Brinklow Marina

Today's Canal : Oxford

A much warmer and generally sunny day with clear blue skies for the morning. By the afternoon, the temperature was definitely on the up side with the result that the sky was now quite hazy.

After we had our breakfast and completed all the usual preparations for departure, we looked at our main cabin lock and saw that it was only 8:40. So, Christine encouraged Mike to take a look at the closed service block. The roof has warped and the general repair of the eaves is not good. It seems that there are other structural issues inside that raised the concerns leading to its current closure. It has been a problem for CaRT for a while - the refuse disposal facility in the building was replaced by a separate enclosure (last year?) and we have felt for some time that the whole site has been under-maintained and looking rather sad inside and out. There has been no real place for boats to pull in as the previous spot has now been designated for work boats. At this time, there is no indication of what will happen here for the future.

As Mike was walking back to the boat he realised that the time was now 9:40 - surely it could not have taken him an hour to walk this short distance? We he arrived back he was greeted by Christine telling him that the clock had stopped! It had been OK at 7 am so the battery had only just run out. We do keep spares on board!

The run from here to the Marina is quite familiar and although mostly scenic we did not spot much new that we have not noticed on previous passages. So mostly we will show you pretty pictures with plenty of blue sky!

Perhaps we can also report watching the new short video from CaRT with three experts discussing the present water situation and the problems  around that. With more of the canal being closed even today, the prospect for boating in the rest of the year is rather bleak. Certainly we saw far more moving boats today than for a long time - this is one of the parts of the network that is still fully accessible. A tad frustrating that we ended up behind extremely cautious and very slow moving boats on two long stretches. They were so slow that we frequently had to slip into neutral and still were catching them up!

Being cautious when learning how to steer is one thing, stopping mid-stream to feed the swans and cygnets is quite another!

We have must have mentioned the Wyken Arm before, now a long established narrow mooing for the Coventry Cruising Club. It originally gave access to an important colliery,

The towpath alignment just before Bridge 9 is noticeably strange.

A little easier to see from a distance. This is the result of one of the straightenings that considerably shortened Brindley's original contour canal. His line came on a loop to the left of the picture but directly in line with the towpath just under the bridge.

Ansty Golf Course lies partly to the south and partly to the north of the canal. Players walk this path to go under the canal. It is possible that, again, this was the original line of the canal.

Stretton Stop (once a gauging stop) was snarled up with a traffic jam today. Several slow and hesitant steerers added to the delay - as we arrived one boat was going through in our direction just after waiting for two to come the other way, one of which was obviously very frustarted with the one in front of it, unsportingly sounding its horn several times. As there are moored boats on both sides there was not a lot that the leading boat could do to let anyone pass. When it was our turn, several boats were waiting on the other side and one that was not sure what to do ended up in the wrong position so graciously waved us through whilst they sorted themselves out. We wondered how many of the people aboard had come on a canal holiday to escape the traffic!

A few of the early cast iron towpath bridges have been retained where the canal once meandered away. This loop was part of the canal that originally served the village of Brinklow. We wondered what consternation there was when their service was withdrawn - just like some villages when a new bypass takes away 99% of their trade! The next one marks the entrance to the marina where we were headed,as

Yes, the towpath around the site of a slippage is still closed, pending slow, tortuous negotiations about access to repair it. 

The site was made safe and the canal navigable but the towpath remains unsafe.

We stopped for lunch on the Old Oaks mooring that is normally very popular and spaces at a premium. As we arrived at the start we could see that there were several gaps further on but we were unsure whether we would fit in so we did the brave thing and stopped right at the start where two thirds of our boat could rest against armco but we did need a pin for the stern line. This photo was just after we set off again and, yes, the gaps would have accommodated us and we were back just around the corner, just out  of sight from here.

Only a few minutes later (behind yet another very slow boat!) we arrived at the entrance to Brinklow Marina and turned sharply in. The first hundred metres were once the start of yet another loop, mostly now dried up. We, and another short term arrival a bit later, were asked to stay on the visitor moorings until after the weekend (we are leaving on Monday to return home) We do have an electricity bollard and parking alongside!

Our batteries are again causing a little concern and we managed to contact a local boat electrician who happens to live in the marina - he will come and suss out the situation, hopefully, on Sunday afternoon. No-one really believes that having a boat is a cheap way of life!

9.2 Miles - 0 Locks