Northern Exposure: Day 4

As predicted, yesterday afternoon’s rain continued all evening, but it was dry when we woke up.  We set off a little before 8, straight into the stop lock with its tiny fall.  Then Adrian did a textbook all in one 180 degree turn through the bridge onto the Coventry Canal, although for some reason he only awarded himself 28 points out of 30.  Then it was through the narrow by the engine house, and onto the water point, where we started the washing machine and filled the tank.  A combination of a slow tap and a tank that hadn’t been filled since before we set off meant we were there for the best part of an hour.

The weather cheered up a bit as we did the stretch through Bedworth, last Charity Dock, which seemed to have more boats these days, and Marston Junction.  In Nuneaton, there are new houses going up behind Boot Wharf; I wonder how long it will be before there’s tension between householders and the residential moorers at the bottom of their gardens.  We also passed one of the least appetisingly named Chinese takeaways I’ve ever seen.

After Hartshill there’s a tree down across the canal, with just enough cleared to let a boat through.  When we got to the top of Atherstone Locks, a boat was jus mooring up so we had high hopes they had just come up.  Sure enough, as we approached the top lock the volunteer lock keepers opened the gate for us, then sent me on to set the next one while they worked Adrian through.  That was the extent of the help though — they don’t stray from the top lock.  Most of the first few locks were in our favour, and this part of the flight is rather pretty.

Further down, the towpath was a quagmire, and most of the locks were empty.  At least by the time they get out into the countryside they’re in pairs, so you can go down and fill the second one in each pair while the top one is filling.  These locks take about 4 minutes to fill, and 2 minutes to empty.  We completed the flight of 11 locks in around a hour and three-quarters.  The wind had been getting stronger all the way down, and at the bottom it was particularly bad.  There’s a field on one side which is so flooded it’s a job to see where the canal ends and the field begins; the wind was so strong, the new lake had waves on it.

Just before Polesworth it began to rain.  Having not seen a moving boat for three hours, we met two through Polesworth, but fortunately not at any of the awkward bridges.  After a couple of downpours the rain eased off, and the wind dropped too.  We’ve moored at Alvecote and will go the highly recommended Samuel Barlow pub for dinner.  Helen and Andy Tidy are due to join us in there later for a drink.

18 miles, 12 locks.  (68 miles, 35 locks)