The Bona Boaters

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2011 - Introducing Sharon to Boating

Crew : Pete W, John, Chris (Nursie) & Sharon

Boat : The John Barleycorn

From : Napton Marina

Route : Napton > Birdingbury Wharf > Long Ichington > Kingswood > Earlswood > Birmingham > Earlswood > Rowington / Shrewley > Cape Locks > Warwick > Napton.

Notes : We had arranged to borrow John Barlass's Boat, The John Barleycorn , which was based at Napton Marina. The idea was a to do a short trip up to Birmingham and maybe Wolverhampton and back to introduce Shazza to the numerous joys of boating, but things did not go quite to plan...

The John Barleycorn on her

home mooring at Napton Marina.

Saturday 6th August

Lunchtime / Early afternoon - Napton Marina. We arrived at Napton Marina around noon. Once John had obtained the keys to the boat from the Marina Office, we proceeded to load up. Having loaded up, we unpacked the quartermaster's stores and had a tea break, after which decided to get under way. Initially, the engine would not start. The starter battery was either a bit flat or suffering from a bad connection, either way, the engine was reluctant to turn over. After several attempts however, it did eventually start, and we had no further problems with it for the remainder of the week. John then gingerly backed the boat out of the mooring, and we set off along the Grand Union Canal towards Kingswood Junction.

Mid-afternoon - Birdingbury Wharf. After an hour or so, and not being in any real hurry to get anywhere in particular, we decided to stop for a pint or two at The Boat Inn at Birdingbury Wharf. After a couple here, we descended Stockton Locks and moored up at Long Ichington for the evening.

Evening - Long Ichington. We moored near Long Itchington and ate at The Blue Lias.

Night - Shazza didn't sleep a wink due to Pete's snoring - or so she says.. he says he never heard anything !

Sunday 7th August

Morning - John B had advised us that the diesel tank was not full and that we would probably need to get some diesel 'sooner rather than later'. Having dipped the tank, we found that it was only about a quarter full. Not being entirely sure how long that would last us - and definitely not wanting to run out - we decided we would try to get some diesel asap. Having called at two boatyards, and with it being Sunday finding them both closed, we decided that we'd probably have to wait until Monday to get some. We pushed on and hoped for the best.

Lunchtime - Cape Locks, Warwick. We stopped for a lunchtime pint or several at The Cape of Good Hope.

Evening - Kingswood Junction. We left Cape locks and headed for Kingswood Junction. We eventually moored on The Grand Union close to the Lapworth Link Junction at Kingswood and we set off for The Navigation Inn. On many previous trips, The Navigation had always been a must. This time it turned out to be a must not ! When we arrived there, we found that there was no beer and no food available. Despite there being no food available, there were menus out, but they appeared to be of the "chips with everything" variety, and looked rather unappealing. The landlord also gave us some story about knocking a barrel over to explain why he had no beer. We had one pint (..of Guinness..) and then left to try to find somewhere else to eat. We did not find anything anywhere nearby, so after a visit to the local off-licence for emergency beer supplies, we returned to the boat somewhat disappointed.

Night - Shazza didn't sleep again. She says that by 4am she was contemplating a new use for a windlass - as a blunt instrument to pummel Pete until he stopped snoring.. or breathing - or both, whichever came first. She says she did finally manage to drift off to sleep, but only just as it was starting to get light, and shortly afterwards she was woken up by birds singing. Ahhh bless !

Morning on The Grand Union Canal at Kingswood Junction.

The Junction Bridge is just visible in the distance.

Monday 8th August

Morning : Lapworth Locks. We left The Grand Union Canal via The Lapworth Link and joined The Stratford Canal, and began to climb Lapworth Locks. At the top of the locks, we decided to moor up for a leisurely breakfast - which was probably more like brunch by the time we had it.

Shazza working the locks at

Lock 17 on Lapworth Flight..

Moored up for breakfast.

Lunchtime - Earlswood. After climbing the Lapworth Flight and stopping for breakfast, we continued on towards Birmingham. We had decided on Saturday afternoon that we would need to get some diesel, but on Sunday, everywhere we had tried had been shut. We eventually found some diesel at Earlswood on Monday lunchtime. We filled up with diesel and decided to stop there and go for a wee lunchtime snifter or three at The Blue Bell Cider House as well.

The Blue Bell Cider House.

We filled ourselves with cider

and the boat with diesel.

...before setting off for Birmingham.

Evening - Birmingham. Due to a bit of a miscalculation, we were rather late arriving in Birmingham. The water level on the Worcester & Birmingham canal was rather low making it quite hard going. Also, being August, it was beginning to get dark somewhat earlier than it would on our usual week in late May. It was almost dark when we arrived in Birmingham, so we moored up on the suspiciously quiet Main Line and went straight for a curry.

Part way through the meal, we were advised that the restaurant had been ordered to close by The Police, but that we would still be allowed finish our meals. When we asked why, the waiter seemed surprised. He explained that there has been riots all over the country in the last few days - how come we had not heard about it ? Being on the boat, we hadn't seen or heard any news since Saturday, so we knew nothing about it at all. We finished our curry and returned to the boat, where we had a rather sleepless night due to all the sirens and helicopters.

Night - This time it was Shazza who slept well despite all the noise - and Pete that didn't get any sleep.

Birmingham.

Even the usually busy Main Line is deserted.

Tuesday 9th August

Morning - The departure of Sharon. Sharon's parents (Hector & Pauline) had booked a cottage in Pembrokeshire for this same week. Sharon was initially undecided as to whether to go to Wales with them or to come with us on the boat. She eventually decided that she would come with us on the boat, but that if things didn't work out (..such as Pete's snoring..), then she could get a train to Cardiff, where Hector would pick her up. Having had very little sleep for two out of the three nights so far, she decided that she would take her leave and go to Wales. We took her to New Street Station to get a train to Cardiff. As we walked through central Birmingham, we saw some of the riot damage from the previous evening. We eventually waved Sharon goodbye at New Street and set off back to the boat. The original plan had been to go on to Wolverhampton, but we decided that with discretion being the better part of valour, and being somewhat concerned for the safety of John B's boat that we would not to go to Wolverhampton. Instead, we would set off back towards Napton now. This would allow us lots of time for a nice leisurely cruise with plenty of pub-stops - probably just as well as the crew was now down to three.

Late Afternoon / Evening - Earlswood. We left Birmingham late morning and set off back towards King's Norton Junction and The North Stratford Canal. We arrived back at Earlswood and were moored up by about 5pm. Pete selflessly volunteered to go across to to The Blue Bell Cider House to see about food. John & Chris said they would join him there later. They finally arrived after The Archers had finished at about 7:20pm. After his selfless dedication and numerous pints of cider, Pete burbled something totally incomprehensible - which when roughly translated meant that there was no food at The Blue Bell that evening. Instead, we all walked to The Bulls Head for a meal and some beer.

Wednesday 10th August

Lunchtime - Kingswood. After our disappointing visit to The Navigation Inn at Kingswood on Sunday evening, we decided to try The Boot Inn by lock 13 instead of The Navigation. It was quite posh and expensive, but the beer was OK, and it would still be a relatively short run from here to The Tom O' The Woods at Rowington where we had arranged to meet John & Andrea for the evening.

Lock 19 on the Lapworth flight

The Boot Inn by Lock 13

Evening - Rowington / Shrewley. We had agreed to meet up with John & Andrea Barlass at The Tom 'O The Woods at Rowington, but on our arrival there we found the pub had closed down and was boarded up. We phoned John & Andrea to let them know, and they advised us to go to The Cock Horse Inn on Warwick Old Road, which is about half way between Rowington and Shrewley. They gave us directions, but it was still going to be quite a long walk. We eventually got to the pub, met up with them and had a meal and some beers. By the time we were leaving the pub, it was raining. Oh joy - a long walk back in the dark and the rain. Luckily, with Shazza having left the crew and there now being only the three of us, it meant that we could all squeeze into John's car. John & Andrea then gave us a lift back to Rowington, which saved us all that long walk back in the rain.

Thursday 11th August

Morning - Hatton Locks. As there were now only two of us (..rather than the more usual six or seven..) to work the locks, The Hatton Flight took us rather longer than usual. We eventually arrived in Warwick at about 4:30pm without having had a lunchtime pub stop.

We moored up just above Cape Locks...

and repaired to The Cape of Good Hope.

Afternoon / Evening - Warwick. We moored in Warwick close to where John & Andrea used to live. We walked back to The Cape of Good Hope for a teatime snifter or three. We then we walked into Warwick to The Wild Boar for a meal and quite a lot more beer. Whilst there, Pete needed to charge his phone up. Being an honest soul, he asked the lady behind the bar if he could plug it in. She agreed provided he put £1 in the pub charity jar. What an excellent arrangement.

We then walked into Warwick to The Wild Boar..

... for a meal and quite a few more beers.

Night - After leaving the The Wild Boar, we returned to the boat and raided John B's single malt store, which we did replenish before we left the boat. By this time, Nursie had retired while John & Pete burbled at each other over several large single malts. Suddenly, they heard a snoring noise, which could only be Nursie. Pete managed to record the sound on his camera just to prove that it's not always him... it's just mostly him !

Friday 12th August

Morning / lunchtime - After the previous night's excessive amount of refreshment, we had a late breakfast and an even later start.

Afternoon - Long Itchington. We climbed Stockton Locks and moored at the top near The Boat Inn at Birdingbury. There was a noisy group on another boat moored just in front of us, some of whom had already gone into The Boat Inn, so we decided to walk back down the flight and go to The Two Boats instead, where we had a meal and some beer. Later, we decided to cross over the canal to The Cuttle Inn, which is directly opposite The Two Boats mainly for the exercise, but also because we'd never been there before. We did have some more beer while we were there - well, it would have been rude not to, wouldn't it..

The Boat Inn at Birdingbury Wharf

We went to The Two Boats for a meal and some beer

..before crossing over the canal to The Cuttle Inn.

The Two Boats as viewed from The Cuttle Inn.

Saturday 13th August

Lunchtime - We arrived back at Napton Marina at about noon. Despite a fresh breeze, John got the boat onto her mooring unscathed. After cleaning the boat and emptying the cassette we unloaded our stuff, secured the boat and set off back home.