It really was a bright and beautiful morning as we awoke and when we set off.
A few fluffy clouds appeared at time during the day but they did little to dent the the feeling that this was the last throe of this year's summer - perhaps autumn will begin tomorrow!
Whilst many of the farm accommodation and road bridges remain (albeit in many places extended to cope with modern needs) some have been demolished with little evidence of their past. It is a teeny bit satisfying to see the buried remains of a former railway - the railway having been closed whilst the canal remains!
Through the trees we could just make out Ansty Hall. Built in 1678 as the manor house, it is now 62 bedroom four star hotel, wedding and conference centre.
The very high span of Nettle Hill Bridge is a reminder of how the improved sections of the north Oxford Canal adopted the deep cuttings that others had found necessary in order to shorten journey lengths and hence improve delivery times and reduce operating costs.
The track which the bridge carries leads to Mobbs Wood Farm which has provided facilities for several business ventures. At one time there was a paintball centre here and a recording studio still operates here.
Another of the elegant cast iron bridges over the junction with former arms which became redundant after the straightening.
A few days ago we included a photo of a bat box - something we had not spotted before. Of course, once you have seen one, others start to appear! This bridge had one on either face.
This could be a typical rural scene from any time over the past couple of centuries - the white picket fence is the front of a set of cottages once a local pub. It is unclear how it attracted sufficient customers as there are only a few farms in the immediate vicinity.
The relatively modern wooden footbridge is an indicator that we are about to reach the moorings close to Tesco in Rugby, always a popular stopping point for boaters to catch up on shopping - not too many opportunities for filling larders along the north Oxford. We too went to fill a trolley but only after a lengthy lunch break. When we talked to the boater who had just moored behind us - turned out to be a boat that moors at Droitwich Marina.
The stretch immediately before this also used to be a well used mooring but that is not allowed at present. Whether this is permanent (and why?) or just until new edging has had a chance to mature er don't know but at least the towpath on the other side of the bridge has had extensive new mooring rings added.
We opted to move on a short distance out into the countryside but aware that we needed to keep a careful lookout for a suitable place to moor so as not to end up in the queue at the bottom of Hilmorton Locks.
Most of the moorings at Clifton Cruisers are down an arm, one end of quite a long bypassed stretch.
Shortly afterwards we again passed the construction site for the new access road - work seems to be continuing both with the reparation of the concrete reinforcing but also in extensive earth moving works across the whole site.
As hoped, we found a suitable spot for the night, surprisingly with a tv signal, just short of the locks.
12.9 Miles - 0 Locks
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