Petes Pix 2022

Dan and Krisie were staying with us and we were invited by Toby and Emma to join them for an early Christmas dinner. There was a log fire crackling away on the TV but Jack was in his cot asleep when this photo was taken by Dan's self-timer camera. The marvellous roast chicken dinner that Toby cooked had been demolished. 

 

Birthday dinner at Prime with Peter and Sue, who brought a bottle of Lanson.

  Left Braunston at 07:00 because the boat had to be returned by 09:00. When we got to Napton Marina one of the staff boarded to manoeuvre us in. We then had 30 minutes to vacate the boat.  Then a team boarded to replace gas cannisters and clean the boat. After a few minutes in the office for Dan with the final paperwork we said farewells. Dan and Krisie headed home to North Wales with a stop for breakfast while we drove in the opposite direction. Two weeks on Midlands canals had gone by in a flash. We'd eaten better evening meals than I expected in convenient canal side pubs and - apart from the last Friday - we'd been blessed with sunny clear days. Passengers and crew of Annabelle in The Boathouse on the last night. Braunston to Napton - 5 miles - 0 locks - 2 hours.

 Our last full day. We left Newbold at 09:30 and it was dry and bright but at 11:15 it started to rain heavily. The supplied waterproofs proved not to be proof against heavy rain, but it didn't seem to worry Dan. Rain let up for a while as we approached Braunston but started again.  Several fields along the river showed signs of mediaeval strip farming, as shown by 'ripples' in the grass   We moored at 15:50, most of the places were taken and we couldn't tie-up close to the pub. Heavy rain had soaked the tow path which was mostly muddy puddles. We were back at The Boathouse which we'd dined in at the start of our cruise. Dan found a route back along the road to avoid the worst of the tow path. Newbold to Braunston - 10.5 miles - 3 locks - 5h20 plus an hour moored for lunch.

  We left our mooring at 09:55.   Hawkesbury Junction links Britain's two oldest canals, the Coventry and the Oxford. Both run close and parallel for a short distance, meaning we had to make a 360 degree turn in the pool in front of the Greyhound to join the Oxford Canal. It's a very tight turn in a 68-foot boat, and it started to rain. Coventry Canal's tow path is carried over the water on the 50ft cast-iron Junction Bridge. There is a seven-inch difference in water levels between the two canals, so we had to go through a lock to go on the Oxford Canal. A CRT volunteer was on hand to give advice, but Dan had to operate the windlass. Another cast-iron bridge carried the Oxford tow path. Leaving Hawkesbury Junction behind we had the canal to ourselves. Rain showers were frequent. Just before Newbold is the 250-yard Newbold Tunnel, the first I'd seen with a tow path. It was built in 1829 replacing an earlier tunnel as part of a project to shorten the route of the ...

We left Atherstone at 09:55 and soon came to Atherstone locks, which were staffed by cheery Canal & River Trust volunteers. CRT volunteers were easily recognised, not so much by their CRT jackets, but by the orange life-jackets they all wore and walkie-talkies that were clipped to them. Out of Atherstone there were sections where the canal passed fields of crops, and places where trees hung over the canal. We reached Hawkesbury Junction and moored on the other side of this footbridge (above) by the tow path at 16:05 and had time to explore before it got dark. The Engine House (above) was first used in 1821 by a Newcomen engine which pumped water from an underground stream to feed the canal. The stream had dried by 1913 when the Engine House fell into disuse. Dan had made our dinner booking at The Greyhound  a couple of minutes stroll from our mooring. I thought this might be a touristy place, but the bar was packed with locals and the restaurant area was busy and with well...