Alrewas on the T & M to Curdworth on the B & F

As the day seemed to go on for ever yesterday we decided that a 7 am start might be beneficial. We had 3 locks at Fradley to do and we didn't want a repeat of the queues from the day before. Absolutely no worries this time as the locks were set for us by Dave and Heather on Bracken as they went through. We turned left onto the Coventry and was set to enjoy 11 miles of lock free cruising. Well every man and his dog was out to get us. Two boaters wouldn't stop at bridge ole's even though it was our bridge. Rapid reversing was in order, One private boater that I had waved through at another bridge did no more then head straight for the bank instead of the hole and with a mighty crash that must have rattled his pots and pans, veered off onto the other side He then beckoned  me through so I gingerly made my way toward him only for him to veer of again and head straight for me and only  by a nifty bit of  maneuvering by yours truly, managed to miss him altogether. Then to top it all I was passing a moored boat when yet another  boater came toward me and instead of hanging back because we were on a very narrow stretch, decided he didn't want to wait and forced me into the thickets where not only did he hit me but scrapped all along the side of the moored boat as well! So after picking up my jangled nerves, we finally turned right onto the Birmingham and Fazley canal and have now moored at the Dog and Doublet by Curdworth Lock 9.


Aston Villa Ground




I noticed on the Curdworth locks that the bottom gates are not the usual doubles. The seal was very good with no water leaking through the wood. Maybe all single locks should have gates of this design as the saving of water would be tremendous.