2024 trip - Mercia Marina to Braunston

  Important port of call just north of Braunston at Barby Marina for a pumpout Like most marinas, the entry is only just wider than a boat - this is because they pay a fee per foot to the Canal and River Trust.  It's very breezy today and this is an exposed spot. Denis steered in, executed a tight 180 degree turn (not easy in a 62' boat in wind) and moored up outside the facilities hut on the right with Catnap's bow facing the exit A waterside snack Admiring the scenery Our favourite 'Italian' mooring at Hillmorton, this time with Belted Galloways or 'Belties' Pink evening light Canal bridge art at Rugby Simple boat signage An aerial (actually from the top of the engine house chimney) view of Hawkesbury Junction from 1985. The Oxford Canal comes in from the left, via the shallow 'stop lock'.  Then we turn 90 degrees in front of the white building, The Greyhound pub, under the cast iron bridge and another sharp 90 degree turn into the one way channel...

  Setting off from Barby with ducklings in pursuit... So sweet! Sunhat weather Two venerable working boats Hyperion and Hyades owned by linocut artist Charlotte Ashman A pair of tall bridges Quite unconcerned by the boats Not much canalside housing this stretch, but this is newly built.  Like all the others we've seen it has NO solar panels! Beautifully painted replica working boat, with characteristic upturned tiller and painted jug and pole Nearing Braunston Grasshopper hitching a lift Braunston church steeple ahead No comment! How very congested the canal at Braunston is, often with boats moored either side and many blind bends.  So we have to pick our way slowly along Looking for the water point amongst the boats - there's often not much space left there to stop and fill up. While we were holding Catnap in, two boats went past far too fast, claiming that was as slow as they could go... hmm! The building in the distance is the Stop House, built in 1796 for collecting t...

  Leaving our overnight mooring at Newbold ... to some blind and overgrown bends... ... and overhanging trees There's not much to say about Rugby, except the canalside retail park is ideal for provisioning and we also filled up with water and disposed of rubbish and recycling.  This photo is of the next place on the journey, Hillmorton, which has three sets of paired locks and is altogether an attractive place.  The carved wording on the beams is part of a poem by Roy Fisher, written in 2012 on the occasion of the handing over of the inland waterways to the newly created Canal and River Trust.  The whole text is:   WORKING WATER HELD CAPTIVE FOR A WHILE THEN SLUICED AWAY TO JOIN THE WORLD’S OTHER WATERS AGAIN OPEN ENTER AND BE LIFTED SAFE WITH WORDS AT YOUR BACK THESE DOORS MAKE DEPTH POWER TO SINK YOUR BOAT BODILY INTO THE LAND AND LET IT GO RIDING OUT UNHARMED STEP AT A TIME A RIVER CLIMBS CAREFULLY DOWN THROUGH THE TOWN   M...

  After yesterday's excitement, we're enjoying the sunshine and scenery on the Oxford Canal, including grand bridges like this, built when the canal was straightened and shortened in the 1830s.  In reality, some stretches were straightened, but many still have twists and turns - reminds us of the poem 'The Rolling English Road'.  There are also numerous small bridges (the originals from the late 1700s) which have impossible sight lines, so oncoming boats are only spotted at the last minute! We often see historic ex working boats out on the cut - here is 'Progress' built in 1936 for carrying coal. She has a wooden hull, surprisingly for such a late date   More coir bank, here placed above the original stone bank. The vegetation is starting to develop nicely, holding everything together The railway runs right alongside here, with an old barge - probably used to carry dredged up material One for our collection of unusual boat names and signwriting A bit difficult t...