Two Closed Cafes

Saturday 13th June 2026 at Stone.

 M got up early at 3.45am to listen to the dawn chorus already in full swing from the huge mature beech and sycamore trees beside our mooring.  However, this proved to be in vain, as the birdsong was completely drowned out by the racket coming from a large flock of quarrelling Canada Geese! They are most definitely not our favourite creatures at the best of times.

Later another visitor tapped on the window in the hopes of some breakfast for her family of cygnets. Not having any bird food or bread, we did try porridge oats, but they sank as soon as they touched the water. We had more success with cornflakes, so the swans were happy!.

 We had arranged some time ago to have breakfast with Bridgett and Peter in the Saracen's Head over the road from their house.Again, this establishment has been the site of many gathering of friends and, as ever, the breakfast and the company lived up to expectations.

After breakfast we said sad farewells to Bridgett and Peter and we promised to drop in by car in the not too distant future. What lovely friends they are!

Sandon Lock has often been the first and/or last lock on many of our trips from Aston Marina, where we moored MM for 12 years. This time, unusually,  there was a queue of three boats waiting to go up through the lock, which delayed us a little but we were soon through.

The penultimate bridge before Aston Marina we call Sheep Bridge because we have often seen sheep wandering across it. Today they were all the the next field and the bridge was closed off so it looked sad and lonely with no sheep looking down at us as we passed underneath.

 

We definitely could not pass Aston Marina without dropping in to see the guys. Unfortunately Nick, the Moorings Manager, was off this weekend but we did see Sandra and Nick's son Tobias, who has started working at the Marina having finished at University. We also took the opportunity to top up with diesel.

Finally, we arrived in Stone quite late in the day to find, predictably, that there were very few moorings available, so we ended up quite a long was from Star Lock.

As soon as we had moored up, we set off for the town because we wanted to visit Donna and Gaynor in the Secret Tea Room before they closed at 4:00pm, not least because they are due to retire soon. On the way we passed a young lad and his Dad just as they caught a large crayfish. They were totally astonished and clearly didn't know what to do with it. We do know there are two species of crayfish in our waterways. one of which is native but the other is a highly unwelcome and invasive type.  Unfortunately, M couldn't remember which is which! 

Having finally arrived at the Secret Tearoom, we were disappointed to find that it was already closed. Knowing that Donna and Gaynor want to retire soon, we will try to drop in with the car when next we are passing. In the meantime we will drop them a note to say how sorry we were to have missed them.

M needed a few bits, so we went to M&S intending to have a cuppa and cake in their cafe. A prospect made sweeter by the fact that M had an M&S voucher for £2 off in the cafe. Imagine our horror to find that the M&S cafe closed for good a couple of months ago. However, M was prepared to forgive them (just!) because they did have fresh peas in their pods - the first of the season! So, we went back to MM for tea and coffee instead.

Today: 6 Miles, 2 Locks and 2.2 Hours.

Trip: 149 Miles, 90 Locks and 70.0 Hours.

Bridgett and Peter.

 Friday 12th June 2026 in Weston-upon-Trent.

The day began with breakfast at the Canalside Cafe close to our overnight mooring at Great Haywood. This Cafe has been the site of "many meetings" with local friends. Coincidentally, our friends Mel and Peter, who live only 5 miles from here, were at that moment 5 miles from our house in Meadvale on their way to Gatwick. Very poor planning!

 

 Last night we came through Haywood Lock in the rain, knowing that it would be closed this morning for repairs to the ground paddle. So, for the second time in three days, we watched a C&RT team put in stop planks and drain the lock to fix a broken paddle.

Soon after, we set off past the junction with the Staffs & Worcs Canal which eventually goes down to the River Severn, but that was not our route today and we continued on the Trent & Mersey going north.

 The first lock north of Great Haywood is Hoo Mill Lock; it was "against" us so R quickly moored up to a convenient post and went up to set the lock. Walking back to MM, he saw a small notice on the other side of  the post. We always joke that "No Mooring" notices often present very sturdy posts for mooring. How true!

We continued on to Weston-upon-Trent and moored up outside the beautiful house and garden of our good friends Bridgett and Peter. 

 When they saw that we had arrived, they joined us on board for tea and then very kindly invited us to join them for dinner. But first we had a tour of their lovely garden. Fairies abound there!

As always, had a splendid evening with them and opened a very special bottle of red wine which had been a gift at the launch party we held in Guildford in the autumn of 2011; we had been saving it for an occasion which warranted opening it and this was that occasion.  The conversation flowed so easily that it was way past M's bedtime when we crossed their garden back to the boat. Yet it was still quite light; we are very close to Midsummer's Day now. Yes, a late night for us but it was definitely worth it to spend time in the company of such special friends.

Today: 3 Miles, 2 Locks and 1.6 Hours.

Trip: 143 Miles, 88 Locks and 67.8 Hours.

A Very Wet Day.

 Thursday 11th June 2026 at Great Haywood

Thus far, we have been very lucky with the weather and we have largely avoided the rain. Not so today! The rain started early and looked to be set in for the day. We decided to walk to the nearby Tesco for breakfast and for a few bits. As we walked in, M saw a very welcome advertisement. Every June, M eagerly looks forward to the arrival of fresh peas in the shops so we entered Tesco in great anticipation.

But inside our hopes were dashed - not a fresh pea in sight. Still, the cafe breakfast was surprisingly good and very healthy - R had Summer Fruits French Toast, which was excellent.

M has always followed the Tour de France in the past but decided not to avail herself of this free guide as all the famous names that she remembers have long since retired.

Braving the rain, we set off towards Great Haywood and soon passed Brindley Bank and the infamous "Bloody Steps" where the murdered body of Christina Collins was found in the canal on 15th June 1839, 187 years ago less four days. She had innocently paid for a lift to London on a working narrowboat but the crew were not to be trusted. The story was used by Colin Dexter as the basis for one of his "Inspector Morse" series.

   Normally, Colwich Lock is one of our favourites and in the past we have often seen the local milking herd of cows ambling across the bridge next to the lock. Today, no cows, just more rain. 

 

We arrived at Great Haywood to find that mooring spaces were few and far between; hardly surprising as folk tend not to cruise in heavy rain - and who can blame them?  Normally, we would have continued cruising despite the rain but we have friends to meet over the weekend so decided to moor up for the night and continue tomorrow. At the water point, we disposed of our rubbish but R then had to back MM over 300 yards to the only space long enough to take her.  MM is the little yellow dot disappearing into the trees. R commented on how easy she is to reverse thanks to the Axiom propeller.

MM tucked into this space with just enough room. We were glad of the chance to dry out and warm up. The rain eased off a little later and we walked to the Canalside Cafe to treat ourselves to tea (coffee) and cake.

 Back at MM we both had a zizz. Cruising in the rain is very wearing!!

Today: 5 Miles, 2 Locks and 2.4 Hours.

Trip: 140 Miles, 86 Locks and 66.2 Hours.

HS2 Abandoned Destruction and a Broken Sluice.

 Wednesday 10th June 2026 in Rugeley.

Unsettled weather was promised but we decided on an early start so that we could get to Fradley Junction and have breakfast at the C&RT Cafe there.

The countryside around her is very rural with large fields put down to arable crops, namely wheat, maize, potatoes and (M hopes - PEAS!!).

Half way to Fradley, we passed Huddlesford Junction, where one day the Lichfield Canal may connect through to Birmingham. In the meantime, the arm provides private mooring, although the large "Stop" sign is hardly welcoming.

At Fradley, we moored up just before the water point and walked down to the Cafe. Sadly, these days it is only a take-away service but it is always a nice place to visit.

The Cafe staff are very friendly and helpful. M had a fish finger bap and R had a toasted teacake and marmalade.

One bold visitor to our table had his eyes on M's bap. He snatched up a bit and immediately made off with it, hotly pursued by a hopeful blackbird, followed by a determined pigeon!  

We returned to MM to find another Kingsground boat, nb Norwood, moored up beside us. She is twenty years old but the owners have only had her for three years.They are a lovely couple and absolutely delighted with her. 

 

There are two locks at Fradley; M was pleased to see dozens of  Early Purple Orchids next to the first lock. We have seen quite a few of these around Fradley but it is unusual to see so many in a small space like this.

 

 Above the second lock there was a field of wheat absolutely full of poppies. It looked lovely but the farmer may not be best pleased, as they will take nutrients from the main crop.

Just a few hundred yards further on, through lovely mature woodland, is a section of the woods that has been destroyed for HS2. Work on HS2 has now ceased this far north but the massive mounds of earth and the devastation remains. Will all this ever be returned to nature?  Somehow, we doubt it.

Earlier, we went past another site at Lichfield. All across the countryside around here are HS2 scars that have seemingly just been abandoned. The two huge brown scars in the bottom half of this picture used to be a productive farm, a small airfield and an equestrian centre. Only the isolated farmhouse survives, stripped of its farmland. What a waste - and for what?

There was one more lock ahead at Wood End but when we arrived we found that three C&RT chaps were there trying to fix the ground paddle, which was not sealing properly, thus making it difficult to empty the lock. To identify the problem they decided to put in stop planks and drain the water out.

It turned out that one of the guide runners that holds the sluice panel in place had come adrift - it's inside that black hole under the paddle mechanism. So they had no option but to try to get it to seal and then put that paddle out of action as they did not have the necessary equipment to replace the guide runner. Somebody will have to come and do that later. In the meantime the lock is still usable, so we were able to go through after a short delay of about one hour. All credit to the C&RT chaps who were so good humoured and were perfectly relaxed about having us as an audience!

Next to the lock is what was once a lovely cottage - but that too has fallen into the hands of HS2 and so is slowly rotting. Yet another waste!

Soon after is Armitage "tunnel", a very narrow section that used to be a tunnel until the sandstone roof caved in. M went ahead to check that there was nobody coming the other way as the far end cannot be seen from where we were. 

These houses on the outskirts of Rugeley have always amused us as they used to appear to have huge chimneys. Sadly, no more since the power station was demolished!

We moored up in the centre of Rugeley just as heavy rain arrived. We are not far from a large and excellent Tesco, our first stop tomorrow for a "few bits".

Today: 13 miles, 3 locks and 4.9 Hours.

Trip: 135 Miles, 84 Locks and 63.8 Hours.

A Short-lived Royal Underground Toilet.

 Tuesday 9th June 2026 near Huddlesford.

 In the last four days we have made good progress so we were in no hurry today and set off after breakfast towards Tamworth. The countryside is lovely and it's hard to believe this was once all an industrial landscape, a mass of collieries.  

Soon after setting off, we passed what used to be Pooley Hall Colliery but is now a large nature reserve. We stopped and moored up.

 At one end of the colliery site is a huge spoil heap a few hundred feet high. On the top of the spoil heap is a "Gold Monolith" that is visible for miles around. The cross section of the monolith is of a birch leaf to symbolise the trees and leaves that over millenia became the coal that was mined here. It's an imposing yet moving testimonial to all the trees and, indirectly, to all the miners.

The small red figure is R, standing next to it. The view from the top is spectacular in every direction although the surrounding trees grow taller every year so now you have to find gaps to peer through.

Pooley Hall Colliery was opened in 1850 and continued through to 1965. In 1926 it became famous because of a visit by the then Duke of York (later King George VI). The pit bottom was whitewashed and a "bucket" toilet installed with a rosewood seat - the first underground toilet in a mine in the country. The miners were instructed not to use it until after the Duke's visit. However, it was removed only a week later because the smell at the pit bottom had become unbearable!

At Tamworth we went through the two Glascote Locks, known as "the piggy bank locks" because they are slow to fill and quick to empty - a very accurate analogy! There was a "single hander" on a boat coming up through the bottom lock so we helped him through and set the locks in our favour at the same time. All the while, M had a very animated conversation with him about Laithwaites wines!!

We continued on through Hopwas and then through the army firing range with its warning notices.

Because that large area has restricted access it is a haven for wildlife; it's rare these day to see natural unmanaged woodland.

When the Coventry Canal Company ran out of money, the Trent & Mersey Canal Company stepped in and completed the section to Fradley Junction. This stone marks the point at which the Coventry becomes the Trent & Mersey. As usual, there was somebody moored across the marker stone! We have been up and down this length of waterway many times in our fifteen years of cruising and have always wanted to moor across two canals at once - but have always been thwarted in this endeavour!!

Not much further on we moored up as the sky was looking threatening and the wind was very blustery. In the end it didn't actually rain but we had done enough for today.

 Today: 11 Miles, 2 Locks and 4.6 Hours.

Trip: 122 Miles, 81 Locks and 58.9 Hours.

The Atherstone Flight.

Monday 8th June 2026 at Polesworth.

The weather forecast turned out to be correct and the rain started early in the morning. To pass the time, we walked into Atherstone to post some cards. M in particular was very upset to see that the old historic hat factory was now a very large pile of rubble. Atherstone was famed for its hats, which were exported all over the world. We had seen the old factory deteriorate year by year, with the windows all smashed etc.  Another bit of canal history lost ...

The huge jaws on the digger on the left were particularly scary; it looked like a prehistoric monster. Nobody seemed to know what was planned for the site but, talking to locals, the general opinion was that it would be more apartments. Such a shame that it wasn't converted to apartments while it was still in good condition. 

Around midday, the weather cleared so we decided to tackle the 11 locks of the Atherstone flight. C&RT volunteers set the first two locks for us and we encountered several boats coming up the flight so almost all the locks were in our favour. A "Good Road", as the working boat people used to say, and with M lock wheeling to set the lock ahead, we did all 11 locks in just one and a half hours.

M always loves this grass covered bridge with its footpath disappearing into the distance. It seems to call you to follow it ....

It seemed that we had hardly started when we reached the bottom lock with its lovely "lock gate" bench under the trees. The field behind was often planted with potatoes (for which Staffordshire is well known) but this year it is wheat.

MM nosed into the last of the Atherstone locks for the final time and still the sun shone on us.

The pretty lock flight is two miles long, so we only cruised another two miles before the weather again became threatening and we moored up in Polesworth as the rain began. Later, however, the blue skies returned so M was able to get a good photograph of our mooring. For an urban area, it is a very quiet and pleasant spot to moor up.

 Today: 4 miles, 11 Locks and 3.1 hours.

 Trip: 111 Miles, 79 Locks and 54.3 Hours.

A Very long Day to Atherstone.

 Sunday 7th June 2026 in Atherstone.

 Today, the weather is forecast to be fine but tomorrow rain is predicted almost all day. As a result, we decided to do a long day today so that we could relax and not travel far tomorrow if the forecast proved to be correct. We set off at about half past seven, leaving Rugby behind.

At Brinklow, there is a very narrow cutting built by Thomas Telford when he straightened out much of Brindley's original very circuitous contour canal. The bridge before the cutting was receiving some attention.

 

The cutting has always had problems with land slips and when we came through last year there were two major ones which had buried much of the towpath. Since then, the whole side of the cutting has been cut right back to prevent future problems where each of the landslides had occurred. Major, and expensive, work.

There was only one lock today, the six inch "Stop Lock" at Hawkesbury Junction designed to "stop" the North Oxford from stealing the Coventry Canal's water. This was common practice when rival canal companies competed for trade. For the same reason, there is a former Toll House at the junction.

 

M has always admired the garden next to the lock but today it looked  a tad overgrown and neglected. Some weeding needs to be done! It was still pretty, though.

 

The turn from the North Oxford on to the Coventry Canal is renowned for being a very tight 180 degrees but MM went round without any problems (thanks to R's excellent skills, says M!)..

 

 Most of today was just cruising, so not a lot of photographs or drama. At the junction of the Ashby Canal we had to hover to allow a boat to turn into the Ashby, another tight turn, especially when approaching from the south..

This nostalgic sight is a relic of a bygone age and now stands alone, unconnected to any friends. In its heyday it might have carried twenty-four telephone conversations alongside the canal. Today, it is all fibre optic cables buried below the towpath capable of carrying tens of thousands of calls at the same time. 

The site of Roman Mancetter is believed to be the last battle of Boudica against the Romans, which took place c.AD 60-61. A sign identifies the spot although with a ? in the title to acknowledge that many other places also claim the same!

When we eventually arrived at Atherstone, we were told that a floating market had taken all the visitors moorings, so we moored in the last available spot half a mile from the town after nearly nine hours travelling.

Today 24 miles, 1 Lock and 8.7 hours.

Trip 107 miles, 68 Locks and 51.2 Hours.