Bottom Atherstone flight

 

Last night we ate in The Anchor and I think its probably the best pub meal we have ever had, the beef was so tender that the knife slipped straight through it.

We were moored back by the old railway bridge which was very quiet overnight, but be warned, they open for business in the yard opposite at 6am so I am not sure what time they start work.
Again we set off about 10 am heading for Atherstone to deposit some second hand books and buy more, also a trip to Aldi. On the way we passed the Hartshill yard which looked to being used more.

A little further on by the winding hole CRT were manually breaking up and removing the sunken cruiser that has been there for months, pulling it out a small piece at a time.

Passing the Rother Group moorings another sad sight, the steel work still looks straight even if all the paint was burnt off.

There were a few boats moored at Atherstone and even with the mooring restriction due to the demolition of the hat factory  there was plenty of room for us. Some moorings are out of use,all the rings, the Armco beyond them is fine.
I shot a short video of the nipper carefully removing parts of the upper floor. anything that fell over the canal was caught in the nets on the pontoons

   

We stayed moored in Atherstone to eat lunch before setting off, we were hoping that a boat may have come up in that time, but the last one we saw went down. We moved off at 2 PM, the demolition team were back at work unlike any Volockies on the flight.

 

We had mixed luck, turning the fires two and last four. Having lock 4 turned while we were in 3, that was after he opened the bottom paddles not noticing the top gate was wide open and the crew at lock 5 walked back and closed the top gate as I was dropping down in 4. The rest went well meeting boats in handy places. At one lock there was a large flush of wild garlic on the offside by the bridge.

The levels in the flight were quite good, only between 7 and 8 was a bit low but was full of moored boats who were all afloat OK.
Once we cleared the bottom lock we pulled in and moored for the night   

Today’s Journey 5

 

   5  miles with 11 locks in 3½ hours

Anchor bridge

Well after the cold miserable morning yesterday, this morning it was well into double figures before we set off and hit a high of 21° this afternoon. 
We hadn’t gone a ¼ of a mile before I was in the mud. we met another boat by the long term moorings so I pulled over towards the row of moored boats and was about 8’ from them when we started to lean. I guess the ones along there never leave their mooring.
At bridge 24 a CRT chappie was hard at work covering the graffiti with what looked like black bitumastic paint.

A little further on some months back there was a minor landslide and CRT attempted to close the towing path but some people had other ideas.

The slip is actually very old and a few years back the towing path was raised with cement bags, but that has now succumbed to the water, but it suits the Heron as a fishing platform. You can see where people have walked around it. 
We met a couple of boat just before Suttons Stop so the lock was just about in our favour and with no one coming the other way it was out, round and up the Coventry canal in one. The sunk boat that was just beyond the narrows has now been removed.
There was a lot less traffic on the Coventry and a chap painting his boat warned us of a floating tree trunk opposite Boot Wharf which was useful. The Electric charity trip boat, Hargraves was out, so that was something else to watch for. We met them just before Springwood Haven.
CRT have now closed the offside long term moorings at Tuttle Hill and removed the signs.

Of course you cant come this way without a photo of the Telegraph Pole.

It looks as if someone has recently attached a surveying reflector to it, not sure if that is a good or bad sign.

We carried on and moored for the night at Anchor Bridge with a view to eating in the Anchor Pub tonight.

Today’s Journey

 

14 miles with 1 lock in 5 hours.

Coombes Field Farm, Brinklow

Well it was still raining when we went to bed and we had over ¼” in total.
This morning was over cast and cold, only 8°C when we set off just after 10am. The boat we saw yesterday towing a wreck backwards is moored almost in the Bridge hole by the Barley Mow making the bridge/bend blind. As we passed the water point a boat was getting ready to leave and followed us until we moored up. We met lots of boats and a fisherman in All Oaks described it as the M25. Someone has erected a bird house by the All Oak moorings and several boats are moored to the new piling, despite it still being fenced off.

Work is finally underway to repair the road bridge just before Easenhall Cutting which has been in bit of a state for some years.

The grass is taking hold at t e site of the two landslides in the cutting, but the towing path surface still needs attention, especially the northern on with deep mud.

Due to passing the moored boats at Stretton Wharfe and meeting a boat coming the other way the boat following caught us up, so Diana was able to leave the boat yard swing bridge open for them, as it turned out a hire boat came the other way so he was tasked with closing it. We didn’t go much further, only to just beyond Grimes Bridge 26 where we moored for the night.
A little after 3PM the sun came out and the weather turned much better.

 

Today’s Journey 7 miles with no locks in 2½ hours

Brownsover

We set off from home about 10 am in bright sun shine that continued all the way to the mooring with the temperature hitting 22°C.

 

We stopped for lunch in Crick at the Wheatsheaf, we decide to have the oldies lunch, but what a lunch it was, I can only imagine whet the evening meals must be like.

 

Once at the boat it was good to see loads of parking spots near the access to our pontoon to unload the car. By the time we were ready to leave the the sky was full of black clouds and the breeze picked up a bit.
For several months an abandon boat was moored offside under bridge 77A the M45 motorway bridge, last time we were out it was moored outside Barby Marina, today we met it about  half a mile north of the marina being attempted to tow it backwards with a smaller narrowboat with no windows.
Just passed the Waterside Pub we saw the first of two clutches of ducklings.

No one around at Hillmorton top lock but the nearside was almost full and we spotted an ex-working boat coming up in the middle lock so the bottom locks should have been full, but one was half empty and the other fully empty. It made me smile that the CRT had to get a map of their system from IWA.

We planned to moor a short way passed Kent Road Bridge but all the spots we had on mind on were taken and I didn’t want tree sap dripping on us. By now the weather had cleared nicely so we carried on past Clifton Cruisers and the aqueduct before mooring for the night. Half an hour latter there were spots of rain. this was followed by thunder and lightning, as I post this its still raining.

Today’s Journey

5 miles with 3 locks in 2¼ hours