Watch out for shells and strawberries - onward from Hopwas

Monday, 09 March 2009 20:01

Gosh - what a windy night, outside the boat that is! I had to check the roof this morning and was glad to see that nothing was missing. As continual cruisers tend to do, we carry far too much on our roof! Most of it is heavy, weighed or tied down from bitter experience! But the rattles and bangs in the wind, magnified at night, makes one wonder what is going on up top!

My brother David and his wife Ruth were visiting us today and we were having lunch at the Tame Otter - again! It was great to show them the boat and catch up with family news. We had a good lunch at the pub/restaurant, said goodbye and then cruised on towards Whittington.

It was sunny and very breezy but there were clouds gathering and it began to get cold. There were no danger flags flying in Hopwas woods so obviously the army were not practising their shooting today. As John remarked - there probably were not any soldiers left at Whittington Barracks anyway as they are all in Iraq and Afghanistan. One wonders what this country would do if we were attacked - it would take some time and logistics to get troops back from the far flung wars they are engaged in!

The canal hugs the side of the hill with the River Tame and the railway down below. There have been big works and considerable modernisation on the railway in this area. Some of the new railway bridges are an architects dream! - in stark contrast with the traditional canal ones. Some of them have stop plank stores built in and are still in very good condition.

We spotted a very unusual sight - a dismount block, purpose built and well signed, placed by the road just before a large railway bridge. Presumably riders are encouraged to dismount in case their horses bolt at the noise of the very fast trains passing under the bridge.

Another thing to look out for on this section are the large stark tunnels of the huge strawberry farm at Hadmore. The smell in the summer must be mouth-watering!

We debated whether we had achieved another "head of navigation" as we passed the stone marking the boundary between the Birmingham and Fazeley (on the Coventry Canal line) and the resumption of the Coventry Canal. We were now on the section that the Coventry Canal Co. bought back from the B & F. Whittington Bridge is the last named bridge.

We moored just before bridge 78 (the numbers now resume all the way to Fradley Junction) as this is the best access for Whittington shops. Only GPRS tonight so no photos!

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