On Sunday we spent our day travelling back down the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, retracing our route to Fazeley Junction and on to The Coventry Canal. We had a fairly steady day, until reaching the Atherstone Locks, which were quite busy. Unfortunately the first half of the locks we were stuck behind an elderly gentleman, a lone boater who refused to let us help him with the locks and it took him what seemed like an eternity to get through each one. Luckily part way up, there were volunteers from the Canal and Rivers Trust who were assisting with the locks as just were travelling both ways. This speeded things up enormously and we manage to make it just in time for the table we had booked at The Anchor Pub.

We had an impressive roast dinner in the pub before heading back to the boat for a game of cards. Once again it was a fairly early night as all the fresh air had wiped us out and we were all shattered.

Day 4 – Nuneaton, Hawkesbury Junction and Ansty.

On Monday morning we awoke to the sound of rain pattering on the roof of the barge. Luckily by the time we got up and had a coffee, the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. We continued retracing our steps, stopping off at Springwood Haven Marina for a few minor faults with the boat (centre line had worn through, fridge wasn’t very cold and the battery wasn’t charging properly). Luckily whilst these little issues were solved we were able to have our breakfast, ready to set off for the day ahead.

We travelled down the canal, through the built up area of Nuneaton. Although this is a more populated area, it wasn’t as concrete as the approach to Birmingham. On the outskirts there were some lovely houses backing on to the canal. It didn’t take us long to pass through and we were back out into the countryside.

Through the slightly straighter area of the canal Julie and I decided to have a go at steering the boat, as Andrew had done it all up to this point. He very patiently talked us both through it and we did okay, but neither of us were keen on padding other boats, or going under bridges, of which there are many.

We then came to Hawkesbury Junction, which joins the Coventry and Oxford Canals. This is a very pretty area, with cottages by the lock and a lovely pub on the side of the canal. We didn’t stop at the pub, but may get chance to call in on the way back.

There is a stop lock which joins the two canals. The drop is only four inches of water, but was put in place after a dispute between the two canal companies. Once through the lock we travelled a short distance before mooring up for lunch.

I walked on the canal with Nick for the next hour, catching up with the boat at Antsy, mooring up ready for a couple of hours relaxation before heading off to the Rise and Castle Pub for tea. It was lovely to meet up with our friends who live in Coventry, so only had a short distance to travel.

We had a great meal and a catch up, then headed back to the boat for a game of cards, before heading off to bed.