  |
Posted on Sunday, 20 June 2010 at 20:20 Comments (0)
Category(s): Coventry
The signal is too poor to publish any photos today. We are just south of Atherstone on the Coventry Canal, hoping to reach Fazeley Junction tomorrow, then head into Birmingham | |
Another busy day brings us to the current limit of navigation on the Ashby Canal, a few metres further than last time. Restoration is proceeding on the next section already.
Now we’re moored by the winding hole at the end of the open canal.
Tomorrow we will be heading slowly back towards Marston Junction, photographing some of the villages along the way. |  |
Posted on Thursday, 17 June 2010 at 22:03 Comments (3)
Category(s): Ashby
Continuing northwards along the Oxford Canal we were watching for anything interesting to film for our DVD as it’s difficult to make the great countryside look interesting in our DVDs.
The sunshine helps make everything look good, particularly as we are filming northwards so it keeps the sun generally behind the camera.
We reached Hawkesbury Junction and, after passing through the stop lock, took our boat half way under the bridge, to complete a chapter in the DVD, then reversed back through the stop lock. |  | That caused a little confusion, particularly with one boater who didn’t believe you could do locks backwards so tried to ignore us. We were soon back on the visitor moorings around the curve on the Oxford Canal.
Tomorrow we’ll be heading through the stop lock again, then north to Marston Junction before heading along the Ashby Canal to see how far we get towards the current limit of navigation before the restoration work starts. |  |  |  |
Heading south this morning we reached Braunston Turn where we kept to the left towards Norton Junction.
After winding in the marina entrance we filled up with water before heading slowly back north as we filmed.
The forecasted sunshine didn’t come, but at least it remained dry for the whole day, if a little chilly in the shady sections. |  |  |  | We descended the paired locks at Hillmorton as we headed into Rugby.
Moored near the shops we were able to top up our supplies easily. Tomorrow we will be heading to Hawkesbury Junction, and possibly a little further.
While moored for tea we had a visitor who came surprisingly far inside the kitchen while Susan fed it with bread. |  |
After an early start we made our way up the Atherstone flight. We know they are slow to fill but they seemed even slower than usual.
At lock 3 I chatted to the crew of Tugby who had been checking out or website already. I didn’t ask their names but I wonder if they are Robert and Nicky Fleming?
We continued on, passing this wonderful telegraph pole, approaching Nuneaton. |  | We passed Marston Junction, where the lock free Ashby Canal heads off to the left under the bridge. Looking at the remains of the narrow stop lock through the bridge it’s easy to forget this was built as a broad canal.
Tonight we’re moored at Hawkesbury Junction. Tomorrow we should catch up with Derek & Dot on Gypsy Rover before continuing towards Braunston Turn before retracing our steps as we film for the next of our our DVDs of Canals and Waterways. |  |  |  |
After an early start we made our way up the Atherstone flight. We know they are slow to fill but they seemed even slower than usual.
At lock 3 I chatted to the crew of Tugby who had been checking out or website already. I didn’t ask their names but I wonder if they are Robert and Nicky Fleming?
We continued on, passing this wonderful telegraph pole, approaching Nuneaton. | | We passed Marston Junction, where the lock free Ashby Canal heads off to the left under the bridge. Looking at the remains of the narrow stop lock through the bridge it’s easy to forget this was built as a broad canal.
Tonight we’re moored at Hawkesbury Junction. Tomorrow we should catch up with Derek & Dot on Gypsy Rover before continuing towards Braunston Turn before retracing our steps as we film for the next of our our DVDs of Canals and Waterways. | | | |
Posted on Sunday, 13 June 2010 at 21:25 Comments (0)
Category(s): Coventry
We completed the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal today, with three locks at Minworth and eleven locks at Curdworth.
Mostly it was quiet, with the occasional busy spell when we met several boats at once.
We’re moving quickly as we head to Braunston where we’ll turn around to start filming as we head northwards as far as Fazeley Junction, assuming the sun keeps shining. |  | We’ve made good progress and were now moored between Tamworth and Polesworth adjacent to a quiet wooded area.
We might make it to Hawkesbury Junction tomorrow where we’ll turn onto the Northern Oxford Canal, passing Rugby some time on Monday.
Please say hello if you see us passing. |  |
At long last we are off on the first of our summer cruises, much later than we had hoped for our first trip.
Farmers Bridge marks the start of our escape route from Birmingham and we’re now moored outside Star City near Salford Junction.
We’re heading to Braunston via Fazeley and Hawkesbury Junctions. We hope to be beyond Glascote Locks tomorrow so look out for us along the way and shout hello as we pass. |  | Near Salford Junction we passed this poor man on the towpath. He walked quietly and slowly towards the Canada Geese but just as he approached they all lined up and hissed and pecked at him. As he took a step back they resumed grazing.
He tried walking slowly, backwards, quietly, loudly and all manner of ways but the geese alternated between eating and attacking with remarkable speed. Eventually he turned around and went another way. |  |
Another month has passed since I produced the last statistics from Tony Blew’s wonderful UK Waterways Ranking Site.
During the month we met Halfie at the Crick Boat show and he has been kind enough to blog about our graphs and leave a comment on our blog.
It’s our turn to return the favour and show how well Halfie has been doing on the ranking site since I started collecting data seven months ago. Leave me a comment if you would like to be featured in a future month. |  |
Posted on Wednesday, 9 June 2010 at 17:44 Comments (3)
Category(s): UKWRS
I had a quick look at Capercaillie Cruisers updated website this afternoon and was pleased to see how well the map we drew for them was reproduced.
We can produce a range of maps in different styles to suit your needs - why not use us to produce the maps for your next brochure or website update.
There’s another example we produced for Canal Voyagers Hotel Boats here.
The maps are personalised to suit your needs, just let us know what you would like and when you need it by and we’ll work with you to produce a map you will be proud of. |  |
  Another great pair of canal DVDs are released from Waterway Routes covering the Warwickshire Ring, clockwise from Braunston Turn.
A short, lock-free section takes us from Braunston Turn to Napton Junction where we turn right onto the Grand Union Canal.
We descend through 23 broad locks to the lowest pound of our journey through Leamington Spa and Warwick before climbing through two more to reach the Saltisford Arm. Our climb continues with the mighty Hatton Flight and the Knowle Locks to reach the highest pound of our journey.
We pass around the centre of Birmingham and along the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal to Fazeley Junction with the Coventry Canal which we follow all the way into Coventry. |  |  The Oxford Canal, with the paired locks at Hillmorton, completes our circuit of the Warwickshire Ring.
These are 1 hour DVDs retailing at £12.95 for the Popular version (rather like a television programme) and £7.95 for the Bowcam version (a speeded up forward facing camera for a little fun).
There’s also a Combined version at £19.90, with both Popular and Bowcam in one box saving £1 on the separate prices (and at least 75p postage).
They are in stock now, just waiting for you to order them, or any from our great range of canal DVDs. | |
The stand next to ours at the Crick Boat Show was for OverWater Marina at Audlem on the Shropshire Union Canal.
It was staffed throughout by Alex and Anthony who spent three days talking to potential moorers about the new marina and handing out leaflets.
Their aim, successfully achieved I’m sure, was to raise awareness of the marina in a way which will lead to bookings over the coming months. |  | admired their confidence to keep talking all day and trust the bookings followed later. It’s not like our stand where we get positive feedback with direct sales at the time.
They also carried leaflets for Audlem Mill who were so busy with the Audlem Music and Arts Festival they were unable to attend.
We had a great weekend meeting lots of new and existing customers, selling lots of DVDs and handing out lots of leaflets. Thank you to everybody who came to our stand. |  |
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