Atherston to Coombes Field

15 miles:    1 locks

After the eleven locks leading up to Atherstone today just had one.
This is a stop lock at Hawkesbury Junction many, many miles away.
There was plenty of countryside to see as the canal turned though many a tight bends.

The biggest town was Nuneaton which is near the canal but you see little of it's industry.
There is a bit of housing but lots and lots of allotments.

This first junction of the day was Marston.
This marks the beginning of the 22 miles Ashton Canal which is lockless.
It is a canal that goes nowhere in particular.

Next comes Hawkesbury Junction which is one of the iconic canal settings..
Getting on to the Oxford requires the most acute bend imaginable but overseen by a dignified cast iron bridge forged in 1837.

Here the Coventry Canal meets the Oxford and the pair of canals are separated by a narrow stop lock with a drop of less than a foot..

So at last Hallmark is heading south down the northern section of the Oxford Canal.
It is a lengthy and roundabout route to the Thames. But it is what I planned.
Although the M6 keeps alongside  the canal for mile or two and the main line railway is alongside for even more the canal soon finds itself amid fields, upon embankments or deep in cuttings
There were no moorings left at Ansty.
I was looking forward to a pint at the Rose and Crown whose extensive gardens run down to the canal by Bridge 15.
I pressed on to Stretton Stop but just before Bridge 26, I pulled over right in the country at Coombes Fields.

A really quiet and peace mooring.
Here is the view over the hedge.

Fazeley Junction to Atherston

11 miles:   13 locks


Today was going to be a day with maybe four or five locks.
A sort of slow day after the grind since leaving Birmingham on Monday.
The day did not turn exactly as planned.
It was an early start and Hallmark cruised out of Fazeley alone.
We skirted Tamworth crossing the impressive Tame Aquaduct and the extensive moorings of the Tamworth Cruising Club.

Next it was the two Glascote locks.
We were climbing for the first time since the Lapworth Flight on the Stratford Canal.

The first lock filled very very slowly and then I realised the short pound between the two locks was completely empty we has a water supply problem
With the help of another boater we began to fill the pound from the long seven mile  pound above.
We also called Bitish Waterways to let them know the difficulties
Eventually the water came up and Hallmark slowly made here way to the second lock.

The seven mile lock free run to Atherston was uneventful.

The highlight was passing the Samuel Barstow pub at Alvecote which had a wonderful collection of traditional boats moored all around.

There was a steady stream of boats heading for Fazeley.
They had obviously come down the Atherston Eleven the previous evening.

My plan was to do three or four locks and then stop overnight.

Three boats were waiting for there turn to climb and I joined them
It made a good start and chugged time after time into an empty lock chamber with willing helper

Other than a really heavy shower mid-flight the 80 foot climb could not have been easier or quicker.
Hallmark was at the top in 2 hours and 50 minutes.
The small basin at the top of the flight has been lovingly restored and there is a coal wharf alongside but sadly no longer functioning.
I moored Hallmark up just past Bridge 41.

Minworth to Fazeley Junction

8 miles:    11 locks


Hallmark was on its way by 7:35am.  It was a pleasant start to the day.
Leaving Minworth really shows that you have 'escaped' from the city and found the county again.with fields and flooded gravel pits lining the way.

First stop was Curdworth Tunnel.
This is two-way and short at 57 yards.
Easy............ no bumping the sides at all!

Although for five miles the M42 motorway runs parallel to the canal and the M6 Toll  road crosses it and it's construction necessitating the repositioning of the top lock,
This 10 year old lock worked a treat.

Not so for the second in the flight.
I knew I was in for difficulty when the bottom gate would not fully open.
Even removing my fenders did not help.
Neither did two large men leaning on the gate or even a third.
We the tried rushing water some water from the sluices to lift the boat .
Moving Hallmark out of the lock wasgoing to need British Waterways.
They promised to be there is 20 minutes but took 45.
They said this was a regular problem with Lock 2 and set clearing sludge behind the gate.
This was soon done and Hallmark was free to tackle the remaining nine locks.
It was hot work as the afternoon sun was fierce.

At Curdworth Bottom Lock there are four canal cottages.
Towards Fazeley you see the first open farm land since the Stratford upon Avon Canal.

As you get near to Fazeley the scenery changes again.
There gravel pits all around.
Gravel has been extracted from the valley of the River Tame since the 1930s.
First by dredger and then by dragline.
Some say the landscape has been irrevocably scarred by such activities.
Luckily the imaginative creation of the Kingsbury Water Park out of the abandoned gravel workings.

I made a diesel and water stop at Fazeley Mill Maina.
It is a very tight turn in but the pump is very accessible and I decide to back out into the canal rather that turn round in the marina.

Fazeley Junction is a simple T junction.
So I turned right for Coventry.

About 75 yards up the Coventry Canal I find a mooring place.
After a good day I pull in and get out of the sun.

Sherbourne Wharf to Minworth

7.5 miles:  27 locks

We left Sherbourne Wharf in drizzle but the weather forecast promised better and by mid-morning it was sunny and it remained like that till the end of the day.

I knew the first day out of Birmingham was going to be very hard.
It looked like a minimum of 27 locks!
I planned to go down the Farmer's Bridge Thirteen and the then the Aston Old Eleven and then the Mimworth Three unless I found mooring before then.
Hallmark arrived at Old Turn Junction and the start of the Birmingham and Frazely Canal just after 8.00am.
Frazely was a couple of days away or to put it another way 15 miles and 38 locks away!

Just before the first lock is Cambrian Wharf which has some 14 day moorings.
But what wonderful reflections.............

There are thirteen locks in the Farmer's Bridge flight and we had dropped the 70 feet to Aston Junction by 10:30am.

It is a good run down though the Jewellery Quarter.
You literally go under some of the modern buildings adjacent to the canal.
You go through a one of a pair of tunnels at one stage.
But going right under Snow Hill Station in a cavern of a bridge caps the lot.

But the Aston Flight was closed as the bottom lock had been damaged and British Waterways said it could be a four hour closure.

So I decided on a diversion that would still get me to Salford Junction.
This involved taking the Digbeth Branch and then the Saltly Cut.
There were still 11 locks made up of six at Ashted and five at Garrison.
Much of the detour was grim and a bit scary.
There were stretches were just full of grime and graffiti.

The canal  was criss crossed  by  bridge after bridge of railway lines.
There were highlights like the Warwickshire Bar and some 'handsome' warehouses.

We finally got to Salford Junction where the Aston route joins about twenty yards back.
Being underneath the M6 and the A38 at Spaghetti Junction was amazing.
The canal is totally overshadowed by the elevated sections of motorway.
They seem to be bearing down on you.

The Birmingham and Fazeley now begins it's long run out of Birmingham.
For mile after miles there seems to nothing but factories.
They ignore the canal and go about there business regardless.
Then come the last three locks of the day.
The Minmorth locks all need vandal proof keys as the pound has been frequently drained overnight in the past.

There are three pubs along the canal all with moorings and judged safe overnight stops.
After a long day I chose the middle one with it's Hare and Hounds  non-canal name.
But the food was good and the mooring quiet.

Gas Street Basin to Sherbourne Wharf in Birmingham

I had spent three good days and nights just up from Gas Street Basin having a great time.

Exploring the city, walking the Farmers Bridge 13 and going out to Smethwick.
It was time to leave Hallmark and go back to London and Southampton for few days.
I had arranged to moor Hallmark at Sherbourne Wharf about half a mile away beyond the Worcester Bar and the Broad Street Tunnel.

The Wharf was just down Oozells Loop and was ideal.
Lots of residential boast tucked into an old Fellows and Morton wharf.

Hockley Heath to Gas Street Basin

0 locks:  15 miles
As you journey around the bottom of Birmingham between Hockley and Kings Norton the city seems so far away.
There were no locks and for much of the way trees border the canal.
Lots of oak and willow.

Just before the Kings Norton comes Brandwood Tunnel.
Its really short at 275 yards, but I managed to hit the sides a good number of times!

The Stratford upon Avon canal comes to an end with a disused guillotine lock.

I am at Kings Norton.
Birmingham city centre is five miles away
I turned Hallmark right onto the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.
The junction marked by a fine Junction house and a detailed signpost.

I had hoped to stop near Kings Norton and then do the last lap into Gas Street the next day.
But thee were no obvious moorings and all the guide books advised you not to moor up on most of the way into Birmingham.

Water levels on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal were low and progress was slow
The day was getting hotter.
Hallmark's engine was working hard.
We had been chugging non-stop for over six hours
I began to think the oil pressure was not all it should be,
The railways runs alongside the canal for most of the to the city centre and at Selly Oak you cross a brand new aquaduct.

There is pleny of industrial presence for much of the early part factory wall provide a boundary on the non-tow path side.
Some of the industrial landscape was derelict and awaiting redevelopment.
The route 'greens up' once Selly Oak arrives.
Then Birmingham University dominates both sides of the canal.

Edgbaston is only a short tunnel.
It has a tow path and sodium lighting.
I kept Hallmark straight all the way!

I have been planning to take Hallmark to Gas Street for longer than I remember.
I tried last year but ran out of time.
So it was quite a wonderful feeling as I got closer
Suddenly Hallmark was almost there a sharp left turn at The Mailbox and you could see the heart of the English canal system right there!

We had made it
Just before the Worcster Bar were some empty moorings and I glided tired into a space and tied up.
I was going to chill out here for three or four days and savour Birmingham.
Here is the Mailbox buzzing in the evening.