Lock free length.

We got going in sunshine at about 0930 we were soon  approaching Shrewley Tunnel.

Despite the tunnel being two way working I hung about until the boat coming the other way cleared before heading through. At first it seemed nice and dry but approaching the other end there were 'streams' coming from the side of the tunnel. I was able to avoid most of them by weaving about the canal though.

As there is no tow path through the tunnel the boat horses were taken over the top and across the main street of the village of Shrewley. There is an unusual horse tunnel to access the towpath after the tunnel and can be seen to the right in the photograph above.

 Despite the M40 and the railway line being close the trees  cut out most of the noise. The colours of the foliage is now almost in the autumn mode when the vivid greens give way to the fuller darker greens. This stretch was very pleasant to cruise through.

There is an embankment as you approach Rowington with great views and nice wide towpath. We will definitively mark it down for a future stop over.

This old building ahs been here a while as can be seen by the wave in the ridge beams. I love the different roof levels and tiles.

We stopped for water at Turner's Green and we were tempted to moor up and see what the Tom O' The Woods pub was like but we resisted and carried onwards.

We passed Kingswood Junction and were quite pleased that we were continuing on the lock free Grand Union rather than the down on to the Stratford Canal. That will be another another time.

After the junction we tried to moor up on the straight but the old piling was difficult to get anywhere near as it was all shoaled up very badly. We got stuck for a few minutes on one attempt and had to resort to the pole to get us free again. We continued up the cut until we spotted a place where there was a gap in the trees for a view and some solar. We hadn't log been moored up when it started to rain softly. Impeccable timing one again.

I have spent the afternoon doing a bit of scheduling for the next couple of months to see where we will be for trips home on the train. I am fortunate as where we have ended up does provide a signal for the television tonight. I would definitely been in bad books if we couldn't get the 'Bake off' for Helen.