Whitchurch

Why would anyone spend 2 days on the bank side at Whitchurch and catch the 205 bus to the produce market?

If it wasn't for the farm butter, cheshire cheddar, stilton, scottish haddock, kippers from the Isle of Man, mushrooms and vegetables I wouldn't be bothered. Just joking, It is lovely here in the countryside as the sheep on the opposite bank constantly tell you. It has rained on and off this arvo but we enjoyed it tinkling on the roof. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitchurch,_Shropshire

LLANGOLLEN Canal

Here we are on the Llangollen canal albiet still in merry England. Wrenbury has the canal winding thru and two canal pubs, what more does one need. It was a scorcher today and we are both sunburnt.

Very narrow locks at Hurleston Junction with signs saying to lift the side fenders. We lowered the fenders again after that flight. We have negotiated two lift bridges without drama the second is a vehicle bridge and the traffic just banks up and waits, no car horns or hint of resentment even when two busses were in the queue. I'd like to see you try that anywhere in Australia.

No weed at all around the prop today! and what's more you can see the prop the water is so clear and you can see little fish in the water. We are keeping to tradition, its happy hour and we are having a few Carling ales and feeding the swans. Regards to all J and B http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrenbury

Nantwich

We are at Nantwich now. Thankfully we didn't get the flu in Birmingham as there was an outbreak of swine flu affecting school children while we were there. We are having a lay day today and catching up on boat maintenance, reading and surfing the web. The sun has been brilliant today so we will finally get the washing dry and crisp. The countryside is fresh and clear and even the canal is cleaner. Yesterday we only got some old rope and a few bags out of the weed hatch after mooring up between the aquaduct and the basin.

We did a walk to the town and just had to check out some of the ancient pubs, the semi-wooded style is timeless and inside one, Curshaws, they have extended one side about 10 ft with thick glass walls and ceilings supported by stainless steel pipe framing making an interesting and functional juxtaposition of old and new. Yes, thats a baby grand piano on the mezzanine.

Opps, looks like rain better get the washing inside. Bob and Jen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantwich

Norbury and Market Drayton

We are travelling nicely, no problems at all. Very good BW facilities at Norbury, good beef pie at the Junction Inn. We cruised to Market Drayton yesterday arriving at 2.30pm in time to do the shopping and then a nice meal at the Talbot. we will stay here again tonight and be off to Audlem in the morning.

Rhapsody is doing fine.

I checked the fuel consumption after we filled at Wheaton and we are doing less than 1 litre per engine hour. Yesterday we were into a stiff headwind though so had to use more power and got sore arm from constantly using the tiller. it's tough eh!

http://www.shropshiretourism.co.uk/market-drayton/

Here at last

Well here we are in UK at last, aboard NB Rhapsody with J and A, our friends and narrowboat trainers. We arrived at Heathrow at 7.30 am Tues, bussed to Birmingham and were aboard at the Gas Street Basin and having lunch by 11.30am in good sunshine.

We had a tuition cruise and learned about locks, narrow bridges and halfway through Rain, Rain, Rain. No problem, we were soon back in the basin and moored for the night. We cruised briefly on Wed to learn winding and went through all the detail of living aboard and servicing Rhapsody. She is 59 feet long and weighs over 11 tons.
Thursday R and R came to take J and A off on another adventure and we reluctantly said bye bye. We went shopping at Tesco and came back loaded like pack mules. On Fri we practiced the things we had been shown and then moored again. We walked from the Gas Street Basin to the Bullring market and benefited from some end of day bargains in beef, sausages and bacon. Could have got spuds and cabbage for next to nothing but didn't fancy carrying them back home to Rhapsody. We bought a UK sim card for the phone. Went to the gallery and had a beer at the Prince of Wales on the way back.
We left Birmingham Sat morning heading to Wolverhampton, We went right into the Black Country Museum wharf at the tunnel entrance hoping for a mooring but then had to reverse back 1500 ft to moor as all berths were taken. We found a beautiful, quiet spot next to a park. We went to the museum Sat arvo then were back at the museum Sun, resting and reading and then a couple of beers at the Waggon and Horses in Tipton. Mon we were off to the top of the Wolverhampton 21 flight of locks to moor for the night. Plenty of sunshine and it took the stuffing out of us but oh what glorious days. Dinner at the Hogs Head. (No, not hogs breath!)

Tuesday, the Wolverhampton 5hour 21 lock flight was a big initiation but a good learning curve and we are on the Shropshire Union canal now. We looked around Brewood last evening, went to the Admiral Rodney for dinner. Yesterday was glorious, saw fields of red poppies and lots of birds. This stretch of canal is well forested looks like Robin Hood and his merry men could appear at any moment. The tow path has tables and chairs at intervals for boaters to use. We are moored next to one. A bit overcast today Wed, with light rain so we get time to do the blog. Bob and Jen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFeJDu-PRb4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBganXP359w&NR=1

Raining cats and dogs

Well, it's rained more in the last 24 hours than it has in the last month! We're moored on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal by bridge 84A, just south of the winding point. We're right across from the Birmingham University, which might not be the best place to moor for Friday and Saturday night, but it was quiet last night. The weather will be a little better tomorrow and lots better Monday. Hey, you should have been here last week! John and Ann. http://www.catshill.com/trips/bcn.htm

Gas Street Basin, Birmingham

Sorry we haven't been in contact lately. We've been having trouble with our "dongle" and getting very limited access to the internet. Finally we went to a "3" Store and they confirmed that it has packed up. No problem we thought, it must be under warrantee. Except that the warrantee was up a few months ago. Actually the "3" warrantee is one year but the dongle manufacturer's warrantee is 2 years so we'll go after them. But now we are the proud owners of a new and improved dongle!
Since Kinver we moved to a great mooring spot about 1/4 mile short of Wordsley Junction near Stourbridge. It turned out to be a perfect spot to do the painting under the gunwales so we stayed there 3 nights. The only excitement was when I was turning the boat around to paint the other side. In the process of reversing, and then running aground, I picked up what turned out to be a winter jacket on the prop. While I was floating aimlessly (Ann had gone into town) in the middle of the canal, the only boat we saw all day came along. Anyway, I got it sorted and the only problem now was that Rhapsody was now pointed back toward Kinver. Our plan was to reverse back to Wordsley Junction early in the morning and then have a clear run up the Stourbridge 16 locks. The reversing went fine, but JUST as we approached the junction and the first lock, another boat came out of the Stourbridge Arm and started up the flight. Oh well, just another flight where the locks will all be set against us... It actually went well as the folks in the other boat knew what they were doing and didn't hold us up much at all.
It's been a while since we've been on this section so we couldn't remember whether there was any place to moor between the top of the 19 and the Delph 9. Well, there isn't, so we continued on up the "9", which is really only 8 locks. Why, you ask? It was redone at some point and one of the locks was eliminated by a couple deeper ones. A nice chap helped us up this flight. This is a beautiful area and flight of locks. We have a really nice picture of us going down this section a few years ago.
So this meant that we would moor at Merry Hill for the night. This is an area that has gone through massive reconstruction. We never saw it before it was redone, but apparently a huge shopping mall stands now where there was once derelict buildings and industrial decay. There is every type of store you can imagine within walking distance and lots of quite good mooring. Well done.
Our plan was to leave Merry Hill and then turn right at Windmill end to explore the Dudley #2 Canal down toward Blackheath and Gosty Hill Tunnel. Unfortunately the weather was turning iffy and was definitely going to be punk the next day so we decided to push on through Netherton Tunnel and on to Gas Street. Actually we moored at the first 14 day mooring we came to in Birmingham, and good thing because there are more boats here than I've ever seen. Some have moved on and it's probably more busy than normal due to the fact that it's half term break this week.
So, we'll continue with some chores on the boat and probably take some side trips over the next few days. We really like this area. Some other boaters we talk to show almost shock that we would even cruise through, much less stay in, Birmingham. They're missing the boat!
All the best, John and Ann http://www.birminghamuk.com/gasbasin.htm