Previous Year : 2008     The Bona Boater's Trips     Following Year : 2010

2009 - The Four Counties Ring.

Crew : Pete W, Dave, John & Chris, Stan, Alan, Ernie, Pete M

Boat : Fjord Contessa

From :  Andersen Boats, Middlewich.

Route : Middlewich > Barbridge > Audlem > Market Drayton > High Offley > Norbury Junction > Brewood > Coven Heath [Wolverhampton by bus] > Penkridge > Great Haywood > Stone > Harding's Wood [Hanley by bus] > Wheelock > Middlewich.

Coverage :  98 Locks and 111 Miles.

Notes : This time we decided to do the ring Anti-clockwise as we last did it clockwise, back in 1996. Initially, we had also aimed to take the boat to both Wolverhampton and Hanley. Wolverhampton was vetoed due to the extra 42 locks involved - i.e. up the 21 up then down the same 21 again, and Hanley had to be rejected due to timing issues with passage of Harecastle Tunnel. We did however manage to reach both of these destinations by bus.

Saturday 16th May

Lunch : Middlewich. We had all agreed to meet up in The Boar's Head in Middlewich. Pete W arrived last (at about 12:30) as he had had to collect Pete M from Stockport railway station. On his arrival at the boatyard, Pete W was told that the boat was ready, but as everyone else had already arrived and gone to The Boar's Head, he realised that he would have to go there to tell them in person. After several pints and loading up, we finally left Middlewich by about 14:30, climbed the three locks to the junction, turned onto the Middlewich Branch and headed for Barbridge.

Evening - Barbridge. After Pete M's valliant attempt to demolish the canal bank opposite Barbridge Junction, we moored up and set off for the pub. Leading the way, Pete W & Alan went straight into The Jolly Tar only to see the token holder and rest of the crew waltz serenely on past the door. Under standard token operating rules, it is the Token Holder who decides which pub we should go to. Fortunately, Pete W was able to beat a hasty retreat before ordering any beer, but as Alan had already gone to use the facilities, he was left behind and lost track of us. Having phoned John to find out where we were, he discovered that we were only just across the road. We went to The Olde Barbridge Inn where the landlord rearranged all the tables in order to get us all in together. We had an excellent meal. Pete W had the Black Pudding Tower - alternating layers of bacon & black pudding in a creamy mustard sauce, which was particularly good, and a pretty good rare steak along with numerous pints of Harviestoun 'Bitter & Twisted'. A local band called 'Wizardsleeves' featuring Liz from Behindthebar performed, though we had moved into the next room by the time they started.

Sunday 17th May

Morning : low on engine oil ! Before setting off, Stan had checked the engine as per normal instructions, and found the oil level to be very close to the bottom mark on the dipstick. We had a quick search through the various lockers but could not find any oil. As we could not find any oil on the boat, and the level was still just above the minimum mark, we decided that it should be OK to continue, but that we really should try to get some oil sometime that day. On the way to Audlem, we passed one of our boat's sister ships, Fjord Ambassador moored up. We pulled up along side and Pete W managed to scrounge a pint of oil from them. As he was unsure exactly where to put it, and whether or not cold oil should be put into a hot engine, we decided to continue for the rest of the day and sort it out the following morning.

Lunch : Audlem. There had been rain in the morning, and Stan spent most of the lunchtime session in The Bridge Inn trying to dry his sweatshirt on the radiator. There was Marston's bitter & Pedigree and a carvery though we did not eat. For some reason we did not even try The Shroppie Fly although it was slightly nearer to where we had moored.

Evening : Market Drayton. What a fantastic advertising idea : The words "Market Drayton" and "Canalside" ! - obviously some use of the word "canalside" of which I wasn't previously aware.. We walked for what felt like miles to the town centre through an estate in slowly increasing drizzle. We eventually found The King's Arms and had a few beers before going to The Jaipur Restaurant for a curry and then back to The Kings Arms for some more beer. All their beers were advertised at £2 a pint, not bad for Wadworths 6X. Whilst BTS1 usually tries to avoid getting the The Token , on this occasion, he actually wanted it - unfortunately he didn't get it this time round, and he'd have to wait for the more expensive rounds the next day.  John & Ernie decided that as it was such a long walk back for their gammy legs, that they would have to get a taxi. As it turned out, it took them nearly as long in the taxi as it took us to walk back due to a 'breakdown in communication' between John and the taxi driver. In the time between John & Ernie getting back and the rest of us arriving back at the boat, Ernie had managed to get the oil into the engine. Not a bad feat in the dark and only by torchlight.

Monday 18th May

Morning : Oil problem solved. Pete W dipped the engine oil and found it to be OK, and we had no more problems with it during the rest of the week.

Lunch : High Offley. We stopped at The Anchor Inn at High Offley at about 12:15 only to find it shut. Pete W phoned the pub's number given in Nicholson's, but no-one answered. We decided to wait just in case it opened later so we went back to the boat, and in the meantime we set about John's homebrew and Pete's Perry. We checked again at about 13:15 and as it was still shut we decided to move on to Norbury. When we arrived at Norbury Junction, we went into The Junction Inn where we had pints of Banks's Mild while we watched Stavanger Fjord reverse at great speed across the junction. We idly considered sending a raiding party to see if we could steal their reverse as ours was rubbish, but we decided to have another pint of Mild instead. The Junction Inn serves Banks's Mild but also serves a house beer called 'Junction Inn Best Bitter' which is brewed by The Coach House Brewery. Just think of it ... Banks's Mild, passing The Token to Dave and hitting him with a tray singing 'Mule Train' all at the same time.. does life get any better ?

Evening : Brewood. On arrival in Brewood, we went to The Bridge Inn. This was quite busy as they were preparing for a pub quiz night. We did eventually manage to get seated at two tables although they were at opposite ends of the room. We had a meal there, and there was a good range of Marston's, Banks's & Jennings beers. There was a new beer called Banks's Gold which I'd never seen before, but it was extremely nice. It might be what they now call Banks's Sunbeam. Stan managed to escape secretly and went to The Admiral Rodney. Had we known he was going, some of us would have gone with him, but he kept it quiet.

Tuesday 19th May

Lunch : Wolverhampton by bus. We left Brewood and moored at Coven Heath by Cross Green Bridge (Br.71) and we took the bus to Wolverhampton. As the bus stopped right outside The Posada, we felt duty-bound to go in for a pint or two. Well, it would have been rude not to. Everyone including BTS1 seemed to miss the sign proclaiming a 10% discount to CAMRA members, and no-one took them up on it. After a few pints here, we went to The Great Western where we had several pints of Holden's Mild. Stan had some of their famous grey peas & bacon while some others had pork & gravy baps. We then got the bus back to Coven Heath.

There was a minor heart-stopping moment when the bus didn't stop quite where we thought it would. Instead, it went straight past the stop where we had got on the bus in the morning, and it took us to a different bus stop at the far end of the village. Luckily, this actually turned out to be much nearer to the boat than the one where we'd got on the bus originally.

Evening : Penkridge. We left Coven Heath and set off for Penkridge. We moored just outside Penkridge near Filance Lock (Lock 37). The original intention had been to go to The Boat Inn to eat then on to The Star Inn for a drink but as we had arrived in Penkridge quite early, some of us decided to check out The Cross Keys by Filance Bridge (Br.84) We found the pub was pretty quiet, had Banks's Mild and it did meals, so as it had started raining again we decided to stay there. We had Banks' Mild & Bitter, surprisingly on electric pump - something quite unusual nowadays, and Pete W had a rather good rare steak !

Wednesday 20th May

Lunch : Great Haywood. We left Penkridge for Great Haywood, and decided to take water at the junction. While we were there, we went into the Anglo-Welsh boatyard shop to get some postcards. The engineer recognised some of us as we had hired from there in both 2007 and 2008 . He gave us a tour of their new 10 berth boat 'Canterbury' - a possibility for next year's cruise. Having taken on water, we repaired to The Clifford Arms to take on beer.

Evening : Stone. As we had arrived a little later than expected due to queueing for locks, and as it was raining again just for a change, we went straight to The Crown of India for a curry. Pete W had the Lamb Tikka Mugli. As it was cooked with coconut, he had assumed that it would be mild.. it wasn't !!  Despite Pete W being a bit of a chilli freak, this was too hot even for him !  As we left there the rain was torrential, so we waited under cover for a few minutes to see if it would ease. Once it had eased a bit, we decided to go straight back to the boat. No pub that night, though we did hammer John's emergency beer supply along with the Port, the Stilton and the Black Pudding !

Thursday 21st May

Lunch & Evening : Hanley by bus. We went straight from Stone to Harding's Wood, only stopping to await entry into Harecastle tunnel. As Pete W pointed out, Harecastle Tunnel was probably going to be the warmest and driest place we'd been all week ! Having regaled our fellow tunnel travellers with the usual renditions of The Trumpton Fireman's song (a.k.a Pugh-Pugh-Barney-Mcgrew-Cuthbert-Dibble-and-Grub..) played on melodeons, we eventually arrived at The Red Bull fairly early and went into the pub for a pint or two, and to consider our next move. Stan went to speak to the lady behind the bar. She told him where to go and where to get off... so we all went with him and got the bus to Hanley. We visited The Coachmaker's Arms again. This excellent pub is still under threat of demolition. After several pints here, we took the bus back to The Red Bull and had a meal and some more beer. Later in the evening, some of the party decided to repair to The Blue Bell for further refreshment. It was this latter refreshment - most likely the small scottish element of it - which appeared to make Stan burble and giggle somewhat..

Friday 22nd May

Lunch : Wheelock. Due to having been excessively refreshed the previous evening, Stan appeared a little less than refreshed in the cold light and steady rain of the following morning. On the way to Wheelock, we passed through a unique lock - It must be the only lock gate on the entire system which doesn't leak - look - not even a single drop ! We would have called in at The Romping Donkey at Hassal Green had it been open, but we passed it at about 10:15.

Eventually, we arrived at Wheelock, moored up and went to The Commercial Hotel. As Alan was a bit short of cash, the landlady offered to run him all the way to Sandbach to get some money. Meanwhile we ate all the sandwiches, drunk the Weetwood Best Bitter & Hornbeam Gold and used the famous "Dodds & Outhwaite (Liverpool)" urinals. There was also a full size snooker table in the games room, and it became the norm for everyone using the facilities to mention it on the way back - including Nursie, whose facilities were off away in the opposite direction.

Evening : Back in Middlewich. We left Wheelock and headed for Middlewich. Having successfully winding the boat, Pete M moored her up in the boatyard and we all went to The Alhambra for a Chinese and then back to The Boar's Head for the final evening's beer. After settling the mess bill and realising that we were now locked in, we had a few more pints and finally left there at about 00:45, even though they still appeared to be serving.

Saturday 23rd May

Morning : We unloaded the boat. Pete W, BTS1 & Ernie then went on their annual trip to The Karachi Restaurant, the Al Halal supermarket, before home, bath & bed.

Previous Year : 2008     The Bona Boater's Trips     Following Year : 2010