Our journey on the canals in the narrowboat Joey.

15th May 2022

Map of the canals and navigable rivers of the UK. We start at Rose narrowboats, owner of the narrowboat Joey, our floating home for the next two months.

16^th May 2022

We drove down to Rose narrowboats at about 11:00, we had planned on leaving earlier, but packing the car had become significantly more difficult. We had been going to use our car, with it’s ample boot space, but in some mystifying deal, somehow we ended up with Luce’s tiny Toyota Aygo whereas she drove away in the roomy Peugeot – never mind, I am sure there was some logic in it, maybe?

Anyway, we arrived at about 2pm (the red square in the map above), loaded up the boat with clothes and food, had a technical talk from the engineer about oil and batteries and generally how to keep Joey afloat. Armed with armfuls of advice and phone numbers to call in case of emergency, we started the Isuzu engine (see what you learn talking to engineers!) and began chugging southwards on the Oxford canal, aiming for Newbold and the promise of a pub dinner or maybe fish and chips.

About 90 minutes later, at about 6:30pm we tied up just after bridge 50, and had an excellent meal in the Barley Mow public house. On the walk back to the boat we saw a rat running cross the towpath and swimming across the water – ugggh. Feeling strangely tired after beer and food we retired at about 10pm after watching a spot of Netflix (we are so modern!)

17^th May 2022

We awoke after an OK night (the bed is actually two singles so I kept falling into the crack, we will move to the other bed with is a proper double tomorrow I hope) at the sound of a resounding THUD, as another boat banged into us. Muttering under my breath I got up, only to find that Joey had slipped his moorings (notice the nautical term!), and was slowly drifting across the canal. A hurried heaving on ropes pulled him back safely to the bank, but this was a worrying development, obviously my malleting skills needed developing quickly – the pins having not been driven far enough into the bank the night before. This might have been due to my eagerness to get to the pub, but I stress might …

We prepared to make some breakfast when we realised the boat had no electricity at all (the life blood of canal boats is electricity, supplied by a bank of batteries – and they need careful love and attention). Confused, we phoned Rose narrowboats, and the same engineer, Jamie, arrived 30 minutes later. After a bit of poking and probing (engineer talk there), he diagnosed a probably blown fuse, or a sticky switch and after 20 minutes had everything running again.

We left, travelling southwards still, towards Braunston – a famous canal village, the junction of the Oxford and Grand Union canals. We navigated 3 locks – the first of MANY we will encounter in the next couple of months – with Belinda skilfully driving the boat and I doing the less technical and more manual labour of opening the gates and paddles. These locks, at Hillmorten, are the busiest in the UK with over 8,000 lockings per year. Anyway, we continued down arriving at Braunston and then turning right onto the Grand Union canal and made our way towards Napton. We moored up just short of there and had a dinner of pasta and beer.

18^th May 2022

This morning we had a repeat of the electric issues, but we decided to turn the engine on and see what happened – that seemed to fix the issue, at least temporarily, but if it returns again we will contact Rose and ask for advice.

We had a relaxing first hour’s cruise, the temperature rising up to a balmy 20C eventually as we approached Stockton locks – a sequence of 8 locks, one after the other, over a distance of less than a mile. Luckily we found a friendly boat to share the chore with – the locks being two boats wide – and relatively quickly moved through them.

We left our new friends after a few more locks – we stopped for lunch – but saw them later when they had moored up at about 4pm. It is quite hard work using the locks, plenty of winding up and winding down the paddles, moving the gates (which weigh over 3 tons at times) and simply walking around, we did about 20 today.

We cruised until about 6pm, where we moored up a mile or so outside Leamington Spa. Soon the rain came down heavily, so we closed the doors, made dinner, and settled down to rest.

19^th May 2022

During the night we heard the fridge turn itself off – not a good sign – and as expected the power was missing this morning. A swift phone call to Rose elicited apologies and the promise of a new set of batteries soon – Yay !!

Anyway, off we went for a short jaunt down the cut into Leamington Spa where we stopped, looked and wandered into the very elegant town. Tea and cake in the gardens

followed by a meander into the hot house filled the morning and a short visit to the museum informed us of the elephants of Leamington – very enlightening.

Back to the boat and a daunting journey through another 21 locks loomed, but we were saved this by the engine now refusing to start – a further call to Rose was needed … and a few hours later an engineer from Kate Boats arrived to install a new starter motor battery. Kate Boats and Rose Narrowboats are friends and so they sometimes swap jobs and stuff I imagine. Anyway – it was late so we stayed in Leamington and had a very nice pizza that evening.

20^th May 2022

We started early winding our way through the outskirts of Leamington and Warwick – no sign of the castle though. Very soon we started up the locks – the never ending series of Hatton locks.

They basically took all of the rainy day, Belinda expertly driving the boat and me doing the simpler tasks, and resting often.

We also gave a lift to a small boy, Christopher, aged 4 and one day and his grandmother. They admired Joey in one of the locks, so we invited them aboard (nautical term again) and took them up the next lock. They would have stayed longer but they had to meet Christopher’s mother. Our first visitors and we forgot to take a photo !

Half way through the day we stopped and met Jamie the engineer from Rose, who installed a fresh set of three batteries, so all of them are new now, and hopefully the issues are behind us.

We missed a cup of tea at the top of the locks by about 15 minutes, the café had closed, so we drove on to the nearest pub through some dark and forbidding wooded areas and also through the Shrewley tunnel (400m of dripping darkness),

only to find that was closed too – the pub, not the tunnel.

So cheesy pasta for dinner tonight – at least we have beer in the fridge !

21st May 2022

Not a lot happened today. We cruised up the Grand Union, turned left at Lapworth junction, and then proceeded in a leisurely way southwards towards Stratford on Avon. We had a chat with a couple of CRT employees and they explained that someone had left the paddles open on a lock and drained one of the pounds. They had to divert water downstream to fill it. Luckily this happened before we got there, so our stately progress was unimpeded .

Dead fish is the commonest mortality we see, followed by expired rabbits and deceased deer (probably muntjac) – one of which was very pungent ! The number of living water fowl is quite stunning – literally hundreds of ducks, coots and moorhen, complete with broods of up to 8 chicks; occasionally the boat comes between mother duck and duckling, and a frantic cheeping from the baby can be heard above the sound of the engine – they have always been reunited though, the mother ducks seem much less worried than the babies.

We ended up at Wooten Wawen, and explored an old Saxon church, then had dinner in a canalside pub. We also checked out the availability of diesel, and may fill up there on our way back down the Stratford canal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootton_Wawen

22nd May 2022

Stratford bound we started the engine and began the lock-strewn cut southwards. There would be 19 locks today (I know I go on about locks a lot here, but really, they can be very stiff and difficult, and take up quite a bit of time, so please bear with me!). The route was charming with characteristic cottages and bridges – pictured yesterday if you have forgotten – until it eventually descended into the outskirts of Stratford. On the way we encountered another narrowboat crewed by a very helpful couple. They had come across a partly broken lock, with the lower gate unable to close fully, therefore stopping the lock filling properly.

They were very experienced, and knew what to do, so they attached their boat to the top gate and then put it in reverse while two of us pushed and tugged at the gate. Eventually it opened and allowed them to get in, go down the lock, turn around, and come back up (they wanted to moor further up).

Without their help we might have been rather stuck, but as it was we were only delayed about 45 minutes. We then continued on our merry way, getting ever closer to our destination. Once we were close to Stratford the number of people on the canal bank grew remarkably and both Belinda and I spent time chatting to people; I even spent 10 minutes demonstrating how locks work to a group of 4 young people (I managed to convince one of them to close a gate for me – bonus!!).

We eventually arrived into Bancroft basin in the very centre of Stratford, right under the RSC Theatre and managed, without serious mishap, to moor against a floating deck.

Our first target had been reached, and we celebrated with a very nice meal at a Thai restaurant. We had quite a bit of advice from people on the forums at https://www.canalworld.net/ who helped alleviate some of our worries about route planning and such like – so a big thank you to them !

23rd May 2022

Birthplace of Shakespeare, Stratford seems to be still suffering the effects of the lockdown. Tourist numbers are much reduced and many business are suffering. We learnt this from the owner of the laundrette, a delightfully friendly and helpful woman. She used to have the business manned 7 days a week, but now only for 2, the rest of the time it is open but unmanned, allowing the users to wash their own stuff.

I guess the number of service washes is vastly reduced since the guest houses and small hotels are empty. Hopefully the overseas visitors will return because the UK based ones are not enough to keep all the various places afloat.

Enough of the economic woes of Warwickshire, after washing our dirty linen in public, we booked a very interesting tour of the RSC theatre. Sadly the auditorium was in use so we looked around the costume department instead – not what we were hoping for, but good none the less.

24th May 2022

Hello again, back after a few days with no internet connections – so, where were we – oh yes, leaving Stratford ….

We managed a superb piece of manoeuvring, moving the 58’ boat backwards under a semblance of control until we could turn it, clear the pontoon and start to retrace our steps back up the Stratford canal. We managed about 6 minutes of travel until we tried to enter lock 55, the first lock out of the basin. The bottom gate would not open fully, something was blocking it at the bottom, so after a couple of tries we had to retreat, moor up, and phone the CRT (Canal and River Trust). They maintain the canal network, manage it, collect licences etc. So, we reported the issue at about 9:30am, but it wasn’t until 2:00pm that we eventually managed to get through the lock – it seems that the whole of the West Midlands area had been at an off-site team meeting

! In the meantime, another boat had tried, unsuccessfully, to come down the lock and in the process had partially drained the pound above it. Therefore, when Belinda tried to chug up to the next lock, she came to a sudden halt in the middle of the canal as the keel of Joey and the muddy bottom of the canal came into unexpected contact.

The CRT man who had fixed the lock now had to traipse up a couple of locks, open the paddles and allow water to flow down, refloating Joey and eventually allowing us to commence our trip back up the Stratford canal.

There are literally hundred of benches along the tow path, many are dedicated to people. I spotted one dedicated to a cartographer …

We eventually arrived at Wooton Waven, the place where we stopped overnight on the way down at about 7pm, tied up tight and waited until the Anglo-Welsh boat yard (hire boat company) open for business the next day – we wanted diesel and the waste tank to be pumped out.

25th May 2022

Anglo-Welsh were an absolute delight. Francis, one of the workers there, cheerfully explained where we had to moor, filled us with diesel, pumped out the tank, and allowed us to fill our fresh water. It was a pleasure to do business there, especially as this was our first time with diesel and pump outs. After an hour we resumed our trip north.

Not a lot of note happened on the journey, there were a lot of locks, and for the first 6 or so locks, we followed possibly the slowest people on the cut. Now, I know that canal boats are not quick, and locks can take time, but these two men were almost beyond belief in how slow they did everything. I helped opening and closing gates and paddles for them since Belinda and I were sitting helplessly behind them, but eventually they stopped for lunch and we got past.

Some of the locks have a lot of growth, often looking almost tropical in its lushness

We had a surprise visitor, a spaniel hopped onto the boat as we were waiting for a lock. We don’t have a picture of the beast, but we do have evidence …

Wanting to make sure we arrived at our target mooring (Lapworth flight), we didn’t stop for lunch, but ate on the move – I enjoyed a jam sandwich !

We arrived at about 5pm, moored up, had a pint of beer in the local pub (the meals were very expensive there, so we ate back in the boat), watched a bit of Netflix and retired early after a long day – we still hope to be in Brum by Friday.

26th May 2022

We left our moorings, with Belinda in charge of locks today, and made stately progress northwards, feeding birdlife as we went.

We encountered a small traffic jam at one lock, but mainly had an easy time climbing the 10 or so locks. We also had to deal with two lift bridges – which were hydraulically operated so surprisingly easy to move.

Our destination was a village called Shirley, the best spot to stop before the centre of Birmingham. It was a relatively uneventful journey, with plenty of people to chat to on the way and some stunning scenery – England is a very pretty country.

27th May 2022

We had a collision today – not our fault, we were trundling along when another boat approached; I moved to the right as the rules dictate, and the other boat moved across to its right.. then without warning, it veered across the canal and crashed into us with a resounding BANG !

The people on it were mortified and the woman who had been steering said “I’m sorry, I panic when there is another boat“. It was very funny, mainly because it was obviously a complete accident and no damage was done. They ended up stuck in the mud on the edge of the bank, but were able to pole themselves out so didn’t need a tow from us. One of the men on the boat then exclaimed “Come for a relaxing holiday, they said. It will be peaceful, they said. Nothing will happen on the canal, they said. No one mentioned they couldn’t steer the blasted thing!!!”

The trip to Birmingham was very scenic and pleasant with zero locks the whole way.

We chugged alongside the railway for a bit, passed the Cadbury factory which disappointingly didn’t smell of chocolate, went by Birmingham University which seems to be taking over the whole of Edgbaston and Selly Oak and even has its own moorings and eventually, at about 2pm, slid into Gas Street Basin and moored next to a narrowboat selling fudge.

Our friends, Alan and Jenny visited us this evening and took us out for a superb meal in Zizzi’s.

Both of us are suffering from colds at the moment (I am much louder in my suffering, so mine must be much worse!), so we retired after the meal. Not sure what we are doing tomorrow – maybe leaving northwards or maybe staying another day in Brum.

28th May 2022

We decided to stay on in Birmingham for another day – we both still have colds and a restful day sounded just the ticket. Even though a cyclist managed to crash into the side of Joey at 2:45am, we had a quiet night sleep, so staying another night seemed sensible. We did a spot of shopping and bought some things including a blue hoody for Belinda and a bright yellow one for me – no doubt you will see it in it’s full glory in future pictures. We didn’t really do much – a bit of a walk around some of the canals, tea and cake in The Exchange – a very smart University of Birmingham tea room.

We also fed various water fowl – obviously.

We watched Madrid beat Liverpool in the Champion’s League final, and then went to bed.

29th May 2022

We left, bound for Wolverhampton at about 9:20am. It was a grey and cold day, the view not helped by the decaying industrial landscape that lined the sides of the canal as we moved through the West Midlands.

For much of the trip, especially the second half, the canal was full of weeds and other water plants – which seemed to love to wrap themselves around the rudder and propeller with monotonous regularity. These were cleared by putting Joey into reverse every now and again, which seemed to shake off the clinging foliage.

It was not a scenic trip – probably the most dismal day of the trip so far. Dismal in the view and conditions though – we still had a great time. We waved to people passing, and Belinda was watched closely by a small boy as she manoeuvred out of a lock.

There was a lot of debris is the canal too, and we had to tell one passing narrowboat that they had 6 foot of 2″x4″ jammed under their bow, but mostly we managed to avoid it. We did run aground though while trying to avoid an approaching boat coming out of a tunnel. All in all, not a great day on the water, even though the water at times was startlingly clear and we could see fish swimming.

However, we did have an excellent Chinese meal in Wolverhampton, and the moorings are convenient and secure – so it isn’t all bad. (Don’t mention the music thumping out of a local pub though, that will only cause angst!)

30th May 2022

Well, it was a good night. The pounding music turned off at 10:30pm exactly, and we slept well. 21 locks lead from Wolverhampton down to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal, and we found that they were in good condition and relatively easy to move – so only took about 4 hours. Each of the locks had an anti-vandal device, which meant we had to use a separate key each time we wanted to move the paddles – no great issue though.

There was however a duck-based issue, where a mother duck was besieged by 3 male mallards, and was forced to abandon her 7 tiny, baby ducklings to try and avoid the amorous advances of the drakes. The baby ducks then fell off the lock, cascading down about 8 feet onto concrete. They all seemed to survive and managed to get close to mother duck even as she was fighting the others. It looked like it was going to end in tears, with the ducklings destitute, when a pair of coots exploded from the undergrowth and chased the drakes away. A few moments later, a baby coot was spotted and that explained the coots sudden anger – all’s well that ends well, but it was a tense few minutes !

The water at the top of the locks was still very clear, but as we meandered down it became progressively more muddy and canal-like, until when we turned onto the Staffs and Worcs it was a deeply dirty brown, and all was well with the world again !

We had our first ice-creams of the trip, and then within an hour we were wrapped up in 3 layers of clothing as the freezing rain lashed down. We went to a pub in Brewood (pronounced Brood, and can be seen on the map on the first page) for dinner, and are now back in the boat relaxing. The Shropshire union canal, which we are on now, having turned off the Staffs and Worcs after about 2 miles, is much busier than any of the canals we have been on previously, but it is half-term, which probably explains it.

31st May 2022

Very quiet day as we chugged our way north. Not sure where, or what, we plan for the extra long weekend, but we will probably avoid Llangollen due to the numbers of people and the one way in/one way out issues. Perhaps Chester is calling – regardless, either option is still a few days away. The scenery is very rural, very peaceful – cows and sheep in fields (other farm animals are available), tractors spreading muck, and lots and lots of other narrowboats.

Compared to the first two weeks, this is like driving on a motorway. Last week we might see two or three other boats moving during the day, now we see that many each hour – it makes for a more interesting cruise and it is fun to see the same boats during the day.

It was quite a showery day, rain coats on and off/off and on and indeed I can hear the rain beating on the roof of Joey as I type this. We popped into Gnosall (where we are moored) earlier to buy some bread and found out they have a laundrette – so we shall be using that tomorrow.

The laundrette is run by a fervent Everton supporter, who described listening to the game with Crystal Palace (where Everton avoided relegation) as “Sitting in a dark room sipping a whiskey and dreading the outcome” – he was disconsolate at half time when Everton were 0-2 down, but was bouncing around the room at full-time when they had recovered to 3-2.

1st June 2022

We left Gnosall after using the laundrette and drifted north to Norbury Junction – a busy place with a multitude of canal boats. It used to have a canal branch to Newport, but was closed off years ago.

We also passed an abandoned wharf at Shebdon, which had been used for transporting milk products down the canal to the Cadbury factory at Bournville. The factory is still there, producing Bird’s Custard and Angel Delight, but no longer uses narrowboats to move the products.

Sometimes it rains without warning, but other times we can watch the dark clouds rolling in, either way, the rain comes quickly and we often have to duck inside for waterproofs.

But the rain was an infrequent visitor today, mostly it was sunny and pleasant as we trundled along in some very deep cuttings. One had an interesting bridge, made up of two levels with a telegraph pole in the centre. There were no wires attached, other than for support, so we had no idea of the purpose of the pole

In one of the cuttings towards the end of the day, Woodseaves Cutting, the canal was many metres down in a narrow ravine, and it felt like we were in a different country. The vegetation was mostly ferns and trees, and it was easy to imagine we were powering our way slowly down a tributary of the Amazon, complete with Inca temples, alligators and howler monkeys

Belinda took a video as we cruised through – not sure how well it will view, but it should give an idea ..

We moored at Tyrley Wharf, which was extremely pretty and was a nice quiet place to rest.

Tomorrow, the beginning of the 4 day Jubilee celebrations will will go to Market Drayton and see what is happening there..

Current trip information: This is a trip of 129 miles, 5½ furlongs and 167 locks from Stretton Arm Junction to Market Drayton Visitor Moorings.

2nd June 2022

We cruised in the morning down 5 locks to Market Drayton, a pretty market town in Shropshire. We ate cake and drank tea in the warm sunshine then looked around the town. A lot of shops were closed, either permanently or due to the bank holiday, but we managed to fill up with groceries in ASDA.

There was a canal-boat market taking place; about 10 narrow boats moored and selling trinkets and crafty things as well as a floating pizza establishment. We wandered around, but bought nothing.

After a doze in the afternoon we went down to get a canal-pizza, but found that it had stopped serving at 5pm – so back to the boat and a spot of home cooking. It was a very relaxing day, with only about 2 hours of travelling. Tomorrow looms with 20 locks going down the Audlem.

3rd June 2022

We fed swans from the hatch this morning. They poked their heads inside the boat and virtually demand food, so they got a piece of fresh bread – they eventually sailed away, satisfied I hope.

We had a relatively easy run down the locks into Audlem, accompanied at various times by a group of paddle boarders. They were forced to carry their boards down the 15 locks, a distance of 2 ½ km until they reached the bottom basin. The boards are heavy and cumbersome and many of them looked heartily sick of the whole thing.

They were heading for Nantwich later today – not far, but the next day they were covering 58km to Chirk on the Llangollen canal which seemed to us to be a quite amazing distance to cover. One of them said he was going to only do the last 38km since he was “getting too old for all of this rubbish”.

We moored right in front of “The Shroppie Fly” pub in Audlem, named after the fly-boats that plied their trade up and down the canal. They carried perishable goods, moved 24 hours a day, and were allowed to jump the queues at locks.

While coming down the locks of Audlem, I was busy winding the lockkey when this piercing whistling/honking noise scared the bejesus out of me – I thought I was being attacked by an enormous chicken, or maybe a dinosaur and ducked wildly. It turned out that it was this thing driving over the canal bridge . . .

A miniature steam engine, beautifully made and so clean and gorgeous – not at all like a gigantic chicken.

The bar of the Shroppie Fly pub is made from the prow of a boat, but we gave it a miss and had a lovely meal at the Lord Combermere – which has a complete gluten-free menu. Belinda luxuriated in fish and chips for the first time in a long time. The food was, indeed, excellent and we retired full and happy.

4th June 2022 (Photos to follow, maybe)

We had breakfast in Audlem, in a small café called “The Priest Hole”. There was no evidence of clergy hiding under the table while we ate, but it was an enjoyable way to start the day. We set sail for Barbridge Junction today after arranging to meet my parents in Chester later this week. There is definitely more traffic on this canal and we followed some boats all the way through locks and under bridges. They probably thought we were stalking them !

We stopped in Nantwich to fill our water tank and then proceeded onwards to Barbridge where the Llangollen canal turns off westwards and the Middlewich branch turns off eastwards. For the time being we shall ignore both of these and proceed up towards Chester, but we will almost certainly retrace our steps and explore both of these later.

We stopped at Barbridge for the night, opposite the pub, but resisted the temptation and managed to avoid crossing the canal and ate in the boat.

5th June 2022 (Photos to follow, maybe)

Today it rained, a lot, so we decided to “hunker down and ride out the storm”. We played a few games that Belinda won, watched a bit of TV, read a lot. It was very quiet as most of the boats that had congregated around the junction left during the morning.

While cruising along, it is quite surprising how many delapidated narrowboats you see moored against the side of the canal. Narrowboats are not cheap, even old ones are 10’s of thousands of pounds, and they take quite a bit of looking after including painting the bottom every few years. These abandoned ones are simply rotting slowly and will eventually become worthless when the cost of fixing the issues is greater than value of the hull – it is a bit sad.

Anyway, dinner tonight is probably either sausages or a trip to the pub, it really depends on if it is raining or not when we get hungry. Tomorrow we will cast-off and sail towards Chester, probably mooring up a few miles short and plan on arriving on Tuesday lunchtime.

6th June 2022

We left Barbridge early aiming to get close to Chester by the end of the day. It was a very pretty trip with plenty to look at. We went past an Anglo-Welsh boat yard so took the opportunity to get a pump-out and a fill of diesel. The people there were tremendously helpful and friendly, so much so I didn’t mind spending over £100 on diesel alone !!

There were a few locks to negotiate, double sized on this part of the canal. We shared one with another boat, but most of the time we locked by ourselves. We had a superb lunch in the Lockgate Coffee House, which was lovely, and served Crosby coffee – showing we were getting closer to home. After that we passed literally hundreds of moored boats, so were forced to go slowly (if you go fast it causes the boats to rock and makes everyone cross).

Some of the boats were in good condition, but others were in a more dilapidated state – maybe being renovated, but more likely just falling into disrepair. I read in a canal guide the following, which sums it up perfectly – “Smart boats, sad boats, new boats, neglected boats echo their absent owners’ character and commitment; even some names mock at aspirations unachieved”

We eventually moored at “The Cheshire Cat”, which was a lovely pub where we both had excellent meals and entertaining service – all in all a fine evening.

7th June 2022

Destination Chester – the Roman town on the banks of the river Dee. Not an unfamiliar place for us, it is only about 30 miles away from home as the crow flies, and we have seen a lot of crows so far on this trip !

We left the Cheshire Cat at about 9:00am and chugged happily towards the city, the journey would only take about 2 hours. We had done it about 10 years ago with Lucia and a couple of friends of hers, and didn’t remember the trip fondly, but this time it was superb. Warm sun, little wind, almost no boat traffic and only a couple of locks.

At one of the locks we chatted to a chap who had left Chester that day and he assured us there was plenty of space to moor. So with renewed expectation we completed the trip in and tied up exactly where we had hoped to – just near to both a supermarket and a pub !

We walked to a laundrette and cleaned our clothes, had lunch in a cute café called the Little Yellow Pig and them meandered back to the boat. After a short rest (lunching is so exhausting) we had a walk around the walls of Chester and investigated the big locks that lead out to Ellesmere Port.

I didn’t realise that Ellesmere Port used to be called Whitby until the canal was built. Ellesmere is a town in Shropshire, so the terminus of the canal was renamed to Ellesmere Port – being the port of the landlocked town of Ellesmere.

We had a Chinese ready-meal for dinner and watched England v Germany in football – then retired.

8th June 2022

Today we had visitors. My parents travelled from Liverpool on the Merseyrail system and arrived at about 11:00am. We met them at the train station and then proudly showed them our floating home. They were suitably impressed with Joey, but I am very sure there is not enough money in the world to get them to stay on a narrowboat overnight !

We then wandered into the city, and spend a surprisingly large amount of time finding somewhere to eat. We settled on The Rainbow Café – it had nice staff and was bright and clean, but it took an age for the food to arrive, and it was only toasted sandwiches. Mine was cold, but tasted OK, so it wasn’t too bad, but I doubt I would go there again.

On, important news, yesterday I had a solid chocolate KitKat – no biscuit at all, only the second one I have ever had I think, and I eat a LOT of KitKats !

After lunch we had a look at the cathedral and then we returned them to the train station. After that I managed to bump my head on the tiller while tidying up the rope ( I knew there was a reason never to be tidy ) and we decided not to go out for dinner and stayed in and rested.

9th June 2022

This turned out to be a long day. We started with shopping in the local supermarket then set sail for Barbridge where we would stay overnight, then proceed to the Llangollen canal the next day. We made good progress and the weather wasn’t too bad once the morning rain had gone – mostly clear but showery still.

We had a brief lunch and eventually arrived at Barbridge at 8:15pm – by far the latest we have still been on the water.

10th June 2022

We entered the beginning of the Llangollen canal with the help of some CRT volunteers. They helped us up the 3 or 4 locks and we started the rather laborious process of chugging towards Llangollen. The Llangollen canal has a definite ‘flow’ downwards from Llangollen and this, combined with the relative shallowness of the canal (they are all only 3-4 feet deep, but this one is on the shallow side), meant our process seemed, at times, like boating uphill.

There were a plenty of locks and a couple of lift bridges, one that Belinda gleefully used when she stopped the traffic to allow Joey to proceed through. The drivers are used to it though, and no one seemed put out.

We eventually stopped at Willeymoor Lock and had dinner in the Tavern of the same name which is the old lock keeper’s cottage. We also stopped here near the end of the Sandstone trail when we walked it last summer, so it is quite the ‘local’ for us now!

11th June 2022

The Grindley Brook staircase locks faced us this morning; the scene, supposedly, of multi-hour long queues during the summer holiday season. We waited no more than 5 minutes and then were assisted up the locks by a very friendly CRT volunteer. Then after having a late morning tea and cake we proceeded Llangollen-ward. The rest of the journey wasn’t very exciting – just full of lovely, rural, scenic backdrops to a stunning canal. It truly is the prettiest canal we have been on, but so frustratingly slow at times.

Belinda felt a little unwell during the day, maybe a wrongly labelled cake was to blame, but she soon recovered and was able drive the boat and pick a lovely mooring spot.

We watched a bit of TV and soon fell asleep to the sounds of a woodland evening.

12th June 2022

Today we were going to get close to the famous aqueduct at Llangollen, and then tomorrow cross over, hopefully have an ice-cream, then cross back. So we started chugging along, reaching Ellesmere (of Ellesmere Port fame) and passing a couple of stunning meres (small lakes)

We stopped at Ellesmere for an hour or so, had a quick look around the town and did a spot of shopping in Tesco. Then resumed our westward journey. We had a couple of locks to negotiate, which took nearly 2 hours because we had to queue behind 4 other boats, one of whom was encountering a lock fore the first time. A very nice lady on a boat called Moon Pilot slowly explained to them how locks works and what they needed to do.

I talked to her for a bit while Belinda drove the boat between the locks and chatted-up a chap from Australia on another boat. I was also rewarded by one fellow, who was on his own. Doing locks by yourself is very taxing and slow, so he was very pleased when I offered to do the paddles and gates for him.

We eventually moored outside a pub called the The Poachers, although we didn’t eat or drink there – it was rather like the Blue Anchor or the Valentine (for those who know pubs in Aintree), and although I’m sure very nice, not what we wanted – so we ate on the boat that evening.

13th June 2022

We woke bright and early and set off for the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct about 4 miles away.

Today is the “Jour de Aqueduct”, where we will cross the river Dee by trundling along a narrow trough 180 feet above the river; but first we must get there. We cast-off and made our way westwards. The canal became more and more busy, more and more narrow and more and more annoying in a way. We would, without fail, meet a boat coming towards us at the narrowest part, or on the sharpest bend, but we soldiered on and crossed the Chirk aqueduct and entered Wales for the first time.

Then we motored into the Chirk tunnel, 400yrds of darkness. Luckily we were following the people we had chatted to at the locks yesterday, so they had to make the decisions about whether it was safe to enter the tunnel or aqueduct – they are both one way only, so if a boat is coming towards you, then you have to wait.

Almost without warning, after going through a lift bridge, we started on the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. It is a seemingly fragile structure that stands over 180 feet above the Dee. It is stunning to look at, and a bit scary to cross on a boat, but we manged it without any nervous collapses. Words do not really do it justice, but the pictures give a taste of the trip.

We had hoped to moor up and have an ice-cream before retracing our steps. (We had already decided not to progress onwards to Llangollen proper – it is increasing narrow and both Belinda and I have been there many times before) but we couldn’t find anywhere to stop, so after a nifty three point turn, we recrossed the Dee and started the journey back to the Shropshire Union canal proper (The Llangollen canal is actually just a branch of the main Shroppie).

As before, it was narrow, twisty and busy, but the gentle flow of the current was with us now, so we proceeded with stately majesty !

We eventually arrived just past Ellesmere, and moored next to Blake Mere, by a long way the most beautiful mooring we have made so far.

14th June 2022

We spent most of the morning sitting on the banks of the Mere, enjoying the sunshine, watching the birds and reading – it was blissful.

Eventually however, we needed to move, so we hopped back onto Joey and started cruising down the canal. It was about this time that we realised it was our 26^th Wedding anniversary – so congratulations to us ! (We had actually thought it was tomorrow). Some of the scenery on this part of the canal is simple gorgeous, and is why the Llangollen is often described as the prettiest of UK canals.

Most of the time we chugged happily onwards but towards the end of the day there were a sequence of lift bridges (these are slightly annoying because the “winder” is on the non-towpath side). We ended up playing a very slow game of switcheroo with 2 other boats as we opened the bridges for each other.

We moored at Whitchurch, wandered over to Aldi to buy dinner, then settled down in the boat (windows closed to keep out the pollen) and relaxed.

15th June 2022

Today was hot, very hot, so we didn’t cover that much ground. We left Whitchurch and trundled along until we met the Grindley Brook locks again. A couple of CRT volunteers helped us to lock down, and also gave some useful advice for the Harecastle tunnel that faces us on the Trent and Mersey canal in a week or so.

After safely negotiating Grindley we made steady progress until lunchtime where we stopped just after the Marbury lock and walked into Marbury village.

We had a super lunch in the Swan Inn before returning to the boat in the now sweltering afternoon sun. (Only a few days ago we had been complaining about the cold).

Next came Wrenbury where we lifted a few lift bridges and were helped by a kind couple in another narrow boat who filled a lock for us before they left it.

We then got to within a few miles of the end of the Llangollen before tiredness defeated us, and we moored up under an oak tree for the evening.

16th June 2022

Today promised to be even hotter, so we started early and quickly descended the Hurleston locks, chugged past the Barbridge Inn for the 3rd time and turned right into the Middlewich branch of the Shroppie. This is 10 miles long and will take us across to the Trent and Mersey (T&M). Middlewich is also hosting the Folk and Boat festival this weekend, so there is a chance we might catch some clog dancing or other folksie pastimes.

This canal is very quiet – in theory – but the first lock we came to had a queue of boats waiting. A quick chat with a fellow boater told us that this was, in fact, the 3rd busiest lock on the network. Interestingly we have only queued 3 times in the last month

We watched a spot of TV, read for a bit, then – once the boat had cooled somewhat, and we had talked to Lucia on the computer – retired to face the heat tomorrow.

17th June 2022

Hottest day of the year so far, 22C when we woke up. We decided not to move much at all today, but to sample the delights of Middlewich, and the folk festival. We shifted the boat about a mile and half closer to the town, mooring within easy walking distance. Belinda did a spot of washing while I walked in a little to see how things were looking (Anything to avoid washing clothes).

I came across a lady having difficulty moving a lock gate, so I offered to help. Flexing my huge muscles I heaved against the balance bar, but couldn’t move it an inch. A few other people tried but the lock was not in the mood to be opened. Then, just as a call to CRT was being made, and no doubt a multi-hour wait was in the offing, I tried again, wiggling the lock slightly before pushing it. This time I felt a definite “thud” as it fell into place, and opened as easy as anything.

When the original lady asked what I had done, I smiled enigmatically, and simply said “I have enormous upper body strength”. She just laughed and promised to use those exact words when she posted it on Facebook – I’m pretty sure she didn’t believe me ! Anyway, it was the narrowboat “Amy” and I shall keep an eye out !

Otherwise, we had a lovely lunch in “The Kinderton“, a canal-side hotel in Middlewich wandered a little in the town until we got too hot (28C by now), then retired back to the boat to rest in the shade. We didn’t see much evidence of Folk singing so here is a picture of a cow to keep everyone happy…

18th June 2022

We left Middlewich in much cooler temperatures and a light drizzle and turned right through Wardle lock onto the T&M (Trent and Mersey for those who have not been paying attention). This was the first time we had been south of Middlewich on here and it was a pleasant if rather dull patch of canal.

Middlewich and surrounds are famous for salt mines, amongst other things, and we passed a huge works where there seemed to be a mountain of salt. We both doubted this, since it would surely disappear in a few days of heavy rain.

We travelled further south, stopping at Wheelock for lunch in a Turkish/Italian restaurant. We both had pizza, which was comfortingly filling, if somewhat bland. We also re-filled our water tank – something we need to do every 5-10 days

We also spotted a boat for Belinda as we motored down the cut.

We were also entering the realm of the twin locks. These were done to increase the flow of boats through the locks, which were always the bottlenecks on the network. It can take up to 20 minutes to cycle through a lock if it is set against you

We moored in the middle of nowhere, next to some horses and not much else. It was a very pretty sunset though …

19th June 2022

Next morning, almost the first bridge and lock were at the M6 motorway. We have often seen the twin locks as we drove down, and now it was our turn to look at the motorway from the canal.

There are many different types of wild flowers we see along the banks, occasionally we even recognise them, but mostly we just admire them in a state of ignorance.

We ended the day, tired after a lot of locks, near the mouth of the Harecastle tunnel, a 3km long hole under Harecastle hill. We chatted to an extremely nice CRT volunteer who told us much about the history of the tunnel, as well as what we need to do to go through it – which is our plan for tomorrow.

We moored up about a mile south of it, and attempted to have dinner in a pub. Sadly, they were fully booked, so we walked up a hill into Staffordshire (we are currently in Cheshire still) and bought a lovely fish and chips. We brought them back to the boat and devoured them while watching TV.

20th June 2022

We toodled up to the entrance of the tunnel by about 9:30, but the tunnel man said we would have to wait about 90 minutes because someone had not long gone in, and then there was someone to come the other way. The canal here is a dirty brown/orange colour, caused by the iron ore in Harecastle hill leaking into the canal waters.

After waiting we were given a briefing about safety and what to do in an emergency – basically sound your horn until you are rescued, and what to look out for in the tunnel – low headroom, very low at times.

We, and another boat, then entered the forbidding darkness, lit only by the headlight on the boat, and a torch I was carrying.

The torch actually made it much better since we could actually see things like signs, stalagmites, low roof, etc…

It took about 45 minutes to complete the distance, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as we had feared – not that is was fun, but not completely awful either. After the tunnel, we stopped at Westport Lake in Stoke for lunch then after a few more miles, admiring the historic views of the potteries, turned onto the Calder canal.

This is a little known branch of the T&M, and doesn’t really go anywhere, but we fancied exploring it anyway. It is said to be pretty, but it is dawning on us that “pretty” in narrowboat terms means; narrow, winding, overgrown, slow, annoying, but it is, without doubt, rather beautiful too. We moored next to a few other boats for the evening after a long, satisfying day.

21st June 2022

The longest day of the year saw Joey meandering up the Caldon canal. It got progressively more lovely the further away from Stoke we went. We chatted to an extremely helpful chap while navigating up Stockton Brook locks, and he advised us of a place to moor later that day. It is always nice to have an idea of where we are planning on stopping, otherwise is can cause a spot on anxiety, mainly because if you miss a nice place there is pretty much no way of turning around and going back to it.

It was, again, a very warm day so we didn’t exert ourselves too much, not hurrying the locks and not staying out too long in the sun.

We eventually moored in our planned, and very lovely, spot – just next to a flint museum and a pub – what more could you ask for ? We had dinner in the Black Lion, a pub just up the road from the canal then retired back to Joey for a restful evening.

22nd June 2022

No boating today – our plan was to cycle on our trusty Brompton bikes to the end of the canal at Froghall, have lunch in the café there and ride back. It was about 5.5 miles from Joey, so not too onerous a distance.

It started off well, nice towpath and nice scenery, and we stopped at the flint museum to look at the bewildering exhibits. The curator was busy talking to other people, so we looked around – and we are still unsure exactly what the flint mill did, other than it was critical in some way to the Potteries.

We then continued for a short while and chatted to a chap called Robert, the self-appointed guardian of lock 15. He sat there, with his bag of lunch and a cool drink, and helped boats through it. He asked us hopefully if we had seen any boats coming down towards him, but sadly it had been devoid of craft. He was very keen to talk, I guess he was a bit lonely, but he told us of the interesting people he had met, include Gyles Brandreth and Sheila Handcock. And indeed they did go down the Caldon in a program called Great Canal Journeys

Once we left Robert, the tow path became increasingly unpleasant to ride along. Overgrown, narrow, muddy in places. What had started out as a civilised ride to the end of the canal became a bicycle based trek through the deepest, darkest jungles of Staffordshire. We eventually reached our goal, hot and damp and a bit grumpy about the whole journey and not looking forward to retracing our steps.

The tunnel at the end of the canal (it leads only into a basin to moor) is very low, and we didn’t fancy the trip down the very narrow canal anyway – hence the bikes!

Anyway, hot and tired, we managed to make our way to the café, only to find it was now closed on Wednesdays – the trip was turning into a nightmare !!

We sat down on an empty bench and thought about what to do. The trip back was uninviting along the tow path, and by road it was hilly and on a busy main road. Suddenly Belinda had an idea – there is a heritage railway line, maybe that goes somewhere near ? We checked and found that :

a) the station was only 5 minutes away

b) the next (and last) train was in 55 minutes

c) one of the stops was only 1/4 mile from Joey

So, bicycles out and steam train back was the order of the day. We got to the station, bought our tickets, had a cup of tea and relaxed. There was a slight confusion about where we had to put the bikes, but soon we were steaming along, often by the side of the canal and we got back to Joey about 35 minutes later. Trains are much more civilised than bicycles, not matter what H. G. Wells may have said.

23rd June 2022

Today we retraced our steps back to our mooring by lock 4, stopping the boat in almost exactly the same place. It was a relatively straightforward trip covering the same canal, just in the opposite direction.

We did manage to spot an interesting discovery in the woodlands next to the canal

The Caldon canal is certainly extremely beautiful, and relatively empty of other boats so it a very quiet chug down the waterway. There is an abundance of wildlife on the edges of the canal. Herons are very common, standing motionless on the waters edge, waiting for a fish to be foolish enough to appear. We have yet to see one get a fish …

24th June 2022

The last day on the Caldon today, and back onto the T&M. We have mixed feelings about the Caldon, it is certainly pretty and rural for at least 3/4 of it’s 17 mile length, but it is also overgrown and very twisty – on balance though, I think we like it !

Our destination is Barlaston, a small town south of Stoke on Trent. It is famous as the home of Wedgewood pottery and has a large factory here. We didn’t visit it, but it has a museum, café, shop, etc.

Before we got there we travelled through south Stoke – a very industrial area as well as the home of Stoke city football club. We used to drive this way when Luce lived in Leicester, so it was nice to see the area from a different viewpoint. There are a multitude of different businesses along the canal, but this one seems to have the widest range of products on offer …

The locks on the canals vary, but they all do the same thing, raise or lower the boat to allow it to move from one height to another – sometimes the water can be quite fearsome when the paddles are opened fully.

When we stopped at Barlaston, it was next to a pub called the Plume of Feathers which, it turns out, is owned by Neil Morrisey (an actor, famous for being the voice of Bob the Builder amongst other things). He wasn’t serving behind the bar, unfortunately, but we had a lovely meal there, possibly the best of the trip so far.

25th June 2022

Today we ventured towards Stone, a place that is considered a ‘canal town’ due to its place in early canal history, but more importantly – at least according to the people we talk to at locks – the location of a huge M&S Food Hall !

It was a short trip of no more than 3 or so hours, with a few locks and a few chats along the way. People seemed very vocal, maybe because it was the weekend, but mainly because people were SO SLOW at the locks. Now, canal boat trips are not supposed to be fast and frantic, but we were following someone who would not drive their boat out of a lock under power, but pulled it by a rope – it added many minutes to each lock and caused at least one woman coming the other way to almost froth at the mouth with frustration. We didn’t mind that much, but it was a bit annoying.

Anyway, we also heard that a tree had been blown down a few miles south of Stone and had blocked the canal, so stopping in Stone now became a dead cert. Once we had moored there I took to the trusty Brompton to scout out the felled tree. I passed a lot of people on the tow path, out enjoying a weekend walk. One woman warned me a small boy was on his bike just around the bend, so I dismounted to wait. He and his mother turned the corner, he on a bike and holding a bull-rush, she walking. He stopped and handed the rush to her and then pedalled past me. I said to her “The things you have to carry for your child” and she replied, smiling “He is not a child, he is a knight!” It seems the rush was his lance and he was jousting on his bike – we both laughed.

Belinda and I also took advantage of Stone to find a laundrette and do the large pile of washing that had built up – so it was a successful day with clothes washed and fridge filled with M&S food.

The tree had been cleared, by the way ! We didn’t take many photos today, but here are a few scenic shots to keep you lot happy …

26th June 2022

We needed to get diesel and a pump-out, so we visited Aston Marina just outside Stone in the morning.

The chap there was very friendly and helpful, put in £110 of diesel and explained how to do a DIY pump-out. Previously Anglo Welsh boat yard had done them, so this was the first we had done ourselves, but it seemed to work with no serious issues. What did become more of an issue was the wind, which conspired to stop us being able to turn in the marina and exit. We ended up nestling against 4 other boats with the strong wind pushing us hard against them.

Luckily we had some help from friendly people who moored their boats there (very expensive, by the way) and eventually managed to escape, but it was an anxious time. Everyone seemed not to worry, and I suppose this is a relatively common occurrence, but for us it was nerve racking.

The wind didn’t die down, so at about 3pm we called it a day and moored in Weston upon Trent, turned on the cricket and watched England chasing 290+ to beat New Zealand.

27th June 2022

Well, England made great strides towards beating NZ, but still have 100+ to score. It was raining when we awoke, the rain literally bouncing off the roof of Joey, so we battened down the hatches (nautical term) and played a game of Rummikub which I won ! Eventually the rain stopped and we started to make our slow, snail-like crawl southwards. We are definitely making slower progress now, taking more time to stop and relax – it is nicer.

After an hour or three we came to Great Haywood, and the junction with the Staffs and Worcs canal. We had very briefly sailed on this canal just before we joined the Shroppie and we chugged passed it with a wave.

We stopped very soon for lunch, just next to Shugborough Estate, ancestral home of the Earls of Litchfield and now a National Trust property. We decided not to visit, but made a note to drive to it in the near future, possibly on our way down to Somerset in August.

After Great Haywood came – predictably – Little Haywood and then a few miles of lovely rural canal.

In the afternoon we came into Rugeley, our planned stopping place, and cruised through the town, admiring the splendid back gardens on show. We stopped near the centre of the town and hopped off Joey at about 5:15pm to have a look around.

Well, to say it was deserted would be an understatement, it was as if there had been a zombie apocalypse – there was no one around, all shops excepting Tesco and Morrison’s were closed, and there was an eerie silence about the whole town. We didn’t stay long, shopped in Morrison’s and hurried, nervously, back to Joey. We stayed on the boat that evening, 20 minutes in Rugeley being enough for any sane person !

28th June 2022

Did you know there can be traffic on the canal ? We were going to leave Rugeley, that most lively of towns, and had cast off the ropes when suddenly a line of boats descended on us from both directions. We had to stand there holding the mooring lines while boats chugged passed us, slowly, left and right, for over 10 minutes. We watched them wondering where on Earth they has all come from, but eventually they stopped and we were able to make our way towards Fradley Junction and the Coventry Canal.

There was a mile or so of single-boat width canal, so Belinda ran ahead on the tow path to make sure nothing was coming the other way. It would have been quite a difficult exercise to reverse that far (and by difficult, I mean completely and utterly impossible), so it was lucky that she saw nothing and was able to wave Joey, and a following boat, through.

We stopped for a spot of lunch as the wind started to gust, and then a few miles later turned at Fradley junction, opened the world’s most perfectly balanced swing bridge, and moored a short distance down.

We booked dinner at the the Swan Inn, a famous canal pub, but really, not much to write home about, then relaxed on the boat for the rest of the afternoon.

Dinner was pleasant if not brilliant and we phoned Jenny, who, along with Alan, is coming to spend the day with us on Saturday. We agreed to pick them up just after Tamworth and then cruise up to Atherstone for an Indian dinner that evening. Until then, we will make our stately way southwards on the Coventry Canal.

29th June 2022

A rainy morning produced a late start today as we got away at about 11am. We made our way down the Coventry canal, following a couple of other boats for some of the distance. We stopped and had a very nice lunch in the The Plough Inn in Huddlesford.

The canal was a little overgrown in places but remained resolutely rural and pretty for most of the day. It was quite busy, we passed numerous boats, nearly always at narrow spots or bridges of course – that is always the way it seems.

We moored up a mile or so short of Tamworth. Tomorrow we will probably venture down the Birmingham and Fazeley canal (actually we are on that canal at the moment, rather than the Coventry due to some financial wheeling and dealing in the 18th century. Suffice it to say, the water is the same muddy colour)

30th June 2022

We didn’t move the boat today.

We had a quick trip to the hospital to get an antibiotic cream from Belinda’s nose (it had become inflamed, probably an effect of hay-fever), so then spent the rest of the day relaxing in the drizzly conditions. Tomorrow we will move again …

1st July 2022

Well, here we are in July, 7 weeks into the trip and only 2 weeks left. We have a few days on the Coventry canal and maybe a week on the Ashby to come then we will have to get Joey back home – but until then we shall continue. Today we are moving to the other side of Tamworth, near Alvecote Marina but we shall have a short jaunt down the Birmingham and Fazeley. (B&F)

We went onto the B&F at a junction that Belinda navigated perfectly and then we chugged down for about 5 miles. We didn’t want to go any further because the places to turn the 58′ Joey are limited and if we went further that 5 miles we would be forced to complete 10 locks before the chance to turn presented itself again. And those of you who are paying attention would realise that 10 locks and a turn means the same 10 locks in the opposite direction – 20 locks in all, and not something we wanted to do.

So, we manoeuvred Joey around in the winding hole (a turning place) and sailed back, mooring for lunch near to MIddleton Lakes – an RSPB nature reserve. So, we took the chance to do a spot of bird watching, donned our waterproofs and grabbed our binoculars and set foot onto dry land.

We saw ducks, geese, swans (which, of course, are no strangers to us), but also saw a great crested grebe and some lapwings.

The reserve was very picturesque as well as interesting and we spent a merry couple of hours wandering around.

Eventually we were back on the boat and sailing back up to the Coventry canal to moor for the night, ready to meet Al and Jenny tomorrow. We left Tamworth behind us and found a secluded spot about 1/2 mile from Alvecote marina.

2nd July 2022

At about 10:30 our visitors arrived and we set sail for Atherstone, 4 miles and 11 locks away. We went slowly, enjoying the occasional sunshine and dodging the occasional showers.

After lunch of sandwiches and sashimi, we started up the locks.

We had expected other boats and maybe queues, but we breezed up to the top only passing two other boats, one at the bottom lock and one at the top.

When we moored at Atherstone we found out from our neighbour that there was a beer festival taking part. So, into town we hurried and had a couple of drinks in a rather nice pub, looking out at the rain lashing down

After a very nice meal in Ikbals Kitchen, we retired to the boat for more chat and wine before our visitors wound their weary way home (about 4 miles away) and we retired for the evening after a lovely day.

3rd July 2022

Today was rather wet. We didn’t travel far, only about 5 miles and stopped about a mile short of the turning to the Ashby canal, our destination for tomorrow. We moored behind another boat and settled down to watch the cricket and maybe the tennis – sport experienced vicariously is a lot less effort !

Suddenly, through the window, the bow of a narrow boat steamed closer and closer to Joey, and we realised it was going to hit us, albeit rather slowly. I stuck my head out of the window and saw plumes of smoke gushing from the engine of this boat as the helmsman gamely tried to steer it away from us (it was rather shallow here, with a lot of silt, and a narrow boat will refuse to change course if it is running in the silt).

He failed, and there was a slight “clunk” as he contacted us, then continued, hitting the boat in-front as well. I hopped out, and he explained that his engine was overheating and that he had lost steering. We (me and the man from the boat in front) helped pull the smoking boat back to the tow-path and helped him moor it. He didn’t seem overly concerned about his problems, although he did apologise a lot, so I left him too it.

Sadly, I took no photos so here is a picture of a cow …

4th July 2022

Today we sailed on a new canal, the Ashby canal (actually the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal), and it proved to be both shallow and meandering, as well suffering from low water levels.

It is however, a lovely and quiet rural canal so we enjoyed plodding slowly up it. We passed under bridge 4 which had a very famous name – see if you can find it

We also exchanged brief words with every boat we passed

“Hello, good morning”

“It is really shallow”

“Yes, isn’t it – I hate it”

“So do I, it is really annoying”

Each conversation was a variation on the above. Anyway, we eventually moored at Hinckley, a town famous for hosiery manufacture, but we stuck to having lunch and doing a spot of shopping (no stockings purchased). We also made a few vague plans for when Lucia and Harri (plus hound) will visit. After that we lazed around, deciding what to do tomorrow.

5th July 2022

Market Bosworth was our target today, not a long distance – only about 7 miles – but we would go slowly in the shallow water. The Ashby is really very lovely – lined with trees, filled with wild-life and relatively quiet considering it is July, but it is hard to love it given the low water levels (I know I hark on about this, but it is a large factor in cruising here)

We arrived, and found a nice mooring place just before bridge 42. Well, we thought it was nice, but it turned out to be right next to a building sight where a pile driver was hammering 3m long concrete piles into the ground.

We tied the boat tight and wandered the 3/4 mile into the village. Market Bosworth is very nice with some impressive old buildings and cottages. The centre is filled with independent dress shops, coffee shops and bric-a-brac shops. I guess people do their shopping out of the village, so there is no need for butchers, bakers or even green grocers.

We had a nice tea and cake in Le Maison Rose – a posh coffee shop. When I asked where I could wash my hands I was told “Through the pink door” I replied they were all pink (the whole place was painted powder pink), but the waitress didn’t seem amused by my wittiness.

After that we looked around the village a little more, spent an excellent 30 minutes talking to the librarians in the local library about what to do in Bosworth, then returned to the boat for an evening meal of salmon and chips. The pile driver had stopped, which was nice, and we relaxed watching Le Tour and a spot of tennis.

6th July 2022

Our chat with the librarians had convinced us to visit the site of the Battle of Bosworth where Richard III lost his crown, and his life, to Henry Tudor, who with uncommon haste declared himself Henry VII (actually, a little later he got parliament to state that he had been king even before the battle, thereby allowing him to claim anyone who had fought with Richard had been treasonous – oh those sneaky Tudors!)

Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre

We rode our bikes to the centre, about 3 miles away, mostly along the tow path.

It was quite well done, and told the confusing story (nearly everyone was called Henry, Edward or Richard) relatively clearly. The centre had been built on the site of the battle, but then a few years later, historians discovered that the original site was wrong, and it had actually been a few miles away. I can just imagine the meeting when this was first announced ! Anyway, it was a fun few hours, learning about the Lancastrians, Yorkists and sundry turncoats and back stabbers.

We rode back slowly, the sun was shining brightly in the afternoon, chatting and waving to various dog walkers and boat drivers. The pile driver had finished for the day, so it was quiet and peaceful back in Joey.

7th July 2022

After filling our water tank and turning the boat around we retraced our steps back to Hinckley. It was an uneventful trip, warm sunshine popping out between the clouds on occasion.

We had noticed, when we were here a few days ago, that there was the Triumph motorbike factory in Hinckley, so we decided to pay it a visit. It has a visitor exhibit and a café, so we tied up Joey on a lonely stretch of canal and walked over to the very large factory.

This is where we ended up

We first of all found the café, and a nice lunch was had surrounded by motorcycle engines and paraphernalia. Then we visited the exhibit which was filled with a myriad of famous Triumph motorcycles from the first in 1902 to the latest and greatest creations.

There were a few famous examples, plus some that were used in films and TV shows. While Belinda was trying to take a picture of me near one bike, a Triumph man came up, and had a chat. After hearing that we had ridden a motorbike (although not a Triumph) in Tonga, he whipped away the “Do NOT touch” sign and said I could sit on the motorbike !

He then let Belinda sit on a very dirty one that had been used in the latest James Bond film

We had a surprisingly good time at the exhibit, and now know more than we need to about Triumph motorbikes, including that they built the 1,000,000th one there last year.

8th July 2022

Today we left the Ashby canal behind and ventured further down the Coventry canal until we arrived at the busy junction of Hawkesbury. This is where the Oxford canal is spawned and the Coventry continues into the centre of that city. The lock between the two, called a stop lock because it had more to do with water saving and toll charges in years gone by than changes in elevation, rises a grand total of about 9 inches.

We moored up behind a line of boats on the warm day. As we near the end of the trip we are getting lazier and lazier; we more easily decide to call it a day and more readily agree to stay somewhere. This is probably partly due to the knowledge that soon we will return to bricks and mortar and also because we are more accustomed to the pace of a canal, and feel no need to rush on anywhere. Whatever the reason, it means more time reading and resting, and less time moving.

We had an excellent dinner in The Greyhound Inn, a canal-side pub that has been there since 1800 or so. The fish and chips was in the top 2 or 3 of the trip, and Belinda’s salmon salad was superb. We hope to take Luce and Harri there in a few days when they join us

9th July 2022

Not much to say about today – the weather continues to get hotter, 28C today and tomorrow and 30C on Monday. So, we stayed at Hawkesbury and I jumped onto the bicycle in the morning and rode to a Sainsbury shop a couple of miles away to get provisions. In the afternoon we sort of lazed around doing not a lot. We had a walk and spotted places we could moor tomorrow (our plan for tomorrow is to motor down about 7 miles to Rose narrowboats, meet Luce and Harri, then bring them back to here), and cleaned and tidied the boat in preparation for our visitors.

10th July 2022

We left Hawkesbury at about 9:30 and made our way down the 7 miles to Stretton stop, the home of Rose boats – moving onto the Oxford canal through the shallow lock in the process. Luce and Harri left the Lake District at the same time which is over 100 miles away but our expected times of arrival are pretty much the same – no wonder canals died with the advent of trains and cars. The trip was pleasant other than nearly crashing into a boat that refused to turn on a bend (mutter mutter), and passing through Ansty – described in Wikipedia as “Ansty has been cited as “the most boater-hostile village on the canals” because of the huge number of “no mooring” signs.” Also, Ansty was in land owned by Lady Godiva in 1086 according to the Domesday book.

We spotted a boat that should belong to Holly, Luce and Harri’s dog on the way, and eventually arrived, hot and tired at about 12:30.

We turned the boat around and tied it up to another Rose boat then waited about 15 minutes for them to arrive. Holly was very excited as we loaded the few bits and pieces they would need for the next day (basically all of it Holly’s) and jumped on and off the boat happily. Soon we were on our way, winding back North, bound for Hawkesbury junction and hopefully a nice meal in the Greyhound.

A bit of shaky driving later, we arrived at the basin in front of the Inn, the junction of the two canals. Unfortunately, a boat was moored right in the space that you are supposed to use for turning, so it was a 19 point turn rather than a neat 3 point one that got the boat pointing back to way we had come.

We soon moored and walked to the pub, only to find that the boat belong to a recently deceased boater and the pub had been hosting the wake (Lucky I didn’t crash into it with my inexpert reversing).

Anyway, we got a table in the bar, where Holly was permitted to be, and had an excellent meal again. We went back to the boat and chatted for an hour or so before retiring for bed. Our first overnight visitors (and almost certainly our last)

11th July 2022

Today was Luce’s and Harri’s second canal day. We took them back to Rose where they had left the car. The trip was uneventful and very relaxing. We passed one boat, “Ermintrude” which was having great difficulties. They couple driving it were very inexperienced and didn’t really get the idea of how to steer the boat (the secret is that it pivots in the middle when you turn the tiller, it doesn’t just change direction like a car or a small boat). We wished them well, but there wasn’t really very much we could do to help.

The four of us, plus Holly, had a nice lunch in a farm shop café a mile or so from Rose, but the sun was beating down and it got rather hot towards the end. Belinda and I waved goodbye to them and then returned to Joey. We decided not to move any more that day, we had a mooring in the shade so took advantage of that and relaxed for the rest of the day.

12^th July 2022

We were now going to retrace our original route for a couple of days. 2 months ago, we left from Rose and proceeded southwards like today, going past Rugby and Braunston and Napton. We will follow the same canals now – probably getting to Napton – before turning back to Rose for the final time and leaving Joey on Saturday (4 days time).

The route was both familiar and unfamiliar. The place names we knew, the locks at Hillmorten we recognised, but the winding course of the canal seemed completely new – I suppose travelling hundreds of miles on the waterways makes remembering specific parts easy, but the general ebb and flow of the canal impossible to recall.

The locks at Hillmorten were very quiet, no queue at all which was surprising at the busiest locks, but we gladly breezed through. We tried to get lunch at a café, but it was only open 4 days a week, and this was not one of those days; we did mange to find a model train shop though !

We moored slightly outside Braunston and decide against going in that evening, instead planning  breakfast in the village in the morning.

13^th July 2022

A short day today, cruising gently along the Oxford canal towards Napton Junction. Similar to yesterday, we had travelled this part of the canal in May, 2 months ago, but now it was hotter and busier with plenty of boats swimming towards us for most of the day. One boat had difficultly steering it seemed and ended up diagonally across the canal, but these things happen and no one gets upset, they just wait a little for the problem to sort itself out.

We had failed miserably to find anywhere for breakfast in Braunston this morning, so had eaten on Joey before casting off.

We stopped for a nap at lunchtime, resting in the shade away from the sun and then eventually arrived at Napton later in the afternoon. We briefly went past the junction to turn in the Napton Narrowboat yard, where I stood at the back on the tiller while Belinda chatted to a Nordic pirate type at the prow. He was an employee at Napton Narrowboats, and was very nice, according to Belinda !

After catching the the Tour de France (Pogačar losing nearly 3 minutes to Vingegaard) we tried to go out for a meal, but were defeated by the fact that the pub closed at 3pm and then opened again at 6pm – arriving at 4:30pm was definitely not conducive to eating or drinking.

Dinner in the boat followed by a downloaded film ended the day.

14th July 2022

Bastille day found us planning a trip back to Baunston, this time we wanted to actually go into the village and sample the delights of the place. The journey was very slow mainly because we were in a convoy behind a boat that wasn’t going more than ‘tick-over’ which is equivalent to about 1.5mph; this is half the normal cruising speed. We are not sure why it was going this slow, but it didn’t matter to us, we were in no hurry. Also, there were many more boats than we had ever seen before – I guess the school holidays have started as well as this part of the canal being between two busy junctions.

We eventually moored in almost exactly the same place we left a couple of days ago and walked up path to the the centre. We popped into the first pub we saw, which turned out to be perfect – fish and chips and also gluten-free options. Having decided what we were doing we returned to the boat, had a shower and a rest then went back in for an excellent meal. Braunston has gone up in our estimation now, even though I was stung by a bee on the way back to Joey.

15th July 2022

Our final full day took us back to only 1/2 a mile from Rose. It was also the final locks we would do, the Hillmorten flight that we had first conquered 2 months ago.

We went slowly for the most part, down the locks and through the Newbold tunnel.

It was rather sad knowing we were leaving the next day, but it was a superb trip none the less.

We moored just short of Rose, the towpath was low, but not too bad. We chatted to an Australian lady who was also returning a boat to Rose tomorrow and she told us about her and her travelling companion’s adventures. He had been worried about locks and spent two days fretting about them – all went well in the end though.

16th July 2022

We turned up at Rose, and Jamie jumped aboard and neatly turned it round, mooring it next to another boat. Belinda and I unloaded everything, carrying it back to the car. The staff at Rose were very busy and so we just slipped away quietly, leaving Joey nestled happily back at home.

The details for the trip :

Distance : 476 miles,

Locks : 369 locks

Time : 325 hours of running

Water : Filled tank 13 times and ran out on the last morning

Fuel : Bought 198 litres, not sure how much we used

Pump out : 3 times