Wednesday 30 May 2012


Atherstone Locks, Coventry Canal to Alrewas, Trent and Mersey Canal


We have enjoyed lovely sunshine since our last blog, and we have been boating in the mornings and finding shady spots in the afternoon, mainly for the dog, as he is quickly exhausted in these conditions.

Yesterday, we were moored at Fradley Junction, still on the Coventry Canal, and enjoyed walking around the junction and visiting the refurbished Fradley Marine shop and their new art gallery,  where there are some extremely attractive paintings, including one of a pair of certain hotelboats. A most restful display with some £plendid waterway artworks.

In the evening, we strolled back down to the Swan pub at the junction, to watch the Green Man's Morris and Sword Club from Lichfield, performing in the sunset. As soon as they started, the dog started barking and wailing to the music, so he was taken back to the boat PDQ! Unfortunately, the dance routines were frequently interrupted by cars and bikers driving down the roadway, but it did give the old chaps a chance to get their breath back! We enjoyed some Black Sheep ale, and returned to the boat before the heavens opened.

 This morning, we turned right at Fradley, and onto the Trent and Mersey canal, and down a couple of locks and headed off for Alrewas. We recall from last year that this is a very lovely village with nice people living here. We are not alone, as this evening all the moorings in the village are taken, and boats are still arriving rather disappointed there is no room for them.(They should have got up earlier!)

Saturday 26 May 2012

Hartshill to below Atherstone Locks, Coventry Canal

Free Beer TODAY!

Set off  before 9am - quite late by some boaters standards as boats were passing before 7am, no surprise as it was such a perfect morning.

Made our way steadily down Atherstone Locks, and it is easy to see why water levels cause concern at busy times, as the pounds were getting low. Moored up for lunch and to watch the Grand Prix qualifying at Monaco when a 70ft barge passed by with banner promoting Marstons Pedigree 60th year of production. The boat and crew were on their way to the show at Crick, taking  some barrels of beer with them. Have you got a glass they said? of course we had and they very kindly filled 2 tankards for us to sample the Pedigree straight from the cask.

Friday 25 May 2012

Springwood Haven, Nuneaton to Hartshill, Coventry Canal

Put The Flags Out!

Yes, we are afloat again after an earlier dreary start to the season when we just messed about on the Coventry and North Oxford Canal. Now it is time to get serious, and so a swift decision to turn left out of the marina at Valley Cruises, and off we went! Extremely hot afternoon, and so we found a mooring at Hartshill, just beyond the BW yard, and let the dog cool down - he is soooooooo the wrong colour for this sort of weather.

Monday 3 October 2011

Back at Branston, on Trent and Mersey canal

Since our last blog we have meandered down to Sawley Marina and back. The weather has been so good we have taken our time and enjoyed it!

The River Trent was an absolute millpond, and so we didn't wrestle with dog to try to get the life jacket on him. We moored opposite Sawley marina for 24 hours and enjoyed the entertainment of passing boaters in the hot sun. We took a very pleasant early morning walk alongside the Trent down to the junction where the Erewash Canal joins the river, a path that is adjacent to a golf club nearly all the way. Surprisingly, there are signed footpaths pointing across the greens.

We are now on our way back towards Fradley Junction, in no hurry, and as we had enjoyed Shardlow previously, stopped there again overnight. The Heritage Centre there was unfortunately closed, so didn't get our business, but the Malt Shovel did! Saw the Shardlow croc lurking under a jetty . Honest!

The 74 acre Mercia Marina site at Willington, was worth a stroll around, a most attractive location, created with conservation in mind, and includes a well stocked grocery shop, Midland Chandlers, plus plans for a bistro and 18 luxury lodges. Very courteous management team too. We will definitely give this place consideration for moorings. 

Just around the corner from the marina we stopped again at Willington village. Very close to the railway this time unfortunately, so thundering rail stock through the night meant briken sleep, broken again by fighting cats at 6am!

Now we are back at Branston, moored alongside a very neatly mowed towpath. The autumn sun is out again, but very strong breeze, so strong the dogs ears are horizontal!

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Swarkstone Lock to above Shardlow Lock, Trent and Mersey Canal

Another perfect day. Now we are using double width locks, and these need a lot more muscle, to deal with the heavier paddles and gates. Shame we haven't been able to time things right, and share with another boat.

A lovely trip along to Shardlow, with just a handful of moving boats. More cyclists and dog walkers! In fact, the very flat farmland, the cloudless blue sky, the warm sun, reminded us of boating in France.

We ambled down below Shardlow Lock to The New Inn and tested the Theakston's. Many interesting canal wharf buildings here from the time when Shardlow was a busy inland port. Some of the buildings are now attractive residential pads, but many are sadly dilapidated and about to fall down . Beyond Shardlow are flood gates reminding us that the Trent cause damage to the surrounding areas. Tomorrow we venture out onto the river.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Alrewas to above Swarkstone Lock, Trent and Mersey Canal

Much better start to the week, lovely sunshine, and the promise of hot, hot, hot, by the end of the week. We moved onto a short stretch of the river Trent, just above Alrewas, which had a tricky bridge arch to negotiate. Glad the level was low, so no real current this time.

Last evening, we moored in a village named Branston, reputedly where the spicy pickle originated. We walked around the  Branston  Water park, but kept the dog on a short lead, and away from the water, as there were warnings about blue-green algae, and you could certainly see the bloom on the surface. 

We boated through Burton on Trent today, very pleasant in the autumn sunshine, passing the Coors and Marstons breweries. Disappointed there was no evidence in the air of brewing!

Just look at the September skies - a perfect day for boating and we managed to moor along side the village green at Willington, which just happened to be a pub garden too! Very popular place in the sun, including The Sweet Boat, with a vast range of old fashioned sweets in jars, for sale. All that stock to display and then store on board.

Sunday 25 September 2011

Back in Alrewas, Trent and Mersey Canal

Hello - we are back afloat again having picked up the boat a few days ago. All in order and exactly as we left it - pretty amazing, since we had inadvertently left a complete set of boat keys on the boat roof, that were precisely where we left them!!!!

Since last Tuesday was so abysmal, we decided to use the car and visit the National Memorial Arboretum. This place has been on our list for a while, and although a gloomy damp day, we did not find the place at all depressing. In fact it was a really restful and very pleasantly and thoughtfully laid out area, with many trees and shrubs and very tasteful memorials placed by hundreds of organisations. The white stone walls of the main memorial, is very striking, especially  the gap in the wall deliberately positioned so that the sunlight falls through at the 11th hour, of the 11th day, each November. This is a place we will return to I am sure.

We also met our friends Steve and Jill visiting from Brisbane, Aus, and so we went back up the Trent and Mersey to Weston upon Trent, as we recalled The Saracens Head was a good meeting place. This couple made history, when Steve, a crew chef on our hotel boats followed Jill one of our passengers back to Oz, and they got married! A good day.