Rugby

Today's Canals : Grand Union, Oxford

We set off in good time, just after a wide beam that had been booked to come through the tunnel first thing (they are restricted to their use of the tunnel for safety reasons which underline the argument that this part of the Grand Union was never really intended for wide beam barges, above Berkhamsted)

At the first lock we noticed on the bottom gates that they were installed in 1997, 26 years ago. Since they are expected to last around 30 and still seem in reasonable condition, apart from boater damage to the closing edges of the gates, that is not bad going.

The weather forecast suggested that the morning would be fairly good and, indeed, the temperature was much warmer than yesterday, but that there was a high probability of heavy rain from between 2 and 3 this afternoon. Hence we planned to press on with lunch-on-the-go to get as far as we could in the dry. We even had a few blue patches in the sky at times.

After two locks all three of us were in action and we made good progress and exited the sixth lock at the bottom just a few minutes over an hour later.

The boatyard below the flight seemed to be busy with work - we were told a few days ago that one of the Wyvern boats was on its way to be overplated - the company makes its boats last as long as possible as can be seen from the quite early registration number of this one.

This footbridge carries the towpath over a secondary entrance to Braunston Marina. As can be seen, it is quite a steep climb up and down, A few years back someone left money for it to be replaced by a more accessible form but, alas, the money turned out not to be enough and the discussion about what can be done seems to be continuing.

The obligatory photo of the iconic former toll house.

We made a good decision to stop to use the water point and elsan beside the towpath just before the junction as the main facility just ahead on its own mooring appeared to be out of action. We made a brief stop at Midland Chandlers for the annual supply of Elsan Blue and Marine 16.

After the junction we were now on the northern section of the Oxford Canal. Long ago straightening of the original contour canal also created wider (for boats) bridges which is why wide beam boats can make it to Dunchurch Pools, but not beyond. (At Hillmorton the locks are narrow). This bridge seems to have had some extensive damage to its parapets and a significant repair project is underway.

As we passed the entrance to Dunchurch Pools marina the projected heavy rain clouds were beginning to drift in rom the north, yet we were still much warmer than yesterday.

After two hours of level cruising - and meeting far more boats on the move than we have seen in a long while - we arrived at the top of the three paired Hillmorton locks. These were the first narrow locks we have passed through since leaving Oxford at the end of April. back to side ponds - the winding mechanism between the two locks once operated a paddle to let water flow from one lock to the adjacent one, acting as a kind of cheap side pond.

After Hillmorton we had another long level pound. Again, there were times when it was very bright and sunny.

We were fortunate to find a spare mooring close to the planned supermarket shop. Mike was allowed to catch up on the delayed two days of blogs whilst the other two went to tesco. The promised heavy rain, alas, arrived as they were walking back and we abandoned any ideas of moving on. Today is forecast to be much better weather.

11.1 Miles - 9 Locksa