Catherine de Barnes.

Hi Folks.

We had a lovely night on our weekend mooring, but there was a very poor signal, so we bow hauled Hadar through the bridge 'ole on to some other moorings and hey presto the signal is much better.

After a very leisurely start to the day, we decided to take a walk around Catherine de Barnes such as it is. You walk up on to the road bridge, making sure you do not get run over by the traffic, which is busy. You actually need to cross the road to get on to the pavement. Having done this we walked past The Boat Inn, which is the only pub in the village. There is a Spar shop and a family run restaurant on the pavement side of the road. We crossed over to walk down Henwood Road, because I was looking for the old Isolation Hospital.
In 1907, a "fever hospital" was built in Henwood Lane as a joint operation of the Solihull and Meriden Councils for isolating patients with infectious diseases such as diphtheria, typhoid fever and smallpox. In 1978, Janet Parker died here, and is the last known victim of smallpox in the world. The hospital closed in the mid 1980s and in 1987 was converted to residential use.

In the 1950s, when contagious diseases became less prevalent, Catherine-de-Barnes became a convalescent maternity hospital, with the first child apparently being born there on 25 March 1953.
We walked on down the road further and found this little gem. Henwood Mill.

Stunning little place and it still has its working water wheel.

It is a former 400 year old flour mill, which is now a dwelling.

Ok any idea what this is referring too. It was on the crossroads in Catherine de Barnes.

Today being Sunday, we have had a leisurely day and a lovely roast dinner at The Boat Inn, which is a Chef and Brewer. I can totally recommend their Millionaires Cheesecake and I know Keith will tell you to go for their Ultimate Sticky Toffee Pudding, which did look amazing.

New Territory.

Hi Folks.

What a stunning sunset we had last night at Curdworth. It was so calm and later on really clear, with stars shining in the night sky.

Because of the stillness of last night, this morning we were treated to a foggy start, with the sun coming up.

Our morning began at 5.10 am, so a cuppa was much needed before we settled down again for another hour. When we did get up, I went walking in the Fog with Paddy and took lots of lovely photographs. We left the mooring at 7.50 am and headed towards the Minworth lock. The locks were easy to do and then we got to the second lock from the top and wam bam, something was around the propeller and it almost stopped us dead. There was no way we could get into the bank, so we just stopped in the middle of the cut and had a look down the weed hatch and this is what we found.

It was a builders bag and other items. I suspect the bag came from the building site opposite. It will be a present for a friend of ours who does hedging and tree work, she will love it.

Those locks cleared it was onto the Salford Junction.

New territory today for us, turning into the Saltley branch at Salford junction under Spaghetti junction.

It was onward to Garrison locks on the Saltley branch. All the locks are close together.

 

Really sad to see this sort of vandalism on a piece of history. This was the first of two lock beams that had fire damage.

I spied three young men on top of the warehouse, who turned out to be very friendly. They were enjoying seeing us work up through the locks.

At the top I waved them goodbye and we went on our way, through some fabulous Autumn colours.

We turned south at Bordesley junction onto the Grand Union canal and up Camp Hill locks.

Such a shame that it is covered in Graffiti.

I am not adverse to graffiti, when it is art, but when people just scribble stuff, which half the time is not even spelt right, then I cannot see the point. We got up the first two locks and met our first boat of the day. A couple were coming down and told us that a single hander was in front of us with a pair of boats. He had a steel narrow boat and a plastic boat, so she hoped we were not in any hurry, which of course we were not. Next lock the narrow boat was in the lock and the plastic cruiser was sat below the lock, so I went up to see if I could help. The gentleman explained he had been up since 4 am and it can take him 45 minutes to do each lock, so he would let us past once we had all cleared the lock, which was really nice of him. The gentleman is heading for London and so I wished him well after we cleared him at the lock.

 

Sampson Road depot at the top of Camp Hill locks.

Keith enjoying the Autumn cruising past Star City.

Spectacular colours heading towards Catherine de Barnes. The cutting is amazing and such a feat of engineering. We did our good deed of the day, when we saw three young lads trying to get to a football floating in the canal with a long stick. One of the lads ran up to us and asked if we could help them get their ball back. We steered the bow along side the ball and pushed it into the bank and I then moved it closer to the lads with our hook. They were extremely pleased and all said "Thank You". I had forgotten that it is half-term this week, so that is why they were out playing.

Moored at Catherine de Barnes.

Fazeley to Curdworth/Minworth

4hrs 30mins, 7.5miles, 11 locks

 

Hi Folks.

We left our over night mooring at Bonehill Road Bridge at 9.25 am, having done all the usual morning stuff on board. There was literally no wind this morning, so it was pleasantly warm, yet overcast.

Beautifully painted boat at Fazeley Junction, so impressive.

We turned on to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal for the second time this year.

Once again, the glorious Autumn colours brightened a rather dull morning. You cannot help but smile at the warm colours.

Drayton Foot Bridge.

It was time to work the locks, starting with Curdworth Bottom Lock and then it was the climb to the top, passing Kingsbury Water Park, which one day we will stop at, so we can get some fabulous wildfowl photographs.

Nearing the top we were helped by a couple of volunteer lock keepers, which was really nice.

On through Curdworth Tunnel, where we had hoped to moor, so we could walk into Curdworth for a nosey, but it was way to shallow and even though e tried a few places, there was no way we could moor.

We ended up mooring near the Cuttle Bridge Inn, near Curdworth. It is near a busy road, but it has rings and is deep enough, so it will do.



Rugeley to Bonehill Road Bridge near Fazeley.

Hi Folks.

Fabulous nights sleep at Rugeley, but we were awake at 6 am. As per-usual I made us a cuppa, which we sat in bed drinking and discussing the day ahead.
Up and about, Paddy was walked and then he and Marmite were fed. Rucksacks donned we shut the boat up and headed for Aldi, where we did a small shop. We were back at the boat by 8.45 am. I stowed the food away and we then prepared the boat for setting off.
It was a beautiful morning and actually warm in the sunshine.

We passed Debbie and James on Narrow Boat Lois Jane. We had a fleeting "Hello" as we passed each other.

Whilst we were on the move, I did some hand washing, I also put some sausage rolls in the back cabin oven to warm through for lunch. Lunch was eaten as we approached the top of Fradley Locks. As we approached the top lock, the volunteer lock keeper had the gate already open for us. We were down the locks with no fuss at all thanks to the volunteers. I then walked ahead to open the swing bridge at the junction.
The Autumn colours are glorious and always make me smile. There were plenty of boats on the move and some who required coal, so we made a couple of deliveries on the way, so the hold is getting lighter and closer to Keith's railway being built.

With the afternoon walking slowly towards the evening, I put dinner in the back cabin oven to cook, so when we stopped dinner would be ready. It was a longer day than most, so dinner was very welcome.

Our day ended at Bonehill Road Bridge, where we decided to call it a day. Dinner was ready and the kettle was boiling, so we settled down to dinner, before Keith had to walk Paddy. It is now 6.10 pm and getting dark, so we will sit and watch a DVD tonight before bedtime.

Stone, fun and goodbyes.

Hi Folks.

Our stay in Stone, Staffordshire was a fantastic one, full of fun, laughter and lots of chatter. We were there for the The Fuller Do, which Roger and Teresa organise each year for invited guests. Keith and I felt really chuffed to have been invited and were keen to help out and join in as much as possible.

Lots of historic boats and their owners were on parade for the whole weekend. We actually had the youngest boat there. Hadar was built by Roger Fuller so she was home for the weekend.

Roger's railway was in use all weekend, giving lots of rides. Young boys and older men's fixes were definitely filled all weekend, with boats and trains what more could anyone want.



 Friday night we went to the Borehole Pub in Stone, then Saturday evening the Bar-b-q's were set up for people to cook their own food, we had out curry on our boat before hand, but we did take drinks over.

The bonfire was lit both days, which meant it was the place to sit for a good old natter. We got to catch-up with lots of people we have not seen for years and with those we have seen more recently.
Monday we stayed on to see Tina and Rob. We walked down to Wetherspoons and met up with them for a meal, which was great fun. I do so love to catch-up with friends and to hear all their news and of course put the world to right over a few drinks.

Tuesday it was time to let go and leave Hadar's birthplace, but not before we delivered six bag of coal into Roger's yard for a customer.

Our day ended at Rugeley.

Onward to Stone.

Hi Folks.

What a stonking start to the day. I was standing on the back counter at around 6.45 am this morning watching the sunrise. A Kingfisher flew past announcing it was going fishing for its breakfast and the cows in the field opposite were stretching, having gotten up from a damp field. It was so calm and peaceful.

As the sun rose higher in the sky the mist began to roll along the cut, bringing its mystery with it and making it all feel rather mystical.

Once we were up and about, Paddy and I went for our first walk of the day, where a calf was having its breakfast.

On the walk back to the boat, I spotted Cormorants in an dead tree sunning themselves, so having fed the animals I was off with my camera in the hope the Cormorants were still there.

I was in luck they were still there waiting to have their photograph taken, my only problem was finding a gap in the over grown hedge to get a photograph.

Hadar looked very mystical in the mist.
At 9.25 am we left our over night mooring and headed towards Aston Lock, behind narrow boat Autumn Wine. We rose up through Aston Lock and onward into Stone, where luck would have it we found one mooring big enough for us, right below Star Lock.

After some lunch, we closed the boat up and went for a stroll in Stone to see what had changed since our last visit.

The Crown and Anchor has had a repaint and I cannot say I like it at all. It has lost all its character in my opinion.

This is how it used to look.
Stone is certainly not the town we remember, when Hadar was being built. It has lost its soul and has been taken over by charity shops. In such a small canal side town there are at least nine charity shops. Now you all know we love charity shops, but this many in such a small town is to many, again in my opinion. Stone is now a town of places to eat, hairdressers and charity shops, which is a shame.