Caldon Canal DVDs released

Another great pair of canal DVDs are released from Waterway Routes in time for Christmas.

The Caldon Canal, considered by some to be the most scenic of canals, is cruised from Etruria Junction to Froghall where you can see if our boat fitted through the low profile of Froghall Tunnel or if we had to complete our journey on foot.

We also cruise along the Leek Branch, something that’s temporarily impossible after the breach earlier this month.  It’s a good job we filmed in September while it was still open.

Now these DVDs are the only way you can reach the terminus of the Leek Branch with a boat.

These are 1/2 hour DVDs retailing at £9.95 for the Popular version (rather like a television programme) and £5.95 for the Bowcam version (a speeded up forward facing camera for a little fun).

There’s also a Combined version at £14.90, with both Popular and Bowcam in one box saving £1 on the separate prices (and at least 75p postage).

They are in stock now, just waiting for you to order them, or any from our great range of canal DVDs.

Posted on Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 23:00        Comments (0)
Category(s): Caldon , News

Caldon Canal

We’ve been busy since our cruise along the Caldon Canal in September.  We were there to film for a pair of DVDs in the Waterway Routes Series and we’ve almost finished the editing of the Popular and Bowcam versions.

They went out to the proof watchers yesterday and they should be watching them carefully over the next week or so.  Then, a few minor tweaks they can be copied and should be available in around 2 or 3 weeks time.  We’ll let you know when.

They will be in plenty of time to order for Christmas presents, so you can start dropping hints to your friends and family about these, or any other DVDs in our range.

We’ve also been busy with another pair of DVDs which are also approaching completion but more about those next time.

We’ve uploaded the route information page for the Caldon Canal and the photo galleries so you can have a virtual cruise along the canal.

You can see Hazlehurst (or Hazelhurst) Junction and the aqueduct as we travel past Cheddleton and Consall Forge to reach Froghall and include the Leek Branch too.

Posted on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 09:39        Comments (0)
Category(s): Caldon

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

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

Froghall Tunnel

There’s been rather a gap in our recent blogging as we managed to moor in a location with poor mobile reception every night on our recent trip.  One night there was no mobile, no data, no Freeview and no analogue TV. It was lovely and quiet at Consall Forge.

We’ve been filming along the Caldon Canal and wondering how far we would get as Froghall Tunnel, near the end, has an unusually low profile and many boats simply don’t fit through.

As you exit Flint Mill Lock, the last on the Caldon Canal there’s a gauge made of plastic sheets so you can check the profile of your boat and see if you fit through the tunnel.

We had stopped at the last water point to fill up the tank in our bows and had only one third of a tank of diesel at the stern to keep the front cabin corners, which are the highest part of our boat, as low as possible.  We just touched the plastic gauge which is said to be a few millimetres pessimistic so we might just fit.

With two crew members sitting at the front, and just the steerer at the stern we went in under electric power so we could go very, very slowly.

The tunnel gets narrower inside, as the photo shows if you click to enlarge it, and I’m pleased to say we got through the tunnel without touching the roof at all.  I’d been expecting to have to touch up the paintwork on the front corners.

The only problem was kneeling on the floor to keep my head low enough and holding a torch to shine along the roof to watch the front corners.

Having passed through the tunnel we could make the right turn onto the first part of the restored Uttoxeter Canal and descend the one lock to moor in the basin and take a photo to show we made it.

We passed lots of bloggers on our journey so now we’re home with lots of bandwidth I can publish some more posts to show who we met.

Now I’ve got a summer’s worth of filming to start editing to produce the next batch of DVDs during the winter.  Which shall I do first?

Posted on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 23:18        Comments (1)
Category(s): Caldon , Uttoxeter