It’s been a couple of years since we had a holiday on the canal, but decided to return to it this year. For one reason and another it has been a hectic, busy and stressful few months. We know that canal holidays are an excellent way of slowing down and chilling out, which is just what we need right now.

We’re doing two weeks with our friends, rather than just one week. Our plan was to travel the Warwickshire Ring, which needs two weeks to allow some downtime in between cruising.

Our journey started at Springwood Haven Marina, with a hire boat from ABC Boathire. After loading the 66ft boat with all our belongings, we had a quick tutorial and safety briefing before setting off on our travels.
We set off in an anti clockwise direction, mainly to get the built up area of Birmingham out of the way early on, rather than coming back that way.

Day 1 – A short journey to Atherstone

Setting off along the Coventry Canal at around 3pm we knew we had only a few miles to go to stop at the locks at Atherstone. We were booked in for a meal at the King’s Head. The afternoon was slightly overcast and a little breezy, but the sun soon came out and we were enjoying watching the world slowly go by as we cruised along.

After about three miles or so, we reached our first locks at Atherstone. This is a really pretty area with a series of eleven locks. It took us a few seconds to remember the routine for the locks, but once we had completed the first couple we were soon back in the swing.

We travelled through locks one to five, before mooring up near the Kings Head Bridge. After having a short break and a shower, we headed off to the Kings Head Pub for our evening meal. It was a very picturesque pub and the food was excellent.

Returning to the boat, we were all tired out and headed off for an early night.

Day 2 – Atherstone to Curdworth (or not?)

Day 2 was a little cool and breezy. We started out by completing the remaining Atherstone locks, by which time it had completely clouded over and started to pour it down. Undeterred we continued and within half an hour the rain had cleared and the sun came back out.

We moored up and had breakfast, allowing coats and shoes to dry out, before continuing on through the scenic area of Tamworth and through the Glascote Locks. There are only two locks here but they were quite leaky, so took a while to fill. Once through the locks we headed towards Fazeley junction where we filled up with water before turning left onto the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal towards Birmingham.

Shortly after the junction we travelled through a quiet open area, passing Middleton Lakes Nature Reserve and reaching Kingsbury Water Park, adjacent to Curdworth Locks. Here there are eleven locks. We had been told earlier in the day that the canal in the Curdworth area was low and it might be difficult to moor here.
A passing cyclist also told us that there was no water further up the canal (but what did he know!?)

We made our way through the first three locks (numbers 11, 10 and 9) easily. By now it was really hot and sunny and we were looking forward to getting through the locks and mooring up ready for a relaxing evening in the sun. It soon became apparent that this wasn’t going to happen!

In between locks 9 and 8, is the Dog and Doublet Pub. It was quite busy outside the pub and there were a few boats moored up. I walked up to speak to the people on the first boat who said that there was no water in the canal from here for the next nine miles up to the Aston Locks in Birmingham. This was unlikely to change until the lock had been repaired, but no news of when this might be.

We moored up and got cold drinks from the pub. The people on the other boats were staying overnight, but we realised that if it was not repaired soon, we may be stuck there for a few days and the situation was only likely to get worse. We rang the boat hire company who had no further information about the closure. There was no notification on the app from the Canals and River Trust, which wasn’t great as lots of people were heading that way.

After our drinks we decided the best option was to head back the way we had come. Due to the size of the boat and width of the canal, the only way to do this would be to reverse down the canal through the three locks and turn in the next winding hole at the other side. Andrew controlled the boat as best he could, as it cannot really be steered in reverse. After a few false starts , bumps and getting caught in the bank, the boat was safely reversed into the first lock. There were some helpful tips and quite a lot of jeering from the audience of pub customers.

To reach the next lock, the boat had to be towed in the old fashioned way, unfortunately not by horses, but by us (mostly Nick) pulling the boat along and me holding the centre line trying to stop it drifting too far, or hitting another boat.

Slowly we worked our way through the locks and to the winding hole, where all our problems were over as we turned the boat to face on the right direction. This didn’t quite go to plan as the boat wasn’t far enough into the winding hole and found itself with the rudder trapped under the edge of the towpath and the bow wedged against the bank at the other side.

Barge poles were used to try and never the boat of the bank but it really did not want to budge. We were then joined by a local resident and two boaters, who came to help. They all made their way to the opposite bank where there was much levering, pulling and pushing until eventually the boat came free. After much thanks to our helpers and offers of beer, we managed to turn around to head back down the canal.

We travelled a little further before finding a quiet spot to moor up and replan our route. We are now going to head back up all the way to Springwood Haven and towards Warwick in a clockwise direction and return the same way rather than doing a circular route.

It had certainly been an interesting day, but we worked together and accepted help from others to solve problems and find a way through. It had given us a lot to talk and laugh about as we continue on our journey.

Relaxing canal boat holiday anyone?