Canal Pub Crawling - Part 3

We pick up our journey having spent an evening in Curdworth at The Beehive and White Horse, neither of which are canalside pubs.

DAY 5

BIRMINGHAM & FAZELEY CANAL - Curdworth to Fazeley Junction

COVENTRY CANAL - Fazeley Junction to Atherstone (above lock 6)

Again, we set out at about 09:30 with the aim of descending Curdworth Locks and having a lunchtime stop at Fazeley.

The first pub we passed was the Dog & Doublet, Bodymoor Heath B76 9JD at 11:30, but it was too early to think about stopping. We have visited there in the past and it is a great little pub.

Also, there were still a few more locks to be negotiated and we finally moored up at Fazeley Junction at 13:10. The pub we selected for our first pint wasn't, technically on our route (we were turning right at the junction and this pub is 100 yards to the left!) but we still went to the Three Tuns Inn, Fazeley B78 3QS.

This view from the A5 doesn't give the impression of a canalside boozer, but the garden at the back leads all the way down to the canal. It is under relatively new management and they don't do food anymore, but it is still a proper boozer. So, we had a pint and moved on to the Fazeley Victory (for Lunch) and the Three Horseshoes (still a great little pub).

So, it was back to the canal and onwards onto the Coventry Canal. It wasn't long before we were passing another watering hole.

The Gate Inn, Amington B77 3BY was the next canalside boozer we passed by at 16:25. Although the picture doesn't show it, the garden was very busy on a nice sunny Sunday afternoon. This is a pub we've stopped at previously, but not very often as it is only 90 minutes away from Fazeley, our preferred stopping place.

We continued our journey, passing another place we've never stopped at (16:55).

The Samuel Barlow, Alvecote B78 1AS is part of Alvecote Marina and is a relatively new addition to the canalside hostelries club having been built in 2003.

Again, it was way too early to stop as we pushed on to Atherstone. We passed through Polesworth which has several pubs, but none of them are overtly canalside. Having been caught in a late deluge, we moored up halfway up the Atherstone flight of locks just after 20:00. As we headed into town I took this picture of another pub we weren't going into today!

The King's Head, Atherstone CV9 2PA is another pub that we've occasionally visited, but when there are so many other pubs to choose from in the town, it tends to lose out! Today was no different and we walked into Atherstone for several pints and a curry.

DAY 6

COVENTRY CANAL - Atherstone (above Lock 6) to Hawkesbury Junction

OXFORD CANAL - Hawkesbury Junction to Newbold-on-Avon

We started off in drizzle and rain which didn't really abate much until our lunchtime stop, but we did pass another pub that we've visited in the past.

It was 11:05 and as tepmting a proposition as it was, it was still too early to stop at The Anchor Inn, Hartshill CV10 0RT. It looks as though it has been refurbished since our last visit, but being about 90 minutes 'sailing' time away from Atherstone it is generally a place we pass by.

After another couple of hours, passing through Nuneaton (no canalside boozers!) and close to Bedworth (and the now defunct Navigation which is a rather large private residence [that is up for sale]) we arrived at Hawkesbury Junction and a pub that it would be a crime to pass by.

The Greyhound Inn, Longford CV6 6DF is a proper 'old school' canalside pub that also does great food. There have been times when it has been so full that we've caught a taxi into Coventry! Being a cool, grey Monday, I was half expecting it to be closed, but it wasn't and we had our obligatory three lunchtime pints and some lovely food.

Now we were on the homeward stretch of the journey as we joined the Oxford Canal by passing through Sutton Stop Lock. The rest of the afternoon was grey and drizzly and we passed no canalside pubs before our evening stop. The Elephant & Castle closed many years ago (and we'd never visited it as it was only 20 minutes away from The Greyhound!) and I'm not counting the Rose & Castle in Ansty. Althoiugh the garden runs down to the canal, there's nowhere to moor and access is always via the road!

So, the next pub we came to was the Barley Mow, Newbold-on-Avon CV21 1HW, by which time it was 19:50.

Back in the day, this used to be two pubs actually next-door to each other! Now they've been combined to provide a pub and hotel. There were plenty of locals in the bar and there is a restaurant section, but we preferred to eat in the bar where there was some atmosphere...it was a fairly quiet Monday night!.

DAY 7
OXFORD CANAL - Newbold-on-Avon to Braunston Turn
GRAND UNION/OXFORD CANAL - Braunston Turn to Wigram's Turn Marina

This was the final leg of our journey and, as we both had to dash off to prior engagements as soon as we got back to base...we didn't stop for lunch!

After Newbold you get to Rugby quite quickly and we passed by a pub that we used a few times when it was first built, but it is now a Harvester which seems to have turned its back on the canal.

It was only 09:45 when we passed the Bell & Barge, Rugby CV21 1RG, so we wouldn't have stopped anyway, but you can see how the mooring has become so overgrown.

The next, and final pub we passed was something of a surprise.

It was 11:45 when we passed The Waterside, Hillmorton CV21 4PW and, on another day, we may well have stopped for an early lunch...but not today! However, that wasn't the surprise. The penultimate time we'd passed this way, we did stop at the Old Royal Oak which had been the name of this pub since my first visit on my first canal trip in 1980. Indeed, it was still the Old Royal Oak in September 2018 when we last passed this way, but (from what I can glean from TripAdvisor) it changed from a Hungry Horse into a Pub & Carvery in October/November 2018.

We pushed on, past Braunston (not passing any more canalside pubs) and on to Wigram's Turn.

So, on this leg of the trip we passed 10 canalside pubs and went into just three, which is the best percentage of the whole trip.

In conclusion, in seven days we passed 34 canalside pubs and actually went into just 8 of them. Of those 34 pubs, we have never been in 5 of them! (The trip was 104 miles, passing through 120 locks and took 50 hours 5 minutes)

Had we stopped at every pub, we would never have completed the journey in 7 days, but if time was not part of the equation, you could probably do it in about a fortnight without any stress.

What has really surprised me is that, before we did this, I'd have estimated that we stop at about 50% of the canalside pubs, whereas the reality is 23.5%. (Although, over the years, we have been in 85% of them).