First Cruise of 2010

BW's Dean Davies steers Barnet



Holly Bank basin



Super little duck house.

Canalscape_BCN first cruise for 2010 was from Norton Canes Docks on the Cannock Extension Canal to Broad St depot in Wolverhampton. Crewing with us was Dean Davies local BW waterway manager.

The journey was completed in 4.25 hours. We also nosed into the cleared Holly Bank basin and stopped off at the United Kingdom mooring at Lane Head.

British Waterways spot dredging, tree cutting and weed eradication has transformed the Wyrley & Essington, Barnet was drawing 3ft 3” today underway and we had no need to go down the weedhatch even once!

The W&E is a fully useable waterway without any of the former problems so often reported. Along the route there is a number of good pubs, good overnight moorings at Lane Head and the a suprising lack of boats! We saw not one other boat moving.

There is no reason for any boater to worry about navigating this stretch of canal now, it is in better condition than some more well used canals.

Hollybank basin is superb and surely must be a candidate for become a marina or moorings, there are also many other sites which could well become moorings with a little foresight.

Hollybank is once again an inviting rally site.

Ready to go

After the serious winter which saw 109 firmly iced up maintenance has been carried out to ready the boat for duties this year, A little later than expected start to her season due to unforeseen difficulties arising which reduced the crewing availability. We intend to add more ballast this year and one of the first runs will be the Wyrley and Essington to Wolverhampton to see what impact the BW dredging and clearing has had. Attendance of local events is expected and we will continue to use the lesser navigated parts of the BCN.

Below: Two Grand Union Town Class Narrowboats together, Barnet alongside Large Northwith "Thaxted".

Congratulations to Canalscape-BCN Secretary, Sarah Edgson. Sarah acquired the Yarwoods fish class Josher “Ling” in the recent British Waterways Tender process. I’m sure we’ll see Ling joining Barnet on the BCN very soon.