Hartshill

Following the past two days of wet weather, today broke with blue sky and bright sunshine. Unusually for us we were awake at 7.30 am, and with a flight of eleven locks ahead decided to to get up. We were underway by 8 am, closely followed by another Hudson boat, nb Rhea. The water point at the base of the locks was busy so we carried on, and it was a decision that paid off. Not stopping put us at the front of the queue going up, and we benefited by meeting several boats descending, thereby having the locks turned in our favour. Our ascent of the Atherstone flight was pleasant in the warm weather, and at the top we were able to dispose of some accumulated rubbish. We are also pleased with how the new, larger sized Axiom propeller is performing. Beyond Atherstone, we had about a mile and a half cruise to our intended mooring spot at Hartshill. We met several oncoming boats, always at a bend or a bridge 'ole. The moorings at Hartshill were unusually empty, so we had our choice of spot, opting to stop just prior to the old British Waterways Yard. It was by now lunch time, and another reason for stopping here was its close proximity to Dobbies Garden World. During our repaint at Glascote our broom went adrift, so a replacement was needed, they also have a cafeteria. After lunch a snooze was the order of the day due to our early start.

BW yard Hartshill from side hatch

BW yard Hartshill viewing forward

Tomorrow with luck we will be back on the Ashby Canal for the second time this year.

• Totals 5 Miles 11 Locks
• Running total 123 Miles 41 Locks 5 Tunnels 

Hawkesbury Junction / Sutton Stop

Only a short journey of seven miles today. Departing Hartshill at about 9 am we were soon passing through the town of Nuneaton. It would appear that this town does not value its stretch of the canal, as we saw more rubbish and plastic bottles in this area, than we have, over the entire remainder of the canals we have travelled this year. Anyway, we were soon leaving Nuneaton behind when we saw evidence a certain 'Time Lord' was visiting.

     

Not long after passing the junction with the Ashby Canal, the skies clouded over and wind picked up. Rain was threatening again and it turned decidedly chilly. About two miles later we made the left turn off the Coventry Canal and entered Sutton Stop Lock. Once through we were on the Oxford Canal, which will now take us all the way to Napton for our appointment with Calcutt Boats next week. We moored a couple of hundred yards from the lock and secured the boat. Previously, we had only visited the Greyhound P.H. for a drink so today we sampled their menu.

      

Just as we left the pub the rain came, so it was back to the boat to plan tomorrow's journey. It will be another short hop as far as the village of Brinklow and All Oak Wood.

Totals 7 Miles 1 Lock

Running total 506 Miles 246 Locks 18 Tunnels

Hartshill

Since our last post from Coven, we have been making good progress on our return journey. Wednesday 19/08 we set off for a mooring near to the village of Acton Trussell. We had 10 miles and 10 locks to navigate, whilst keeping an eye on the changing weather situation. No sooner had we secured the boat the rain came, we had timed it perfectly, which was a theme repeated during further legs of the trip. 

Thursday 20/08 our destination was to be Great Haywood. It meant passing through Tixall Wide, but we fancied having the grounds of Shugborough Hall as our backdrop. On route we passed Stafford Boat Club which had been our home for a week, on our way to Chester. As we entered Tixall Wide, we recognised a boat moored that we had seen several times over the past few days. 'Millie Rose' was one of Steve Hudsons final boats, and we had met the owner a couple of times on our way down the Shroppie. What we did not expect was to see the crew of 'Lowen' another Hudson boat popping out of the rear doors. We had not seen them for over a year since the last Hudson open weekend, so we made an unscheduled stop on the Wide for a catch up. About an hour later we resumed our journey to the junction with the Trent and Mersey, then turned right and descended the lock before mooring in front of Shugborough Hall as planned. 

Friday 21/08 our planned destination was Fradley Junction, but we saw an opportunity to extend the day and then have a rest day on Saturday. We passed the pig farm and fuel barge near Bishton which seems a popular mooring spot, then continued on through Rugeley and Armitage before arriving at Fradley. We descended the locks with the help of the volunteer lock keepers, and turned right onto the Coventry Canal. Our revised destination just prior to the village of Whittington, was a further five miles away. We secured the boat mid way between Huddlesford and Whittington, and decided that having foregone lunch, an early evening meal was called for at the Plough Inn. 

Saturday 22/08 was a warm, very humid day, and the furry crew member did not appear to be enjoying his walk in the heat. We therefore kept it short, simply collecting a few supplies from the co-op in the village, then returning to the boat to relax and attempt to keep cool. Later, we were treated to a brief thunder storm which cleared the air a little. 

Sunday 23/08 our aim was to reach Polesworth. We made good progress to Glascote where we had two locks to navigate. Both are renowned as slow to fill. The bottom lock takes 8 minutes and top lock 12 minutes. The Canal and River Trust are closing them on Wednesday to conduct an inspection and see what the problem is. After exiting the top lock we passed the entrance to Glascote Basin, our boats home port. This has now been taken over by Norton Canes Boatbuilders, so we popped in for a brief chat. Resuming our journey we passed through Polesworth, taking a mooring just prior to bridge 50. We were close to the main railway line here, but the mooring is shielded by a small hill making it quite a pleasant spot. 

     

      

                               The Icebreaker Lysander now converted to run on steam.

      

      

                                          Departing our mooring this morning at Polesworth.

Today we had the Atherstone flight of 11 locks to deal with. The rain was not expected to arrive until late in the afternoon. Just as we slipped our lines it began to drizzle. Fortunately it was short lived. We used the services at the base of the locks, then set off up the flight. The first two locks went without incident, but then we encountered very low water in the pound between locks 10 and 9. Someone who had gone through the flight at 6 am, had left a gate paddle raised which drained the pound by nearly a foot and a half. We travelled along the pound staying in the centre of the channel. The boat bumped along in a few spots, but entry into lock 9 proved impossible. We then spent about half an hour running water down the flight to raise the levels. After this the remainder of the flight was in our favour, and for the final four locks we had volunteer lockies helping. We passed the CRT yard at Hartshill, then Springwood Haven Marina. Our chosen spot was free and we moored up. Soon after the rain came and we were rapidly joined by another couple of boats.

Wednesday 19/08 totals 10 Miles 10 Locks

Thursday 20/08 totals 8 Miles 3 Locks

Friday 21/08 totals 17 Miles 4 Locks

Sunday 23/08 totals 12 Miles 2 Locks

Today's totals 6 Miles 11 Locks

Running total 499 Miles 245 Locks 18 Tunnels

Hartshill

Today as planned we set off at 7am for the water point. At 8 we had filled the tank and approached the first of the eleven Atherstone locks. The locks appeared all set in our favour and everything was fine. Then it started to rain and it continued to rain all the way to Atherstone top lock. Oh well at least we can say that we are not just fair weather boaters.

                                       Just one of the Atherstone flight of locks

                              Oscar popped out to see what was occurring 

On arrival at Atherstone we moored on the visitor moorings so we could walk into town for some provisions. We found a large co-op which was good enough for what we needed then returned to the boat. The VM's were quite busy and we did not intend staying in Atherstone so as we departed another boat was ready to slot into the gap we left.

We continued on passing the old British Waterways yard at Hartshill and were thinking of stopping near to the Anchor P.H. by bridge 29. There were a long line of boats moored here so on we went and found a nice rural mooring just past Springhaven marina.

                             Our overnight mooring just beyond bridge 27

Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow yet maybe head towards Hawksbury Junction (Junction of the Coventry canal that we are on and the Oxford Canal which we are going to join) or stay here for an extra day. Either way hopefully we will see the promised sunshine tomorrow.

Totals 6 Miles 11 Locks