Atherstone Locks to Hawkesbury Junction

Thu 13^th July Atherstone Locks to Mancetter

Stephen Carter came past on the towpath, in his CRT volunteer uniform. He was the first of five we saw heading for one of the bottom locks with a plan to paint it.

As we set off, we saw that one of the boats beyond the bridge was also setting off. Then yet another cast off between us, so we had three in a convoy, and a lock queue as a result. The one in front of us was Poppy Rose – a pleasant couple.

At lock 7 we met Sally Naylor who was helping another boat down. Eric was not involved as he had an eye test. After Lock 6 we moored up to go shopping. In hindsight we could have gone a bit further to save a walk. We went to Aldi, and also the large Co-op. James nipped to the High Street to post a card for Jasmin’s birthday. In the Co-op we discovered there was a café, and they were offering a cooked breakfast, so we indulged. The service was friendly, and the meal was well presented.

Back at the boat, we departed once more, and found several boats coming down the locks. One of them was Graham Pope, who has bought an ex-hireboat. We didn’t have to set any locks, and at the top lock there were two more volunteers. We decided not to use the water point, as there was already another boat there. Hartshill will do.

We tried to moor before Bridge 36, where there is a view up the hill to some woods. Sadly, it was too shallow, so we moved on past the Alpaca place and the new Mancetter Marina, and we found a place to moor just after.

Hazel put out some more washing.

A rural scene from our mooring at Atherstone Locks

Starting up Atherstone Locks

Merevale Hall overlooks the locks from the hill top

Meeting Sally Naylor

Lock 5

Meeting Graham Pope

Atherstone Top Lock

Leo II

Moored at Mancetter

Meadow Brown

Skipper

9 locks, 3 miles. Dep 0820, arr 0955 Lock 6/5. Dep 1205, arr 1345 Mancetter.

Fri 14^th July  Mancetter

Heavy rain was forecast all day, and we sat it out, catching up on paperwork, and watching tennis.   No boating today.

Sat 15^th July  Mancetter to Bedworth

With high winds and heavy rain forecast for later, we departed at dawn. Tickover and hush past moored boats. At Hartshill we filled the water tank, before creeping past Firoza without waking Derek and Judy.

The canal follows a contour with great views in places, before an area of quarries and old mines. Nuneaton follows, where they have an amazing number of allotments, and then there is a massive warehouse on the site of the old Griff colliery. Soon after that we had something serious on the prop, stopping it completely. With our momentum, and the use of our bow thruster, we managed to get into the side, where there was piling to hook onto. In the end there was only a bit of cloth. The other thing must have dropped off. A heavy rain shower arrived, so we stayed put until it had passed.

We arrived in Bedworth as planned, mooring just before Bulkington Bridge, and looking out at intermittent heavy rain and high winds.

There wasn’t much of a TV signal, so we watched the Wimbledon final online. A good wet day occupation. Djokovic lost to Alcaraz.

We saw BCF boat Go with the Flow go past, but they didn’t pause.

The water point at Hartshill

Creeping past Firoza

The quarry area

Marston Junction where the Ashby starts

Cloth on the prop

Comma

Gatekeeper

0 locks, 7 miles. Dep 0545, arr 0830 Bridge 16. Dep 0900, arr 0935 Bridge 14.

Sun 16^th July  Bedworth to Hawkesbury Junction

As we were leaving the boat to go to church, Cranley came round the corner, so we had a quick chat with Mick and Suzanne.

We caught a number 56 bus which took us into Bedworth, with a bus stop right outside our destination: Life Church. We had a warm welcome, and were shown into the café for a coffee. A lady called Peggy joined us and introduced herself. She asked if we had reserved our seats for the service. We hadn’t, so she took us into the auditorium, which was buzzing with people. The worship was excellent, with keyboard, guitar, bass and drums, a lady lead singer plus three backing vocalists. We knew very few of the songs, and some were brilliant, and are now in the pipeline for us to lead back in Aylesbury. The talk was about decision making, and how and why we make our plans. We were privileged to pray for Peggy, and she kindly gave us a lift back to the bridge.

We departed promptly to make the two mile journey to Hawkesbury Junction, where we turned and reversed up the Coventry Arm to a visitor mooring just before the first bridge. We got caught in a rain shower as we were mooring up.  We had a Zoom chat with Jack and Sandra in Aylesbury.

We went for a Sunday roast in the Greyhound. Thankfully, they serve until 7pm.

Suzanne on Cranley

Mick

Our chosen venue for church this morning

Before the service

The worship band

Peggy with Hazel

Will we get under with the hood up?

Our mooring on the Coventry arm.

The bins were full

0 locks, 2 miles. Dep `1320, arr 1405.

Next: We start our journey down the North Oxford Canal.

Rugeley to Atherstone Locks

Sun 9^th July  Rugeley to Handsacre

James had a chat with the guy on Orion B moored behind us. He spends six months on his boat, and then six months in Canberra.

We found our way to Victory Church for their 1030 service – our fourth visit. The worship was led by a guy on guitar, accompanied by Matt on bass, a lady on drums, a lady vocalist, and Mike, the pastor, on keyboards. Mike preached using the messages to the first five churches in Revelation. Sadly, their website is a long way out of date, because their webmaster left, and no-one has taken on the task. They had a worship time on Friday evening which we would have gone to if we had known about it. It is so important these days that websites are current. We have a similar problem with the Canal Ministries website.

We had a coffee in their café after the service, before heading for the Plaza, a Wetherspoons pub, for lunch and then a quick visit to Tesco before returning to the boat. Florella had turned round and moored just behind us, as they needed to get to a railway station due to some family issue. We have been playing leapfrog with them ever since Stoke-on-Trent.

We departed as soon as we could, as heavy rain was in the forecast. We decided not to stop at the water point near Hawkesyard Hall, and we were pleased we didn’t. We went through Armitage Tunnel without having to wait for oncoming boats, and we passed the Armitage Shanks factory. We managed to find a good mooring place a mile further on, between bridges 57 and 56 at Handsacre. Two minutes after we had put up the hood, the rain started, and we had a torrential downpour with thunder. Two boats went past, so we guess they don’t have the Rain Alarm app on their phones.

Worship band at Victory Church

Victory Church

Railway Bridges

Lots of second broods this year

Hawkesyard Hall

Armitage Tunnel

Armitage Tunnel

Armitage Shanks

Moored at Handsacre just in time

Heavy rain

0 locks, 4 miles. Dep 1455, arr 1625.

Mon 10^th July  Handsacre to Huddlesford

An early start to avoid rain and beat lock queues. There are lovely fields and woods leading to the locks at Fradley, but HS2 is making a mess. The lock cottages at Wood End and Shadehouse Locks were empty, and owned by HS2. Apparently HS2 will sell these again when the railway has been finished.

There were helpful volunteers on the locks, and we turned into the Coventry Canal and stopped at the water point. We emptied two cassettes and disposed of our rubbish. Sadly, while closing the cap on our water tank, Hazel’s silver bracelet slipped off her wrist and into the canal. We borrowed a landing net from another boat, (Swift n’ Low) but were unable to retrieve it. It had been a birthday present for Hazel, bought at Waddesdon Manor Christmas Fair. If there is any good news, it is that James had been trying to buy a matching necklace, thankfully without success.

We went for a coffee and cake at the café to cheer ourselves up, and returned to the boat just in time to get inside before the rain came. When it had passed, we set off again. The canal is very noisy in these parts, with a railway line, a busy road, the A38, and now HS2. We stopped by Bridge 84, where we could hear both rail and road. The water was full of red mud, we suspect from the HS2 workings.

Empty lock cottage at Wood End Lock

Wood End Lock

HS2 workings

HS2 workings

Cormorant feeling bold

Turning right at Fradley Junction

On the Coventry Canal

Moored in muddy water at Huddlesford

3 locks, 7 miles, 1 swing bridge. Dep 0720, arr 0900 Fradley. Dep 1355, arr 1515.

Tue 11^th July  Huddlesford to Glascote

Again, there was a likelihood of rain, so we set off in good time, cruising through Whittington and Hopwas. We had a large insect as a passenger for a while, and we thought it might be a hornet, but research showed it to be a hoverfly.

Bridges along here are not numbered, but they have the bridge name on them. Strangely, the one called Sutton Road Bridge is on Bonehill Road, and the one called Bonehill Road Bridge carries a footpath.

When we arrived in Fazeley, rain was just starting, so we stopped opposite the Three Tuns, and walked with brollies to visit our BCF friends David and Mary Litchfield. Mary had recently had a bowel operation, but had recovered remarkably well. It was good to see them, and also meet their son, who was visiting and helping.

Moving on again, we had a short lock queue at Glascote Locks. As we were ready in the bottom lock, we saw that the top lock was full, with the gates open, and a boat on the lock bollards at the top, but he wasn’t moving. James went to investigate, and found that he was using the water point. He said he would come down after we had gone up. Why do they put water points on lock bollards? We got through, and moored above on rings. Ten minutes later we had an extremely heavy downpour. It was just easing off as Bruin came past, and James went to help our friend Norman. He is from the Wey, and is boating on his own, aged 88.

Huddlesford Junction

Hornet Hoverfly

Sutton Road Bridge

Bonehill Road Bridge

Moored near Fazeley Junction

Fazeley Junction

River Tame Aqueduct

Crossing the River Tame

Glascote Locks

Wet towpath at Glascote

2 locks, 8 miles. Dep 0840, arr 1130 Fazeley. Dep 1340, arr 1450 Br 73 Co-op.

Wed 12^th July Glascote to Atherstone Locks

We went to visit the Co-op for a few things, and found it expensive. At the checkout, we discovered that neither of us had brought any money! While Hazel went on up the street to post Amanda’s birthday card, James went back to the boat for his wallet. This shop used to be the Anchor pub, where we once had a gig, during the Coventry Canal Mission.

Back at the boat, we noticed that cyclists on the path had splashed lots of mud up onto the boat, and we had had ducks on the roof, leaving their mark. A job for later.

We cruised through Amington, and past Alvecote Marina, Pooley Hall, and Polesworth.

At Bradley Green facilities, we emptied a cassette and rubbish, but didn’t need water. We arrived at the bottom of the Atherstone flight, where other boats were coming down. We collected something on the prop, and James had a look while we were in the bottom lock. It appeared to be the tread from a tyre. We gave out “How do locks work” and a Canal Ministries leaflet to a couple on bikes who live in Suffolk. We moored just two locks up, before bridge 47, and Hazel put out the washing.

The Anchor pub now a Co-op

DIY or SSSI?

Tyre tread on the prop

Showers and sunny intervals

Bottomless Bridge 47

Sunset at Atherstone Locks

Sunset at Atherstone Locks

2 locks, 7 miles. Dep 0845, arr 1145.

Next: Up the rest of the Atherstone Locks, with a visit to the shops. Friday is forecast wet, so we may not move. Saturday: we’ll see where we get to.