Atherstone to Sutton Wharf

Thu 20^th August  Atherstone to Springwood Haven

Moored in Atherstone

We had a slow gentle cruise along this very pretty section of the Coventry Canal, passing another new marina under construction. 

Watership Down?

New marina

We paused at Hartshill to top up with water. We said farewell to Brian on Lord Sooty, as he is going to Oxford, and we are going up the Ashby.

Hartshill

We found an ideal mooring just before Springwood Haven, with a lovely view, where we weren’t under trees, as strong winds were forecast.

We hung out the washing which dried very quickly. James went for a walk and picked some blackberries. It was a very warm evening.

Moored near Springwood Haven 

0 locks, 3 miles. Dep 0925, arr 1105

Fri 21^st August  Springwood Haven

Free food

There was a heavy rain shower in the night, and high winds during the day, nearing gale force at times. This was Storm Ellen. Not many boats moving. We were hit by two as they were blown across the canal.

We spoke to Tania on the phone, one of the two ladies we had helped at Fradley. They are in a much better state of mind, and have been working hard to get their boat into good condition. They have a Boat Safety inspection booked for next week. 

Sunset 

No boating today

Sat 22^nd August  Springwood Haven to Marston Jabbett 

Moored near Springwood Haven 

We have noticed several boats travelling in the same direction and about the same speed as us and we keep overtaking each other. They include Marybet, Vanyar, Old Codger, Tinker, and Matilda Rose.

We prepared to depart, and untied the ropes. We were still being blown onto the bank, and a succession of three boats came past, so we set off after them.

We paused round the corner at Springwood Haven, hoping to buy milk and empty a cassette. Although their opening hours said they would be open on a Saturday, they were closed. The “closed” sign had blown over. We did manage to empty a cassette, which was helpful. While we were there, another three boats came past before we could set off once more.

Springwood Haven

That telegraph pole again (We've passed it 14 times)

We were now in a convoy of seven boats. The boat in front of us was going slowly because they were following Black Pearl, proceeding on tick over in front of them. After a while they managed to pass.  Now Black Pearl was immediately in front of us, progressing at minimal speed. At one point they beckoned us past, but it was fairly narrow, and we couldn’t see far enough ahead. Then a boat came round the corner, so we would have been in trouble if we had attempted to overtake. We didn’t have far to go anyway as we stopped at Bridge 21 to visit a Sainsbury’s Local for milk and some other things.

Just as well we weren’t passing the boat in front

Boot Wharf, where we were for Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997

We resumed our journey, and passed the three boats we had waited for when we first set off this morning. They had presumably stopped for lunch and were about to leave again.  We turned into the Ashby Canal, and, looking back, we saw them go past the entrance on their way to Hawkesbury Junction.

Into the Ashby Canal 

Bridge 1

We stopped after Bridge 2, near Marston Jabbett, behind Tinker. 

Moored on the Ashby

0 locks, 5 miles. Dep 1000, arr 1310, including 50 minutes for Sainsbury’s.

Sun 23^rd August  Marston Jabbett to Stretton Baskerville

The Ashby Canal seems to skirt around some small villages, going through some lovely rural areas, and under some fine stone bridges. 

Bridge 3 – Lloyd’s Farm Bridge

We had an incident with some novice boaters on a hire boat who lost all steerage when they put the engine into reverse, slewing them across the canal in front of us.

Hire boat across the canal 

Pylons – beautiful engineering, or a blot on the landscape? 

We moored in the wilds between bridges 13 and 14 in a parish with the colourful name of Stretton Baskerville.  James had a go at cleaning our stove.

Clean stove

Moored at Stretton Baskerville 

A hire boat went past at 9pm, with the tunnel light on, loud music, people sitting and standing on the roof, amid some alcohol consumption. They crashed into the bank. Not a lot of social distancing going on. 

Hire boat in the bank in the dark

0 locks, 4 miles. Dep 0850, arr 1025.

Mon 24^th August  Stretton Baskerville to Sutton Wharf

We had a short journey this morning, mooring by bridge 16 from where we could access the shops in Hinckley. There is an old arm here, now used for moorings.

Overgrown hedges

The Hinckley Arm 

We first left Hazel’s computer at a repair shop, as she has been unable to get it to start up. We then took a bus to the centre. James bought some shoes, and we went to Sainsbury’s with a list. We took the bus back.

We departed once more, passing bridge 21, where Penny from Heaven (Mary and Jim) and Springwater (Andy and Sue) are moored. No-one aboard today, but we’ll see Mary and Jim at the weekend. 

Penny from Heaven and Springwater (The green one)

Cottages at Stoke Golding 

Name that tune!

We continued past Stoke Golding, where these unruly hire boats have been coming from, and we didn’t stop until we arrived at Sutton Wharf, where there are facilities. With storms forecast, we didn’t want to get caught with all our cassettes full. We stopped on the 24H moorings, as the 48H ones were out of action. James emptied two cassettes while it was still sunny. 

Evening sunshine at Sutton Wharf.

0 locks, 6 miles.  Dep 0910, arr 0940 Br 16. Dep 1520, arr 1880, incl 15 mins at farm shop.

Next: Continuing on up the Ashby, doing battle with Storm Francis.

Fazeley to Atherstone

 

Mon 17^th August  Fazeley to Alvecote

We spotted an unusual goose as we said farewell to Terry and Chris on Grace this morning as they set off towards Fradley.

Unusual goose – Greylag and Canada cross?

Terry and Chris

Farewell also to John and Gill on Faithful as they did the same an hour later. We departed in the other direction, passing the junction with the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, crossing the Tame on an aqueduct, and going up through the two Glascote Locks. The locks were both in our favour, as a boat was just leaving the bottom locks as we approached.

Fazeley Junction

Tame aqueduct

Glascote Locks

At the top we paused on rings by Anchor Bridge while Hazel visited the Co-op for some milk. This shop is in the building that used to be the Anchor pub, where we once performed during a mission on the Coventry Canal.  Further on, we spotted Alan Dewhurst in his garden and we had a chat from the boat. It was good to see him.

Alan Dewhurst

We have had various things on our propeller from time to time. Today we had a first: a dog lead that we had to clear. 

We cruised through Amington, meeting several boats, and coping with low hanging weeping willow trees. Alvecote Marina had the usual selection of historic vessels, and we stopped just afterwards as far from the railway as we could without getting too close to the M42. It rained hard just after we had moored up.

Historic boats by the Samuel Barlow pub

When the rain stopped, it was lovely to have a chat with Eric and Sally Naylor as they passed on Cherie, heading for Wolseley Bridge.  We also spoke to Barry from Vimochana who was moored behind us, and whom we had met at Napton a few years ago. Then we saw Brian on Lord Sooty as he cruised past. We shared the Wigan Flight with him once, and moored with him in Leicester on another occasion. How very sociable it has been over the last few days!

Eric and Sally

Later we spotted a newt on our bathroom window, and when we shone a light on it, it moved onto the gunwale. Bad light made a blurred pic.

Newt

2 locks, 4 miles. Dep 0955, arr 1220, including 20 minutes for the Co-op.

Tue 18^th August  Alvecote to Atherstone 

Moored by Alvecote Woods

Lord Sooty

We had planned to go just to the bottom of the Atherstone Locks today, but the weather forecast for tomorrow was wet all day. Not wanting to do locks in the wet, we decided to go all the way up the locks today.

We set off fairly early, passing Lord Sooty just around the corner. Brian was not up. Our route took us under the M42, past Pooley Fields Heritage Centre and around Polesworth.

Under the M42 

Pooley Fields

Harvesting has begun 

At Grendon there are always some boats in need of attention. Maybe one day.

Suit DIY enthusiast

We made use of the facilities at Bradley Green before commencing our journey up the flight of eleven locks. There was a boat just leaving the bottom lock as we arrived, and many people must have the same idea as us, deciding to do the locks today rather than tomorrow. We only had to empty two locks. All the rest had boats coming down.

Atherstone Bottom Lock

A long distance view of Merevale Hall 

Lock 6 

Squeezing past

Finally, in the top lock, the rain started. There were no moorings opposite the old hat factory, and we had to go through bridge 40 before we could moor up. By now it was raining quite hard, and we were pleased we had no more locks.

Heavy rain

Water art

11 locks, 6 miles. Dep 0830, arr 1350.

Wed 19^th August  Atherstone

We took a footpath across the recreation ground and the railway, and went for a very pleasant breakfast at the Old Bakery.

Breakfast 

We then collected a pre-ordered prescription from Lloyds Pharmacy, and visited the Co-op and Aldi before returning to the boat with our brollies deployed.

It rained for most of the day. At around 6pm it stopped and several boats started to move, including Brian on Lord Sooty.  We stayed put, and had a Canal Ministries Zoom meeting in the evening.

No boating today.

Next: Continue on the Coventry Canal and up the Ashby.