All Oaks

It was definitely wet and windy yesterday evening, much better this morning with light winds but overcast.
old story, just getting ready to set off and a boat came along behind us, I didn’t appreciate how slow he was going. I let him pas and we then set to getting ready to leave, even at just below 3MPH we were up to him before Ansty so we decided to stop and fill with water. I posted a photo the other day of the Blood Bike van, today it has been joined by a

“Blood” car and before we reached the water point a second “Blood” car had gone by.
The tank full we set off under bridge 14, the main road connecting the two haves of Ansty. This bridge has been partly closed for years and part of the garden of the house adjacent to it has slipped, but there is no sign of it all being fixed .

The forecast gave light rain for around lunch time and the sky suggested that would be correct, in the

end we only got a few spots and a very short shower this afternoon and now the sun is out.
Some time ago the Rothen Group were repairing the towpath and it looks as if they weren't quite sure how to finish the job off. I think it must be a thing for bridges in this part of the world, this is the other side of bridge 26

The towpath is still closed at the site of the landslide but of course people are ignoring the closure and getting round the fence.

I wouldn’'t really want to walk through here unless I had to and then I would want my wellies on as the towpath has not been reinstated at the site of the southern slip.

We carried on and slipped into the only vacant slot along the piling just before the wood.
We did get to see another Water Vole today but this one was a bit shy and wouldn’t pose for me.

Today’s Journey

5½ miles with no locks in 2¼ hours

West of Ansty

Last night we had a Japanese takeaway and it didn’t  really work very well. I ordered on line and paid with PayPal I received an email saying my order had been received and was pending until payment had been confirmed. I then didn’t hear any more for ¾ hour when I received another email saying it was ready. So I then had to walk and find the takeaway, pick up the food and walk back, so the food had been prepared for well over ½ hour before we ate it.

When we arrived in the basin yesterday there wasn’ta breath of wind and the basin was flat calm. The same was true in the evening.

 

But it was a different story this morning with the wind picking up over night, we even also had some rain and this was the basin this morning. Those reflections long gone.
In view of the weather forecast we set off as soon as we had finished breakfast on board, rather than a leisurely cooked breakfast at Playwrights. We didn’t meet any boats until we arrived at Hawkesbury Junction lock.
There are lots of art installations along the Coventry Arm from concrete sofas to these sculptures on posts .

Last time we were this way I photographed a tall tree which looked as if they were ready to trim it, se here , well it looks as if its had bit more than a hair cut, taking the top out,

.

Beside the bridge at Hawkesbury Junction someone has been placing flowers and not just one bunch.

Last week a boat sank or was scuttled up near the Coventry Canal Society marina with lots of its contents reported stolen, this of course lead to some pollution, this and the absorbent mats has made its way right down to just above the lock . Today a CRT volunteer was down there filling his barrow from the towpath.

The boat is still moored to the towpath where it raised last week See Here 

Then what made our day, to see three Water Voles nibbling grass along the towpath, I was only able to photograph one.

In the end we only had a few spots of rain, not enough to even put coats on but the wind has continued to strengthen, thankfully our chosen mooring spot was free about half way between Hawkesbury and Ansty, a length of piling just long enough for two boats and reasonably sheltered from the ever freshening wind, we are just on the edge of a yellow wind warning

Today’s Journey

8 miles with 1 lock in 2¾ hours

Coventry Basin

A much calmer day today, last nights wind and rain just a memory. We stopped to fill up with water by the Ansty Club, its quite a good tap, flow wise and as there are three live aboard boats it gets regularly used. Just beyond the M69 bridge on the offside is a farm, I have spotted a Blood Bike here in the past, today one of their vans was in the yard.

We passed the boat that had been sunk just passed bridge 5, the back door had been sealed by a piece of wood, further on at the bend just before Hawkesbury visitor moorings we encounter some oil and absorbent pads floating around on the canal, they have travelled a long way from where the boat sank. As we approached the lock the ex-working boat Stanton was just leaving, but they turned right towards Atherstone whereas we turned left to Coventry, a much easier turn.
Last time we came down here we spotted 3 foxes but I was to slow to get a photo, today we just saw one. It looked in very good condition.

As  we came towards bridge No.1 at the entrance to Coventry Basin 2 paddleboarders came out followed a few minutes later by a canoeist, as we came under the bridge I could just see a second in the bright sun reflecting off the surface of the basin , he kept out of the way until I cleared the bridge and then headed off up the canal. As you can see the bridge has no towpath, this was a security feature of the basin to protect the cargos from theft with the basin also being walled in and gated. 
Once in we winded and then dropped back against the locked open swing bridge.

Today’s Journey

 

9 Miles with 1 lock in 3¾ hours

Ansty

Last night as planed we ate in the Barley Mow, what a friendly little pub, three bees on the pumps, I had Taylor’s, Diana had Dombar and the other was one of out local beers, Wherry. Had a very nice pie and mash with crisp pastry, no soggy bottom and Diane Liver which she said was nice.
This morning it was warm and fine, but the wind had really picked up. It will be the 20th anniversary of

the tunnel lights this October, pity they didn’t put money in the budget for maintenance, one by one they failed, I don’t think they ever fitted a new lamp to any of them, I wonder if the power is still on? What a waste of £200,000

Although we put the tunnel light on I am not sure it was working as it was so light in there we couldn’t see any trace of it on the walls.

It was quite windy as we made our way along the canal, but it was nice to see all the Snow Drops out in some of the canal side gardens .

It looks as if there has been another slip just past All Oaks wood on the offside by Easenhall Road bridge number 34, I hope it doesn’t get worse before we come back.

We had two targets for tonight, the first just through Grimes Bridge 26, unfortunately there was a small cruiser with a gap to small for us each side and a motor and butty, this meant we had to continue on to Ansty. I wonder how long these barriers have been on the bridge? You can see the cruiser and the stern of the butty through it

We pulled in to the first space on the Ansty visitor moorings just as it started to rain, so we almost had a dry run today.

8 miles with no locks in 2¾ hours

Today’s Journey

Newbold

Just a quick one for anyone who visits Moors Bridge by cad, the road on the offside now has a barrier across it so  you have  to turn back and go under the railway .

 

As expected it rained over night, so that mixed with the train traffic lead to a somewhat disturbed sleep. This morning we waited until the rain stopped and then set off, mistake, by the time we reached the top lock it was throwing it down, you could hardly see the middle lock. By the time we were through the lock it had eased but carried on raining all the way down. This little boat has sunk on the long term moorings between the middle and bottom lock.

Also in that pound and almost opposite the floating Blacksmith with his interestingly shaped butty.

Belong the bridge there are Share boats moored two abreast, I expect the owners are paying for secure offline moorings. Almost as soon as we cleared the bottom lock the rain stopped. A short way passed the locks we passed a boat with a sign warning about cats on board and this one even popped out as we passed to keep an eye on us.

Our next port of call was Rugby, to visit Tesco for a few essentials,  the towpath is a real muddy mess along here but luckily we were able to moor opposite one of the entrances to the housing estate so only needed to cross it and not trug down it to the bridge. We were here a couple of hours including eating lunch but when we set off a little after 2pm. it was very overcast and looked much later. We made our way to Newbold where a chap under the bridge was waving at us, he collects boat numbers just like some collect train numbers, he had spotted us earlier but was too slow to get the number so he came to Newbold to intercept us. We have moored for the night on the visitor moorings and will be eating in the pub tonight, I think the last time we visited there was a pub each side of the lane.

Today’s Journey

4½ miles with 3 locks in 2¼ hours

Hillmorton top lock

Not much to report today, no ice and a bit more wind, it started fine but started raining just as we pulled in to moor up, not even anything worth a photograph.
A little late getting away as I needed to do some banking, thankfully Lloyd’s AI helper soon gave up on me and gave me a real person. The problem was my stupidity or over confidence. Once away our first stop was Dunchurch Pools to fill with diesel at £1-01 p/l domestic, we use around 10 L/day this time of the year and a bit more when its as cold as this week. We timed it right as no one else was on the service pontoon.
That sorted we were on our way again, meeting a few hire boats as its half term week. We were hoping to moor between bridge 72 and the locks because the edge is better and there is a good hedge between the canal and the railway, unfortunately several other boaters have already had the same idea.

Today’s Journey

4¾ miles with no locks in 2 hours

As it was a short blog you can see everywhere we have been on this Google map. The current rout is always blue

Willoughby

Sorry last nights blog was so let getting away, I had next to zero internet/phone signal all afternoon and evening where we moored, then just before bed it was 2 green lights on the MiFi and we were good to go. I checked when I got up during the night, as you do and still two greens, this morning we were back down to a yellowishy green.

We woke to a sunny but chilly morning, again it was -2°C overnight, but very little thin ice on the canal and that had been broken by the time we set off a little before 11. There was quite a bit of traffic about today and I would estimate we met 12 to 18 boats in the three hours. As we left we had quite a nice view of the windmill in the sun shine.

Just beyond Napton Narrowboats there is still a lone soldier standing in the field on the off side.

The widebeam boat is still moored in the same spot on the Grand Union just past Wigrams Turn. As we passed under bridge 107 I looked back at the sheep on the brow of the hill.

At bridge 102 I did my good deed for the day, on our way out I noticed the sign for The Olive Bush that was against the offside bridge spandrel wall was in the canal but the top still anchored to some bushes. so I stopped just under the bridge and retrieved it until the next gale. On the other side of the canal  built on the line of the disused railway is this huge building, I don’t know if its just a house, club or what. Just past Nethercote bridge 101 the towpath is in quite a state with mud and standing water, not somewhere you want to be walking without your wellies on.

If anyone is looking for a leisure mooring there is one just outside Braunston by bridge 97 they only want £360 per month for it, probably cheaper in Braunston Marina. We saw our first lambs of the year just at the tend of the moorings before the Puddle Bank but they didn’t look that new.

At Braunston Turn we turned left as we had no reason to go into Braunston this time. The wind didn’t feel quite so cold now and I probably got my best snap so far of Braunston Church.

Just before we were going to moor this large flock of geese came round and landed on the off side, wecarried on a bit further and moored on the piling just before bridge 85 and had a little dabble down the weed hatch for a small piece of rag round the shaft. Yes it was cold.

 

Today’s Journey 

8¾ miles with no locks in 3 hours

Napton

Well I wasn’t expecting that this morning, there was ice all over the canal and it was only just freezing when we went to bed, the coldest it got overnight was -2° C. A boat came crashing through at about half nine and I could see the ice was a good ¼” thick, We decided to wait a bit as it warmed up and set off at 11 am after another couple of boats had been through. The second surprise was round the corner, no ice. In fact the next ice of any quantity was at The Engine Arm.
We caught up with the boat that passed us at Marston Dole top lock so we stopped to fill with water. This gave me the opportunity to get a photo of this three wheeler, you don’t see many of them about.

By the time the tank was full there was a boat coming up between the two lock so I set the top lock for him.
Bridge 118 as looking the worse for wear, one side the spandrel wall has actually fallen down with a large crack running to the Arch. From the other side day light can easily bee seen through the cracks.

Down to Napton top lock and already the locks had started leaking away, it was rather slow to refill with only on top paddle operational.

By the road bridge at the tail of lock 12 someone has deposited a pile of brick rubble on the offside. As we chugged down the flight I spotted this tree standing on the off side . How much longer it will be standing is very hard to say.You can see right through the trunk

Down near the bottom of the flight CRT were hard at work putting new lock mooring posts, it looked tough ground to be digging into. Down to the bottom lock and a chance to say hello to Stephan who is the CRT supervisor for this bit of the cut, its several years since our paths last crossed. Round the bend and a nice little mooring for the night.
After lunch it was a walk up to the post office stores for a few goodies.

Today’s Journey

2½ miles with 9 locks in 2¾ hours