Duration: 7 Nights
TOTAL LOCKS: 76
CRUISING TIME PER DAY: 5
TOTAL CRUISING TIME: 32 HOURS IN TOTAL
Maps & Guides for this route: N3, P1, L12 | Click here buy maps
Setting off from Kings Orchard Marina, enjoy lock-free cruising for a couple of hours before mooring up for your first night afloat at Hopwas where there are handy pubs on either side of the canal.
Continuing south, you soon reach the Saxon settlement of Tamworth where you might want to visit Tamworth Castle. Turn right at Fazeley Junction and cruise past a couple of nature reserves before reaching your first lock at Curdworth.
Up till now your route has been lock-free, giving you plenty of time to get used to handling your boat. There are 11 Curdworth locks in total, followed by the very short Curdworth tunnel. At just 52 metres long, it’s hardly a tunnel at all! Curdworth village has a couple of pubs and some shops if you want to stop here (5 and a half hours’ cruising from Hopwas).
You now enter the outskirts of Birmingham proper, turning left at Salford Junction to tackle the Aston locks and Farmers Bridge locks before turning right to arrive at Gas Street Basin, right in the heart of Birmingham.
It’s worth spending a couple of nights in Birmingham – the basin is surrounded by attractions including Sea World, Legoland, the Mailbox shopping complex, Symphony Hall, and restaurants and bars aplenty.
Time to make your way back to Kings Orchard. Time permitting, you could spend more time in Tamworth by taking a short detour onto the Coventry Canal and visiting Alvecote Priory and its remains.
This cruise treads a rural route through nature reserves and pools left behind by industry. The canal winds gently through beautiful countryside, skirting the edges of nearby conurbations. You’ll hear stories of hard work and art work, mining and weaving, and a certain medieval legend.
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