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