It started to rain about half and hour before we set off. It was quite 'nice' rain, just light and with no wind either. Just as I was letting go the day boat from Streethay Wharf came past, careering backwards and forwards across the canal. I let them past!
A little past where we moored was where the the canal built from Fradley by the Trent and Mersey Canal joined up with the canal built from Fazeley by the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. This was as a result of the dragging of the feet of the Coventry Canal who had the Act of Parliament passed. Why do we call it the Coventry canal. The next bridge, Whittington Bridge is the first given a name, as per Birmingahm and Fazeley Canal policy, rather than numbers like the Trent and Mersey Canal. We hadn't gone far when we came across the day boat aground. Surprise, surprise. We washed them off and they promptly went aground again, so we left them too it.
The asparagus poly tunnels have been moved away from the canal, but you can still see there are acres of them. I think the company is the biggest produced in the UK. The crowns near the canal must have been past their best and have been grubbed up. The Hopwas Woods look very inviting from here and you may just see the TV mast at Hints. This present mast replaced an earlier 1000' mast in 1961. I remember it being built!! The old mast had started transmitting in 1956. From 1961 it was the ITV mast and still is the Channel 5 mast although the nearby Sutton Mast is the digital one now.
The trip past Hopwas Wood is very pretty what ever the weather, but I was fed up to see stacks of litter at the'mooring' on the off side by the old quarry. Could only be boaters that have left it.
We passed the Little Chimney Co. pair just the other side of Hopwas village. As we cleared the village the day boat was with us again and raring to go, so I let them past. Still in a zig zag pattern though. As they passed they asked where the turning hole was I told them by Bonehill Bridge or the Junction. Maybe I should have told them their boat is so small they could turn it just about anywhere!
They turned at Bonehill Bridge. There was nobody on the water point at Fazeley Junction so we stopped to top up. The new birds at the junction are colourful but obviously not the same artist as the other two.
We were soon passing over the River Tame aqueduct and its guarding pill box. The rain now started to come down more heavily, making it infinitely more wet.
Tamorth Crising Club was a coal wharf in the past but became the Coventry Canal Society, Northern Branch in 1959, and later the Tamworth Cruising club.
This old photo was taken on the wharf side behind the tree on the extreme right of the modern photo. You can see the railway bridge at the back of this black and white photo.
A boat had just left the botton lock but we watched as the gates were closed on us. They seemed to see us late and swung it round again for us.. There was a short wait to get up the second lock but there was others boats waiting at the top. It didn't seem to take so long to fill as in the past. Maybe it is all the rain falling? We just cleared the old Hudson's basin and moored up for a quick dash to the Co-op in the old pub, before setting off again.
There seems to have been a fair bit of work done at Samuel Barlow's old Wharf as I'm sure you couldn't see the base of the V or the wall on the right last time we were here. This was the nerve centre of the operation of up to 100 boats that started in 1871, mainly carrying coal to London and the Thames at first. They finally finished in 1961. They were said to always well turned out.
It was not too long after that that I had a close encounter, a very close encounter. As we came to bridge 66 or 65, can't remember I saw a boat coming the opposite way. I was at the bridge well before them and saw that they were still right in the middle of the canal. There was a boat on a garden mooring just after the bridge so I was stuck for moving over. There was no obstruction to sight lines. I was convinced she would have seen me. There was enough time for me to sound my horn five times to 'wake her up' and throw into full astern before she walloped us head on. Fortunately she ricocheted off down our port side otherwise she would have hit the moored boat. The steerer was still going normal speed until we hit. I couldn't believe it. Things happen on the canals, but I have never been rammed at full speed with avoidance measures taken! I'm afraid I dd call her a pratt, but instead of an apology she had the check to tell me I could have minimised the collision. However the lady from the house with the moored boat had seen it, alerted by my horn, so it did wake somebody up. She agreed that there was nothing more I could have done and the other boat was on the wrong side of the canal. The husband came out from below and apologised! Once moored up later I couldn't find any new damage at the bow, but I was wet and getting cold so I didn't hang about to look too closely. Tim and Pru. have a lot to answer for. I think that for some reason she just didn't register that we were there. She din't look like she had cataracts though.
This is the entrance to Alvecote Basin and is the home of Historic Narrowboat Foundation. It was a coal loading wharf from the nearby Tamworth Colliery.
Alvecote Basin 1882. The wharf was used for loading coal from the nearby pits and with the number of railway lines it was also carried on rails too.
We were heading for Polesworth. There were no berths before the bridge and none further on. It was just as we left the village that we found a spot, not under trees and pulled in quickly. It stopped raining about 90 minutes after we moored up. Lets hope for better tomorrow.
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