Day 29 Alvecote to Grendon (via Polesworth)

Wed 22 July - repairs completed, we move on towards Grendon.

Setting off in bright sunshine

Dense woodland in this section of the canal

Impressive solar and wind combo on Fingal, though we wonder how much power the small windmill generates

Arriving at Polesworth

Brenda May moored at the Polesworth Municipal moorings.  The sculptures on the roof are fashioned from old tyres

Owner of Waimarie, Chalky.  The roof and almost every other surface is covered with painted barrels and numerous animal and horse brasses, all impecably shiny.  He says "I reckon the boat is 10% pleasure and 90% hard work"

Catnap moored at Polesworth near Limekiln Bridge

The abbey church of St. Editha, daughter of King Egbert the first Saxon king of England

The Gatehouse, the only remaining structure of Polesworth Abbey, founded by Egbert in the 9th century

Leaving Polesworth we encountered two matching boats one towing the other.  The owner explained he uses the one behind as a workshop and shed and is considering building a Spitfire in it.  We promised to come and see how it was progressing next time we passed

Passing Hoo Hill.  In Old English, hoo means a knoll or mound, so this is 'hill hill'

Near Grendon Bridge, an ancient working boat sadly abandoned and almost completely engulfed by canalside foliage

Three female mallards spectating

Between Polesworth and the town of Atherstone there are lots of places where it is difficult to see ahead with overhanging trees, obscured bridges and blind corners.  Often one of us steers and the other walks along the towpath to give prior warning of approaching craft.  At one point Jan signalled to Denis that a boat was coming and warned the boat owners of our approach.  When the two boats met, the other steerer miscalculated his turn and ended up on the wrong side of the canal forcing Catnap to take evasive action to avoid a collision.  However, instead of slowing, the oncoming boat kept moving forward forcing Catnap to turn further into the bank and go aground.  Denis was forced to use the pole and reverse off.  Apologising for their miscalculation the other boat went on its way as did Catnap.  Such incidents are rare, fortunately, but we also saw someone going too fast, overshooting a corner and ending up across the canal just 2 days previously.  We suspect liquid lunches may be playing a part!

No such drama with this leisurely passing and with no further incident we used the services at Bradley Green Bridge and moored for the night 100 yards further on under some trees

Days 22 - 28 Bonehill Road Bridge to Alvecote

At Fazeley Junction near Tamworth, where the Coventry Canal meets the Birmingham & Fazeley - we stopped for water.  A bit chilly this morning!

Murals at the junction

Off again - through the bridge and heading for the two locks at Glascote and the Co-op.  The Coventry is a 'contour' canal and very largely avoided having locks and digging cuttings by following the contours of the landscape. Hence it tends to wind about all over the place!

Here the canal runs on an aquaduct over the River Anker

Severn Trent Water official sampling the canal water

Mr and Mrs Waspe were happy for us to photograph Vespiary

Marshwiggle Cottage.  The window boxes are 'planted' with dolls and the sign under the pixie reads 'Charlotte Bill 1875-1964 a regular visitor to this cottage. Royal Nursemaid to Princess Mary and Prince John (the lost prince)'

Striking mix of grasses, reeds and wildflowers along the canal bank.  We notice this year that CRT are leaving more of the canalside plants to flower

Walking to Glascote village in search of provisions

Alvecote with its tranquil marina, a favourite spot of ours.  We're waiting here for a few days while our central heating unit is serviced and minor repairs made as we'd noticed some smoke from the exhaust

The Narrowcraft workshop where Peter is doing our repair.  Here they specialise in restoring historic working boats.  Kangeroo built in 1928 with steel sides and a wooden elm bottom is a fine example...

and setting off to turn round at the 'winding hole' is another, England, built in the early 1900's.  Winding holes - rhymes with tinned - are notches in the canal bank which allow boats which like this one may be up to 72' long, to turn.  They're generally kept in decent repair, although some are overgrown.  It can be extremely tricky to 'wind' in a high wind!

Project?!

The oldest boat we've seen this trip. It's Stafford, built in 1898 as an unpowered 'butty' or towed barge and converted to add this long cabin on the cargo hold in 2008.  It would have carried all kinds of cargo including tea, sugar and cocoa (for Cadbury's) wood, cement, coal, gravel and sand

Catnap's repair is finished, complete with new sock for the exhaust.  This little unit, inside the engine bay and about a foot long, supplies 5 radiators and a hot water tank and heats amazingly quickly.  In summer, of course, we only use the hot water function and only when we haven't been cruising since then the engine heats the hot water