Hillmorton

Today's Canal : Oxford

We drove up from home yesterday - traffic was much easier than at the start of our last trip and we arrived at the marina just before 1 o'clock. There was even no queue at the A34 - M40 intersection. Most times there is a lengthy queue on the A34 northbound but thankfully not today.

As a result we arrived before having time to eat our lunch rolls in the car. As we knew that unpacking the car and loading onto the boat was going to take a while, we sat down to lunch almost as soon as we arrived. 

Then it was time to unload the car. We took our time but even so there was still a lot to stow away by the time the car was empty. Our plan, as usual, was to do most of our food shopping after arrival rather than attempt to bring it all with us. Some items, like meat from our good local farm shops and cheese from the market stall, generally come in he cool box, along with perishable contents of the home fridge.

We so much stowing to do, Christine despatched Mike into town to do the shopping at Lidl and also recharge the car. As the two places are in different parts of the town, Mike opted to return to the  marina from the supermarket and drop off the food - especially a couple of ice cream items that needed to go into the freezer asap. He then returned to the Gridserver EV Charge Station which happily is next to a Starbucks. he is now well versed in making a medium latte stretch out until the car is fully charged - just under an hour.

New arrangements for parking cars whilst away cruising have been introduced - not sure why but it feels as if there have been some minor turf wars! This time there is also a complication that the main area used for this purpose has to be kept clear for an exhibition of electric boats later in May. Although we received an email about this just before we left home, it did not tell us where to park! As the main office is closed on Wednesdays, we had to wait until this morning before we could settle the car into is hibernation spot. Even so we were away by 10:30.

There was still quite a breeze blowing - not as strong as yesterday - so steering out of our mooring and across the open space of the marina was challenging!

Once we had turned out onto the main canal we were generally sheltered. Only a few short blasts sideways occurred on the few occasions when there was a gap in the hedges.

The next stretch is quite familiar but we still found some points of interest that we had not picked up on before. For example, Jacks Bridge 44 looks substantial enough to carry are reasonable load of traffic but on the ground is merely an accommodation bridge with a muddy unmade track. Old maps help unravel. The road passing the marina is called Cathiron Lane and we use this quite often on the way to and from Rugby. At one point it takes a sharp turn left and passes over a modern bridge over the railway (we assume dating from when the line was electrified) Cathiron Lane at that point turns into a farm track and emerges on the main road as the access to Falls Bridge Wharf where Armada hire boats are based. Only a short distance along the lane now carries traffic from that end.

When we arrived yesterday we discovered that one of the 12V circuit breakers would not latch in the On position. Fortunately it only serves the horn and headlamp. Christine arranged yesterday for us to call out the helpful boatyard at Hillmorton so they can take a look at it. the main use of the headlamp is in tunnels so it was fortunate that today's tunnel, Newbold, is very short and we could see well enough to know that nothing was approaching (it is a two-way tunnel) and light from either end helped us to steer without hitting the walls!

On the edge of Rugby we moored for a short while to visit Tesco (luckily we could slot in at the closest point to the footpath down to the store) to complete our start-of-voyage fill of the larders. Every cranny is now stuffed full!

By the time we returned to the boat it was 1 o'clock so we had lunch before setting off again. Our trip plan is currently based on a laid back scheme, only moving for half a day at a time and with options for a few says off cruising. We hope that by accepting a much less ambitious target compared with the days of even a few years ago, we shall be able to elongate our canal career just a bit more!

In between Rugby and Hillmorton is Clifton upon Dunsmore and we later unravelled the history of a couple of seemingly insignificant former railway bridges.

Just before Clifton New Wharf is an arm, now used for mooring but originally the main line of the canal when first built until the straightening project aimed at reducing travel times for carrying boats.

For the most part this comprised cutting out long loops that were the product of the need to follow contours for the original navvies. As construction technology improved, the ability to create cuttings and embankments allowed shorter routes - hence the opportunity to cut out long loops such as the one now seen at Clifton.

There is little of the original left at the wharf - it is properly called Clifton New Wharf as the original - renamed Clifton Old Wharf - was located about half way along this loop, close to the actual village. Another reason for some poof the loops was the early focus of canal carrying on quite local trips and it was the development of longer distance trade the meant that journey times became more important than than direct service to every small community.

Just before the wharf is the first of the two former railway bridges. This carried the Rugby and Stanford branch of the London and Birmingham Railway Company (later the L&NWR) which linked Rugby and Stamford via Market Harborough. It was quite and early project, opening in 1850. It joined at Rugby Station to what is now the West Coast Main Line.

Once the line was completed around 1878 and traffic increased significantly, causing problems with scheduling train movements at Rugby Station. Also, the original line was only intended to provide services that terminated here, using platforms to one side of the main line. new traffic wanted to proceed further north and so parliamentary permission was sought to build a flyover to take trains directly onto the upline and platform.

This involved a new loop line from close to the Old Wharf and around to approach the main line from the south. This was the purpose of the second now abandoned bridge which we passed just after Clifton New Wharf.

We did not want to tackle the Hillmorton Locks today, not least because the boatyard is mid flight. Mooring spaces immediately below the flight can be a bit scarce so we grabbed a good piece of armco bank about ten minutes before.

5.2 Miles - 0 Locks