Coventry Canal

Sunday 28th January 2018
We have had an enjoyable couple of days at Fradley and  particularly enjoyed catching up with Gerry and Stephen, with whom we shared our trip up to Sheffield with last June. Can't believe it was so long ago.

Fradley, looking towards the junction

We had lunch together in the Swan Inn overlooking the junction of the Trent and Mersey with the Coventry Canal. This is a typical boating pub, no frills but good food and beer and we all enjoyed our meals. 

The weather Sunday morning was glorious with bright sunshine and bird song, it real did feel like spring is just around the corner, we decided, as it was such a lovely morning, to move down the Coventry to Whittington a cruise of about 5 miles through lovely countryside.

We arrived just after lunch and moored up just to the north of the village.

During our conversations with Gerry and Stephen we had mentioned that Sainsbury's were selling stove fans for £29.95, a really good price as we paid around £50 for our last one. They contacted us to say they had found them in Aldi for better price and had bought one for us, they very kindly offered to bring it over to Whittington, we tested it out immediately to find it works perfectly. Stove fans sit on top of the stove and are driven by the heat transferred and help to push the warm air around the boat, they work really well and are a useful addition to the stove.

Monday morning brought high winds and heavy rain, soon clearing to give a bright and sunny afternoon, however, it was much colder than the previous day, a sharp reminder that we are still in the depths of winter.

Early Crocus blooms at Whittington

The grave stone of Thomas Spencer

Taking advantage of the better weather, we had a walk to explore the village, as with a lot of the villages around here there is a lot of modern housing, but the original village centre is pleasant with plenty of interesting buildings. The village church looked relatively modern but this we found out was due to it being rebuilt after a fire in the 18th century. One interesting point was the grave of Thomas Spencer (of Marks and Spencer fame), he retired from the retail world to buy a farm in the village, he died aged just 56 not long after moving here. His grave notes the fact that he was born in Skipton, something we hadn't known.

The village is also the point where the Coventry canal becomes the Birmingham and Fazeley for the remaining route down to the junction.

Tuesday 30th January 2018 

We awoke to a frosty morning with clear blue skies so we decided to move on to our next stop at Glascote, near Tamworth. Following a bit of tidying in the engine bay we were soon underway.

Canal boundary marker

The journey was one of those memorable winter cruising days with the water like glass, smoke and shimmer gently rising from the chimney inviting one to the cosiness and warmth of the cabin below. The birds and water fowl all seemed busy pairing up for a new season, another hint of the passing winter.

The route meandered through gently rolling farmland, the contours being enhanced by the furrows in the fields now beginning to disappear beneath early crop growth.

Passing through the woods and village of Hopwas, somewhere we intend to stop on out way back up, the town of Tamworth began to appear in the near distance. The river Tame, still swollen by winter rains, raced past us in the opposite direction on its way to the Trent and Humber before reaching the North Sea.

We eventually reached the old CRT wharf at Peel, close to the Fazeley Junction, here there used to be full boater facilities but these have now closed along with the CRT offices that were once also located here. We made a right turn at the junction to continue down the B&F until we reached the charming Fazeley Mills marina, they were very welcoming and helpful and we were able to use all the facilities as well as taking on fuel and coal.

Fazeley Mills

Fazeley Junction Coventry to the right
Fradley to the left

We returned back to the junction again turning right to rejoin the Coventry, a tight turn and one that I would not like to attempt in windy weather. 

 Aqueduct over the river Tame

Aquaduct Pill Box

We progressed towards the aqueduct over the river Tame, with its WW2 pillbox and views across to Tamworth, the canal tends to circle around the town so it seems to take a long time to pass before reaching the two locks at Glascote and our mooring just above. The area to the left, between the two locks, was the site of the Reliant factory now sadly long gone and replaced by a housing estate.


The first lock is famous for being slow to fill hence the poem in the picture.


This is the closest point to the town centre and is a useful stop for shops etc. We had a walk into Tamworth (our third visit since we have been in the area) its about a 15 minute walk from the canal and having explored the market we returned to the boat.

First of the Glascote Locks

A note at the side of the lock

Wednesday 31st January 2018

Another fine day to day so we decided to move along the few miles to Polesworth, this is and interesting part of the canal and at one time was surrounded by large coal mines, apart from a few old wharves, little evidence now remains with the main sites now tree covered. As we passed under the M42 we spotted the "Tower of Leaves" monument sitting on top of an old slag heap and just around the corner is the heritage centre reminding visitors of the industry that used to be here. There were in fact three collieries Tamworth, Pooley Hall and Alvecoat, these were all merged and linked underground and became the North Warickshire Colliery, this finally closed in 1965.
Shortly after passing this point we arrived at the village of Polesworth and our mooring for the night.

Abbey Church

Polesworth is mainly now a dormitory village but retains its charm at its core, we wandered down to the Abbey Church and its old monastic remains, it is an interesting building and many of the original abbey buildings can be explored, the refectory is now part of the visitor center. We explored the church before returning to the refectory where we were greeted by the lady who was on duty for the afternoon. she offered us a cup of tea that we gratefully accepted as it become cold during the day. We sat and chatted with her for an hour or so and learned that she was an ex-midwife, 80 this year and still took three week trips to Malawi to help out in the hospitals over there. She is the wife of the local butcher and directed us to the shop. On our way we passed through the old gateway to the abbey passing a bed of spring flowers desperately trying to burst into bloom.

Super Moon

The main street of the village has quite a few shops alongside quite a few older interesting buildings.

Abbey Church

Abbey Gate

We arrived back at the boat at dusk noticeably later these days and witnessed the rising of the Super Blue Moon, unfortunately it rose into cloud before reappearing an hour or so later providing a very brightly lit evening.










The next morning was bright although rain was forecast for later in the day, we cast off and got underway towards our next destination, Atherstone. It wasn't long before we reached lock 11, the bottom of a flight of 11 locks rising through the town. we progressed steadily having to reset each chamber as they were all full, at the fourth lock we met a boat coming down, this meant all the locks from here would be in our favour.
Immediately after the sixth lock there is a marina and unfortunately for us a boat had just departed travelling up all the locks in front of us. We got back into our routine climbing through the edge of the town close to the imposing Merevale Hall. We soon arrived at the top lock with its welcoming volunteer lock keeper, our mooring was a 100 yards along from here. Atherstone is a charming town straddling the old Roman road, Watling Street, this is the A5 London to Holyhead road thankfully the more modern route by passes the town, leaving a traditional high street with many traditional and local shops as well as the usual chains.
The town is charming and and has a long history, sited next to the roman settlement of Mancetter.
Atherstone is where Thomas Stanley waited prior to the Battle of Bosworth, he was hedging his bets as to which side to support, positioned here he could claim to be protecting the roman road from the invading army of Henry Tudor or could also appear to be waiting to join the invading forces, he maintained the "sitting on the fence" position pretty much until the battle was decided when he then made his allegiance to the victorious Usurper, who became Henry VII.
We are  planning to get to Hinckley on Sunday/ Monday where we will leave the boat in the marina before returning to Leeds for a few days.

Atherstone High Street

Atherstone Locks

Early Iris