Black Country Boating Festival 2013

Black Country Boating Festival 2013
Windmill End, Netherton
14th and 15th September 2013

The annual Black Country Boating Festival at Windmill End is one of the highlight events in the Wand’Ring Bark / Wild Side Preserves calendar.

Saturday crowds at BCBF 2013

Every year in the middle of September there is a huge open festival at Windmill End (the western end of the Netherton Tunnel) when a pleasant but unassuming area of public open space is transformed into a community fair for the people of Netherton – and they come in their thousands. 

It didn't rain in the parade!

The boats lie at the core of the event, with about 100 attending representing a mix of historic craft, trade boats and lots of private boats plus a funfair, vintage car display, real ale bar and lots more beside. This is a real community event and they do like their jam! It was great to have people come up to us and tell us how much they enjoyed the jam they bought last year – and buy a load more. 

Boats of all shapes and sizes

It’s an up-beat festival where the locals mix with the boaters and all a good time is had by all. The days are for the locals with lots of boaters doing their bit to make the festival a success, and the evenings are for the boaters who flock to the main marquee to sample a notoriously well stocked real ale bar and listen to a local bank who bashes out a set of classics with much enthusiasm and no small amount of talent. 

Wild Side Preserves in light rain mode (we don't do heavy rain)

Of course, these events are massively weather dependent and this year the festival drew the short straw – balancing out the heat wave event of 2012. Saturday was OK’ish but occasional showers meant that we had to be on our guard and extra awnings were rigged to protect out rain sensitive products. As it turned out we got away with it and had a very good afternoon of trading – selling as much stock as the Saturday of 2012 in spite of numbers appearing to be well down.  But then we come to Sunday, when a stinker of a storm was forecast with rain, high winds and low temperatures. We tried to convince ourselves that all would be well but one breath of the drizzly cold air at 8.30am was enough to convince us to abandon all plans for trading on day two, and instead to join the Netherton Churches Together and BCF for their morning worship service in the Beer Tent.

This picture isn't leaning - the chimney really looks like that.

With worse weather to come we slunk out of the festival site before lunch, reaching the Black Country Museum in Tipton just before the heavy rains arrived, and in time for a warming portion of fish and chips followed by a pint of Duck and Grouse in the museum pub. The afternoon was spent writing in the warmth of a wood fire fuelled by logs picked up en route from Windmill End.

Sunset on the 2013 Black Country Boating Festival

OK – so 2013 will not go down as a vintage BCBF, but the weather was reasonable for Saturday, we did a roaring trade, met lots of friends old and new. So it is still a success in our books and a firm fixture in our preserve selling calendar. Next year it will b with Montgomery in tow – that will turn a few heads.

Rochdale 2013 - Muskham Ferry

Rochdale 2013 

Nottingham to Muskham Ferry

26th August 2013

27 Miles - 8 Locks - 7 Hours

Before you all get confused, Wand'ring Bark cant be in two places at once. Especially Muskham Ferry and Netherton!  The fact is that the Rochdale trip reports are being posted retrospectively and this particular post was prepared at Windmill end on the eve of the Black Country Boating Festival.

So back to the trip report:

Nottingham waterfront

Its a bank holiday Monday and the river Trent is heaving as I have never seen it before. Plastic cruisers have been dusted down and wheeled out to play on what must surely be the last heatwave of the summer. Annoyingly, Sainsburys does not open till nine so its a delayed departure but at least we leave with a full fridge and provisions to last us through the empty miles of the South Yorkshire Navigations.

Meadow Lock - Nottingham

We droped onto the Trent at 1.30pm, fighting off eager jam buyers who queued up to buy from our little display basket - the Capt rummaging for change with one hand whilst hanging onto the middle rope with the other! Oh the allure of the Wild Side!

Its was a sparkling day on the river and the late heatwave drought out the locals in droves. Plastic cruisers were thronging the moorings and water skiers were wizzing around, the sound of the highly tuned engines audible for miles around as they blasted around at over 25 knots.

Angell Hardy 2 and crew

Moving at a slower pace, we came up behind what has to be the most glorious modern Dutch Barge called Angell Hardy 2 and I casually remarked that it would be more at home in the South of France. It turned out that Belle had been corresponding with them having been introduced by Princess Matilda. Its a small world.

We really are in the world of the big boys - the plastic cruisers and dutch barges pull away from us  and we find ourselves lagging behind as we progress lock to lock. There are allsorts out on the water - there was even a speeding settee near Farndon, with three wide eyed kids strapped in as it was hauled along behind a ski boat.

Fishermen lines the banks as we worked down to Newark, squinting into a flaming sunset. We arrived at Town Lock well after closing time so it was boater operator, which was repeated at Nether Lock.  The tides permitted a single day trip to Keadby, but we needed an early start from Cromwell. This meant that we had to be near Cromwell and in the end we pulled in at Muskham Ferry, cobbling a mooring out a couple of the much too short finger pontoons and sank a very well received couple of pints of Hopping Gate.

Evening fisherman

Newark

Tomorrow its 15 mins to Cromwell and the the long slog to Keadby. 

Rochdale 2013 - Nottingham

Rochdale 2013 
Willington to Nottingham (day 3)
25 August 2013

23 miles - 10 locks - 8.5 hours

It was a disturbed night as a flail came down the adjacent railway track, smashing all the undergrowth which prompted some very deranged dreams till I woke and realised what was going on.

Great blackberries this year

We were on the move by 8.00 am and were soon into our first wide lock at Stenson, it seemed so big after months of the dinky midland's narrow canals. But before long we had a scare. At Swarkestone the stern step caught between two bricks and caused the boat to tilt alarmingly as the water drained only to right itself very suddenly which was a salutatory reminder of the dangers of locks.

Along the canal we heard reports of a boat stuck aground ahead of us and we finally discoverd the problem at Traviska. A boat was indeed hard aground almost in mid channel and had been stuck for nearly an hour. We hooked his from rope to the stern of WB and with a swift snatch she was free, much to the relief of the skipper. 

Yarwood - but nobody home

We passed Yarwood at Derwent Mouth, but sadly Les and Joe were nowhere to be seen. We also saw Cygnet at Derwent Mouth, a little boat made out the the back end of an old BCN day boat very similar to Montgomery.

Cygnet - with those distinctive bows.

So it was out onto the Trent, our companion for the next few days. We fairly galloped down the sparkling river with Helen busy stoning the Greengages as we went, fruit in one bowl and stones in another for scattering on the bank to encourage new trees.

We were in and out the the cuts - Cranfleet followed by Beeston when were we joined the remaining section of the Nottingham Canalwhere we found a bank of huge blackberries - 5.5 kg's in about 20 minutes. Guess what Helen is making tomorrow?

We moored outside Castle Marina where we met with friends and family for a shared pizza - all very social. 

As for the stern gland - its taken in about three pints in two days which is about how it used to be, maybe its not as damaged as I feared.

Rochdale 2013 - Willington

Rochdale 2013
Rugeley to Willington (day 2)
24 August 2013

23 miles - 14 locks - 9.5 hours

We want to make Nottingham by Sunday night which means pressing on over the first three days of the trip. The forecast was ominous with rain scheduled all day but in he event none arrived which was great news.

Trent and Mersey at Wood End

These summer trips are a foragers delight and we came across a greengage tree aptly by Plum Pudding, the old tunnel which has been opened out. This tree provides 3kg of fruit in about 5 minutes and after a few stops here and there we added 4kg of blackberries to our jammy haul. But it wasnt all about making on this trip. We have added a small jam display to our roof and by the time we had passed through Fradley we had sold several jars - this is a bit like fishing but more fun!

Wild Side boat top display

The wind picked up in the afternoon pushing us to an fro as we progressed through Burton, adding apples to our collection. The canal undergoes a sea change in Burton where we pass through the last narrow lock of our trip. From here on it is wide locks all the way.

The last narrow lock

The Trent and Mersey to Fradley is very familiar but as we set off east from the juncton it really feels like the trip is getting going. Boats become fewer and the canal becomes more remote, plus we change hire boats with Shakespeare Classic and Hire a Canalboat forming the backbone of the traffic.

Willington came into view at 7.30pm where we moored, met up with Suz and Jack and paid a visit to the Green Man where wedding plans were discussed - its only 8 weeks away!

Rochdale 2013 - Rugeley

Rochdale 2013
Calf Heath to Rugeley (Day 1)
23 August 2013

Other posts on this series:

• Rugeley (this post)
• Willington
• Nottingham
• Muskham Ferry
• Keadby
• South Bramwith
• Ferrybridge
• Stanley Ferry
• Coopers Bridge
• Sowerby Bridge
• Todmorden
• Incredible Edible Todmorden
• Summit
• Smithy Bridge
• Irk Aqueduct
• Castlefields

16 miles - 14 locks - 8 hours

The Thursday night departure didn't materialise due to fatigue so we packed our bags and set the alarm instead. But we had a mix up with the alarm and it was left on my usual workday 6.00 am, which didn't impress Mrs Ahab one little bit.

This years big trip will take us all the way down the Trent to Keadby, up the Aire and Calder / Clader and Hebble and then over the via the Rochdale Canal andhand the boat over to Martin in Manchester who will bring it back in time to attend the Black Country Boating Festival.

This early wakening

did mean that we reached the boat, got it packed with a fortnights stuff and all the jam paraphernalia, and were away from the marina by 9.30am and heading for Gailey where we filled up with diesel and gas and were parted with over £100. Then it was on to Midland Chandlers at Penkridge to but a new LED light for the galley at £40 and some spare stern gear packing for us as and when the current contents of the stuffing box runs out of adjustment.

The propshaft isn't too happy and by the time we reached Wolsey Bridge the auto bilge pump activated itself - the first time it has done so in 10 years! The dripping was running fast so I gave it a turn as I packed up in the rain at Trent Aqueduct. and will monitor its progress during the holiday.

We like to have a DVD series to watch during our travels - so the seal was broken on Homeland and the pilot episode watched. Good start.

Ann and Chas - better known as Moore 2 Life

This is all very familiar territory but still throws up surprises, this time in the form of Chas and Ann of Moore 2 Life at Deptmore Lock, one of those unexpected meetings you have on the canals.