Temporary New Crew Member

Saturday 9th March
Well what a lovely morning it was to wake up to so different from yesterday, we had a cooked brekkie before leaving the mooring in Birmingham. We stopped to top the water up at the services just before the start of the Farmers Bridge locks and the water was quite slow but we were away from the water point around 9.40am  and Kev got the first lock ready for me. We had hoped to get an anti vandal key from the BW office there but it is now closed! Not a good start as we would need one anyway we had to press on. When we were in the second lock of the flight a man came & decided to help us which was very kind of him (A new crew member) Kev spoke to him and found out his name...

Jim Shead

Most of the boating fraternity will know him as he has a website: www.jim-shead.com

What a lovely man and when Kev told him that we needed an anti vandal key he went home to get us one as had 2 so we bought it from him, problem solved!! he brought back his windlass too and stayed doing the locks 

People looked amazed at this man of 70 years spritely going across the locks & opening & closing gates like a youngster!

not a very good photo of this lock under a bridge

Finally a boat coming up at the second lock on the Aston flight so this was time for Jim to leave us, mind you he had to be back home to take his wife to lunch!! Jim is a regular helper to boaters  so if you are lucky enough to get his help I am sure you will be glad of him what a star!!

Here I am bringing Rock & Roll in one of the later locks on the Aston flight while poor Kev is getting the locks ready for me & with his gout starting to play up too!

We carried on getting through all the locks we were going to do but as we left the last lock at Caters Bridge Minworth we had a problem.....

We had no propulsion and had to pull over to the towpath where Kev had to go down the weed hatch and Kev found electric wire, a t-shirt and other plastic bags which he cleared. We then were able to set off and then we finally got away from there and carried on then moored @ 4pm before  Wiggins Hill Bridge. Still in the sunshine what a glorious day it has been weatherise that is!

No locks today

Saturday 8th March

We were shattered yesterday after we had our tea & showers we just slumped down on the settee & never made it to the pub! (very odd for us lol) But we had a good nights sleep and were looking forward to no locks whatsoever today. We set off from our mooring at 8.20am and I must say it was quite cool and it was raining & miserable but were weren't miserable!! As we were leaving we had 2 passengers on the roof.

We passed this lovely place "Who lives in a home like this"

We had the canal to ourselves for a while until we were close to Hopwood where a boat passed us and we smiled & said good morning to the man at the tiller and he never cracked his face or acknowledge we were even there (what a miserable *** unlike us) Thank goodness most boaters are friendly & happy in their lives eh. We had a few more boats pass us & quite happy to say good morning, anyway as we got to bridge 80 we moored up so we could pop to the Sainsbury's which was only a short walk to top up with provisions.

Once we returned & Buster had a brief walk we had a bite to eat and carried on to Birmingham Gas street Basin

Cadbury's could be my favourite place! Well I am a chocoholic (no stopping though)

It seemed to take a long time to pass the university as it is vast!

Just approaching the sharp left turn into Gas Street Basin

plenty of people about

Our mooring

We were moored up about 2.30pm, we went for a walk around and went into a pub called The Malt House and won't go there ever again! We went to the bar and there was one person serving a customer to our left and another serving a customer to our right,then the barman finished serving the customer at the left of us and said to us there was a queue system on our right and Kev said we were already there and there was no queue or even a sign to say to queue anywhere & he wouldn't serve us unless we went and queued behind some people that had turned up after us! We walked out and we have never encountered such rudeness in a pub before we will never go there again they also lost the food sale as we were going to eat there too!! We went to a couple of other pubs then went to a place called Red Peppers where we had lovely food, and after woods went back to the boat but will be going out later tonight for a few beers, there is a really nice atmosphere here.

Tardebigge open lets go!

Friday 7th March
Last night we got ourselves ready and went over to The Queens Head pub which was just over the bridge where we were moored, I have to say George & Carol were not wrong when they said it was a good pub. It was lovely and we decided to eat there, there was an offer on for a Thursday which was happy hour from 5pm to 7pm plus 25% off and as were in the pub around 5.30pm that was us sorted! Kev ordered a burger and I ordered a beef & mushroom pie and there was a salad bar which we were told to help ourselves to and we did!!I have to say the food was lovely and that was the best  beef & mushroom pie I have ever had! We had a couple of beers but were too full for pudding so only had an Irish coffee each, we left there not long after wards as we were shattered.
After a good nights sleep we were up and about this morning early (as usual) We wanted to go for a walk up the Tardebigge locks to see the workmen and find out if we would be able to get up the locks today if they were finished working.
We got up to the reservoir close to bridge 54 and spoke to some workmen in a lock on a workboat and they told us they would be finished by 4m and that we could start to make our way up the locks.Thank goodness for that so we walked back to the boat and had a cuppa then prepared to leave the mooring @ 11am.

The Queens Head

Kev set off with the windlass after letting the ropes go on Rock n Roll to prepare the first of 30 locks on the Tardebigge flight 

We worked through the flight of locks stopping briefly in lock 49 for a cuppa and Kev went to check if we were able to carry on to the end! The workmen said that all the locks were now open so we carried on and finally moored passed bridge 61 near to the Crown Inn Alvechurch

Our mooring opposite some new looking homes, the Crown Inn is to the left of the houses and we will be having a walk there later! 

This is goodbye for now

Thursday 6th March
Well today is the day we left Droitwich marina on our first journey as the new owners of Rock & Roll! We had travelled from home yesterday morning & arrived at Droitwich marina to meet up once again with George & Carol for what would be the last time we would see them for the time being.
We got our car unpacked with another load of things from home along with some clothes, groceries oh yes and Buster ( our staffie)
We arranged for George, Carol & Molly to join us later in the day to have a farewell drink & toast our future on R&R & their new boat Still Rockin

Cheers everybody!!

Poor Molly isn't well & so they had to leave not long after George set the camera for this photo, Carol will explain about molly I am sure on her blog, but I hope Molly feels better very soon. We know ourselves how upsetting it is when your pet is unwell as they can't tell you how they feel.
We were up early as usual this morning & looking forward to getting on our way & at this point we would both like to thank George & Carol for everything and wish them all the best for their future they have been very helpful to us.
We were about ready to set off after 9.30am & George & Carol turned up to help us on our way,Carol took Molly back to the caravan & George kindly came to give us a hand with the first 3 locks!!

George & Carol  as we reversed out from the mooring

Our first lock, George set the next lock up ready for Kev to go straight in.

Anyway once we were through the 3rd lock George said his good byes to us and we were on our way, how strange it must have seemed for George seeing his boat go off without both him & Carol aboard we will take good care of R&R.

We headed off and after we had got through Astwood top lock we decided to stop for a bite to eat just after bridge 41. We stopped for about an hour and then continued on and moored just  through bridge 48 opposite The Queens Head pub where we will be popping to later for something to eat & maybe a couple of beers, the pub was recommended to us by George & Carol so we will have to try it!

George had told us that Tardebigge  locks had been closed for work to be carried out but that they should be open tomorrow, so Kev & I took Buster for a walk up them & as we were so far up the locks a woman jogger went passed & she thought that the workmen were still working on them, OH DEAR!! Anyway I left Kev to carry on walking up the locks & I retuned with Buster to the boat to put the kettle on, when he returned he said that the woman jogger had come back down towards him after she had been further up the locks & said there was fencing and the locks up there were empty. Kev has rang C&RT up & was told they will be open Saturday so we are going to ring them back tomorrow to check but we will walk up them ourselves tomorrow & hopefully see the workmen & hopefully get an answer to whether or not they will be finished. Fingers crossed.

This is our mooring oppositee The Queens Head, Buster itching to get back onboard Rock & Roll.

Rock&Roll handover

Saturday 1st March
Well today is the day that Rock & Roll would finally become our narrowboat, Kev should have been home but unfortunately he had to do an extra week and is in China but will be home next Tuesday 4th March.
This morning I was up early & got Sam (the grandson) up too as he was going to Droitwich with me, it was foggy when we left at around 7am and by the time we were on the M1 the sun was out. We were taking a steady ride to Droitwich we didn't want to get there too early and get George & Carol out of bed!! Anyway we stopped at Trowel services so I could have a break with a pot of tea & Sam had a lovely hot chocolate with marshmallows whilst we were sat there I had a text from George & Carol to say they were ready when we were so I wasted no time in getting back into the car and on my way(with Sam too lol)
We arrived around 10.30 am to find George,Carol & of course Molly were waiting for us and we parked up the car which was fully packed with stuff for the boat and went on board Rock & Roll to find Carol had done a fantastic job of getting it ready for us. It was strange to see it without their belongings inside. George was kind enough to unpack my car & got Sam to help him and Carol helped to unpack for me!!
Once everything was onboard, I made my first cup of tea on Rock & Roll oh yes I made George & Carol one too! George then set about setting up our new TV, free view & freesat which I must say I am glad he did it & not me, but he saved Kev a job.
Once he had it sorted George,Carol & Molly left & I carried on sorting things, Sam got comfy on the sofa to watch some footie & to make sure the TV was working (yeh right)

                                                      Sam in position!!

I set about making the bed and I have to say my first nights sleep in it was very comfy.

Kev & I will be back on Wednesday and we will spend the night in Droitwich Marina then we are leaving on Thursday and heading off  in the direction of Birmingham to end up back at Great Haywood  on the 14th March where we will leave Rock & Roll for the time Kev is back at work.

We are really looking forward to getting back into the swing of the canals as we have missed it very much.

   I had 2 visitors this morning but unfortunately they didn't know this boat was under new management & I had no bread to give them, Carol will have to let them know she has moved!!

Once sam was up and about we got ourselves sorted and once again George came to do another little job for me, he shoed me how to light the diesel stove as on 4EverMoore we had a log burner.  Once George had left to go back to Carol in the caravan Sam & I got our things together locked up Rock & Roll and drove off but stopped at the caravan to say our goodbyes to George & Carol.

Thanks to you both once again for all your help and we will see you Wednesday.

A visit to Gt Haywood

Saturday25th January 2014

We will be taking ownership of Rock & Roll on Saturday 1st of March and can't wait! Kev is not sure if he will be home until about the 4th March so I will go to the marina @ Droitwich and meet up with George & Carol to sort things out. So if Kev doesn't get home our grandson Sam will go with me to help with unloading the car which will be full of our bedding, TV, pots pans cutlery etc!!We will stay on board overnight and hopefully get everything sorted then we will head home to Roos on the Sunday.
Once Kev gets home we will both return to R&R and then we will be ready to set off for our first cruise as the proud owners of R&R!
We have decided due to Kev's job that each time he is home we will cruise the canals ending up at different marinas so we can see more areas & leave the boat safely for the few weeks Kev is away.
Our first Marina will be back at Great Haywood where we originally were moored when we had our first narrowboat 4EverMoore  and we will plan from there what we are doing!
Anyway we had decided earlier in the week that we would go to Gt Haywood today and also do a few other things too, Kev had sent an email to Paul & Elaine (nb Manly Ferry) asking them if they would like a few books we had about sites in France for their motorhome as we no longer needed them as we sold our motorhome to get back to boating.

We set off early this morning with our grandson Sam & Buster (our Staffie) we went to the marina @ Gt Haywood & have reserved a temporary berth. Afterwards we went for lunch to the Woolpack Inn @ Weston and then we headed to Aston Marina to give the books we had to Paul& Elaine and as we drove into the marina who should be sat at a table outside the marina office (pub) but Paul,Elaine & fellow bloggers Dianne & Ray (nb Ferndale) & Dot (nb Ewn Ha Cul)

What a motley crew these lot are!!
After chatting about various things like toilets pubs and motorhomes we left and headed for home, it was lovely to meet you all and hope to meet up again on the cut sometime soon.

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!!

Well its that time of year again and I am happy to say that Kev has just got home and is here for Christmas. We have our grandson Sam living with us at the moment so it will be nice for us to be spending Christmas day together. We would like to wish you all a very merry christmas and a super new year. We hope to meet up with other boaters in 2014 once we have taken over as the new owners of Rock & Roll.

Ann & Kev