The Sumpners Afloat

19 – 25th May – back to Stoke and a jolly

It was so nice where we spent Sunday, we decided we’d spend Monday there too. As I said last week, we’re not in a hurry. I made a new peg bag

But we did hear some news that struck a chill in our hearts. The CRT would be closing a large section of the Trent and Misery canal between Harecastle Tunnel and Middlewich – that’s a 13 mile stretch with 30 odd locks (Heartbreak Hill). The closure was with immediate effect and until further notice due to low water levels.

This news rang alarm bells as there are bound to be more closures. We need some RAIN! Large chunks of it. Very soon. Otherwise, the canal system will grind to a halt. It’s funny – but when we set out this year, it was with some trepidation, knowing that – at any moment – one of the ancient structures might give up the ghost. I’m not sure I imagined this scenario, though.

But with just 80.6mm of rain recorded so far for the UK, Spring 2025 is, currently ranking at the driest spring in over a century. The previous record low for the full season was 100.7mm, set in 1852. It’s not CRT’s fault, they can’t be held responsible for rainfall. But there are some murmurings about unstopped leakages and lack of reservoir maintenance, meaning that they are kept well below full so as to avoid another Whaley Bridge scenario.

Toddbrook Reservoir was starting to fail and everyone had to be evacuated, if you recall? Dramatic scenes of Chinooks dropping bags of aggregate on the collapsed spillway. That was back in August 2019 and it’s still not fully fixed. The work – initially thought to cost £10 million, has cost over £37 million to date.

I feel a little sorry for CRT – they were handed a poisoned chalice by the Government, back in 2012. At the time, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, said:

This government is determined to deliver public services in different, better ways

and that’s just what this new charity will do. The Canal & River Trust will empower

the very people who know British canals and waterways the best to get involved in

how they are run.  This is the Big Society in action – and because it’s also the

largest single transfer of a public body into the charitable sector, it’s also a major

milestone in our programme to reform quangos.

He must have been chuckling over his shoulder as he walked away from a 2,000 mile heritage canal system, with 3,000 bridges, nearly 1600 locks, 281 Aqueducts, 71 large reservoirs and countless flood prevention devices – waste weirs, by-washes and sluices – most of them over 200 years old. And many structures listed. They all need continual maintenance and repair. Imagine the expense – especially for a listed structure.

Cynically offloading a white elephant you might call it. And with a funding plan that reduces year on year, it means that CRT have to fundraise to make up the shortfall. It’s to their credit they they have raised any money at all. They can’t charge an entrance fee like the National Trust. Dog walkers, hikers, runners, cyclists – they all use the towpaths for which CRT is responsible, but there’s no income from them. How are they supposed to make enough money – as a charity – to pay for all that needs to be done? Every single day. The Government knowingly shirked their responsibilities. That’s the way of it. And CRT aren’t perfect. They’ve made a lot of mistakes.

Well – that turned into a bit of a rant – but you get my drift. I’m seriously worried about the future of canals.

On Tuesday, I set off late morning, the plan being to hit Engine Lock to coincide with Paul’s lunch hour. And the plan worked! We are back in the field below Engine Lock – the one with all the geese. Have we learnt nothing? We think we’ll stay tomorrow too – unless the geese really play up, that is………

We had a surprisingly quiet night. The Canada Geese seem to have moved on. Judging by the number of “Mum and Dad with 5 goslings” (must be the optimum number?) sets we’ve seen passing we think they maybe bred and are now teaching the goslings how to survive on the water. Whatever – we’ll be staying another night here.

I did some washing and midway through Wednesday afternoon there was a couple of alarming claps of thunder and I rushed to get my washing in – luckily dry by then. But that was it! No rain. Disappointing.

It’s been very quiet – I doubt we’ve seen many more 10 boats all week – mostly going towards Etruria. I guess with the Froghall Branch closure imminent, people are getting off the canal.

On Thursday morning, I moved the boat down to the bluebell spot you might remember from our first week? Except the bluebells have gone over now. I did spot some Dog Roses (Rosa Canina) and some Yellow Flag Irises (Iris pseudacorus) – a couple of my favourites.

It was pretty chilly when I set off – grey and cloudy – not what we are used to! Let’s hope it might be the harbinger of some rain – it’s not unheard of on this forthcoming Late May Bank Holiday weekend, which is when the Crick Boat Show is held. It’s very often a bit of a quagmire. And while we need rain.I don’t want to wish it on Crick! Especially as we are going!

Once tied up, I made a batch of my Maple and Pecan Granola, ready for my brother and Lenny’s arrival on Sunday. I use a basic recipe and then just chuck stuff in. This batch has Oats, Pecans, Sesame, Pumpkin and Sunflower seeds, Brown Linseed, and Coconut, bound together with Maple Syrup, Sunflower Oil and egg white.

I add the fruit after I’ve baked it as the high sugar content causes it to burn. I added chopped up Apricots, Acai Berries and Raisins. It’s lovely with some Greek Yoghurt and fresh berries.

Ted woke us up on Friday morning, slightly earlier than planned, but we wanted to get going anyway, really. And he clearly thought it was time!!

It was a nice cruise down to Etruria, sunny and warm. We took it slowly, making our way through the electric lift bridge, Planet Lock and the Bedford Street staircase locks. I spotted a Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) plant growing just before Planet Lock and reported it to CRT. It’s a nasty piece of work – bad for dogs and humans.. It’s not mandatory to report it, but it does help in monitoring its spread and helping with control efforts. 

We stopped at Etruria Services to do domestics – its very easy to do there – possible easier than at the Marina.

Once filled and emptied, we set off for the short trip to Festival Park Marina, where we are booked in for 3 nights. As soon as we were settled. Paul nipped off to collect the hire car that we had until Monday. We are having a little break! Still boating related, but a break nonetheless!

As I mentioned earlier, we are off to Crick. It’s a little worrying because the last time we went, we bought a boat! I doubt that will be happening this time, but never say never!

I noticed as we cruised along some ceramic plaques and wondered what they were. The one at Etruria ahd a plaque – although not abundantly readable – but I was able to decipher enough to find the source of them. It’s a new art trail called “Canalside Arcana” – and there are 8 plaques by artist Anna Francis along the trail. It leads from Hanley Park to Etruria and celebrates canalside nature, through the eyes of the locals. A nice idea.

We were given a Chinese car! Its an Omoda 5 and it has more bells and whistles than a bell and whistle shop! Honestly. It scarcely needs a driver.

To celebrate having a car, we went out for a drive on Friday evening, seeing bits of Stokey that we haven’t seen by boat. Also spotting the canal as we drove alongside it or crossed it. The car is a tiny bit annoying to be honest – the indicators make a dinging noise – that would definitely need to be turned off! But it has a very high safety rating, so we’d be good for the journey down to Crick on Saturday.

We left Stoke about 10:30 and set off on the drive of about an hour and a half, stopping at the hotel to check in and drop stuff off before heading to the show. By the time we arrived, the queue to get in had dwindled to a trickle and we soon found a good parking space.

We stopped off at the box office to pick up our tickets and then entered the show. Barely had we entered than I saw something we needed to buy! Literally the frist store on the right past the entrance! I think Paul was worried that this trend might gather momentum!

One of the jobs we had planned was to try and visit as many of our Electrika 2025 Exhibitors as we could. Just to say hi and looking forward to seeing you in July. Our next priority was to make a visit to the Aquavista “Tillers and Tankards ” Festival Village, where – as Aquavista moorers – free drinks were available. And it was nice the see Dave (the manager at Brinklow) and Mark – the World’s Greatest Harbourmaster – also from Brinklow.

We watched the very talented Eba Sallah, whom we’d seen at our first Brinklow Bash and also Dave and Mark and Tommy did a great medley of singalong songs, which we really enjoyed. We then visited a few more stands before leaving the show. Day 1 done!

We were both hungry and set off to find a dog friendly pub. The first one we visited was heaving and the waiting staff – probably harassed to be fair – were pretty rude, so we decided to take our custom elsewhere. We settled on a pub called The Cherry Tree in Catthorpe, and a quick call secured us a booking.

And what a great find! We arrived to find two dog blankets and some gravy bones waiting for the boys. A lovely, thoughtful touch. The menu was such a refreshing change from the usual cookie cutter pub menu. And the food is all freshly cooked to order. Not even a sniff of Brake Brothers, I’m more than sure. It was a real pleasure to eat there. And they keep some nice beers, too. Oh – and they grow as much of their own veg as possible. Can you tell we were impressed?

I chose the Quesadillas and Paul went for the Beef Stifatho. The menu changes on a monthly basis. Both were absolutely delicious. They also had a doggie menu and the boys were treated to Sausage and Scrambled Eggs. Well – they were on a little holiday too! We had a lovely evening chatting to the landlord and eating excellent food. We’ll definitely be back as they are less than 20 minutes from Brinklow. Especially as they have a quiz night!

Fed and watered, we went back to the hotel – both strangely tired – and had a relatively early night. Although not too comfy. Hotel pillows. We hates them my precioussss. Why on earth we didn’t take our own pillows with us, we’ll never know. Stoopid. But we spent the night wrestling with them and woke up feeling unrefreshed.

We went back to the show for our second visit. I was scheduled to give a quick chat about the very handy Explore 100 Moorers benefit at 11am – but ended up doing a piece to camera in the end. Paul visited a few more of our exhibitors while I saved a space in the Tillers and Tankards ready for the big event of the day. While I was waiting I was entertained by another talented artist – Leigh Chambers, who played at Electrika 2024.

The big event featured Gary from the Chugabug YouTube channel, who was having his head shaved by Anthony from Narrowboat Life Unlocked (who is a trained barber) for the Dementia UK charity. Here’s a link if you’d like to donate..

All the canal Vloggers (they are legion!) had been invited and the place was filled with folk avidly videoing the event. Anthony made a rapid job of it and Gary was soon as bald as a newborn. I hope the charity really benefits from his sacrifice. We donated and really hope others who were there flock to do so, too.

As Bruce and Lenny were arriving that afternoon, we said goodbye to everyone and set off back to Stoke. As it happened, they beat us there – but only by 20 minutes, so not too bad.

We got them settled, unpacked and had a very tasty Indian takeaway to round off the weekend. And what a great weekend it was! We’d had a blast.

Looking ahead to next week, we have decided to start the journey back to Brinklow straight away, in the hope that we beat any further lock/navigation closures. We have the Stone flight and Atherstone to get through before we are “safe”. But at least we’ll have a couple of extra crew to help us, initially, on our journey!

Period	Miles	Locks
19th – 25th May	6	4
Cumulative 2025	152	83