Woke to a glorious morning at Fradley Visitor moorings ready to begin my first solo trip. I had read all I could about 'going solo' and picked up a few tips from fellow boaters I had met at various locks so I was quite confident but, nevertheless, was still not sure what to expect. My planning had allowed plenty of time for the locks so I was sure the timings would be okay. During the previous weekend I had got to know Slipstream quite well and there was an extra long centre rope attached so I was all set.

The first thing to strike me was how beautiful the Coventry Canal was, somewhat surprisingly as the word 'Coventry' did not conjure up visions of gentle countryside and pretty villages! During the morning all I had to worry about was mastering the camera whilst steering, it is amazing how quickly you can go off line when looking backwards(!), but that was soon in hand and the morning's cruise was extremely pleasant. My first drama came as I passed through Hopwas Woods to find a boat completely adrift at the stern blocking the entire canal. Luckily a passing dog-walker had alerted the (sleeping?) occupants and I held station in the centre of the canal for five minutes or so while they pulled it back to the bank.

On through Hopwas and past Fazeley Junction with its smart new BW offices at Peel 's Wharf just before the turn and up to my first solo lock at Glascote. Having moored up I got talking to a couple going through the lock in front of me and they kindly refilled the two locks for me as they departed, saving me a little time. I worked through carefully and without hurry and was surprised to find that it was almost as easy and hardly slower getting through these locks solo as it would have been with a crew. The Atherstone flight was going to be a piece of cake! The only slight problem I had was that there are no mooring bollards or rings between the two locks (a silly omission by BW) so it was a pain to hold the boat while I opened the bottom gates of the top lock, but it didn't cause much hassle. My lock timings were going to prove generous as I was 20 minutes ahead of schedule as I exited the top lock, despite another boat having gone through before me, so I took the chance to fill up the water tank. Another silly decision by BW is to put the tap right above the lock so that whilst filling up you block the moorings for any boat wanting to come down but I was only there about 15 minutes so didn't cause too much hassle.

A few hundred yards on and it was time for lunch at The Anchor by bridge 73 where the boat can be moored on rings and watched from the garden of the pub. The area seemed pleasant enough so there was no real worry.

Lunch over it was time to cruise on through numerous and diverse bridges until I came to Alvecote Marina, spawning ground of the dreaded Canaltime boats! I had wondered why I had seen so many of these at Fradley and judging by the dozens at Alvecote I had only seen a small fraction! I would meet up with many more in the next couple of days.

Atherstone Locks were pleasant with decent countryside surrounding them and I was able to hone my solo lock skills and soon developed a routine that got me through quickly. Shouting proved to be useful to get boats coming down to leave the gates open which saved much time. The worst situation was when I had actually moored waiting for a boat to come down and just as I was setting off the crew went back and closed the gates! Loud shouting that time did the trick!

I had planned to split the Atherstone flight in two and moored in the very long pound just before Watling Street Bridge (43) intending to eat at The Kings Head but it wasn't open when I got there and I didn't fancy the walk into Atherstone so it was dinner on board after a very satisfying and interesting day.

I think I am going to like this solo boating!