Across the Heart of England

Thanks to six days of uncharacteristically glorious weather, our 100 mile canal trip across the Heart of England from Birmingham to Tring was highly enjoyable. Although the midday sun can become somewhat opressive when working a long flight of locks for several hours, and we did get a little sunburnt, despite lashings of sun cream and obsessive wearing of hats.

Everything (mostly) went according to plan, and we met-up with the "Chelonian" by the drawbridge at Shirley, where, conveniently, there is a pub - the first of several canalside hostelries we sampled. 5 days, 92 miles and 110 locks later we arrived at Tring in good time to get the train home. This was the longest trip we have done so far on the waterways. Thanks to Dave McI for giving us such a good time.

I have not really been to this part of the country much before, and travelling by canal is a great way of both experiencing the countryside and getting a different perspective on the towns and villages that you pass through. I particularly liked the Stratford Canal, with its small, attractive single-width locks, and the Oxford Canal section of the Grand Union Canal, which has a more peaceful rural feel that the main section. The Grand Union itself s bigger and more functional and industrial in feel (in a 19th century sort of way), but still has a great deal of charm (and some great pubs).

We are looking forward to the next trip on the "Chelonian".

An Amazing Sight

As we were criusing along the Grand Union Canal through the outskirts of Milton Keynes we looked up and saw the most amazing sight in the sky - at least ten gliders all swooping around in the same thermal - high up, but still (apparently) incredibly close together. I don't think that I have ever seen more than two gliders at any one time before, so it was truly incredible to see so many together in the same small area of sky, circling like brilliant white vultures.

(There are six gliders in this photo, which is the best I could manage with my compact digital camera. There are a couple more pictures in the linked gallery - click on the picture to see a larger version and access the galleries.)

Lock, lock, lock ...

As mentioned before (see Canals and Locks (2 August 2007)), I quite like working the locks, and am aways ready to leap off clutching my windlass ready operate the next lock. Which is just as well, as we had 110 of them on this trip, although we managed to arrange it so that there were not more than 29 in any one day. However, locks have a habit of coming in packs (or "flights"), and there were several long ones on this trip, which was going to mean a lot of hard work.

Today was the biggest challenge - the Hatton flight, just outside Warwick. It is a very attractive setting, with a great view of Warwick from the top of the flight, but 21 locks in the space of 2 miles is a bit daunting, particularly as we started the day with the last six locks of the Lapworth flight (we did the first 13 the previous evening). However, we teamed-up with a very friendly crew from a hire boat (they were just coming to the end of their 2-week holiday), and we had picked up an extra crew member at Hatton, so there were six of us and six of them in total. We got a good rhythm going (one pair walking on to prepare the next lock each time etc.) so it took us less than three hours to complete the flight (about 8 minutes per lock). It was tough in the sun and heat (we started the top lock at 12:30), and the hydraulic paddle mechanisms on that part of the Grand Union are heavy going, but we had a good time.

After completing the final lock, we said farewell to our co-crew and continued into Warwick for a well-earned drink (or three) at the excellent canalside pub The Cape of Good Hope. We then continued on (through two more locks) to moor not far outside Leamington, and an excellent fish 'n' chip supper (onion rings not withstanding).

Strange Pavillions

Since I arrived a little early for my Prom concert at the Royal Albert Hall tonight I decided to go for a little wander around Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens (I am never quite sure where one ends and the other begins). The weather had started to turn a little brighter - a little more like a proper summer evening than of late - and I wanted to see what this year's summer pavillion at the Serpentine Gallery was like.

I was not much taken by last year's bloated baloon offering by Rem Koolhaas, although it certainly had scale and impact - it's huge white helium-filled dome visible from some distance towering over the classical gallery like some billious eruption. I thought it rather vulgar.

This year, the pavillion has been designed by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, and is a rather more intruiging affair. Actually, it is not quite finished yet, and they still appear to be putting finishing touches to the interior, but the exterior appears to be complete. It is a helical structure of dark wood with an almost continuous open gap (instead of a wall) curving around the edge and up to the inclined conical roof. Between the upper and lower edges of the open gap there are skeins of thin white thread strung with a slight twist, which gives an interesting visual effect as you walk around the outside. The feel is almost like a place of worship - the building is substantially open, but it is difficult to make out what is happening inside. I'll be curious to take another look when it is finally open to the public.

As for tonight's Prom, that was another strange piece of architecture, although Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle is bigger, darker and altogther more disturbing the the Serpentine pavillions. But Bartok's psychological architecture uses light, colour and sound in a way which I am sure Olafur Eliasson would appreciate (Eliasson is best known in the UK for his hugely popular "Weather Project" installation at the Tate Modern in 2003, which involved a giant monochrome sodium lamp "sun" and an apparent doubling of the height of the turbine hall by mirroring the entire ceiling).

Canals and Locks

At last we have another holiday planned before the summer is over. Our rather expensive trip to Norway in May had heightened Dave's current sense of inpecunity, and so we have done without a "proper" holiday this summer. However, our friend Dave McI has come to the rescue by inviting us on his 300 mile canal trip from Macclesfield to Reading.

Dave McI owns a 60-foot traditional style British narrowboat (the Chelonian), and we have spent a number of long weekends on the boat with him, but this is the first time that we will have joined him on such a long trip. Actually, the current plan is for us to do the middle section across the Midlands between Birmingham and the edge of London: six days, 103 miles and 114 locks. It is going to be hard work - particularly as the second day will involve 41 manually operated locks - but it should be good fun as long as the weather behaves.

Actually, I quite like the manually operated locks. They can be very hard work, particularly on the smaller, older canals, but it is good exercise and quite satisfying. Last year we joined Dave McI on a couple of trips on the Thames between Oxford and Weybridge. There all the locks are hydraulically operated by resident lock-keepers, so there is really not much to do other than holding the lines to keep the boat steady as the lock fills/empties. I ended-up getting quite chilly, sitting around not doing very much, and was really relieved when we finally turned into the River Wey navigation, which is improbably old (completed in 1653) and had lots of quaint, attractive, and labour-intensive locks to operate.

The most locks I have operated in one day is 15 (plus 5 swing bridges), and that was quite knackering. So I don't know quite how I'll feel after 40 or so in one day. I am beginning to wonder if it is a good idea to go straight back to work the day after we finish.

The full itinerary is here, and there are links to maps on Google Maps and Google Earth too.