Crew - Graham, Brenda & Matt

After overnighting at Alvechurch we awoke to the sound of having our bottom nibbled by hungry ducks. It was a lovely sunny day but with a chill wind. We had a relatively uneventful journey up through Wasts Hill tunnel and arrived at Gas St at about 14:00, so we decided to hit the town. We explored the markets looking for some fabric to make me an outfit for my brother Gary's wedding in September. We bought :- a loud shirt for Matt, work trousers for Graham, 15 packets of biscuits and some cheap and wonderful asparagus and strawberries. The fruit and veg, fish and meat is so cheap and varied in the markets. Graham & I took a constitutional around the city after dinner, restaurants of the world unite!

Crew - Graham, Brenda & Matt.

Lots of shopping today, Matt went to the "Games Workshop Daycare Centre" whilst we did some serious retail therapy before returning to Jannock. We met Kevin Maslin (across the mainline) plus one other visitor who's name I cannot recall. (Sorry!) After our evening meal we walked to the bottom of Farmers Bridge flight and witnessed a real live 'wild goose chase'. The Tap & Spile @ Gas St. wouldn't let Matt in and so we returned to Jannock and had tea instead. (You've got to admit, we certainly know how to live! :-)

Crew - Graham, Brenda & Matt.

Well, the NIA 'was' a quiet mooring but Saturday night life prevailed; "whee whas" and a police jelly hopper conspired to ensure that Brenda got less sleep than she normally requires. The 'canal sweeper' boat cometh at dawn ....... and creates more noise than the Alvechurch ducks did!

Photo courtesy of Kevin Maslin

Graham left Jannock at 07:00 and cycled to Alvechurch .....( including the trip over Wasts Hill, through 'little Basingstoke' and out into remote country lanes on the other side. This was the part that really hurt, Viva Le Towpath! )..... in order to do a complete trip car shuffle. He then drove to Brewood, parked the car, and cycled back towards Birmingham.
Matt and I left Birmingham at 10:25 and met him by Caggy's yard at midday. We stopped and filled with diesel @29ppl. Quick sums .. 122 hours using 140 litres of diesel = 1.1 litre/hour.

Come 'tea time' we played super-boaters' and rescued three 10 yr old scraps who had been conned and left in a reed bed with a high security fence on one side of them and the canal on the other. For once, it was a good idea to get nose - to - tail across the cut. We took them on at the bows and deposited 3 grateful and relieved little boys on the towpath. Lets hope that they grow up a little more considerate of boaters than the average Wolverhampton yoof. At Wolverhampton bottom lock, we met a working boat en route from Ellesmere port to Stoke Bruerne having had a new Elm bottom fitted. We moored just North of Autherly junction and were interviewed by a very nice Policeman who had even less hair than Graham, well, none actually (by choice). He warned us that we may experience problems mooring where we were, but we decided that it was too late to move.

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Post A level Crew re-united (plus 2)
- Simon, Kevin, Stuart, Jo, Cara, Gemma, Anna & Liz.

(Simon) After disentangling 'miles and miles of poly from round the prop', cruised onto the BCN New mainline and into the centre. Not a lot happened, except Stuart's flocks of females, until Anna & Liz arrived.

(Liz) I'm very excited to be on my very first canal boat- Jannock is a beauty! Unfortunately the toilet has overflowed. Tonight we may be christening the bucket. I'm concerned for the health and safety of the crew. I had STRONG garlic bread for dinner, and have lost my toothbrush.

(Gemma) My feet are wet and cold due to the hole I discovered in my shoe after stepping into a rather lage puddle. Unfortunately that's the most interesting thing that's happened to me today. Oh, except my friend saw a play in Nottingham with Hannah from Neighbours in it. (Hhhmmm,?, Ed)

(Jo) I am slightly worried about the lean I have developed, even when walking on dry land. I have a feeling that my legs will never let me walk upright again...oh well. I need a less boney bum, this step is getting very hard. Everywhere smells of poo, it's even in the boat now. We may not survive. Tell my parents to look after my fish, and I love them all.

(Cara) It has been wet and cold today but we cheered ourselves up with more alcohol. Anna & Liz are entering into the cabin fever spirit & we're about to open another bottle of wine. Oh, and we have to p**s outside now, which makes the trip feel more adventurous I guess.

(Anna) What a delightful canal-going vessel! Jannock is a jewel in the crown of Britain's inland waterways, it's just a shame the sewage tank isn't a little more accommodating. Am still very damp as the result of traipsing across Birmingham in the rain this afternoon, but other than this minor misfortune I am having a fine time of things...anyway an in-depth discussion on the subject of ladybirds and athletes' foot is taking my attention elsewhere, goodbye....

(Kev) Well today and yesterday I did the same thing, put my whole arm in a hole which is very cold and wet, and found some man-made material and pulled it off a metal thing. Sorry, no technical word, it's only my second time and I am tired and trying to learn how to play zip, zap, boing.

Post A level Crew re-united (plus 2)
- Simon, Kevin, Stuart, Jo, Cara, Gemma, Anna & Liz.

(Liz) had the best day today. The boat's a bit whiffy after the pumpout this morning, and Gemma and Cara had poo juice sprayed across their bed (!!), but other than that the journey has been sweet. And chocolatey! (I bought far too much @ Cadbury's World) Oh, and Kev turned into 'monkey tree boy' and I bruised my leg trying to rescue him from falling in the water. I have to leave now. I'm a bit sad. I've had loads of fun, byebye. Liz X

(Anna) Weather has cleared up, hurrah! Have had a go at driving/steering/tillering (not sure of the technical term here) narrowly escaping some nasty scrapes in the process. Also visited Cadbury's World's wonderful shop to purchase some choccy treats, and watched Kev get stranded round a tree, so all in all it's been quite eventful. Am sad to be leaving the world of the canal behind, but looking forward to returning to society and rooms more than 6 ft. wide. Goodbye, goodluck and cheerio to you all. Anna XX

(Gemma) Mmmm....Bailey's. Seeing as everyone else has (or will) mention Kevs incident, thought that I should put in my 2p's worth of ridicule...haha.
I have the photographic evidence for anyone who wants it. Liz and Anna were a joy to entertain, and I'm sure they think we're all crazy people. P.S. mmmmm chocolate!!

(Jo) Kev's monkey impression was superb, if a little worrying. It did dislodge the boat, that I had wedged across the canal, so thanks be to Kevin. Also, IT ISN'T SIMON'S FAULT. However Kev decided to take revenge on all trees by driving into one- but that actually wasn't his fault. I took the crew's lives into my hands by cooking - no deaths yet. It is still early days...

(Cara) The others have commented on the brevity of my entries so I'm going for a record todaay. Today was especially lazy and chocolatey and I've totally run out of reading material now. Anna & Liz were great . I'm a bit scared of the swans around here. Poo has become the main topic of conversation and also a fragrant feature of our bedroom. Nice!!

( Ed's comment: Jannock was checked out for poo leaks, there was no evidence of any, so we choose to believe it came in through the open window. from the hoses or similar. Never-the-less it was decided that a look must be had...see 3 Dec 02!)

(Kev) About 19 locks today. That's about it, and Gemma, yes I do want to see the photos as all I could see was a few branches.Well what can I say? It's been emotional. The day started with mixed emotions of bidding farewell to little parts of all of us. Then some smooth cruising led up to my personal highlight of the day - Mr. Kevin made a complete gibbon of himself by some tree hugging antics. Actually it could well have been a cunningly planned bid for freedom which was foiled. The day concluded with a fond farewell to Anna & Liz, leaving us all to the slow realisation that it's just US. Oh, and then we got attacked by wildfowl.

(Simon) After getting a pumpout we continued down the BCN (waving to a Claire who wasn't there) to the Stratford Canal. Kev did monkey impressions, and we went through a guillotine lock before Kev got forced into a tree, taking the paint of the cratch and roof. Anna & Liz took driving lessons before we attacked Lapworth locks. Caught a windlass in my lucky lock, had a few drinks and went to bed. Thanks toAnna & Liz for the pancakes mmmm.

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Crew - Graham, Brenda, Simon and Matt.

Happy New Year. We never did open the bubbly, all in bed and sound asleep by 11 p.m.

It's still raining! Graham togged up and went weatherside. There has been a lot of slippage down the embankments with many trees and bits thereof floating in the cut. Much packing and cleaning was done and Jannock left shipshape moored up outside Pinder's drydock.
A very wet journey home, the extent of the flooding became apparent on the roads. Home with vast piles of wet, muddy washing, but no longer muddy underfoot, what a relief. Takeout curry and that bottle of bubbly for supper, perfect when the cupboard is bare post Xmas. Now , where's the washing machine?

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Crew - Graham and Brenda.

Look at the state of that bathroom, the bath looks like the colliery band had a communal bath after a long shift a t'coal face. That's what happens when you leave the bathroom window open for ventilation whilst having your bottom blacked; and you could have if I hadn't cleaned every horizontal surface pronto. Puts me in mind of the 'soot on the eyepiece of the telescope' jokes ......... The boat keys were mysteriously in Bristol, J L Pinder & sons had sent them to the wrong owners. They 'lent' us a Kubota key and luckily I had my key for the padlocks.

We took a 'lurker' and his 2 lovely daughters for a short trip at Alvechurch. He was wintering on a hire-boat with a view to buying a batchelor-live-aboard. He waved as we were passing and asked "are you the Jannocks that's on the web? We agreed we were but hastily denied everything else. That's 2 lurkers we've outed so far. Graham painted the new control column and did some touching up of worn bits and rust spots. having been adequately warned, and having given my assurances to the contrary, I promptly stood in wet paint and then mopped over wet paint trying to get rid of the horrible black stuff. - Sorry darling

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