Narrowboat Maid of the Mist Blog - October 2011

We hope you enjoy reading about our travels around the British Inland Waterways

1st - What glorious weather this week. Taking full advantage of it and cruising. We recently bought an array of 4 solar panels, so hopefully this recent sun burst will help us keep the batteries well topped up.

Bought these wonderful eggs from Calcutt Heights Farm. They are extra large, and all have double yolks. We were only charged £2.40 per dozen.

The hens were Burford Browns and Blue Cotswold Old Leghorns. Yummy.

2nd - Moving towards the Hatton and Lapworth Flights.

3rd - Started the Hatton Flight today. Had a bit of trouble with our fuel bug and Graham had to keep blowing out the fuel pipes to keep us going, so just did 5 locks today.

4th - Finished the Hatton Flight today. Not good - I do not like the hydraulic paddles. Luckily we had good company which enabled us to get up quite quickly. We travelled on for a few miles to enable us to get a good start tomorrow.

Left - a couple of ponies having a drink.

5th - Today was the Lapworth flight. It was good to get onto the narrow canals and we were lucky that most of the locks were in our favour. There is a minor problem at Lock 7, in that the single gate gets wedged shut. Coming up was not a problem as we were able to let the boat gently push it open, however for anyone going down, you might need a couple of burly men to get the gate open.

Picked up a duvet around the prop today. Not good.

6th - Arrived in the centre of Birmingham today and moored opposite the homemade burger bar. We had a very quiet night there.

7th - Filled up with fuel at Sherbourne Wharf - 89p per domestic litre. Moved to Merryhill Shopping Centre in Dudley. This stretch of our journey was very quiet. Didn't pass any boats at all, and the canal before the Netherton Tunnel is filthy and we had to clear the prop again.

Went through a couple of rain storms, however on the whole it was a lovely day.

8th - Staying in Merryhill for a few days. Girls visiting tomorrow for Sunday lunch and a bit of retail therapy.

9th to18th - Left Merryhill after five days, and a much lighter wallet, and moved slowly backwards towards the Wolverhampton 21 arriving on the 15th. We thought we would have help doing these, but unfortunately both girls were busy on that day (hmm, I wonder if that was convenient). As it happened we had to sit at Lock 10 as Locks 11 and 12 were devoid of water as was the pound between. There was a boat trying to go up and ended up stuck on the bottom in Lock 12. By the time BW staff arrived we had been there nearly 2 hours. Still it was a lovely day and we had lunch while waiting. BW only took a couple of minutes to sort the problem (helped by the fact that the other boat had a couple of extra crew who let some water in at the top).

We called in at JD Boat Supplies in Gailey to pick up our winter oil and filter supplies. We also took the opportunity of being close to Zoe to visit Telford and deal with some medical issues.

19th - We left Gailey today after our Tesco delivery and are moving slowly towards Wheaton Aston for our fuel (Turners in Wheaton Aston are the cheapest supplier for red diesel in this area - in fact anywhere we have been, currently charging 73p for domestic fuel). Moored for the night opposite Hatherton Marina.

20th -26th Gailey to Norbury Junction via Hatherton, Coven (2 nights) Wheaton Aston (2 nights) Norbury Junction (2 nights so far). Nothing exciting happening at the moment. Hovering really before setting off for Chester. Organising any medical appointments required this month whilst we are close enough to the children, as they help with the transport to and from etc.

At Norbury Junction we are on the five day moorings which gives us a fantastic view across the Shropshire plain to the Wrekin. There has been 2 pair of buzzards circling overhead quite often.

27th - Still staying at Norbury Junction. Had the girls over for dinner tonight and a good time was had by all.

28th - Got a Tesco delivery today. Used the Junction Inn postcode for the delivery address (having first asked permission, of course).

29th - 31st Back to Wheaton Aston to do some personal admin.

Author: Jean Beven

Met this lovely dog on our travels (4th). She is quite old and has very bad arthritic feet, hence the specially made boots. I think Jack was quite curious.

When the horses pulled canal boats with a long rope, this contraption was used to stop the rope getting tangled up when the horses were required to cross a roving split bridge to get over to the towing path on the opposite side of the canal.

This was at Lock 7 on the Lapworth Flight.