Heading North Spring Cruise Week 11

Monday 15th May - Great Haywood to Handsacre

Woke to blue skies and sun, but a chilly wind.  We cruised through the bridge and stopped immediately to fill up with water as it was there and easy.  

Our first lock of the day is a little further on and we made our way down through there. From there we went on to Rugeley where we moored up and went shopping in the town.  Time to replace certain items in the kitchen after almost 8 years, so a new dish drainer and sink tidy - how exciting is that?

Whilst we were shopping we were passed by the Jam Butty that was also moored at Great Haywood.  As he was towing the Butty he kindly moved over safely so that we could pass him and continue on our way.

This is the Armitage Tunnel, the canal tunnel was built at Armitage in 1770, though it no longer exists as a tunnel. The roof was removed after subsidence damage caused by local coal mining.  However it is a blind tunnel and you are advised to send crew ahead to alert oncoming traffic.  We didn’t meet anything so all was good.

This canalside factory is Ideal Standard and has been furnishing homes, hospitals, offices, pubs and more for over 200 years. The factory in Armitage remains the only large scale ceramics manufacturing operation in the UK, producing millions of toilets and basins annually, each proudly bearing the name Ideal Standard or Armitage Shanks.

 We moored for the night in Handsacre and went for a walk through the village.  This is the Olde Peculiar pub which we have visited many times before.  We spent Christmas one year here on our share boat Minuet and we also stayed in one of their rooms when we were house hunting for our move away from Basingstoke to the West Midlands.

8.25 miles, 2 locks, 3hrs 42mins

Tuesday 16th May - Handsacre to Whittington

A lovely sunny day, ideal conditions for cruising, so we are making the most of the weather.  We leave the Trent and Mersey Canal and join the Coventry Canal.

This is Bromley Wharf Marina where our share boat nbMinuet used to be moored when we had shares in her.  She is moored at Nantwich now.  Still a good few boats moored here.

Our first lock was Woodend Lock and there was a lot work going on.  It is towpath improvements all the way down towards Fradley.  We remember there used to be a lot of permanent moorings both above and below the lock, but they were all empty, deserted.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the progression of HS2, it looked as though the farmland had been taken over by HS2 and possibly the moorings as well?

Leaving the last lock and heading for Fradley Junction where we shall turn right onto the Coventry Canal.  Many thanks to the volunteers who helped us through the two locks, much appreciated!

Turning onto the Coventry Canal and through the easiest swing bridge on the whole system, just one finger will push it open!  In the background is The Swan Pub known locally as The Mucky Duck.

Another one to add to the list, these are baby moorhen chicks, so tiny and very noisy.  The only one we haven’t seen yet is cygnets, let’s hope we see some before we finish this cruise.  We moored up for the night at Whittington, Dave was sure that there was mooring with good open views and rings.  When we got there, the rings were still there but the open views had been replaced by housing!

8.7 miles, 3 locks, 3hrs 54mins

Wednesday 17th May - Whittington to Dog and Doublet

Awoke to grey skies but dry so set off for a new canal to us, The Birmingham and Fazeley.  Here we are passing Whittington Wharf and behind the house is a line of smaller cottages, which could have been canal cottages.

A lone mast, not like the one we have today, but apparently this was put up in 1956 to broadcast the new ITV channel to the Midlands.

Here we are approaching Fazeley Junction and for the first time we are going to turn left under the bridge and go into Birmingham that way.  It looks pretty busy so we are going slowly to wait for all the other boats to move on.

Tasteful graffiti, behind the tree on the left is a beautiful kingfisher, rather obscured now.

Directly in front of the boat is a handsome junction house.  It may have served as a toll house at this important junction.

This is Tolson’s Mill, a fine example of Victorian architecture.  Tolson's Mill began life as Sir Robert Peel's Mill, where they made narrow tape and webbing. Peel leased and eventually sold the mill to William Tolson, who was leasing Dosthill Hall at the time.  In 2003 the mill was still owned by the Tolson family, but was used as small industrial units.  Today it has been divided up into 50 apartments.

This is Drayton Footbridge, this unusual Gothic-style footbridge was probably built in the 1830s by the celebrated architect Sir Robert Smirke, while constructing nearby Drayton Manor for local MP Sir Robert Peel (later to become Prime Minister). The manor house was demolished in 1929 and later became the site of the Drayton Manor Theme Park.  The Grade II listed footbridge is located near to the entrance of the Drayton Manor theme park and is among the most ornate bridges anywhere on Britain’s canals.  They have turrets on the tops and a spiral staircase up the middle of each tower.

We continued on to the Dog and Doublet where we found some excellent moorings and stayed there for the night.

10.25 miles, 3 locks, 4hrs 39mins

Thursday 18th May - Dog and Doublet to Wiggins Hill Bridge.

A shortish cruise today to get to a safe mooring before beginning our ascent into Birmingham.  We think we will stop once through the Curdworth Tunnel.

Approaching the lock half way through we found the route of HS2 where it is proposed that it will cross the canal.  To one side the land has been flattened and on the other side there is a segment of bridge, ready to be put in place.  It is a picture of utter devastation!

Passing a hire boat in a pound, a really don’t know why the lady is holding the rope, but apparently the captain insisted she did.  Am I really such an awful driver?

Curdworth Tunnel, a short tunnel about 75yds, it incorporates the towpath with ridged brick "horse treads" to reduce slipping and a wrought iron safety rail.  This makes the tunnel seem quite narrow and low on the right hand side.

We decided against mooring outside the tunnel as it was dark and overgrown so we kept going until we got to mooring rings by Wiggins Hill Bridge where we stopped for the night.

2.25 miles, 8 locks, 3hrs 18mins

Friday 19th May - Wiggins Hill Bridge to Oozell’s Loop Visitor Moorings.

We are expecting today to be a long day, about 8 miles and 27 locks climbing up into Birmingham.  So with this in mind we decided to leave our mooring at 7am and hopefully arrive by 3pm.  A gentle lock free cruise until the Minworth locks.

Our first lock with new housing overlooking the canal, such tall but thin houses!

This is a tunnel created by the overhanging works of a factory, although the canal is wide it is quite low and noisy.

Here we are almost directly underneath ‘Spaghetti Junction’, the Grand Union Canal comes in on the left hand side and we are taking the second turning to the left, continuing on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.  We stopped at the services to top up the water but the tap was dry, so we just got rid of rubbish.

We were then into the 11 Aston Locks, and the pound between locks 10 and 11 was very low.  Fortunately Dave had stayed on the towpath as I was scraping and bumping along the bottom of the canal with no chance to get anywhere near the side.  It took a long time to get into the lock as the levels were so low, with much use of the engine and Dave hauling on the rope.  But we did it eventually and the rest of the flight was fine after that.

Looking back down the fight of locks, from under the last bridge. The last six locks came in quick succession.

When we got to Aston Junction we turned right the Worcester and Birmingham Canal comes in on the right of this photo.  Our canal is marked by a Horsley Iron Works cast iron roving bridge similar to the ones found in Braunston.  We then headed for the last set of locks for the day, the 13 Farmer’s Bridge Locks.

This is the BT Tower completed in 1967 and standing at almost 500ft tall and currently Birmingham’s tallest building…

…and here we are underneath in a cavern between lock 10 and 11.  Unfortunately Dave met another boat here and had to pass in a very tight pound, not an easy manoeuvre!

Passing another boat in a short pound, and unfortunately it has started to rain, so it was wet weather gear to finish off our day.

Looking back down the Farmer’s Locks towards the BT Tower.  The Farmer's Bridge flight of thirteen locks raises the water level by 81 feet (about 25 metres) in under 2km.  We continued on to Oozell’s Loop where there was plenty of space and moored up for the next two nights.  Despite the scary passage through the low pound, we really enjoyed our cruise today, a fascinating journey.

8.5 miles, 27 locks, 6hrs 30 mins

Saturday 20th May - Birmingham

Today we have had a pleasant day wandering through the city, sitting in the sunshine and having an evening meal at Ju Ju’s before moving on for our final week tomorrow.

Sunday 21st May - Oozell’s Loop to Alvechurch

Images of Birmingham - top to bottom - Worcester Bar, Black Sabbath Bridge, Gas Street Basin and The Cube.

Edgbaston Tunnel now with the towpath going through it.

Behind the boarding is the University of Birmingham, dominated by the Italianate tower known locally as ‘Old Joe’.  Standing 100m tall it is the worlds tallest free standing clock tower.  It is named after the university’s founder and first chancellor, Joseph Chamberlain.

This is a new walkway built between University station and the university, British rail are rebuilding the station to improve facilities and accessibility.

A beautiful showing of poppies on the canal side.

Junction House at King’s Norton Junction has been renovated after a fire in February 2019. Originally opened as a toll house in May 1796, the list of charges are shown on the front of the office.

At last, our first brood of cygnets, that makes 4 different sets of babies we’ve seen this year!

A rather splendid mural on a bridge wall, not seen this one before, but beautifully done.  We moored up for the day on the outskirts of Alvechurch and met up with friends Anne and Steve for Sunday Lunch at The Red Lion.  A lovely afternoon, thanks to you both for coming to find us!

11 mile, 0 lock, 4hrs