Hopwas (B'ham & Fazeley) to Alvecote (Coventry Canal)

Saturday 16^th June

Little Market in Whittington

We are staying put today and off on the bus to Whittington and Tamworth.  We walked along the canal to the Tame Otter pub to get the bus.  In Whitington today there is a small market and Wood House Farm usually have a stall there and they were there so we bought some sausages and bacon, they are all from rare breeds.  There was another stall selling their own smoked cheese, cheddar and brie and also home-made scotch eggs, so we got some of that.  There is only four stalls but you can get good things so worth a visit.  We also bought some Cranberry and Walnutt soda bread and some peanut butter cookies.  We then got the bus back to Hopwas, dropped our goodies off at the boat, then back out to the get the bus to Tamworth.

Tamworth has lots of shops and there was a general market with lots of stalls, there is an Aldi and a Lidl.  We had a wander around and got everything we needed.  We got the bus back.  We are staying at Hopwas again tonight then off in the morning.

Sunday 17th June

Path from Canal to Retail Park

We are on the move today, so we set off about 9am along the canal for a couple of miles and stopped between two bridges.  Just here there is a footpath from the canal that takes you into a business/retail park that has B&Q, ToolStation, Sainsburys, Asda, Wilko and quite a few other stores.  We needed some things from B&Q and ToolStation and also Sainsburys.

Coming to another Bridge

It is about a 10 minute walk from the canal so nice and easy.  We got everything we needed then headed back to the boat and set off again.

Fazeley Junction

Passing the B'Ham & Fazeley Canal

We soon came to Fazeley Junction.  This is where the Coventry canal meets the Birmingham and Fazeley canal and is dominated by a number of mills, left behind from the once booming textile industry for which the area became well known.  Most of these have now become housing.  It was here in the 1790s, that Robert Peel, father of the Prime Minister, in partnership with Joseph Wilkes, transformed the area, building mills and wharfs, chapels and watercourses and making it a centre of industry that was to last until the depression of the mid-19^th C.

Going over Aqueduct

Coming to Glascote Locks

We were now back on the Coventry canal.  We stopped at the water point then headed on. 

We went over an aqueduct where the Rive Tame flows underneath and then came to Glascote locks.  This is a set of two locks.  There was a boat coming down so he came out and we went in.  I opened one of the paddles and nothing really happened so I opened the other one and the lock started to fill but very slowly.  It took ages but eventually it filled up and out we came.  We went to the next lock which was ready for us and up we went.

In Glascote Bottom Lock

We then chugged on, the canal was really quiet and we didn’t see many boats.  After a couple more miles, we came to Alvecote and moored up before the marina.

Onto the Next Lock

Samuel Barlow Pub

In the evening we went for a walk up to the marina where there is a pub called the Samuel Barlow so we went across the bridge and went in for a drink.  It is a really nice friendly pub and they have some lovely gins and serve them in a nice big glass with the garnish to complement the gin.  I had Keepr’s Raspberry and Honey gin and it was delicious.

We sat outside by the canal having our drinks and there was two boats moored outside the pub with teenage school kids on.  We chatted to a couple of the teachers, they were from a school in the Newcastle area and were out for a week.  There was 18 kids!  They were all very well behaved and the teachers spoke very highly of them all.

We then walked back to the boat.  We are staying here for a couple of days now as there is a nature reserve and country park nearby so we are going to explore that and will move on Wednesday.

Moored at Alvecote