We opted for the mooring near to Old Oaks Corner so that we could walk into the village of Brinklow for their mid morning service at the parish church. We awoke to rather more rain than had been forecast with a prediction that it would last until two o'clock after which sunshine should prevail for the rest of the day.
In fact we had had to moor closer to Easenhall Bridge than All Oaks Corner so when we set off, with by now only light rain, we went that way which took us around the motte and bailey of Brinklow Castle.
The Roman road of Fosse Way passed through the centre of the village on its route between Exeter and Lincoln and when the Normans took over they built this fort as a defensive position - not a castle for living in, although there would be a fortified area with buildings on the lower land below the mound. An information board even suggested that the watchtower at the top would have been prefabricated in Normandy. The board also suggests that the construction might have been the result of wanting to subdue a rebellion or argument over land ownership.
We arrived at the church in good time. This parish is one of six in a combined benefice and their priest only manages to visit on a Sunday once a month, the rest of the services are taken by local lay people. However, today the service was led by a newly ordained priest now serving in Fishguard, Wales but visiting his sister and family who live locally. That is a bilingual part of Wales and so he has had to learn Welsh and he used a few words during the service this morning. Afterwards we stayed for a cup of coffee and a slice of cake (left over from an event yesterday) - Christine - or a more conventional biscuit - Mike. There were almost 30 people there and they were keen to make us feel welcome.
One particular feature of this church is that the floor slopes quite steeply up from the entrance to the east end where the altar stands. This is not the result of Victorian 'improvement' as sometimes is the case with grand architectural gestures, but because the church was gradually extended and the newer parts were further up the hill towards the castle.
Having established that the village shop would be open this morning we walked down Broad Street so that we could buy some more milk - we were running lower than we had thought when we went shopping yesterday. The name of the street is quite apt - perhaps because at one time this was a busy and important thoroughfare when Fosse Way was a main route. Along the way we had a good view of the castle from a different direction. We also picked some of the last blackberries to go with the plums we bought in Braunston for a pudding tonight.
By now the rain had cleared and by the time we had returned to the boat, changed clothes and had lunch, the promised brighter weather had arrived and it was surprisingly warm.
We only cruised for a couple of hours - as we have already explained, mooring places along the northern Oxford are not always easy to find because of the sloping edges and also we did not want to end up too close to a motorway - both the M6 and the M69 make various appearances along the rest of the route to Hawkesbury Junction.
Not long after passing Stretton Stop, we passed this small dock where a private boat is moored - we have seen it several times before - alas this photo was just a little too late to show how it is built from concrete bags, a recent development no doubt, we thought. However, looking back at the old OS maps, there has been a slight indentation in the edge of the canal at this point since at least the late 1890s. However there is no annotation to suggest what it might have been.
We continued to look for signs of the original canal route but without much success. However, it is worth taking a look at the two different routes as we passed under the M69. This photo attempts to indicate how the route swept around to the left, passing around a small Nettle Hill which, at the time, was beyond the engineering capabilities to penetrate. A century later, the construction of quite deep cuttings and embankments had evolved - the Nettle Hill bridge shows just how deep it was.
The railway runs very close to the canal at this point and we had wondered whether the bridge had been raised at some stage to allow better access for the electrification. (The track is somewhat unusually laid on the top of the span rather than inside the channel of the iron structure) However, when we were able to look back, we could see Mobbs Wood Farm (just behind the railway), well above the level of the canal.
Many of the bridges across the newer route are elegant and wide.
We managed a slightly better view of Ansty Hall hotel this time.
We spotted a useful mooring just after where we planned to stop and pulled in to check whether there was a tv signal - yes, so we made it a 'full stop'. This was just after the now demolished Bridge 15. When we came this way in August we made reference to this bridge but have now looked at the map and find that we were incorrect to describe it as once a railway. It seems that it was just a short lane seemingly never having gone anywhere! However, it cannot long have been removed as it is still shown on recent OS maps. CanalPlan gives a hint to what may have happened!
We had to take some trouble over mooring, with extra pins and ropes as the ground is rather soft and the canal quite narrow so that passing boats threatened to pull us away from the bank.
4.5 Miles - 0 Locks
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