Eating at The Swan

Thursday 22 March

Today we planned just to boat to Huddlesford Junction, to meet Elanor and her boyfriend Stuart for a meal in The Plough. We set off at around 9, after I'd nipped back to Sainsbury's to buy a paper. It was a classic early Spring day, bright and breezy, but with a sharp edge to the wind that made it necessary to wear a quilted jacket whilst at the helm.

The stretch from Fazeley to Fradley is pleasant without being in anyway dramatic, unless you count the military range between Hopwas and Whittington. Most times we've been past, there have been locals walking their dogs on the edge of the range next to the canal, and today was no exception.

Whittington marks the point at which you come to the end of the Birmingham and Fazeley canal, although these days this section is usually referred to as the Coventry. It was meant to be the Coventry all the way from Fradley to, er, Coventry, but they started at the Coventry end and ran out of money at Fazeley. The canal remained incomplete for many years, thus failing to link the Trent and Mersey with the waterways heading south. In the end, in a rare bit of canal company co-operation, the T&M and the B&F agreed to build the missing bit between them, meeting at Whittington.

In later years, the Coventry Canal Company bought the stretch from Fradley to Whittington off the T&M, but the bit from Fazeley to Whittington remained part of the B&F until nationalisation. There's a marker by the towpath to show the old boundary. On passing it, we had therefore travelled the whole length of the B&F in one trip, from Farmer's Bridge to Whittington.

On arrival at Huddlesford, it was apparent that it was still very mucked about by the railway works going on in connection with quadrupling the West Coast Mainline, which crosses the canal here. There was nowhere to moor on the Fazeley side of the junction, and the moorings on the other side were absolutely chocker with boats which appeared to have been there all winter. The Plough looked rather forlorn, and it wasn't even clear that it was open at 11.30. Accordingly, we made a change of plan and carried on to Fradley.

The Fradley moorings, when we got there just after 12, were almost empty. We had lunch, and I walked over to The Swan to book a table for the evening. This may seem unnecessarily cautious on a Thursday in March, but several OwnerShips boats turn round at Fradley on a Friday, so there is always a risk that the pub will fill up with our former fellows in the scheme. In fact, when I asked in the pub, I was told that since its change of management, they don't take bookings.

We spent the afternoon cleaning the boat and loafing, and then wandered over at 6.30, to find the place very quiet. There were a decent number of locals in the bar, but the lounge was almost empty. We settled into a table in the non-smoking cellar, and just as I was getting the first drinks in, Elanor and Stuart walked in. A good evening was had by all. The food is reasonably priced and of a good pub standard, rather than dramatic or hugely fancy, and it's served with good humour. If you are looking for a decent meal, you could go a lot further and fare worse.

Friday 23 March

A lazy start to head back to Fazeley. We've got a few days to kill before we want to be in Alrewas, so we've decided to go back towards Curdworth to take a good look at the Kingsbury Water Park. We'll aim to be in Alrewas for Monday night, as there's a regular walking party on Tuesday mornings, setting off from the King William pub, and therefore known as the Willy Walkers. It's led by our good friends Will and Jane Chapman.

The weather started well, but by lunchtime was nothing like as nice as yesterday, and we managed to get back to the shopping mooring just in time before it turned wet.

A lot of traffic on the canal - the season is starting early this year.

Made another shopping trip for supplies and to get things like brushes and paint kettles from Focus. At the beginning of May we're docking Sanity to do her blacking - we've already bought the Comastic, and the best thing for putting it on is a masonry brush - the kind that's quite wide but with short bristles.

Got back to the boat with the booty at around 3, sorted stuff like the fire and put the cratch down and settled for another quiet evening after yesterday's carousing.