We limp into Stone

Monday: 0 miles, 1 tank clean
Tuesday: 9 miles, 4 locks and 4 breakdowns
Wednesday: half mile, 1 breakdown

Bank holiday Monday was carnage and mayhem at the mooring in Great Haywood. At one point 14 boats were waiting in the queue to go up the lock! We visited Shugborough Hall, seat of the Earls of Litchfield, which has been a bit neglected but is being brought back to scratch by the National Trust.

Shugborough from the back

The garden was lovely and full of people! 

We also got our fuel cleaned, as per the recommendation after our breakdown in Braunston. Tankbusters came with a machine which sucked fuel out, round its filters and back in again. We knew there would be a lot of stuff in there and indeed there was. The guy who had the boat before us hadn't kept much fuel in the tank and therefore lots of condensation built up and it got diesel bug (a sort of fungus that lives in the water that sits on the bottom under the diesel). Although we put stuff in that killed it and keep the tank filled now, there was lots of the dead bug still in the tank.

Dead diesel bug collected on one of the filters.

However, after 4 hours they seemed happy that the job was done and off they went. We enjoyed the rest of the day and set off in the morning in good spirits, heading for Stone and dinner in the Star Inn (local of Terry Darlington, author of the Narrow Dog books which we both like).

The day, however, did not go as planned. The engine cut out 4 times and each time we had to moor and blow debris out of the pipe from the tank to the filter. Filters were changed and everything done we could think of, but it would go for a while and then stop again.

We got very used to seeing Robin like this. 

Then, to add insult to injury, nb Champagne Charlie was across the canal and we had to pull up next to a boat moored behind it and get it back in again. Fortunately, our engine didn't cut out while we were undertaking this manoeuvre but it was a faff and took yet more time.

Champagne Charlie back in place

Our engine cut out for the 4th time as we entered the lock on the approach to Stone. We roped it through the lock and managed to get it going again long enough to get to near the moorings. There were no spaces for us so we just pulled up and put pins in. It was almost 8pm and we were tired and fed up. After walking Scooby, Robin cycled into town and bought fish and chips back to the boat.

In the morning we motored half a mile to the, now vacant, 48 hour moorings beneath the lock and Star Inn. We nipped into town to Morrisons and topped up the booze cupboard. That done we decided to have a go and see whether the last bit of work Robin had done to clear the pipes and filters had worked and set off hopefully again. However, the engine cut out before we managed to actually get into the lock and we retreated back to the moorings. Calls to the Canal and River Rescue and Tankbusters were made and eventually Tankbusters agreed to come back and sort it out on Friday. It appears that the fuel hasn't been thoroughly cleaned but has been stirred up and the debris that has been left keeps blocking up the fuel inlet pipes and filters. So without much faith we wait to see if it can be sorted on Friday and in the meantime our dinner in the Star Inn is booked for tonight instead.

Shugborough

3.5 miles and 1 lock.

The sun shone again; an unexpected treat on a bank holiday weekend. In the morning we pulled out behind one boat but just in time to get in front of a line of others; a fact that became significant when we reached Colwich lock. We were third in the queue and they snaked behind us...

Joining the queue

The queue

Colwich lock 

A friendly and organising lady from the boat behind us got one up/one down in the lock working efficiently so that it was a sociable wait. The river Trent stayed close by and this stretch of canal is really lovely. 

Soon Shugborough park and house came into view. 

Shugborough House from the canal

Because we need to be near the lock for our fuel cleaning tomorrow, we shunned the view however and found a 48 hour visitor mooring behind The Wool Boat that was just right. 

Moored just below the lock

We went for lunch at the Lockhouse Tea Room, which had good food but was a lesson in quaintness and inefficiency on this extremely busy day. An brief explore of our surroundings found the beautiful river Trent still adjacent to the canal and being enjoyed by all and sundry in the sunshine. This splendid packhorse bridge is a stones throw from our mooring and is the entrance to Shugborough park. 

Sitting in the dinette writing this with the window open, small splashing noises keep distracting. On investigation, it is acorns falling into the canal from the oak tree on the opposite bank. Such a small sound to be heard above the general hubbub of this place. 

Onto the Trent & Mersey

12.5 miles, 3 locks, 1 swingbridge and 2 canals

The food at The Plough Inn was excellent and good value. We started the morning after a lie in and without needing breakfast! This top end of the Coventry Canal is surprisingly nice, winding and a bit overgrown. The sun shone and it was a lovely start to a bank holiday weekend. Fradley junction, where the Coventry ends at a T junction with the Trent and Mersey, was busy with confusing mooring. We managed to dump our rubbish but not empty the elsan or get to the café for a late (and now needed) breakfast.

Fradley Junction 

We turned left and found ourselves in the middle of a lock flight, going up and with queues. We saw this turtle sunning itself on a stick.

As we went through the villages of Handsacre and Armitage we passed this huge factory, still in operation and wondered what it made. When we passed the yard with piles of toilet bowls and cisterns all became clear: Armitage Shanks!

There were decent moorings by bridge 66 in Rugely but we were too late for the shops and the captain went on despite faint protests from the crew. New housing estates on the eastern side of the canal failed to completely conceal the power station beyond.

As we left the town, an aqueduct took us over the river Trent and to come 48 hour moorings where we finally stopped. After Scooby had a much needed walk, it was a sit in the evening sun with a beer.

Tomorrow we aim for Great Haywood where the man is coming to clean our fuel and tank on Monday. Shugborough Hall is nearby, so plenty to do while we wait.

Tamworth and beyond

10.5 miles and 2 locks

The day started with phone calls and a lovely walk through a nature reserve and up a hill (an old slag heap), all reclaimed from an old mine. There was an odd metal pillar on the top. The views were stunning.

In continuous sunshine (the legs were out) we pootled through the edges of Tamworth, stopping at bridge 68 for milk and eggs at the Tesco Express. There were two locks at Glascote where we waited for other boats both ways. The aqueduct over the Tame briefly revealed to us this rather impressive river.

Approaching the aquaduct

The River Tame

We passed the junction with the Birmingham and Fazely canal, finally leaving the Warwickshire ring so that the canal was much quieter. 

As we went northwards we got glimpses of the towers on Tamworth as we left civilization behind. The canal was on an embankment so we enjoyed the views as we went along. 

Looking back at the Tamworth towers. 

The rest of the journey was uneventful and lovely in the sunshine. We met passed a firing range but it was mostly farming country. 

Danger, don't stop here. 

Watering the parsnips

Yet more wheat

We stopped for the day at the Plough Inn at Huddlesford, nipping into one of the last mooring spots. Dinner tonight to celebrate another lovely day and good news from home. Any excuse really!

Atherstone locks and a chicken.

9 miles and 11 locks.

We started the day with a visit to Wood Bridge boatyard and shop. We bought a Coventry Canal plaque to add to our collection and put Harold's name down for a permanent mooring. The waiting list is long but its a nice place at a reasonable cost and would make a great base at the end of next year. It was a nice day and we set off in good spirits, barely dampened by the three piece suite we encountered shortly. Robin negotiated his way through the soft furnishings as a woman on a boat coming the other way got on the phone to CRT to report them.

Soon afterwards we passed this rather handsome CRT yard so they didn't have far to travel to the rescue.

At the top of the Atherstone lock flight the sun shone and there were boats everywhere. Progress was slow but sure and a sociable time was had.

At the third lock a chicken was wandering about. The lockie gathered it up and went off to find out where it had escaped from.

The harvest was in full swing further down the flight causing a gathering in of washing from the airer at the bow.

Some of our lock companions stopped at the bottom of the flight, but we carried on fortified by a much needed cup of tea. 

 

Polesworth has a nice Indian restaurant in the Bulls Inn apparently, but there wasn't any mooring spaces left so that plan was passed by. We went on under the M45 and found a quiet spot between the motorway and the beginnings of Tamworth.

The sunshine and bits of high blue sky made the countryside look at its best. It all made for a good day. 

A diversion to Coventry

Tuesday: 9.5 miles and 1 lock
Wednesday: 12 miles

The landscape continued to be a mixture of rural and industrial. This electricity station was the origin of the lines of pylons we have been seeing.

At Hawksbury junction there was a flood lock, it only took us down one foot but it was the first we had done in many miles. The CRT volunteer at the junction gave us good information about the Coventry basin. The 5 miles to the centre of Coventry took almost two hours. The canal was shallow and full of litter but not polluted. Some effort had been made to fancy it up, but it was by and large a fairly depressing experience.

Fancy ironwork on a footbridge

We arrived in the basin early afternoon and after a dog walk, had a very basic but also very cheap lunch at the café there. 

In Bishop's Street Basin, Coventry. 

We decided not to leave Scooby on his own in the boat. Robin went off to visit the Coventry Transport Museum which he really enjoyed. In the morning Jo visited the cathedrals; the ruined one and the modern one and had a look around the town. It was all a bit grim and brutal. By lunchtime we were ready to go again, back past Hawksbury junction and into more new territory. 

Approaching Hawksbury junction. 

It was mostly cloudy but warm and with glare and the odd bit of sun. There were fields of wheat being harvested to the east of us and the estates of Bedworth to the west. We passed Marston Junction for the Ashby canal. It looked nice but we haven't got time this year.

The way to Ashby-de-la-Zouche

As we got further north we began to meet hire-boats coming the other way. One at a bridge which made even Robin cross. It just didn't slow down but ploughed on into the bridgehole where Harold already was and causing us both to have to stop and sort it out. The other on a bend when, again, the driver didn't realise he needed to slow/stop till very late and it all got a bit messy. Its a busy canal  with hirers doing the Warwickshire ring. At 5pm we moored opposite a very tidy little boatyard at Wood Bridge. No BBCTV reception but plenty of WiFi.

The Atherstone flight tomorrow. Locks! What a treat!

Move along; nothing to see here.

Sunday: 5.5 miles, 0 locks and 1 breakdown
Monday: 14.5 miles, 3 locks and 1 tunnel

On Sunday we stopped at Braunston, mooring at Midland Chandlery to buy oil filters and other various bits. Business done, we nipped across the canal and went to the café boat for a late and very nice breakfast.

Braunston café boat

We set off again but got only a few yards when the engine cut out. There was a bridge, a boat coming the other way and one behind but everyone coped well and we got Harold safely moored. Robin identified the problem (a blocked fuel pipe) but couldn't clear it. It turned out that he just wasn't blowing hard enough. We waited about an hour for the Canal and River Rescue engineer who took just minutes and a big breath to shift it and we were on our way again. Our fuel tank needs cleaning - a job that has just not been got round to. Robin bought more stuff to put in the tank in the meantime at the still conveniently near chandlery. Our breakdown spot was near this sad little Sea Otter all burned out. It could have been worse.

A sad sight

 We went on for another few miles, wanting to make progress but also aware that there are long stretches along this canal where you can't moor. About 4.30 we found a good bit and decided to take advantage. Robin and Scooby went for their walk and as soon as they got back the heavens opened.

It was still drizzling on Monday morning but there's no peace for those on a route march. Jo cleaned the boat and did some laundry (as it was raining). This bit of canal was busy but boring. High hedges and the industrial areas of Rugby. The rain stopped but the skies stayed relentlessly grey. The Hillmorton locks provided some excitement. They are singles but with two side by side. A notice proclaimed it to be the busiest lock flight on the network.

After a stop for Scooby, on we went to the Newbold tunnel; short and not particularly sweet.

At Stretton wharf we passed the furthest point we have ever been on this canal before. From here to Middlewich is uncharted territory for us. After a while some countryside appeared to our left and we could see across to the towers of Coventry.

The M6 confirmed our position in the country and we moored three miles short of Hawksbury junction. We plan to make a diversion into the centre of Coventry tomorrow, it would be rude not to having come all this way.

A good dog day and a water buffalo suprise.

11.5 miles and 9 locks.

A gentle meander took us to the two locks at Marston Doles. Scooby was in good form today after recent traumas and had his head over the side sniffing as we went. We met other boats but weren't held up for long. We approached the Napton flight, seeing the hill and Napton village in the distance. We had some gongoozlers standing about and asking questions while we worked the first couple of locks.

Napton Hill 

 Lock number nine has a field of water buffalo next to it which we always admire. Jo was filling the lock when she noticed one animal acting oddly and realised she was giving birth. The calf in its sack tumbled out and while we watched she licked and licked it. The head appeared and it moved and eventually got to wobbly legs and began to feed. The time it takes to fill and empty locks is always a chance to have a good look around and take in the surroundings, but this was an unexpectedly special thing to be able to watch!

She licked and licked till the head appeared

The calf manages to stand and start to suckle

We carried on down the flight, waiting here and there for other boats and chatting as we went.

At the bottom of the hill we stopped for services and water. Jo went into the village to buy milk (and biscuits). There was a music festival on at the Folly pub which was loud but clearly popular as all the moorings were taken for half a mile along the canal. The rain held off and the captain carried on. He had a mooring spot in mind - one with a nice view where we have been before.

The view from our mooring tonight. 

Scooby had his walk and the rain started just as he got back inside. A good dog day.