BCNS Challenge 2009

The BCN challenge took place again this year, after an absence of several years.  Boaters had to travel for a maximum of 24 hours between 09:00 Saturday and 15:00 Sunday and finishing with a gathering of boats and boaters in Walsall Basin.

Points are awarded for the locks and miles travelled with bonus marks for travelling over little used sections of the BCN.

The weather was great with a festival atmosphere in Walsall.

It was organised by Graham Whorton, Chairman of the Birmingham Canal Navigations Society (BCNS), seen here talking to one of the challengers on his phone.

About 37 boats were entered with many of them successfully reaching Walsall Basin, in a succession of boats arriving and departing during the day.

We’re moored at Tame Valley Junction and heading to Salford Junction and beyond to film the Warwickshire Ring (clockwise) over the next week.

Posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 22:29        Comments (2)
Category(s): BCN

Stourport Ring

We have just released the Stourport Ring DVDs.

Just as for the Birmingham Mini Ring, the Four Counties Ring and the Llangollen Canal there are two DVDs - in Popular and Bowcam format.

The Popular format is a cross between a holiday programme and a documentary with a touch of history - all presented to entertain.

The Bowcam is filmed from a forward facing camera and is edited to provide a continuous high speed view covering all the ring.

Both travel clockwise around the ring from Stourport Basin including the alternative routes through the Stourbridge/Dudley Canals and via Aldersley Junction.  They feature the unique locks at Bratch and the Tardebigge Flight and the Popular version looks the the Droitwich Canals.

There are short extracts onto YouTube so you can see how they look yourself - but please be aware these are low resolution and quality compared to the originals.

Both versions are available Combined in one box.

Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 13:31        Comments (0)
Category(s): BCN , Droitwich , Dudley No 1 , River Severn , Staffs & Worcester , Stourbridge , Worcester & Birmingham

The longest lock free journeys

While editing the BCN DVD recently I was trying to work out how long the Birmingham and Wolverhampton levels of the BCN were and how these compared to other long pounds.

Counting mileposts in the Nicholson’s guides revealed the following.

I think these are the longest distances (in miles) you can navigate without passing through a lock (or working stop lock) and without retracing part of your route.

42.8  Bridgewater Runcorn Basin via Waters Meeting and L&L Leigh Branch to Wigan bottom lock
41.2  Lancaster Canal Preston to Tewitfield
31.9  BCN Engine Arm Terminus via Horseley Fields Junction to Longwood Junction
31.4  Union Canal Edinburgh to top of Falkirk Staircase locks
29.2  Ashby Canal Limit of Navigation to Top of Atherstone Locks
28.8  Ashby Canal Limit of Navigation to Coventry Basin
28.0  Top of Tardebigge Locks via BCN Loops and Netherton Tunnel to Hawne Basin

Some of these distances are pretty close and we might need to have a recount for the first two places if we measure them again more carefully.  You can get a much longer journey on the tidal River Trent and the Yorkshire Rivers but they aren’t canals.

Have I missed any?  Or does someone have different measurements for the distances?

Posted on Monday, May 11, 2009 at 16:45        Comments (5)
Category(s): Ashby , BCN , Bridgewater , Coventry , Forth/Clyde Union , Lancaster , Leeds and Liverpool

Canalway Cavalcade

Bank holiday Monday was our first trip to the Canalway Cavalcade at Little Venice on the Grand Union Canal in London , near Paddington.

The weather was dull and overcast with occasional light showers, and not conducive to encouraging visitors to come out.  The free entrance certainly could not have been putting anybody off attending.

Despite all that I was surprised at how few people there were around the site.

Lots of bunting on the boats and a few boaters around, but not many visitors.

Just look at the shots of the stands below.  One with attentive stallholders waiting for customers but nobody even walking past - and I didn’t wait specially to catch a moment with nobody there.

At the bottom right the passers by aren’t even looking at the stand and the stallholder isn’t even trying to engage with the passers by.  Hopefully it was better on other days when the sun shined.

Posted on Monday, May 4, 2009 at 17:31        Comments (7)
Category(s): Grand Union Canal