Burston by boat before the big blow

Ok, so I'll never write headlines for the Sun - thankfully.

The weather forecast is more of a best guess at the moment. After it was wrong yesterday, today was supposed to be showers early afternoon, which has turned into heavy rain after 7pm and 75mph winds in the night.

My planning via CanalPlanAC was to get to Burston today. Based on the weather forecast last night we left early and got the best of the days weather with blue skies on the lovely stretch between the pig farm and great Haywood and beyond. Thos who boat in this area will know Colwich lock can get queues as it is a very long pound between it and Woodend with a marina and a few long term moorers plus leisure spots. I recall we were in a 6-7 boat queue last time we came this way. Today  - we had it all to ourselves !

Before that we had a sublime cruise from our overnight mooring.

The pig farm moorings

The Taft - Boaters Christian fellowship with their boat Maid of Oak for sale   

Stunning cruising 

The mooring below Haywood lock were almost empty. We had half a plan to stop and take on water but a boater was across both berths so we plodded on to Hoo Mill lock.

The last few times we have come this way we have turned here. There were quite a few Anglo Welsh boats out.

We got recognised (well Percy did ) by this boater, Mr Jarrett. He had a good chat with Rachel, he told her he used to own Russell Newbury and he had lived on his boat for 24 year and said he planned to die on it.... literally a die hard boater, it was good to meet you sorry we did not get your first name. 

Rachel chatting at more locks  !

I always feel sorry for Weston boat services  - in our shared boat years when we came past his house and wharf they were in the middle of the country...

..... now they are surrounded by new housing

This one is for my niece..... Laura-Jo

Another memory. We came this way and met my youngest son Callum who drove over to see us in my car using my fuel bringing my cheque book to write three cheques out for his uni accommodation and we paid for his meal. £100,000 per child I am advised

It gets a bit twisty out of Weston 

It got quite windy - force three based on the flags - read here and I'll reference it later 

This is the lock cottage at Sandon - I enquired about it just after it was sold by BW, pleased we did not get it as the road is a real race track 

Sandon lock is a deep lock  not quite 10 foot 

The met office have given out an amber alert for wind in the small hours of Wednesday. My plan was to moor opposite the cottages after upper Burston bridge but there are trees there so we stopped short of the bridge hopefully using the cover of the large hedge overnight.

We were planning to eat at the Greyhound inn tonight, but the rain was set to arrive 6 ish so we showered and changed and got there at 2.20  - they still served us a nice meal despite closing for food at 2.30  - we have used this pub before and will again - a week tomorrow if all goes well when we (I) make the return trip .

I clocked a man with two greyhounds in the bar and after ordering food went over an introduced myself to Ralph who is a boater and who had blogged in the past. We had a good chat, he met up with Mandy my neighbour at Hunts lock when she came this way earlier in the year. It was good to finally meet up and have a chat.

So the rain is hammering down hard now and we have just had our cheese and biscuits with  a small amount of wine.... lets see how bad the night is!!

Ok, let's go cruising ...

Far too much stuff about me retiring, let's blog about some canal boating.

We got to Percy last night and unpacked and watered up. I have a tender back, so Rachel did the wheel barrow run to the car while I was on the towpath water point, this works well as we do not have to carry stuff over the lock.

Suitably watered up and bed made up we repaired to the cabin and to keep the boat a little warmer I chucked a £1 instant log in the wood burner that gave out a decent amount of heat for about 2 hours.

This morning I excelled by having a whisky before 11 .... it was a small toast to those who were not with me physically but elsewhere in the universe. Cheers Dad and Charles. It was a nice 12 year old single malt given to me by Tom my eldest son.

Leia was getting impatient, whispering in my ear she wanted a walk !, Yes I have a selfie stick now !

The forecast this morning was showers till 11 then clear till three'ish. They lied.... we had some lovely weather but when it did rain it was heavy. I waited until 11 which gave me the chance to watch Raymond come down Hunts with a long line.... in shortening the line the steerer nearly got into a pickle, some heavy engine work was needed  - hence the black smoke.

When we did get going at 11 our passage was made easier by lockies on all 5 Fradley locks. A boat came down and winded at the junction which slowed us as we had to wait for an up and down at Middle  - and it rained hard for 10 minutes but then beautiful sunshine when we ascended Shadehouse. Just an hour to do the locks.

The weather gave us a show of its intentions at Woodend lock with this view forward up the beautiful stretch to Kings Bromley.

The clouds looming ominous looking back to Fradley 

We had an escort all the way into Armitage  - a Kingfisher kept just out of photo range for a good mile - moving on as the boat approached. 

We stopped briefly in Rugelely for some supplies at Tesco then made our way to just short of bridge 69 for the evening. We passed an interesting boat on the single armco mooring here, Lord Byrons Maggot  - it was called !! A quick Google advises it is a dance !

Tomorrow an early start as the better weather is in the earlier part of the day. Plus I'd like not to be in a queue at Colwich lock. 

All in all a decent days boating, 10 minutes short of the 4 hours 50  CanalPlanAC advised.

Bragging rights and CanalPlanAC

For the canal folks.... I was checking my route, well overnight stops, as there is really only one route.....and realised my house is shown on the OS maps in the Nickelsons. To be precise page  14 book 4... I'll get me anorak !!


A big mention to CanalPlanAC  - Link here it really is a superb program. I found out tonight you can easily set overnight stops for a trip... really useful if like me you have two guests who will require pub stops each night. So for John and Mick I have the following itinerary

Sunday - Black Lion Consall
Monday - Holly Bush Stockton Brook
Tuesday - Plume of Feathers, Barleston
Wednesday - The Greyhound Burston
Thursday - Woolsly Bridge inn- Woolsly bridge
Friday - The Swan Fradley

I'd better order another cassette !!

Clocked off

I am labouring a little on this event but to be honest until your time comes - and I hope you are planning for it, no one can really understand how emotional it is to leave the safety of work. Some will find it easier as they move around in different careers and different time spans in any one place of work. For me it was harder to say goodbye as I had been in one place for the last 30 years !

In some ways I still do not feel like I am retired, I guess that comes with time.

Yesterday the 8th September 2017 was my day. I received the most wonderful send off from colleagues current and I was so pleased to see colleagues from the past, some had made considerable time and distance sacrifices to be with my family and myself.

I was selfish and asked my family to be with me, I was nervous and unsure on my reactions. I wanted to show off my wonderful, beautiful family. It is why I have been in work and it is what work has supported me in achieving.  I will be eternally grateful for my luck in that respect.

Many came  - some were absent by choice no doubt and that pleased me as I only wanted those who wanted to be there there. I was showered with gifts and beautiful cards with lovely words, I am not normally a keeper of cards but these marked the respect and friendships I have enjoyed over a long time.

There were some I thought about who could not be with me as they had passed, some while working which is so sad but makes the need to enjoy and feel blessed all the more important.

I received sage advice from some who had gone before, retire with pride and dignity don't focus on the bits that were not right, focus on all what has been good. My colleagues made that very easy to do.

So I am very very lucky to be free from work at the age of 55. It has come at cost  - financial which is significant. However as I have said to so many this was the time in my life I had the option to buy time. Not all have such a privilege and in my thinking and planning it was not an option to pass it by.

I have changed my timer on the side bar to now count up from my last day of work, rather than what was there counting down to it. Let's see what retirement is like then !





 

The last help of a group of good men.

Only two days to go in my working life now. How do you say thank you to those who have given their support to you, some over decades....

The people who I have worked most closely with, those that have managed the difficult day to day stuff while I basked in the glory of their hard work,  how to make a thank you a little more personal.

Well I took them for a little jolly on Percy. They have all heard stories of the mooring, the boat, the community, the lock walk, the two hard winters living afloat. Also Percy was pointing south towards Shardlow and on Sunday or Monday we will be setting off north on the reinvention cruise so Percy needed winding.

I liked the sentiment of asking them to help me point my boat into the direction of my retirement....

So while I still had the management responsibility and the blame would fall on me I took the executive decision to sod off and have a little cruise and a bacon roll. You'll have to excuse the attire, I did not tell them what I was planning just asked them to book a few hours into their respective diaries, so they were not ideally dressed for boating  !

I have never publicised my blog at work. I recently introduced a friend from biking to the Uni who was also a Facebook friend and to cut a long story short James my transport manager found my blog ;-). So I told him he would be appearing .... As I suspected he was a natural at steering the boat - pin straight down the cut, well done James.

It was helpful having so many lock assistants to get us to Alrewas and back.

Two pro's at the tiller. Simon on the left has Caledonia Canal experience and Mike is a veteran of canal holidays and I'm led to believe lots of canal walking. One walk we have in the bucket list is to walk the complete Caldon canal in a day from Stoke to Froghall.... I think a long June day next year is best.

Tony on the tiller here  I have worked with for the longest. He is a seasoned canal boater. Those with a real focus on my blogs will recognise Tony from trips on my other boats, Sylph and Waterlily. Some photos are classified as he is a married man with responsibilities of children now. He was aboard on the last trip on our share boat Sylph  -  in fact I recall he broke the boat  - resulting in an engineer call?

February 2008 was the last cruise aboard Sylph. Click here   this was before too much beer was consumed !!

Gavin second from the left declined to damage my retirement plans. I say he chickened out...

As the title says a group a real good men  - thanks for all your help and support.... the very best of luck for the future.

NB Briar Rose comes to my valley

I received a message from Adam to say he and Adrian would be close by today  - at my local in fact, the Black Lion Consall. It's part of their 'Northwest Passage trip - Click  here . It would have been rude of me not to pop down to say hello. I was a little late back from work, so after a cup of tea Leia and I headed off down through Consall woods to the canal and walked to their boat.

They have the 'Les's spot' Its a mooring I aim to get at some point and get the same photos Les and Jaq  had on their blog. Canal boat in front of a steam train with pub behind.

Everyone had a good smile for the camera  - including Leia. As it was late it was a brief chat, then a walk back up the canal and up through the woods in the failing light.

The canal had a beauty only available to those daft enough to be walking late - my bonus !

This time next week we will be on our way to the same spot.... can't wait !

It was good to meet you both again, have a great rest of the trip and enjoy the steam train.

The less glamorous side of boating

Romantic, idyllic, peaceful, stressless, beautiful, relaxing......that's canal boating,  then you have to stick your arm up and over the back boiler plate and remove all the stuff swept down the chimney. I was wasted in my previous job, I should have been a gynaecologist !

It is an essential job, makes the fire draw properly and helps also by not allowing the stove to kill you in your sleep with carbon monoxide poisoning ..... yes you reading this, check before you light that fire for the next 6 months  !!

I could have just licked back and relaxed  - if I knew how, but there was grass to cut, the boat to clean and the oil to be changed on the engine.

So for the record, 10 litres of Morrisons finest (not the supermarket) went in after the same came out  - one a little dirtier than the other. I hope this 10 litres works harder than the last lot.

Talking of engineering  -  I expect this little beast takes some looking after.... it was making some smoke, more than the steam train we tripped on a few weeks ago when we walked to Froghall station and caught the steam train back to Consall Station. 

The engine fettle and boat clean were for a good reason. I can't call them holidays anymore, here is the Wiki definition of a holiday;

A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work, are suspended or reduced

So henceforth they are trips, or special events. I may drop into old slang calling them holidays, please excuse me if I do !

After this week I'll be tripping out to a few places, and in the spirit of this blog i'll post them up. I have reviewed my photos recently and I have some catching up to do so a few things may appear in the wrong order.