Rugby

Today's Canals - Coventry, Oxford

Today was sunny and comparatively warm from setting off until we moored.

Mike is returning home on Monday for a meeting in Truro on Tuesday, returning to the boat later that day. e did look at doing the journey by rail but the connections from the area we are ion do not make that very feasible. Hence he well need to collect the car from Stone tomorrow - with the consequence that tonight we need to moor as closer to a train station as possible. In order to achieve this he made an early start, casting off from the overnight mooring around 8:45.

Although the immediate surroundings look natural, until recent times there were plenty of quarries, with the occasional waste tip emerging above the sky line.

Sunshine!

Passing Springwood Haven Marina - we left Take Five here for a short time a few years ago.

In order to comply with an unwritten rule of canal bloggers, no-one is allowed to pass this way without the obligatory photo of the lonely telegraph pole!

From the canal there are few reminders of the former quarrying, but this bridge is one of the few.

Next, we cruised around the outer edge of Nuneaton. A particular feature is the number of allotment gardens - more than almost any other town we have seen.

W continued straight on at Marston Junction, with the lock-free Ashby canal beginning its journey up to the coal fields of Moira under this bridge.

As always, Charity Dock is a challenge to spit which characters have been her for ever (the Stig) whilst others are new since we last passed this way!

We arrived at Hawkesbury Junction where we needed to complete the usual servicing. The Coventry is to the left whilst the start of the Oxford is to the right, with a sharp, almost 350 degree turn, to the right. The stop lock - our only lock today - rises just a  few inches but controls the flow of water between what were once two separate companies.


As we came under a road bridge a shirt time later - the l

ong standing fishing tackle shop seems to have at last closed down - we could look back and see looming storm clouds. However, they ended up keeping well away from us and never threatening the lovely autumnal day.

The Oxford was an early canal and built following every contour. As a result it was very much longer than 'the crow flies' and much later work was done to straighten out many of the bends, with plenty of straight sections - as here, underneath the bridge, where it continues into the distance.

Over time, the original line has all but disappeared except for a few reminders at some of the junctions. In this photo, the line of shrubs and trees was where the canal ran but oit would be hard to tell without relying on a map.

More sunshine and straight lines.

At Stretton Stop a boat ahead of us left the tiny footbridge for us to close behind us. The lock, with its minimal change in level,  was built to protect the embankment just to the north but also developed as a gauging stop where tolls were collected.

The next straight length runs through a cutting - reminiscent of the Shroppie but quite unusual on the Oxford. It seems that it too has problems with the stability of the banks.

We continued on towards Rugby - here at All Oaks the canal is very pretty and wood-lined.

By the time we passed through the short Newbold Tunnel we knew that we were not far from our target. Although the moorings closer to Tesco were quite busy we managed to find a suitable spot, more open than some places.

After a .little bit of paint maintenance we walked to the supermarket for a few items.

20.7 Miles - 1 Lock