Tuesday, 24 September 2013

An Unexpected Find on Top of a Spoil Heap!

Tuesday 24th September, 2013 in Alvecote.
A cloudy day with a hint of watery sunshine. We set off late, but no matter, we don't have a deadline to meet. We passed right under a beautiful willow tree that formed an arch over the canal and mirrored the bridge beyond it.

Just before Fazeley Junction is Peel's Wharf and we stopped to take on water. The chocolate boat from the Heritage Gathering at the weekend was just leaving the water point as we arrived. The small section on the bow is where they make the chocolate. We ate all the chocolates long ago!

Fazeley Junction is where the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal branches off towards Birmingham, but we will continue along the Coventry Canal. It is an attractive junction, with its old mill building and the usual signposts.
We moored up a little further along and walked the half mile into Tamworth where there was an M&S for M:
And, opposite, a Costa Coffee for R - who then helped to carry back the "few bits" that M had bought in M&S. That's R, in the photo below, making a bee-line for Costa!
Lunch consisted of biscuits and some of the wonderful cheeses that we had bought at the Heritage Gathering. Delicious!
We cruised on towards Alvecote where we moored up next to the ruins of Alvecote Priory, a Benedictine Priory that was destroyed in the Reformation. We walked along the towpath to the site of the Priory, very little of which remains - but it was quite atmospheric in the evening sunshine.
On the way back, we found that we had moored up next to the Pooley Field nature reserve on the site of an old colliery, so we followed the path through it on what proved to be a delightful walk. The nature reserve is now densely wooded, mainly with beech and birch trees, and has several large lakes formed from mining subsidence. At the far end of the reserve there was an old spoil heap, also now densely covered in trees. The spoil heap must be about three hundred feet high, so we toiled up to the top and were rewarded with splendid views in all directions (unfortunately including the M42). 
To our astonishment, there was a very strange monument right at the top. It was erected in 2011 and is in the form of a stack of beech leaves made of aluminium and painted gold. It looked lovely in the rays of the setting sun.  There was no plaque to indicate its purpose.  It really is surprising what one comes across unexpectedly! That's R at the bottom looking up it in awe!
Today: 6 miles, 2 locks and 3.0 hours (plus 4.7 hours yesterday).
Trip: 421 miles, 316 locks and 358.3 hours.

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