Bunds, Boats and Bridges Galore.

 I am pleased to report that the HS2 works did not start work until about 07:45 after finishing last night at about 17:45, so nothing to stop you mooring just here. The weather was forecast to be dry this morning so I decided to get some primer on the work I had sanded down on the port side.. In the end I managed to put two coats and we left at about 12:15

We moored in Kings Orchard marina one winter soon after it was opened. It is now owned by ABC Leisure and is also a hire boat base. We thought it was good when we were moored there.

From where we were moored last night to the other side of the the Kings Orchard Marina this was the earth work they were putting up. from where we were last night it looked like they were building an embankment to get the new line over the A38, but I think, when we got to the other end of it, it is a barrier for sound and sight to protect the marina. We could also see a shallow cutting for the line.

The wheat fields around here are looking very good, and almost ready for harvesting. I'm not sure if the ears are as swollen as they should be due to the lack of rain but they certainly look good.

As we passed Willington Wharf we passed the 'Wand'ring Bark' and the 'Jam Butty', obviously waiting for their next market somewhere. Capt. Ahab's Watery Tales Blogs are now few and far between. The number of bloggers has reduced markedly as people retire from the waterways and some who have gone down the commercial route of Vlogging. Everybody and their dogs seem to think people want to watch them, and too be fair, I think they get plenty of viewers. Not for me, although we will have to see what happens.

There was a hell of a row going on as we passed through Willington and it was three moorhens having a right ding dong. I had never seen them acting so aggressively. Unfortunately by the time I focused the camera they had declared a truce until we had passed and then they started up again for a short time.

Here is the stone marking the boundary between the part of the canal constructed by the Trent and Mersey Co and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. This was due to the fact the Coventry Canal Co were very tardy in completing the canal. After 17 years since they got the Act of Parliament it still was n't finished, partly due to the fact that they were short of capital and maybe also that they wanted to protect their trade from the Warwickshire coalfields from that from the North Staffs. coalfields. This was holding up the development of trade for both the Trent and Mersey and the Birmingam and Fazeley Canals. From now the bridges are named rather than numbered as per the Birmingham and Fazeley system.

There are plenty lengths of restricted width of canal where the reeds have encroached. As we approached a boater complimented me on the work done to the port side in readiness for the painting. Yesterday Helen had been saying that nobody had complimented her on the flowers up for'd. (I said for good reason!), but a little later somebody did just that.

I suddenly remembered that the guy who mentioned my painting was on a boat I had noticed in April as having a very old hull. I shouted back to ask him how old it was and I'm sure he said it was 1889 and had been a double ended day boat. You can see from this photo in April that it has a good age. The other end has been cropped now, and shortened.

I had a look in the archives to see if I could find anything interesting about the canal in these parts. At Huddlesford in 1839 there was a big case that made the papers. It is not canal related but never the less interesting. An old couple lived in the farm with one maid. In the afternoon two mean called and asked for 'relief'. The lady of the house refused and shut the door. After the house had gone to bed the lady of the house, and the maid, who slept in the same room, were accosted by two men. They beat and cut the ladies and demand the keys and to know where all the valuables were. The lady was cut and had her arm broken with a poker. After they had ransacked the room, and the old mans too, the tried to force the women to drink a potion that they found, and then set fire to the room, as they had done the old man's room. The Maid was urged to leave via the window when the men went downstairs, to do their best to consume all the drink in the house! They returned but the smoke and flames meant they didn't notice the maid missing. They left again and this time the lady made a break for it through the window. She was half in when they came back once again, but she jumped for it. The smoke and commotion had been noticed and they were rescued, but the men had disappeared. They were actually caught in Coventry five days later having been tracked down by the local police, still with the some of the stolen items on them, and others traced that they had pawned. They both got transportation for life. I will have to see if I can find what happened. It just shows you that crimes like these are nothing new.

I do like this section of the Coventry Canal. After leaving WHittington there is Fisherwick and then the series of bridges called Haddemoor House and Farm and then there is Tamhorn Farm (This one), all quite interesting to navigate if there is something coming.

This is Tamhorn Park Bridge and between the two is Tamhorn House Bridge

The run through Hopwas Wood is also  a pretty trip but is always too dark and under trees for us to moor. Plus the towpath side is concreted after a break many years ago.

Hopwas Wood is a beautiful place to have a wander with many tracks through it, but not today as the gates were closed and the red flags firing. I'm not sure what they were doing as we couldn't hear anything loud going on. No time to stop anyway.

This is the last bridge before Hopwas and despite it being brick it is called Wood Bridge.

The number of houses being built at Dunstall Farm seems huge and is growing apace. Many of them seem to be sold before the roofs are on. They are even putting up a couple of four storey buildings. Are they to be apartments! It looks like in the end there will be about 1000 homes on the site.

I thought we were going to stop at Fazeley for a bit of shopping, but no, that has been postponed and we sailed onwards, eschewing the water point and made a graceful turn up the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. We eventually pulled up just south of Fisher's Mill Bridge, and that will do for the day.