Past and Present

Andrew Denny, in his Granny Buttons Blog entitled Jumping Joe Darby, and who’ll be the new Baron De Coubertin of the waterways?  mentions an archive video from 1972 and asks where it was taken - hoping a blog reader can identify where.

It took a little detective work and careful watching of our BCN Bowcam DVD to identify the location but there are several clues in the video and I’ve visited the site today to confirm where it is.

The pictures show four extracts from the video paired with four pictures from today.  Some things have changed since 1972, while other are unchanged for hundreds of years.

The video is shot somewhere in the Black Country.  It shows a straight, wide canal with towpaths on both sides which narrows it down a little.  It shows a lattice sided footbridge with an almost flat base and not arched at all which narrows it down further, probably to the Tame Valley Canal.

I thought it was about 3/4 mile from Tame Valley Junction on the North bank between Jones Bridge and the former Railway Bridge.  The pairs of shots seem to match pretty well.

1. Shows the commentator - the bridge and building are still there but the trees have grown a bit over the years.

2.  The building is still in the background, although it’s had new cladding on the end in a different colour.

3.  Look at the reflection of the pylon and the corner of the building, matched in the two shots.

4.  The former railway bridge in the background is now painted pink and used by the trams and it has a footbridge added immediately in front, but it’s the same bridge.

Well, Andrew, have we identified the location well enough for you?  If you would like to stage a re-enactment then I’ll offer to come and film you getting wet.

Posted on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 22:44        Comments (2)
Category(s): BCN , Bloggers

Dot may be right

It was an early start for me on Thursday to catch the train to Manchester, then the bus to Fairfield to reach lock 65 of the Rochdale Canal.

This was the meeting point for Epiphany and Gypsy Rover who were to descend the Rochdale Nineteen locks into Manchester.  BW staff would meet them at lock 65 to unlock the gates and let them through, then help from time to time during the passage before reappearing to unlock lock 83 to let them out at the bottom.

Most of the journey was uneventful, just a little hard work at times.  Some of the locks have only one paddle - and have only had one paddle since reopening so they were a little slow to operate.

There was a little rubbish in the canal resulting in the occasional trip down the weed hatch, but no worse than other urban areas.  Derek was sceptical when Dot said the boat was becoming impossible to control and there must be something around the propeller.

Derek tried steering and announced that "Dot might be right".

As soon as the boat was in the lock he opened the weed hatch and he was still there when the lock was empty and was towed out by John on Epiphany,

The photo shows the pile of rubbish removed from the propeller when he was only half way through. There was just as much more to come off the propeller.

Eventually closing the weed hatch and looking at the large pile of rubbish he announced that "Dot was right".

So, 15th October 2009 will go down in history as the day Derek announced that Dot was right

The other problems centred around the excess of water flowing down the canal.  The paths along both sides of the canal were flooded in two of the pounds, although the weirs at the bywashes were clear of rubbish - so either the weirs are built too high, or the paths too low.

A few of the locks were difficult to operate when the water was coming in the top faster than the paddles could let it out of the bottom but we eventually managed to open all the gates.

I don’t know what has happened at lock 73 but the end of lock beam nearest the camera has been sawn off, making it rather short and hard work to push it open.

3 boats worked down, and 2 boats worked up so it was a busy day on the Rochdale Canal.

Posted on Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 13:32        Comments (1)
Category(s): Bloggers , Rochdale

Gypsy Rover and Epiphany

A little detour on the way home today took me to Todmorden station and then to the Rochdale Canal.

Walking upwards I soon caught up with Gypsy Rover and Epiphany who were heading towards Walsden.

The broad locks are a little heavy, with some of the paddle gear rather stiff so they all appreciated another pair of hands.

There’s great views of the Pennine scenery as the canal climbs up through the narrow valley and the Rochdale Canal is the only one to cross the Pennines without a summit tunnel.

That’s why there’s so many locks and, being a broad canal, they are all broad locks making them just that bit harder to work.

After being treated to lunch at Grandma Pollards Fish and Chip shop - an amazing place - I headed home

Posted on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 19:56        Comments (0)
Category(s): Blog Readers , Bloggers , Rochdale

Windsong

We’re still catching up on the blogging from our trip on the Caldon Canal and the bloggers we met on the journey.

We’d been to the end of the Leek Arm and moored while Christine and Susan went shopping and I went filming.

When we say we’d been to the end we really meant it, and we were using our bow thruster to steer as we backed out.

With the narrow channel and the wind blowing sideways I was suddenly surprised by a head appearing from Windsong and Roger shouting "we read your blog".

We usually have to reverse back when caught like that, but this time we went forwards to say a few words to Roger, and to Pip who had appeared by then.

They are more up to date with their writing and have already blogged about our encounter on their site.

Posted on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 19:58        Comments (0)
Category(s): Blog Readers , Bloggers , Caldon

No Problem at Rothersthorpe

It was a trip on the train this morning to reach Northampton for a short walk down to the River Nene where No Problem was just arriving.

After spending summer on the rivers they were returning to the canal system for the winter and I was to help them work the 17 locks of the Rothersthorpe flight on the Northampton Branch of the Grand Union Canal.

There was just time for a little (or was it a lot of) shopping before leaving Northampton.

The first few locks near the town had anti vandal devices fitted.  I’ve seen many variations before but these are the first I’ve seen fitted with a Yale key rather than a handcuff key.  I assume it makes them harder for the vandals to gat around.

With Sue and Vic taking turns steering and working the locks and with help from Anne (from Moore2Life) and from me, we managed the flight in reasonable time.

I left them at Gayton Junction, shortly after the top lock to walk to Milton Malsor for a bus to Northampton and to return home by train. Sue had already written her blog by the time I had returned home.

Posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 at 22:56        Comments (0)
Category(s): Blog Readers , Bloggers , Northampton Branch

Northern Pride

On our recent trip to the Caldon Canal we passed several bloggers and we’re a little behind in posting about them.  Here’s one that took us by surprise.  It’s Northern Pride.

I was on the roof filming the bottle kilns alongside us and only looked at the passing boat when I’d taken the shot.

I was just in time to take a still picture of them disappearing into the distance.

Fortunately our Bowcam was running so I was also able to extract a still from that, although not such good quality.

We just had time to shout hello as we passed.  Hopefully we’ll have a longer chat next time we pass.

They were much prompter blogging about us. Their picture shows me on the roof of our boat, with a tripod so I could see over the wall at the side of the canal for a better shot.

Posted on Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 10:45        Comments (0)
Category(s): Bloggers , Caldon

Fradley Junction

We’ve had a lovely relaxing day today, moored at Fradley Junction. 

We’ve chatted to lots of people on the towpath, given out lots of our leaflets, and sold a few of our DVDs.

The sun tried to shine a little, but at least it was a warm dry day, for once.  It’s hard to keep remembering that it’s August now and these are the school holiday weeks when everyone expects sunshine.

The junction can be entertaining with boaters queuing for the locks on the Trent and Mersey Canal, with others heading on and off the Coventry Canal.

Quietly passing were Chris and Debbie on Ubique, almost unseen, but a quick grab for the camera made sure they didn’t get away.

We’re moored at Fradley Junction, hoping to return towards Fazeley Junction tomorrow if there’s a little sunshine for our filming to fill gaps in our earlier washed out cruise.

Posted on Sunday, August 2, 2009 at 20:36        Comments (0)
Category(s): Bloggers , Coventry , Trent & Mersey

Hatton with Harnser

When we met Brian and Diana on Harnser very briefly last night we established we were both planning to descend Hatton Locks today and, being broad locks, we could share the work.

First I delivered another batch of our DVDs to the Canal Shop with time for a quick chat with Neil, then we were off.  I walked through the separate footpath tunnel at Shrewley, to check it out for filming tomorrow and soon we were at the top of Hatton Locks.

Chatting happily together we were down the flight in 2 hours 25 minutes, and we would have been a little quicker if we hadn’t caught up slow moving boats near the bottom.  Having a 5th crew member makes a lot of difference with one able to go ahead and set the next lock each time.

At the bottom we went into the Saltisford Arm for a pump out and found this moorhen sitting on 5 eggs and happily watching us right alongside.  It even stood up so I could see the eggs.

We’re moored just outside the Saltisford Arm, which was already full with breasted up boats when we got there.  Tomorrow we will be heading back up the Hatton flight as we film for one of our DVDs.

Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 20:50        Comments (0)
Category(s): Bloggers , Grand Union Canal

Passing Bloggers

We’re out filming again, trying to dodge the rain and find the sun on the filming days, and move the boat between locations on rainy days.

We’ve met several other bloggers on our travels, starting with Jannock at Tixall Lock. 

I didn’t have time to grab a camera, but just time to ask if they were the Blogging Jannocks, which brought a smile to their face and a yes in reply.

The following day a lady mooring a  boat looked up as we  cruised past and said “It’s Paul, isn’t it” and I replied “Yes” while looking completely blank. “Caxton” she said as I vaguely recognised that as a boat with bloggers.

Just time to grab the camera and catch Lesley & Joe on the towpath.  I do hope we see them again soon to say hello properly - and I’ll make sure I have my brain in gear then.  Bonus marks to Lesley, who not only recognised our boat but remembered my name too.

While just sitting down to dinner tonight I spotted Resnrah going past the window.  More bloggers I cried as I spotted it was Harnser going backwards to take up the space behind us.

A brief chat with Brian and Diana this evening and a plan to share Hatton Locks tomorrow.  Hopefully I can grab a picture with them and the boat during the day.

We’re moored at Kingswood Junction, hoping to reach the Saltisford Arm tomorrow.

Posted on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 21:40        Comments (3)
Category(s): Bloggers

Bloggers Surprise

We continued south today, climbing the three paired locks at Hillmorton.  The locks were numbered from 2 to 7 which surprised me at first, until I remembered the stop lock at Hawkesbury Junction which must be number 1.

Then onwards again to reach Braunston Turn where we meet the Grand Union Canal from London to join the combined stretch to Napton Junction.  Are we travelling South on the Oxford Canal or North on the Grand Union Canal?

There were lots of boats on the combined stretch and I was inside checking the maps to see how far we were going to get today when I glanced out of the front.

Passing us already was Derwent6, crewed by bloggers Del and Al. Not remembering their names on the spur of the moment I stuck my head quickly out of the front of the boat and shouted “Hello, fellow bloggers”.  Del looked very surprised for a moment but quickly checked the name of our boat and greeted us too.

He grabbed his camera and took a shot of us disappearing in the distance.  I did likewise, and was able to retrieve one from our Bowcam showing them approaching.

I hope we get to exchange more than a few words next time we meet.

We’re moored at Napton Junction, hoping to get down most of the broad locks on the Grand Union tomorrow, then up Hatton on Saturday.  Any visitors to help with the broad locks will be most welcome to share the work.

Posted on Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 21:36        Comments (2)
Category(s): Bloggers , Grand Union Canal , Northern Oxford , Oxford , Warwickshire Ring

Double Bloggers

After a day in London (doing some other work) I spent last night on our boat in Birmingham as a convenient staging post for today’s expedition.

An early start ensured I could catch Sue & Vic (and Lucy & Meg) on No Problem before they sneaked off shopping, walking or whatever.

It worked.  After a brisk walk from Sileby station I found them they were exactly where I expected them to be.

We spent all morning chatting about all sorts of canal related topics from battery monitors to continuous moorers.

I was also introduced to Geoff (and Meg) from Seyella who had been sharing locks with No Problem recently and was moored just in front of them.  Hopefully I’ll also meet Mags next time.

Somehow, Geoff knew about our DVDs already, which makes him a really good boater and blogger.

Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 20:53        Comments (0)
Category(s): Blog Readers , Bloggers , Leicester Arm

Bloggers & Blog Readers

I was walking down Farmers Bridge locks on Monday afternoon, windlass in hand, and caught up with a familiar boat.  Don scores a hat trick as he appears in three consecutive blog postings.

He and Joy were escaping from Birmingham - Matt having returned to London, leaving them to the delights of Farmers Bridge Locks on their own.

I helped with a few gates and paddles as I passed on my way down the flight.

This story really begins back on 18th April when I helped Sue & Vic down the Rothersthorpe flight of locks.  I just appeared, windlass in hand, along the towpath.  In the comments Adam (from Narrowboat Debdale) asked if this service would extend to him when he was passing through Farmers Bridge Locks.

Well that’s a challenge to be addressed.  A careful watch was kept on Adam’s Blog and Sunday’s post indicated that he’d be climbing Farmers Bridge locks on Monday.

So, off I go to London, to cram in a morning’s work, then onto a train to Birmingham.  A quick dash to pick up a windlass from our boat - I’m sure Adam would have lent me one but it would have spoiled the effect to not have one in hand when I arrived.

Then off I go down Farmers Bridge helping Don & Joy a little on the way.  A few locks later I spotted a boat coming up with boater on the towpath.  “Are you Paul?” he asked, quicker than I could ask if he was Adam.

Adam quickly introduced me to Adrian and Adrian’s Mum and up we went, passing Don & Joy in one of the short pounds.

A chance to chat as we worked the locks, before mooring on the Main Line.

It’s almost 12 months since our boat appeared in the October 2007 issue of Canal Boat magazine and we were first spotted by Adam.

Now Adam writes the boat reviews for Canal Boat magazine and I offered him a turn on our boat to see just how quiet our electric power is.  A quick figure of eight around the the Icknield Port and Oozels Street Loops before Adam headed off back to Debdale and I headed off back to Bristol.

Posted on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 20:35        Comments (2)
Category(s): BCN , Birmingham & Fazeley , Blog Readers , Bloggers