Sarah's sticker album

Sarah from Warrior and now Chertsey has started a new blog, the Town Class Sticker Album, where she's trying to spot and photograph all the Town Class GUCC boats. It made me wonder how many I'd got photos of. The answer is nine ten that I can immediately lay my hands on, although there may be others that I can't identify. I know this is not really the point, because Sarah wants to see them all herself, but here goes anyway.

ALTON -- September 2009 at Bugsworth Basin. We bought a couple of bags of coal from Brian.


BALDOCK -- At the Canalway Cavalcade, Little Venice, 2008.


BARROW -- Braunston, 2008

BATTERSEA -- Braunston 2008

DOVER -- Braunston, 2008.

HADLEY -- With a wedding on board, Braunston, 2008.


NUNEATON -- Sarah's comment reminded me of this photo of Nuneaton, with the butty Brighton, stuck in a bridge hole, Uxbridge, April 2007.

NUTFIELD -- Braunston, 2008.

RENFREW -- Braunston, 2008.

SALTAIRE -- Black Country Museum, September 2008 (just behind President and Kildare).

Muscovy Duck?

If you've seen the comments on the previous post, you'll know that there's been some discussion about a duck (or possibly not a duck) which appears in my December photos on flickr. There are quite a few of these at Norbury Junction, and we've never known quite what they are. Halfie reckons they're Muscovy Ducks, and provides a fairly convincing case. Unless anyone else knows differently.

Photos

I've posted nearly 50 photos from our New Year cruise in a new set on Flickr.

Button End on test

The February edition of Canal Boat has been in the shops a week, but we had no post for several days last week because of the snow, so I've only just got my copy. It contains my test of Button End, a Goldsbrough boat. The test was done just a couple of days before we set off on our three week trip last September, and we had weather we can now only dream of: sunshine and warmth.

Button End is based on a previous Goldsbrough boat, Footsie 100. Imagine my surprise when just a couple of days into our September trip, we passed Footsie 100 moored just south of Stoke. I managed to grab a quick picture, which also makes an appearance in the magazine.

New Year Cruise - Day Eight

We were very grateful this morning that we'd taken the decision last night to get into the basin rather than stopping just short. The whole of Norbury Junction was frozen and it was snowing, with the snow settling on the ice.

I was glad I went out when I did to take photos, as a Norbury Wharf hire boat arrived back a little later, crashing through the ice. It took him quite a while to get alongside the wharf, and the noise from on board Debdale was tremendous. We were soon packed up and on our way home.

New Year Cruise - Day Seven

When we looked out just after midnight last night, there was already a very hard, sparkly frost, and ice was beginning to form in around the front of the boat. This morning, we were woken up by a tremendous cracking noise -- which turned out to be a load of ducks breaking the ice. It was a beautiful morning: cold, frosty and sunny. We set off at 9.30, breaking the relatively thin ice between Market Drayton and the Tyrley Locks. There were quite a few walkers about, and we all wished each other a happy new year. At the locks, there was quite a bit of ice about, and the frost was so hard it looked like snow.

There was no ice through the Woodseaves Cutting, but along the next stretch, towards Goldstone Wharf, the ice was up to half an inch thick. We could see that a boat had left the moorings there, so we were no longer carving a path through the ice. It turned out to be the Anglo Welsh boat we saw yesterday -- we met shortly afterwards heading back towards base.

By now it had clouded up, and soon started snowing. At first it was just a few small flakes, then the flakes got bigger and the snowfall heavier.



We stopped for lunch and a warm up at the Knighton moorings, where the sun came out again. After lunch, we continued back to Norbury, passing the miles of moored boats. At Norbury, we decided it would probably be wise to spend the night in the basin, as more freezing temperatures are forecast tonight. Even so, getting into a mooring alongside another OwnerShips boat, proved hard work. We had to smash lots of ice with a pole to get close, but if it freezes it will save even more work tomorrow morning.

11 miles, 5 locks. (35, 50)

New Year Cruise - Day Six

A lovely bright cold morning. It was almost 9.30 by the time we set off, just behind a Chas harden hire boat. Talking at the first lock to the couple on board, it turned out they were blog readers. They very kindly opened a paddle at each lock as they left. By the time we'd gone up the top two locks at Audlem and arrived at the Adderley locks, an Anglo Welsh boat with quite a large crew had caught us up. It was the first time this trip we'd been in anything approaching a convoy -- in fact we've hardly seen any boats travelling in the same direction as us.

Arriving at Market Drayton, we stopped on the water point to top up the tank. There's a sign saying that stays are limited to half an hour. Someone has written underneath that the tap is so slow that half an hour means it's hardly worth bothering. We then moved on through Bridge 62 and moored up in the same spot we used in November. Lunch was had a The Talbot just up the road, and then Adrian and his mum went into Market Drayton. I went for a look at the aqueduct just along the canal, so here's a photo especially for Captain Ahab. There are 39 steps down to the road below.

5 miles, 7 locks. (24, 45)

New Year Cruise - Day Five

Disappointingly, it didn't snow overnight, so we could easily have carried on further before turning around. Instead, we had a slow start to the day, and have slowed to Lazydays proportions!


After a cooked breakfast, we walked into Audlem to get a paper, and were pleased to find that the newsagent sold coal. They even let us borrow the trolley to take it to the boat. We then went up one lock, and moved onto the water point outside the Shroppie Fly pub. After filling the tank, we continued up the flight. It rained virtually all night, so the by-washes were quite fierce today making the entry into many of the locks very tricky. We met only one boat coming down. This is becoming one of my favourite flights of locks: it's pretty and dramatic at the same time.


By the time we got above Lock 3 it was lunchtime, so we stopped and decided not to go any further. We're moored in exactly the same place as on Monday (except we're facing the other way, of course). Adrian and I went for a quick walk through the tiny village of Coxbank, which we can see from the boat.

1 mile, 11 locks. (19, 38)

New Year Cruise - Day Four

Grey and damp as we set off down the remaining Audlem locks this morning at 9.15. We passed three boats coming up, including a hire boat being moved from Anderton to Alvechurch, and Mike on Zulu Warrior, who's moving from a mooring at Middlewich to a new one at Uxbridge.

We stopped for water below lock 13, while having tea and Christmas cake. Tomorrow's forecast suggests there could be snow, so we've decided not to go too far. So we went down the final two locks, winded in the hole at the bottom, and came back up them again. The ice in the winding hole made it trickier than usual to get around. We moored in a nice open spot on the embankment below lock 13 at just after midday, by which time the rain was much heavier, so we walked up to the Shroppie Fly for lunch. The we went into the village for some shopping. In the afternoon, in a break in the rain, Adrian and I went for a walk through Audlem, and found a footpath across the fields to the bottom lock. The forecast doesn't seem to include snow anymore, so it'll be interesting to see what happens in the morning.

2 miles, 15 locks. (18, 27)