CRUISING TO THE GREAT INTERNET GETOGETHER AT STAFFORD - JULY - AUGUST 2002

Sunday 28th July

It was 0800 on a glorious Sunday morning as Rumpus rounded the bend from the Soar to the Trent and set off up-river, Caldon-bound. We weren't the only ones stirring: as we passed the Scouts' Activity Centre: it was obvious that the Sea Scouts in camp there had been up a while as the bosun's calls shrilled out the "still" as the Scouts (all in uniform) were fell in as the Red Ensign was hoisted to start another day in camp. The more sensible ones were having breakfast……….

Oddly enough, the first boat we saw in motion (just leaving Sawley Locks), was one "Idleness" from The Idle Cruising Company of Bourne End – she's going to live at Barrow on Soar. Having operated the lock myself (and shown Susan – she'd never seen how) we found Canaltime boats being turned around and new crews getting their instructions. I saw the ultimate "groaner" name on one of the boats: "Sawley Tempted"!!

Progress was steady through Shardlow, Aston and Weston, though at the latter there was a "moment" when Rumpus's front fender lodged on a projection on the cill and released itself just as I was about to drop the paddles. We had the "benefit" of audiences at Swarkestone and Stenson – good to close the gates for you. We also met up with the widebeam "Stenson Bubble" trip boat above Swarkestone that would have made an "interesting" passing problem for less experienced steerers! Lunch was taken between locks 10 and 11 - Syd's times are working well!

I managed to cure Rumpus's URRRK (or can't-call-it-a-Klaxon-as-it-wasn't-made-in-Birmingham mechanical horn) at Stenson – it hadn't been working and I thought it was the usual problem with the exposed electrical terminals going rusty, but it wasn't. It's surprising what can be done with a small adjustable spanner, large lump hammer (used gently) and a squirt of WD40! Bearing in mind that a replacement BEEP would have set me back £8 and a replacement URRRK £36 this was time well spent! I actually discovered it was possible to "tune" the horn by varying the tightness of the rear bolt – do it up too tightly and it stops working!

Dallow Lane Lock was a welcome relief (as always) from the heavy locks at the eastern end of the T & M and it was interesting to note that some new houses built on the offside were ripping down the high builder-provided fences at the bottom of their gardens to give them a canal view and a garden right down to the water's edge. As always, the towpath was immaculate, but this is more due to the householders who seem to have an "adopt the towpath" scheme and have planted outside their gardens, rather than BW spending licence-payers money! We moored for the night by the pipe bridge by the commercial park just outside Burton: the "angler's path across the fields" referred to in our "First Mate's Guide" is now a proper tarmac path into the estate, from where it's possible to get to Morrisions and (Heaven forbid) a MacDonald's – about 10 minute's walk. However, there is a minor problem: the shop has roller shutter blinds all over its glass windows, which includes the entrance, which includes the notices which tell you when it's open! It opens at 0830, by the way. Polished cabin side, cleaned brasses, scrubbed decks, had shower.

20 miles, 8 locks

Monday 29th July

Set off at 0930, after a shop at Morrisions. BW is rebuilding the towpath around Barton, using recycled materials. The water's edge has been rebuilt with concrete-filled sandbags, laid dry and allowed to wet (and set) naturally, leaving more gaps in the water-facing face for wildlife to get established in than the normal steel piling. Old sleepers set on edge and held in place by new piles at each joint support the back edge of the towpath. Once the existing soil within the front and back has been levelled, a membrane's put down to stop plant growth, the towpath is built up with crushed demolition rubble and finished with crushed red bricks (obtained from the adjacent brick works?) and a thin layer of topsoil front and back. The whole looks very good and the small amount of soil should help to keep plant growth down naturally and help keep maintenance down. The "suits" that were inspecting it said this was a trial of a new construction method – I hope it gets adopted more widely, even though it means I'll have to revert to using spikes instead of piling hooks for mooring!

A familiar boat name at Wychnor saw me stop for a chat with Will Chapman on Quidditch: a new memberof the internet boating community he will be coming to the GIG but I thought it would be nice to call in and introduce myself. Approaching Alrewas Lock we were passed at some speed on the last bend on the river section by NB Erica, a smart boat in a fetching turquoise and grey paint scheme, in a move obviously designed to take the lock from us. When I arrived, I asked him what his boat length was and it transpired we could both fit in the lock with about a foot to spare - standard practice 20 years ago when boats were generally smaller. We locked up OK, but he refused point blank to share the next lock with me (or rather his wife did) as "the boat has to get very close to the top gates!" I reckoned that if he'd had a name on his cabin side, it would have been "Whittle & Worry" as I never saw anything other than a frown or worried expression on his face! Fradley Junction saw me disappear into The Swan for a cold drink – one consequence of only having a coolbox on a day when the humidity was almost as high as the temperature!

We eventually arrived opposite the Plum Pudding at Armitage at around 1930 and were able to listen to the bell ringers practising as we barbecued on the towpath. After dinner Jackie Lewis joined us for drinks and chats (and a piece of birthday cake for those allowed to indulge!).

14.2 miles, 13 locks

Tuesday 30th July

Made a late start (0945) today after polishing brasswork. Steady progress was made to Great Haywood where we did lunch, water and waste. The canalside craft shop has closed (apparently after BW put the rent up) but the canalside farm shop was able to supply salad and fruit. The boat builder at Hoo Mill (where Rumpus was built) looks as if he's ceased trading (even though he's still advertising) - there was no life there and both Frolic and Razzle (two ex-Kingfisher Line boats) have moved from their place on the bank – anybody know where they are??

It started to rain and thunder after Weston, but it did ease for a time before setting in for the night as we worked our way through Stone, following the famille Fuller who were returning from holiday, having towed a butty around the Stourport Ring "just for the fun of it!". They'd already showed us how to get round the corner at Great Haywood with the butty on short straps and now we saw how a butty was worked through the locks. It was a genuine commercial carrying boat, by the way - cargo: two gas stoves!! We moored above Limekiln Lock at about 1945 – the Caldon's now a distinct possibility..............

17.4 miles, 10 locks

Wednesday 31st July

...............but not with the weather WE'VE got today! We set off north at 0810 in hope, but by 1100 the rain hadn't stopped, I was soaked and we'd reached the Wedgwood factory, so we went for a visit.

Arriving on foot in our "reasonable" boating clothes, we immediately felt under-dressed as we'd joined the "little old ladies on a coach trip" circuit and they were much smarter than we! Nevertheless, the trip round the factory was interesting and Susan once more demonstrated her unerring ability to find the most expensive item in the shop AND the most expensive range of porcelain – the one with a deep blue band around the end and LOTS of gold decoration! It has to be said, however, that the ranges (apart from the Mason's Ironstone) aren't to our combined taste - I quite like the Clarice Clift but Susan shudders at it!

We boated back to the throbbing industrial heart of Stone (well, the machining factory opposite IS open all night, with a noisy fan) and had a HOT veggie curry, followed by a wander around Stone itself and a drink in a pub with loud, modern music – not to most boater's tastes! I was sorry for those hire boaters who were "doing the Ring" and HAD to keep going, no matter what the weather………….

6.8 miles, 11 locks

Thursday 1st August

Today was probably the most miserable day's boating I've ever done with Rumpus. It started off well enough with shopping in Stone, which is a most attractive little town with nicely-preserved old buildings, a pedestrianised main street and property prices to match! The rain hardly ever stopped, varying from a light drizzle to "lazy" rain – it didn't stop but went through both mine and Susan's (so-called) waterproofs. As steerer, the only saving grace was that every so often, I got my bare knee fondled (I was wearing shorts) and this delightful lady passed me hot drinks-with-something-in, or hot Marmite, or even Bombay Hot Pot Noodles – yummy!

We were fortunate to be sharing a lock most of the way with a boat that knew what he was doing, unlike the small steel cruiser which I shared Yard Lock at Stone with. He'd gone into the lock and was snugly resting against the bottom gate. I did what I normally do, came into the lock on forward tickover, nipped off the boat and made ready to open the bottom gate paddle on my side, allowing Rumpus to gently nudge the other boat's stern - so gently that Susan in the cabin wasn't even aware it had stopped. Not Mrs Other Boater, who screamed at the top of her voice "YOU'VE NUDGED MY BOAT!!!" As I believe that boating is a contact sport, my reaction was "Yes, and?" at which Mrs Other Boater screamed "I'VE GOT A BABY IN THERE!!!!" She never got on the boat to check the alleged "baby" (in fact a toddler of 3) and when we reached Star Lock she slammed the upper gate in my face as I was approaching the lock and opened the bottom gate paddles herself! Mr Other Boater never said a word........... and later on we found another boat with a much more sensible crew to share locks with, which meant that Susan stayed under cover and kept dry.

We eventually arrived at Great Haywood at about a quarter past four, where I got Rumpus filled up with Diesel and Susan went to the farm shop for a home made chicken and mushroom pie and an apple pie. We then found a mooring in Tixall Wide, admired the view (and the passing boats), fed the ducks and swans, had a phone call from an internet non-boater (his is still being built) who wouldn't join us ‘cause we were too far from the road and later had a knock on the cabin side and a conversation with Magic, Rolo and their owners Brian and Diana Holt, who were moored further along the side and told us which other GIG'ers were moored there (all behind us!). We played patience and eventually got round to one of those jobs that's been wanting doing for ages – setting up the headlight properly so that "main beam" shone somewhere reasonably useful instead of way into the sky. The slight mist that was around made this job rather easier.

10.3 miles, 6 locks

Friday 2nd August

It was hardly surprising that today dawned misty and grey, bearing in mind how the weather had been the night before. As we'd not got a long way to go, we didn't set off until 0940 and pottered gently through Tixall Lock and stopped at the farm shop at Milford, which is useful as a "basic supplies" shop but not a patch on the REAL farm shop at Great Haywood! As there were a number of odd shopping items still wanted (and I wanted a haircut) we moored up at the Radford Bank pub and spent £1-30 each (return) to take a rattly little Arriva bus into the centre of Stafford: another smallish town that is much better now that it's centre's been pedestrianised. Having got done (and more importantly found the return bus) we headed back to the boat, both had showers (Susan for the first time - she was MOST impressed) and finished off the trip to the GIG!

5 miles, 1 lock

Saturday and Sunday................... ...............passed in the usual GIG-style haze of socialising, drinking and music-making, though we did make a trip to Acton Trussell on Sunday morning and applauded a VERY surprised bride who'd come outside the hotel on the offside for some wedding pictures! The waste from the sink got modified so it worked, too!

Monday 5th August

"In which Rumpus gets caught by an angler"

A long day, needed to get Rumpus within a weekend of home. We were the second boat to set off from Stafford (Judy and Stan Voets beat us) at 0815 and the day was largely uneventful. We passed Judy and Stan's boat, Blue Heron at Rugeley and carried on toward Woodend Lock.

There was an angler with 4 youngsters on the towpath: he was emptying his keep net and I was interested in seeing what he'd caught. Next minute, I'm getting shouts of "STOP" as he'd not taken his own line in and had literally caught Rumpus! His line was running out well and he'd nearly lost his rod. My comment that I couldn't be held responsible if he didn't look after his gear fell on deaf ears. I found the line (which had already got a large piece of wood tangled in it) and managed to salvage everything but the hook for him - ungrateful sod!

As we approached Fradley Junction, it looked as if The Swan was on fire - there was a ladder up and clouds of something coming out of the upper storey. In actual fact, nothing quite so sinister had happened. The warehouse next door is having some renovation work done and the internal brickwork on the upper level was being sandblasted. Around Fradley we met an awful lot of boats going in the opposite direction: it turned out that the River Trent had been closed because of floods and everybody had been waiting for the levels to subside: when they did, they all set off at once! These were (of course) going in the opposite direction to us, so al the locks got worked for us, until we'd got through Keeper's Lock when they'd all passed us and we were suddenly on our own.

Eventually we arrived at Alrewas at bang on 1800, just like Syd said we would, to be greeted by Jackie Lewis who'd looked after our car for the week. A quick trip to Rugeley, then it was pick the OTHER car up from Redhill and home to a big bed!

20.4 miles, 11 locks

(Rumpus then stayed at Alrewas for the week until I could get back to her to continue the journey home)

Sunday 11th August

I’d come to the boat the previous evening, with the intention of making an early start……………… I eventually got under way at 1010, having had a battle with my piling hooks, which had been severely bent by boats passing during the week. One was so severely bent that it got left in the piling: I now understand why people use chains! I also delayed my departure as a pair of camping boats (one of only a very few left trading) had gone past and I was aware that this could cause a holdup lock-wise whilst they worked through.

I spent the first part of the trip in company with Dobson-built fibreglass canal cruiser "Scatterling" and between us we managed to work the locks most efficiently, as well as allowing me the time to photograph all the locks, ultimately to help fill some gaps in Syd’s Canal Planner. With only six hour’s boating to do there was no pressure to hurry, so an hour taken at Barton Turns for shopping for a new piling hook and lunch was no problem. What WAS a problem was two other boats wanting the mooring I’d temporarily blagged whilst I was eating lunch – my own fault for mooring by the Diesel pump!

Having taken full details of the facilities available to pass on to Syd for Canal Planner I set off again at around 1245 and pottered along, photographing as I went. The towpath improvements I saw under way on the way out are now finished, and very nice they look too! There was no pressure to hurry, as long as I got to Stenson that night, so I trundled along, thinking about nothing in particular, eventually arriving at Stenson at 1800, where I took water before mooring on the towpath side, cooking a curry, drinking more than half a bottle of Portuguese rose and falling asleep listening to the radio!

14.7 miles, 6 Locks

Monday 12th August

As nobody was shooting grouse around Derby today, I was able to make a leisurely start – good job really, as one of the Hired Hands got herself hopelessly lost whilst doing the pre-boat car shuffle and had a little trip up (and back down) the M1 before arriving safely at Redhill Marina. The situation wasn’t helped by the fact that I discovered my 12 volt phone charger had given up the ghost…………

Eventually we got away at about 1110, to find all the locks were against us. However, the weather (which had started off dull and grey, but warm) steadily improved and by the end of the day it was another glorious boating day, and I was quite content get some of those round tuit jobs done, like re-hanging the front fender. Otherwise, it was nice for a change to just sit in the cabin and let the Hired Hands canoodle on the counter. We paused for an Indian lunch by bridge 13 and stopped for half-an-hour at Shardlow for the crew to get essential supplies, before locking down into the Trent, where the hired hands went "Wow!" when they saw how much room there was to play with.

Having locked through the 2" fall Sawley Flood Lock we wandered down to Sawley Mechanised Locks to get waved straight in by the locky, who was even more agitated than usual as the THIRD Canaltime boat from Nottingham had totally missed the locks ‘cause they were heading up-river at full throttle, tried to turn without throttling back and got themselves on the bank! We pottered over and gave them a snatch off before continuing down river and turning into the Soar, to get back on the moorings at 1750, five minutes later than schedule. Not bad, eh?

12.5 miles, 7 locks

Totals: 120.8 miles, 72 locks