Boozin' and Cruisin' through the East Midlands (Part 6)

 Day 11 - Tuesday

We're on the final leg of our little tour of the Midlands and now moving away from the hub of Life After Football country!

The journey from Atherstone takes us through Hartshill (nice pub, the Anchor, but I haven't been for several years...bad timing!) and through Nuneaton heading for our lunchtime destination of The Greyhound at Hawkesbury Junction.

The gazebo/tent for outdoor service has gone and the pub is almost back to normal...except that it was table service via an app (which actually worked well!). This meant that for today's Bass porn you don't get to see the hand pump...just an 'interracial' threesome on a bar room table!

I've already played this game on Twitter - guess which is my pint!

Following a very pleasant lunchtime session we set off for a rare trip into Coventry - UK City of Culture 2021. The final 5-mile stretch of the Coventry Canal has become increasingly more pleasant over the past few years as decaying industry and derelict factories get turned into residential complexes. The canal basin at the terminus is still a lovely little haven, although mooring was at a premium as certain places had to be booked in advance because of Coventry's new-found status. We just managed to squeeze Peggy Ellen into a (semi) legal mooring spot.

And so, into Coventry we ventured! In the past we've struggled to find decent pubs in the city, but with the help of Retired Martin we headed for this gem!

Without Martin's excellent blog (and Google Maps) we would never have discovered this lovely pub...the Town Wall Tavern...a proper local in the city centre!

After a couple of pints we moved on in search of food - a lovely Italian - through the rain which always seems to accompany our jaunts into Coventry city centre (whether forecast or not!). Then it was onward to our final pub of the evening.

Yes, The Flying Standard is a Wetherspoon's, but it was now after 10pm and not much else was open! The rain finally eased and, after a couple of pints, we strolled back to Coventry Canal Basin and our slightly dodgy mooring!

Day 12 - Wednesday

 

In the morning we retraced our route out of Coventry to Hawkesbury Junction where we joined the (North) Oxford Canal. It was way too early to stop at The Greyhound again, so we pushed on to Ansty.

It is a good many years since I've been to the Rose & Castle and it has undergone a complete external transformation (#035 UPDATE). Inside, however, was pretty much as I remembered it. In reality the Rose & Castle is no longer a pub (and hasn't been for many years), but it was almost full on this Wednesday lunchtime so you can't really argue with their model! The food was good, the beer satisfied, so what's not to like!

The afternoon's cruising took us to Rugby with a brief stop for a pump-out at Rose Narrowboats. It was my intention to take my shipmates to some of the fine pubs we visited on our Proper Day Out to Rugby in 2019. As our mooring was well over a mile away from the town centre, we called a cab, first stop The Seven Stars.

My travelling companions were as impressed as I'd hoped, but we had to go after one pint as there were other pubs to see! Next stop the Alexandra Arms...except it only opens on Thursdays to Sundays (and it is now the Alexandra Tavern!)

 

So, it was back to an old favourite - The Squirrel.

Unfortunatey, for us, it was 'Open Mic' night so the place was packed, but we managed to get seats...without a table! It obviously works well for the pub, but not really our thing. We scurried out after a pint, had a Chinese meal across the road and finished off in The Rupert Brooke.

Yes, I know it's the town Wetherspoon's (two nights running!), but both the Victoria Inn and Merchant's Stores were in the wrong direction for us!

 

Day 13 - Thursday

 

Next morning gave us a pleasant session of Hillmorton Locks which can, sometimes, take ages to get through, but with the help of the Canal & River Trust volunteers, we traversed the three locks without delay. This meant a relatively early lunch stop at a pub that I'd visited on my first ever canal trip in 1980 (and moored in the exact same spot!).

Back then it was a proper country pub called The Old Royal Oak, now it is a Greene King Pub & Carvery called The Waterside.

Despite the fact it was Thursday lunchtime, carvery was the only menu choice (or hot roast baps!). Not ideal, but we coped...as usual!

 

Our afternoon was taken up with the relatively short stretch to Braunston where our first pub of the trip became our last pub as well.

Our final evening of the trip, back in The Boat House, which was as pleasant and satisfying as ever.

 

Day 14 - Friday

 

This just left us the 90 - 110 minute journey back to Wigrams Turn Marina. We'd agreed on a breakfast free, early start, but a mis-communication between the Captain and his crew saw us get underway at the ungodly remarkably early time of 7:10 am! The crew had been expecting an 8:00 am start (after the Captain's morning walk, which never happened!) and were somewhat startled as the engine started up just after 7 am! 

 

Our Captain (and proprietor) was under the impression that this was normal procedure for the final morning trip back to the marina, but I do believe that he had mistaken us for a different crew that he also journeys along the waterways with! No real hardship and we were back at the marina and on the road home by about 10:00 am at the end of another thoroughly enjoyable trip aboard Peggy Ellen!

 

THE END

Boozin' & Cruisin' through the East Midlands (Part 1)

 It's been a while since my last post and a few weeks since we returned from our most recent canal trip, which compared to recent years, was relatively uneventful!

Day 1 - Saturday

We left Wigrams Turn Marina at Napton just before noon and arrived at our designated lunch stop, The Boathouse at Braunston in plenty of time.

It's a pub we've visited many times in the past and it is still a solid Marstons pub that majors on food. It delivered again!

The canal had been very busy on the trip to Braunston and we were unsure how long it would take us to negotiate the six locks that lead to the tunnel - especially as there is a hire base nearby!

We struck very lucky, two boats exited the bottom lock just as we were approaching and only one of the hire boats was ready to depart, so they shared the lock with us. There was little drama in ascending the lock flight and I even had time to take a photo of the Admiral Nelson which stands by the third lock up.

Sadly, there was no time for a pint, but in the past we've managed to squeeze in a swift half (or more) whilst queueing for this lock. So, it was onward and upwards through the rest of the locks and a busy Braunston Tunnel to our evening destination of the New Inn at Long Buckby.

It is a pub I've reported on before and, whilst it is a lovely pub it has been seriously let down by it's management in the past - #192 - again it didn't disappoint on that front. It was 6:45pm, the pub was virtually deserted and yet, they were fully booked for food! After a brief discussion, we called a cab and went into Daventry...for the first time in many years!

The taxi driver dropped us off in the town centre and we went into the first pub we found.

The Plume of Feathers was a lively proper town centre boozer that did have cask ale available. However, we were getting a bit peckish by now so strolled along the High Street until we found our saviour!

Where else is there to eat on a Saturday night in small town England apart from the local 'Spoons! The Saracen's Head was also quite busy and they were still operating table service for food.

After our sumptuous repast, we popped across the road to a pub that I did remember from a previous excursion to Daventry.

Last time we were here, the Dun Cow was a fairly standard boozer; a far cry from the modern day, upmarket gin palace that it has become! All too soon it was time to call the taxi firm again and return to the canal.

 

Day 2 - Sunday

 

Sundays are rapidly becoming the most difficult days on the canal for finding food and drink at civilised times!

 

Our first obstacle was Watford Locks which have restricted opening times and there was a queue. Fortunately, there was a full complement of volunteer lock keepers so the whole process flowed smoothly and efficiently. However, it still meant that we were quite late arriving at Crick, not getting to the pub until 1:45pm.

Fortunately, The Wheatsheaf was still serving food and a very pleasant Sunday roast it was too.

 

At this stage we knew that there would be no food available at our evening stop in North Kilworth so we acquired supplies from the village Co-op over the road from the pub.

 

It is quite a stroll to the pub in North Kilworth from the canal, but after our Chicken Carbonara we were ready for a few pints to wash away the taste it down and the pub website said that they were open until 11pm.

We arrived at the White Lion just after 8pm only to find that they were closing! They did serve us a pint each and after chatting to the bar staff we understood what had happened. Apparently, the gaffer had been making a really good go of it and the pub was doing very well. But the pandemic came along which knocked the stuffing out of him and he'd lost interest! (A not uncommon tale I suspect!) Hence the 'To Let' sign outside!

 After another pint and a vain attempt to get a taxi to anywhere nearby for less than £25, we bought some wine and beer to take out and shuffled back to the boat for a quiet night in!

 

After promising you that this trip was relatively uneventful, it was quite a 'difficult' first couple of evenings...it does get better!

 

(To Be Continued)

#283 Boat Inn, Birdingbury Wharf, Warwickshire : 1998 to 2020

In these dark days of a winter lockdown it is hard to remain optimistic and upbeat about pubs in the knowledge/expectation that many will not survive into the post apocalyptic pandemic future.

However, I still have a few new pubs left to report on, so I'll start off the new year with the Boat Inn on the Grand Union Canal. It is a pub we'd passed on many occasions until lunchtime on Thursday 25th June 1998.

I have little recollection about the interior except that I vaguely remember it being quite cosy and having part of a narrowboat hull as the bar counter.

Our next stop was almost two years later on the evening of Sunday 28th May 2000.

Although it was only a couple of years, the Bass sign had disappeared, no doubt as part of the exterior redecoration.

Another nine years had gone by before I took this photo of the Boat Inn as we cruised by on the afternoon of Sunday 24th May 2009 on our way to Braunston for our evening stop.

This was post the 2007 Smoking Ban so there were many more tables outside. Also the pub name had reappeared on the signage.

Another couple of years drifted by and we passed the Boat Inn, again, on the afternoon of Sunday 29th May 2011, headed for Napton (having lunched at the Two Boats in Long Itchington!)

Fewer outdoor tables and the pub sign had changed to just The Boat in a style evocative of the Bass sign that was previously there.

Along this stretch of the Grand Union Canal, our preferred stop is at the Two Boats in Long Itchington, leaving both the Blue Lias and Boat Inn as under visited establishments.

Our next cruise by was on the morning of Wednesday 12th June 2019 being too early to stop for lunch having left Wigrams Turn Marina only 90 minutes earlier.

Yet again the main sign has changed, reverting back to the Boat Inn and there are now gazebos above the outdoor seating.

Our final vist was, in fact, an actual stop at the pub at lunchtime on Saturday 22nd August 2020. This time we'd been a little later leaving the marina!

The signage was unaltered and we had a pleasant lunch despite not having booked in advance, they managed to squeeze us in after other customers had finished.

 

As a pub with little natural footfall, it will be interesting to see whether it survives the pandemic.

#266 The Globe Hotel, Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire : 1992 to 2019 RIP

Weedon Bec (usually just referred to as Weedon) is one of those villages on the canal that for part of my boating life has been a regular stopping off point, then it wasn't on the itinerary for a while...but now it is back!

In it's heyday there were many more pubs in Weedon, but considering it's modest size, five is still quite a good number in this modern era!

My first visit to Weedon was on my very first canal boating trip back in 1980 when Emma Jane was moored at Woodford on the River Nene. This made Weedon a regular stop and we were back there in 1982 and 1984, all before I started taking photos of every pub we visited.

For the first half of the 1990's, Emma Jane was moored on the Southern Grand Union Canal at Cowley Peachey and then Winkwell. So, our summer/autumn jaunts would take us up the Grand Union to Braunston and beyond...and then return the same way (hopefully stopping at different pubs on the way down!)

I can't say that the Globe was our 'go-to' pub, but it was a pleasant enough place to visit and this first time was on the evening of Thursday 24th September 1992.

We were there again on the evening of Wednesday 22nd September 1993, but it was so late that the photo isn't great!

We were back again at lunchtime on Wednesday 31st August 1994.

Largely unchanged, although the Rooms Available sign has been replaced by a hanging basket.

We returned a year later in what would be our last visit for a few years as Emma Jane was returning to her 'old' moorings at Lapworth.

This was on the evening of Wednesday 30th August 1995. Although the signage had changed, I think that everything else was pretty much as before.

For the next few years our boating trips didn't take us through Weedon until we decided to revisit the Grand Union on a trip to Aylesbury and back. This time we stopped at Weedon twice and visited the Globe on both occasions.

Evening of Monday 27th August 2001.

Evening of Tuesday 4th September 2001. Little change, again, but the hanging baskets had bitten the dust!

A few years later, we had a little bit more time than we'd anticipated, so we added Weedon onto our itinerary.

This was on the evening of Sunday 29th May 2005 and still the signage hadn't changed...apart from the missing 'O'.

With the new boat, Peggy Ellen, now being moored at Napton returned on the evening of Friday 19th April 2019 (Good Friday) to be greeted with this scene.

It is a scene that is repeated up and down the land as large pubs/hotels become less viable and are turned into Tesco Express (or Sainsbury's or Co-op or Morrison's...etc). Sad, but inevitable in the modern age.

Looking through the historic pictures on Google Street View, the Globe was largely unchanged in 2009 (earliest picture), boarded up by 2012 (with a new main sign!) and was a Tesco Express by August 2014.

 

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).

#200 The Boathouse, Braunston, Northants : 1986 to 2015

As this is my 200th pub, I thought that I'd treat you to what was once a traditional canalside pub in the village at the centre of the English Canal system on the Grand Union Canal.

My first ever visit to this pub was in April 1980 when it had a different name and I wasn't taking photos of the pubs we visited! On that trip we stopped at Braunston three times and I remember at least once visiting the pub. I recall it as being a fairly large place with different rooms, especially the cosy bar by the canal decked out in traditional canal style.

My first 'documented' visit to The Boatman (as it was known then, previously the Rose & Castle) was on the evening of Sunday 20th July 1986.

Back in those days it was a Mann's pub as so many were in that part of the world. As I recall it hadn't changed much from the previous visit.

We didn't return again until Friday 25th September 1992 for an evening in Braunston.

Very little appeared to have changed. During this period, our boat Emma Jane was moored 'down South' and so Braunston became a regular stopping place for a few years.

So, we were back a year later on Thursday 23rd September 1993 for another evening stopover.

This time you get the land lubbers' view, but the pub was unchanged.

Another year, another visit; this time on Thursday 1st September 1994 at lunchtime, which explains how we managed to get a mooring right outside the pub!

Still little in the way of changes!

In 1995 we moved our boat back to the Midlands and didn't return until the evening of Wednesday 24th June 1998.

It had been taken over, completely refurbished and renamed to the slightly incongruous, The Mill House. Although it had been due for some redecoration and tlc, this renovation had removed any character that had been in the old pub.

Several more years passed and we returned on Saturday 28th May 2005, again in the evening.

This time we popped in and had a meal, but it was something of a disaster! It was Spring Bank Holiday, it had been a nice day so the pub had run out of lots of things, one of which was butter for the bread rolls! It is inconvenient and frustrating when pubs run out of things, but when the staff become surly and downright unpleasant I draw the line. 

In those circumstances, if our waitress had said something along the lines of, "We've been very busy today and we've run out of various items. You're welcome to stay and sample what is available, but it may take some time to arrive." Then we can make the choice as to whether we stay or go and, if we choose to stay, we know what we've let ourselves in for!

Needless to say, we didn't return for another few years and, when we did, we only had a pint before moving on to find food.

This was on the evening of Sunday 24th May 2009 - again Spring Bank Holiday. This time we were prepared and, after the pint in The Millhouse, we headed into Braunston for our food. Unfortunately for us, The Old Plough was extremely busy and after an hour with no food appearing (and not very likely too either!) we cut our losses and got a taxi to Daventry to eat!

As you can imagine, Braunston was becoming a bit of a 'no-go' place for us until lunchtime on Sunday 6th November 2011 on our final voyage with Emma Jane.

It had undergone a Martson's refurbishment and renamed, more appropriately, as The Boathouse. We had lunch there and the service was far better than our previous experience!

Our most recent visit was at lunchtime on Monday 31st August 2015 and, despite it being August Bank Holiday they hadn't run out of anything and the service was again good...although maybe the rain helped with this!

For the first time in many years we got a mooring spot right outside the pub!

And here's what a bit of artistic licence can do for a rainy day scene!