Canal Roach: Trapped in a Sisyphean Loop - Pt.18

Now every angler has a favourite fishing spot. Some choose vast reservoirs. Others prefer commercial fisheries and mud muddles however during the close season(s) I have spent many a happy hour beside the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal, quietly contemplating life, watching the float, and occasionally remembering that I am actually supposed to be catching fish. What I sometimes forget is that the canal I enjoy so much (well apart from the dog poo), very nearly vanished before I even born.You see the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal was originally completed in the early nineteenth century, providing an important transport route between Birmingham and the Warwickshire countryside. For decades it carried coal, timber, agricultural produce and all manner of goods. Working boats moved steadily through the locks, and the canal became an important part of the region's industrial and agricultural life.Like many British canals, however, its fortunes declined with the arrival of the railways and later the…