Author: Chris

Thursday 12th August

Today we remained at Whittington and I undertook three jobs on  the boat, Repairing a magnetic door catch, re-calibrating the battery monitor and something else which now escapes me, but it was all done by 10:30am!

Joy again had her on-line art class in the afternoon, and we spent the rest of the day not doing much at all.

Friday 13th August

A boat came quietly past at 6:45 this morning, but we didn’t get away until the more civilised hour of 9:00am. It was an uneventful journey with easy-to-operate locks.

 

 

On reaching Kinver we had to wait for another boat to ascend the lock before us, then, in order not to be on their tail, we stopped to dispose of rubbish and fill up with water and both of us got soaked in the process when a hose connector came off!

Soon after Hyde Lock we came to a dead stop and discovered a sheet of canvas (probably from a cratch cover) wrapped around the propeller.

At the next few locks a boats were either entering or leaving locks which was to our advantage.

At Stewponey (yes really!) volunteer lock-keepers were on duty who closed gates for us and we passed the boat we saw at Kinver lock filling with water so we snuck past!

 

 

Three more locks and we were were passing the wonderful ‘John’s Garden’, John is apparently the owner of the adjacent Ashwood Nursery.

We tied up at Greensforge soon after 1:00pm just in good time to have lunch at the Navigation inn and spent the rest of the afternoon watching the world go by and indeed boats were very few and far between. The evening was spent indulging in Britbox as the TV signal was blocked by the high sandstone bank opposite.

Saturday 14th August

Today we were away from Greensforge by 10 and progressed through 3 normal locks, at Hinksford Lock a fisherman had installed himself right in the middle of the lock mooring and was quite grumpy when us and the following boat wanted to tie up.

We then had Botterham Staircase to negotiate, where two locks are combined, there were quite a few boats here so we had to wait our turn (one boat up – one boat down) the middle gates leaked badly drenching the front of our boat including our cushions!

Soon after it started to rain so coming through Wombourne, we moored outside The Round Oak, but haven’t patronised their beer garden as yet, surprise, surprise, maybe tomorrow if it’s fine enough.

Wednesday 11th August

If you’re old enough to remember Lobo’s 1971 number “Me And You And A Dog Named Boo” maybe you’ll remember that line. Lyrics here if you’re too young.

Since returning from our trip down to Gloucestershire we have been back to our mooring to have a couple of welding jobs done at the boatyard and several other DIY projects including making a planter and a bit of gardening!

We have had a couple of local jaunts to test out the work that has been done but now we have decided it’s time to roam further afield.

So this morning we filled up with diesel (Red diesel is also known as Gas Oil, hence my title) and off we went. We were just passing the Bird in Hand pub, not even a mile from base, when a hire boat pulled out in front of us which we followed into Kidderminster, they were first-time hirers so were a bit slow.

There is masses of Himalayan Balsam growing along the canalside here and although it has a pretty flower is an invasive species.

The RHS says here.

Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) is a relative of the busy Lizzie, but reaches well over head height, and is a major weed problem, especially on riverbanks and waste land, but can also invade gardens. It grows rapidly and spreads quickly, smothering other vegetation as it goes.

At Kidderminster we stopped for lunch and listened to the Paul Temple serial on Radio 4 Extra. After lunch I went to post some letters and thought I’d stumbled across a real life ‘Police Incident’ a guy was lying face down on the grass beside the canal with two officers standing over him, but by the time I returned from the postbox they had him sitting up and when we left the drama was over.

We had a good afternoon’s journey meeting boats to help at every lock (the old boatmen used to call that ‘A Good Road’. At Wolverley we caught up with the novice hirers who had moored up, no doubt tempted by The Lock Inn.

We pressed on however and at Debdale Lock encountered a convoy of boats coming the other way, no problem though as we took turns (one up – one down) and two young lads on bikes were eager to help too. The canal cuts through sandstone here and there is a cave dug into the rock next to the lock.

Afterwards it was through the short Cookley Tunnel and we moored up for the night at Whittington in a nice spot to catch the last of the sun, next to a field occupied by family of geese.

Wednesday 30th June 2021

We were up and away by 9 am and went through Gloucester Lock in the company of a small workboat which kept out of our way at the front of the lock.

 

Not much to write about so here is a photo slideshow.

 

We intended to make for Tewkesbury but having arrived there by 1:30 we pressed on for Upton upon Severn and moored on the Town Council Moorings and I scaled the steps to get us drinks from The Plough Inn.

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday 1st July 2021

We left our mooring with a little difficulty as the end of the mooring near the bridge was very shallow, but by turning into the flow and the kind help of a taciturn workman, we were off. 

Not a terribly interesting stretch but we did get a snap of one of the landmarks, Severn Bank House  with it’s battlements, set up on the bank above us

Once again I missed a picture of Severn End House Reputed to be the location of Brinkley Court in the Wooster Novels by P.G Wodehouse, so a photo from Geograph will have to suffice. Bertie could never turn down a invitation there from his Aunt Dahlia the main attraction being her gifted French chef Anatole.

We were just going under Carrington Bridge when the call of nature took me to the loo, leaving Joy at the helm, squeals announced that The Edward Elgar was headed downstream so I had to cut short my comfort break to resume command!

 

 

We negotiated our only lock of the day at Diglis and found a space on the pontoon moorings there. Being Thursday Joy was occupied with her art class in the afternoon.

Friday 2nd July 2021

 

Today we were away at 9:15, passing under Worcester Bridge saw ‘our tree’ was now wedged against the bridge pillars.
There are a few nice riverside properties in Worcester, some have landing stages which for the most part were neglected and suffering from repeated flood damage.

 

We spent much of the journey following Duke No 3 a hotel boat which although faster than us, we seemed to catch up with them at the locks. The crew were nice guys and their customers were very impressed with their experience. They were using a drone to film their progress and promised us a copy of the bits involving Wrens-Nest.

We shared Stourport Broad Locks with  them too after waiting about 45 minutes for one boat to go up and two down.

We were soon back at our mooring and being greeted by Leigh, Malc and the staff, who made sure that we could get tied up safely. Then it was us connecting up our electricity, filling our water tank & getting a gas refill which had been reserved for us.

Showers & a rest were in order and later we treated ourselves to a Chinese takaway, after a long 6 hours boating. 

Saturday 26th June 2021

As the weather was good today we thought we would make a move towards Gloucester, so about 10:00am we cast off, we needed water but another boat had beaten us to Saul water point so we decided we would press on.

We moored outside Sainsburys for a bit of shopping, then got our water and a pump out at the service station before going into the dock, where we found a spot against the dock wall which didn’t have a 48 hour restriction, it was a bit of a hop up to the land but a pleasant enough spot.

On route we had a message from our grandson asking if he could call and see us so we arranged to meet him in The Docks and we spent a pleasant afternoon with him.

He arrived on his motorbike and amazingly is 18 next month! He is following in my footsteps, doing an engineering apprenticeship and thoroughly enjoying it.

Monday 28th June 2021

We are moored next to The Med Kitchen so we met our friends Lis & John there for an early evening meal. We sat in their outside area and they were most solicitous, offering blankets  in case we were cold and had an excellent meal.

Tuesday 29th June 2021

Today we have had Joy’s niece Chris visit for afternoon tea and had a good catch up of family news.

Monday 21st June 2021

I realised over the weekend that we hadn’t filled up with diesel since leaving Stourport and the level was somewhat low, so this morning we departed Slimbridge & headed for Joe Energy at Fretherne who have a depot in part of what was once the Cadbury’s factory there.  In a previous life I used to service a forklift at Cadburys and once was given a large bag of misshaped Creme Eggs which meant I’ve never touched one since. We took on 128 litres of diesel (I thought the tank only held 130!) and felt a lot happier to have plenty of fuel for the return trip. The base price here is 75p/litre compared with 82p at Saul Marina.

We were pulling off when a passing boat waved us ahead as they were headed for Saul Services, but before passing through Sandfield Bridge we spotted a 14 day mooring free opposite the grain silo so made a bee line for it.

Tuesday 22nd June 2021

We awoke this morning to activity on the wharf opposite and a peep from behind the curtains revealed a gihugeous crane and three lorries positioning themselves.

It turned out that they were taking away two widebeam hopper barges and a push tug Henry belonging to Rothens the contractors which we had spotted on our way out of Gloucester being used for some towpath improvement work.

We spent an entertaining hour watching other people working.

I later learned that Sandfield Marine & Storage had now taken over the wharf here and were in action again on Thursday craning out no less than seven boats onto the hard-standing for blacking or maintenance I imagine.

Wednesday 23rd Thursday 24th June 2021

I started some long overdue repainting of the Swan-Neck (the Z shaped bit the tiller attaches to) and it’s starting to look better with all the scuffs & rust removed although I’m not the most skilful painter, the paint having a habit of ending up on my body instead of where intended.

Monday 7th June 2021

Today we visited the metropolis of Dursley once more and Joy was taken by the ‘Yarn Bombing’ near what we knew as Barclays Bank and is now a Fish & Chip Shop & cafe

Tuesday 8th June 2021

We had an appointment with our friend Hazel today  at the The Black Shed cafe at Shepherds Patch, Slimbridge. We picked her up from her house and had lunch there together. Joy and her swapped jigsaw puzzles, Hazel’s contribution was a spherical one!

The boating facilities   at the The Black Shed are much diminished, the Day Boat business has moved to Saul Marina and pump out facilities are only available 2 days a week by appointment. I did however note that there were a few spaces on the 14 day moorings.

We drove to B & M in the afternoon searching for some plant pots for our bay tree and tomato plant, but couldn’t find anything of a suitable size.

Wednesday 9th June 2021

This morning I drove to Slimbridge and met Jeanette in the new car park, which disappointingly does not allow overnight parking, and took her back to Saul where we watered up and set off south.

Joy and Jeanette busied themselves with that spherical jigsaw, but they did join me at the back for a cup of tea and I even persuaded Jeanette to take the tiller, she quickly picked up the technique and took us down to Patch Bridge.

We found moorings still available and quickly slotted ourselves in. I was still tying up when I was greeted by Laurie, a friend and customer when I had my business in Dursley.

We had lunch with Jeanette and after she had left I cycled back to Saul Junction to retrieve our car.

On the way back I had a phone call from the washing machine repairers to say that the motor was faulty and it was beyond economic repair, so our decision to buy the Zanussi was a good one.

 

Friday 4th June 2021

A busy day today, on starting the engine this morning I found one of the alternator belts had shredded itself, so my first job was to fit the spare.  We had arranged to meet Jer today in Gloucester, but being delayed he came to us and collected our defunct generator and was press-ganged into loading the faulty Candy washing machine into the car. If we didn’t have bad luck we’d have no luck today, eh?

The day got better however, I had contacted Stephens Electrical in Gloucester and arranged to drop the washing machine off with them to see if it could be repaired, but just-in-case I had located a small Zanussi machine for £30 which we decided to buy in case the Candy couldn’t be repaired.  The only problem was it was in Wales.

Having dropped off the Candy we headed for Tredegar via the A40 which was a pleasant drive ending with the Heads of the Valleys Road. We had a late lunch at Wetherspoons’ Olympia in Tredegar and were almost on time to collect the Zanussi at 3:30.

Before returning we drove into Dowlais (Merthyr Tydfil) where my dad lived as a young man in the early 1900s and tried to locate some of the places where he lived.

The 1911 census records the family living at The Cuba Inn but there is no trace of it, the area having been redeveloped and the Iron & Steel Works where the men worked is long demolished. Granddad was a ‘Joiner’, Dad a ‘Wagon Repairer’ and my Uncle Chris  a ‘Smith’s Striker’ (the assistant who swung the sledgehammer for a blacksmith) at just 14, no wonder he left for Brisbane in 1926!

We passed the ‘slag heap’ where dad took a photo of this accident with a half plate camera, the slag is now being reprocessed to extract ‘small coal’ to make into briquettes like we burn on our stove.

It looks more attractive today, see top photo.

We drove back over the old Severn Bridge and took the side roads towards Thornbury and returned via the A38. We had intended to leave the washer in the car until we could get one of  our friends to unload it, but on our return another boat had joined us on the mooring and the owner helped me to get it aboard.

Joy and I wiggled the machine through the boat and found it was just an inch deeper than the Candy which caused a bit of extra grunting, heaving and removing a door, but we got it into place and tested it. All was OK and we decided we would keep it and sell the Candy if it could be mended.

Saturday 5th June 2021

Some weeks ago I received a message through Ancestry from a lady in Australia who is descended from my grandmother’s sister (are you following this so far?) The reason for the contact was that a DNA match had connected her with a cousin of mine in the UK who my family was unaware of, she is my dad’s elder brother’s granddaughter.

After exchanging some emails we arranged for her to visit and after lunch at the Fromebridge Mill we spent the afternoon getting to know one-another and unravelling our family histories.

Sunday 6th June 2021

Yesterday was our friends Carol & Ted’s Golden Wedding Anniversary and we were invited to join them today for a barbecue, we were picked up and chauffeured there by John and Lis and we spent a lovely afternoon chatting and reminiscing about past years.

Well that, is enough for you to digest in one sitting, I will continue in another episode before I forget what we did!

Monday 31st May 2021

There was a knock on the boat this morning and our previous neighbour, Mike was there! He went and fetched Myra from the car and we spent a happy couple of hours in the sunshine exchanging news of friends and family.

Our delayed visit from David and Monica happened today, the weather was great and we sat beside the boat all afternoon and evening chatting and reminiscing.
I cooked a Lamb Keema (minced lamb curry) which they all said they enjoyed. Joy got attacked by bugs and was itching all night.

 

Tuesday 1st June 2021

Today I went for my second Covid jab which I organised to have at Boots in Gloucester, it was all done very efficiently and I suffered no serious side effects.

In fact I felt well enough to accept an invitation to a barbecue at John & Lis’ house and we came away exceedingly full! I also got to inspect the restoration of John’s Morris Oxford (the one that looks like an overgrown Morris Minor) and hear the tale of how he ran away from home to come and work at R.A. Lister  in Dursley.

Wednesday 2nd June 2021

Today we had a visit from our good friend Esther who brought her gorgeous little boy  Yarrow along, we have known Esther since she was not much more than a toddler herself.  We had a lovely day with them and cruised up to Saul Junction where we had booked in overnight to test our washing machine which is still causing problems throwing up an error code even on mains electricity.

Thursday 3rd June 2021

We moved out of the marina this morning and got a mooring with car parking nearby. As usual it was Joy’s art day and my accordion practice hour.

I’ve somehow failed to report that last Sunday was eleven years since we moved onto Wrens-Nest, it really doesn’t seem that long.

Saturday 29th May 2021

Another morning of ‘odd jobs’ for me, today’s was re-siting the plug that connects the 240v electrics to an electricity bollard while at our mooring or a generator when out and about. It’s always been in an awkward position and one of those why-didn’t-I-do that-before jobs.

Joy watched Saturday morning cooking shows on the TV and then made some phone calls catching up with local friends.

After lunch we visited Dursley for some shopping, Joy bought some jigsaws at the Blue Cross charity shop while I bought a summer hat. We then visited Durcans for a key ring where pleased to still see Paul & Adrian behind the counter, it was as though we had never left!

On the way back to the boat we investigated a sign advertising a Car Boot Sale and got tempted to partake of a drink at Fromebridge Mill and while we were there decided we would have a meal too.

Incidentally the fencing that the sign is attached to surrounds the section of the Stroudwater Canal which has been re-instated through the A38 roundabout. This is part of  The Missing Mile which was infilled when the M5 was built in the late 1960s; the A38/ M5 link road is actually built on the infilled canal. You can see photos of the project on Cotswold Canals website.

The canal was really busy today and we felt sorry for the Bridge-Keeper who had an 11 hour shift of opening & closing this Hand-Cranked bridge!

Sunday 30th May 2021

After joining Wade Street Church for their online service I did a bit more boat DIY, this time making mooring pin holders to keep them off the new cushions at the front of the boat. These were constructed simply out of black plastic waste pipe, we shall have to see how they work over the next few weeks and paint the wooden mounting block.

It was my turn for phone calls today, I phoned Barry in Dursley, who promptly agreed to come to see us forthwith, I also had a chat with June in Amsterdam to catch up with her news, including the purchase of a motor bike, a Honda Shadow, but she maintains it’s still a push bike to get to work, I think it must be the law in Holland! I was still chatting to her when Barry arrived and we had to cut short our conversation. Sorry June.

The weather today has been glorious, are we sure it’s a Bank Holiday weekend? The Severn looking like a silver ribbon in the top photo.

I found this film of the delivery of Cocoa Beans from Avonmouth (?) Docks to Bournville in the mid to late 1930s, more details on Canalworld Forums.
Really interesting for us as we have travelled some of the route recently (not the Bristol Channel part though, neither is Joy wearing the same fashions, but I think I’ll have to get her one of those cloche hats!)

In case you were wondering where the Severn Canal was, the full title is
The Severn & Canal Carrying Company

Well… that’s a week gone by without updating the blog, we must be enjoying ourselves too much!

Monday 24th May 2021

Today was spent mostly doing odd jobs but Louise came to pick us up  later and took us to pick up our car from Stourport, on the way collecting Jer from where he was working . We enjoyed a cuppa with Leigh & Malc & picked up a couple of mooring chains I had ordered from the chandlery. I called into Screwfix at Gloucester on the way back with about two minutes to spare before they closed and we just found room to park the car back at Splatt.

Tuesday 25th May 2021

This morning I fitted a ‘new’ pressure switch to our water pump,  I’m really not made for squeezing into confined spaces anymore.

Later our friend Allison from Wotton called by for coffee, managing to negotiate the muddy towpath, we haven’t met up for ages so it was good to catch up with family news and hear about her new grandchildren.

After lunch we made use of the car to visit Lidl & Wickes in Gloucester and bought some more of those new laid eggs.

Woeful Wednesday 26th May 2021

Oh  Wednesday! We decided to use our washing machine today to do a small wash, I fired up our generator and started the machine but the generator took exception to it’s lack of use over the winter and decided that doing the washing constituted an ‘overload’ although it had done it many times before over the last six years.

While I was attending to the generator and phoning around about repairs and Joy was doing a jigsaw in the cratch, visitors appeared on the horizon. Gill and Trevor had come to say hello but as Joy opened cratch cover she knocked off her glasses and you guessed it, they fell in the canal.

I wasn’t hopeful of retrieving them, Joy was upset and fishing with a magnet was unsuccessful so after many phone calls an opticians appointment was found in Worcester. After lunch Joy had the idea of using her litter picker and once we had found it tried plumbing the depths of the canal with it but it was too deep.

Somewhere in the depths of my memory I recalled that looking down a tube to see things underwater avoids reflections. A piece of wastepipe was found but was not really wide enough to see down, but was that something glinting down there?
Lying prostrate on the muddy towpath I still couldn’t reach the bottom so an litter grabber extension was made with a length of wood, three cable ties and a piece of string. On the second attempt I managed to retrieve the specs… Hallelujah!!!

An ecstatic phone call was made to Gill & Trev and the opticians appointment was cancelled.

In the afternoon I continued my phone calls to find a solution to the generator problem and ended with a drive to Energy Generator Sales

Thursday 27th May 2021

We have seen The Edward Elgar a few times and today they moored by the bridge and a coach collected the handful of passengers for a local outing.

 

It was ‘Art Day’ as usual for Joy and as I was pottering around on the back deck a familiar figure came into view, Diana, a friend from Wotton was coming down the towpath with her camera. We avoided her lens and invited her to call in for a cuppa on her way back, completely forgetting we had promised ourselves a treat this evening, so had to call her mobile and make a grovelling apology and promise to meet up again.

The treat, you ask, a night in a hotel with a bath to wallow in and ease the aches and pains which I have suffering from since working on the boat in dry dock. Joy says I’m just getting  old, I blame lingering side-effects of that Covid jab!

Day’s Inn at Michaelwood Services is just basic but comfortable accommodation but you have to rely on Burger King, KFC or Subway for food, so we brought a picnic!
While checking in I mentioned we used to live in Dursley and the receptionist asked if I was the Chris Wren that used to run Wren Autolectrics. “The very same”,  I replied, it transpired her husband had been one of my customers.

Friday 28th May 2021

Whilst in the area I have been indulging my taste for Lardy Cake, well I was born in Wiltshire, both the local garage and the Whitminster convenience store sell them, from different bakeries, so we have had to compare them and have to admit Jane’s Pantry & Dangerfield’s Bakery are both good although cannot match the sadly now defunct ‘Pie Shop’ in Devizes where I acquired my addiction.