A lovely bright sunny start to the day, and Macc and I went to explore up the hill that the Oxford Canal curls round immediately before Hawkesbury Junction. There are a number of footpaths over it, so we took one from the towpath and headed uphill. At the top, there are wide reaching views across Coventry.
The route back down was a bit more challenging. I was following the footpath as shown on a map, but the end of it was down a steep bank. I had to hang on to the trees down the side, and Macc of course did his best to pul, me over. At about 8.45 Adrian walked up to the lock while I brought the boat. With the Oxford being a bit low, the drop onto the Coventry Canal level seemed even less than usual.
Next is the 180 degree turn under the junction bridge onto the Coventry, heading north. There are boats moored both sides at the moment, which rather spoils the views of the bridge.
I did the turn in one without any reverse, but then the narrows by the engine house seems a long way over.
We met a procession of boats over the next few miles. Charity Dock is as mad as ever with its mannequins and piles of old boats.
I imagine the boats we’d met could well have come from the Ashby Canal. We were soon passing the entrance at Marston Junction.
The next boat we met was the disabled trip boat from Nuneaton, on one of the many sharp bends. Nuneaton doesn’t really have a lot to recommend it, it’s just a matter of ticking off the miles. Eventually the back gardens and the rubbish is left behind, and towards Springwood there’s the one remaining multi-armed telegraph pole, which is one of the canal’s great survivors.
We’d done washing and drying this morning so stopped to top up the water tank at the Hartshill Depot. The water point is on the offside, and across the yard is a rather nice building.
There were only a couple of boats moored at Hartshill, which is often packed. The marina at Mancetta now has boats moored on the offside on the approach, where a metal walkway has been installed on posts above the canal.
Rothern have their workboats after the next bridge, and Chertsey is up on the land. I knew Sarah had sold the boat and that she’d said it would be returning to its roots; it now has green and yellow tunnel bands, so I guess the rest will eventually be in Rothern colours. The moorings above Atherstone Locks are currently closed because of building work opposite, so we wanted to stop a bridge before. It looked as though there was no space, but we found we just fitted into one gap, with about six inches spare at each end. The boat ahead then left about 5 minutes later. After lunch, Adrian walked into town and found a pleasant High Street.
His route took him past the old hat factory which used to be opposite the moorings. It’s now gone completely, having been demolished earlier this year. It had been closed for about 25 years and partially collapsed in a storm a couple of years ago.
I spent the afternoon editing an interview for an upcoming podcast episode.
11 miles, 1 lock. (224 miles, 140 locks)