Over To Blogger
Jim Davies
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Back on line (for now)
Hereford
11 June 2008
Last month I had a message from "Squarespace", who host the site, that my web browser would no longer be supported for accessing the site to update it. That prompted me to stop posting and, indeed, to take the site down. Since then I've had a few messages from people asking why and saying that they missed it. That has led me restore the site so that you can all read it again. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post, although the compatability problem doesn't seem to have manifested itself yet - so "Narrowboat Starcross" is back for the time being at least!
Not that there will be much to report for a bit as I'm going to Cornwall for a fortnight and there are no canals there! Starcross will be sitting at Norbury Junction with bird sh!t and leaves gathering on the roof, the brasses getting grubby and unpolished and the mooring lines loosened by every passing boat (of which there will be quite a few!)
Roll on July!
How Much??!!
Hereford
16 May, 2008
As part of my efforts to recoup the costs of replacing Starcross' knackered engine last year I put up for auction a piece of railwayana I'd acquired rather half-heartedly about 30 years ago. Its a sign, known as a "totem" from the railway station platform at Stretford, Greater Manchester. The station is no longer served by "proper" trains and now forms part of the "Metrolink" tram system on the tramway between Altrincham and Manchester.
I'd originally been told it might be worth £650, although after having seen it the auctioneer suggested a reserve price of only £350. I'd have been happy with either amount, especially as it cost me the princely sum of £4, so imagine my surprise when it sold for no less than £1,250! Even after paying the auctioneer's fee I'll still have well over a thousand quid to put towards the engine fund - or squander hedonistically given that I've already paid for the engine.
And to think it was hanging on the outside wall of the garage for over 15 years!
Chillington Bridge
Dates: 9 - 11th May 2008
Route: Norbury Junction to Chillington Bridge and back
Crew: Jim, Hil and Christine
Friday 9th May: Norbury Junction to Gnosall
Chillington Bridge
Hil's aunt, Christine, was visiting from Canada which gave us an excuse for a weekend on "Starcross" (not that we really need one). We drove up to Norbury Junction after work, picking up Christine from Telford Central railway station and arriving at Norbury Junction at 18.45. Taking a minimum of luggage up the towpath to the boat, we loaded up, fired up the engine and were away within minutes - albeit just down to the water point, where we topped up the drinking water and loaded the rest of our stuff from the car, which can be brought alongside here, unlike at the actual mooring. We didn't intend to go far, and would have stopped just after Shelmore embankment to enjoy the distant views of the Welsh hills, but the well known "Shroppie Shelf" (an underwater ledge running along the towpath side) renders stopping all but impossible along this stretch so instead we tied up for the night on the visitor moorings just north of the railway bridge in Gnosall.
Saturday 10th May: Gnosall to Chillington Bridge
Spring has come at last to the Shroppie! Saturday dawned warm and clear, after a fantastic "dawn chorus" in the early hours which was worth being kept awake for. At least it meant we could make an early start! The fine weather had certainly brought out the boaters, with the cut being busier than we have seen it so far this year. We were third in the queue for the lock at Wheaton Aston (although there were no downhill boats) but not before we had found the Elsan disposal and toilets there "out of order" yet again (or should that be "still"?)
The cutting makes a fine and quiet mooring spot with welcome shade on a hot May afternoon. After arriving and tieing up for the night, we took a walk into the village of Brewood, which gets a well-deserved mention in June's "Waterways World" although I'm not sure about their suggested mooring spot above bridge 12. I've never seen anyone tie up there and I suspect that the infamous "shelf" would make it tricky.
Sunday, 11th May: Chillington to Norbury Junction
Another fine, warm, sunny morning but a later start saw us away by 09.50 and back through Brewood, where we saw the view from Bridge 12 recommended by Waterways World magazine.
Wheaton Aston lock was busy again - two boats going down and another two waiting to come up and we pushed on to Cowley before tieing up for a towpath lunch under a convenient shady tree. On a fine Sunday afternoon Norbury Junction can resemble Blackpool beach - and today was no exception with crowds outside the Junction Inn and at Norbury Wharf's cafe. I don't blame them - there's always plenty going on and we played our part in the entertainment. Calling first at the sanitary station to empty the cassette we then had to make an interesting manoeuvre taking a 45 degree course across to the wharf, which runs at the opposite 45 degree angle to the approach (the photo makes it clearer, I hope, showing the water point outside the sanitary station on the left and the long white wharf buildings on the right, the diesel pump being to the far right.
Today's manoeuvre was made even more interesting by the presence of ex-working boat "Buckden" alongside the diesel pump, reducing the available space at which to aim. I have to say that for once, despite the presence of a huge crowd of gongoozlers, everything went to plan and I drew Starcross up at the pump and stepped nonchalantly ashore to tie up, being disappointed only not to receive a round of applause as everyone pretended not to notice. It would have been different if I'd made a mess of things!
We took on 38 litres of diesel at 67p a litre - one of the lowest prices on the cut these days and also bought a new gas bottle for £20 before moving off the wharf to accommodate another boat reversing through Bridge 38 to get into our space whilst yet another waited to proceed north. Always something to see at Norbury! Christine enjoyed her first trip on the canals and survived all the potential hazards of boating only to fall literally at the final hurdle when she tripped twice over the same mooring post, the second time falling headlong and bruising her leg and hip. Fortunately for Norbury Wharf she is of the generation that believes that if you fall over something that has a perfect right to be there its your own bl**dy fault, so you just pick yourself up and get on with it -which is what she did.
Name That Tunnel
Hereford
8th May 2008
This tunnel is 400 metres long, was opened in 1845 and closed 40 years later. It's located about 1km from the terminus of its canal, which linked two cathedral cities in southern England. The tunnel now passes underneath a housing estate and a major north-south railway line. So, does anyone know where it might be?
Both entrances are on private land and not easily accessible, so photographs are not easy to obtain and aren't often published. My partner Hilary recently had the opportunity to take these shots - with the landowner's permission - in the course of her work.
Oh! allright, then...Its Aylestone Tunnel in Hereford on the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal. Although I often comment on the fact that Hereford is remote from the connected waterways system and post details here of the sometimes long and difficult journeys to and from "Starcross" I actually live just a few hundred metres from the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal and Aylestone Tunnel passes almost beneath my house!
It had a short and not particularly useful life. The H&G was built from Gloucester to Ledbury between 1793 and 1798 but there the money ran out and it was another 47 years before Hereford was reached and Aylestone Tunnel saw its first boats. Hereford was therefore the last major city to be connected to the waterway network, achieving this at a time when most other cities were already linked to each other by railways. Hereford was also late in getting its rail connection (there's a theme here - it still doesn't have a motorway or even a by-pass!) but by 1861 it was reached by rail from Worcester and the canal closed in 1885 having served the city for a mere 40 years.
As you can see, its in pretty good nick inside and holds a good depth of water - at least when its been raining, as it had been before this shot was taken. If you look carefully you can just see a spot of light that marks the far entrance.
Despite over 100 years of closure and the building of a railway line over the bed of the canal between Ledbury and Gloucester (now itself closed) enthusiasts believe it can be re-opened. The H&G Canal Trust is working away to achieve this aim and with commercial developments planned to incorporate a re-opened canal at either end of Aylestone Tunnel it could see boats again one day. Let's hope so, although I don't think I'll be bringing "Starcross" "home" very soon.