Tuesday 27th August 2019



We had decided to leave the mooring early so as to descend the Atherstone Flight of 11 locks before the forecast heat kicked in. I woke at 5:15 and we were on the move by 5:45. It was a beautifully still morning. Very quiet, still dark and a mist hanging over the canal. Very atmospheric.




A Misty Dawn



With the limited visibility we could only move slowly which added to the experience. At Stoneleigh we passed Harvey’s Boat Builder’s, home of the Towpath Alpaca’s. At the awkward bridge 36 we met a boat coming the other way. All too typical. Sometimes you can go an hour and not meet another boat and then at some awkward point, Murphy’s Law dictates you are going to meet someone.



     

Harvey’s Boat Builder’s and the Towpath Alpaca’s


We arrived at the locks and just in time as two boats arrived behind us, all with the same idea of getting through them early. We passed down the locks without trouble and seemed to be at the bottom lock in record time. Brenda steered through a number of them for a change.

Just before Grendon Bridge we came across a whole tree trunk blocking the way. The thing was the width of the canal and probably 3’ in diameter. Approaching it very slowly, we managed to nudge it out of the way.







We passed through Polesworth, a place we had enjoyed when we stopped here earlier in the year. We had been seeing lots of traditional, old working boats travelling in the opposite direction. They had all been to a gathering at Samuel Barlow’s Yard at Alvecote. When we reached here there were still lots of boats about and it was quite a job getting by them all. The channel was so narrow, if a boat had been met coming the other way it would have been a real challenge. We saw Leon’s boat moored but he was not on board and we did not see him/her. Shame, we would have liked to have met them again.

The outskirts of Tamworth were reached soon after and a slow cruise brought us to the two Glascote Locks where there was a queue. Beyond the locks, we passed over the River Tame Aqueduct and Fazeley Junction, the start of this year’s cruising after the stoppages were lifted, and stopped at Sutton Road Bridge to visit Tamworth’s Ventura Retail Park.

Here we bought Harvey a new bed before his holiday’s. His old one is not fit to be seen. Also managed to track down a feather duster for clearing cobwebs from the ever present little spiders. This turned out to be a mission. Neither Wilko’s, Poundland, or Bargain Madness stocked them and we eventually found one in Sainsbury’s of all places.

Moving on, we moored at Hopwas, right between the pubs again. We had been on the go for 9 hours and it had been hot and sticky, we were both glad of a pint and an early night.



Weather: very hot and sticky.



Day Total: 13 locks; 14 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; Day’s running hours 7.8

Overall Total: 722 locks; 1273 miles; 50 tunnels; 58 Swing Bridges; 11 Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; total engine running hours 795.3hrs








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