The very skilled and intrepid crew have confirmed the extra 3 days of their adventure, which will now last until Tuesday 1st July. Alan has devised a cunning route to test the crew to their very limits. The route will be some 173.5 miles long, including 192 locks and their chances of success is far from certain. The never attempted before route is to be known as "The Giant East Midlands Ring". Click here to see the master plan of their route.
The intended destination for the evening at
the village of Branston on the outskirts of Burton-on-Trent was
reached at 7-30, where Ron carefully selected an ideal mooring
location between a number of other boats. |
As can be seen, considerable effort was required to operate the large paddles of these locks. |
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The crew arose at 7-30 to consume
numbing porridge prepared by Neil. The passage down the last section of
the canal was quickly completed before travelling through the Derwent
Mouth Lock, where the narrowboat entered the wide and dangerous River Trent.
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Although very hazardous the crew were able to navigate the boat successfully through the strong currents to the new cut, where they filled with water adjacent to the Sawley Bridge Marina. |
Waiting to enter the Ratcliffe Lock |
The crew relaxed through the beautiful countryside in the sun watching the planes making their approach to East Midlands Airport, knowing that the Pork Pie remained safely in the fridge. |
Catastrophe struck |
The narrowboat drew into Mountsorrel, the intended destination, at 6-15pm. Although the crew were at first concerned about the lack of mooring, they quickly located a suitable location close to the Waterside Inn. They felt obliged to test the ales, before dinner, but were disappointed to find the Moorlands Original barrel run dry after just one pint, before reluctantly changing to Everards Tiger Bitter. |
NEAR CATASTROPHE AVERTED A collision with a large barge, with inexperienced crew, was narrowly avoided by the quick thinking actions of Ron. Although Rhapsody almost went into the reeds, the crew were pleased to see that the barge and crane became firmly stuck in the bank !!! After this frightening experience, the crew felt the need for coffee with Hob-Nobs |
Rhapsody soon entered the nicer areas of Leicester |
The crew became concerned when the canal considerably narrowed, however their natural instincts enabled the craft to be navigated to safety with great skill. |
Wednesday 25th June (another beautiful sunny day, but with an occasional short shower and strong wind)
After filling with water the crew were faced with a major obstruction of the waterways, but were able to successfully handle the situation. |
The large number of giant double locks were skilfully operated by the crew as they pressed on through the beautiful Leicestershire countryside. In order to conserve canal water the crew teamed up with another narrowboat to share locks in a very responsible manner. |
After breakfast and despite their grave concerns, the crew successfully traversed the infamous "Saddington Tunnel" (881 yds), said to be infested with bats. |
Neil selected the Foxton Locks Inn for dinner, where he noted nourishing Fish Pie and vegetables on the menu together with a good selection of real ales. |
Thursday 26th June (another sunny day, clouding over later with some wind)
Rhapsody awaiting her turn to ascend the Foxton Locks |
Husbands Bosworth Tunnel (1170 yds) came upon the crew quite quickly, but due to its extreme narrowness they prayed not to meet another boat during their passage |
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The crews worst fears happened when a narrowboat appeared out of the darkness travelling at great speed. The other members of the crew were amazed at the boat handling skills shown by Ron in avoiding a collision |
Although Crick boasts 3 pubs, the crew hurried to the Red Lion where their finely tuned instincts detected the best food and ale. They were not disappointed and enjoyed dinners of beef madras, seafood platter and tagine of lamb, with a suitable quantity of Bombardier real ale. |
Friday 27th June (a sunny morning, but rather cold to start)
Some sort of old barge event was happening at Braunston which did lead to every old barge in Christendom converging on Braunston for the weekend. It was rather a squeeze to get through for normal mortals, but not of course the resourceful crew, who barged through, as one does on a barge. |
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Saturday 28th June (a sunny and hot day)
Rhapsody entering a giant Grand Union Lock No 22, just before reaching Leamington Spa |
The first two Warwick (Cape) locks presented no problems until the crew caught sight of the formidable Hatton flight. The crew set about the ascent with their normal fortitude. About half of the locks were empty which reduced the load somewhat. However, operating the paddles was still very draining with 22.5 turns to fully open or close each one and having to climb continuously out of the boat to hold the barge against the current was equally draining. |
The crew felt need to celebrate the successful ascent of the Hatton Locks, by treating themselves to Magnum ice-creams, which greatly lifted their spirits. |
Sunday 29th June (Warm with some sun in the morning with heavy rain showers in the afternoon)
Alan dangerously climbed to great heights to help locate the Pork Pie Shop |
An obstacle in the canal almost brought the adventure to an untimely end, had it not been for the crew's extraordinary skills |
No difficulties were experienced as Rhapsody was navigated through the historic guillotine lock near Kings Norton Junction |
Neil prepared tunnel sustaining "Cup-a-Soups" for the crew as they traversed the Branwood Tunnel |
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The perilously sharp turn into the Birmingham and Worcester canal was handled with easy by Ron |
Despite periods of heavy rain the determined crew pushed on with their epic mission |
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The estimated time of arrival in Birmingham remained on schedule, because of the bravery of the tough crew |
Monday 30th June (Hot and Sunny all day)
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The13 Birmingham City Centre locks were negotiated in a textbook manner by the competent crew |
MAJOR LOCK PROBLEM - Whilst taking a short break before the start of the Aston Flight of locks, the crew were approached, on foot, by a person from the boat ahead, who was greatly distressed. It transpired that the pound between locks 1 & 2 was nearly empty and totally impassable. The experienced crew finished their coffee and went to investigate the problem.
The distressed boat owner had already reported the matter to British Waterways and was awaiting a call-back. The intrepid and skilled crew, using their advanced analytical skills quickly diagnosed the problem and set about remedial action. Both paddles on Lock 1 were opened fully and very quickly the pound level started to rise. Within 30 minutes the lock pound was returned to normal and both narrowboats were able to passed successfully down the flight.
The skilled crew were able to return the lock system to full working order |
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Neil saved Rhapsody from certain disaster when a train of large barges, pulled by a tug with experienced crew, veered dangerously towards the narrowboat |
After the excitement of the day, the crew took time to fill with drinking water and prepare breakfast at the Cuckoo Bridge mooring area |
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After breakfast, Neil took a walk in search of a Pork Pie shop, but failed in his mission to locate one. In desperation he even called at a local cafe, who were also out of stock. The severe shortage of Pork Pies in the area, caused the crew much distress and they resigned themselves to yet another day without one.
The Birmingham & Fazeley canal took Rhapsody beneath "Spaghetti Junction" for some distance |
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The intrepid and skilled crew of the narrowboat Rhapsody remain calm despite intolerable pressures |
Later in the afternoon after making good progress down the Birmingham and Fazeley canal, the engine overheating warning again sounded. After a number of attempts at limping onwards the owners were called and the emergency services scrambled. The crew had diagnosed failure of the same hose that had been replaced earlier in the adventure.
Trevor and colleague from the "Rivers & Canals Rescue" service arrived at 7-05pm and set about the task of repairing the Rhapsody overheating engine. They quickly replaced the faulty hose and set about the difficult job of purging the cooling system of air. After completion and pressurising the system, yet another leaking hose was found, which also had to be replaced. The competent engineers left at 8-30pm declaring the engine fixed and the crew then hurried to the White Horse in Curdworth for belated dinners of Fish Pie, Curry and Gammon. To the delight of the crew Alan negotiated a special half price deal on the Everards Tiger Bitter, the taste of which proved slightly better than the crew had expected.
After the excitement of the day the crew felt need for cheese and biscuits on board their boat, before retiring to their bunks relieved that all was well in the engine department. However, they were critically aware that they has seriously fallen behind their targets and getting Rhapsody back to its moorings in Lichfield for Tuesday night was far from certain. A very early start would be required.
The completion of the adventure remained in jeopardy
Tuesday 1st July
(Another hot and sunny day)
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The very difficult Fazeley Junction was completed with great competence, despite much other narrowboat traffic |
Rhapsody pushed onwards relentlessly, through busy waters, to get to its destination |
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The crew remain vigilant at all times for a Pork Pie Shop |
The journey to Fradley Junction at the
top of the Coventry Canal proved the busiest section of the whole adventure
with a constant stream of passing boats, testing the crews skills, however
this did not detract them from the difficult task in hand of getting
Rhapsody back to its home base. Telephone contact was made with the
owners and provisional meeting point and time agreed.
Fradley Junction was reached in good time
and the crew knew that completion of their adventure was within their gasp.
However, they had to remember that three more locks awaited them after the
junction and success could not be guaranteed. The difficult turn at Fradley Junction was executed with great precision,
but delays occurred at the last locks
due to a significant number of poorly crewed narrowboats.
Rhapsody pulled into her final moorings and awaited the arrival of the owner. The jubilant crew congratulated themselves on another successful adventure which had brought more testing and fearful incidents than any previous trip. However, they were only too aware that the bulk of the voyage had been completed without the benefit of Pork Pie, but vowed to continue the search for supplies on their next adventure starting the first week in September.