Peaky Blinders hits Alvecote

Shelbys Last Stand
August 2019

Narrowboat Clematis has become something of a celebrity, starring in series five of Peaky Blinders cunningly disguised as January. As such she had pride of place at this years Alvecote Historic Boat Gathering. 

On Monday afternoon January quietly slipped away, only to reappear fully laden with the Shelby clan. They stormed the Samual Barlow claiming it as their own, presumably preferring a slightly more rural headquarters to their usual haunt in Satley's The Garrison.

Placing myself at huge risk I managed to grab these photos of them in action, before they slunk away.

Wall to wall sunshine in Alvecote

Alvecote Historic Boat Gathering 2019
August 2019

Its been hot, hot, hot here in Alvecote with a great selection of lovingly restored working boats to admire, especially as they are put through their paces with the steerers judged by a critical audience of experts.

Not a lot of time for writing but here are some photos taken from the Jam Butty as we sit moored on the slipway of the Samuel Barlow.

It may be uber hot and the bar is struggling to keep up, but it's been a lovely event. Trading has been steady allowing us lots of time to catch up with lots of friends.

Huddlesford Heritage Gathering 2017

Huddlesford Heritage Gathering 2017

September 2017

Huddlesford represents for many traders, ourselves included, the last event of the year so there was something of an end of term feel about it all. For some it represents the end of a busy season and some welcome time away from the "circuit", but for others it marks the springboard for paid winter jobs.

The event is run by the Lichfileld and Hatherton Canal Restoration Trust and hosted by Lichfield Cruising Club, using their grounds and clubhouse as a base. The aim of the bi annual event is to raise both funds and awareness for the ongoing restoration of the Ogley Locks section of the Wyrley and Essington Canal, better known as the Lichfield Canal.

Being late in the year, the event is particularly susceptible to adverse weather. On this occasion it was largely dry, albeit on a very damp base laid down during some rainy days just before hand. The weather was overcast and at times damp on the Saturday but the sun shone on Sunday which swelled the crowds and lifted spirits no end.

For us this is our "home" event, with our house just a few miles away. This meant we had access to our car and we immediately found ourselves making a transition from boating life to winter time home life, spending time at home, seeing home friends and even attending committee meetings (me). 

The weekend was somewhat curtailed for Helen as she had to leave immediately after the "church in the field" had finished to be with her mum. This left yours truly alone manning the stall with some tea, water and some sandwiches to keep me going. Thankfully Tom, a fellow member of Longwood Cruising Club showed up bearing a pint of beer and a much needed opportunity to attend to the other end of the drinking process!

Sunday was the better of the two days from a trading perspective, an experience shared by most of the other traders lifting the overall outcome to around average, which isnt bad for such an out of the way location. The location did also present a few challenges, notably in terms of the facilities available. Traders tend to arrive a couple of days early to get everything set up, which for many meant five or six days on site. The tank of water can be made to last and whilst rubbish couldn't be disposed of at the club, this could reasonably be stored for disposal at he next CRT site. However, elsan's cant be made to stretch and disposal of contents is a must. The club has an elsan point (which I used once) but then discovered that visiting boaters were not permitted to avail themselves of the facility, even early in the morning before the show opened. As a result one cassette had to be hauled to our home and another was toted on a 15 minute drive to Fradley Junction. All this was hugely irritating when a perfectly usable elsan existed just 100 feet away! I have to admit that this exclusion for visiting boaters irritated me, probably more than the inconvenience justified. If the on site cess pit is too small why not hire a "cube" along with the portaloos as other festival organisers do? Gripe over.

Talking of locations, its main downside is the proximity of the railway line which crosses the Coventry Canal at this point. You do kind of get used to identifying the difference between the thundering roar of the Pendolinos at full stretch, the rattle and clank of the container trains (16 or 32 carriages) and the booming din of the diesel powered bulk carriers without so much as a glance but its difficult to get any sleep for the first night. But like most things you get used to it and adapt so after a couple of nights the trains were largely consigned to background noise.

My Sunday was therefore confined to the stall and I simply photographed what I could from the butty, but to be fair most of the world seemed to cross the bridge and so fall into my field of vision.

By 6.00pm on Sunday I pulled the covers over the hold and instantly the rain started, continuing all night and picking up to a deluge in the wee hours, turning the towpath into a quagmire. Martin joined me on Monday morning and together we moved the boats round to the Dog and Doublet at Bodymoor Heath, ready for a major push back to Longmoor on Tuesday.

Journey's End

Arrival at Huddlesford

September 2017

For those of you who have been following our progress over the last five months (and I know that there are a lot of you) I am sad to have to say that this post marks the end of the journey.

Huddlesford at last

Today we did our final day's travel together, moving the boats about 12 miles from Rugeley to Lichfield, ready for the Huddlesford Gathering this weekend. On Sunday Helen will be leaving the boat to look after her mother who will be having surgery, leaving Martin and myself to get the boats back to Aldridge via the Birmingham and Fazeley and the Tame Valley / Rushall canals.

Autumn colours

Autumn is pressing in and cold claggy mornings are becoming the norm, which means setting a fire as part of the wake up routine. It was still cold and damp as we left the boat to deliver a supply of Elderberry Vinegar to Mike and Kit as Mike is still suffering from the lurgy. Then it was into town to say hello to Mark and Justina in their new shop, The Sewing Shack, and much to my surprise I found they sell parrafin wax, a key ingredient for some home made fire lighters we want to experiment with.

Approaching Fradley

By the time we set off at 10.30 the sun was out and, for the first time in weeks, we were obliged to don sunglasses and hats. The Trent and Mersey was busy today and I think I had to let at least four boats past, but somewhat irritatingly we passed three of them later on as they had tied up early. I can now see how we manage to keep up with the pack - it's a case of the tortoise and the hare. They may all zip along leaving us to plod at a steady 2.3 mph (so the Waterways Routes App tells me) but we are relentless. We just keep going and always eat lunch on the move - which means we seem to cover the same number of miles as everyone else over the course of a day.

Near Wood End Lock

We had lock keeper assistance at Fradley where we did pause for water, rubbish, and elsan and, just as we set off again, we stumbled across Martin and Margaret of nb Erin Mae. Martin and I are longtime friends and followers of each others blogs. I somehow managed to beach the boats around a small sea otter and had to offer apologies as I sorted out the mess, whilst at the same time digging a few jars of preserves for Martin and Margaret. Strangely the boat was firmly aground when I was on it but floated free of its own accord when I jumped off - I just can't figure out why that may be!

Dave Baynham

The weather stayed warm and dry as we passed under the busy A38, a sure sign we are nearing home. The stretch into Seethay was deafening but the noise dropped away dramatically as we reached Kings Orchard Marina and saw the familiar face of Dave Baynham (nb The Robber Button) leaning against the fence waiting for us.

A celebratory bottle of fizz to mark our journey's end

And then it was the final mile into Huddlesford Junction, site of the forthcoming Huddlesford Gathering, a bi annual event hosted by the Lichfield and Hartherton Canal Restoration Trust and the Lichfield Cruising Club. All the moorings are marked out but for the first time ever, we are the first to arrive. I know from Facebook that a gaggle of traders are pounding their way down here from Tipton, so I don't suppose we will have the place to ourselves very long. Its an odd location, one minute gloriously quiet and the next the actual canal is shaking as Pendelino's scream past at over 100mph.

A final joint selfie in the sun

As this was the last day of movement for the pair of us, the day was rounded off with a bottle of bubbly, celebrating the end of a remarkable and hugely enjoyable five months afloat. 

The road to Crick - upping the Ansty

The road to Crick - Part 3

May 2013

Day 5 - Snarestone to Ansty - 29 miles - 1 lock - 10.5 hours

Day 6 - Ansty to Crick - 30 miles - 10 locks - 12 hours

Phew - what a couple of days! The weather has been decidedly "off" with strong northerly winds bringing all the seasons in the space of an hour, let alone a day.

We have managed nearly 60 miles from the far end of the Ashby in just two long days, and wenow sit at the western end of the Crick tunnel ready to click into Wild Side mode tomorrow.

The bird of prey was coming off worse.

Yesterday kicked off with yet more socialising with our friends John and Sue joining us as part of John's 50 and quite a lot birthday, travelling from Snarestone for about three hours to Bosworth Battlefield.

The Globe Shackerstone

The route passes a well known motorcycle manufacturer and reminds me of an old joke : Q Who is history's first recorded motorcycle hooligan? A: King David whose Triumph was heard across the land...

The weather kept the boated tied up leaving us to travel crabwise with a strong side wind making steering very tricky.

The plan was to stop at Hawkesbury but all the visiting spots were occupied by some rather ramshackle boats and we were obliged to plug in into the sunset and moot in the relative peace  of Ansty. But even here the roar of the M6 and M62's combined to give a less than perfect night.

The North Oxford was sparkling in the morning sun and the old iron roving bridges were a delight:

Bad weather was forecast for Thursday so we decided to make an early start (6.30am) and make the best of the morning. The wind roared from the north but the rain mostly kept its distance just a couple of miles to the east. We did finally get a downpour as we started up the Braunston flight, with hail and sleet blasting us but by the time we reached the top lock the wind had died, the sun was out and all those winter coats were hurriedly packed away.

With the sun shining down we decided to press on the the foot of the Watford Locks and then as we just had time to enter before closing time we carried on up, covering a significant 30 miles in one long 12 hour stint. To be honest - its way too much, but needs must and we are now just 30 mins from the festival site and will have all day to get set up.