Wednesday 21 February 2018

The Ashby Canal

Saturday 3rd February
Watching the weather forecasts, all predicting a cold spell with freezing temperatures, we decided to move on and get to the Ashby Canal, we had booked our berth in Trinity Marina, in Hinckley from Monday onwards so wanted to get there before the cold set in. The day was cold and damp, but we wrapped up well and got underway, the canal was very quiet and we only passed one boat on our way down to the junction at Bedworth.
Marston Junction
The trip was enjoyable and we soon passed by the CRT yard at Hartshill and the moorings we stayed at on our trip to London in 2016. This area is dominated by the pointed heaps of quarry waste from the large granite quarries that cut into the hillside to our right. The canal meanders around the ridge maintaining its contour until the outskirts of Nuneaton are reached, we considered stopping here but as we pulled up onto the moorings we noticed that they were being used as a dog toilet and the concept of picking up dog waste does not appear to have reached this part of the world, we quickly moved on soon reaching Marston junction and the left turn onto the Ashby canal.
Canal myths say this is a very shallow canal with very limited moorings, however,  it soon became apparent that this was not the case, large portions of the towpath side are supported with pilings and therefore provide good mooring spots, we decided to pull up at the first official moorings close to bridge 6, the canal is shallow in places but no worse than many other parts of the system.
The following morning was frosty but the canal had not frozen so we decided to get as close as we could to the marina just in case the evening brought even colder temperatures, these moorings were quite pleasant just to the south of the A5 that bypasses the town center, we had a walk to the nearest co-op, about a mile from the mooring, to re stock, before returning to the warmth of the boat. The temperature dropped to around -3 through the night and we awoke to a partially frozen canal. We waited until most of the ice had melted, the sun now has quite a bit of warmth and it wasn't too long before we got underway, the short trip to the marina had to be undertaken carefully as we came across ice on some of the more shaded parts.
We pulled up outside the marina and took on fuel coal etc before been shown to our berth, a much easier position than that at our previous spot at Barton!
The marina has all facilities as well as a useful shop selling essential supplies as well as the usual chandlery. One useful feature was a container for dumping hot ashes, this is something all marinas should consider as it saves having to leave buckets of ashes outside the boat to cool down before being disposed of.
Hinckley
We spent he next couple of days exploring the town, the center is just over a mile from the marina but is well worth the walk, there is also a frequent bus service. On Tuesday we had a visit from Cox Automotive Electrics to service our Travel Pack generator system, we have become very reliant on this unit as it enables us to run the battery charger when the engine is running helping restore a full charge much more quickly than just relying on the engine alternator. They removed the whole system from the boat and took it away for a full makeover.
Later on we had arranged to meet Carole and Jim in the Lime Kilns, a small canalside pub by the A5 bridge. The food was ok with an extensive arrange of pies to choose from.

 We then went back into the town to explore a little further. The main street through Hinckley retains a number of local shops and has a market on Mondays. During our visit the bells of the parish church were chiming a redition of the national anthem! we also made our way to the railway station to purchase our tickets to Leeds, only to find that it closes at 1pm!
On Thursday we got a taxi back to the station this time making sure we arrived before it closed, and caught the train up to Leeds via a change at Birmingham.

Thursday 15th February
We made our return trip to Hinckley stopping off at the large Tesco adjacent to the rail station.
Thursday night was cold again and we awoke on Friday to a frozen marina, however the sun was bright and, we noted, quite high in the sky. Cox's returned and refitted the Travel Pack by which time the sun had done its work and thawed the ice.
We left our berth and moved on up the canal to moor at Sutton Wharf, these moorings are quite extensive with all boater services and a useful cafe bar.
On our way up we past the villages of Stoke Golding and Dadlington, both synonymous with the Battle of Bosworth, and now, after recent research, are close to the actual site of the battle.
Reaching this area was something I have been looking forward to for sometime as I have developed an interest in the medieval period as we have been travelling along.
Ambion Hill looking towards the battlefield
The moorings are close to the Battlefield Heritage site, now, unfortunately for them, some 2.5-3 Km's from the actual site, on Saturday we had a walk up to Ambion Hill to stand and look at the view across the fields, a view that the Yorkist Royal forces must have taken in, however they were staring at the rebel army of Henry Tudor, soon to be victorious and take the crown of England.
We decided to move on the following morning our plan being to get to the end of the canal, turn round and make our way back slowly visiting the villages on our way. The latest weather forecast is, again, predicting a cold easterly blast due to start in around a weeks time, this means we may have to move on faster than we would have originally wanted as we want to get down to Coventry then back up to Atherstone, where we will be able to sit out any cold spell and frozen canal.
We had a good cruise up the canal on Sunday, near the village of Congerstone we came across a fishing match, I slowed down and passed them on tick over, maintaining a course down the center of the canal, recalling our previous experience at Wigan, these fishermen were a lot more friendly and we had a good bit of banter as we passed by, probably because none of them had caught anything so our presence had presumably not made any difference. We  arrived at the terminus just beyond Snarestone Tunnel, here we turned around, passing through the tunnel again to moor up just below the village. Snarestone is a very quiet village with no facilities, other than the Globe Inn. (note for boaters, there are full CRT boater services at the winding hole at the Terminus.)
Ashby Terminus
Snarestone Tunnel
We had Sunday lunch in the busy pub and I would think it advisable to book later in the year, we enjoyed our lunch before returning to the boat.The weather was really mild and we noticed that the night was much warmer than any we had experienced for sometime.
The Globe, Snarestone
Monday 19th February
The day brought rather dull and miserable conditions more akin to November, but the rain was light and we moved back down the canal retracing our steps to the village of Shackerstone. We pulled up here and had a quick walk around the village, a very pretty but quiet place with the remains of an old Motte and Bailey castle along side the canal.
Shackerstone Castle

We returned to the boat and moved onto our next stop at Market Bosworth. This was our overnight mooring and we walked the mile up the hill into the town. Just up from the canal we passed the site of the Churchill Aircraft Factory, this was moved, along with its staff, from Coventry, following the blitz. It is now and Industrial Estate but there is still a Churchill Factory here specializing in precision engineering.
The town itself was very quiet, probably because Monday is half day closing. The market square is dominated by the Dixie Grammar School reminding us of the atmosphere at Repton, visited earlier in the year.
Dixie School
Chip Shop pun - The Batter of Bosworth 
Bosworth High Street
Tuesday morning brought sunshine and a mild start to the day, as we were preparing to set off the fuel boat approached and I flagged him down to buy some coal. These guys provide a really useful service and travel the cut in traditional working boats supplying coal, gas, and diesel.
We were soon under way, arriving at the peaceful moorings between Dadlington and Stoke Golding in the early afternoon. The moorings are about as close as you can get to the newly defined site of the Bosworth battlefield and both villages played their part in the battle. Dadlington is the location of the church, known as the Battlefield Chapel, consecrated by Henry VIII 1511, in the graveyard are several mounds indicating the location of the burials of many of the soldiers that died during the battle.
Battlefield Chapel - Dadlington
Stoke Golding also has a church, this was founded in the 12C so would have been there in 1485 and it is difficult to believe that Henry VII would not have taken thanksgiving prayers here following his victory however there are no records of this happening.
Stoke Golding Church
Burial Mounds - Dadlington
 The village is also the location of Crown Hill where the new King was crowned with Richard III's battle crown salvaged from the field. Henry went on to rewrite history to try and strengthen his tenuous claim to the Crown whist establishing the great Tudor dynasty. He also proceeded to marry Elizabeth of York again giving more credence to his claim.
The weather forecast continues to threaten the cold snap, due to arrive in a few days time. We decided to leave the Ashby on Wednesday and head on down to Coventry. The trip down was very pleasant, with the birds singing away in the hedgerows whilst busily preparing their nests. The daffodils are now starting to flower and crocuses adding a splash of colour to the white patches of snowdrops. It really did feel like early spring despite the gloom and doom forecast.
Spring Flowers
Passing the marina at Hinckley, we soon arrived at the junction with the Coventry canal at which we turned left heading south to Coventry basin. We have been along here before but always turned off at Hawkesbury junction (know as Sutton Stop to the boating world), on this occasion we continued south heading along the five miles into town. This stretch is avoided by many as it has a bad reputation, we found it a pleasant cruise with just one mile where the rubbish was every where. For some reason people around this stretch tie bag fulls of rubbish to the railings at the side of the canal along with large quantities of plastic floating on the surface even though there are waste bins around.   I slowed down through these areas but still managed to pick stuff up on the prop a couple of times, fortunately these were removed by a burst of reverse.
We are now moored in the town basin, it seems quite enough, and there are a few other boats around as well a large fleet of hire boats. We intend to spend Thursday here before moving back to Atherstone to sit out the cold spell.


Typical Ashby scene

Coventry pics to follow














Friday 2 February 2018

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






Heading South

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