More Canal Cruising in a COVID World (Part 2)

 You left us in Alvechurch and, so far, our cruise had not been affected by the pandemic...until now! The Met Office forecast (and Rainfall Radar) indicated that heavy morning rain (from Storm Francis) would clear by lunchtime. So we decided to stay put and have an early lunch in the Crown and approach the Tardebigge flight of locks (all 30 of them) afterwards.

This was on the Tuesday of the last full week of Eat Out to Help Out and of course, the Crown was fully booked! (It's only a small pub, so not so surprising!) No problem, there's a pub near to the top of the locks called The Tardebigge, and it is quite large...it was also fully booked. Our final option was to set sail for the top of Tardebigge Locks and get a taxi into Redditch where there are two Wetherspoon's to choose from. Which is what we did!

The Royal Enfield in Redditch served our purposes perfectly, with only a short queue before we could take advantage of Rishi's Dishes. Another Spoons to add to our list of saviours!

By the time we got back to the boat the gale force winds of Storm Francis were evident from this view of a windswept Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

Fortunately, the Tardebigge Locks are quite sheltered and steering Peggy Ellen wasn't as tricky as I'd feared. With the hard work of my shipmates, we reached the Queen's Head at Stoke Pound in plenty of time to exercise our options.

Rather than phone, we decided to turn up on the door to see whether they had enough room (better, we felt, to turn up in person!). Option 2 was to call a cab and try our luck in Bromsgrove. We were in luck and they managed to squeeze us in!

Not only was the food excellent, but I spent the whole evening drinking a new beer (for me) - Lock N Load from Brothers of Ale, a new brewery in Stourport-on-Severn. A very nice drop!

Next day we had a short trip (inc 12 more locks!) to Hanbury Wharf and the Eagle & Sun pub for lunch. This was the only pub on our trip where we failed to get a seat indoors, but it was a pleasant day and there was plenty of room in the garden.
 

This is another pub whose strict adherence to the guidelines will cost them trade unless they relax them a bit or have more staff on to cope with them! Andrew, our lunch monitor for the day, was waiting for at least 20 minutes, outside the pub, just waiting to be allowed back in to order the food! He had the good sense to get another round in!

The afternoon session saw us enter new boating territory (a rare event after 40 years!) by tackling the Droitwich Canals. The first section has narrow locks and the lowest roofed tunnel/bridge you're likely to encounter anywhere with the radio aerial rubbing along the ceiling!

We made it to Droitwich Spa town centre and what a lovely place it is. It wasn't a long walk from our (illegal, we found out later) mooring to the town centre and three very pleasant pubs. (The fourth looked equally nice, but we only managed the three!)

The Talbot was our final pub of the evening after The Hop Pole, the Old Cock Inn and a curry. (We didn't manage the Star & Garter this time).

Next day we traversed the Droitwich Barge Canal, which has wide locks, all the way to the River Severn accompanied, part of the way, by a local charity narrowboat and it's crew who were out training for the first time this year. Pleasant company and help for the hard work of winding locks.

You'll notice the inordinate number of solar panels on Pamela May 2 and that's because she's an all-electric powered boat...which is fine until someone inadvertently flicks the wrong switch resulting in no thrust, as happened at one of the locks.

They weren't intending to go onto the river, so let us go ahead for the final lock. Once we reached the River Severn, I was somewhat shocked by quite how fast the river was flowing. I'd been following the river level rise for the past few days, but nothing appeared to be too untoward and the river level indicators were reading Orange (with a couple of inches before going Red), so the river was still open for navigation.

To compound my apprehension, a hire boat that was travelling downstream and wanted to get onto the Droitwich Canal ended up at least 300 yards past the junction before they managed to get it turned around! Our plan was to head upstream for a planned lunch at the Holt Fleet pub or The Wharf on the other side of the river (which had a landing stage that we'd used many years before!)

Neither of my shipmates said that we should turn back so I put the thrust on and we entered the river and managed to get Peggy Ellen facing the right way and actually make progress against the current without having to strain the engine. We managed about 2 - 3 mph against a current that was faster than walking pace (about jogging speed!) which doesn't sound a lot, but I can assure you it is on a river the size of the Severn.

The key to making progress is to stay out of the main channel and go close to the edge where the water isn't flowing so quickly and there aren't large tree branches floating by! Unfortunately, dependent on the bends and the width of the river, the quieter water often changes sides of the river resulting in a quick dash across to the other side!

After an hour (seemed like much longer in the rain) we finally reached Holt Fleet only to find that there were no moorings at either pub. So we pushed on to the lock. Fortunately, the lock-keeper opened up Holt Lock for us and allowed us to moor up at the landing stage above the lock which was as still as a millpond!

So, we disembarked and headed for the Holt Fleet pub.

 They managed to squeeze us in where we had a lovely lunch, warmed up and dried out! When we returned to the boat the lock keeper told us that the next lock (at Lincomb) was now closed, but it was OK for us to stay where we were moored.

We were there for the next day and a half because, even though the flow was considerably less than when we'd come up the river, it was deemed not safe enough to reopen for traffic. There are worse places to be stranded as there were two pubs within walking distance and we had a secure mooring!

 The lock keeper allowed us access to the lock island to have a look at the flow of water over the weir. Also on the island was a mini orchard of apple trees and for the first time since I was a child I ate an apple that I'd just picked from the tree...a very juicy Pink Lady!

This is where I'll pause for breath! Less than a week into our two-week cruise and we've had more drama and incident than in an episode of "EastEnders"!

***Spoiler Alert***

Next time we'll be experiencing proper Black Country drinking habits...and much less drama!

More Canal Cruising in a COVID World (Part 1)

 It truly is a remarkable time as we embarked on another canal trip just a month after the previous cruise. This time the pubs felt a bit more relaxed (or maybe I'm getting used to them!) and our major delays were not caused by COVID related issues.

Our first stop was The Boat at Stockton, a pub we hadn't visited for many years.

It was 'fully booked' but they managed to find us a table. This was one of those one of those pubs which takes the COVID-19 threat very seriously and have taken some decisions that might not work in the long run. Nevertheless, we had a pleasant lunch.

Further along the Grand Union it was good to see that the Two Boats in Long Itchington was now open and seemingly doing well with plenty of people sitting outside in the late summer sunshine.

Our ultimate destination for the evening was Leamington Spa, also somewhere we hadn't visited for a few years. Leamington has never been a particularly happy hunting ground for pubs...and little has changed. We managed to squeeze into The Old Library, which has gone under different names in the past and I remember it as the Jug & Jester from last time.

This is a large, rambling pub that operates a table service only policy, but they didn't really have enough staff on to cope with the demand. After eating at the Leamington branch of Piccolino's (very good Italian) we ended up in The Pig & Fiddle, a proper back-street boozer!

Social distancing here was easy as we were the only people in the pub! Apparently, they'd been busy (too busy?) earlier with a young crowd and when we arrived the staff were busy pulling down blinds to make it look closed so the hordes didn't return and they could get back home on time!

Next day our cruising got back onto schedule with another lunchtime visit to Hatton Arms (excellent and slightly more relaxed than a month earlier!) and finished off with an evening in the Navigation Inn at Lapworth (also as excellent as ever).

So, we were back on schedule, which lasted for about an hour and then this happened at the lock above us on the Lapworth flight.

Yes, those two boats are tightly wedged with no movement possible backwards or forwards, up or down! From my original vantage point (50 - 60 yards away) it was obvious that both boats should back up and start again. The woman, climbing off her boat, said, "Weve tried that!"...so that was me all out of ideas! Two minutes later an officious, 'know-it-all' type appeared from one of the locks above and made the same suggestion, but he wasn't happy till thay'd actually tried it. Result? No change! (Where do these people come from? You always find at least one in any such crisis situation...and they're almost always useless!)

I retired back to our boat in the expectation that only a crane could resolve the situation...and that would take at least 24 hours! However, someone with experience of similar situations appeared and with the judicious use of a stiff metal pole he managed to lever the two boats apart! I didn't see it, but we were moving again after only an hour's delay!

Now the lock flight was full of boats, so for the next few locks we had to pass the boats coming down and not end up in a similar state. The key is for both boats to keep moving, one goes left, the other right and a delicate pirouette is performed resulting in both boats entering their respective locks gracefully and easily. After passing the big boat that had been stuck, the next one was 'Mr Know-it-all'...only he didn't! (He exited his lock slowly and just as I was about to move into the space he was leaving he put it in reverse! As I'd already moved to the left and wasn't in his way I could compensate, but it took a bit of persuasion to get him moving in the right direction!) 

We successfully negotiated the rest of the locks, but it meant that we didn't get as far as the Blue Bell Cider House, but ended up at the Wharf Tavern in Hockley Heath for the first time in a few years!

We'd phoned ahead for a booking and fortunately it wasn't too busy for a Monday lunchtime with the Eat Out to Help Out being in full swing by then. Here they had the right balance between observing the COVID requirements and running a pub.

As we were an hour behind schedule it was a long afternoon session to get us to Alvechurch for the evening. Luckily the weather was good so it should have been a pleasant afternoon...and it was...until we were pelted with stones from the canalside as we approached Bridge 6. This resulted in a broken window and our steerer, Andrew, narrowly escaping being hit! It is many years since this has happened to us in Birmingham and it was usually on the Grand Union Canal, never the Stratford. Fortunately the window was double glazed and only the outer pane was smashed.

We soldiered on and on the way we passed Calypso at it's home mooring...this being the boat that stole the lock from us on our last holiday!

We made it to Alvechurch just as the light was failing and also got to the Red Lion (a Vintage Inn) in time for food.

All in all, an eventful day, but we reached our destination safely (just!) and lived to fight another day. 

Stay tuned for more adventures on board the narrowboat Peggy Ellen on the Midlands Waterways!

#269 Queen's Head, Stoke Pound, Worcestershire : 1987 to 2019

The Queen's Head at Stoke Pound is in the perfect position for weary boaters on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. If you're heading up from Worcester it is situated in the small gap between the six Stoke Locks and the daunting prospect of the thirty (yes, 30!) Tardebigge Locks so you have a decision to make...should we stay...or should we go on? If you're heading down from Birmingham the decision is much easier...knackered after 30 locks...you stay!

Our first visit was a lunchtime stop on Sunday 5th July 1987 as we headed down the canal towards Worcester. According to the log, it had taken us 4 hours 10 minutes to get from The Crown at Alvechurch to the Queen's Head...a pretty decent time to do the thirty locks with a crew of four.

I don't remember a great deal about the pub other that it was a 'gastropub' even before the term became official in 1991 (according to Wikipedia). It was the definite place to go to for Sunday lunch in that part of Worcestershire!

Our trips along that part of the canal system are quite sporadic and we didn't return, heading towards Worcester, until the evening of Sunday 25th May 1997. (Picture taken next am)

This photo shows what a superb location it is and it was still a very popular place for food and drink.

We returned at lunchtime on Monday 12th August 2002.

We were taking a boat painting trip so we'd interchange travelling with some boat painting as and when the weather allowed. The previous night we had been moored below the Stoke Locks, so after turning, we made the short journey to the Queen's Head for lunch before tackling some more painting and the thirty Tardebigge Locks...again!

Our next visit was on the evening of Wednesday 28th May 2008 on our way up from Worcester.

Again, there had been further external redecoration and refurbishment, most notably the addition of an awning, presumably to shelter the smokers as this was less that a year since the smoking ban had been implemented in England.

It was another five years before we were back on the evening of Sunday 12th May 2013...and this is what we found!

Disaster! Pub very definitely closed, but was this a permanent situation? A closer inspection revealed that it was undergoing a major refubishment following a change of ownership. Long term, that was good news, but in the more immediate short term we had to call a cab and dine in Bromsgrove!

We haven't managed to return to that stretch of the Worcester & Birmingham Canal since 2013, but I took the opportunity earlier this year to pop along and take a couple of photos to update the situation.

This was on the afternoon of Tuesday April 30th 2019. I must assume that most of the refurbishment was on the inside as the exterior looks to be largely unaltered. (I didn't go inside, but I'm guessing that it is still a gastropub!)

It is now run by the Lovely Pubs group which also operates The Boot in Lapworth (#004) and a few other gastropubs around South Warwickshire.

#241 Hopwood House, Alvechurch, Worcestershire : 1999 to 2017

The first time we stopped at Hopwood House was way back on Monday 27th August 1984 for a lunchtime visit, but back in those days I hadn't started to take a picture of every pub we visited.

Despite the fact that Hopwood House is a perfectly located pub on the bank of the Worcester & Birmingham Canal, just outside Alvechurch (and on the busy A441) we didn't return for 15 years!

This photo was taken from the other side of the busy road on the bridge over the canal on the evening of Saturday 29th May 1999. These days we'd try to find a place with a few pubs in the evening, but as this was the first day of our holiday (we were a bit late setting off) and would probably not have found anywhere else if we'd pushed on.

As I recall, it was a fairly large pub with a traditional bar and a larger eating area. Always a popular stopping point for hire boaters as it is the first pub after leaving Alvechurh Boats heading to Birmingham.

It wasn't too long before we returned.

This was another evening stop on Saturday 10th August 2002. This time I went to the other side of the canal to get the shot and also to get an idea of the arduous walk from our mooring to the pub!

This journey was part of a boat painting week during which we did a bit of painting, a bit of pottering about along the canal and a bit of drinking...not necessarily in that order.

Although we've passed by quite a few times in the intervening years it took us another 15 years before we revisited Hopwood House.

This was at lunchtime on Monday 14th August 2017 and I decided to take photos from both sides of the pub. The top one is the view from the mooring like we had in 2002 and the other is from the car park.

It is now a Marston's pub and, whilst the interior has been opened out it still feels almost like a pub with two rooms.

#155 Eagle & Sun, Hanbury Wharf, Worcestershire : 1997 to 2013

Although close to where our boat was moored, we only use the stretch of the Worcester & Birmingham Canal down to Worcester every five years or so. On those occasions when we have taken this route, we didn't stop at Hanbury Wharf (near Droitwich) until 1997.

This first visit was a lunchtime stop on Monday 26th May 1997. It was an unscheduled stop as we'd been delayed by a break in the throttle cable which had required a replacement. We received excellent service from the engineer at Black Prince Narrowboats who fitted the new one; we were amazed to find somewhere open on what was a glorious Bank Holiday Monday!

As I recall, the pub was pleasant and served good food - just what we'd needed after an eventful morning.

The next visit was on Thursday 29th May 2003 in the middle of a long day working up from Worcester to Alvechurch for the evening - just the 55 locks to navigate!

As is evident, the pub had undergone a complete makeover, but it was still a welcoming place and the food was good.

However, on reflection, it can't have been that good as we've never been back! (only kidding!) Our schedule has meant that whenever we've been passing by it hasn't been a suitable time to stop as happened in 2008 and again in 2013. On our last trip up the Worcs & B'ham Canal I took this picture.

This was on the afternoon of Sunday 12th May 2013 and the photo was taken from the canal as we sailed by, so it is difficult to see what changes (if any) had occurred in the past 10 years. I think that the restaurant section overlooking the canal is new or maybe just enlarged and re-roofed. 

The Eagle & Sun is now owned by The Number Works Pub Company who seem to specialise in country pub restaurants. (Although it is strange to find it still listed as available on the Enterprise Inns website!)

#130 Crown Inn, Alvechurch, Worcestershire : 1987 to 2013

The Crown Inn at Alvechurch is just a few miles away from me, but the only times I've drunk there has been on our canal trips as it sits (almost canal side) on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

My first visit was on the evening of Saturday 4th July 1987, at the start of a trip that would take us as far south as Worcester and as far north as Middlewich!

As I recall, we spent the whole evening there in a proper, cosy village pub.

A combination of circumstances meant that our next visit to the Crown Inn was on the evening of Monday 12th August 2002.

This shows how close to the canal it is without actually being canalside. The exterior had been extensively refurbished, but inside it was largely unchanged. This visit was part of a short local trip that we'd undertaken with the idea of doing some boat painting along the way.

We were back again in less than a year.

This was on the evening of Thursday 29th May 2003 near the end of our Stourport Ring journey. This view is from the canal bridge and shows that it hadn't changed externally.

Another five years passed before we did the Stourport Ring again and this time it was a lunchtime stop at the Crown on Thursday 29th May 2008.

Finally I took a picture from the front again so that the changes from 1987 are more apparent.

Another five years passed and we attempted the Stourport Ring one more time. This time we started from Worcester, so we popped in to the Crown Inn at lunchtime on Monday 13th May 2013.

It is quite remarkable that the outside has hardly changed in the past 11 years and is still advertised as an M&B pub. Inside it still has the same layout and is still the same cosy village pub that it was in 1987. If you're in the area, it is worth a visit and here is their website.