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Calcutt to Fradley (TBC) and return - Aug/Sep 2017


Lily Rose

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1 minute ago, Ray T said:

Interesting thread, thank you.

Cheers Ray.

By the way, no need for any embarrassment about that canal history book. I would have put into the marina bookswap if I hadn't given it to you so hopefully it has now gone on to be read by someone else and raised a small amount for a good cause.

I wish I'd had more time to look round yesterday, it was more interesting (to me) than I'd expected!

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3 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

That's why I like the idea of getting underway early but it won't wash with the boss unfortunately.

Thanks for the tip about the locks, I certainly don't fancy that!

I haven't canalplanned yet but I'm starting to think of turning at KB, or possibly somewhere a bit further on (Rugeley perhaps) and having more time to enjoy the return journey. 

Further exploration of this area could then wait until a future date if/when we re-locate, possibly to KB marina in 2019 (I want to stay where we are for next year so we can have another trip to the Thames, possibly doing the ring as we have not yet been south on the GU from Norton junction.)

 

 

 

You might want to consider Alvecoat marina. Obviously different folks have different requirements from a marina but if general atmosphere and technical facilities outweigh showers, toilets, shops etc for you.

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6 minutes ago, frahkn said:

You might want to consider Alvecoat marina. Obviously different folks have different requirements from a marina but if general atmosphere and technical facilities outweigh showers, toilets, shops etc for you.

And a bloody good pub

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If/when we decide to move I will indeed consider Alvecote, and others, but we've been very happy in another Castle Marina since bought our boat 2 years ago.

For that reason KB gets an automatic place on the shortlist. 

Despite "Fradley is full" posts we've just moored as the 5th boat back from the waterpoint before the swing ridge. Time for a pint methinks, probably grub as well.

 

 

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17 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

 

  • A little while later I passed a boat called Delta Queen moored at the bottom of a garden. I'm not sure why but that boat name seemed to connect with CWDF in my head. Or it may be nothing to do with it.

 

As RayT noted, DQ is my boat. Pity we missed you, we were away, having to go to my youngest sons to do some (more) DIY. 

Yes it is a good area to moor. Plenty of diverse routes and a goodly number of winding holes, so you can turn around pretty much when you want.

Also well served for boatyards and fuel boats.

 

6 hours ago, Ray T said:

Interesting thread, thank you. I seem to recollect DQ is Cuthound's boat.

Yup, DQ is mine.

Edited by cuthound
To remove a duplicate post.
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39 minutes ago, cuthound said:

As RayT noted, DQ is my boat. Pity we missed you, we were away, having to go to my youngest sons to do some (more) DIY. 

Yes it is a good area to moor. Plenty of diverse routes and a goodly number of winding holes, so you can turn around pretty much when you want.

Also well served for boatyards and fuel boats.

 

Yup, DQ is mine.

I reached Rugeley last night just after sunset and as I was mooring up, was convinced by the boaters already moored up that I was joining their BBQ rather than going to the pub.

I later found out that two of them were cuthounds neighbors from Tamworth on a newly painted F.U.B.B 

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We last saw Jeremy & Janet on FUBB at Great Hayard in April. They had left a month earlier to take their boat to Aqueduct Marina to be painted by Andy Russell.

It took us 2 days to get from Tamworth to to Great Hayward.

So I guess we should be expeciting them back in the next 2 or 3 weeks then :D

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Day 6, Whittington to King's Bromley, 4.0 hours, 31.1 cumulative
 
  • Today I decided I'm less keen on the section of the Coventry canal (including the Birmingham and Fazeley canal bit) between Fazeley and Fradley than I was on the Coventry all the way up to Fazeley junction.
  • This is partly due to how much busier it seemed, presumably due to it being between two junctions, but also because it seemed that mooring opportunities were less frequent due to less armco, more moored boats, more overgrown edges and more narrow bits. It felt much more like what I'm used to.
  • I still enjoyed it though and haven't really got anything more to say about it, good or bad.
  • As we approached Fradley I was surprised to find a couple of spaces on the armco before the water point and swing bridge so we moored up as the 5th boat boat back from the water point. We then went to The Swan for beer and food. Ordered at 1255, got our food at 1410! 75 bloody minutes! I was so hungry by then I could have eaten a scabby horse so I'm afraid I can't say whether it was any good or not as it barely touched the sides. I know it was a bank holiday but even so. Perhaps we should have gone a bit later, the place was already less busy by the time we started eating.
  • After a cuppa back at the boat we set off late afternoon and turned left onto the Trent and Mersey to do 3 locks before mooring for the night. 
  • I didn't think much of the twin lock gates at the bottom of each lock, they're so damned heavy. Maybe it's just me but I would much rather operate the single gates on the Oxford (including Claydon top lock and Somerton Deep) or the big gates on the GU double locks.
  • Still, only got 3 more to do as we've now turned round ready to start back tomorrow or Wednesday after a visit to King's Bromley marina. We winded there (no "No Turning" signs here - not that they would have stopped us given that we pay Castle Marinas £'000s each year) and then reversed back 100 yards to moor just before the power lines that cross nearby. So near I can hear them fizzing as I sit in the well deck, Adnams beer in hand.
 
What else?
 
  • Oh yes, I may have spotted another couple of forum members' boats again. Either that or they are boats with the same names.
  • First was Vulpes, for whom Mrs Lily Rose opened the swing bridge as they approached the junction from the Coventry direction.
  • She then held it open for, and closed it behind, Kelpie as they came through from the other direction.
  • Edit to add... I wasn't sure at the time, so didn't mention CWDF when I said hello, but the names seemed to ring a bell so I searched later which brought up a couple of forum IDs that I've now forgotten.
  • Edit to add... that was a very easy swing bridge to operate, my little finger would have sufficed.
 
  • We have decided to go no further on this trip but to start back with 11 or 12 days available to return over the route that took us 6 days on the outward leg. 
  • That should allow us to spend a bit more time enjoying some of the lovely locations we cruised past on the way up. I'm not sure where they are though. Normally I mark mooring spots in my Nicholson guide as we go along but there were so many on the Coventry, at least as far as Fazeley, it seemed pointless. It felt like just about anywhere was good.
 
Edited by Lily Rose
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