Wednesday 29 July the weather being good, we decided to pass through Nuneaton, then find a suitable mooring for some DIY.
A common sight on the canals, the remains of a long dismantled bridge. Often the route narrows at this point where the 'bridge hole' once would have been
Maintaining canals includes mowing many miles of verge
On the outskirts of Nuneaton, eccentric shed par excellence, with gothic statuary...
Settling on our temporary workshop mooring near Griff Lane Bridge, work begins on cleaning and prepping for touch up painting
The weather forecast for Friday is for blistering temperatures of 30C plus, so an early start at 7.30am for Hawkesbury, planning to fill up with water at the CRT services there and then find shade for the rest of the day.
These were certainly shady stretches, but we needed water so onwards!
Approaching Hawkesbury Junction, where the Coventry and Oxford Canals meet. It's a popular place and many boats are moored both passers through and permanent residents. This was built by Stephen Goldsbrough, like ours - the owners obviously Dutch and keeping their boat looking an absolute treat
Visitor moorings at Hawkesbury
Approaching the water point bollards on the left
Refilled
(water) and emptied (rubbish) we turn sharp left and left again in
front of the famous Greyhound Inn to join the Oxford Canal
Joining the queue to get through the 'stop lock' and onto the Oxford
Catnap in the lock, which rises a paltry 6 inches. Stop locks were put in to stop one canal literally stealing water from a rival company's canal
About a mile down the Oxford, but no mooring possible because of the stony bank. We found a short piece of metal bank on a corner by a tall hedge giving us some shade and slightly awkwardly tied up. Sunset after an extremely hot day (temperatures here actually reached 29C)
