Nechells to Catherine de Barnes - Grand Union Canal

Monday 29 July -7am we left the mooring at Star City - (Nechells) to reach the next 'advised' mooring at Catherine de Barnes.  First you climb through Garrison locks before reaching Bordesley Junction and turning sharp left to tackle the first of the Camp Hill Locks. These are the last of the narrow Locks before turning broad at Knowle.

Bordesley Junction

Bottom of Camp Hill Locks at Bordesley Junction

Whilst the canals in some inner cities are not always the most pleasant to experience, we have to remind ourselves that this is why the canals were constructed, to deliver cargo between  cities and ports and therefore they are the heart of the system and what canals are all about.  We do enjoy exploring these areas, all part of boating on the inland waterways. 

Camp Hill Locks

At the top of the Camp Hill Locks are handy CRT services. Located in a secure compound, modern, in full working order and easy to access! 

After the locks there are approximately 7 miles to Catherine de Barnes most of which is quite shallow and in a wooded cutting.  We had to stop on a couple of occasions to  free the propeller of  rubbish.  After a slow cruise, at times pushing through the sediment, we reached the visitor moorings (cruising time from Nechells to Catherine de Barnes was approximately 6 hours).  In the village is a convenience store, a pub and restaurant.     

Nugget en-route

 

Curdworth Locks & Star City

Sunday 28 July - Although rain was forecast all day we decided to conquer Curdworth Locks.

There are 11 locks in total and some have long pounds between them which you can moor in. (between locks 8 & 9 the 'Dog and Doublet' Pub)
All the locks were well looked after and filled gently which definitely helped.  Also the little 'gardens' at the locks cheered us up and spurred us on! thank you to the kind volunteers who add this lovely touch.

 
  There are not many safe moorings on this stretch and once you leave Curdworth, the next safe one  if you are heading up the Grand Union are the Star City moorings at Salford Junction.  Despite the rain we carried on up the 3 Minworth Locks passing through Curdworth Tunnel on the way.

Curdworth Tunnel

The further you head into Birmingham sadly the litter,discarded bikes, shopping trolleys, beer cans etc  increases and the graffiti does too!!! At Salford Junction you take a very sharp left turn onto the Grand Union Canal... not very well signposted

Salford Junction

 The M6 looms overhead as you enter the Grand Union Canal.  Shortly after turning, the secure moorings called 'Star City' are on your left.  The moorings are great, a large pontoon which could hold approximately 5 boats on the offside and has gated access outside with a CRT key. This then leads to the Star City Amusement complex... which is HUGE.. with the usual Costa, Nandos, cinemas, bowling and amusements etc.  After our hectic, wet day, having traveled 6.5hrs we treated ourselves to a big Kentucky banquet washed down with some wine!!,

Alweras to Fazeley

We left Alweras on Thursday 25th July at 6.30am (the hottest day on record) to do the locks and give Nugget a walk before the sun got going.

Cows keeping cool

All the locks were in our favour and we had a lovely cruise through to Fradley Junction.  The boating facilities here are great . Leaving the Trent & Mersey, turning left at Fradley Junction, we moored at the beginning of the Coventry Canal where luckily we had some shade from the trees. We enjoyed a pub lunch in The Swan  where they had plenty of fans attempting to keep customers cool. Sometime later we returned to Coventina, currently masquerading as an oven (33'C)

Fradley Junction

Last night we moored near Hademore Farm Bridge - still a warm day but much more pleasant. A short walk takes you into the local village of Whittington.  A lovely place with a Co-op, pubs, chinese take-away and a large park. Nugget, Chris & Helen shared an Ice Cream! Cruising along just out of Whittington we passed a large forest area.  Boats are not allowed to moor in this area, sound advice, as this is where the  military do their rifle training.  😉.

 We later moored up at Drayton Brick Bridge and had a walk into the village Drayton Bassett, noting  the unusual footbridge on the way. 

 
Sir Robert Peel is buried in the churchyard of St Peters in the village.

St Peters Church - Drayton Bassett

You could fry an egg on the roof!!!

Sunday 21st July 2019 - The first overnight mooring of our summer trip was just above Aston Lock on the Trent and Mersey. A short walk over the bridge into Aston-on-Trent takes you into the village with plenty of pubs and a convenience store. Heading to Burton on Trent, we enjoyed a full English breakfast at the Mill House Hungry Horse pub next to Bridge 29a.The pub opens at 10am and is very good value at £4.65 including a cup of tea!

They have provided mooring rings outside the pub, however there is metal jutting out, so not good, however there is plenty of room on the towpath nearby.


48 hour visitor moorings at Burton-upon-Trent



As forecast the weather is getting hotter and hotter peaking on Thursday.  We spent Tuesday evening at Alrewas where there are plenty of good moorings. In the early hours we heard a regiment of tanks slowly approaching, rumbling with intent. They all opened fire at once complete with dramatic flashes. Nugget promptly ran for cover under the bed and refused to emerge for the next couple of hours as the storm slowly passed! Overnight the temperature refused to budge from 26'C - phew!