Hartshill

Today's Canal - Coventry

Apart from a few moments of almost drizzle the day remained dry and at times sunny but not as warm as yesterday. Before we set  off, Mike walked back to the Co-Op at the previous bridge for a paper, milk and a small food top up. Alas, no paper - they only stock a single copy each day and it had gone. Wonder how we managed it yesterday? Did someone forget? A little further there is a McColls at a petrol station and their single copy was still on the display! Back then to the Co-Op for the food items - since it included several heavy vegetable items Mike did not want to carry them any further than necessary!

We spotted this quite large tree house - even if, like many of the properties along here, it has seen better times!

The trees in the foreground are interesting but the real reason for this picture is to highlight the continued housing expansion of Tamworth.

By the time we reached Alvecote, the sun was quite bright.

Much of the land beside the canal from here towards Coventry was industrial, mainly coal mining but with quite a lot of quarries and clay pits as well. Almost all of this has now finished and nature has reclaimed the landscape - where it is not losing the battle to the housing developers.

One of the major collieries on today's route was Pooley Hall Mine. The Hall still exists and stands lose to the canal but is almost entirely hidden by trees. It was built in 1509 and became for a long time the home of the Cockayne family. When the canal arrived in 1789 it opened opportunities for industrialists and then coal mining began on the Pooley Hall estate in 1847 which transformed a large part of the landscape. As well as the canal, the nearby railway was used to transport the coal with several branches connected to it. Some of the land is now a country park with a coloured winding wheel as a feature.

There are several reminders of this industrial past along thew canal - but only if you know what to look for! The abutments of this present footbridge were built to carry the main rail link. Another former bridge can be seen two photos back.

What appears to have been a canal loading arm is now a small set of private moorings.

On the skyline we could see a war memorial - according to this page its inscription reads This Pillar of Remembrance is directed by the Workpeople and Owners of Pooley Hall Colliery to the undying memory of those from this Mine who answered the Nation's Call and fell in the Great War 1914 - 1919.

As we passed through Polesworth we noticed that quite a bit of effort has been made to encourage people to visit the village (we have done so in the past) and we think that this is a new sign to the Abbey which we have not spotted before.

The main railway line accompanies the canal throughout today - managed to take this photo just as a train was passing. It is quite a busy piece of track.

At Grendon there is a dry dock but our attention was drawn to the house and the number of 'old' things in the grounds! The main part of the house appears to be occupied but the other part seems out of use.

Just before midday we arrived at the bottom of the Atherstone Flight of 11 locks.

Most of the way up to the gown we could see this building on the skyline. We think that it is Merevale Hall, still a private residence. A 17th century manor house was then re-built in 1840 is a more monumental style, including adding the tall slim tower that stands out.

As we emerged from the top lock, a few drops of rain arrived but were soon replaced by more sunny spells.

We passed Hartshill, a well known former canal maintenance yard but also part of the large Hartshill Quarries.

We continued a little further until we found a spot to moor that gave the potential for finding a satellite signal - most places were overlooked by trees on either side. Later, some rather heavy rain arrived but we were by then happily tiu ked up with the fire going well!

11.7 Miles - 11 Locks