Car Shuffle and Cleaning

Today was devoted to the usual round for the end of a trip: the manager of the marina very kindly offered to take Mike to the station this morning on his sway to a meeting at Cropredy. This meant Mike was able to buy his e-ticket last night and then walk straight on to the station and platform with a mere wave of his phone!

The train to Crewe was on time and even though it was a stopping train its journey time was better than the more expensive alternative train companies. The only disappointment was that there was nowhere to buy a coffee either on the platform or on the train.

At Crewe, there was a line of taxis, deflating Mike's worry that he would not be able to get one, which took him straight to the marina where the car had been hibernating for the past six weeks. It awoke with no difficulty. After returning the gate card and parking tickets to the office and then picking up a tin of touch up paint from Sally at Willow Boats.

Mike set his sat nav and was surprised that he was being routed via the A500 (once known as the D Road) round Stoke and then along A roads most of the way to the marina. He texted Christine an ETA.

But he eventually found that he was directed back onto the M6 where the ETA suddenly improved by almost half a hour! Traffic was heavy but congestion speed restrictions kept it flowing all the time The route was all the ay on the M6 (making sure to avoid various seductive turns that catch the unwary) until very close to the destination. Finally a few minutes on country roads, gradually narrower, until the turn into the marina.

Meanwhile, Christine had been sorting and packing as well as starting on the cleaning. After lunch we loaded most of what needs to go back home - including a few items for home that we picked up on shopping forays along the way. Not too much to carry to the car in the morning.

Mike then sorted out with the office how to charge our car - they have a proper EV point but it seems not yet well used. It is not a fast charger but we are happy to leave it co The connected for as long as it takes. The car's estimate suggests it will be full enough before bedtime!

Whilst Christine complete the floor wash Mike was banished but this gave him an excuse to try out one of the additional features of the marina, a large and comfortable summer house in the grounds.

Brinklow Marina

Today's Canals : Coventry, Oxford

We were keen to make sure that we arrived at our destination in good time as we have not been in here before. Part of the reason for the choice this time is that Brinklow and Cropredy (where we are heading for the winter) are part pof the same group, Aquavista. One of the benefits is that all our details are on their computer system which makes check in much simpler. 

In any event, we left our mooring not long after 8 am - crack of dawn for us! The day was grey and remained that way all morning although after we arrived at the destination there was much better sunshine. 

Very soon we passed this boat (no-one awake yet) and we had to wait until later to check out the Latin tag, although our translation capability got us close. It means If you want peace, prepare for war in modern times it is used to assert that if you look as if your are ready for a fight then your potential enemies are unlikely to attack. We are not sure whether historians would agree but perhaps it does take a view on Putin and the war in Ukraine along with questions about the stamina of Western countries to continue with supplies. In any event, it seems an unusual choice for the name of a narrowboat whose armed capabilities are limited!

We intended to stop at Hawkesbury for the usual round of services but by the time we arrived there we revised our plan on the basis that we could manage until we were in the marina. Christine opted to work the paddles and gates - the change in level is minimal! Whist she was doing this, Mike went to the Jules Fuels boat just before the junction to buy a bag of solid fuel. We did not want any more at this stage as the evenings are still not always cold enough to warrant the effort of lighting the stove. We intend to bring logs and firewood back from home with on our next visit.

The towpath immediately above the lock is closed for a short distance as it is undergoing substantial repair to the bank.

We were now on the North Oxford which was an early canal and, given the technology of the day, was built following contours to minimise large scale earthworks , tunnels and locks. Some time later, as civil engineering moved forward, a lot of this canal was straightened with new cuts bypassing significant loops.This made journey times much shorter and thus earned more money for the canal company. Some of these changes are still obvious but many lie hidden by vegetation or even new building. Just after the Wyken Arm (it served a local colliery but was originally part of the main line) there is now a long straight.

However, it comes to an abrupt end with a sharp bend - even more obvious from the bridge which is just behind the camera. The line of the towpath from the start of the picture was the original direction and the canal headed off to the left of the present canal for about a mile.

We passed a group of cygnets - now beginning to look more like stroppy teenagers - with, we think, their mother. Just ahead two other adult swans, presumably male (!) were having a very lengthy extended fight, quite spectacular. Things quietened down a little after one retreated to the towpath as we passed them but as soon as we passed they were at it again. It did look as if the one being chased was very definitely 'after' one of the family, whether mother or perhaps a daughter we do not know but father was definitely defending his rights. Alas we did not manage the best of photos.

The little footbridge was across the canal at Stretton Stop. Mike jumped off to open it and then realised that a boat was coming in both directions - Christine called for him to jump back aboard and leave the two to fight it out which would close up afterwards!

As we passed through Easenhall Cutting we could see the repairs to two substantial land sips that occurred last winter.

Although the main work has been finished - and the canal re-opened remarkably quickly, given that constructing a roadway to bring in the heavy equipment was a major project in itself - it is clear it will not be finished any time soon. The usual temporary fencing across the towpath has been replaced at both ends by a much more substantial locked barrier.

Not far to go now - well before 12:30 we were turning under the ornate towpath cast iron bridge and then through the entrance into the marina itself. The marina is to one side of the first part of an old loop abandoned after straightening.

We completed the formalities at the marina office - so far we have been delighted by the obvious 'customer focussed' approach of Aquavista. We were made very welcome and one of the staff went down to our pontoon to guide us in. Mike made a hash of his first attempt to reverse in (strong winds!) so had to go back and start again but this time, following specific guidance, he came in almost perfectly.

As soon as we tied up we had lunch! `The afternoon started very quietly but we did manage most of the necessary chores including sorting out which clothes to take back home (this trip has been nothing like our expectations, dress-wise) and also checking the weed hatch. Mike did indeed find a significant amount of plastic, wire and fishing line will have accounted for the slight vibration of the last two days. At least it was nothing worse.

10.0 Miles - 1 Lock

Hawkesbury

Today's Canal : Coventry

The early mist was, if anything, even thicker than yesterday but it burnt off almost as soon as we started to move.

Before we reached the bridges below the first lock - looking backwards this is the main line railway - we were in bright sunshine and blue skies. It remained absolutely delightful until sunset.

The first lock was No 7 as we had competed the first four yesterday. Unfortunately a boat had not long passed us on the way up so we were faced with having to empty all of them before being able to open the bottom gates. Would there be any volunteers lockies and if so how far down would they venture! Although these locks are not difficult, the annoying (don't know why it generates this reaction) feature is that they take very much longer to fill than to empty - at least twice if not three times.

There were actually four lockies on today and we met the first - a trainee but very good - at Lock 5. We then had help  through to the top, different ones in the team as we proceeded upwards.

There were two on the top lock - perhaps one is needed to keep the score that they chalk up on a board beside the lock. With us it was 2 up and 2 down, compared with 8 and 10 yesterday but there was time to catch up, Judging by the number we passed, they should make it by the end of play.

We still had a way to go before we cleared the edge of Atherstone - plenty of people enjoying their gardens in sunshine - though why this trio were wrapped up in such warm clothes we do not know!

Oak Tree Farm keep alpacas as a business alongside doling bespoke boat joinery. Which side pays the bills, we wondered?

Rothen are one of the major contractors to CaRT for engineering work on the canals and the have been steadily developing this site at Mancetter. Most of the craft sitting here seem to be designed for a different purpose. Doubled up, they do take up quite a bit of the canal.

However, as we came around the corner we had to stoop quickly when we spotted a couple of boats across the canal. By the time we drifted up to them they had easily moved out of our way. They explained that they were constructing the long line of moorings for their work boats.

Christine was keen to look put for a bag or two of solid fuel as we have little left. If the weather continues for the next two days as it has been today and yesterday we will not need it until the next trip. So, when Mike spotted a fuel boat as we approached Hartshill, he pulled alongside only for Christine to spot a CLOSED sign. In addition we could see that the hold was empty. We later discovered that Bargus is currently not trading, alas.

Hartshill Maintenance Yard was originally the main repair centre for the Coventry Canal Company. NOt sure how much it is used now but it looked resplendent in the bright midday sunshine and a backdrop of blue sky.

Between bridges 29 and 30 is what seems to be the remains of a former loading wharf. Indeed, OS maps from the start of the 20C show that there was a tramway linking Hartshill Quarries with both a wharf here and also the main line just to the north of the canal. remains of the two bridge abutments can also just be seen, albeit now very overgrown.

We used Springwood Haven Marina for a temporary stopover back with Take Five.At that time there was also an enthusiastic and well respected business specialising in boat electrics, notably Victron equipment, but that has now gone. Recently the marina was sold to the ABC Group who seem to be focussing entirely on their core marina business. It does not look as if they yet base any hire boats here other than a single electric day boat for hire.

Some significant quarries once operated on the land just to the west of the canal. Vegetation has not all but hidden the view from the canal - we did not even spot Mount Judd (so called) which is a large hill, the result of piling up all the spoil left over from quarrying. There are the remains of several bridges that once connected into the quarry, rail and road but when we have  come here in the past they all seemed disused, even derelict. So it was startling to here, just we went under one bridge, the rattling sound of a large lorry overhead. A little later another also passed overhead. We subsequently discovered that when the quarry ceased operation Warwickshire County Council purchased the 'hole' which became the county's largest landfill operation. This too ended in 2009 but is now an important recycling centre and the local authority seeks to minimise the amount of waste that goes to landfill.

We paused for lunch alongside The Dumbles, a small but apparently popular open space between the canal and the railway.

Moving on we passed Boot Wharf, still in operation even after much of its land was sold for housing. 

Our original schedule listed for tonight a stop close to Marston Junction, the start of the Ashby Canal. However, the estimated time to arrive at our destination, Brinklow Marina, was quite near to their closing time so we now set our target to reach Hawkesbury for tonight. The canal between Nuneaton and Marston is very green, sometimes hiding industrial activity behind the trees and shrubs.

Charity Dock is still as eccentric as ever, even if perhaps a little less chaotic. Although the tableaux still keep changing they felt a little jaded and maybe lacking new inspiration? Let's hope they keep entertaining passing  boaters - they are, after all, a memorable landmark on this canal. As we have recorded, others have followed their lead but still not on the same scale.

We opted to stop for the night just before the junction where we could enjoy the last of the afternoon sunshine. Once we had spotted a good stretch of Armco mooring we did not want to tempt fate as it can sometimes be difficult to find a mooring just after the junction and onto the Oxford Canal.

11.6 Miles - 7 Locks

Atherstone

Today's Canal : Coventry

When we set off this morning, there was still quite a bit of mist around. This lasted another hour and after that we have had one of the finest days this trip - bright, sunny, gentle breeze and very warm.

A while later when we were gradually benefitting from the sunshine, we could still see thick banks lingering over the nearby hills.

Our schedule - based on getting to Brinklow in time to get home for all the appointments booked in from Monday (first stop, car service!) - involved reaching the bottom of the Atherstone flight by the time we moored tonight. However. once we had established our departure time we substituted an ambition to do a little better, perhaps four or six locks up, so that we can do some top-up shopping at tesco.

By the time we arrived at Fazeley the sunny weather was in full flow. This meant that mostly our pictures have blue sky but, depending on the direction of travel, the bright sun made some shots impossible.

As we crossed the Tame we exchanged enthusiastic, friendly waves with the canoeist below as he passed under as we were just completing the aqueduct crossing.

We were fortunate at Glascote, with a boat just leaving each of the two locks at the right time for us to pass and for them to leave the bottom gates ready for us.

A young lady was patiently waiting at the locks for a couple of boats to arrive so that she could join them. (Lacking a lock key she could only help by pushing gates but that was still very welcome) We later passed nb Cassiopeia and nb Purton, with nb Harnser sandwiched in between. The first is a full length former working boat, largely in its original configuration, whilst Purton has a full length cab. in conversion. Harnser is know to us as one of the listed blogs on the right of this page. Alas, with having to manoeuvre carefully (we, of course, met them at a bridge hole) we failed to take any pictures.

We did, however, manage a shot of the restored and converted boats in Alvecote Marina which seems to have managed to be home to a good number of those still operating. 

Several of the more urban stretches seem to have quite a density of bridges, of all shapes and sizes. Many will have been part of the canal infrastructure for most of its history but others have been added or modernised to serve the many new housing developments close by. And look at the sky!

But the sun was not kind when we passed this sign: Lees and Atkins Dock. It seems that here was once an important and well known narrow boat builder, who, along with Nurser at Braunston, supplied most of the Number Ones, boaters who owned their own boats and were self employed, at a time when, as a result of tough competition from railways, survived by taking their whole family to live on a 'pair'.

We had read a recent comment of someone who thought that when they passed recently, Grendon Dock was looking rather forlorn. For a long time the site has has a close resemblance to a scrap yard but it remains in hight demand as a facility and two leisure boats were in having work done.

By now our sights were set on reaching the services just in front of the next locks, before having lunch - we could then eat whilst the water was filling. Alas, another boat arrived and waited until we had finished - so lunch was interrupted to allow us to relocate back onto the towpath nearer the locks.

And so to the Atherstone Flight. Alas, that boat that arrived at the services overtook us just before we were ready to leave again so the locks were set against us, except for the second where a boat was coming down. Still, these locks are not difficult - unless, of course, someone leaves a gate paddle just a little ajar which we did not spot until we wondered why the last few inches were not filling!

We debated whether to stop after four locks, with a pleasant context and not too close to the railway, or to move on to the visitor moorings which are best for going to the town. In the end. after Lock 8 we called it a day, able to enjoy the rest of the sunshine.

11.5 Miles - 6 Locks

Hopwas

Today's Canal : Coventry

We walked the short distance to the village of Fradley and St Stephen's Church, to attend the morning service. In fact, this church was built in the late 19C as a chapel of ease to the older parish church in Alrewas. 

Until the 20C, Fradley was just a small hamlet not that far from Lichfield. A wartime airfield took over many of the farms and today there are no working farms in Fradley civil parish. As we noted yesterday, huge housing developments have taken place on the old airfield, but with the canal in between the old and  the new.

The service was led by the vicar who is retiring in a couple of weeks and this was his last appearance at this church - there are three in the benefice, centred around Alrewas. There was a small, but enthusiastic music group. The first of the two photos above, alas, missed out the most interesting element - a lady playing a bass recorder! Guitars are common but not this. There were about 30 in the congregation. Afterwards there were refreshments - plenty of cakes left over from an event yesterday!

In the churchyard is a significant set of war graves, nearly all Australian airmen. One of the functions of RAF Lichfield during the last war was to act as a training centre for aircrews intended to carry out bombing raids in Wellingtons, with a strong emphasis on Australian and other Commonwealth recruits. It seems that quite a high proportion of the graves are of those who were killed during that training and who never flew on an active sortie.

There is one grave of a German Air Force pilot, Joachim Schwartz, see here or here for his story (ignore the unfortunate title) but that account does not indicate why he was buried at Fradley.

By the time we had stayed to chat (and sample the cakes!) and then walked back to the boat, it was almost lunch time.

When we eventually set off, around 1.45, rain started, at first light but then very much wetter. It continued that was for most of our afternoon cruise - none of the promised sunny spells. As a result were unable to take any photos apart from just before we moored.

We only passed a couple of moving boats during the afternoon but around Streethay and Whittington there were plenty of moored boats so that progress was a bit slower than hooped.

At one stretch the canal has been allowed to grow extensive reed banks, such that at times there was barely a boat width of open water.

Approaching Hopwas, the land to the north of the canal has warning and  no entry signs as this is still a military firing range, part of Whittington Barracks, These were established the 1870's on land that had previously been used as a very popular racecourse, being not far from Lichfield itself. The main use of the barracks today is the headquarters of the Defence Medical Service, covering  work with all three services. It seems that actual firing is on the most northern part of the site but the woodland creates a very green corridor along the canal. 

Shortly after Hopwas Wood Bridge we moored for the night.

7.4 Miles - 0 Locks

Fradley

Today's Canals : Trent and Mersey, Coventry

Another fine day! The first photo is of our overnight mooring right in the centre of Rugeley. To the left is private housing - mostly little boxes - whilst to the right is an industrial estate with Screwfix almost the other side of the hedge.

The canal skirts the edge of the town and almost at the end is this bridge, built on the skew so that boats from either direction have very little chance to spot an oncoming boat until the last moment. Although we later had several crash stops on bind corners but this one was all clear. Just beyond the bridge (actually where the camera position is) we stopped to fill up with water - Christine put the washing machine on even before it was full.

Next came the so-called Armitage Tunnel. When the canal was built there was indeed a narrow tunnel cut through the rock, but not very deep below the surface. In recent times the roof was removed and the tunnel opened out, save for a wide bridge at the eastern end. We believe that this was the result of subsidence, a reminder (since nature and developers have all but removed all other signs) that this was once an important and successful mining area.

However, we were amused that whoever was tasked with specifying the Blue Signs at either end had probably only heard the name and so included all the warnings and information for a real tunnel! (Sorry it is rather fuzzy as the sign was rather far away - also makes the point that most of the info is too small and missed by passing boaters for the same reason)

Armitage Shanks factory making sanitary ware seem to have reorganise their outdoor storage arrangements and we caught only the smallest glimpse of the stockpiles that used to be next to the canal and good for a classic photo!

We were a bit puzzled by this security camera on the top of the main works building - from several angles it seemed that it was pointing into the wall? Perhaps they have previously been attacked by Spider Men.

For most of the time since Etruria we have been close to the loop line through Stone and Stoke but now we have swapped that for the proper West Coast Main Line, with its four tracks and a mix of freight and passenger traffic.

We called at Kings Bromley Marina to fill with diesel - we were getting a little low and Streethay (where we hoped to call) is closed tomorrow. We were required to reverse onto the fuel berth, not the easiest in an unfamiliar marina and a stiff breeze as well as having to wait for a few minutes as both berths were occupied when we arrived. But after an extended hover we found ourselves in just the right position, having looked carefully at the wind direction, to come in smoothly. The staff, both on the fuel berth and in the office were very friendly and helpful. However, all this concentration meant that we forgot about photos!

By complete contrast, a short distance away is Bromley Marina - a bit different. Alas, its neighbour has now taken all the trade for diesel etc.

We moored just above the first lock of the day - Wood End Lock. The fencing has been erected since ewe last came by - the other side was to have been part of HS2, that included the most oft quoted feature of a viaduct crossing the canal.

The cottage was compulsorily acquired and the occupants moved elsewhere. Now that the last government cancelled the northern phase, all of this is either in limbo or redundant, depending on your view of what should be done. On the local scale this means that the small niche in the bridge just below the lock is now empty - no more does it display bright teapots!

And just glimpsed through the vegetation, some of which was planted as part of the overall scheme, is the HS2 graveyard, or part of it.

Not really fans of boat designs with bar stools or seats, especially when not visually integrated with the overall shape. However, we could not help buy have a smile at these toadstools!

And so to today's last lock, just before Fradley Junction where we turned right onto the Coventry Canal.

The classic view of The Swan is really best from the stern of a boat just after the turn - it only lasts this way for a fleeting moment!

Immediately after the turn is a small swing footbridge. This really has to be the easiest swing bridge on the whole system, even a toddler (or an octogenarian) can manage it.

The final stretch before the village of Fradley is alongside the former RAF Lichfield which was built for the last war and decommissioned not long after. For several decades the left over hangars and new builds have used part of the large area as a distribution centre, but now a huge new housing estate is growing up. It is across the canal from the old village and it will be interesting to see whether the two, perhaps quite distinctive, communities rub along together! The Neighbourhood Plan envisages around 2000 new homes since the turn of the millennium.

Our target for today was to moor just after Bridge 90, the original route in to the village. We intend to walk into the village tomorrow morning - report in the next blog (perhaps!) There was just one full space which we gladly slipped into.

9.5 Miles - 3 Locks