Boozin' and Cruisin' through the East Midlands (Part 5)

 Day 9 - Sunday

This is the view from the canal as you leave Burton, heading south on the Trent & Mersey Canal.

Next stop Alrewas...passing through several locks along the way. This stretch of the Trent & Mersey is quite pleasant, but there is the constant presence of the A38 that's never far away.

There are three pubs in Alrewas, but it is a few years since we stopped there. This time, we tied up at the first avaialble mooring and headed into the village. The first pub we came across was the William IV, a place we haven't visited for many, many years.

It's a comfortable village pub that was almost full when we arrived. We were informed that there was no space for us to eat Sunday lunch, but we could sit down and drink in the small area reserved for drinkers. However, the landlord did his best to retain us as his customers by suggesting that, if we waited about 45 minutes, he was sure that at least one table would become available...and he was right. One couple left after their meal giving us the opportunity to have the best value Sunday lunch you'll find anywhere (which explained exactly why the pub was so popular!)

This wasn't a carvery, but a plated full Sunday roast was a mere £5.99p, delivered to the table...I almost told him that he should charge a couple of quid more (and it would still be good value!), but decided against it! Certainly one of the best customer service experiences of the holiday!

Then it was back to Peggy Ellen for a somewhat drizzly afternoon trip to Fradley Junction (not the right time for the Swan Inn) and along the Coventry Canal to Hopwas and the Tame Otter.

We chose the Tame Otter because we knew that they served food till 8pm on a Sunday (it's a Vintage Inn) and it's always reasonable.

Day 10 - Monday

Since it was fully opened in 1789, the Coventry Canal has always been a busy route as it links the Trent & Mersey to the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal and the Oxford Canal giving a link to the Grand Union Canal to London. In the modern era it is still a busy waterway!

Since leaving the River Trent, the traffic had steadily gotten busier and the Coventry Canal was as busy as we could remember it ever being. It is a canal of few locks, but the two at Glascote can add hours to a day's journey. This time we were fourth in the queue, but at the head of that queue was a pair of traditional boats which were being hauled through the locks by a husband and wife team and their two young children. A magnificent sight, but an extra hour (plus) on our journey.

So, rather than pushing on to Polesworth, we stopped at the Gate Inn in Amington.

A pleasant boozer with a perfect location for us boaters as we moored up right outside the pub. It was very quiet (Monday lunchtime!), but both the beer/lager and food were very welcome.

Atherstone was to be our evening stop, but we didn't know at this stage whether we'd have to stop after six locks of the Atherstone flight, or whether we could make it through all eleven before darkness fell.

We were in luck - all of the boats we'd been following most of the afternoon either stopped or turned around...and the traditional pair from earlier had also moored up for the night. Once we'd entered the flight there was a fairly steady stream of boats coming down meaning less work and a quicker passage for us.

Mooring above the top lock at Atherstone was quite competitive, but we found a spot about ¼ mile from the bridge. So, we headed into town for the Market Square.

Considering it was a Monday evening, The Angel was doing a very nice trade and we struggled to find a seat...but the Citra was very nice! After a couple of pints we went in search of food. I think it's fair to say that Atherstone isn't a place for gourmet dining (we've had previous bad experiences!), but we managed to find an Indian restaurant which was perfectly adequate!

Then we moved on to the next pub we came across - the Black Horse (and a bit more Bass porn for the afficionados!)

A cosy little pub that we've been unable to get in previously, but it wasn't very busy on a Monday evening (despite/because of having hand pulled Bass available!!)

...and there I must leave you again! Our journey is nearing it's conclusion, but I didn't think it would occupy this many posts!

(To be continued)

#244 The Barton Turns, Barton-under-Needwood, Staffordshire : 2009 to 2017

I start this entry with two expressions of disbelief; firstly I can't believe that I wrote nothing in the whole of April and secondly, I can't believe that we didn't ever stop at The Barton Turns before 2015! But the photographic evidence never lies.

The stretch of canal from Fradley Junction heading North is a route that, in past years, we've tended not to use too often which goes some way to explaining why we'd never stopped there before.

 The closest we came was in 1983 when we walked across fields to get to the village of Barton-under-Needwood, but that was before I'd started photographing our pub visits and, also, The Barton Turns isn't in the village; it is by the side of the canal.

These pictures are from the afternoon of Monday 31st August 2009 and we didn't even stop. This was the first year that I'd had a digital camera so I was taking lots of photos and these were taken from the boat as we passed through the lock. We'd had lunch in Alrewas and would spend the evening in Burton.

That passing shot was from Emma Jane, but with the advent of Peggy Ellen and her mooring at Kings Bromley, this stretch of the Trent & Mersey Canal has become more frequented than previously.

This was the view on the evening of Sunday 5th April 2015 when we finally had our first pint in The Barton Turns. And what a lovely little pub it is

So nice, in fact, that we returned after our stroll into the village for our evening meal. The Barton Turns does food, but not on the evening of Easter Sunday when we were there.

'Twas a few brief months before our return on the evening of Friday 21st August 2015.

In that short space of time, the ivy had been trimmed back with a concomitant loss of a letter 'T'. Also, a new sign had appeared.

Our most recent visit was at lunchtime on Friday 14th April 2017.

We spent the whole session there and had a very pleasant meal. Not surprisingly, the ivy had grown back and we'll never know whether the 'T' had been replaced!

#202 The Navigation, Alrewas, Staffordshire : 1986 to 2015 (RIP)

Our first ever visit to Alrewas saw us go to three of the four pubs that were in the village back then. It was an evening visit on Monday 28th July 1986.

The Navigation was a big Ind Coope pub on the edge of the village and I can recall nothing remarkable about it!

Although we'd visited Alrewas on several occasions, we didn't revisit The Navigation for 17 years on the evening of Saturday 23rd August 2003.

Needless to say, there had been a few changes including the name as it was now called The Old Boat. The only reason we were back here was because our visit to Alrewas coincided with the Wychnor Boat Rally meaning that all of the pubs in the centre of the village were packed and we couldn't get any food! By the time we'd got to The Old Boat, they had stopped serving food. So, it was "Call a Cab" time and we disappeared into Lichfield for the rest of the evening!

As we were approaching Alrewas on our most recent visit there I took this shot of Delhi Divan, the restaurant that now occupies what was The Navigation.

This was taken from the Trent & Mersey Canal in the late morning of Friday 3rd April 2015. From what I can gather, it opened in 2014 and gets very good reviews on TripAdvisor. At least it is still being used for 'entertainment' purposes!  

#194 The Crown Inn, Alrewas, Staffordshire : 1997 to 2015

Alrewas is a lovely village on the Trent & Mersey Canal that we've only visited infrequently because of its position relative to our canal cruising round trips. There are at least three pubs in the village (at time of writing!) so it is always a welcome stop when we are passing through.

The first time we visited The Crown Inn was on the evening of Monday 1st September 1997 on our way back from Nottingham.

I don't remember much about the interior other than it being a comfortable village pub that served food.

We returned to Alrewas on the evening of Saturday 23rd August 2003.

This coincided with the Wychnor Boat Rally that is held each August Bank Holiday so the pubs in the village were packed. We couldn't get any food so we decamped to Lichfield for the rest of the evening.

Our next foray into Alrewas was at lunchtime on Monday 31st August 2009, this time heading towards Nottingham.

Again, there is little discernible change to the exterior, the only minor changes being the removal of the parasols and the disappearance of the crown sign that had appeared in 2003.

Our most recent visit to Alrewas was at lunchtime on Good Friday 3rd April 2015.

Now that's what I call a transformation! Twelve years and virtually no changes...and then this! Inside it is now done out in the modern pub and dining style, but fortunately it hasn't gone all the way to being a restaurant. To see pictures, The Crown website is here.