Ooops, We Went Missing!

 Saturday 7th June 2025 in Bradley Green.

 Well! Our apologies, as we are so very far behind with this diary! Our excuse is that various (lovely) things have called us home three successive weekends in June. It is actually the 28th as we write this and, so far, we have spent 14 days on the boat and 14 days at home, plus a number of days going to retrieve the car from one location and drive it to the next. Anyway, enough excuses, back to the 7th June....

At Tamworth, the Trent & Mersey Canal passes the junction with the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal. A splendid former warehouse still presides over the junction. We did go that way once, but not this time.

 

 We were amused to see this WWII pillbox at the end of the aqueduct over the Tame River in Tamworth. A reminder that rivers and canals were once "lines of resistance" in the event of a German invasion. 

 

 Glascote Locks are known to boaters as "Piggy Bank Locks" because they are slow to fill but quick to empty. A chap called Paul used to live in this lockside cottage and rather eccentrically collected bricks with different makers' names in the "frog". He once invited M to view his collection, which was certainly an original chat-up line! M laughed (but did go to see the bricks)!

At Alvecote Marina we saw "Capricorn", formerly a working boat used by the "Idle Women" in WWII. We also saw her last year at Aston Lock, our last lock on our 2024 Summer Cruise, when we heard her more recent history from her current owner.

Polesworth was once a massive coal mine in the "Dark Satanic Mills" era. It is now a huge nature reserve, densely wooded and a haven for wildlife. The mines may have gone but all the paths are still made of coal dust.

On the very top of a huge spoil heap in the middle of the nature reserve is this golden monolith. In cross section it is in the shape of Birch leaves, stacked one on top of the other; it represents all the Prehistoric Birch trees that lived on this site and created the coal that was mined here.

R standing next to the monolith gives a good idea of its scale.

The view from the top of the spoil heap is spectacular as it is the highest point for miles around.

 We have occasionally seen rowing boats used in gardens as planters, but this is taking that idea to extremes. Over the years, this ex-working boat has gradually become more and more luxuriant until it is now a garden unto itself. M decided it is an Ent!

Our mooring for the night was very quiet.

That evening, there was a very red sunset that even made the national news. Apparently it was caused by smoke from Canadian wild files. In reality, it was much redder than it appears in the photograph.

 Today: 10 miles, 2 locks and 4.2 hours.

Trip: 39 miles,10 locks and 18.0 hours.