THE UK CANALS: The Northern Canals The Midlands Canals The Southern Canals Lancaster Canal Leeds & Liverpool Canal Trent & Mersey Canal Shropshire Union Canal Llangollen Canal Staffs & Worcs Canal Coventry Canal Worcester & Birmingham River Severn & River Avon Stratford-on-Avon Canal Oxford Canal Grand Union Canal Monmouth & Breconshire River Thames Kennet & Avon Canal

CANAL JUNCTION FEATURES: Detailed cruising guides Canal Heritage & Museums Canal Culture & Customs Canal Folk Art Canal Engineering Self Drive Rental Vacations Skippered Hotelboat Cruises Canal Company Contacts Tourism Links

Leaving Fradley Junction and the excellent Swan Inn the canal first cuts across flat wooded land, passing an old World War Two airfield, to Tamworth and Fazeley where the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal goes off to join the Birmingham Canal System. Spoil heaps from the old coal mining industry soon rear unusual shapes on the skyline, though much of the mining and quarrying scars have been quickly covered by landscaping and wild growth. Atherstone is a pleasant market town with some Georgian buildings.

Hawkesbury Junction used to be a bustling canal centre where boat people would take a rare opportunity to socialise while waiting for their next loads of coal from the local collieries. Coventry was heavily bombed in WW2 but there are still many surviving medieval buildings. The famous "new" Cathedral should be visited and there are a number of interesting museums