A good morning for a spot of windlass winding.

The overnight rain cleared and this morning was bright and sunny. I made a quick trip to the local Co-op to top up the fresh veg, then we were away at just before 11:00.

A fine start to the day

The top five of the Atherstone Locks are all fairly close together, starting just around the corner from where we’d moored.

Lock 5, looking into the bright sunshine

A boat had dropped down the flight maybe an hour before, and whether they’d had a problem here I don’t know, but for whatever reason the pound between L5 and L4 was quite low.
Mags stuck to the middle of the channel, dead slow, but still ran aground just outside Lock 4. A quick squirt of power scraped the bottom over the mud, though, and she was in the chamber.

Between Locks 5 and 4. You can see from the bank that the pound is low.

 

 

Walkers taking advantage of the pleasant springlike weather had told us of a boat coming down; interrogation of a runner coming up had told us of an absence of boats coming up behind, so I saved myself (and the downhill crew) a job and left the top gates open.

The gates of Lock 6 weren’t the only ones replaced this year…

We passed the first boat down below lock 2, then another below Lock 1.
All going swimmingly…

That’s it, top lock after less than 40 minutes.
The icing on the cake was another boat arriving just as the top lock was filling. I’d not had to close a top gate on any lock.

The lock-cottage here was occupied by a full-time lock-keeper until a couple of years ago. He was very possessive of his locks but took very good care of them too. Woe betide anyone who treated them badly…
He was also an amateur weatherman. At this time of year, posted on the shed door, would be his prediction, month by month, for the year ahead. Miss that, now.

All the locks have disused side ponds. Apart from the top one. Not it’s original purpose, mind….  

….now a waterfowl nursery!

We had a gentle cruise from the locks, winding around the lumps and bumps leading up to the high ground on the right. I had a couple of phone calls to make, as we cruised along, and before I realised we were passing Hartshill Yard, maintenance depot for waterways craft, built soon after the canal.

Hartshill Yard

We pulled in just beyond Bridge 31, the delightfully named Apple Pie Lane Bridge. That’s what I forgot from the shop this morning, Bramleys for a pie! Damn!

We’ll stay put tomorrow, I reckon. We’re due for some more rain and wind, I hear. Still, we’ve had two consecutive good days so can’t complain.

Thanks for the comments re the bulkhead thingy. Gary, Della, nope not a chippy, just an engineer who likes to keep busy… Should see you at some point in the next weeks.
Carol, looking forward to April. Bet you are too! Hope we can be there for the big event!

Locks 5, miles 3.

Choosin’ good days for cruisin’

There was an early shower this morning, but then the sun came out and we’ve had a fine day, the sun high enough now to actually feel warm when it shows it’s face.

A bit dull as we leave Polesworth moorings
Note the good, all-weather surface on the towpath? That extends all the way through Tamworth and Fazeley and doesn’t revert to grass (mud!) till Sutton Bridge. Unfortunately it ends here so the towpath through the village is boggy and wet.
What a shame the good surface couldn’t have been continued to the other side of the village.

There are more moorings on the east side of the village, and the towpath is at least made up along this length.

Still, the condition of the towpath aside, the condition of the day improved steadily as we headed towards Atherstone.

The West Coast Main Line is never far from the canal, just outside Polesworth it crosses the canal and the River Anker.



Near Wood Park Farm there’s a narrows, originally crossed by a swing bridge.
The unused bridge, permanently open, is slowly disintegrating.




Beautiful day…

Grendon Dock was a busy boatbuilding and maintenance yard during the commercial era of the canal, it still keeps going today.

Grendon Dock

A project for the future

It’s a riveted iron butty, no name unfortunately.
Note the wooden cabins fixed to the metal hull. This would be towed behind a motor boat, and would be the main accommodation for the boatman and his family. The fore cabin would sleep a couple of children. The butty cabin was preferred because it was roomier and warmer, and less prone to condensation than the steel back cabin on the motor.

A quintessentially English scene across the fields, Grendon church tower poking through the trees, the “Big House” nearby

We topped off the water tank at the services alongside Bradley Green Bridge, then covered the last ¼ mile to the bottom of Atherstone Locks. These were closed for maintenance during the winter stoppage season, lock gates to be replaced.

Old gates removed during the stoppages

We were just approaching the bottom lock when a figure appeared on the lock-side and beckoned us forward. Good timing, a boat was coming down and the lock was empty, so the gates were opened for us.

With no-one going up ahead, this also meant that the locks above were also in our favour. Result!

Lock 11, Atherstone flight

These locks are quite slow to fill for narrow locks, and the first six are in three groups of two, meaning I could get back on and relieve Mags on the tiller for the longer pounds.

Approaching Lock 10, the down-heading boat just visible in the distance entering the bottom lock

Locks 7 and 6 bracket the entrance to Baddesley Basin, moorings and home to Barry Hawkins boatbuilders.

The wharf had rail connections to Baddesley Colliery to the west and the main line alongside.

Lock 6 was our last lock, just vacated by another boat coming down as Mags approached. 

Ascending Lock 6, we moored on the pound above

These are the new gates, replacing those in the work-boat below.





First time I’ve seen one of these with “Canal & River Trust” on.
The Bradley lock gate workshop is at Bilston, near Wolverhampton.





It’s a bit muddy on the towpath along here, and we’ve the rumble of trains passing on the line just 100 yards away, but it’ll do for one night.

Five more locks tomorrow, then a long lock-free run to Hawkesbury Junction and the Oxford Canal.

Hi Mike. Thanks for the comment. All becomes clear…

Locks 6, miles 4

A day at Polesworth

The weather wasn’t as poor as predicted, as it turned out, but we still stayed put. It gave me a chance to have a good walk with Meg, finish off my little project, and have a short shopping trip up into the village with a detour to look at the old bits.

We walked back to the visitor centre on the site of Pooley Hall Colliery, via a climb up the spoil heap.

This tall obelisk has sprouted on the top since we were here last
I don’t know what it represents, it doesn’t seem to have any relevance to coal mining, brick and pottery production or quarrying, the main industries in the area.

It appears to be made out of fibreglass, or something similar. It’s definitely hollow.

Looking north, a Virgin train in the middle distance

And south-east to Polesworth, the M42 below and the Coventry Canal beyond
Three major transport routes visible with just a turn of the head.

We crossed the canal, ducked under the motorway and arrived at the visitor centre, closed today unfortunately.

The visitor centre

Head gear pulley wheel, this one from South Yorkshire though.

We returned along the canal, passing Pooley Hall, built in 1509 by Sir Thomas Cockayne, a knight during the reign of Henry VII.

Brick built and battlemented Tudor Pooley Hall.

 

It’s difficult to get a clear shot across the canal, and, as it’s still private, it’s unlikely you’d be welcome walking up the drive camera in hand.

After a brew I got stuck in and finished the saloon/galley bulkhead. I’m quite pleased with the result.

Shelves both sides…

I’ve still to get a couple of LED lights to install in the recess in the arched section.

This afternoon I had a walk around the village to have a closer look at the church and area around it.

The Abbey Church

The Gatehouse, dating from 1343 with several extensions and modifications since.

 

There’s a lot of history around here, it’s believed that Boudicca may be buried here, following her army’s defeat at Mancetter. And there are those who think that there’s a Shakespeare link, could he have been educated here at the school endowed in 1583 by the Goodere family?
This latest doesn’t really fit the Bard’s timeline. He married (a shotgun wedding!) Anne Hathaway the year before the school started up, and was busy in his father’s businesses. He’d been around Stratford enough to father twins, born in 1585. Shortly after this he went to London to seek his fortune.

Tomorrow we’re heading off towards Atherstone, probably doing the first few of the 11 locks before stopping. The rest we’ll do on Wednesday.

Locks 0, miles 0.

Moving on while the weather’s fine.

We were going to leave Fazeley yesterday, but Friday’s blowy weather still lingered, bringing the odd shower, so we decided to stay put. I had plenty to do, I seem to have spent the last couple of days with a varnish brush in my hand.



There are around 60 individual bits to the new dividing mini-bulkhead, not counting brackets, dowels and screws. All to be sanded and varnished twice before assembly.


I used to love Airfix kits….

Today promised to be good and sunny, so we decided to get off as soon as I’d made a visit to the the local Tesco Express for some provisions. It was shorter than expected; this end of Coleshill Road was suffering a power cut so the shop wasn’t open.

It’s not only trees that have succumbed to the gales…
It was only a matter of time judging by the corrosion at the base of the posts.

Peels Wharf, C&RT offices and services.
A bit calmer on the water this morning.

Just around the corner we passed Fazeley Junction where the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal heads south under Watling Street Bridge for Birmingham, and the Coventry Canal goes under Bridge 77 and heads east for a start through Tamworth.

Fazeley Junction
That way be Brum…

I’m pleased to see the canal house overlooking the junction has been renovated and is now occupied.

Only two locks today, those at Glascote. about 25 minutes from Fazeley.

Glascote Locks.




These are notoriously slow to fill. Even Meg got bored waiting….


Alongside each chamber is a side pond. These would have been used to save water, if a boat was going down, the lock would be first emptied into the pond. The water would level off at about the half-full point. The remainder of the water in the lock would then be released downhill as normal.
A boat going up would first draw water from the pond before topping up from the pound above.
Quite a few locks around the network have these, but  don’t think any are still in use. It maybe wouldn’t be a bad idea to restore them if we keep having these droughts…

The top lock side-pond has become a receptacle for the normal urban detritus…

Steve Hudson’s Glascote Wharf, builder of fine narrowboats, is situated just above the top lock.

We left the built up area behind at Amington, having cruised at tick-over through a fishing match.

Our first of the year! And it was a whopper!

It had to happen, didn’t it. No boats all morning, and then….
….we meet one under a pipe bridge on a blind bend!

Alvecote is the place to be for those of a more traditional bent…

Fine josher bows in a row
The term ”josher” was applied to boats of Fellows, Morton and Clayton, canal carriers from 1837 to the end of 1948. It came from the name Joshua, son of the founder James Fellows, who took over on his father’s death.

The canal winds through a section of scrubby, stunted woodland, the site of the extensive Pooley Hall Colliery. Most of the workings were on the right hand (south) bank, pit waste was dumped on the left, now being slowly reclaimed by vegetation. Slowly because of the infertile nature of the spoil.

The large spoil heap near the M42 bridge is now a local landmark.

And the coal wharf is now residential moorings.

I’d thought about pushing on to near Bradley Green, just below Atherstone Locks, but decided to pull in at Polesworth instead. I still need to do that bit of shopping, and tomorrow looks likely to be a colouring-in day, judging by the forecast.

Looking across the river valley to the squat tower of the Abbey Church dedicated to St Editha.

The church, gatehouse and a bit of the clerestory are all that remain of Polesworth Abbey, founded in the 9th century by St Modwena and the Saxon King Egbert. His daughter, Edgytha (now St Editha), was the first Abbess. Following Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the monasteries, the abbey was sold off and mostly demolished.

If the weather is at all clement tomorrow, I’ll go and have a closer look.

Hi Ray, Brian. I hadn’t spotted the mast at Hinks on the map, although strangely enough that and Sutton are both in the same direction from where I took the snap. I guess you’re right, the Hints mast is about a mile away, the Sutton mast nearer 5 miles. My camera zoom isn’t that good! Thanks guys.

Locks 2, miles 4½