No queue at Glascote!

Sunday 24^th September; Pooley Woods to Hopwas Woods

There were a couple of clangs and pings last night from acorns on the roof but nothing to stop us from sleeping.  It was very grey this morning and the forecast was poor so Dave took Meg off for a walk in the woods while it was still dry.

Our mooring from the woods

There was really only a few spots of rain in the wind, so we set off about 9.30.  There is a lot of good edge for mooring as you go past Alvecote marina and through Tamworth so we knew we would be able to stop if the weather got too bad.  Before we left I removed a few bits and pieces from the roof.

But the forecast rain didn’t amount to much, just a bit of drizzle now and then.  There are lots of bridges as the canal goes through Amington, a suburb of Tamworth, and lots of gardens to look at.  Most are very narrow indeed, but this one by a bridge isn’t.

I’ve snapped the giraffe before, but now I wish I hadn’t bothered with the other ornaments.  The state of the bridge beside it is far more interesting – there have clearly been a lot of collisions over the years as steerers have rubber-necked their way past!  Now we were on the approach to Glascote locks, and couldn’t believe our eyes.  I even got the binoculars to check - there was absolutely no activity at the top lock.  We had passed just one boat this morning – everyone must be having a lie-in!  The lock was almost full too, so it wasn’t long before we were on our way down.  A boat was coming up the lock below, and even though they had closed the top gate behind them the water level hadn’t dropped far.  I re-acquainted myself with the ode of the Leaky Lock but didn’t take a photo – the plaque needs a good clean and the lettering is rather indistinct.  I don't think we have ever been through Glascote locks this quickly.  We carried on over the Tame aqueduct

and past Fazeley junction where you turn left for Birmingham.  We haven’t been that way for years.  However, we are now on the Birmingham & Fazeley canal  – owing to financial troubles, the Coventry hadn’t been able to reach as far as Fazeley, so the B&F was continued as far as Whittington, where it joined the canal owned by the Grand Trunk Canal Company to Fradley.  The Coventry canal company later bought it back – I will try and spot the boundary marker stone tomorrow.  The only difference it makes to us now is that the bridges have names instead of numbers.

We moored near Sutton Road bridge for a trip to the Sainsbury’s in the Ventura business park, but before we could leave to do our shopping there was a bit of an incident.  All of a sudden the high bow of an old boat appeared by the dinette window, followed by a couple of loud bangs and engine revving as they hit us.  A look out of the front revealed a narrowboat across the canal.

Stanton was pulling back by the time I took this

The oncoming narrowboat pulled in to the gap between us and the moored boat she had been trying to avoid.  She had been caught by the wind suddenly gusting through a gap in the trees, and as she's only had her boat for 6 days it's not surprising she hasn't yet got the experience to cope with wind gusts.  Dave sussed that straight away – the survey marks were still chalked on the hull.  She moored at once and made a point of apologising properly to us and the owners of Stanton, who also came to check we were ok after they had clobbered us.  No real harm done though, and we were still getting our shopping bags ready when a familiar boat appeared under the bridge.

Free Spirit

I shot up top with my camera and we were able to get a photo and say a quick hello as they went by, on their way from the Huddlesford Heritage Boat gathering.  And finally we got to do our shopping.

We had lunch and carried on towards Hopwas, with the sun starting to break through.  We were held up a bit by a couple of paddle-boarders, who didn’t seem to know basic safety regarding narrowboats – a boat they met at a bridge hole cast his eyes up and tapped his head as we passed.  Fortunately by the time we caught them up they were out of the water.  They had been litter-picking, and are part of an organisation ‘Planet Patrol,’ which was started by Lizzie Carr who you may remember was the first person – back in 2016 – to take her paddle-board the entire length of Britain’s waterways, solo and unsupported.  She was in the boating and national press and commented then how bad plastic pollution on the waterways was.

I don’t know if there is a term for it – if you litter-pick while jogging it’s called ‘plogging’.  Maybe it’s ‘slogging’.  Our favourite mooring past Hopwas School Bridge was totally empty, so we picked a spot in the sun before the dense tree cover of the woods.  Dave was listening to the North London derby between Spurs and Arsenal so Meg and I cleared off to the woods.

Sadly large areas of the lower parts of the woods are infested with the wretched Huimalayan Balsam.  When we got back, the exodus from the Huddlesford Heritage Boat Gathering had started in earnest.  Here are Star Crafts on Adrastea with butty Nebulae. 

Plenty more followed, some traders such as the Bakin’ Butty, some not, and even a couple of hire boats who must have wondered what on earth was going on.

7 miles 2 locks