Four canals combine for this cruise around the Heart of England – and your heart will be in good shape after the exertions of almost 100 locks. RICHARD FAIRHURST limbers up t was about halfway up the Hatton Flight when The wider Grand Union The Coventry Canal one of the four crew on our boat turned to me channel is apparent here, Unsurprisingly, the lightly locked sections of the ring Iand said: “You know, the reason we chose this north of Calcutt. are very, very busy, the heavily locked parts much route ten years ago – when we were younger, fi tter, less so. We joined the ring near its northernmost and had a crew of 12 – is that it has lots of locks.” point, at Fazeley Junction on the Coventry Canal. In fact, with 93 locks, this circuit east of BW’s own lockage fi gures show the north Oxford Birmingham is on a par with many other well- and the Coventry to be among the most well used on known rings. But few of the other rings lull you into the system, and on a glorious weekend in August, we a false sense of security with a little-locked half Hartshill Yard on the could well believe it. That said, by arriving at most (the Coventry and north Oxford canals) before the Coventry – just the right locks in the early evening – more by coincidence than exertions of the Grand Union – and none of the balance between well-kept design – we were lucky to encounter few queues. others have the daddy of them all, the Hatton Flight. and working yard. The longest was at the fi rst locks we encountered, at Glascote, where there were just three boats waiting to go up. The two locks here follow after the aqueduct over the Tame, one of two rivers (the other is the Avon) that you cross twice in this circuit. As with many canals, this route bobs up and down from aqueduct to aqueduct, its fl ights crossing from one river valley to another. Nicholsons’ guide describes the Coventry Canal around here as “post-industrial”, which is a little harsh. In truth, the canal is rather more attractive than anything which crawls through the suburbs of uncelebrated towns like Tamworth and Nuneaton has any right to be. The West Coast railway is a constant companion, but roads largely keep their distance, and some of the winding, wooded southern sections are genuinely lovely. Ð Waterways World October 2007 59 Downloaded by Colin Garnham-Edge from waterwaysworld.com the warwickshire ring.indd 1 7/9/07 11:31:04 am Ben Jameson Best of all is the Atherstone Flight, a gentle, rural top left 11-lock climb into a rather curious market town. The famous 180° turn at The white-washed house by lock 5 was clearly once Hawkesbury Junction: a pub, while the lock-keepers’ cottage by the top the Oxford Canal is to lock is more colourful, if only through the shades the left. of felt-tip pen with which the keeper illustrates top right weather conditions, advice to boaters, and much Hillmorton Locks, on the more. There are good moorings, and since the early Oxford Canal near Rugby 1980s, the heaps of coal at Rothen’s Wharf have – narrow, but paired for given the atmosphere of a true working wharf by the maximum effi ciency. water. The town itself, though, has a sadly run-down right morning, the wait to pass through the lock was feel, its main street lined with charity shops, its pubs Rural cruising on the approaching two hours. Some were enjoying the uninviting to the casual visitor. (The Market Tavern north Oxford Canal, enforced delay, leaving one man on the rope while is well regarded, but doesn’t serve food.) 2005 saw near Stretton. the rest took in the fascinating site with its cast-iron an attempt to reinvent Atherstone as a booktown, bridge, engine house and 180° turn. Others were like Hay-on-Wye: after the acrimonious departure resigned, exasperated even: most seemed to consider of the promoter, the few remaining booksellers are it a little early to make the best of a bad lot and attempting to rekindle the project, and we wish retreat to the Greyhound. them luck. The irony, of course, is that Sutton Stop (the (Incidentally, it was on the Atherstone Flight that popular name for Hawkesbury, after the lock-keepers we met the purchasers of the Chinese ‘Concept of the 19th century) is functionally redundant. Blue’ narrowboat, reviewed in February’s WW. It was built to stop Coventry Canal water escaping Were they pleased with their boat? Oh yes, they into the Oxford and vice versa, but both have been said: built like a tank and fi tted out like a yacht.) An historic site under the control of British Waterways for 60 years Hartshill and Marston Junction are two landmarks at Polesworth. now, and we doubt the West Midlands offi ce dislikes on the way south. The former is an appealing BW the South-East region that much. yard. Formerly the property of the Coventry Canal below These six inches illustrate the challenge of accom- Company, it is now well kept enough to enhance A working boat ascends modating heavy leisure traffi c on the historic canal the canal while still retaining a slightly unkempt, Glascote Locks on the network. Chaining the gates open might be a solution authentic air. Marston Junction is where the cul-de- Coventry Canal. to the congestion, with minimal engineering required; sac Ashby Canal heads north, for a little spot-dredging here, shore those who want to put off the locks up a few spill-weirs there. for a few days more. But who would want to see such an historic artefact taken out of use, North Oxford Canal changing the scene of so many There is a lock, of course, at evocative photographs from the Hawkesbury Junction. Only a little last days of narrowboat carrying? one, with a rise of some 6in: but Your answer to that may depend when we passed through, those few on how many hours you have spent inches were causing trouble out of waiting for locks this summer. proportion to their usefulness. Once past Hawkesbury, you can Heading south, we could almost see why so many boats congregate breeze straight in, with just one around these parts. This is a boat in front. Boaters going north delightful canal, more so even were less fortunate. On this Sunday than the Coventry. The excesses 60 October 2007 Waterways World Downloaded by Colin Garnham-Edge from waterwaysworld.com the warwickshire ring.indd 2 7/9/07 11:31:41 am of the original winding line was shortened in the 1830s, with black and white Horseley Iron Works bridges erected over the arms and loops created. (One of these, at Cathiron, now leads to a new marina.) trackbed and its line of trees, stands a forlorn signal, Consequently, the canal faithfully waiting for the next express to Sheffi eld. now alternates between long Silhouetted against a summer sunset, it looked Ben Jameson straight lengths and occasional melancholy and – were we imagining it? – even a bendy bursts, and for some reason, everyone seems top left little reproachful. to moor on the bends. Rugby is an especially popular The Two Boats, one of spot to tie up. Before this comes Newbold Tunnel, Long Itchington’s many Braunston to Napton now colourfully, and a little controversially, lit inside: pubs. The trains may no longer call at Braunston & objections were raised to British Waterways spending Willoughby, or even nearby Braunston on the money on such ‘fripperies’, though if the fi ve top right Weedon–Warwick line, but surely more people now grinning crews coming the other way were any guide, Bascote Bottom Lock is arrive here by boat than ever did by train. it may now have won the the last on the descent Braunston is justly famous as the archetypal canal popular vote. to Leamington Spa. village: locks, bridges and tunnel, pubs and butchers. The 19th century The junction between the Oxford and (then) Grand Oxford Canal above Junction canals made it an important trading post improvements also Newbold Tunnel for canal carriers; today, its pivotal location on the saw Hillmorton Locks illuminated. canal network, with two more junctions (Napton paired, one chamber and Norton) within fi ve miles, makes it equally next to the other. This left sought-after for leisure moorings. Braunston has was the Victorians’ best Sunset at Minworth. not forgotten its past, though, and there are more answer to congestion, historic boats – in varying states of repair – clustered and it still works well here than anywhere else on the system. today. The area around The ring route only skirts the village, passing under Ben Jameson the locks is another the twin arches of Braunston Turn then heading contrasting example of how old commercial sites west: but do stop and walk back to the fi rst lock, can survive today: here, with fewer gongoozlers even if all the obvious moorings are taken and (like than Hawkesbury, there is no pub, but several canal below us) you have to perch on the unpiled length of the businesses, craft studios, and a bistro. Passing hotel boats ‘puddlebanks’ embankment. Above the locks, we were too late – by days – to at Napton Junction The fi ve-mile pound from here to Napton Junction see a landmark which had survived for 80 years. The – note the 1930s Grand is, strictly speaking, still the Oxford Canal. The new Rugby radio masts transmitted the time signal for the Union bridge.