Voyage of the Spurvehog 2025

Another late morning....! However we were in sight of a lock and Chris set off to set it and through we went, but there was a boat sitting in the middle of the next pound waiting to be able to move on and we soon discovered why. There was very little water left in some of the pounds and there were a number of very distressed fish. A CRT man came and had a go at sorting us out which he did in that we were able to go up the flight, however the long pound at the top was very low when we got there and some of the pounds we'd been through between locks had been overflowing, so I think the young man in his efforts had taken more water from above the flight than he should.  Anyway, we did in the end get through. I had time to admire the complete mess of the environment that HS2 was making both sides of the canal.  i assume this is not going to be a train jump? Looking back from a couple of locks up you can see how the pound we have just left is full to bursting, and in fact water was...

I had never been to Lichfield, but had heard that the Cathedral was worth visiting, so catching a bus from Whittington to Lichfield and back seemed like a worthwhile morning's adventure.  I had researched that a bus would leave at 9.51 from a bus stop in the village and Chris and I were there in plenty of time, to discover that the bus came pretty promptly AND our bus passes worked, so that was a double bonus.  The bus trip took about 15 minutes and we got off at the bus station so we knew where to come back from! The Cathedral was very easy to spot.  It's a large medieval structure with three spires and can be seem from most of the town.  We headed off in that direction and passed a building that had been where Samuel Johnson had been educated as a young boy. He was a son of the town and there were quite a few references to him there.  Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles was also born in Lichfield. We approached the Cathedral from the back where there was a ...

 We had two locks close to each other as we left Alrewas, but to our surprise there was a real queue at the first.  We were the 3rd of 5  boats going up and there were 3 boats coming down, so it took almost an hour to get through the first lock. The second was much quicker as the previous boat was just leaving as we approached.  It was not far until we arrived at the first of 3 more locks at Fradley Junction which is where the Trent and Mersey canal goes off further north and we turn south onto the Coventry Canal.  This is the first of the 3 locks we went up just before Fradley Junction, and you can see the next lock in the dark bridge in the distance.  The weather was very kind and getting warmer which meant that it was really pleasant driving the boat, and a bit hot being the locks man!  This is the Swan pub which is very much photographed as it is quite a landmark on the canal system.  We instead had our lunch at the Laughing Duck Cafe.  W...

 We first woke up very early and had a cup of tea planning to do the Everyman and Speedy crosswords in bed as is our usual Sunday morning routine, only to discover that the Guardian had stopped publishing them and they now were only available from the Observer and that was just not working.  Definitely 'disgusted of a canal in the midlands!'  So our solution to a late breakfast was then to go to the Mercia Marina which was just the other side of the canal from our boat.  We have been struggling with a 1997 Nicholson's canal guide, which meant that we had no idea of this marina's existence until I looked up 'coffee shops in Willington' online, and then I found Mercia Marina.   It is apparently the largest inland marina in Europe with space for 650 boats! It also has a number of lodges, and a fairly extensive shopping centre complete with jewellers, estate agents, beauty salon, art gallery, house decoration stores and of course restaurants and cafes. ...