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Sunday 2 September 2018

A lovely day on the cut.

As it got dark the nearby house decided to start a bonfire and as there was very little wind it rose up and dropped down on us. I had been thinking of washing and polishing the roof. I was so glad I didn't as I had to wash the boat roughly in the morning.

The season of mellow fruitfulness seems to have started today. The view back to the bridge from our mooring.

It seems that the land slip in the cutting after All Oaks Wood has multiplied, at least from the number of buoys. However I think that they marking the ends of trees that have fallen and just been sawn off.

I was surprised to see a combine out yesterday and today there is still baling to do. I loved the stripes. As we approached Streton I could see a hire boat trying to moor up before a C&RT work boat and pusher tug. As we got closer I saw a blue hose come snaking out from the bow and a girl with a clipboard standing by the tug. I was a little worried and just asked if they were looking for water? They said they were so I told them where to find it, just after the little footbridge. I have no idea what possessed them to think that you could get water from a tug. I suspect it was just that it was blue! Where they were going to attach the hose I have no idea. By the time we had cleared the bridge and were half way up the straight they still hadn't come round the corner to Rose Boats!?

In the 1830's the face of the Northern Oxford Canal was changed for ever as the snaking bends of the contour canal were cut off by the cuttings and embankments of improvements. The arch to the left was not one of those loops but was built to serve Wyken Colliery that opened in 1862. That is until the M6 Motorway was constructed in the late 1960's. The whole length was opened in 1971. The route of the motorway took the arm of the Oxford that served the colliery and this new part had to be built to replace it. The colliery closed in 1991.

As we approached Hawkesbury Junction we passed the site of Longford Power Station where it reminds me of Chernobyl with the lamp posts still there. In 2014 the land was for sale fro £5 million and planse were passed for a 225 berth marina. The permission would expire after three years so must have gone by the by now.

The substation on the opposite side of the canal and the pylons really makes me fell I am in the War of the Worlds movie, or some other Sci-Fi film.

It seemed pretty quite at Sutton Stop with plenty of room on the Oxford and Coventry sides. I voluntary Lock keeper helped us through and we then had to make the turn of 360 deg. I managed with just one helm movement which I was pleased with.

Looking back there was nobody applauding my great skill, so I can only assume there were no boaters drinking there, or everybody does it that way any way!

Today has been absolutely wonderful with the sun hot on our backs. The light is just that less harsh late summer light, and the dark greens of the fading leaves contrast with the myriad red berries, hips and haws of the hedgerows. It has been a real joy to trundle along the cut today. After Hawkesbury there seems to be very little traffic to worry about.

Just by bridge 14 the house that used to be the Navigation pub and has been converted to a large house with 75 metre moorings is up for sale. This is in the garden by the bridge. Helen had a look and it is on the market for offers over £1 million!

I'm not sure whether it is just me, but I think that Charity Dock has been cleaned up a little. The best tableau has always been the motorway pile up that is the scrap heap by the dry dock. It would take hours to move all the boats to get access to the dock me thinks.

The lone tree is hanging on. Just as we approached Nuneaton we met a day boat at a bridge hole. I was full astern and I could see the panic on the face of Grandma at the front and even the blokes at the stern. The later didn't seem to realise that they could also stop, or even go astern on their engine too. We must have been inches from a bow to bow meeting but just pulled clear in time. I'm glad they could laugh about, and they just said that they had no idea what they were doing and thanks. Not that it was there fault in any way.

As we passed Mount Judd I was again drawn by the is cottage in the evening light. The moorings in this part of the world seem to be administrated by Waterside Moorings! Is this just an arm of C&RT or have they got another company in to do the collection and penalties?

There was nobody on the water point at Harts Hill so we stopped for a top up. I love these buildings with the rounded ends that were part of the Canal Company Yard.

We were aiming for Atherstone but decided that rather than take pot luck on their being a mooring late on we would stop in the countryside with views of fields and woods. As soon as we stopped we could buzzards calling and the field opposite we could see a couple of young exercising their wings flying from tree to tree. Later a parent was eating a catch in the field. As soon as we were moored up I had the roof cleared and washed it then polished it ready for the winter. I was ready for a beer afterwards though.

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