Video blogs of a Narrowboat

We went out for a few days before Easter, though wasn’t sure how busy or would be – it is after all the school holidays. We set off from Heritage boats and down to the Harecastle Tunnel. We had a short wait whilst boats were coming through but no queue this side. Once through we carried on up the Caldon canal. Three was a local who’s hobby was to help people through the locks. Unusual.
The canal seems to have gone through some improvements since my last trip here, with some new lock gates and improved tow paths. Indeed as we progressed up the canal we found workmen upgrading the path, so out looks like they will be doing the whole length.

My current contract is coming to an end, but I’m happy with my Samsung S2 phone and so do not really feel the need to update it. So an alternative is to go SIM only which is a lot cheaper (because you are not effectively paying for the cost of a handset over the length of the contract). Just need to see what now.

We are out on the canals and heading to the River Severn, to Gloucester. Someone had just told us about the Lock 200 event celebrating the bicentenary of the lock opening taking place 6th-9th September. Wonder of its too late to book a slot?

Well the Olympics are over (just the paralympics to go) and almost thinking what the fuss was. The Guardian reports 90% of the population watched at least 15 minutes of it on BBC TV. Well I didn’t watch most of it – probably just squeezed past the 15 minute mark as I watched the kayak races. So who were the 10% – maybe those who avidly against the games? Quite a surprise at the figures, though I suppose many were like me – with so much of it on TV you can’t resist to watch a little, just to see what all the fuss was about .

My next outing on the boat is at the end of August. It may well be my last one whilst based at Norbury as we will be moving bases sometime. So the question is where to go to?

The new base for the boat will be at the other side of the four counties, so it’s not as if we won’t be able to get to most places we could from Norbury, but when it comes to moving areas I suppose people do thing of going routes they won’t be able to for a while as they’ve moved bases. So with this in mind my first thought is Gloucester. A couple of years ago (when we were based at Calcutt) we went to Tewkesbury going via Stratford and several years (possibly as much as a decade ago) we went on the upper section of the River Severn (between Staffs & Worcs and Worcs & Birmingham canals), but we’ve not done much more of the Severn.

Many people say that the Severn is a pretty boring route to go due to the high banks along a lot of the route, and I suppose from a video-cruise perspective I may have had this route lower on my priority list for such a reason. When we went to Tewkesbury I had originally planned a circular route returning via the Severn, but changed my mind (though this was party due to a delay because a crew member needed an emergency dentist appointment) especially as we’d got a license for the a week on the Avon so thought we may as well spend more time on it.

I was speaking to another narrowboater who went down to Gloucester and did say the trip was worth it, so maybe it’s about time I went. If this is the case, then doing the Severn from Stourport to Gloucester might make a good video. Then again, nothing is set in stone and I might feel differently once we are out on the cut.