Following the enjoyable adventures over the last two years,
for 2014 we decided to repeat our 2013 experiences of the good barge “Pennine”
from Union Canal Carriers as it suited our needs
- · not too flash
- · not too expensive (we are all pensioners after all)
- · sturdy (we knew this from knocks it suffered last year)
- · plenty of room
- · varying route choices from boatyard
The only variation from last year was the sad unavailability
for this cruise of our esteemed Captain due to personal circumstances. Aside from this the crew comprised the
remaining reprobates from last year with John, Paddy, Garry, Phil, Patrick and me.
This year Garry and John did the honours with driving and as
we didn’t want to drive in convoy it was agreed we meet up in Stow-on-the-Wold
at lunchtime to do our provisions shop and also visit a local cafe for
sustenance. Garry, Patrick and I had
stopped here last year and having enjoyed a sandwich we took the rest of the crew to the Cotswold
Garden Tearooms -
and this proved a popular choice with all, although Phil was
staggered by the size of the spud for his jacket potato. The quality was excellent and at a reasonable
price. These tea rooms, which are just
off the main square, are heartily recommended to anyone visiting the town which
already this early in the year was swamped with oldies coach tours!
After lunch a quick whizz around Tesco’s for our breakfast
needs plus a few bottles of wine for some who fancied a change from the beer. And
then off for the final hour journey to our boatyard with the sun starting to
shine.
On arriving at the yard we found it full of boats with
seeming only us and one other out at this time. “Pennine” was located with her
sister barge “Chiltern” moored outside her meaning although it was easy to load
some assistance was going to be needed to get moving!
I'm stood on Pennine with Paddy on Chiltern.
I
reported our arrival to the yard office only to be advised by the somewhat
elderly lady ensconced there that “Pennine” wasn’t due out today! Bearing in mind the date there was initial
panic in my mind but within a few minutes the main yardman walked in and
roundly abused her for not being with it as the boat was ready to go! We gratefully loaded our gear and then he
proceeded with even less instruction than last year – literally just handed me
the acceptance sheet for signature.
Actually the most important information he imparted was that
the pub we visited on our last night the year before was still excellent,
although the tow path was very muddy and (his words) last Friday night he went
arse over tit much to the amusement of his wife. His recommendation – do the slightly longer
walk via the road. He did also recommend
another pub at Napton and roundly pooh poohed our choice of route as containing
too many locks! Thankfully he then
assisted our departure by moving “Chiltern” and with Paddy at the helm off we
chugged.
Day 1: Braunston to
Napton on the Hill
Passing Braunston Marina we head towards Braunston Junction
it was apparent that there were very few boats moving and so Patrick volunteered to do some steering. He had not enjoyed this experience last year where a combination of very strong winds and more boats moving had made him so nervous he’d been adamant no way this year.
However he was soon displaying all the accomplishments of a veteran bargee and he steered with great aplomb through several bridge holes which was excellent as I suspect this improved his whole holiday experience.
I
can’t recall who was steering when we experienced a most bizarre event on
passing a nesting swan. I know we Swans
are very protective of our brood but this particular cob took it to new levels
with attacks on the boat which he persisted with for many hundred yards.
I wish I’d had the video camera handy as no words can
describe his behaviour. It was truly most extraordinary and defied all logic as
his desire to drive us off actually left his partner asleep on the nest and
unprotected.
Before reaching the junction with the Grand Union at Napton
we encountered the most humongous barge which had to be over 70 foot long and
the width of the broad double locks.
This was pure luxury and one imagined it must belong to Mr Abramovich or some other Russian oligarch who’d taken a
wrong turning from the Med! However
despite all the technology it appeared a female on the stern wheelhouse
platform had got entangled in some canal side trees which had ensnared an item
of her clothing in the branches. Being
true gentlemen of the seas we manoeuvred, rescued aforementioned item and
handed it to her as we passed. Her
gratitude was only matched by ours in that we thus got ahead of this
monstrosity which on looking back filled the entire section of the canal in the
narrowed approach to the junction. Thankfully
it had to turn at the junction and go north towards Birmingham as the canal to
Oxford is too narrow and shallow for such a craft.
Passing the junction we found our evening mooring some 800
yards down the Oxford canal
and just along from a road bridge giving us easy
access to our pub for the night –
and Tuesday was gourmet burger night. Excellent service from very friendly and
efficient young staff who kept us replenished with pints of Hookey Bitter, Lion
Bitter and the stronger Old Hookey. All
of these were in excellent condition and so our first evening had set a
standard it would be hard to follow.
The enjoyment was only improved when on returning to our boat it was found that our absent Captain was indeed with us in spirit. He’d provided a bottle of Woods Navy Rum to fortify our evening coffees!!!
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This gentleman was working his boat single handed (if you don’t count the dog) and was glad of the help although it was only of a temporary nature for him as he was then stopping at the boatyard below the lock for diesel.
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The enjoyment was only improved when on returning to our boat it was found that our absent Captain was indeed with us in spirit. He’d provided a bottle of Woods Navy Rum to fortify our evening coffees!!!
Day 2 : Napton to Radford Semele
After
our excellent feast last night we started Wednesday with an epic fried
breakfast courtesy again of Garry consisting of sausages, bacon, eggs,
mushrooms, tomatoes and fried bread. The
boat has had a new cooker fitted since our voyage last year and after an
initial issue with the sausages taking slightly longer to cook whilst Garry got
used to the new appliance it was an excellent result. Just before getting under way for the day
John appeared with toothbrush in hand and white foam around his mouth – it
seems he’d thought was toothpaste he’d picked up was slightly different –
apparently wasn’t as minty as he’d expected!
We
set off turning the boat at the winding hole by bridge 111 (after some cussing
and heaving as not the most generous sized 70 ft turning place) we motored back
to the junction with the Grand Union and set off the short distance to our
first locks of the cruise and a water point to top up the tanks.
We’d learnt the hard way last year that if you don’t keep
the tanks full you’re more at the mercy of the winds. After topping up (although as we didn’t find
the overflow on this occasion we learnt later we hadn’t completely filled the
tank) we were joined by another craft to work the first of the 3 Calcutt
locks.
This gentleman was working his boat single handed (if you don’t count the dog) and was glad of the help although it was only of a temporary nature for him as he was then stopping at the boatyard below the lock for diesel.
Cruising
on, after a mile or so we came to the 8 locks of the Stockton flight where we
dropped some 54 feet all in splendid isolation passing only two other boats and
a few fishermen – the latter never seem that pleased to see you!
Another two locks and we came to Itchington
Bottom Lock and as the sun was over the yardarm a lunchtime stop was decreed
necessary – personally I wasn’t sure this was necessary but fearing mutiny from
the ranks I acceded to their demands.
Mooring on the front of the Cuttle Inn we made the landlords
day by providing some custom. Here
despite the lovely breakfast two crew members decided they needed food ordering
jacket potatoes, 1 with chicken curry and 1 chilli. For sake of their reputations they’ll only be
named with code names of Phil and Paddy.
The rest of us just settled for a pint of Long Itch Backscratcher which
at 4.5% is more than adequate for a lunchtime beverage. Oh in case of any misunderstanding the eaters
also had beer!
As
the village of Long Itchington was a planned stop for the following night – and
it is purely incidental to this plan that this small village has 6 pubs – we
decided with plenty of time to spare on a walk into the village to establish
the location of the hostelries. The walk into the village of approximately half
a mile stretched the party into 2 distinct groups, the latter one of which
found that this village must have some of the most helpful people one can come
across. We were accosted by a lady on
her way to work at the local small Coop who asked if we were from the canal and
explained how there was a short cut back across the fields. She had tried to catch the first group but as
they were on a mission to find pubs she had been unable to catch them up – harsh
to say it I accept but she may have had a few too many lunches as we are old
fogies.
The other helpful reference will be revealed in tomorrow’s report. Whilst in the village Phil found this plaque on a house wall – time travel indeed.
Getting back on board Patrick decided to go for a run along
the canal towpath whilst the rest of us set off to cruise the final 5 miles or
so of the day starting through the unusual staircase lock at Bascote.
Apparently the one thing to remember is, when you are
ascending staircase locks, they must all be full except the bottom one, when
you are descending they must all be empty except the top one.
Now it is at least 35
years since I’ve worked such locks which don’t have the usual formation of a
pound between them and I’ve clearly forgotten all I ever knew as when
descending we didn’t ensure the bottom lock was empty. As a consequence when we emptied the top lock
of the two, water poured through over the bottom lock gate at a horrendous rate
but fortunately there were no other boats or people around to
view this. At the height of summer this
would have caused endless amusement but I’m relieved to say the only person until
now to realise we had nearly cocked up big time was me! If it had been a 3 lock staircase I dread to
think what might have happened.
Helpfully BWB (or Canal & River Trust as now called) had detailed
instructions on the wall of the bottom lock how to ascend but not a dickie bird
I could see about descending.
After this debacle, Patrick had finished his jog and rejoined
us for the final 7 locks of the day to our night mooring at Radford
Semele. I took the opportunity to test
the boats shower in preparation for our evening stroll half mile into the
village to the local pub.
One of the major problems with the organising of such a trip
with demanding connoisseurs is the provision of overnight stops with good food
and beer and I do seem to have a problem with day 2 each year. What on paper seemed to be a good option
without motoring on for another hour or so turned out to be a severe
disappointment. It was only a Chef &
Brewer but the menu I checked online seemed fine but oh dear!
To start with we had to negotiate a fairly
narrow but extremely busy road from the canal up to the village with no
pavements for some 400 yards. When
having survived this on finding the pub we entered to find the first hint of
impending disaster – several beer pump handles but only one with a beer clip
and this for Adnams Southwold at 3.7% - not a sight to get the juices going too
much! The barman then exhibited a complete lack of knowledge of beer by
offering us John Smith’s Smooth – only worse thing would have been Carling
lager!
The restaurant “manager” then appeared and proved that Tigger
does exist and not only in Pooh stories!
To say she was hyperactive doesn’t do justice to the description – don’t
get me wrong a lovely person but just watching her whiz around the pub left
one drained. By time we ordered our food
(all going for the two course special at £12), had that and then waited an
eternity for the minuscule portion of treacle start we were exhausted. The quality of the food was average at best
and to be honest the sweet portion was as much as I wanted but the crew were slightly
disenchanted. Part of the problem was
she seemed to be the only member of staff on duty apart from the useless barman
and for midweek the place was quite busy but god knows why as it was not an
experience any sane person would repeat.
So we left early to walk back to the boat in day light with just two
pints imbibed. The walk back much
quieter and we settled for an evening in and the sampling of various wines we’d
brought along. Oh and just a small rum
in my coffee!
Day 3 : Radford Semele to Long Itchington
After another excellent breakfast (with added baked beans
today to help keep us regular) we cruised a lock free 3 miles north west
towards Leamington Spa with plan of visiting a supermarket to top up with
essentials such as milk and also to obtain the makings of a lunch time
picnic. Just before our turning place we
espied a brand new Morrisons adjacent to the canal and bearing in mind our Old
Fogies share investment I suggested a good idea to try to boost the company
share price instead of visiting the Sainsbury’s on the opposite bank. Having turned the boat and looking for a mooring
spot we found one on the frontage of a pub appropriately called “The
Moorings” and bearing in mind it would
be rude to use their mooring without providing them with custom we decided to
visit for a coffee as it was approximately 10:45. On entering this rather swish establishment
Phil noted one of the beers being Purity Pure Gold and he immediately opted for
this rather than coffee. The rest of us
are of much stiffer willpower and so that was 6 pints please – and damn lovely
it was!
We resisted the temptation for more and left to visit
Morrisons for the purchase of our picnic ingredients including Camembert,
Stilton, Brie, Cheddar, Indian snacks, many sorts of olives and baguettes. We were running low on milk as the fridge on
board is quite small and we’d only initially purchased 4 pints. Phil did suggest we could eke out our supply
by adding water to it when making coffee but we decided to purchase another 4
pints instead. To make sure we had
enough to cover rest of trip it was suggested we buy a further two pints but
one of us was upset at this suggestion as two pints cost 89p and 4 were only a
pound. Despite others reservations we went along with buying the additional 4
giving 8 in total – as you can imagine despite Phil drinking a glass on next
couple of nights to deplete our stock we still ended up wasting two pints as 6
would have been more than enough!
We returned to the boat and cruised back out into the
country mooring up where we had the night before and enjoying a fantastic
picnic lunch.
After our picnic lunch we motored on passing an attractive
lock side house (a snip at £595,000) and stopped for water – as you can see
Patrick took on the role of overflow seeker.
At the water point there was also this new construction - open air washing facility. Trust not a new open air WC as seat looks like it would leave a mark!
After this we travelled back through the staircase lock
(this time with help of instructions on bottom lock)
and it was at this point
we thought our luck had run out as rain started to fall. However this problem was soon resolved by us
all putting on our wet weather jackets and it magically stopped.
All too much for some!
We
then carried on for another hour to our mooring for the night at Long
Itchington.
As
it appeared that the Two Boats inn was part of the same brewery company as the
Mooring earlier we decided on this for our evening meal.
However there was a pub in the village I had found from my
initial research called The Green Man and Phil’s subsequent research through
beer guides suggested this was a must.
Knowing it opened at 5 we left the boat to walk across the fields on the
shortcut courtesy of the Coop lady, with the aim of arriving just after
opening. As we approached along the final stretch of road past a nursery school
we were rewarded with street entertainment of the highest kind. Cars were parked along one side leaving room
for only one way traffic and two ladies in their cars were facing each other
blocking the whole road. Behind one
there soon built up a queue of several others and it was clear one had to
reverse ....but she seemed unable to do so!
Oh the language was a treat although I failed to understand at least
every other word. Drinking time was upon
us and we couldn't stay to watch for too long but it appeared they did eventually get it sorted.
The Green Man was a treat.
A real drinking pub at the heart of the village and it was clear it was
very mush the heart of the community. We
started with a nice pint of Black Sheep, gentle at 3.8% and then progressing to
a Purity Mad Goose at 4.2% - now at the time of this second pint Paddy nearly
caused Garry to have heart failure. As
he still had a good portion of his Black Sheep to finish Paddy had opted for
only a half and when it was brought to the table he just tipped the Mad Goose
straight into the remnants of his Black Sheep.
We were not sure if Paddy now had Mad Sheep or Black Goose but whatever
Garry who’d been at the bar nearly had the aforementioned heart failure at such
sacrilegious treatment of beer on his return to the table.
The hostelry and beer was so good a third
pint had to be consumed. During one of
the visits to the bar to order the beer Garry or Patrick must have been
chatting to the landlord explaining we were off a boat and planning to eat at
the Two Boats as sadly The Green Man didn't do food apart from Toasties.
So we were staggered when sometime after 7 the landlord
appeared advising us it was raining and offering to drive us the half mile down
to the other pub. As there were 6 of us
he took two trips. I can't think of many landlords who would do this although a thought crossed my mind later - did he just want to get rid of us!
Sadly the Two Boats was not a great gastronomic experience
with the food only passable and the Bombadier beer no better – Paddy enjoyed
his liver off the specials board but was disappointed to find he could have
mash or veg but not both!! Apparently
down to portion control. Another
establishment that will not get return custom.
As it was early we walked across the bridge to the Cuttle Inn on the
other side of the canal where we had lunch the day before for another
Backscratcher which was fine.
Then retiring to the boat we enjoyed more wine and rum. Now Patrick did seem slightly the worse for wear
but what followed we only discovered the next morning – and if he’d kept stumm
none of us would have been the wiser!
Day 4 : Long Itchington to Braunston
Patrick this year had the end cabin of two bunks at the
stern with the door out onto the rear of the boat. Garry and I shared the 4 bunk cabin adjoining
and sometime around 7 on the Friday morning there were sounds of distress from
Patrick’s area – he was clearly feeling the effects! He then proceeded to tell in between his
groans and clear discomfort that sometime after midnight he decided to go for a
walk to clear his head. This despite the
fact it was raining hard. He then
apparently stumbled around the canal bank for over an hour without a torch as
he couldn't find the boat again. He thinks he must have “walked” past at least 5 times not recognising the boat
which is totally scary as to my recollection we were the only boat moored on a
couple hundred yard stretch. He was
incredibly lucky not too fall in but the most damning part is he left our end
of the boat totally unlocked and any lunatic could have got in!! When he did get back on board in the early
hours apparently his first act was to down the half tumbler of neat rum he’d
taken to bed with him the night before!
He deserved to feel ill but to be honest it seemed to have little effect
on his breakfast appetite – not sure I could have faced a large fry up after
feeling like that!
As the last full day was a relatively easy one
I suggested
we make a diversion onto the South Oxford canal at Napton Junction with a 2
mile additional cruise to visit the Folly pub at Napton. A gentle morning cruising back through the 8 locks at Stockton pausing only for a group photo
and then the final locks at Calcutt
where we started to encounter the first effects of the coming Easter holidays with many more boats appearing. We also were advised by private boaters we encountered at Stockton that there were concerns on water levels so we should share locks when ever possible - can you believe that after this winter!!
Well we had a chance at Calcutt sharing with a family just starting on their holiday -
- well so concerned at sharing with us they're wearing life jackets!
Turning the boat at a winding hole just
before the pub we moored and walked the short distance remaining and what a
wonderful idea it proved.
An excellent
pint of “On the Nose” brewed by the Cottage Brewing Co (ironically from Castle
Cary) especially for the Aintree festival and an excellent lunch. Personally I had a bowl of homemade chicken,
smoked bacon and tarragon soup which was heavenly with the others having
various soups or sandwiches – oh hang on Phil had his 3rd jacket and
Paddy his 2nd of the trip.
The gentle 3 hour cruise back to the boatyard passing fields where youngsters play
where they’d left us a
mooring right in front of the office. It
was noticeable on the final day that a lot of boats were now starting to appear
emphasising how lucky we’d been with 4 very quiet days.
Then an evening repeat of last year with a visit to The
Admiral Nelson 3 locks up the Braunston flight.
As last year a really excellent meal accompanied with pints of Everards
Tiger, Thwaites Wainwright and Timothy Taylor Landlord – all beers we rarely
are able to access in the South West so a real treat.
Day 5 : Homeward
Up early with the sun
a gigantic breakfast was necessary
to clear all the
provisions – what a treat to set us up for the 3 hour trip back to Taunton for
me with an extra half hour for the Exeter boys.
A most enjoyable little voyage despite some disappointment
on two of the night’s eating although there was compensation in the standards
of the first and last nights. Overall we enjoyed some very good pubs and some
excellent beer.
I would like to express my gratitude to Phil for agreeing to
the inclusion of some of his photographs in the preparation of this record of
our trip and also providing a detailed list of every beer sampled.
Major credit to our drivers Garry and John for getting us
safely there and back, to Garry for the lovely breakfasts, Phil and Patrick for
the kitty organising plus additional research and to all of us for throwing
ourselves into the spirit of the venture – talking of which again how we missed
our inspirational leader but hopefully he can join us again next year!!
The whole trip seemed to pass in total harmony – I do
believe they now understand my reservations on the merits of the Revenue and Area Management!
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