The flight from Cairo to London was fine, and I had the time to watch the Kevin Costner movie, Message in a Bottle. It was a morning flight and London was experiencing glorious weather. I had booked four nights in Palmers Green hostel in Swiss Cottage, in the photograph below, which enabled me to catch up with friends and my eldest son, Alec.
I had lunch at Chez Antoinette in Victoria with old sailing friends, Vic & Clare, a Vietnamese dinner at Sông Quê cafe in Hoxton, a stroll around Tate Britain to view an exhibition by previously unknown (to me) English artist Hurvin Anderson with Alec followed by an Italian lunch on the edge of Borough Market, and a Sunday lunch with long term friend, Julie at The Lighterman gastropub at Coal Drops Yard…we also visited the Books on the Water barge, where we both bought books, and I’m now reading Tortilla Flats by John Steinbeck. I also spent Sunday late afternoon in the Euston Flyer pub watching Arsenal fans sobbing after an easy win by Manchester City.
The Feature Image above is a painting by Birmingham born artist, Hurvin Anderson.
I travelled on the train to Birmingham for the princely sum of £5.95, and then a short & sweet train ride to Withybed Moorings to see Alice and Nemo. I quickly booked yoga classes at Barnt Green Zen Den and started checking all the systems…engine, heating, water etc to get Alice ready for life cruising on the canals over summer. I have bought an anchor and a throwing line, and acquired a gangplank for my adventures this year.
I seem to have found a buyer for one of the rental properties in Hull, I have claimed a tax rebate from HMRC and I have won £25 on the Premium Bonds….a fabulous start to the summer!
It was good to be back at Withybed Moorings…it’s in a great location with good facilities and a fabulous gang of canalboat liveaboards. I’ve registered Alice to stay at Withybed next winter, but in the meantime we will leave early on Friday 1st May to moor on the canal through the Bank Holiday weekend, and then leave Alvechurch to cruise up to Birmingham.
The passage to Birmingham was both good and bad…after filling with diesel at Alvechurch Marina I struggled to turn the boat around in a stiff breeze. A hire boat hit Alice inside Wast Hills tunnel. Once in Birmingham I hit the canalside while winding the boat to face the right way. But, it was good to be back cruising in the sunshine! The photograph below was taken at Old Turn Junction towards the Birmingham Mainline canal.
I had a list including swimming and yoga at Ladywood Leisure centre, watching football at Box and The Distillery, laundry at Pablo’s and my first post-70 Men’s Wellness check at Midland Health. I also changed my original 2026 cruising plans, and booked a weekend, including mooring, at Crick Boatshow at the end of May.
Even the new plan changed as some unseasonably cold, wet and windy weather delayed my departure from Birmingham for a couple of days.
Finally, the weather improved to allow me to leave Birmingham, after a quick stop for water. It was a pleasant cruise back down the Worcester & Birmingham canal to Kings Norton Junction where I turned east onto the Stratford upon Avon canal. After stopping at Lyons Boatyard for some gas, coal and a bridge key I continued until Shirley Drawbridge where I moored for the night, and enjoyed an hour or two at The Drawbridge Inn.
The following morning was a very early start and I was through Shirley Drawbridge (using my new key) by 6am. I completed the Lapworth Locks renewing my locking knowledge and with some assistance from the Girl Guide narrowboat, Tuptonia and its crew and special help from CRT volunteer, Fran. At the Kingswood Junction I turned south down the Grand Union canal, which is such a huge change from the petite Stratford upon Avon canal. After passing through Shrewley Tunnel (built in 1799!) I moored at Hatton Top lock to complete a ten hour day on the water….I was exhausted!
After some initial reticence, I decided to go down the 20 lock flight at Hatton with Martin on narrowboat Taxus and with awesome support from four CRT volunteers. The weather was perfect (which hadn’t been forecast) and it was my first time entering locks alongside another boat. We completed all twenty locks in three hours….Hatton Locks is an amazing experience! Half an hour later I was moored in front of the Cape of Good Hope pub on the Grand Union canal on the outskirts of Warwick. The photograph below is entering one of the locks together with narrowboat Taxus.
I remained on the mooring in front of The Cape of Good Hope for two days because friends, Karen & Alastair, came to see Alice for the first time and to enjoy lunch at the pub, and because heavy rain was forecast…it was really cold, wet and miserable weather for the month of May.
Once I negotiated the Cape locks I passed Warwick and Royal Leamington Spa and then saw Martin on NB Taxus again. We then worked together through 18 locks to moor at Birdingbury Wharf not far off Napton Junction. I only remained for one night and continued the journey through Calcutt Locks with Sleepy Steve who had passed me while preparing to set off. On reaching Braunston I continued along the Grand Union canal and through Braunston Locks with NB Sleepie Pie and finally negotiated the very tight turn at Norton Junction to enter the Leicester Line of the Grand Union canal heading north. After a mile or so two boats advised me that there was a queue of boats at Watford Locks, so I moored for the night in a very pleasant spot.
The very next day and soon after sunrise I made my way to Watford Locks to be first through once the “Lockies” arrived at 8am. Watford Locks includes a “Staircase” of four locks, and as this was my first time the volunteer CRT Locky worked the locks for me…which was an experience worth a four-pack of BrewDog Hazy Jane beer! Once through Crick Tunnel (1528 yards) my Crick Boatshow mooring was the first past the tunnel opening, in the photograph below. After eight days in total including two rest days and two half days of cruising I had arrived at Crick in beautiful warm sunshine.
I enjoyed the full three days at the show in sweltering temperatures, and what turned out to be the hottest UK May Day on record….I bought some wet weather gear, binoculars, a narrowboat engine maintenance book and a River Thames guide for the next adventure and attended three seminars. Crick Boatshow really is a wonderful and relaxed event, and the wildlife on the canal is simply fabulous.
There were about 100 narrowboats moored along the canal, sometimes two abreast and they soon dispersed as people continued their journeys. I moved Alice Springs to turn around and to moor in a spot with more sunshine for the solar panels. I also decided to stay in Crick for a few more days to ensure that I wouldn’t miss the Champions League Final between Arsenal and Paris St Germain. I had documented a simple passage plan to take me back to Napton Junction and then south down the Oxford canal to Oxford itself, and onto the River Thames.
I chose the Crick Ex-Servicemen’s Club, in the photograph below, to watch the Champions League final which was fine…but the football was not good. Arsenal scored early and then “parked the bus” into a mind numbing defensive display. However, PSG managed to score a penalty to equalise before the end of full time, and through extra time too. PSG then won the penalty shootout to retain the trophy.
The following day I left Crick early and had a good, but long 9 hour day to moor after Napton Junction and on the Oxford Canal itself.
Again, I set off early the next morning to make it through Napton Locks and around the tight bends of Oxford Canal to moor at the wharf at Fenny Crompton. The weather forecast for the next few days was for plenty of wind and rain, so I decided to stay here and meet friends, David & Lindsey in Fenny Crompton rather than Banbury. So, I was able to go for a run down the towpath, do my expanding laundry at Fenny Marina, do some relaxing yoga, walk around the old village and read some more of Murder on the Oxford Canal by Faith Martin….I realise that regularly stopping for a day or two is what I enjoy best, especially after nine or ten hour days at the helm.
A dry day was forecast so I left Fenny Compton for a decent five hour cruise to Cropredy, a very attractive village with a fascinating history including The Battle of Cropredy Bridge during the English Civil War.
Two days later I left Cropredy for a short and sweet cruise to Banbury…even though I went aground twice in short succession. I was able to moor up on Castle Wharf, which is free for two days and then £25 for each additional day. It was Sunday 7th June 2026, the first anniversary of taking ownership and moving onboard Alice Springs…so I celebrated with a pint in the local Wetherspoons, The Exchange. Banbury is a fabulous town with the famous Banbury Cross mentioned in the nursery rhyme…
I took a mooring close to Frenchay bridge at the edge of Oxford.
Then a heatwave began which altered my plans to move onto the River Thames, because the Thames lock operations had restrictions because the high temperatures were affecting both the lock keepers and the lock gates. So I contacted the Canal & River Trust to extend my stay at the mooring until the heatwave conditions decreased.
Eventually, I left Abingdon with a passage that included four locks. I completed the first lock at Culham solo, which was a first on the Thames. Soon after leaving the lock the engine stopped! It restarted but stopped again after a few seconds, and I was able to guide the boat using the barge pole and boat hook to a structure that turned out to be the water inlet to Didcot power station! After about a half hour of manoeuvring Alice to face back upstream I tried the engine and it started fine, and so I returned to the moorings at Culham lock where I checked a few things…was the problem related to the high temperature weather or the ignition buzzer that hadn’t worked this morning or something else? So I called River Canal Rescue who were able to reach me late in the afternoon. It was a useful discussion (with the engine running) which concluded that it was most likely to have been a small drop of water in the fuel tank. I stayed on the mooring overnight creating a short list of things to do…I love a To Do List!
It’s Sunday, the day after England beat Norway to set up a semifinal match against Argentina. Tomorrow I will leave Wallingford to head further south to Reading.
Leave A Reply