Granny Buttons

Berko to Cassio, less than half walking speed

Granny went from Berkhamsted to Cassiobury (near Watford) over the weekend (Canalplan route here - 11 1/2 miles, 25 locks) and is now above Cassiobridge Lock.

Inveterate walker Pete Collins (on his blog Pete's Walks) walked most of that route on Saturday, from Hemel Hempstead to Cassiobury and back, about eight miles. 

His reasoning for walking the canals will please British Waterways, as it's all good ammo in their war to justify more government funding for towpath maintenance:

Yesterday I did my second canal walk of the week! Again, the reason was the recent wet weather - I figured it would be more enjoyable to walk on the towpaths of a canal (which are usually at least partly hard-surfaced) than to plough through endless mud on regular footpaths.

It took him about 2 1/2 hours each way.   The same stretch will take you, as a boater, about six hours.

Pete doesn't mention Canalplan as a good resource for walkers, but it is.  You'll need to go into Options and set the locking time to zero (or perhaps to one minute, to allow for gongoozling) and set your preferred walking speed.  But it's great for walkers.

Blisworth to Yardley Gobion

Spent Friday and Saturday with my cousin Tom Brossard and his wife Silwia.  They are American and Polish respectively, and England is new to them.

What a comedy the rendezvous was.  Getting too and from the boat is always tricky.

I was due to meet them at Northampton train station - they'd just flown in from Poland - but what should have been a short hour's train ride from Euston turned into a long wait for them at Milton Keynes, since there was a fire on a nearby freight train.

I was assured by the train staff at Northampton that their train was held up at Milton Keynes, so I texted them to stay put and drove there - only to find they'd just left.  So I returned to Northampton to collect them. 

My fault; I took a gamble and it didn't pay off.

So we didn't get going on Granny until nearly five.  Still, what a marvellous introduction to the waterways for them.  Blisworth Tunnel to start with, then Stoke Bruerne, then the locks, then an hour's cruising in the late-summer late-evening sun, before tying up near Yardley Gobion canal basin.

A nod of gratitude to the crew of NB Sara Ellen (pictured above), and especially the cheeky-chappy son, who at only 11 years old is one of the most remarkably competent lockwheelers I've ever seen.

The last hour gave me the opportunity to photograph some simply marvellous ridge-and-furrow farmland, and tell Tom about its historical and linguistic significance.  I loved the fact that the light threw up the ridges into sharp relief.  It's wonderful to gaze on history like this.

New Inn at Buckby has wow-fi, but ugh coffee

Granny overnighted just below Buckby Top Lock last night, and I was delighted to discover The New Inn has wi-fi.  Not only that, but the wifi is deliberately 'open', so you can log on without needing a code or anything. 

The New Inn must be the first canalside location that proudly sports an official 'wi-fi' logon on all its promotional material, even including menus.   

WOW!   One day even this might seem primitive, when internet access is more easily available on the boat, but for now I'm impressed and grateful.

What's more, this free house actually has two real ciders on draught - Gaymer's Addlestone's Cloudy, and Weston's Old Rosie.

On the downside, it's slightly marred by limited opening hours - they don't open until noon, so no morning coffee - and a when I did get a coffee it was a horrid cup of instant coffee, served in a huge and heavy soup bowl with a handle, very heavy to lift. 

With a nod to the high £1.95 price (for what tasted to me of near-slop with a plastic container of UHT cream) it was served with a little chococolate amuse-bouche, which had unfortunately melted against the side of the cup it was served on.

I should mention the nice meals we had at the New Inn last night, although in the light of this coffee I've forgotten what the sausage and mash, the 'home-cooked ham' and eggs, and the bowl of cheesy chips were like.  Only the memory of the price remained - £7.50, £7.50 and £2.35 respectively.

Why is it still so hard to find a good cup of coffee on the canals?   Martin on NB Black Bess, summing up his 76-day 2008 cruise in his blog post of 19th June, agrees with me:

Cappuccinos - I only managed to have 20, which reflects that we still have a long way to go to get excellent coffee around the country. There are some very large areas in which there is no good coffee available!

Martin would be appalled by what passes for a 'cappucino' here.  Instant black coffee with canned whipped cream sprayed on top.  This is horrid disgusting.  Latte-loving Christine had it, although she was determined to enjoy it, come what may.

I should be grateful for the wi-fi, and I am; especially last night, when I was able to show friendly landlord George Summerskill my night photo of the pub from two years ago - see Buckby Top Lock in the moonlight.

But I've always believed that last impressions actually count more and this bad coffee was the impression I'm left with. 

I hope they get in an espresso machine - a real one, not a Nescaf push-button - and take a tutorial in how to use it.  Coffee is one of the most profitable items in catering, and it ought to be served well.

I was going to tell you more, including about the pub's power-cut all Saturday - when they probably lost as much in turnover as a good espresso machine costs - but Christine's now arrived in the pub and is eager to pull me back to the boat and get Granny going down the Buckby flight of locks.  Must dash.

Hawkesbury Junction to Newbold

Hawkesbury Junction to Newbold

What a day!  Three examples of canal rage.

Springwood Haven to Hawkesbury Junction

Another simple day, doing what it says in the headline. 

Setting off near midday, after having a chat to Elaine and David at Excellence Afloat, and reaching Hawkesbury Junction at 3pm. 

Past Nuneaton we stopped for blackberry picking, and at Marston Junction I met an RCR van, come to the rescue of a boat near Charity Dock.

The poor guy had only just bought a boat from Whilton Marina, and it had already broken down! 

When reaching Sutton Stop I caught a No.48 bus from just down the road, and was delighted to find it could drop me off exactly at Hartshill Wharf, 45 mins later.  The same bus! 

Note to self: Sutton Stop to Hartshill is on the one bus route.  And what's more, it goes to Atherstone, Polesworth and Lichfield too.  A very canal-friendly service.

At Hartshill I went to Dobbies and picked up a plant trough with some artificial flowers - of which more later.

Returning to Sutton Stop, we had supper in the Greyhound pub in the evening.

Hartshill to Springwood Haven Marina

Hartshill Wharf to Springwood Haven

Rejoined the boat at 9pm, met cousin Penny and her boyfriend Frans, cruised in the late evening to Springwood Haven for 45 minutes. 

Ah, dusk cruising - I love it!  Overnighted at Bridge 27 by Springwood Haven.

Detained at Florence Nightingale's pleasure

Chugged today from Polesworth to Atherstone Locks

Atherstone to Hartshill

Sunday July 27th 2008, Atherstone Lock 8 to Hartshill Wharf

As usual on a Sunday, just a short stretch to find somewhere good to stay for a few days. 

Hartshill Wharf is a charming place for transient boaters.  No facilities, except water.  And charm. Like Bulbourne on the Grand Union, it's a remote BW yard, with no other honeypot reasons for staying, and all the better for it, thus no ovecrowding.  The clock on the yard chimes the hours gently.

(Bulbourne's been closed since I last went that way, I believe, but presumably the buildings still stand).

Granny is just the other side of Hartshill Wharf bridge for the week, on the 7 day moorings.

Oh, and finally I've got the boat licence in place, in case you were wondering.   A big Thank You to Jenny Barua at BW craft licensing for helping to sort it out.

Fazeley to Polesworth

How come I can never set off before 11am, and often not before noon? 

Today I didn't get going until after I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue was safely finished and I could take off my headphones and stop laughing.  Because you don't want to be laughing when you operate locks.

I stopped at the pub at near Tamworth Cruising Club, just down from Glascote Locks, leaving my boat catty-cornered across the canal while I nipped ashore and photographed the old pub, now closed and for sale freehold.

This is a splendid site for a canalside business, but it needs a bit of money investing.  

Years ago this was a family pub of long standing, called The Barge & Barrel.  A couple of years ago it was a curry house.  Last year it was re-opened as 'Beno's Steak House'; a pub, but clearly operated on a budget by someone with more ambition than funds. Today it's dark again, and for sale as a freehold.  Someone should buy it. If I did, I'd call it 'The Capability Brown', because it really does have capabilities.

The Glascote locks are always a bottleneck in the summer, particularly when you are ascending, and I always like to tell other boaters how Pearson describes them as 'Like piggy banks - slow to fill and quick to empty'.

One of the charms of the stretch at Amington is the signs every furlong or so for 'Canal Crafts'.  This is one of the best advertised canal businesses - they seem to have a placard at every bridge.  And I've never found a chance to stop.

An uneventful trip to Polesworth, tying up for the week at the visitor moorings.  They were empty when I arrived around 3pm.  I took a bus back to Tamworth and then Lichfield, but had to walk the two miles back to Streethay to fetch my car. 

When I returned to the boat at Polesworth, around 6pm, I found several more boats had tied up.  Safety in numbers.

I like to think this will be a safe place for Granny to stay a few days, but you never can be sure.

Nope.  Still don't like writing these cruising logs.

Streethay to Fazeley

Spoke to Matthew Ellis this morning.  He's the county councillor who railed against BW's refusal to clean the grafitti from the whole of Bonehill Bridge, calling it bureaucracy gone mad, or something.  (See Graffiti removal gone mad)

As I understand it, he's not so much complaining about the removal of grafitti, as of a couple of BW lengthsmen just coming along to scrub out a couple of words and then going away again. 

While he accepts that a visit to remove the rude words would cost about £100, he reckons that it ought to only cost about £300 to clean the whole bridge. 

I left Streethay around 3pm, late as usual, and this'll be the last time I see it for a few months. 

It was alternating between wind and rain all morning, hence my late departure.   The wind dropped and the sun came out, and I had a joyful trip to Hopwas, where I stopped for a chat with Mike Moorse on Guelrose, and his wife.  Gosh, they have a wonderful garden mooring there; they are so lucky. 

Onward to Bonehill Bridge at Fazeley, where I stopped for half an hour to explore the grafittoed bridge. It was a bit of a let-down.  The bridge isn't that dirty from the canal, and the underside is scruffy, but hardly a disaster.  It's only when you go above that you really see the graffiti. 

And true, it's a mess.  But quite a characterful one, I thought. What worried me more was the missing bricks.  But I'll post about that later.

Then on to Fazeley, where I filled the boat with water, before finding a mooring beyond the junction.

Later I went looking for a wifi spot at Fazeley Junction.  No luck.  It's not a glamorous fleshpot, Fazeley, and although there's a Tesco Express there, it must be the smallest Tesco in the known universe. The two pubs there were a disappointment to  me.

I returned to the boat to try and find a wireless broadband signal.  Not much of one.

Oh dear, its two months since I tried writing this cruising log lark, and I'm bored stiff by it.  I'd much rather read others. 

Sandon to Weston

From Sandon Lock to Weston Bridge 80 - A short trip today, as much as anything to find a safe place for Granny for a few days. 

Weston seems nice, a regular stopping place for cruising boats, with a nice dining pub, the Saracen's Head, and a friendly landlord who welcomed me when I asked if I could park my car here overnight.

No problem, he said with a smile, just put it in the far corner over there. 

Thanks, Saracen's Head, Weston!  Wish they had a website so I could link to it.

Stone to Sandon

We came down the Stone locks, Christine and I, and moored by the car park opposite the Star Inn.  Stone is said to be a foodie town - the 'food and drink capital of Staffordshire' - encouraged by its annual October Stone Food and Drink Festival, but where are the special food shops that give it the year-round reputation?

For example, oatcakes are Staffordshire's big contribution to English ethnic cuisine, but I found them only on sale in the national supermarkets (Somerfield and Morrison) and one bakery - Hammersleys - in the High St.   

I couldn't buy a filled oatcake in any of the cafe/restaurants, and Hammersleys grudgingly offerered one filled only with cheese (and I had to ask for it; while they sold oatcakes they weren't on the takeaway menu and didn't offer it willingly). 

The Hammersleys oatcake came soggy with a stringy cheese, clearly microwaved, unappealing wrapped in plastic - like those facecloths  you get in Indian restaurants at the end of the meal - and wrapped further in a small plastic carrier bag.

I'd imagine that any claim to captaincy of the Staffordshire food world would include playing up its local heritage, but apparently not.

Anyway, afterwards we went to Langtry's pub at the top of the high street, for the launch party of Terry Darlington's book (sorry, I haven't finished with him yet!). 

Then my favourite, a dusk cruise, this time from Stone to Sandon, where we tied up for the night.  God, t'was bitter cold and I was sick at heart.  Spring still isn't here.  Route on Canalplan: Stone to Sandon

We later went for a drink at the Dog & Doublet at Sandon, and I was astonished to be recognised by the landlord, Adam.  He recognised me as 'Granny Buttons', not as 'Andrew', and I felt doubly honoured.  I came in only once, for a drink and a pub quiz as I mentioned last September, but he still remembered me.

Middlewich - Wheelock

Middlewich - Wheelock

Quick cruising log catch-up: Sat 8th March

Refueled diesel tank at King's Lock Boatyard and had fuel filter changed.  Set off 1pm.  Stopped halfway to do a car shuffle, moving my car to Kidsgrove.  Met David Taylor of Zindagi halfway up. Arrived Wheelock 6.30pm.

Wheelock isn't photogenic at night, I found that out.  A couple of pleasant pubs, though.

Manchester to Lymm

I left Manchester Castlefield today and cruised to Lymm.  Canalplan route here.

It's about 4 hours, and for the most part not picturesque.  It's quite fast, though, since the Bridgewater canal is broad and mostly deep, and there's a long 2-mile dead-straight stretch through Sale that allowed me to gun Granny's diesel engine, clear out the soot and (ahem) not exceed 4mph, definitely not!

Once you get past Broadheath you slip Manchester's surly suburbs - the old Linotype Works marks their southerly extremity - and you can breath country air again and see country beauty.  Lovely.

So I'm at Lymm tonight.  I stopped early - 4pm - because I've always wanted to spend the night here.  The village is really attractive for boaters; there are good visitor moorings and beautiful surroundings.  I'm hoping it'll be a clean, dry night and a good subject for my nocturnal prowling.  We'll see. 

Last night I drove my car to Warrington train station and parked right outside, in a free place I was tipped off to by a friendly parking warden.  (I bet you never thought you'd hear that phrase, 'friendly parking warden'!).  Then I took the train back to Manchester.

Tonight I took a bus from Lymm to Warrington, picked up my car again, and drove back to Lymm, which has (I had to hunt, it's hidden around the back of the shops) a free car park.  The only difficulty now is to get back to Lymm from tomorrow's destination, Preston Brook.

Lymm seems boater-friendly, with a couple of lovely pubs, some sophisticated cafes/delis and a selection of other good shops.  No wonder the village moorings have 48hr limits.  I'm looking forward to a prowl round the village tonight, after a shower and supper.

I'll post this now, and will add some photos later.  Gosh, this is just like old times, Granny Buttons doing a cruising log post!