North West Passage: Day 7

I arrived back from my final night shift of the set at about 9am. Adrian had already walked into town and done a big shop, and was waiting for me at the station so we could carry a bag each back to the boat. Once we'd sorted ourselves out we moved across the the water point by the top lock to fill the tank, start a wash load, and get rid of rubbish. The moorings we'd been on are technically 48 hours, but there are no signs to that effect anywhere; we'd been there three days, and some of the boats that were there when we arrived were still there when we left.

It was about 10am when the tank was full and we started down the lock flight. It's a very pretty flight, and we usually seem to do it in dappled sunshine. We quickly caught up with a single hander, but he moored in the long pound after the first five locks to do some shopping. After that we began meeting boats coming up.

It took about two and a quarter hours to do the eleven locks. The next section of canal is really quite pretty, and there were fields and fields of round straw bales.

We had lunch on the move, and passed through Polesworth, Alvecote, and Amington, where all the back gardens reach down to the canal. This was the most decorated.

At the two Glascote Locks a boat was going down, and then a CRT work boat was coming up. At the bottom, another boat arrived to go up, so we could leave the gates open for them. At Fazeley Junction we continued on the Coventry Canal (although this bit of the route was actually built by the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal company).

Just after the junction I spotted Lois Jane, and had a brief conversation with Debbie as we drifted past. Near Hopwas, Eleventh Heaven, was coming the other way and we had a similarly brief conversation with Chris. We moored up shortly afterwards on the outskirts of Hopwas, at about 4.30.

13 miles, 13 locks. (73 miles, 37 locks)

East Mids Exploration: Day 19

Today was a complete contrast to yesterday, weatherwise. This morning was miserable and wet; the rain was never particularly heavy, but it was still capable of making you quite wet. Tatenhill Lock is still pretty, even in the rain.

We stopped at the water point below Barton Lock and started a wash load. When we were ready to go up, a boat from the moorings above was almost ready to come down, so we waited for them. At Wychnor Lock, the lock landing is set back, as there's a road bridge in front of the lock.

Before Alrewas, we had our last encounter with the River Trent, as it crosses the canal here, meaning this section can sometimes be closed when the river is high. As I've said before, the weir is better protected today than it was in the 1960s, when my parents and uncle and aunt apparently almost went over it.

There are some nice houses in Alrewas, and there were also lots of spare mooring places; previously when we've been through it's been pretty packed.

Above Bagnall Lock we, as expected, found Bruce and Sheila on Sanity Again. We gave them a toot, and they came out for a chat as we hovered alongside. We had enough time to catch up on the big news from the Braidbar owners' weekend.

At the locks up to Fradley there was plenty of traffic, so we found boats coming out of locks so that we could go straight in, and boats then arriving to go down. It meant the locks passed pretty quickly. We spotted Nev's boat, Percy, on its mooring at Hunt's Lock. We moored above Keeper's Lock, where the moorings were almost empty, and walked up to the junction. There we found James and Donna, lately of Boating Leisure Services, and now joining the Braidbar team. They're moving their boat up to Higher Poynton, so it was great that we bumped into them and could have a chat. They then headed up to the next lock, while we went to the Kingfisher Cafe for lunch.

As we walked back past the junction a boat was just going down Junction Lock, so Adrian stayed to help while I walked down to bring Briar Rose up.

Once up the lock we turned left onto the Coventry Canal (although the bit from there to Whittington was actually built by the Trent and Mersey Company, and the bit from Whittington to Fazely was built by the Birmingham and Fazeley Company). Adrian walked round and swung the little bridge out of the way.

Then comes the long lock-free section -- although it didn't seem short of excitement. A boat pulled out of King's Orchard Marina in front of us, and we followed it through the moorings before Huddlesford Junction. At the junction, there was a bit of a squeeze with a boat coming the other way, which took a bit of time to sort out. The canal through Whittington always seems to be problematic. Some of the bridges are close together, there are moored boats on both sides, and you always seem to meet boats at the most inopportune moments. It certainly happened today, and that half mile or so felt as though it took an age.

Between Whittington and Hopwas I was rather taken by a field of yellow and purple flowers. It would have looked even better in sunshine.

We carried on to Hopwas, and moored just south of Dixon's Bridge, at nearly 5pm.

16 miles, 9 locks. (303 miles, 144 locks)

 

Big Trip - Day 5

We were up reasonably early, and set off at 8am in lovely sunshine, although it was a bit chilly.

About 45 minutes later, we arrived at the top of the Atherstone locks.  We had to turn the first one, then crossed with a boat, and we met boats regularly as we went down.  It's a rather pretty flight, especially in the dappled sunshine.

At lock 6, there's a working side pond (the only one in the flight, and one of only a handfull on the network) so I feel duty bound to use it.  The lady from a boat which was just setting off from the pound above hadn't realised it was there, but seemed quite interested.

Further down the flight we met several old working boats who'd been at last weekend's gathering at Alvecote, and were on their way to next weekend's Shakerstone Festival.  Among them were Darley, and Lamprey, with Sarah Edgson working the locks.

We continued through Polesworth, and passed Alan and Cath Fincher on Sickle.  The building in the background is Pooley Hall, which used to be the home of Edwin Starr.

There were plenty of old boats still at Alvecote.

At the two Glascote Locks, we swapped with Telemachus, a boat owned by Nick Norman, a regular on the Canal World Forum.  Neither of us realised until it was too late!

At Fazeley Junction we bore right, staying on the Coventry Canal (although this bit was actually built by the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company).  We stopped at Peel's Wharf to top up the water tank, and started a wash load.  As it was still early, we continued to Hopwas, mooring at around 3.30pm.  We then had a bit of a boat cleaning session, washing the roof and the towpath side of the boat.  We've also been up to one of the two pubs just through the bridge for a drink in the sunshine.  There's not much doubt about which way to point the tv ariel tonight: this is the view from the dinette window.

15 miles, 13 locks.  (72 miles, 37 locks)