24th Aug -9th Sept

The last two weeks of our life afloat!  From Tamworth we moved on to Marston Junction, via Atherstone and Nuneaton, where we detoured for a few days to go up the Ashby Canal. 

Tony and Roger

We were joined on successive days by Tony, Jan and grandson Luke, and then by Jill, taking a break from her own boat to be passenger instead of captain for a change.

Jill on the Ashby

By the evening of Sat 30^th, we were moored at Sutton Stop/Hawkesbury Junction, when at 11.0pm our peaceful night was interrupted by Benny deciding, for reasons best known to himself, to take a plunge into the canal yet again.  He hasn’t fallen in for over a year, and we had become quite relaxed about him running up and down the gunwales and leaping from deck to towpath – we couldn’t believe he had fallen in with less than a week to go before moving back to dry land!

A bedraggled Benny

Locating him in pitch darkness to haul him out of the water wasn’t the easiest task, but eventually the rescue was accomplished and we (and our neighbouring boaters) were able to settle down for the night!

On 31^st Aug we moved on to Newbold-on Avon, Rugby,

Lesley, Jean, Dorothy and Peter at Newbold

accompanied by Roger’s friends Lesley, Peter and Dorothy, and after retrieving our second car from David’s house near York, it wasn’t long before the boat was back on familiar territory at Braunston.

We woke on Fri 5^th Sept to the realisation that this was our last full day on the boat – quite an emotional thought. However, we were cheered by having Sue and Dave along for the final run to Stockton in the afternoon, and in the evening the ranks were swelled by the arrival of Barbara, Karen and Roger – we all drank a toast to Vincent Joseph before adjourning to the Boat Inn for a meal.

A final toast to Vincent Joseph

Sat 6^th Aug saw the first of many trips between boat and house with both cars loaded with belongings – it’s unbelievable how much STUFF one can pack into such a relatively small space as a narrowboat.

Unloading the boat

The house feels enormous in comparison, and we are revelling in the delights of washing machine, freezer, internet access, a shower big enough to turn round in – and the ultimate luxury …a flushing toilet!

It’s been a fabulous two years, and we don’t regret for a moment making the decision to live on the water for a while.

 We'll miss pottering the waterways

We know we will miss pottering along the waterways, opening the curtains to a different view every morning, enjoying the wildlife and feeling a part of the changing seasons.

A different view every morning

Local wildlife

We have covered a lot of miles, and had many wonderful experiences - highlights such as the Pontcysllte Aqueduct, shooting past Big Ben, braving the Nene and the Trent, but also so many low-key, happy days on various canals all over the country.

A bridge too far?

 But life moves on, and we’re ready to begin a new phase - and we hope that Vincent Joseph will go on to give someone else as much pleasure as us.  Our plan is to do a little sprucing up, then take the boat to a marina to be sold - so we haven’t quite done with boating yet.  We will post one more blog entry when we’ve completed the final voyage and said goodbye – and publish a few more photos which didn’t find space on the blog over the last two years

29th July to 23rd August 2014

Leaving the boat moored at Newark we spent a couple of days at Cropredy looking after Joseph and Samuel before returning to Newark to continue bringing Vincent Joseph back towards Leamington. On Friday 1^st August we passed through our last ‘manned’ lock on the Trent - the 12’ deep Holme lock!

Nottingham was extremely busy, with boats moored six abreast in readiness for the festival taking place this weekend. 

We're about to leave the enormous
locks of  the Trent behind us

And return to queuing six deep for
the single locks of the canal system

We decided to pass straight through Nottingham and found excellent ’14 day’ moorings in Beeston. This suited us very well as we abandoned the boat, retrieved the car from Newark, and set off for a week’s stay in France with Alex, Guillaume and Louis! They are in the middle of having a large extension built and we were on hand to look after Louis and offer occasional advice re the new electrical installation.

Safe place to moor in Beeston while
we went off to France for a week

Alex, Guillaume and Louis in the midst
of their 'building site' in Vannes

Returning from France on the 11^th we then spent a couple of days at Dalesbridge Campsite on the borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire, with Joseph and Samuel, David, Amanda, Lizzie and James. We had great fun visiting White Scar caves and the exhibition of flower pot people in the village of Settle!

Part of the 'flower pot' exhibition in Settle

Lizzie and Sam exploring the bunk beds

James demonstrating his skills
on the 'monkey bars'

Joseph with Lizzie's hoola hoop
--possibly not one of his best activities!

Thursday 14^th saw us back at the boat but still feeling a bit ‘knackered’ from our travels. We remembered to go and retrieve Benny from the cattery where he had spent 12 nights. He just about remembered us, and would quite happily have stayed there in order to avoid the car journey in the dreaded cat carrier!

We then discovered that we had a ‘mooring ticket’. Apparently the ’14 day’ mooring site has now been reduced to 48 hours. Unfortunately the new sign has been removed by disgruntled boaters!

On Friday 15^th we set off from Beeston and completed the remaining stretch of river cruising, to join the Trent and Mersey canal. We reached Burton on Trent and spent an afternoon at the National Brewery centre learning how beer is made and then sampling some of their products!

An old employee of Marstons Brewery
cleaning out his fermenting tank ---

--before going off to do his deliveries! 

Leaving Burton on Trent

Part of the Art Exhibition at Alrewas

We spent some time at Alrewas trying to find out from local people how to pronounce the name of their village – unsuccessfully!  Variations include "Ol-ree-was", "Olwus" and "Orrers" - take your pick. Still it is an extremely picturesque place and it was enjoying an annual art exhibition.

Now at Tamworth we are feeling quite close to home and nearing the end of our two year adventure.

19th to 28th July 2014

Apart from isolated bursts of rain, we’ve been boating in glorious sunshine as we have made our way gradually southwards from Leeds to Newark, our current ‘home’. David, Lizzie and James joined us for the first stretch out of Leeds, unfortunately on one of the wettest mornings for weeks, so the children were mostly confined to the boat!

Too rainy to come out

We whizzed down the Aire and Calder Navigation and the ‘New Cut’, enjoying the luxury of automatic locks, after all the hard work on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. 

Looks a bit fishy...

Once we were on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal heading towards the River Trent we were horrified at the spread of the duckweed(?) which covered the surface of the water for a distance of about 10 miles.

Our passage through the weed

The boat crawled slowly along, with the engine in danger of overheating, and once moored safely above Keadby Lock Roger had to insert himself once again into the cramped space below the back deck to clear the propeller. There turned out to be not only weed, but plastic bags, rope and yards of fishing line.

Roger in the weed hatch
( makes a change from the dog house)

 Jean was summoned by a blood-curdling cry to come to his assistance when he impaled his finger on a fish-hook and had to cut himself free as he was unable to withdraw his hand from beneath the water.

On Wed 23^rd we began the journey upstream along the Trent,

Some sizeable boats still use the Trent!

 leaving ( along with 7 other boats) at 3pm with the incoming tide for the first leg up to Torksey, a distance of 27 miles taking 4½ hours. We were last to arrive so found the mooring pontoons already crammed with boats awaiting the next day’s tide, and had to ‘breast up’ against another narrowboat, waking the surprised owner from his snooze!

Entering Cromwell Lock

The next morning saw an early start at 6.30am to take advantage of the last of the tide to help us up to Cromwell Lock 16 miles away. Once there we breathed a sigh of relief at coming off the tideway, and settled down to a day’s rest ( and a chance to catch up with the washing!)

From there we made our way to Newark, where we have tied up for a few days while we fulfil various child-minding duties both ‘up north’ and ‘down south’.

Maltby Brass Band

 There are excellent moorings very close to the pleasant town centre, which has many fine buildings near the large market square. It also boasts two railway stations - and has a programme of brass band concerts on Sunday afternoon in the Castle Gardens.

Finally, some signs that have amused - or in some cases alarmed us! Apologies for poor quality of some photos.

In fact they're usually faster than us

An unusual speed limit for a canal!
(actually for the adjoining track)

Traffic lights in case of high water

Oo-er

Oo-er again

Spotted in a boat window

We're still puzzling over this one

9th to 18th July

It’s been an enjoyable week on the whole – the good news is that we did successfully squeeze our 61ft boat into the 60ft locks, and made it all the way to Gargrave, a pretty village beyond Skipton. Even better news is that we have made it back down again in one piece, and are once more moored in the heart of Leeds.

Vincent Joseph at Granary Wharf, Leeds

The bad news is that we are heartily sick of swing bridges, of which there are all too many on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal!

Robert 'locking'

On Wed 9^th Robert came to help us tackle the tough stretch climbing out of Leeds: we travelled 11 miles and got through 17 locks, including 3 staircases, and 8 swing bridges – an exhausting day.

"Stop" - the alternative being...?

 Most of the swing bridges have to be pushed open by hand, and can be extremely stiff and heavy to move – and both bridges and locks are ‘padlocked’ with anti-vandal chains, which have to be laboriously removed and then replaced. When a bridge carries a main road, it is usually electrically operated, with flashing lights, warning siren and automatic barriers, which gives one a heady feeling of power!

Breasted up with another boat,
waiting for bridge engineer

Unfortunately, they break down all too frequently, leaving the boater red-faced in front of a queue of fuming motorists. The CRT maintenance engineers dash from one to another trouble-shooting, in between their scheduled tasks for the day.

HOWEVER, moaning apart, we have enjoyed passing through some lovely scenery as the canal has climbed up the wooded Airedale valley and into open countryside with sweeping views over the hills.

Stunning views

On Thurs 10^th Sue and Dave, who were staying in Leeds, came to join us for the famous Bingley 5-Rise Staircase Locks (preceded by the less well-known Bingley 3-Rise).

Bingley 5-Rise

 Built in 1774, between them they raise the canal 90ft in the space of half a mile, and are manned in daylight hours by a team of lock-keepers who organise the boats, and do all the hard work of winding the paddles to fill and empty the locks.

On the journey up, we were able to fit into locks with another boat if necessary, but we were obliged to come back down alone in order to position the boat diagonally across the lock, to avoid getting the stern caught up on the cill. (A boat was sunk in a lock at Gargrave because of this, during the week we were there!) 

 Roger getting soaked

However, being in diagonally led to difficulties in opening the bottom gates - all in all a complicated business, and also a very wet one for Roger, as the leaky gates poured a fountain of water over the hapless steerer at the back with nowhere to escape the deluge!

Rob and Matt retrieving bikes
( we couldn't moor any closer!)

We had more visitors over the course of the week : Rob and friend Matt cycled 20 miles up from Leeds (and 20 back), 

Amanda and David

David brought girlfriend Amanda to see the boat, and then returned at the weekend with Lizzie and James,

Lizzie and James (alias Superman)

 and Pat and Chris (Caroline’s parents) came for lunch in Skipton. 

Pat and Chris

Skipton is a very attractive town, with a castle towering above a little side branch of the canal.  The Tour de France passed through here,

Tour de France display

and all the shops were decorated with bike-themed pictures, models and displays – even the church sported a yellow bicycle!

Yellow Tour de France bike on church

On our return journey, we stopped at Saltaire, a ‘model’ village built by mill-owner Titus Salt in the 1850’s, to provide his workers with decent living conditions.

Saltaire Mill

 It is still a delightful place, with rows of elegant stone terraces of house climbing the hill up from the canal, and a magnificent church, as well as the mill buildings which still stand by the waterway.

We're definitely in Yorkshire!

We’re really pleased to have been able to travel at least some of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and have very much enjoyed the beautiful countryside, and all the people we’ve met on the way. On Saturday, we shall head out of Leeds, to retrace our steps back to the Trent and towards the Midlands.