Photos from the holiday
HERE
12th August 2005 - 17:49 BST
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Well it is now the final evening of the holiday, we are back outside the boat yard, the boat has been scrubbed clean (well cleanish) we are both packed to go back home tomorrow.
The last two days have certainly been better than Tuesday and Wednesday. We avoided any dirty city canals and were able to take the far cleaner and more scenic routes stopping and Penkridge last night. We’ll be off to the pub shortly for a couple of pints and dinner before returning to the boat for one final sleep aboard.
The last stretch of thr journey
An odd site seen today - a chair made out of straw
This will probably be the last blog entry on this special holiday page, until the next time I go away at least. When I am back in Bath however I will upload a gallery of images and even a few videos which were just too large to upload with the connection that I am using and bandwidth limitations.
Overall a very enjoyable experience and one I would recommend to anybody unless you are one of these holiday makers who likes to completely relax sitting for hours in the sun doing absolutely nothing – work is involved on boating holidays (although most of the time it is fun). Also if you are the type of holiday maker who likes to go to hot Spanish islands, drinking to 4am, taking pills and fighting then this probably isn’t for you although you may like to hang around with the yobs near Wolverhampton Top Lock.
10th August 2005 - 23:14 BST
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Wednesday night – interesting couple of days, had to travel through Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Not the prettiest of canals to say the least.
Going through the city centres presented a lot of trouble, mainly because the boat kept getting stuck on debris dumped in the water. There were also masses of rubbish floating everything, pretty much disgusting.
This canal was not pleasant
The propeller tangled up in all this rubbish
This evening presented a task and a half, we were in Wolverhampton all prepared to moor up for the night but were strongly advised NOT to stay in the city centre, especially by the Top Lock, near to Molineux, Wolverhampton Wanderers football ground. This is a notorious trouble spot and a lot of night clubs are nearby.
Not a nice place to stay at night
We did loads of locks tonight
All the locks made us hungry, we just about held off going to a terrible place for food
We made the choice to travel 21 locks down to the outskirts of the city in a far more green and quieter area. I controlled the boat while my friend had the harder task of opening the locks. This took three hours and towards the end we were both very tired and it was becoming increasingly difficult to see!
We have made it now, are in a nice position and are ahead of schedule so therefore should be able to have a relaxing Thursday and Friday.
Lastly something I won’t focus too long on as I’m not happy about it, Leeds losing 2-1 to Cardiff City throwing away a 1-0 lead. Shame Leeds lost, especially to rivals like Cardiff. I think the only reasons for the goals were pure skill from the scorer and a somewhat dubious penalty so this time I don’t think the team have that much to feel bad about, especially as they apparently had a storming first half.
8th August 2005 - 11:39 BST
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Well it’s Monday and I am on the boat, due to poor coverage from Orange 3G I have been unable to blog as often as I would have hoped so from now on will write these blog entries in advance and upload whenever I get a good opportunity…
The last time I blogged I was on a train heading to Birmingham New Street. Well that train broke down so we were held up by an hour, hence missing the connecting train to Strafford.
It wasn’t too pleasant, everyone was trying to get free coffees, kids were screaming and the toilets ran out of water. I only realised this AFTER putting soap on my hands following a visit to the toilet. This meant I had to sit out the rest of the journey with soapy hands.
We had to be at the boat yard by 5.30 and would be far too late had we waited for another train. In the end we got a taxi costing £56.00 the driver didn’t even know where Strafford was and at one point got confused with Stratford! Luckily we took out insurance prior to departure so can claim the fare back.
Now we are on the boat, its very nice, all the modern facilities apart from a television (no Big Brother this week then), although we have eaten out for the last two nights.
It is very peaceful and relaxing although somebody does always need to be controlling the boat (apart from when it is moored) and there is he occasional lock to contend with but canal folk are all to happy to help you out, nice people, not all strangers wear Burberry and drink White Lightning cider.
I managed to successfully find a pub yesterday afternoon which was showing the Leeds United – Millwall game, only got there late into the first half but not to worry, the result was the most important, 2-1 to Super Leeds. What’s equally as good is that they actually played well, no “long ball” like what we saw last season so hopefully this is a sign of things to come.
6th August 2005 - 14:14 BST
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Right I am now on the train, the seating is not ideal and there are a lot of screaming kids about. One minute they are laughing the next they are crying, they are like Craig from Big Brother. Not to worry though, I am finally on the train and at least I am sitting down.
The train is going VERY slowly now, it is like some old woman is driving, I know the plan is to extend the retirement age but this should not apply to train drivers OLD PEOPLE SHOULD NOT DRIVE TRAINS.
I am rather hungry now and am tempted to go to the buffet, I am wondering how much I will pay for a sandwich, I would expect it to be close to a fiver for two pieces of brad and a bit of filling. Rip off!
6th August 2005 - 13:17 BST
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I am currently sitting in a café in Bristol Temple Meads Station. Things have not exactly gone to plan.
Firstly my friend was late so we missed the train from Bath, not really a problem as the train from Bristol to Birmingham was running late. Trouble is it was packed and they were only allowing on Reserved Seat Customers. I ordered my tickets online through TrainLine.co.uk who said they would try to reserve me tickets, obviously they didn’t try hard enough.
My friend being late also meant I had to get a taxi to the station, I was driven by an Aussie who was lobbing the cricket, I don’t know much about it but it seems England are getting thrashed by Australia.
At the station I then got harassed by a dirty man. He kept asking me if I knew anything about the lost property department – I’M NOT FUCKIN’ STAFF!!! Duno what he had lost, certainly not a bar of soap as he looked like he had never used one.
Anyway, I’m off to find another train. Haven’t had time for a grammar or spell check so its probably all bollocks.
5th August 2005 - 19:12 BST
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This special page will be used between Saturday 6th to Saturday 13th August 2005 for me to blog while I am away on holiday.
