Swarkestone

Today's Canal : Trent and Mersey

By contrast with yesterday, today was sunny and brought blue skies. It was also correspondingly hotter. Yesterday we moored well beyond the service block - the mooring was occupied at the time we came by and we were keen to secure a spot as close to the shop as we could manage. By tis morning we needed a 'full service' but it was quite narrow between boats moored on both sides. Reversing that far would be possible by tricky and a risk that we might touch one of the more precious boats! However we noticed that it is possible to wind (turn) at the entrance to Mercia Marina - about 10 minutes away - as well as at the service wharf. 

We cast off at 9 and were back at the start by 9:30. The water tank was rather low so it took well over half an hour to complete our service, by which time two other boats were waiting patiently on the opposite side. The first was might pleased when we indicated that we were just on the move again!

Before long we were passing under the same railway bridge (with a train passing overhead)

and then the marina entrance where we winded earlier.

Willington Power Station, along with many others along the River Trent, has provided a prominent landmark since the end of the 1950s. There were two distinct coal fired units on site but with the combination of a mood to end fossil fuel generation, a prolonged and bitter miners stroke and privatisation that largely aimed to shift the problems off the government's to-do list, led to the eventual closure of the electricity generation at Willington by 1999. 

The private company that at that time owned the site (there have been others since!) initially tried to get planning permission to demolish and replace with a large housing development - most of the generating plant was removed at that time. However. local opposition and concern about proximity to the Trent flood plain, led to the plan being rejected. Next, in 2011, planning permission was given to construct Willington 'C' but the company's bid in an ill fated contract auction called a halt to all further work on site. Little has happened since then but the present owners still maintain that generation is their aim and local opinion seems very much to favour this rather than more housing (always the same with commuter belt rural villages!) Hence there is no money to demolish the towers which still continue as a landmark. Alas, we did not find a better sight line from the canal.

As we neared the marina at Stenson, alongside the eponymous lock, we had a reminder that from Burton-on-Trent to Shardlow the canal was built to take wide boats. However, at that time they did not moor online and it is often the case that they stopover in the narrower places.

We then had to wait a while as another wide beam was on the move and there was no room for anyone but them between the moored boats.

Stenson is the first (or last of you take the lock numbers) of the wide locks which are almost equally deep. A boat was just leaving below with one waiting to come up. The couple with that boat seemed to take for ever, debating every step over hand held radios! The man was operating the lock but could not really hear what his steerer was saying so she resorted to shouting into the radio! Eventually, eventually they were on their way.

A young family were enjoying the weather as they sat alongside the canal and a small girl was delighted to be able to assist with the gates and paddles. She also had a 'go' yesterday so was now getting the hang of it!

The next pound runs very close to a country road as well as a railway line - this one seems to be used mainly for freight traffic. The road is narrow and is well used a a short cut, not doubt encouraged by SatNav routing. Unfortunately it also crosses the canal at sharp bends across one of several old accommodation bridges. The effects of vehicles that did not quite make can all to often still be seen.

This one is probably down to a tractor as a farm track turns equally sharply off the road. Although the repair to the right hand wing wall looks recent,  it is at least 11 years ago since the incident happened, according go out library of pictures!

It was almost lunchtime as we neared the next lock at Swarkestone when we spotted a good mooring with plenty of shade. So we opted to call a #halt for the day and sit out the strongest of the heat.

Early evening by the water's edge! (The sun's direction was not helpful but they just would not pose in a better place)

6.0 Miles - 2 Locks

Willington

Today's Canal : Trent and Mersey

As expected from the weather forecast, today was very overcast but still pleasantly warm. If it were nor for making the photos less interesting, it would have been a good climate for cruising. With no shops especially close to the canal through Burton-on-Trent, we looked to the Co-Op in Willington for our next re-stock. If we managed a stopover in Willington (not guaranteed as it is usually a popular place to moor for as long as can be got away with! All the best spots are restricted to 2 days, or not at all opposite the winding hole right in the centre of the village.

We set off a little after 9:30 and by a quarter to ten we were at Branston Lock. As with the others between Fradley and Dallow Lane (the next on from here) this was a rather shallow lock. So much that the roof of the boat did not come low enough for Mike to be able to use it to cross from lone side to the other - as a shortcut to going all the way around!

Looking back with a zoom shot.

At this pipe bridge, just as we entered Burton-on-Trent, there is a reminder of how the town became famous. William Bass funded his brewery in 1777 and it grew to be one of the largest brewers in the world. In has long since lost its independent corporate identity - who knows who owns it now, it keeps changing! Nevertheless its iconic red triangle remains a widely known symbol.

Just before the entrance to Shobnall Marina is another reminder of the town's past - Marstons and Pedigree, one of its brands of ale. It was a later entrant, founded in 1834 and it too has been the subject of many takeovers. One of the more recent left it loaded with impossible debts and the main Marstons plc divested itself of the brewing and concentrated on being a pubco. It operates in over 1300 outlets.

The bridge across the entrance to Shobnall Marina is a clear reminder that there has been a boatyard here for a long time. The Bond End Canal at one time linked the canal to the nearby River Trent. This link was important to the various breweries nearby. The current marina is all that is now left and Jannel Cruisers was established here in 1973.

At Dallow Lane Lock a couple of young lads, equipped with windlasses. were keen to help boats through and had already made the lock ready for us and we sailed straight in! OK, so not part of the official volunteer lock keeper scheme they were still most useful and pleasant. From here to Shardlow, the locks are broad - harder work! (some especially)

Just after ;leaving the town the canal crosses over the River Dove on an aqueduct. Like Alrewas, the land here allows the river to split into several stream but this is the principal crossing.

Alongside is Eggington Bridge, which once carried the A38 - the new road is a short distance behind. This bridge was probably built in the 15th century although there is thought to be evidence of an  earlier version a couple of centuries earlier. It is just possible that the Roman Icknield Street crossed here.

We continued on to Willington, principally so that we could pick up a few larder items from the Co-Op in the village, not far from the main visitor moorings. It is, of course, a popular place to stop and at first we wondered if we had made a strategic error. After passing quite a few boats we tried to fit into one space but it was not quite long enough. A fisherman set up there was rather pleased as we had to carry on! Shortly after, a man on one of the long term moorings pointed forward to a suitable place and we were able to pull in with no difficulty. (No photos for the rest of the day - a unresolved technical glitch means that several are still awaiting download onto our laptop.

Later, after lunch we walked to the Co-Op and which we found to be quite well stocked. They also had a special offer on desk fans. We did bring one from home as the weather had been forecast to be hot, but it does need to go back at the end of this trip so having one to leave on board will be convenient, even if it is only of use for part of the season.

Assembling the fan was rather trickier than buying one! As with so much these days, it came in several pieces with not entirely complete (or correct) instructions on how to assemble. It even needed Mike to get out a screwdriver! Oh well, may be Trump will succeed in killing off the world trade in cheap China-made goods . . . Instead we can buy one from the UK or EU at three times the price!

The most spectacular event of the day was sadly missed by our photographer-of-record! Mike had almost finished preparing tonight's meal and was just whipping up some Elmleigh to go with raspberries we found at the Co-Op. Cristine arrived and held the electric whisk whilst Mike knelt down for the umpteenth time to get something, we now forget what! from the cupboards, As he creakily levered himself up he managed to catch the bowl of cream (which had not yet turned firm) and tipped most of it everywhere - and we mean everywhere! 

Clearing up was a major undertaking and only a fraction of the cream was left for the meal. To make ,matters worse, as Christine returned to the whisking, the cream suddenly curdled and we then had a irrecoverable butter-like mess. It was at this point that we had had this experience before with Elmleigh Light - we only bought it because the usual version was out of stock at Morrisons back in Hinkley! Some people are just slow learners.

7.6 Miles - 2 Locks

Branston Water Park

Today's Canal : Trent and Mersey

Our target for today was Branston, just on the latest edge of  Burton-on-Trent. As we have yet to identify a church service within walking distance for tomorrow we left open the possibility of going a bit further. However, this is a Fifth Sunday (only Anglicans know what that means!) and many groups of churches use this as a reason/excuse for holding only one service for them all together. No consideration is given to the proximity of that place to the canal . . . Further, this morning started off reasonably cool with a stiff breeze while the forecast for this afternoon is really hot. We may just have another afternoon off.

Just a few minutes after setting off we arrived at Bagnall Lock. Here, and almost all of today's locks, there was at least one other boat either already coming up or waiting so there were plenty of people to lend a hand, most with a windlass.

The locks on this stretch are mostly of a similar design with a substantial foot bridge at the tail end.

More unusual, however, is the sign giving notice of the navigation conditions ahead. With no explanation of what this is about, we wonder how many newbies are quite mystified, may be even worried about what was ahead! We will come to that later . . .

Below the lock and we were now into Alrewas, a popular place to moor as it has a useful stretch of 14 day moorings right in the middle. Generally it is also rather attractive.

As we slowly passed all the moored boats we spotted Andy Tidy's Jam Butty. He is well known for is historical blogs which are full of detail of canals past as well as present, mainly in the Birmingham region. However, we have never had a chance to meet in person and today has not remedied that, alas. We did wave at each other . . .

At Alrewas Lock the canal drops down onto the River Trent for a short while. Note how dry the land is alongside the canal.

We were surprised to see how much water was running over the bywash. We know that much further down river there is a shortage of water so perhaps they need it more than the Trent and Mersey!

The majority of the river comes in here

and goes straight across and over a weir on the opposite side.

The river basin above the canal crossing is a wide delta of multiple streams - there are at least seven of these bridges in quick succession. Part of the river stream continues on for a short while, finally parting company with the canal just above the next lock.

The bridge, which carries a rather steep track, always seems to puzzle newcomers - it is obvious from the condition of the central pier that not everyone manages to line up in time.

Whilst the navigation is still party of the river, the water is very clear and as it is much deeper the under water vegetation is different and typical of running water. A tenacious tern flew overhead, making one unsuccessful dive for its lunch, but it obviously knew where to look! 

For the next few miles, the busy and noisy A38 runs very close to the canal, rarely a hedge-width away. A good number of logistics businesses occupy land on the other side of the road along here and this has resulted in a couple of new bridges built to carry lorries to and from them, replacing the older farm accommodation bridges designed for their predecessors - horses and carts!

Once, these older bridges connected with the road but economics dictated that it was not viable to build safe junctions for every one so, like this one, they lead abruptly to the wrong side of the safety barriers.

We have stayed at Barton Marina as a stopover on a couple of occasions, but not recently. We recall that the wind is a major factor when manoeuvring a boat here!

This rather intriguing summer house is at the end of a very long garden. When we looked up the property on Your Move it was a bit disappointing. The house is a small semi, just an access road width away from the A38.

Our last lock before lunch was Tattenhill. A short distance beyond was arrived alongside Branston Water Park, with a convenient designate Visitor Mooring. Even before we had lunch we had come to the conclusion that we would not move on until tomorrow!

Mid afternoon, Christine to a walk to look at the lake. She found a rather unusual seat - a plank across some fallen branches - to sit and admire the view.

5.9 Miles - 5 Locks

Bagnall

Today's Canals : Coventry, Trent and Mersey

A somewhat eventful day - by which we mean that things happened that we did not plan!

It was a cool, grey start to the day and we hoped to take advantage by making a prompt start and not having to do too much in the afternoon when the forecast was for much hotter weather.

About to make the mugs of coffee that usually follow getting up and can be drunk as we set off, Mike spotted that the tap in the kitchen sink was loose. With the aid of a mirror and lamp, which had worked loose. He discovered that the tap is secured by two longish bolts with nuts. Although he could finger-tighten them they really needed something better. Extracting the less used tools from the more inaccessible parts of the boat's storage is a task in itself. Alas, although Mike managed to locate the box spanner set, they do not work in this situation because of the length of the bolts below the nuts. Really we need longer hollow tools (ours are quite short) as the handle to apply some decent torque to the nuts is incompatible with the bolts! However they did allow rather better finger tightening which will have to do for now.

Time then to cast off and we immediately discovered that a pile of rocks lay under the water just behind where we had moored and as soon as we reversed off we became firmly aground. For the first time in a long while we had to deploy our long pole but eventually, just as a nearby boater turned up to lend a hand, we slipped free and were on our way. But Mike had to be left stranded on the bank and expected to walk with the pole to the next bridge (well, it was only 100m away!)

Fradley South is well shielded from the canal by mature trees and shrubs but we could just spy the latest additions to what is a substantial estate.

It did not then take us long to reach Fradley Junction. Just before the end of the Coventry is a small swing bridge which is very easy to open and close - in fact, a dog walker spotted us coming and opened it for us but did not wait to close it!

As we made the turn to go south on the Trent and Mersey, we could see that a boat was in the process of coming up and also that there was a volunteer on duty. We had to wait a while alongside the very well known - and much photographed - Swan pub.

The volunteer was doing a great job in ensuring a smooth flow of traffic and we were soon down and heading to the nearby wharf for a full set of boater services. The older wharf buildings now largely provide for visitors, mostly not on boats.

The cafe was doing good trade with a loudspeaker regularly calling out orders to be collected (no table service here!) Our emptying was soon done but the filling of the water tank was taking for ever with one of the notoriously slowest taps on the network!

In the end knowing that there are further taps available to us tomorrow, we left when about two thirds full. No  washing machine today - that was done yesterday.

The next three locks were left to do ourselves - no lockies! The next one has unusual cranked balance beams. We assume that these were fitted to make room for a widened bridge once motor vehicles wanted to access the wharf. We were a bit puzzled by the boat ahead of us which closed the bottom gates despite another boat just coming up. The crew suggested that we could turn the lock if we wanted to. This is no time to be wasting water. The was also a short queue for the third lock.

The boat coming up was very slow so by the time we had waited for them and then descended ourselves, the boat ahead was just entering the lock.

By the time we left that lock the promised hot afternoon as just staring to appear.

We were also puzzled that, as we approached, they seemed to be emptying with only one bottom paddle half open. It turned out that they had a problem with their engine cooling pump and thought that a lock made a good place to start dismantling it. They have the old style cooling that pumps a continuous flow from the canal, around the engine and back out again. Most narrowboats today use skin tanks for cooling. They dismissed the suggestion that they might accept help to pull the boat out and onto the lock landing so that other boats could make progress. 

Eventually they gave in. Amazingly, by the time we had re-filled the lock they were off and away.

As we were emptying the lock, a couple of dog walkers came up and asked if we thought that a windlass that they had found just where that boat had paused to complete its repair might be theirs. We offered to take it with us and when we caught them up at the next lock we handed it over to them.

Almost as soon as we left the lock we passed the entrance to a fairly new boatyard, Fradley Marina. It was still under construction when we last passed in 2021.

We  now had to make a decision: before the next lock was our planned end point for today but we had earlier considered going down the next lock and mooring in Alrewas. However, that is often very popular and one of the upcoming boaters had complained that too many boats had been moored with large unusable gaps! (Known to some in the trade as git gaps . . .) Waterway Routes indicates a moorable space not long after the marina entrance but that it does not have armco, rings or bollards, so necessitating pins. It was now lunch time so we gave in, accepting that this might be our night stop as well - we actually found a place where we could come alongside (the first bit we tried was not so good) We now had to find the hammer and pins, it is a long time since they last came out.

Alas, neither phone could get an internet signal so we knew nothing of what the rest of the world was up to! Mike did, eventually get around to another repair, the trim around one of the port-side round windows. (The trim keeps watertight the channel in which the retaining screws are fitted) A close encounter with vegetation a few days ago pulled at all of the trims down that side. We had fitted most back in place during a service stop below Atherstone but the boat was not stable enough to tackle the last one which had come adrift entirely. Getting it started is the hardest bit of the job.

2.3 Miles - 4 Locks