Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, Coventry Canal
14 miles, 14 locks
This mornig dawned bright and sunny. Soon we were off and approaching the top of the Curdworth flight. It dropped down through bucolic countryside with proper rolls of hay dotting the fields. I enjoyed steering the boat while James did the lockworking. At first the locks are close together so walking between them is easy. But as the ground begins to level out they become further apart. So James got on the little foldie bike and went lockwheeling. It made the whole process quicker and simpler. No dropping the lock worker off or picking them up afterwards. And some of them were far enough apart that despite them all being againt us, by the time I got to the next lock, James had it open and ready for me to cruise into. The flight was without incident except for a comical moment when I couldn't find the landing stage. One one side was a pub, with mooring completely full. On the other was a small grassy bank with what looked like bollards surrounded by flowers. However, it turned out that the 'bollards' were flowerpots! And so I went aground as it wasn't a mooring at all. I got the Duck off again when the lock was ready but was at a funny angle due having to reverse off so it wasn't my best lock entry!
Somewhere on the Curdworth flight
Lockwheeling
The flowerpot 'bollards' on the right!
Once through the flight, we continued North past Drayton Manor, and were soon on the Coventry Canal. There are two locks in Tamworth at Glascote (where Hudson boats are built) and they were very busy, but we had plenty of help from others waiting so were through relatively quickly.
Then we just trundled on through Tamworth, listening to music, and moored up near Bradley Green, aiming to stop for a little in Atherstone tomorrow to get some of the famous pies before carrying onwards.
Through Tamworth
No comments:
Post a Comment