Canal Cruising in a COVID World (Part 3)

 We resume our journey heading away from Birmingham via Farmer's Bridge and Aston Locks, hoping to reach the safety of Curdworth by nightfall.

Just as we were mooring up at lunchtime we were amazed to see NB Calypso and the bloke who'd stolen our lock at Lapworth (I only saw him after he'd passed by!). He'd obviously done a rapid circuit via Knowle and the Grand Union Canal and I'm glad I didn't actually see him!

Our lunchtime destination was The Bull in Birmingham's Gun Quarter which was under new ownership (but still had the hundreds of jugs hanging from the ceiling!)

The first thing I noticed was a shiny new pumpclip for Oakham Citra (my new first choice tipple) and then I realised there was no Carling pump (Pravha being the recommended swilling lager!).

Following the shutdown they hadn't restarted doing food so it was a lunchtime of crisps, nuts and scratchings. This got us into conversation with the new owner who said that trade had been too slow to warrant putting on food, but that it was beginning to pick up so they might start again fairly soon.

The other interesting part of the conversation was that The Bull is his fourth Birmingham pub...the others being; The Wellington, Post Office Vaults and The Woodman...all venues on our more recent Proper Days Out in Brum. He is a fan of Citra (apparently The Wellington sell more pints of Citra than any other pub in the country!) and he's also proud of the fact that someone once told him that he "couldn't run a pub in Birmingham that didn't sell Carling!" He now has four!

Back to the boat and the slog along the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal to Curdworth taking in Aston (11) and Minworth Locks (3). Our evening meal was in the socially distanced, table service only White Horse in Curdworth...very civilised, but an early closing (which we were well informed about!).

Next day was another long session consisting of the eleven Curdworth Locks and the five mile cruise into Fazeley.

The Fazeley Inn was fairly quiet, but there was a Scottish couple checking in to the hotel (unfortunately we never found out what tourist attractions they'd come for!). For us, the Carling was cold and the cling film wrapped rolls/baps/cobs/insert regional name here made for the perfect lunch.

We moved on to see whether the classic boozer the Three Horseshoes had survived. After seeing no mobility scooter outside, our fears were assuaged when we saw the open door!

As it is only a small pub, they've implemented social distancing by means of improvised perspex screens, strategically placed along the bench seating which works well (in conjunction with a garden out the back of the pub!). I can report (for the benefit of LifeAfterFootball) that Bass was being served...but I stuck with Carling!

Our next destination was Polesworth and the worst example of social distancing seen on our trip. Our first pint was in the Royal Oak. All of the signs were in place (as was the hand sanitiser), but many of the locals chose to ignore it all and shake hands with each other (and there was hugging!) This doesn't really bother me and it felt like a proper pub, but it was our first experience of this type of behaviour!

We wandered round to The Yard (formerly Foster's Yard) which was very quiet for a Friday evening so there were no problems with social distancing! Then we moved on to Little India, the restaurant above the Bull's Head for our evening repast.

Atherstone was our next intended stopping point with only the eleven slooow filling locks to delay us. We made it, but failed to get a pub lunch (Tesco Express to the rescue for a sandwich!) We did manage to get our drink quota in a couple of pubs we've visited before.

The White Horse is a proper small town boozer, but no food, sadly!

This was only our second ever visit to The Old Swan and despite signs saying to the contrary, food wasn't available.

After lunch we journeyed on, through Nuneaton, to our ultimate destination Hawkesbury Junction, home of one of the best canalside pubs in the country, The Greyhound. We were late, but got there just before the 8pm food cut-off. Quite frankly, we knew it was fully booked and expected to have to catch a cab into Coventry...but our expectations were surpassed! They were taking in 'Walk-Ups' and so they took us in, asked us to order quickly and everything would be fine. We were seated in the new plastic and aluminium gazebo by the canalside. The food arrived, the drinks arrived as did a massive thunderstorm which would have soaked us, but the gazebo did it's job.

As the pub began to thin out, we managed to get seats inside where social distancing was achieved by means of the (ubiquitous) black and yellow tape being applied to the edge of each table facing away from the bench seating. At first sight, this appears to halve the capacity, but in normal circumstances the bench seats are always occupied and the stools less so.

Next morning we left the Coventry Canal and entered the Oxford Canal via Sutton Stop Lock. William steered the boat through the junction and past the pub (above) whilst I had the tough job of operating the six inches deep lock...all by myself! (My dodgy back held up under the strain...I may be able to do a couple more on our next journey!)

Next stop, the Barley Mow at Newbold-on-Avon.

Social distancing worked quite well here and Sunday 'lunch' (Roast Pork Rolls with Roast Potatoes and Apple Sauce) was served in polystyrene takeaway trays (first time since the Blue Lias on Day 1!). The Carling was nice and cold!

We were almost on the final leg of our journey. Just the three Hillmorton Locks to negotiate and miles of lock free cruising to Braunston for the evening. After a bit of a delay at the locks we made good progress especially after a boat full of students (a dozen on one boat!) let us past after we'd caught them up. (Normally, it's the other way round as we get caught by 'speeding kids'!)

We made it to Braunston, just in time to get a meal at The Boat House.

Although we'd still got 5 miles to go this was to be our last drinking session of the trip...and it finished with some more minor entertainment!

Shortly after we'd got settled in, the boat load of twelve students arrived! Firstly they had to sit on two separate table (even though they'd been sharing a narrowboat for the weekend!). The two table were adjacent and not far from us, from where we could casually observe what turned out to be an epic drinking session (for them, not us!). Not all of them had food, but they all had shots, pints, cocktails, Jager Bombs and spirits...and not just one round...the drinks kept coming, wave after wave!

At times they got quite loud, but if you don't like the sound of young folk having a great night out then you probably shouldn't be going to the pub any more! At the end, a couple of the young women came over to apologise to us for the noise. To which I said, "It's fine! It's just over 40 years ago that I was in this very pub on my first canal trip (well the old version!) and we had an equally good time!"

The final test came with the bill. Like seasoned eavesdropping professionals that we are, we ascertained that their whole bill was £494! No-one batted an eyelid, no-one tried to do a runner, they paid up and left a substantial tip for the staff (acccording to the gaffer, who'd just seen his profits skyrocket in one night!)

And the moral of the tale...the future of pubs and drinking is safe in the hands of young folk like that...long may it continue!

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).

#253 Royal Oak, Polesworth, Warwickshire : 1998 to 2018

Our first ever canal visit to Polesworth was back in 1982, but I wasn't taking pictures of every pub back then, so you have to wait until the evening of Monday 22nd June 1998 for the first picture of the Royal Oak.

It is a small, proper boozer, close to one of the canal bridges in the village, so ideal for a quick pint as I don't think we've ever eaten in there (not sure if they've ever done food!)

We returned a couple of years later on the evening of Wednesday 31st May 2000.

In the space of those two years it had gone from being a Bass pub to a Banks's 'Free House'. It had been redecorated and re-signed on the outside, but I've no recollection of the inside.

It was a little longer between visits, but the next time we popped into the Royal Oak was on the evening of Monday 30th August 2004.

Again, the signage had been changed and any mention of Banks's removed.

Another five years passed by and, when we returned at lunchtime on Wednesday 27th May 2009, the exterior was remarkably unchanged.

There was a board advertising some food, but I have a feeling that there wasn't any!

We did visit Polesworth at lunchtime on Wednesday 1st June 2011 and, although we didn't go into the Royal Oak, I still managed to get a picture as we passed by.

Apart from the addition of an England flag (possibly left over from the 2010 World Cup?) nothing had changed.

Our next visit was four years later on the evening of Sunday 24th May 2015.

This time the signage had changed with what appears to be the return of the original hanging sign, although in a slightly different position to accommodate the new sign on the front of the pub.

Our most recent visit to the Royal Oak was at lunchtime on Saturday 29th September 2018 as we moved Peggy Ellen to her new mooring at Wigram's Turn Marina, Napton.

No changes to the outside and, inside, it s still the same, small proper pub...but no food. So after a pint we moved on to Foster's Yard for our lunch.

#067 Fosters Yard Hotel, Polesworth, Warks : 1998 to 2011

Polesworth is a large village on the Coventry Canal in North Warwickshire. Until 1998 it was a place we'd rarely stopped at on our canal trips. The first time we visited the Fosters Yard was on the evening of Monday 22nd June 1998.

To me it is very reminiscent, from the outside, of a typical Australian pub with the verandah, but there the similarity ends. Inside it was a fairly basic village local, but with an Indian Restaurant round the back as part of the hotel. This is the main reason for most of our subsequent visits as it was the only viable place in Polesworth to eat later on in the evening.

Our next visit was on the evening of Wednesday 31st May 2000

This photo is from the other side of the pub. Over the years we have stopped in Polesworth several times and have usually ended the evening in Fosters Yard, chiefly to eat in the Indian restaurant.

Monday 30th August 2004 on our way back from Oxford.

Saturday 20th August 2005, on our way to Chester having picked up Emma Jane from a boatyard in Nuneaton.

Sunday 27th May 2007 - finally a photo in daylight!

Wednesday 1st June 2011 and an extremely rare lunchtime visit to Fosters Yard! We ended up here because the other pubs in the village weren't serving food at lunchtime. 

Over the years, Fosters Yard has hardly changed at all apart from some minor signage alterations. This may be in some part because it is a Grade II listed building, which is about the only useful information that I gleaned from their website.