On the Coventry Canal

Fradley, approaching the junction

The Swan at Fradley

On the Coventry Canal

 Another day another canal.  This morning we turned off the Trent& Mersey onto the Coventry Canal which will take us to the outskirts of that city.

The weather forecast today was for rain in the afternoon and the whole of tomorrow. So yet again we set off before 9am to descend Woodend Lock.  There was a small queue of boats wiating to go both up and down so it took a little time for us to eto through.  The delay was made worse by one of the paddles being out of use.  Oddly enough (or not) the same paddle had been unavailable last time we were in the area about 4 years ago.

The next point of interest was Fradley, perhaps the best known visitor boating location in the area with a junction, flight of locks, boating services, cafe, swing bridge, and the Swan, allegedly the most photographed pub in the country.   If you have a calendar picture or jigsaw of a canal pub, it could well be the Swan.

At Fradley Junction we turned right off the Trent & Mersey onto the Coventry Canal. The Trent & Mersey has always been a canal of  major importance whereas the Coventry really is second league.  In places it is narrow, shallow, winding and overgrown with vegatation.  The delights of the first 10 miles from Fradley are limited, today they were overshadowed (literally) by the dull grey sky.

Surprisingly there were a lot of other boats on the canal, both moored and on the move. At one point we met another boat coming the other way as we were passing one which was moored.  The oncoming boat was travelling too fast which forced us into the offside of the canal where we ran firmly aground.  The engine was not powerful enough to pull us off and even with the help of crew from the boat following us it took a lot of time and effort to get back into the main channel.

After lunch on the move we wer both getting tired and decided tro moor up in the outskirts of Tamworth.  We had only just secured the boat when the rain started.

11.5 miles, 3 locks, 1 swing bridge, 5 hours 45 minutes.