Sunday 4th July – Nottingham

The boats had been left opposite the FMC warehouse, now a pub. Keith was doing the two weeks trip and was keeping guard. The remainder of the crew slowly assembled by about 17:00. There were some long time members of ‘FoP’; Neil, Dave, Keith and Malcolm had crewed together over 15 years ago; Roger and Bob were the new boys. As the average age of the crew was 58 some referred to themselves as the ‘Old Fogies’ crew!, our captain was one of the younger ones.

There was much talk, tea and preparations for the week. It was the night of the Euro 2004 football final and plenty of supporters were about in the pubs. We watched in amusement as some of the high spirited supporters amused themselves. Two groups, each in different pubs separated by the FMC entrance dock began chanting at each other. First one, then two and finally several hardy souls were in the water.

It was still short sleeve weather, but the water must still have been very cold!; all the ‘President’s’ men retained their dignity and didn’t join in the naked frolics!.

The area hereabouts has been well developed, converting the old warehouses into pubs, clubs and offices. The first three pubs we tried didn’t do food on a Sunday evening, but fortunately fourth time lucky and they did good ale too. Only one crew member watched the football.

Monday 5th July
Nottingham to Shardlow
Let go at 10:00

First essential after boiler lighting and breakfast was the victualling. We stopped at a canalside Sainsbury’s supermarket about a half a mile west of our mooring, We finally set off at 11:00 and it didn’t take long to reach the wide and beautiful River Trent.

With a crew of six – we had plenty of people to share the different tasks. David voluntarily stayed in the engine room almost the whole time, with help from other crew on a rotating basis. Today Bob steered ‘President’. We had good weather broken only by a brief rain shower whilst using facilities at Sawley Lock. The cruise was uneventful and we reached our planned destination and moored above Shardlow Lock at 18:00 followed by a pleasant evening meal in sunshine at the Clock Warehouse. Being close to Burton we enjoyed our first samples of Marstons Pedigree.

Tuesday 6th July
Shardlow to Branston
Let go at 08:00

A bright and beautiful morning and we were underway in good time. We enjoyed the last few wide locks to Stenson Lock allowing us to breast up before the hard work of taking ‘Kildare’ through narrow locks began. Through Burton on Trent there was plenty of evidence of preparation for the IWA National at the end of August, locals told us of dredgers being seen, and ‘President’ certainly seemed to swim well.

We were running low on fuel and we had an appointment with a coal merchant. Luckily we found that the Bridge pub at Branton had a large car park adjacent to the towpath and we were able to moor right alongside at 17:30. The pub staff were helpful and we had a very good meal with plenty of fresh vegetables. The Marstons Pedigree from the barrel was even better !.

Wednesday 7th July
Branston to Handsacre
Let go at 09:15

The museum had arranged for the local coal merchant to deliver 1 tonne of coal to ensure we made it back home, and the friendly guy turned up early. Six crew and the coalman soon had it aboard.

We then had the dreary stretch of canal close to the A38, but it was relieved by the sight of a Tern following the boats for several miles. It flew around the boats and several times dived into the water alongside ‘President’, most times catching a good sized fish. In contrast, the stretch from Wychnor to Alrewas was wonderful with relatively clean water on the old weir stream. Unfortunately the wind became steadily stronger as we reached the lock. Here Bob went off shopping in Alrewas.

Needing the facilities of water etc., we moored at BW’s yard at Fradley where we received a friendly welcome and a visit to ‘President’s’ engine room by three BW staff. Rather to our surprise someone brought out the remains of an executive buffet lunch !, so an impromptu picnic was enjoyed on the bank.

Although he didn’t appear at the quay side, we later found who the kind person had been. When we were at Junction lock Eugene Baston ( BW’s Customer Relations Manager ) rushed up. He had been in a meeting in the yards office, but he had come to say the new Boaters Handbook DVD had recently been published and would we like copies. We had met him at Clayton locks on the Oxford canal when on the way back from IWA National at Beal Park last year, complete with boat and film crew. There is a short clip of ‘President’ in it demonstrating how boaters should be aware of large narrow boats. So watch out for it at BW offices if you want a copy.

Just beyond the junction we passed nb ‘Monarch’, another old FMC steamer – now in new hands after Roger Murray had sold her. ‘Monarch’ has sadly been shortened – but at least she has a large steam plant and engine – for now. Sadly there are rumours the steam plant may be removed.

There then followed the wonderful stretch of the Trent & Mersey to Handsacre. Fradley and then Ravenshaw woods hug the canal and gave us a respite from the high winds. But we were a little nervous as we had been warned that the forecast for later in the night warned of winds strong enough to fell trees.

Handsacre was reached at 19:00 and we decided on fish & chips rather than a pub dinner. But then a few of us couldn’t resist the pub, rather a shame there was no Marstons and only a rather average barrel of Bass.

Thursday 8th July

Handsacre to Stafford Boat Club
Let go at 08:00

Bob obviously likes walking – he had two more today. The first was to walk ahead to check the narrow channel through the remainder of Armitage tunnel. The second was to go shopping for essential groceries again, this time in Rugeley, leaving us at bridge 65 and rejoining us at 67. For reference there is a large Safeway’s supermarket within two minutes walk from good moorings by bridge 66; no need for long walks!.

It was still very windy, especially between Rugeley and Colwich. We had a very strong crosswind between bridge 68 and 70 and Roger really did a magnificent job keeping ‘President’ in the channel. Unfortunately, ‘Kildare’ just wouldn’t respond to the rudder and her back end dragged along the rushes by the towpath. Apparently the weather forecast had been accurate; we heard tales of fallen trees in the water. But fortunately by the time we reached them BW had done a very efficient job of clearing away the debris.

At Colwich lock ‘President’ goes straight into the lock, in contrast to a few years ago when we brought the statue of James Brindley this way, when it took 20 minutes to get over the cill. We were soon through and turning into the Staffs. & Worcester canal at Haywood Junction. The wind was in just the wrong direction making the sharp turn difficult.

Tixall Wide is a wonderful spot – good for looking at wildlife and having deep water to almost the far side – a place for a bit of fun. The steerer thought a 360 turn would be fun – but the skipper didn’t in this strong wind – so an S turn was all we did .

A lovely stretch of canal beside the old LMS railway and by 16:30 we had reached our next overnight mooring at Stafford Boat Club near Hazlestrine Bridge (96). Here we received a great welcome. Online water and electricity was provided and later we enjoyed the hospitality of the excellent club house. This is a thoroughly recommended stopover should the boats be this way again.

Friday 9th July

Stafford Boat Club to Cross Green, near Coven
Let go at 08:20

Having escaped the steering in the high winds yesterday, Malcolm took on the task today. To date – we have had little problem with depth of water, a few gravely sounds on the bottom but nothing to really impede progress. However, the Staffs. & Worc. Canal doesn’t seem as well loved as the Trent & Mersey. We get through Deptmore lock with no bother, but as we get within 50 meters of Robaston lock we grind to a halt, ‘Kildare’ gives ‘President’ a big nudge and everything goes quite as the engineer realises it is futile to leave power on.

Out come the shafts – we back off and try again. No joy, so we put the captain ashore to flush down some water. Luckily there is no shortage of water – it is on the weirs. We try again, and we move forward about a meter. We try this for about 5 minutes – each flush we creep forward, but then stick. We almost decide to get out the turfer, but suddenly an extra large flush of water comes down – a boat has arrived at the top and its crew man the second top paddle. After about 4 flushes we get the nose of ‘President’ into the lock. One more flush gets us over the bottom cill and we are in.

Sadly we hit the same problem at a couple more locks; Boggs and Brick Kiln, but flushing gets us in. No problem at Gailey lock, but all the same just as well there is still water up going over the top of the weirs on the summit. BW really need to at least spot dredge the bottom of locks hereabout. We apologise to boats following but nobody seems concerned. We even offer to let them pass – but they curiously seem to want to follow us.

After Gailey we had the twisting but beautiful stretch to Cross Green. Hopefully one day we can come this way and go onto the Hatherton branch and on to Huddlesford. We moored by 19:10.

Saturday 10th July
Cross Green to Dudley
Let go at 08:05

An hour or so cruising with time for our bacon sandwiches, then the Wolverhampton 21. Any crew of ‘President’ quickly get a love hate relationship with this flight. Hard work especially for the crew of ‘Kildare’ as the boats are split and the butty bow hauled all the way. Fortunately this time Nick Haynes joined us to help.

Bob, Dave & Nick took ‘President’ up with ‘Kildare’ following with Neil, Keith, Roger & Malcolm rotating jobs so everyone had a chance to haul the boat. As always seems to happen, rain falls half way up – but we are up in good time and soon dry. An uneventful trip on the Wolverhampton level meant we arrived back in the museum at 16:30.

We stayed overnight to clean up. The end of another successful trip, which had proved remarkably trouble free and to quote Bob - “Great trip, great shipmates, great boats, what else could you want.”. The “old fogies” and the “new boys” had blended into one efficient & happy crew.

Malcolm Nixon