Heading north: Day 4

We were awake early for some reason, so set off at about 7.30.  It was a stunning morning.

These waters are very familiar, from when we used to moor at Brinklow.  It’s still very pretty though, and we seemed to have the canal very much to ourselves.

In a couple of hours, we reached Hillmorton Locks.  Adrian topped up one so we could go in, and opened the gates to the paired lock for a boat heading up.

We swapped with a boat at the middle lock, and at the bottom one, so the flight hardly took any time at all. 

We needed shopping, so were hoping for a space at Rugby.  There were several to choose from including one that was on a straight section and close to the footpath to Tesco, so we moored up.  While we were shopping, I also got the battery in my watch replaced.  It was around 11.30 when we set off again, and were soon at the short Newbold Tunnel.

Just before All Oaks Wood, I saw my first ducklings of the year.  You may have to squint to see them.

The main point of interest was the cutting beyond All Oaks Wood, where landslips closed the canal for a while last year (or was it the year before).  The two sites still don’t look all that stable.

We passed through Stratton Stop without having to swing the bridge as there was a boat in front and one coming the other way.  The boat ahead stopped on the permanent farm moorings further along.  We went under the M6, through Ansty, and under the M69.  We were aiming for Hawkesbury Junction, in a repeat of a day we did back in 2020, on the trip which was curtailed by Covid.  We arrived about 3.45, and got a rare space with straight edge, just before the lock.

23 miles, 3 locks.  (49 miles, 23 locks)

Northern Exposure: Day 3

We wanted to get a good number of miles under our belts today; these are very familiar waters and also not terribly inspiring, and if we make good progress now we can slow down when we get further north.  We were up pretty early and having dumped rubbish at the bins by the Stop House, we set off at 7.45.  We were soon passing through Braunston Junction, although we were going straight on today, not under one of the twin bridges.

There was a mix of sunny spells and cloud, but it was relatively warm.  There are loads of busy birds about; we’ve seen vast numbers of robins, and just before Hillmorton was this (I think) sparrow hawk (well camouflaged, in the middle of the photo)

At Hillmorton Locks, we had to fill the top one, but we swapped with a boat coming up at the middle one, and the bottom one was full and open ready for us.  There are some nice daffs and a view of the church from the middle lock.

We continued through Rugby, where there are lots of new roads to service lots of new houses.  At Clifton Cruisers, all the hire boats were moored up two abreast, making me glad we didn’t meet anything coming the other way.  We’ve seen water voles in two separate places, one on the edge of Rugby, the other before Stretton Stop.  Neither hung around long enough to have their photo taken.  In the cutting before Stretton Stop, where for years boaters have been asked to slow down because the bank is unstable, there’s been a significant land slip, with lots of trees down.

At Stretton Stop, one of the Rose Narrowboat guys opened the little swing bridge for us as he was about to come across it.  A bit further along, a CRT gang was on a boat on the offside cutting back trees and bushes.  Then we passed a blacksmith’s boat, with a workshop in a butty.  The visitor moorings at Ansty had only one boat on them, the emptiest we’ve ever seen them.  Then at around 2.30 the forecast rain arrived.  It turned much colder and windier too.  We were aiming for Hawkesbury Junction, and picked up a mooring immediately before the stop lock.  The rain looks to be set in for the evening.

23 miles, 3 locks.  (49 miles, 23 locks)

Early August Weekend - Day 1

We came up to the boat last night.  Adrian drove to London and picked me up from work at 11pm.  The M1 has an infuriatingly long section with a 50mph limit, and there were overnight works in a few places making the motorway just one lane.  Even so, we arrived at the boat at quarter to one.

This morning, we unpacked the rest of the things from the car, and filled the water tank while we had breakfast.  The idea of the weekend was to go to Braunston for a few things, including fenders from Tradline.  We left at 9, and all was going well, with only a few boats on the move, until we got to Hillmorton Locks.  We knew that BW had closed one lock in each pair, in order to save water, and were expecting the flight to take longer than usual.  But we found ourselves ninth in the queue -- it seems the problem had been that there was one-up-one-down in operation, to avoid turning locks, and there hadn't been enough people coming down.  I walked up to the top of the locks, and found there were four boats on their way or waiting at the top.  We'd been there 45 mins, and had moved up to sixth in the queue, so decided to turn round and go the other way instead.

It was turning into a lovely day as we made our way back through Rugby, passing plenty of boats.  We decided to have lunch on the move, and passed Brinklow Marina at about 2pm.  We wondered whether Briar Rose had even been straight past the marina entrance without turning in.

At the All Oaks Wood mooring, we did our good deed for the day.  A boat coming the other way had warned us that one of those moored ahead was on a long line.  As we went past, it was clear that it wasn't attached to the bank at all.  Adrian reversed to a position where we could push the boat towards the towpath, then I crossed onto its gunwales, and pulled it into the bank.  It had fore, aft, and centre ropes all dangling in the water, and all with mooring stakes attached.  I got the lump hammer and banged them back in.

The demolished bridge at Ansty has had some more work done on it since we were last here, with new brickwork.  It's not clear what they're doing, unless they're planning to put a wooden span on the brick supports.

As this wasn't our planned trip, we didn't have a destination in mind.  Ansty was full, so we carried on and got to Hawkesbury Junction at 5.15.  It was lovely and sunny and warm, so we didn't mind at all.  To our surprise, there was a Briar Rose sized gap, with a straight edge, on the approach to the junction, so we slotted in.  There are occasional motorbikes up and down the towpath, and the permanent moorer opposite is playing music quite loudly -- reinforcing my view that Hawkesbury Junction is never as nice as it could and should be.

17 miles, 0 locks