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.