Stories about boats and waterways
It’s time for my 2017 Grand Tour to begin! Firstly I had to put in to Hillmorton Wharf for a fix of my leaking fuel pipes on the boat’s Lister Petter LPWS4 engine, then it was off – very gently – to Braunston. This’ll be a bit of an amble for the first few days as I’m scheduled to meet someone at Kilby near Leicester in the middle of the month.
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Oh the weather outside is frightful … but hopefully it’ll be much nicer in the Spring so I’ve begun planning my adventures for this year and this video is the gist of my musings.
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In which I try to condense everything that’s happened in July and August into a ten minute video. Spoiler: I succeed because in reality there isn’t much to tell. I also trail what I’m going to be doing over the next few months and some new videos that I’m working on.
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Here’s my final leg of the First Great Round Trip, taking me back from just outside Braunston to Yelvertoft marina where I began.
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Getting back on track with the travel vlogs from my Grand Tour earlier this year, I pick up where I left off in Vlog 51 (Bascote) and continue my route back towards Braunston. In doing this I pass through the Stockton lock flight with the help of the lovely folk on the Mikron Theatre Company boat and up up just past Wigram’s Turn marina (Napton Junction)
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I’d spent about a week moored at the Saltisford Arm while I went to visit family (the ones who I was supposed to have gone down the Birmingham and Worcester canal to see, but didn’t). With the Crick Show fast approaching, it was time to head on back towards Northamptonshire, so here’s a couple of days cruising in that direction.
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I’d spent several days idling away my time quite pleasantly at Kingswood Junction at Lapworth but now wanted to go and visit family for a bit so needed a better place to leave the boat. So I went down the Hatton lock flight to Warwick and moored in the Saltisford Arm, run by the Saltisford Canal Trust. Lovely spot albeit a bit noisy from the traffic nearby.
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After a few days paused at the mooring in Shirley, Birmingham, I moved on down the Stratford upon Avon canal, through the Lapworth lock flight and turned at the Lapworth Link onto the Grand Union canal. During the journey there was sunshine, wildlife spottings, draw bridge dilemmas and a squashed horn. This video explains all.
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Finally the big day is here: a massive 27 locks await my pleasure on the way from Curdworth into the middle of Birmingham. It was a warm, sunny day and a lot of effort – I ached for several days afterwards – but it was rather satisfying. The route goes down the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, up the Aston and Farmers Bridge lock flights into the centre of the city.
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The first of three long days begins in this video as I head south from Fazeley towards Birmingham and the many, many locks I will have to go through to ascend to its giddy height. In this video, I move to Curdworth which is just outside the Birmingham suburbs.
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