Wednesday 30 September 2015

Leaving Birmingham Photo's



As promised some photos  of Birmingham on our way out this morning. We Started the locks at 8.45 and completed the 27 locks and moored up at 2.15. We had a great trip out although part of the Birmingham & Fazeley was very low on water so it was slow going and needless to say we picked up quite a bit rubbish on the propeller but in most cases a quick burst of reverse sorted it out.
 We really have had a great time in Birmingham and it is a contender for our Christmas mooring.
We met some wonderful people who were doing the floating market and they have had a successful weekend.

BT Tower

Close To The Offices


Drainage Weir Under A Building

Yes We Are Going Under The Building


And Under Another

Leaving The Building

As We Leave The Building


Under Yet Another Building


Great Brick Work It Look's Just Like A Narrowboat
Last Of The 13 Locks Out Of Birmingham Only Another 14 To Do

Time Travelled Wednesday 5.5 Hrs Distance 7.5 Miles 27 Locks

Total Distance Travelled 866. Miles 
207 Locks (Broad ) 378 single locks and 18 tunnel's, 10 Massive Lock
Total Tunnel length 10707 yards   
Total Time 453.5 hours  

We Are Loving It so Much

Tuesday 29 September 2015

In To Birmingham And A Fab Weekend

Tuesday morning we set off from Fazeley and continued along the Birmingham and Fazeley canal up to Kingsbury Water Park and moored at the bottom of the 11 locks at Curdworth. This is a lovely place to moor and so we spent a very enjoyable evening there.
Kingsbury Water park 

Wednesday we slipped the lines and headed up the 11 locks in lovely sunshine. We were soon through them and cruised towards Minworth and moored just after Wigginshill Road Bridge for the night. We have a very busy day ahead of us tomorrow so we were early to bed this evening.

Thursday we were woken early as we heard some boats passing by, I looked out and there was a number of historic boats passing us heading to a Historic Boat Gathering at The Black Country Living Museum for the weekend so we knew we would be slow moving today. We set off at 8.00 up the 3 locks at Minworth and cruised on to Salford Junction where we took the second left hand turn up to the 11 locks at Aston and had to drain down each lock as there was a boat in front of us going up the locks so slow progress along here. At Aston Junction we turned right and made our way to the Farmers Bridge locks all 13 of them.  We were still behind another boat but it didn't matter as this way in to Birmingham is absolutely fantastic so fantastic in fact we forgot to take any photos as we were astounded by the views so BIG apologies for this but we will take some photos when we leave.
We filled with water at the top lock and found some moorings for the weekend. It was a hard day today and at the end of it I had sustained a knee injury which gave me pain most off the weekend

We were only expecting the floating market to be on for the weekend but found out that it was in fact Birmingham’s Festival Weekend with lots of free entertainment Marvellous. Friday evening we were both very excited as our youngest son Sam and Rachel are visiting us for the weekend and it will be lovely to see them both again. They arrived at 22.00 hrs.
Sam & Rachel Bid us Farewell
Some of The Tradeboats










Saturday and the sun was shining and we took a walk to the Bull Ring shopping centre and on the way passed street entertainers. We returned to Tacet and booked a table at Jimmy Spices restaurant for the evening. We had all planned to go a watch the Maudits Sonnants which can best be described as an orchestra, acrobatics and light show some 40ft off the ground. However Michael Macintyre was performing at the Barclaycard Arena that night and they still had some tickets for his show so Sam & Rachel brought some and went to the show.
Sharon and I went off for the evening and found some people making Chinese water lanterns for the festival so we brought one and wrote a message on it be for it was launched with other lanterns on to the canal they looked really nice floating down the canal.
A Few Lanterns On The Canal
 After this we did go and see the Maudits Sonnants and both agreed they were a fantastic show they have some footage on YouTube well worth looking at.

Maudits Sonnants Flying High


















Sam & Rachel had a really good time at Micheal Macintyre’s show as well.

Sunday we went for a walk and came across Godiva odyssey a 6 metre tall puppet rehearsing for the evening show what a great thing to see.
Godiva 6 Mtr Puppet
We had lunch and all to soon it was time to say goodbye to Sam & Rachel they left us a 3.30 and headed back to Suffolk, we find it very sad when our family has to go but we have had a really lovely weekend with them both and can’t wait to see them again really soon.

Monday as my knee is still playing up we have decided to remain in Birmingham most likely till Wednesday.

Time Travelled Tuesday 1. Hr  Distance Travelled 2.5. Miles 0 Locks
Time Travelled  Wednesday 3.5 Hrs Distance Travelled 4 Miles. 11 Locks
Time Travelled Thursday 7. Hrs Distance 7.5 Miles 27 Locks

Total Distance Travelled 858.5 Miles 
207 Locks (Broad ) 351 single locks and 18 tunnel's, 10 Massive Lock
Total Tunnel length 10707 yards   
Total Time 448 hours  

We Are Loving It so Much


Monday 21 September 2015

Shugborough Hall & Huddlesford Gathering

We left Shugborough Hall on a foggy morning but the sun soon came through and burned the fog off.


Nice Reflection On A Foggy Morning.

It Got A Bit Narrow Here.










 A great days cruise up to Fradley junction and we managed to get a mooring close to the pub.


Saturday and a foggy start to the day.
we turned right at Fradley Junction on to the Coventry canal and made our way to Huddlesford where there is a weekend gathering of historic boats and a fair with vintage cars and stalls. We were very luck to grab the last mooring as we approached the gathering. So on a sunny Saturday afternoon we took a walk to the gathering. We had a look around the fair and made a couple of purchases then had a look around the historic boats.

Sunday and we were joined by our friends Mike & Karel who came up to see us and bring us a Captain's Perch seat we had ordered a while back, this is to be fixed on the stern of Tacet and will be a nice and comfortable seat to perch on. It looks lovely and we cant wait to have it fitted in a couple of weeks time.
We all walked to the gathering and had a really good look around there was some lovely cars. we had a good look at the trade boats and both Mike and myself made a  purchase from the Home Brew boat so we will be making some more wine soon.
Some Of The Boats

Historic N/B Nuffield

Lovely Old Cars

Nice Reflection In Mirror

Monday we woke to some very heavy rain and decided to stay put for a while hoping the rain would clear a little which it did. So we untied and left Huddlesford at 11.45 and cruised towards Frazley Junction as we are going back in to Birmingham for the weekend. Our youngest son Sam is coming with Rachel to see us for the weekeknd and we are very much looking forward to seeing them. There is a Trade boat gathering in Birmingham so we are going to support the traders. At Frazley we bumped in to N/B BriarRose with Adam & Adrian on board. We were invited round for an afternoon cup of tea and cake. We had a very enjoyable time and it was good to catch up with them both at last.

Time Travelled Friday 5 Hrs  Distance Travelled 11 Miles. 4 Locks
Time Travelled  Saturday 3 Hrs Distance Travelled 5 Miles. 0 Locks
Time Travelled Monday 3 .5 Hrs Distance 6 Miles 0 Locks

Total Distance Travelled 844.5 Miles 
207 Locks (Broad ) 313 single locks and 18 tunnel's, 10 Massive Lock
Total Tunnel length 10707 yards   
Total Time 436.5 hours  

We Are Loving It so Much




Friday 18 September 2015

Wonderful weather

We left Etruria on Wednesday morning with the prospect of some heavy rain today but the clouds cleared and the sun came out. We had a really lovely day and we soon arrived at the Meaford 4 locks and at the top lock we found we were number 5 in line for the locks.

 However everyone worked well and a really good rhythm was settled in to by everyone and with only 3 boats coming up we were all through in a couple of hours. We then cruised on to moor at the top of the 4 locks in Stone for the night.
Nice & Twisty Canal

Busy On The Cut










Thursday we woke to blue skies and light clouds and set off for the days cruise to Great Haywood. We were second in line for the locks and we were soon through them. We then had a really fantastic days cruising through the lovely country side. When we arrived at lock 24 Weston Lock we saw narrowboat Dragonfly which is a shared ownership boat from Carefree Cruising which we had shares in up until just before we brought Tacet. It was lovely to see her looking so good

 We had a quick chat with Di and John who were on board Dragonfly.

Tacet & Dragonfly


A Really Ornate Bridge
Then we carried on and through Great Haywood and moored in lovely country side near to Shugborough Hall for the night. The sun was shining as we moored up a lovely end to a lovely day.

After a very enjoyable tour we made our way back to Tacet and cruised to Etruria to moor for the night.

Friday we are making for Fradley Junction

Time Travelled Wednesday 5 Hrs  Distance Travelled 8.5 Miles. 10 Locks
Time Travelled  Thursday 5.5 Hrs Distance Travelled 9 Miles. 9 Locks

Total Distance Travelled 822.5 Miles 
207 Locks (Broad ) 309 single locks and 18 tunnel's, 10 Massive Lock
Total Tunnel length 10707 yards   
Total Time 425 hours  

We Are Loving It so Much





Tuesday 15 September 2015

Leaving Stone At Last & Middleport Pottery

Monday morning and we were ready to leave at 8.30 as we know there are a lot of boats going up and down. CRT had volunteers on each lock to speed things up which it did and we were quickly through the last 3 locks at Stone.

We had a really lovely cruise along the Trent & Mersey and really enjoyed this part of the canal. We soon arrived at 4 locks at Meaford and we were lucky as 3 of the locks were in our favour so we made good progress through them.

On through Barlaston which looks like a very nice village so we may stop there on are way back.
 We arrived at Etruria and filled with water and emptied what needed emptying !!!. We decided to cruise on up to Westport lake and moored for the night.

Tuesday we had to turn round so a slow cruise up to Harecastle tunnel topped up with water and turned round. 

Harecastle Tunnel

Boat exiting Harecastle Tunnel









We made our way to Middleport Pottery as we have a tour booked at 2.00 PM but before that we have an Afternoon Tea for two to enjoy. This is a Birthday present for Sharon from our friends Roger & Anita. Thank you both we really enjoyed it and the tour was good also.
Afternoon Tea Very Nice Indeed


Bottle Kiln


Manual Lift Used To Load & Unload cargo on
 To Narrowboats At Middleport Pottery












After a very enjoyable tour we made our way back to Tacet and cruised to Etruria to moor for the night.

Time Travelled Monday 7.5 Hrs  Distance Travelled 11.5 Miles. 13 Lock
Time Travelled  Tuesday 3 Hrs Distance Travelled 6 Miles.

Total Distance Travelled 806 Miles 
207 Locks (Broad ) 290 single locks and 18 tunnel's, 10 Massive Lock
Total Tunnel length 10707 yards   
Total Time 414.5 hours  

We Are Loving It so Much



Sunday 13 September 2015

Still Stuck In Stone

Well we are still stuck in Stone, we know there are worse places to be stuck but after 6 days we really do want to get moving.

Last Tuesday we moved up one lock to be closer to the town. We had only just moored when we were greeted by John & Nev who have a lovely new Braidbar Boat called Destiny. We know them both from when we were moored at Kingfisher Marina in Yardley Gobion.

We have spent some time with John and Nev catching up on things visited the pub once or three times.


Really Lovely Boat
John & Nev










 A holiday boat was stuck with us in the pound and wanted to turn round but it was just to long to turn in the pound 40ft across, however its not easy to reverse a narrowboat so John took the tiller and I used the boat pole to adjust the bow of the boat when we were reversing, we done a great job and the holiday maker was very happy that we had helped him out.










I took a walk up to the lock that is closed you can see a rather large hole in the base of the lock which has to be repaired. Specialist engineers were called in and they have injected an epoxy resin in to the void and this needs to set and then the bricks will be replaced repointed and the lock refilled and with a bit of luck we will be moving on tomorrow.

Hole in Base of lock

Manhole Cover in Base













Tacet was serviced by Stone Boat Builders and I have been touching up some paint work whilst Sharon has done some lovely silk paintings.

So to sum up its been a very quiet week at Stone. We are still making our way to Middleport pottery to do the tour and have an afternoon tea which we are looking forward to very much. So mine and Eddys apologies for not doing a blog recently but there has not been much to write about.  

Time Travelled Thursday 4.5 Hrs  Distance Travelled  9.5 Miles. 4 Lock
Time Travelled Friday 9 Hrs Distance Travelled 10.5 miles 5 Locks.
Time Travelled Sunday 3 Hrs Distance 5 Miles 5 locks
Time Travelled Monday 6 Hrs Distance 10.5 Miles 4 Locks

Total Distance Travelled 788.5 Miles 
207 Locks (Broad ) 273 single locks and 18 tunnel's, 10 Massive Lock
Total Tunnel length 10707 yards   
Total Time 403.5 hours  

We Are Loving It so Much

Tuesday 8 September 2015

Our First Visitors Revisit And Friends |Leave

Thursday morning and we set off from Stone to Great Haywood marina as sadly we have to say goodbye to Justin and Hudson it has been a fantastic few days with them and Hudson has as always been a star. Hudson on the way back helped with some locks by pushing the gates and helping his granddad when he found them a bit difficult.

We arrived at the marina mid afternoon and got ready to see Justin and Hudson off. We said a tearful farewell to them both and look forward to them visiting us again soon.


Whilst at th Marina we caught up with the washing and one or two other jobs that needed doing Friday we set off towards Penkridge and made slow progress as there was lots of boats about today we saw some really lovely scenery.
Not sure what this is at Tixall


Mike holding the gates closed


 As we went under the M6 Mike and Karel on Jessie May broke down but after changing a fuel filter the boat started and we carried on to Penkridge.
Saturday is market day so we stayed put for the day and had a walk around the town and market, very good market it is to.
We enjoyed a meal at the Boat pub Saturday night with Mike & Karel.
Sunday we woke to lovely sunshine and headed off after winding.
A wonderful days cruise until poor old Mike & Karel broke down again, so RCT were called and a repair was quickly made. We decided to stay put for the day as time was getting on.

Monday we were up early and headed off towards Great Haywood Junction where we will say goodbye to Mike & karel as they will be heading back to thier moorings. We will be seeing them again soon as they will be delivering a seat for the back of Tacet to us.

Monday afternoon Roger and Annie are visiting us. So we have arranged to pick them up at Gt Haywood. We welcomed Roger and Annie aboard and cruised off to Tixall wide for the afternoon the sun was shining and we had afternoon tea and scones and cream.
Annie & Roger Enjoying Cream Teas
We returned to Great Haywood Marina as we are mooring there for the evening. We all went out for a meal Monday Evening and very nice it was to.
Tuesday we said our goodbyes to Annie & Roger as they were heading off in there camper van to the Peak Forest.
Me Sharon, Annie & Roger
After saying goodbye we untied and headed for Stone again as we are going to have Tacet serviced then cruise onto Middleport Potteries as Sharon has an afternoon Birthday treat to collect after we have had a tour around the pottery..
So it's been a few days of saying Hello's and goodbyes, it has been great to see everyone. We are hoping we will get more visitors soon.
Time Travelled Thursday 4.5 Hrs  Distance Travelled  9.5 Miles. 4 Lock
Time Travelled Friday 9 Hrs Distance Travelled 10.5 miles 5 Locks.
Time Travelled Sunday 3 Hrs Distance 5 Miles 5 locks
Time Travelled Monday 6 Hrs Distance 10.5 Miles 4 Locks

Total Distance Travelled 788.5 Miles 
207 Locks (Broad ) 273 single locks and 18 tunnel's, 10 Massive Lock
Total Tunnel length 10707 yards   
Total Time 403.5 hours  

We Are Loving It so Much