We knew today would be a longish day (by our standards) with about 9 miles to cruise and 21 locks to work through, so we started quite a bit earlier than we have been doing and were under way out to the main line at 7.30.

We had a very quiet but pleasant cruise on a lovely spring morning with blue sky and sunshine in intensely urban but not unpleasant surroundings.

Rejoining the main line and turning left at the top of Factory Locks we headed for Coseley, passing en route not just several entrances to railway interchange basins, but also the now blocked off entrance to the Wednesbury Oak Loop, one of Brindley’s long looping bypasses of difficult ground – in this case Coseley Hill. The newer and straighter section through the hill via the double width tunnel was the only route improvement made beyond Tipton, the remainder of the route follows the contours in a gently winding journey.

The towpath beyond the tunnel is used by schoolchildren to access a local school and, passing a number trudging their unwilling way to lessons, we realised that we were quite a bit earlier than usual!

At Hills Bridge, we were surprised to see that The Boat Inn had been razed to the ground since our last journey along here a couple or so years ago – needless to say nothing has been built on the site.

Just after the arm that used to house Alfred Matty’s old yard the other end of the Wednesbury Oak Loop rejoins the Coseley route. The first couple of miles or so are still navigable to the C&RT depot at the end at Bradley that manufactures lock ironwork and gates.

Passing the site of the former Spring Vale Ironworks at Bilston (still working into the 1970’s) it was hard to believe this was the place of work for thousands of men with blast furnaces working 24 hours a day and is now covered by …… houses. A sort of elongated childrens’ playground roundabout and built, presumably, of steel is no doubt a sculpture of note, recalling the heyday of the works. Other less charitable people like me call it a nonsensical and meaningless waste of money.

Whilst the surroundings have been predominately industrial – albeit much of it now demolished and abandoned, there are occasional green areas and housing. But the canal outskirts of Wolverhampton were always heavily industrialised, and quite a bit of metal bashing still goes on.

At Chillington Wharf a roving bridge rises over the arm into a former railway interchange basin, still in water and with its overhead gantry and crane in situ. It is now Grade II listed, but leads a precarious existence as rust eats away at the structure.

Former Chubbs Locks Building in Wolverhampton

Factories now line the canal on both sides as we enter Wolverhampton proper. Horseley Fields Junction (no horses and no fields now) heralds the junction with the Wyrley & Essington Canal as it starts its long lock free journey to The Sneyd, Birchills, Catshills and Anglesey Basin.

Under a cavernous bridge euphemistically called Wolverhampton Tunnel, the canal passes an old arm (the former canal route before railway expansion forced a change) and old warehouse, a couple of grassed over wharves before arriving at the top of the long flight of locks that will take us back out to the country and the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal.

Wolverhampton Top Lock

Our hearts immediately sank as we could see a boat descending the top lock just in front of us. That meant that all the locks would be against us and would need refilling before we could enter. Worse still it turned out to be a single handed boater which meant progress would be even slower. Not that we have anything against single handers. On the contrary, we admire then for the hard work they put in. It’s just that you don’t really want them in front of you in a long flight of locks.

Underneath the arches - tall LNWR & lower GWR viaducts

We met one boat around the fifth or sixth lock which enabled him to get a bit in front of us and he kindly raised a top paddle for us, and then tied up above lock 8 to “put the kettle on” and helped us through that lock. Better progress was made after that, especially after we passed another boat under the soaring arches of the first of two high railway viaducts.

Aldersley Junction, BCN ahead, Staffs & Worcs right to left

At lock 16, Elaine nipped to the shop opposite to get a newspaper and when through the second of the high blue brick viaducts we re-entered countryside with woods on one side and Wolverhampton Racecourse on the other. The last five or six locks are spread out a little more, and by the time we reach the bottom, immediately before Aldersley Junction, we are in verdant woodland.

At the junction we turned sharp right to join the Staffs & Worcs Canal which has climbed up from Stourport and Kidderminster to the left, heading in our direction for Autherley Junction where the Shropshire Union Canal leaves it to the left.

And it is at Autherley Junction that today’s epic (again, by our standards) journey ends and we head indoors for a welcome sandwich. We tied up between the gaggle of boats at Oxley Marine and the distinctive roving bridge that marks the junction. Tomorrow we head straight on for Penkridge, Great Haywood & the Trent & Mersey Canal.

Mooring at Autherley Junction. Junction signpost on right pointing to Chester via Shroppie. Staffs & Worcs straight ahead

We are now on the move again after 3 very pleasant if a bit chilly days in Birmingham. After catching a train from New Street Station to visit Cadbury World on Friday, we met up with our friends Pete & Jenny Copeland who picked us up on Saturday morning to attend the Western Front Association’s AGM & Conference, which despite the title was most enjoyable.

Yesterday (Sunday), after a Tesco experience (oh dear!), we walked all the way down to the National Trust’s Back to Backs – a restoration of the last Court and Back to Back houses left in the City. It was well worth the walk to get there as they are a fascinating snapshot of a world that has long gone and made a pleasant change from the usual National Trust fare of stately homes and castles.

We will now head directly to Llangollen, cruising every day (except perhaps for a 2 night stay in Stone). Accordingly we headed off this morning in bright sunshine, but with a very cold wind, along the New Main Line to Tipton and the moorings at the Black Country Living Museum.



Derelict factories awaiting redevelopment

There are a number of different ways to get to our destination depending whether or not you want to try some of the more esoteric diversions (Old Main Line, Spon Lane Locks, Brades Branch or just to loop the loops of Brindley’s old line of the canal where they cut across Telford’s later and much more direct new line.

A rare working factory near Smethwick Junction

We opted for simplicity and just headed along the New Main Line disdaining the two remaining loops and the older line branching off at Smethwick Junction and following Telford’s brash, brave deep and wide new line. This carves through the landscape through cuttings and embankments and in broad straight lines much like the later railway that follows it so closely from Monument Lane to Tipton.

Pockets of the industry commonly associated with the BCN appears from time to time, but it fast retreating from the onslaught of demolition, retail parks, houses etc. Does this country actually make anything anymore?

 

 

Smethwick Junction

The M6 cossing

At Spon Lane the Old Main Line crosses over on a sturdy two-arched aqueduct, but the pleasing simplicity of its lines are totally overwhelmed by the huge pylon like legs that rise out of the centre of the channel and divide to support the M6 that towers above the canal.

In addition to the various branches that open up on either side (Spon Lane Locks and the link to the Walsall Canal form two of these) there are any number of roving bridges that take the towpath over the entrance to long lost colliery and factory branches or to former loading basins. Perusing a turn of the C20th Ordnance Survey map of the area reveals a multiplicity of arms and branches, many of which have vanished leaving no trace at all.

Beyond Pudding Green Junction where the link to the Walsall Canal bears off along Brindley’s original line to the Wednesbury coalfields, and through a skew railway bridge, the New Main Line stretches out in front of you in a dead straight line. Apart from negotiating the four narrows since leaving central Birmingham (the islands thus formed used to have brick built toll houses on them) there is little to do except set the steering to automatic pilot and turn the mind over to pondering life’s great imponderable questions – like will Peterborough United manage to get the result they need next Saturday to stay in the Championship?).

Junctions come and junctions go – Albion Junction where the Brades Branch bears off up 3 locks (including the BCN’s only staircase) to join the Old Main Line, and Dudley Port Junction where there is a link to the Dudley Canal through the high wide and handsome Netherton Tunnel (with the Old Main Line passing over on Tividale Aqueduct).

We had seen hardly any boats moving all day. An Alvechurch hireboat had headed towards us but turned right at Dudley Port to head for Netherton Tunnel whilst another boat had turned out of the Netherton Branch to head for Tipton.

This straight length of the New Main Line between Albion and Dudley Port passed through a fairly derelict area when it was built. Worked out collieries had been replaced by clay or marl pits. One of the last major commercial traffics on the BCN was bringing waste to be dumped in the marl pits – much of it of a highly toxic nature resulting in a lot of expense being needed to clean them up in more recent times.

A new housing development has inevitably appeared on this land and its boundary fence appears to hover uncertainly on the lip of one of the pits. I hope the toxic soil has been fully removed!

After Dudley Port Junction the canal, high on its embankment, passes over three aqueducts. The first over a major road is apparently called Ryland Aqueduct, but I know it as Spouthouse or Piercey Aqueduct. The second aqueduct, unnamed, passes over a long closed railway whilst the third with the charming name of Puppy Green Aqueduct passes over another, smaller, road.

A slight nudge on the tiller is now called for as a slight bend leads the canal past a small boatyard where the former and wonderfully named Tipton Green and Toll End Communication Canal crossed. The first part of the name related to the canal to the west that linked up three locks to the Old Main Line, the second to a linking canal extended through some more locks to link up with the Walsall Canal a couple of miles to the east.

Approaching Factory Locks

Climbing up Factory Locks

Then we get a bit of variety as the three Factory Locks appear in sight. These are quick and easy to work and made distinctive by the BCN’s policy of having single gates top and bottom. It was at the locks we caught up with the boat that had turned out of the Netherton Tunnel Branch some way in front of us. They had been having problems with rubbish getting caught around their prop and once through the locks pulled in so the chap could delve down into the boat’s weed hatch. As we climbed the top lock we could see all sorts of rubbish being pulled out – what looked like a fleece and the ubiquitous plastic bags and string. It turned out to be his third time down the weed hatch that morning! Oh the joys of cruising the BCN! At least he had cleared some of the way for us!

After leaving the top lock a sharp left turn took us onto the Old Main Line for a short distance as we progressed through Tipton, keeping straight on where the OML bears left onto the Dudley Canal that once led through the long, unventilated, narrow and very low Dudley Tunnel to link up with the Dudley Canal’s main line at Parkhead. The tunnel is now out of bounds to powered craft, and with the low headroom the opportunity to have your boat towed through the tunnel by one of battery powered boats of the Dudley Tunnel Canal Trust’s boats must be one accepted by very few boaters.

Needless to say as we approached the narrows at the start of the branch to the tunnel a boat appeared, leaving the moorings but turning right towards the OML and Birmingham.

The branch now just leads to the 48 hour visitor moorings and services set adjacent to the backdoor of the Black Country Living Museum, with the Tunnel Trust’s boats moored up beyond the winding hole.

We winded and tied up with just two boats for company, taking the opportunity to get rid of the rubbish, empty the loo and fill up with water.

Mooring at the Black Counry Living Museum

Today we had an effort free day – no locks! Resuming from Waring’s Green the canal carries on through a peaceful and well wooded landscape, seemingly untouched by the C21st. A line of moored boats announces the headquarters of the Earlwood Motor Yacht Club which has also appropriated a short length of the canal feeder from Earlwood Lakes as additional moorings.



The "brick face"

The quiet interlude continues for some time and you find yourself with little to do but swing the tiller to and fro and ponder life’s intractable questions – such as whether I have Bovril or Marmite sandwiches for lunch and the like.

Suddenly, and I mean suddenly, rural tranquillity is shattered by the sight of the tall, sheer brick face of a building. Is it a power station, or some immense global conglomerate’s Warwickshire factory for making widgets?

No, it’s some berserk planner’s idea of what is euphemistically called “an urban village” tacked onto the sleepy rural hamlet of Dicken’s Green.



The "Roman Temple & Cascade"

Immense blocks of apartments, separated by a stepped water cascade falling from what looks like a Roman Temple rise up towering over the tiny (by comparison) canal. The sheep grazing in the adjacent fields must wonder what else humankind can possibly get wrong.

The ground floors of the blocks were to have commercial units in them, but none are taken. I wonder why.

Put somewhere like Brindley Place in Birmingham, or on the Paddington Arm in West London; indeed in any city centre redevelopment it would look  more in keeping with other such hideous monstrosities. But here, in rural Warwickshire it looks ridiculous.

No. I don’t like it.

Fortunately you soon pass it by and are confronted by distinctly upmarket executive housing. A family were just climbing into the Range Rover Evoque (the new very expensive one) whilst the wife’s top of the range BMW stood on the drive.

Envious? Moi?

Under a lovely C18th brick bridge the canal soon resumes its passage through green fields and trees. However, it’s not to last, as, passing under a rail bridge we enter the Solihull suburbs and more particularly Shirley, a place that always reminds me of that wonderful wrestler from the good, old days Shirley Crabtree aka Big Daddy.

Shirley Drawbridge

The only notable feature of Shirley is its lift bridge. Electrically operated (therefore my job, not Elaine’s) it has flashing lights and barriers and it caused us our first eyebrow-raising moment of the day.

I had crossed the road it carries to get to the control panel noting as I did so that there were no cars coming. By the time I had inserted my key and started the opening procedure (flashing lights, barriers lowered and bridge raised) the sound of a car at speed could be heard.

As the barriers started to lower, a black, souped up Volkswagen Golf or something similar driven by a young man roared under the first barrier, across the bridge and under the next barrier just seconds before it would have taken his windscreen out. Stupid sod. More money than sense.

Sanity restored, we now moved across an embankment over the River Colne and entered the built up area proper passing through the thoroughly uninspiring back gardens of Warstock. It is always interesting to see which householders ignore their canal frontage, but keep it tidy, those who make it a feature of their garden (especially where the Ground Force wooden decking team have been at work) and those who couldn’t give a damn about their garden at all and chuck all their rubbish into it. Inevitably some lands up in the canal, but we could have done without the workmen in one garden who were shovelling some soil or some such into the canal rather than take it to the skip in the front of the house. It was turning into one of those days!

Shakespeare's bust on Brandwood Tunnel

After nearly three dreary miles, a long cutting leads to Brandwood Tunnel. At just 352 yards it isn’t a biggie, but it is high, wide and not particularly handsome. A rendering of Shakespeare’s head is shown on the western portal as if to emphasise where the canal is heading for. I believe he would be far happier on the eastern portal as at least he would be looking in the right direction!

Pylon in the front garden

Much new development has taken place since Shirley and some new houses and flats have a particularly unenviable situation with a massive full height electricity pylon outside their bedroom windows. So much for the health fears of high voltage electricity cables being near to houses. You could almost shake hands with it from the bedroom window.

Approaching the site of Tunnel Lane Swing Bridge

In the early days of the Inland Waterways Association, an early success was scored as we near King’s Norton. As we approach Tunnel Lane, the site of a derelict swing bridge hints at an earlier notoriety. The canal was owned at this time by the Great Western Railway – never a supporter of canals and the bridge gave access to a major factory. After an accident with a lorry (why didn’t they use the by now typically derelict GWR owned canal), the GWR clamped it shut.

Realising that a statutory right of navigation still existed (this would prove crucial in the ultimate fight to save the canal), the IWA asked the GWR for an assurance that they would lift the bridge if a boat needed access.

Little realising what they were letting themselves in for, the GWR agreed. The IWA then proceeded to organise campaign cruises through the affected section and the GWR soon gave up and unclamped the bridge. It wasn’t until after nationalisation of the canals however that a replacement swing bridge was installed. Now, as the factory is long closed that the bridge has been dismantled and boats can just sail straight through.



Western side of guillotine former stop lock

The canal has one more delight for us as the ‘proper’ top lock appears. You may recall we reached the top lock yesterday after climbing up the Lapworth flight. But that top lock was actually lock number 2. Lock number 1 was the original stop lock insisted on by the slightly older Worcester & Birmingham Canal as the price of letting the upstart Stratford Canal join it at King’s Norton Junction. Much later levels were equalised and the lock taken out of use, but the unique guillotine gates and mechanism survive and have just been the subject of a clean and brush up by volunteers from the Warwickshire Branch of the IWA.

We were about to say how wonderful it looks now (and it does by comparison to how it did look) but the little darlings, well Ryan to be precise, has been out with his gold coloured spray paint again, defacing one side. Ryan, if by chance you read this (always assuming you CAN read), run along and paint the gate black again…….



King's Norton Junction and former Junction House

At the junction, presided over by the rather majestic canal junction house, we turned sharp right and headed along the aforesaid Worcester & Birmingham Canal towards Lifford, Bourneville, Selly Oak, Edgbaston and the city centre.

It’s about 5 miles to the city centre, much of it is straight, much is tree-lined and there is quite a bit of interest.

A two-arch railway viaduct introduces a row of factory units that now sit on the trackbed of a former railway branch that used the second arch of the viaduct. Moorings announce the immense Cadbury’s factory at Bourneville - home of all things chocolatty and naughty. Sadly another British institution is now in the hands of a lying American company (Kraft) that promised to keep Cadbury’s Somerset factory open and save jobs and proceeded to do the opposite.

The Birmingham to Bristol railway line runs immediately alongside and parallel to the canal all the way to the city centre and a variety of trains flash by. At Selly Oak, the railway makes two very skew crossings of the canal which passes under long and very narrow viaducts. At the first we were met by a veritable onslaught of boats coming in the opposite direction. We slowed down to let the first two through but the second took so long to emerge that the following boats had caught them up and without waiting for us carried straight on. We had to get across to the towpath side and hold the boat in on a centre rope which wasn’t easy as the canal was so shallow the boat was a couple of feet out.

After the next two boats made it through, we managed to edge our way out and into the viaduct, the first of the next two pulling in to let us by.

Also at Selly Oak is the former junction of the Dudley No.2 Canal which met the W&B here. The Dudley No.2 Canal has long been disused but a very action restoration society is working hard towards reopening it. To that end, initial plans for a new Sainsbury’s superstore in a large new redevelopment scheme included reinstating the junction and restoring the first 100 yards or so of the old canal.

Now the final plans have been published, lo and behold there is no mention of the promised line. So much for big business – Kraft and Sainsbury’s just don’t get it, do they?

The canal now enters a pleasant section as it divides the huge campuses of Birmingham University (with its distinctive and towering Italianate clock tower) from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, massively extended in recent years.

As the canal passes into Edgbaston, the residential surroundings move decidedly upmarket. The canal passes through a brightly lit tunnel (the towpath is very popular with runners, cyclists and walkers) with the railway passing through its own adjacent tunnel, emerging into a cutting where one side is held up by an enormous blue brick retaining wall.

After passing under Fiveways Bridge, the skyscrapers of the city centre finally reveal themselves. This was formerly a heavily industrialised area featuring the much lamented Davenport’s Brewery but has now been transformed into an upmarket residential area.



Approaching Gas Street Basin

Passing through Granville Street Bridge we arrived at Holiday Street Wharf where we stopped briefly to empty the loo before continuing, turning sharp left adjacent to the Mailbox development and heading for the hub of the city centre canals.

For some years in the 1990’s an Inland Boat Show with a heavy canal presence was held at the National Indoor Arena. We visited the show each year it was held to look round the show boats and get ideas of what we liked, to dismiss what we didn’t like and to look at the workmanship of the boatbuilders exhibiting.

Each year we had a walk round the intricate network of canals telling ourselves that one day we would come here in our own boat. Each time we have cruised through here on ‘Patience’ we still get an adrenaline buzz as we do so.

Apart from canalside buildings adjoining Gas Street Basin (there’s a lyrical name for you) all is new – and distinctive. Brindley Place with its eateries, the International Convention Centre opposite which includes the wonderful Symphony Hall, the Sea Life Centre and the National Indoor Arena all rub shoulders with the mid C18th canal with its individualistic cast iron and black and white painted bridges. It is unique and wonderful.

We love coming here. We like Birmingham enormously. It has worked wonders to try and eradicate the dreadful mistakes of the crass 1960’s redevelopment when it thought car was king and the City Centre is now a pedestrianised delight. Its Victorian municipal buildings can now be seen for what they are – masterpieces – and there is always something new to see.

We always tie up on the 14 day moorings some way beyond the main 48 hour mooring area by the NIA. It’s quieter and we’re far enough away from the bars and eateries of Brindley Place that we are not bothered by noise, We shall stay here for a few days – we’re meeting friends on Saturday who are picking us up to go to a Western Front Association Conference on the archaeology of the First World War battlefields, and hopefully get in a couple of visits (Cadbury World sounds good, and we would like to visit the Birmingham back to backs restored by the National Trust). When we do start off again next week it will be for all points north and then west to Llangollen!

Mooring at Ladyewood Junction

Wednesday April 24th

Another day of short mileage and lots of locks – although with Hatton behind us, they are now narrow locks all the way until we return via Braunston and Buckby in late June. We had a lovely quiet night at Rowington and were eager to be off for the narrow locks that awaited us.

When we came this way a couple of years ago, not only was the canal very shallow, but the overhanging tree and shrub growth seriously affected our passage. This year we had noticed that C&RT and their contractors had been working very hard and all the way from Wigram’s Turn a lot of the offside vegetation had been cut back. 

Kingswood Junction on an earlier cruise

We passed through Turner’s Green, which historically had been our usual mooring place, and were soon negotiating the sharp turn at Kingswood Junction into the connecting link between the Grand Union and Stratford upon Avon Canals.

Linking lock 20 at Kingswood Junction

Almost immediately a sense of miniature surrounds you – everything is small by comparison with the Grand Union – like turning off a motorway straight onto a country by-way. Under a railway bridge and the canal link splits – straight on to turn south on the Stratford Canal to, well Stratford and the Avon, turn right and up the first narrow lock of the day to head in the direction of King’s Norton, Edgbaston and Birmingham.

The Grand Union and Stratford Canals run parallel to each other for a short distance and the perennially short of money Stratford petitioned hard for a link to give it a route somewhere as it couldn’t yet afford to complete its line south. The Grand Union agreed, but only at the cost of a lock and two reservoirs to be built above the next lock so that the GU received water every time the locks were used. A parallel lock takes the Stratford Lock down to meet the ‘straight on’ link which was built later.

Barrel Roofed former lock cottage at Kingswood Junction

Kingswood is a delightful place with the canalscape being the focal point of the scattered community. A miniature maintenance yard, the locks, the unique barrel-roofed whitewashed cottages and a flurry of tiny bridges, split in the middle to allow the boat’s towrope to pass through add to a photogenic location.

Looking up the hill at Lapworth

We join the Stratford part way through the long drawn out Lapworth flight of locks with, including the linking lock, 19 to work through to attain the Birmingham summit level that stretches all the way from the top of the flight to Tipton. The first few we negotiate are spread around curves, but as you round the corner below Lock 14, a barrage of black & white balance beams stretch up ahead of you.

The flight is easy to work, the paddle gear being a delight after the big Grand Union locks. Just 4 or 5 turns of the windlass suffice to raise or lower the paddles rather than the 23 or so on the big locks. A sharp bend between locks 8 & 7 with an almost impossibly short intervening pound is a well-known place for boaters to encounter problems if they meet another boat there, but all was clear today.

Looking from lock 8 to the bend and lock 7



Looking back from lock 7, with one of the canal's famous split bridges

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally we reached the top lock. An elderly gentleman greeted us – Jeremy Scanlon, American canal lover who has made his home in this country, living with his English wife (herself the daughter of a canal carpenter) in the converted canal cottages below the top lock.

We had met Jeremy in 2004 when we moored next to him in Cambrian Wharf in Birmingham and have also seen him and his boat ‘Unicorn’ in Bancroft Basin in Stratford on several occasions. He is now Chairman of the Stratford upon Avon Canal Society and tries to greet boaters as they pass through the lock. We had to buy a copy of his second canal themed book telling his life of using ‘Unicorn’ as a hotel boat. Charming man.

The "right bug*er" - first lift bridge of the day

Through the top lock we could breathe a sigh of relief as there would be no more locks until the day we leave Birmingham. As the top lock is numbered 2, that might confuse some people, but all will be revealed tomorrow.

A short distance beyond the top lock is the first of the day’s lift bridges – a right bug*er according to Elaine who usually volunteers to work the non-electrified ones. A new mechanism has been installed and it is a real effort to move the windlass round once, let alone the 20 or so turns it takes to get the bridge open. Thankfully the second lift bridge, a short distance further on, is not so bad.

Hockley Heath was the first ‘terminus’ the Stratford Canal reached when the money ran out the first time. Here a small basin was created, and when building restarted a diminutive brick roving bridge carried the towpath over it. The basin remains, presumably as moorings for a shortish boat at The Wharf Tavern.

The canal now runs through some delightfully remote and well wooded country with further evidence of C&RT’s tree clearance clear to see. Sadly the remoteness doesn’t last long as the M42 roars into hearing, blasting over the canal on a massive and brutal concrete viaduct.

Thankfully its presence doesn’t last all that long, and by the time we had reached the visitor moorings and our usual overnight stop at Waring’s Green the din had disappeared.

Mooring at Waring's Green





Tuesday April 23^rd

Despite a day that consisted almost entirely of a ladder of big, deep locks, it has been thoroughly enjoyable. In many ways it has been similar to Saturday, not least because of some lovely warm sunny weather. Probably won’t last though!

We had an enjoyable stay in Warwick doing a little shopping and having a meal at one of favourite canal eating places – although ‘Catalan’ is a good 15-20 minute walk from the moorings in Saltisford.

It is a small restaurant specialising in tapas. We have eaten there every time we have come to Warwick by boat and we’ve never had a disappointing meal.

Bottom Lock Cottage, Hatton flight

This morning we put all thoughts of good food out of our head as we had the prospect of the 21 broad locks of the Hatton flight to contend with. It’s not the longest lock flight in the country – Tardebigge takes that accolade with 30 narrow locks and Devizes runs it close with 29 broad locks. But the dramatic setting of Hatton, particularly the last 12 locks make it one of the best loved or infamous in the country (depending on your point of view).

Bottom Lock, Hatton flight

We do our best to share the workload with another boat, but despite waiting at the bottom lock for 45 minutes, we still hadn’t seen another moving boat. So, we girded our loins (at least Elaine did – as she doesn’t steer the boat into uphill broad locks so she got the job) and set about the flight in splendid isolation.

The flight lulls you into a false sense of security. A series of shallow curves hide the glories (or horrors) of what awaits, just leading you on with a view of just the next lock, or perhaps the next two.



Approaching the "thick"

We met a party of Australians coming down the flight in a hireboat in about the 5^th or 6^th lock, but our luck really changed a few locks further on as we met a volunteer lockkeeper – Ralph – and two new trainees – David & John (brothers, the latter with early Alzheimers) who helped us up the rest of the flight, including the most daunting section. Their help was invaluable, and we (especially Elaine) were most grateful for their assistance.

In the "thick"

We were soon clearing locks at a quicker rate than before as Ralph set about training the two brothers. He told me that he and his colleague at the top of the flight both started last year as the first volunteers on the flight and instead of tying up C&RT staff on training new volunteers they were able to do it themselves.

As we neared the top I experienced one of those serendipity moments that happens every now and again in life.

Almost there! Hatton Canal Maintenance Yard

Ralph’s colleague (also with a trainee) joined the group to help (giving us 5 volunteers!) and I was surprised to hear the words “Good God, Mr Ingleby!” Looking up I saw an ex-Barclays colleague and I replied “Good God, Mr Bayston!” Brian and I had first met 41 years ago when we were both junior clerks at the branch in Spalding. Our paths parted after Spalding and there have only been one or two meetings since. We soon brought each other up to date with happenings since! He is now the other volunteer lockkeeper and trainer.

The last eight or nine locks seemed to fly by and we were soon in the top lock. In fact it had taken 3 hours 10 minutes to complete the flight – slow going caused by the solo work at the start and the necessary slow pace set by Ralph so his volunteers (neither with any former canal experience) could take in what was going on.

We met only our second moving boat as we exchanged places in the top two locks, and were soon bidding grateful farewells to our team of lockies. Bless ‘em!

Looking back from the Top Lock. Phew!

We pulled in for a few minutes to empty the loo, but soon carried on through the short, shallow cutting that extends from the top lock. The surroundings are quiet and peaceful broken only by moorings – particularly those of the Mid Warwickshire Yacht Club.

Shrewley Tunnel and towpath tunnel

Another cutting announces the approach of Shrewley Tunnel, not a particularly long one at just 433 yards, but lacks in length it makes up for in spades in wetness. It rivals Blisworth in the cold drip stakes and, having not bothered to put wet weather gear on (as I would do in Blisworth), I got quite a few cold drips on me. For most of its length the brick side walls are coated in lime deposits – in places up to an inch or so thick, forming distinct columns as they coat the tunnel sides.

Another feature of Shrewley Tunnel is the separate tunnel taking the towpath through the ridge – either a tunnel has a towpath or it is taken over the top in daylight. I believe Shrewley is unique in having a separate bore for the towpath.

Love the spelling!

And speaking of towpaths, so named as they were paths to take the tow rope of a boat, a sign on the western portal advertising the manifold attractions of the village shop and Post Office exhorts potential customers to “follow the toe path alongside the tunnel!”

We were now on the last lap. Elaine had disappeared inside to have a shower whilst I continued for another mile and a half or so to our mooring destination on Rowington Embankment. The M40 makes its presence felt at Shrewley coming quite close to the canal, but fortunately they veer away from each other so that by time you arrive at the embankment, the noise from the motorway is but a distant murmur.

Mooring on Rowington Embankment

We have moored here once before – the occasion of England’s 4-1 humiliation by the Germans in the last World Cup. Not letting that affect us, we tied up in splendid isolation in this idyllic spot.

This is being written at getting on for four o’ clock in the afternoon – apart from the two boats met at either end of the lock flight, just two more boats have passed us since. That makes just four boats in about 7 hours of cruising. Everybody is saying that the canal is unusually quiet.

Saturday April 20th

There are a few themes that occur quite frequently in this blog and one of those is the weather. As we’re British, the usual opening subject in any conversation is about the weather. And, being Brits, we have so much more weather than most other countries.

We may not have the searing heat of the Sahara or the freezing tundra of the Arctic, but, by gum, we certainly get more variety than anywhere else.

On Thursday, we were sheltering from gale force winds and driving rain. Yesterday we wore several layers as the day was cool and grey.

Today, however, was one of those days that make you glad to be alive. As Pop Larkins would have said – “Perfik”.

The sun shone from a blue sky dotted with cotton wool fluffy clouds. The birds twittered, a woodpecker did a passable imitation of a Black & Decker drill, buds were springing, daffodils nodded, primroses shimmered and violets did whatever violets do. It was, in short, a perfect spring day that would have been the highlight last year if it had occurred in June or July.

It’s amazing how good everywhere looks in bright, warm sunshine. Surely even Rochdale would look inviting on a day like this.

On second thoughts, perhaps not.

What was also surprising – how often do we get a lovely day like this – was the sheer lack of boats on the move on a Saturday. We saw just seven moving boats all day, and two of those were just before we finished for the day.

When travelling to or from Birmingham from or to the south, most boaters turn their noses up at the heavily locked (and I mean heavy) Grand Union route, preferring, as we have done the last couple of years, the lighter lockage through the narrow locks of the Oxford, Coventry & Birmingham & Fazeley.

And yet, despite the hard labour involved in the drop down into the Avon valley and the climb back out again, it is a charming length of canal, utterly remote and peaceful. Apart from two main roads at the top of Stockton and one at the bottom of Itchington, the 10 miles or so from Napton to Radford Semele are amongst the quietest anywhere on the network. Only a handful of country lanes come close to the canal.

Former railway bridge near Long Itchington

We left Itchington in seeming isolation with just a couple of dog walkers for company. The short section to Bascote Locks is beguilingly attractive as the canal strides out across the embankment carrying it over the small River Itchen and under a rusting railway girder bridge that formerly carried the ex-LNWR line from Weedon Junction to Leamington and which we have been leapfrogging all the way from Braunston and will continue to.

David Blagrove in his lovely book about the last days of commercial carrying on the canals (“Bread Upon The Waters”) tells an amusing story about this bridge and a pair of unfortunate painters. I’ll leave you to buy the book and find out for yourself!

Soon, however, the peaceful idyll comes to an end and the hard work of the continuing drop to the Avon restarts. Bascote Locks come as a bit of a shock as the top two of the flight of four are in the form of a staircase.

Approaching Bascote Locks

The Grand Union locks from Calcutt to Knowle are big, deep and heavy. They have a paddle mechanism unique to the canal system where the paddle is encased in a metal case and a rod rises out of the top to signify that the paddle is raised or not. They take over 20 turns of the windlass to raise and drop but at least they do fill and empty remarkably quickly.

They were the result of the two narrow locked Warwick canals (the Warwick & Napton and the Warwick & Birmingham) being taken over by the Grand Junction Canal which was already operating a broad locked route from London to Braunston.

Obtaining a lease over the Oxford Canal’s route from Braunston to Napton, they set about improving the Napton to Birmingham section, a process accelerated by their merger with the Regent’s Canal and the formation of the Grand Union Canal as we know it today.

In the 1920’s they widened the 51 locks that took the canal to the outskirts of the second city where they developed two major wharves for the onward transportation of goods. The former narrow locks were retained as overflows for the new big locks.

The top two locks at Bascote (and I stand to be corrected here) forms the only staircase on the Grand Union system. Two further single locks follow immediately after.

Once through the locks (preferably without flooding the towpath at the staircase) a short and remote section takes us to a gaggle of locks most of which are just that irritating distance apart – a little bit too short to justify getting back on the boat for and a little too far to walk.

Despite the remoteness, there is history around us. Welsh Road Lock recalls the days when Welsh cattle drovers walked their cattle across this route to market in London. A little further on Wood lock commemorates, well, a wood, whilst Fosse Locks mark the crossing of the Roman Fosse Way as it makes its arrow-straight route from Cirencester to Leicester.

There is a lovely pair of Grand Union canal workers' cottages here dating from the lock widening.

Former canal cottages at Fosse Locks

In amongst the three Fosse locks, we took advantage of the Elsan point to empty the loos before finishing the drop down to the river by negotiating Radford Lock. This is presaged by a massive blue brick former railway viaduct (our old friend the Weedon – Leamington line) now in use as a walkway and cycleway.

Here we met a familiar boat from our meanderings on the BCN. ‘Glenfield’ and its single handed skipper had left Brum after the BCN Society clean up weekend on the Stourbridge Canal last weekend. He usually could only move the boat at weekends although he had got this Monday off. In that time he hoped to get to Marsworth (near Tring) and then down to Little Venice in London the following weekend for the Canal Cavalcade Rally. Single handed as well! Good luck to him.

Usual mooring site at Radford Semele



When we utilise this route to Birmingham, we normally stop at Radford (or Radford Semele to give its full name) and then have a relatively easy trip into Warwick the next day. However, the day was so fine and we were enjoying it so much that we decided to continue despite the knowledge that Leamington awaited us.

The first major road crossing since Itchington heralds the long entrance into Leamington through the parts of the town that the local Tourist Board don’t normally advertise or want you to see. Drab, featureless estates lead you into the old industrial quarter of the town. Although the old gas works are a thing of the past, Rangemaster’s seemingly derelict and crumbling factory takes the whole concept of grottiness to a new level. Despite this, the visitor moorings just about opposite were quite full for once.

The part of Leamington Spa the Tourist Authority don't want you to see!

The only 'pretty' bit of Leamington the canal passes through

Without passing through any of the “popular” areas of the Georgian and Victorian spa town, we are soon leaving the place through a litter strewn cutting. A large new supermarket has sprung up since our last visit, partly built on the site of the recently demolished Ford Motors factory.

Just about sums this country up. Demolish places that make things and replace them with little boxes called houses or retail parks.

A twist in the canal marks a new channel dug some years ago to allow for road “improvements” before the canal enters the upmarket suburb of Myton. It was a shame to find that the Myton Alpacas had left their canalside paddock.

Myton eventually comes to an end with an aqueduct over the railway line before it passes over the Avon. Despite being only a mile or so away from Warwick Castle, the river is decidedly not the river of the Bard of Avon, with an electricity sub-station (the remains of Warwick’s erstwhile power station of Warwick Light to the boatmen) prominent to the southwest, the view being curtailed by a grotty rusting railway bridge.

A canalside Tesco (built on the site of the power station – there is a theme developing here) precedes a sharp bend that takes us into the built up suburbs of Warwick itself. This was the site of Emscote Mills and former mill buildings are still in industrial use today. A long line of moored boats mark the adjacent yards of Delta Marine (specialists in construction of broad beam craft) and the main hire base of Kate Boats.

There was the usual jumble of boats outside the latter made even worse by a couple of boats being “tied up” across the canal “so we can take on supplies” as the skipper of one of them said. A channel just wide enough to pass was available and then only at the risk of scraping your blacking against the concrete towpath edges. Just as well we weren’t on a broad beam craft.



Approaching the Cape Locks, Warwick

A pleasant stretch follows where you can admire the efforts people are putting into their back gardens before the new Warwick Hospital comes alongside. A couple of siren blaring ambulances taking their patients into the Accident & Emergency Unit made us think a bit.



The final locks of the day now came into view – the start of the ascent out of the river valley. There are two Cape Locks and we were pleased to see the bottom one was empty. As we slowly rose in the lock, the crew off two boats just leaving the upper lock came to help. I was pleasantly surprised to be hailed by name by John Dodwell, a C&RT Trustee who was out with his wife on their boat.



Climbing Cape Locks

The Cape of Good Hope pub

Once through the locks and past “The Cape Of Good Hope” the adjacent well known canalside pub, we were now on the last stretch. The Warwick & Napton Canal that we have been travelling on makes an end on junction with the Warwick & Birmingham Canal close to the latter’s terminal basin. As a road bridge crosses right on the junction (a right-angled one), horns are the order of the day.

We turned left and headed into the erstwhile terminal arm of the Warwick & Birmingham Canal now slightly foreshortened. After falling into dereliction the bulk of the arm was taken over by a group of boaters – the Saltisford Canal Trust – who over several decades have turned the dead end into a thriving boating community. There are long term moorings, residential boaters and all the facilities any self-respecting boater could want.

There is a good length available for visitors and we have availed ourselves of this peaceful haven each time we have come through this way. The site manager, Ian, made us welcome in his usual deadpan  Brummie way, and we started to unwind and relax in the afternoon sunshine, taking the opportunity to plug into the electric.

Our mooring in the Saltisford Arm, Warwick

We shall stay here until Tuesday when we start the assault up Hatton flight of 21 big and ugly locks (including the infamous section known as the Stairway to Heaven), hopefully in the company of a hireboat with 8 hulking great rugby players on.

We should be so lucky.