Back to MM and on to Tamworth

Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th may 2019 at Tamworth.
Three trains from Redhill to Lichfield Trent Valley Station and a short taxi ride brought us back to MM by 2:30 in the marina at King's Orchard. After recovering the deposit on the pontoon access key, we set off again.

This is a lovely stretch of countryside and we have moored beside this bridge and walked over it many times as it is the way to walk into Lichfield.

We only moved a mile along the canal and moored up for the night just before Huddlesford Junction.

To our delight, we spotted a woodpecker perched in the tree opposite. Sadly, it was gone before we could get to the camera.
The evening light was beautiful and we were very happy to be back on MM.

There was overnight rain and the rain persisted into the morning so we were in no hurry to leave. Two early visitors were these lovely fellows who came to investigate what was going on in the kitchen.

These fields reminded us of wild flower meadows with poppies, cow parsley and meadow buttercups.

Huddlesford Junction is where the former Lichfield canal branches off the Coventry Canal. It is currently only "in water" for half a mile, but it is the subject of a very active restoration project and anyone driving on the M6 Toll will be familiar with the aqueduct that, one day, may carry the canal over the motorway and towards Birmingham.

Thus far, we have been on the Coventry Canal, but this stone marks the "junction" with the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal, whose promoters became so impatient with the slow progress of the Coventry Canal builders that they started building their own canal from Fazeley to meet them half way! So, if you moor here, your boat could straddle two canals at once!

Bridges on the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal all have names rather than the more usual numbers - much more interesting!

At Tamworth, the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal branches off towards Birmingham while we continued to follow the Coventry Canal towards Coventry.

The proximity of an M&S store meant that we had to stop for M to acquire a "few bits", while R passed the time happily in a familiar establishment!

The two Glascote Locks are cheerily nicknamed "Piggy Bank" locks as they are very slow to fill, but quick to empty! No sign of our old friend Paul of brick collecting fame, but the tale of the "Leaky Lock" is still there on the fence.

Although technically still in Tamworth, we found a quiet spot (with rings) to moor up on the outskirts, so this was our overnight stop.

Today: 10 miles, 2 locks and 4.2 hours.
Trip: 34 miles, 10 locks and 14.1 hours.