This morning was much less windy than yesterday, but the forecast was for 40mph gusts coming through this afternoon. Maybe that’s why a couple of boats passed us between 7 and 8am — trying to get ahead of the weather. We got going slightly before our usual 8.45 too, picking our way through the bridges and boats of Hopwas. By the Lichfield Road Bridge is an impressive pink magnolia tree.
We passed all the moored boats on electric and then switched to diesel to give the batteries a bit of a charge. It’s pretty uneventful to Fazeley Junction, where we stopped on the water point. While the tank filled, I popped up to Tesco’s, but found they hadn’t had their delivery yet so veg was a bit sparse. Once our water was full we turned right onto the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.
Immediately through the junction bridge is a large mill building, which is now flats.
The first boat on the moorings there was just about to pull away, but waited for us to go past. The canal passes Fazeley Mill Marina, then goes under the main road and past a boat yard. Shortly afterwards is the much photographed Drayton Footbridge, with its turret-like staircase towers.
Immediately beyond it is the half-sunken wreck of a small boat, which makes it a bit tricky to get through. At the next bridge, Adrian took Macc off for the loo so I pulled over and let the boat behind go past. In going through the following bridge, we crossed from Staffordshire into Warwickshire. As we came along next to the nature reserve, couple of towpath walkers commented on how quiet our boat was. I said I could make it even quieter, so turned off the engine and switched to electric instead. We had quite a chat; I learned they used to have a boat, he was from Birmingham and she’s Polish, and makes amazing Polish donuts! Meanwhile the boat ahead was turning at the winding hole and coming back, and we pulled onto the empty moorings below the lock. We have a bank and a wall next to us, but beyond that is Canal Pool, a former gravel pit that’s part of a network of lakes here called Kingsbury Water Park.
It felt as though the weather was taking turn for the worse, but it never actually rained and instead the sun came out. The wind has got up though. This afternoon, we had a visit from Helen and Andy, on their way back home from a week on Lindisfarne. It was really nice to see them and to hear about all their prep for the start of the trading season. They also brought Macc a new rope toy, which he’s been playing with ever since.
6 miles, 0 locks. (70 miles, 36 locks)