Hillmorton Monday 2 September 2019

Day : Monday
Date : 2 September 2019
Start : 0920
Finish : 1520 Hillmorton

I have uploaded our proposed route to Canal Planer AC https://canalplan.eu/journey/12200_cp if anyone wants to see where we are likely to be. It gets updated with actual position each night.

We said goodbye to Connie who had been staying with us for the weekend and set off on a cooler but sunny morning. We were somewhat surprised how Nelson Wharf has developed since we were last this way, Moorings well down beyond the old railway embankment and another large building.

We arrived at the bottom of the Calcutt flight to find a boat waiting for us to join them in the lock to go up, which was a pleasant surprise, I hadn't seen them at all. We were soon on our way with only a few inches of water holding the gates of the second lock close. As we came up we could see people working the top lock and there were two more boats coming down, could it get better, yes. There was a boat at the top waiting to come down behind them, so our locking partners who so kindly waited were off into the sun. We on the other hand stopped and topped up with water. As we set off I could see that the reservoir was around its normal level.

With the tanks full it was on to Napton Junction and sharp left to Braunston. Passing the long term moorings on the puddle bank these sheep decided that to lay against the side of one of the moorers cars would be a good move.

There is an old wooden boat moored along there at the moment and on the side it says "Thomas Clayton No.19 Conway"a little further on, on the North Oxford canal we passed another Thomas Clayton boat "Spey"hopefully this one is not full of water.
We chugged on to Hillmorton to find that firstly there is no longer anyone selling diesel. The Hungry Horse or The Old royal Oak, is now The Waterside and run by Green King and then just round the corner there is a large housing development going up.

We only went a short way further on to moor for the night just under Moors Bridge, its possible that we may be on a long term mooring, the notices are somewhat contradictory but it has rings , the only down side is the close proximity to the railway which seams to have a train every 5 minutes at the outside.

Today's Journey 14½ Miles 3 Locks in 6 hours