2022 soon came and went

I started out in May this year. slightly later than usual as I was waiting for two of my boating friends to bring their boats down to the Oxford Canal from Newark. They stopped off to nip up the Erewash where two other boaters joined them as far as Sandiacre. At this point Sylvia was called away to France on childcare duties, so Christine went up by car to move her boat to Langley Mill. Once there we were able to stay on said boat and we all walked the old Cromford Canal over two days. The weather was kind and we had good fun despite some of us (ahem!) being out of shape./p Linda arrived first and after a night at The Folly, Napton, she was joined by family and headed to Cropredy to await the rest of us. The next day Sylvia and Maggie arrived and we had another, rather merry, evening at The Folly. The next day was spent helping both boats up the flight to meet Olivia above Adkins Lock. Now our 2022 journey could really start. We did meet Linda at Cropredy. Actually she and Molly the dog walked to the top of Claydon flight to help us with the locks. The next week was spent travelling towards Oxford, sometimes we journeyed together and at other times various friends and family joined one or another and pressed on a bit more quickly. Most of us single handers (except for she who is known as the Duracell Bunny) like to do only two or three hours cruising each day but family like the full day experience! After all they only have a day or so on board. Anyway we are not with DB yet - we are meeting her at Reading.

We stopped a couple of days at Banbury which has changed a fair bit since my last visit. The new cinema/leisure complex was not yet open but it has certainly lit up the canalfront (It's called The Light and is also light by nature). We had a drink at Lock 29 which is also a new space containing food and drink outlets and had an evening's entertainment at The Mill, a venue which provides really good coffee. The many supermarkets meant that we could all top up our supplies..Most of our moorings were rural but Thrupp offers two pubs, a cafe and a Co-op not too far away.

When we reached Duke's Cut we headed up the Thames to see what Lechlade and the upper reaches were like. Moorings were few and far between but we found reasonable spaces eventually. The moorings at Lechlade are against a field of cattle that like to lick your boat, knock your plant pots over and chew up any rubber items you might have. Olivia was unscathed but the others all had incidents of varying degrees of destruction. You pay £5 a night for this pleasure so I was surprised when Linda and Sylvia decided to stay a second night. Maggie and I took off as she needed to head back up the Oxford and I was heading to Reading.

The journey downstream on the Thames was a pleasure. It was so calm and everywhere I wanted to stop had moorings available. Only had to pay at Wallingford and at £12 a night for not the best of moorings, I doubt I will stop there again. In fact, I only stopped there because Goring was closed due to works to the moorings themselves.

Above is a cheeky mooring I found at Oxford. I met DB at Reading and unusually there were moorings outside Tesco. We were joined by John who was also aiming for the Kennet and Avon like ourselves.

The next day was new territory for both of us and reading the guide books scares the wotsits out of you. Actually heading through Reading and up Fobney Lock was not as difficult as we expected. However, we had experienced very little rain, it would be another story following heavy rain. DB and I had arranged to leave our boats for a few days at Burghfield Boat Club as we had family events to attend. The people at the club were lovely and helped us reverse the boats (against the flow) to our alloted mooring spaces. It's convenient to get the bus to Reading Station too. Our few days away also gave Linda and Sylvia time to catch up with us.

By now it was the middle of June and we spent the next six weeks travelling to Bath and back to Reading and what a fantastic time we had. Moorings were few and far between to the East of Newbury and prospective mooring sites were mostly overgrown so would be difficult to get in and tie up without help from crew - which in our cases we didn't have. Hands up, I got a bit grumpy a couple of times.

One thing we couldn't fault this year was the weather, I think we only had two or three days of rain and not much wind. In fact the 40 degree days were a bit too much. Luckily we found a shady spot to sit it out. There was, of course, problems with lack of water. We also encountered pump failures on the system which closed both the Crofton flight and Caen Hill at various times.

The Wiltshire countryside is beautiful and I would definitely visit again but would not do it without a boat to share with. Some of those locks are heavy and difficult. There are also a couple where swing bridges have to be manipulated while dealing with fast flow and awkward lock approaches. Extra pairs of hands are always useful and sometimes essential.

The return journey was equally good, meeting up with Christine's friends from St Pancras cruising club at The Cunning Man near Reading and with two others at Wallingford. Yes despite what I said earlier we moored there again!! Once back on the Oxford we were heading for Cropredy festival where I moored below Slat Mill lock, a reasonable walk to the festival site. Much fun was had although it was a bit too hot for sitting in a field with very little shade. At least it wasn't cold or wet. Anyway I am running short of time so I had better sign off. Writing this made me realise that I don't take many hotos. Must do better.

Walsall, Stourport, Coventry and onwards

I went over to sort out Olivia on 13th April, the day after we were "allowed" to get back on our boats. She started well and didn't look too bad at all so I set off the very next day. My first deadline was to reach Hawkesbury Junction in time for Christine's birthday. I won't say which birthday it was save for the fact that I will be celebrating the very same milestone later this year!! We went for a very nice, socially distanced meal at The Greyhound. As there were eight of us, we sat at two tables for four and were able to chat across the 2 metre distance between us. Later we had a few drinks seated on the towpath in the unseasonably warm weather.

Our next destination was Birmingham as three of us had signed up to join the Walsall Campaign cruise in May. We met up with Katherine at Fazeley and took a leisurely journey down the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, stopping at Cuckoo Wharf before heading up Aston and Farmers lock flights and mooring outside the Arena.

After a few days in Birmingham, we took the Old Main line to Tipton where we met up with a couple of the other boats that were joining the campaign. The following day we made our way through Factory Locks along the New Main line to drop down the eight Ryders Green locks. There was quite a queue here as the number of campaign boats grew in number. There are several videos of the Campaign cruise one of which can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NhklBgtESc

Suffice to say that most, if not all, of the twenty eight boats that made their way along the Walsall Canal to the basin and then on the Curly Wyrley, paid many visits to their weedhatches. Duvets, coats, a paddling pool, rugs, wire and many plastic bags and some weed were the main culprits found on propellers. However, we boaters had a lot of fun despite having to socially distance and, therefore, without the usual big social evenings.

Once the weekend was over us three amigos decided to head through Netherton tunnel and onto Stourbridge, via Merry Hill and the Delph flight of locks. Weather was very unsettled with plenty of rain and it was quite chilly. None of us had visited the Stourbridge Arm before and found good moorings for all three boats. The town is quite sweet with many independent shops and we all liked Grandad's Attic next to the Bonded Warehouse. We also found a very nice patisserie for our morning coffee (and treats). It was soon time for Katherine to leave us and turn right at Stourton Junction. She had an appointment with the NHS vaccine clinic. Christine and I turned left heading for Stourport.

The journey down towards the Severn is really pretty and we had stops at Kinver and Wolverley before reaching Stourport and bagging a nice mooring just north of the basin. We met up with another couple of boaters and discovered a nice place to eat which is part of The Swan pub. They have made part of their establishment into a bistro called Mimi's. Christine and I decided to have a busman's holiday by going out on the trip boat. We are making a habit of this as we did the same when we were in Stratford last year.

We turned to go back up the Staffs and Worcs as Christine needed to go up the Wolverhampton 21 while I carried on Northwards before leaving Olivia while I went home for family birthday celebrations. On my return I carried on up to Penkridge where John (John's Canopies) came out to first fit my new back cover. I had been measured up for this last year as a friend was having her cover fitted so I asked John to measure mine. It's the perfect colour for Olivia and is much needed as my old one has shrunk and ripped and is really beyond repair. Onward to Great Haywood, turned right and made my way to Fradley where I met up with Katherine at her mooring. She has been painting her boat so I thought it was about time I thought about touching up mine. When I reached Atherstone, we had a spell of calm, warm weather so I had a go at painting the back rails and around the counter before getting the cover fitted. Soon John came and fitted the cover and very nice it looks too. In between time I had taken the rear wooden seat home, planed it to get rid of the tatty, weathered surface and then gave it some coats of danish oil. I am much happier with it.

An arrangement was made for some of us to go to Coventry basin to immerse ourselves in the City of Culture (2021). This year the Canal River Trust have instigated a booking system so we got ourselves booked in during the hottest spell of the Summer. I enjoyed the Two Tone exhibition at the Art Gallery and we booked two events in the Spigeltent at the Assembly Festival garden. The first was Choir of Man which was several young men singing and having good fun and the second was Circolumbia which was energetic and some moves seemingly impossible. We found a really nice restaurant/bar called Metropolis. The food was tasty and plentiful and the atmosphere relaxed. We were joined in the Basin by Maggie on her boat Puzzle. We all had a nice time at the Transport Museum and back at the Art Gallery/Museum as well.

We were joined by Katherine on our last night together (and also Collette and George with Lily the dog) so a couple of Gin and Tonics were the order of the day - actually evening. Maggie had to scoot off as she was booked into Brinklow Marina for a short stay, Christine had to head back towards Birmingham as she will be heading to Worcester for the IWA Festival of Water, Katherine and I headed towards Braunston where she headed off up the locks to join the Leicester line while I made my way to Napton on my way to Cropredy. The festival was cancelled but I heard that the Brasenose was carrying on with the fringe so I thought I may as well go to that.