Xilion Rose

Another Summer on the Cut

We left the canal basin on the Droitwich canal on the 4th August as planned (after Annie rejoined us from her brief stay with Selina) and made our way to the Worcester and Birmingham canal, Just as we joined the W / B Canal, we passed a boat that was owned by the Micron Theatre Group, this is a small group of 4 actors that tour the UK canals and perform short plays, usually very funny. Their next show was just a short way down the canal at a pub in Tibberton, so off we set to watch the performance and of course sample the local brew, all in all we had a great time.
After the evening watching the Micron Theatre Group, we made our way to the Lyons Boat Yard via the Tardebigge lock flight (42 locks in 4 miles) and the West Hills Tunnel (2726 yards long), we actually arrived at the boat yard on my birthday and were joined by the whole family, afterwards,Selina and India stayed for a few days. While at the boat yard we had our oil burning fire removed and a dual fuel fire fitted, we also had a complete overhaul of the battery charging system, including 4 new batteries.
With Xilion Rose now in perfect working order we set of for the Dudley Black Country Museum and then the Sea Life Center near the Gas Street Basin in Birmingham, on the Thursday 18th August, Annie left the boat with India as she had tickets to visit Buckingham Palace, and she has not stopped talking about it since. While Annie was away, I went to Droitwich to collect my “New” classic car, having sold the Sunbeam on our return from Monaco and the Alps trip. On Annie’s return to the boat we set of for the Cheshire Ring with the intention of including 7 miles of the Manchester Ship Canal, but at arriving at Ellesmere Port we found that the red tape and the forms / fee’s required ruled this part of our plan out, so we returned to Chester and spent the time planning our future route. We decided to move up to the Anderton Boat Lift via the Middlewich link so that we could spend time on the River Weaver. After a few wet days on the Weaver, we returned to the Boat Lift and made our way to the Anderton Marina, where we left Xilion Rose and hired a car to motor back to Naphill where Annie had promised to take India to Disneyland Paris for her birthday. On our return to Xilion Rose, we set out for Heart Break Hill on the Trent and Mersey Canal and then on to the Macclesfield Canal and Peak Forest Canal. The Macclesfield was a total surprise as we had imagined it would travel through a very industrialised area, with factories and warehouses crowding in from both sides, but the opposite was in fact the case, and we found the two canals to be very open with super views over the surrounding hills and countryside.
On our return to the Trent and Mersey, we were instantly confronted with the the Hardcastle Tunnel, the longest canal tunnel in the UK, at 2926 yards, and to make it seem worse, the “Tunnel Keeper” shuts big iron doors at each end as soon as you enter so that you can’t see the exit until you are right on it. We continued down the Trent and Mersey until we reached Great Haywood where we one again left Xilion Rose so that we could attend Stevens Round Table Ladies Festival, which was very enjoyable and raised loads of cash for local charities in the High Wycombe area. We returned to the boat and via a roundabout route (Via Stourport the River Severn and Worcester) we once again found ourselves on the North Stratford Canal, making for Kingswood and the Grand Union Canal to take us down to Aylesbury, on the way to Kingswood, we met up with our close friends Ann and Gerald on Hampshire Rose who intend to spend the winter “On Line” (i.e. Not in a marina or basin), after a booze evening with them, we finally joind the Grand Union on the 9th October for the last part of the 2011 cruise.

Sorry but there are still problems with the photos.

Windsor to the River Avon and beyond

We left Windsor on the Sunday and moved upstream to Hurley where we moored behind the actual Lock, the weather was so good we decided to stay put and sunbathe for the day. On the 3rd, our friend Adrian arrived to cover for Annie who wanted to stay with Selina during Selina’s hospital appointment. Adrian and I made our way to the Thames and Kennet Marina where I had arranged to have the diesel cooker was serviced. After this we moved on to Abbingdon where Annie arrived back and Adrian departed, Steven and Jo also arrived with the two girls (and Daisy the dog) who were going to stay with us for a couple of days. We moved on to Sandford where the weather changed and it poured with rain all day. After the Girls left with Steven, we decided to stay on the Thames for a couple more days and therefore headed for Eynsham, however, we only managed to reach Kings Lock where we suddenly found that the only gear available was reverse, after a frantic call to R.C.R. (River Canal Rescue), an engineer arrived and soon fitted new gear cables which cured the problem.
After the problem with the gears, we decided to leave the Thames and join the canal system again via Dukes Cut, Oxford. Once on the canal we made our way to Thrupp and then on to Banbury where we stayed moored in the middle of town for two days, after Banbury we cruised on to Coventry where we met up with Damian, Claire and the beautiful Ellie Rose. After Coventry, we made our way on to the Ashby Canal where we had an overnight stop in a Marina, allowing us to recharge our batteries. After a relaxing night in the Marina, we rejoined the Coventry Canal and made our way to the junction of the Coventry and the Birmingham / Fazeley Canal. One point to make is that the “Top End” of the Coventry Canal is beautiful, way beyond our expectations. The Birmingham / Fazeley Canal has 36 locks on it’s journey to Gas Street Basin and it was our plan to “do the lot” in one go, however, after talking to Stuart and Marie (B.C.N. Experts), we were advised to moor at Cuckoo Wharf after doing 12 locks, and then do the remaining 24 locks on the following day. We took their advice and arrived in Gas Street Basin without to much trouble. From Birmingham we made our way to Lyons Boat Yard where Xilion Rose was due to have the bottom cleaned and painted while Annie and myself took a 4 week break and took our 1953 Sunbeam Alpine Classic Car to Monte-Carlo via the Alps with 3 other couples, also in Classic Cars.
On our return to Lyons Boat Yard and Xilion Rose, we, together with Gary and Sarah (who own and run the Boat Yard) made our way down the North and South Stratford Canal to take part in the Stratford Water Festival and a week later, the Eversham Water Festival where we were joined for a few days by Mark and Karen (friends we met last January in Egypt).
We Decided to stay 0n the River Avon for the rest of July, moving on to Pershore and then Ecklington, and finally to Tewkesbury where we joined the River Severn for a few days, after mooring for a couple of days near Hallow and the amazing pub called “The Camp” we entered the Droitwich Barge Canal, this Canal has just been opened after being derelict for the last 40 years, we are currently moored in the small basin near the top of the Canal where we will stay until we move on to the main Worcester and Birmingham Canal later this week and start ther next stage of our 2011 plan i.e. to visit Skipton on the Leeds / Liverpool Canal.

Sorry, no photo’s at this time, but will post some on the next blog update.

Spring has sprung and off we go for the 2011 season

With winter finally over we were able to leave the Aylesbury Basin on the 2nd April and start our 2011 adventure, so along with most of the family we set off for Marsworth and the Grand Union Canal (6.5 miles and 17 lock’s away) where we moored for the night at the Tring reservoir and all trooped of to the local pub for a meal and a brew, what a great way to start a new cruising season.
Having said goodbye to the family, we made our way towards London, the weather was warm and sunny with only 1 rain shower on the Monday night, we reached Uxbridge on the Thursday and after topping up with diesel moored up and met up with Annie’s cousin Linda and her daughter Lora. The following day we cruised down to Bulls Bridge and moored up at the Tesco wharf to wait for our friends Adrian and Michelle who will stay with us for a couple of days. Bulls Bridge is the start of the Paddington Arm and together with our friends we made our way to Little Venice, we were all surprised at the amount of “Greenery” that borders the canal as it wends its way in to Central London. The following day, after a short cruise through Regents Park Zoo, we returned to Little Venice to say goodbye to our friends Adrian and Michelle and prepare to meet India (our Granddaughter), who will be staying with us for a few days. The famous Puppet Theatre Barge was moored in Little Venice so Annie booked tickets and took India to see the show. The following day Malcolm took India to the Natural History Museum.
We continued our journey with India still on board and made our way down the Regents Canal to the Lee and Stort Navigation, en route to Bishops Stortford. The Lee and Stort comes in two half’s, the first 15 miles are totally industrial, with lots of rubbish and general flotsam, but as soon as you reach Waltham Abbey it changes, with green fields and woods bordering the canal all the way in to Bishops Stortford. However, the mooring when you get there is so uninviting that we left as soon as we could and made our way back to Sawbridgeworth and a great mooring just above the lock, it was here that we had a brief visit from Annie’s nephew, Darren, with his wife Sue and kids Sam and Jamie. The following morning, India arrived again and we then had a 3 day gentle cruise down to Hackney Marsh where we had arranged for Selina to pick up India. We were now able to make our way to Limehouse Basin and prepare for our dash up the Tidal Thames to Teddington. Selina’s Husband Chris joined us for the exciting trip up the Thames, while Adrian and Michelle, Peter and Margaret from N/B Gecko, acted as roving photographers and managed to get various shots of Xilion Rose as we passed Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast. Overall, the trip on the Tidal Thames was just as exciting as our trip a couple of years ago, up the Bristol Channel. From Teddington, with the weather perfect (after a thunderstorm during the night) we cruised towards Shepperton but as we went past Walton, Annie had a frantic phone call from Jackie (Annie’s cousin) who just happened to be having a drink in one of the riverside pub’s, when Xilion Rose cruised past, so obviously, we turned around and joined her for a quick drink before carrying on to Shepperton and a brilliant mooring at Desborough Island, after a couple of days there, we moved on to Windsor where we moored on Bath Island and waited for friends and relatives to arrive. We will move off from Windsor on the Sunday 1st May and make our way via Reading to Oxford.