Fenny Compton to Elkington Lock and Clattercote Wharf

5 miles:   5 locks

I stayed on a Fenny to get the engine checked over.
I had a bit of concern about the engine running a little hot on the last two long and lock-less days.
John the mechanic promised to be at Hallmark by 2:30 he arrived at 4.:00 He checked the wed hatch again and ran a few other checks.
The problem was certainly a clogged stainer in the water cooler.
Hallmark finally chugged away from The Wharf just before 5:00

A bit of a challenge to get to Broadmoor Lock,one up from Cropredy before twilight.
The late afternoon was pleasant and there bits of sun about.
The straight and narrow run through what once the cutting and Fenny Tunnel went well.
No passing boats!

Despite thus Hallmark was at Claydon Top Lock with an hour. 

The run had gone well so far.

Then the sky completely changed.

There was no doubt we were in for a storm.

Then heavens opened. 

It was wet. 

Very wet indeed!

This was my third time on the Claydon Five and each time I got soaked.
Lock in the rain are not fun!
At lock 19 I left a top paddle open as I tried to drain the lock idealised eventually as the lock would not empty.  I ended up almost draining the pound above
I did the rest of the flight with no more silly errors.
But it was a long haul five locks in two hours.
Not good going.
The rain was too heavy and the light was fading Hallmark had just pasted Clattercote Wharf although there was no piling I pulled over just up from Elkington's Lock (22).
I had really gone pass the time to stop.
It was a mallet and pins job but the ground was firm.
I had a hot soup and decided I could catch up of the 'missing' locks in the morning and get to Banbury on time!

Braunston to Fenny Compton

16.5 miles:    9 locks


It was a lovely morning. I was up at 5:30am.
I have no idea why.
Hallmark was ready to go at 6:15.
So I sat and had a proper breakfast.
We left Braunston at 6:45 determined not to get involved in the hire-boat turn-a-round at three hire boat fleets around Napton Junction.
The five mile length between Braunston and Napton is a  remote piece of canal with the countryside falling away on one side and climbing to a ridge on the other.

We passed Napton Junction and completed the Warwick  Ring.
What a great trip it was, although it was not part of the original plan.
It was Birmingham and back.
In to Birmingham and Worcester Canal and back out on the Grand Union.

On the run up to the Napton Flight we had a good view of Napton's famous windmill.
There were already plenty of boats on the move.  The canal was crowded with moored boats and it tight when boats came the other way.

I arrived at the bottom of the flight of nine locks at 9:15am,  a little later than expected.
There were no boats waiting and the lock keeper offered to open the gates, wind the sluices and give advice.

Climbing the Napton Nine could not have easier.
I never had to empty one lock and for seven Hallmark went in through open gates.
We were at the top in under two and a half hours.

It was a long run across the summit to Fenny Comption.
It was a good nine miles
At times it was dreamy and at others plain dreary.

It is only in the last few miles you begin to see animal livestock.
I was tired and took a 50 minute lunch break by Bridge 186.
I am sure this helped Hallmark's engine which seemed to be running hot.
Maybe I had been driving it hard for two days?

The weather did not hold and there were bouts of torrential rain.
We met a good number of boats heading for Napton.
Too many of them were going too fast and Hallmark was near to a couple collisions at bridge holes.
We survived!
At last the wharf at Fenny Compton was reached.
The moorings were busy and I had to moor Hallmark some distance away from the pub.
It was actually a good idea as there was a weekend music and beer festival.

Coombes Field to Braunston

16 miles:   3 locks

There is one thing about the Oxford Canal it is never in a rush to get anywhere.
It was 6:45am as Hallmark silently glided under Bridge 26.
I turned the key and the engine roared into life.
I had a long day ahead.  Just three locks and a tunnel and lots of cruising without locks.
Some 16 miles in total.

Once again the canal and railway run alongside each other they seemed to share the same embankment.
But this is not the original canal route.
There were extensive shortings between 1829 and 1834.
So it's a day of bits of straightened canal.
Entrances and exits from old loops are passed morning and afternoon

Another features of the day was the number of places to purchase diesel and homes of hire fleets.
The first of these come with Rose Narrowboats at Stretton Stop.
No one was to be seen at 7:15 and I had to to push open the small swing bridge to their workshop to get through.

At Newbold along cutting leads to a 250 yard tunnel and I keep Hallmark perfectly straight all the way Maybe the multi-coloured lights helped My first purple and pink tunnel.
Near Rugby the Oxford Canal crossed two rivers. First the Swift and the the Avon.
The shortenings mentioned earlier led to a sequence of aqueducts and long embankments.

Rugby and it's factories and out of town retail parks are mostly hidden by woodland.

Then you find yourself at Hillmorton Locks.
Where there are three duplicated  narrow locks obviously built in the canals heyday to speed boats and their cargo.

It's a good run down to Braunston.
Plenty of bridges carrying motorway and railways.
All are in better condition compared with Bridge 80.

You know you are getting near to the magnetism of Braunston by it's church steeple set high above the canal and the lines and upon lines of moored visiting boats.

At last, Hallmark arrives at Braunston's triangular junction with it's twin Horseley Ironwork towpath bridges. It's the Grand Union and Braunston Tunnel to  the left and to the right the southern Oxford and Napton Junction to the right.
I steer Hallmark to the right and soon after Bridge 95 I pull into Friday's night resting place.

Atherston to Coombes Field

15 miles:    1 locks

After the eleven locks leading up to Atherstone today just had one.
This is a stop lock at Hawkesbury Junction many, many miles away.
There was plenty of countryside to see as the canal turned though many a tight bends.

The biggest town was Nuneaton which is near the canal but you see little of it's industry.
There is a bit of housing but lots and lots of allotments.

This first junction of the day was Marston.
This marks the beginning of the 22 miles Ashton Canal which is lockless.
It is a canal that goes nowhere in particular.

Next comes Hawkesbury Junction which is one of the iconic canal settings..
Getting on to the Oxford requires the most acute bend imaginable but overseen by a dignified cast iron bridge forged in 1837.

Here the Coventry Canal meets the Oxford and the pair of canals are separated by a narrow stop lock with a drop of less than a foot..

So at last Hallmark is heading south down the northern section of the Oxford Canal.
It is a lengthy and roundabout route to the Thames. But it is what I planned.
Although the M6 keeps alongside  the canal for mile or two and the main line railway is alongside for even more the canal soon finds itself amid fields, upon embankments or deep in cuttings
There were no moorings left at Ansty.
I was looking forward to a pint at the Rose and Crown whose extensive gardens run down to the canal by Bridge 15.
I pressed on to Stretton Stop but just before Bridge 26, I pulled over right in the country at Coombes Fields.

A really quiet and peace mooring.
Here is the view over the hedge.

Fazeley Junction to Atherston

11 miles:   13 locks


Today was going to be a day with maybe four or five locks.
A sort of slow day after the grind since leaving Birmingham on Monday.
The day did not turn exactly as planned.
It was an early start and Hallmark cruised out of Fazeley alone.
We skirted Tamworth crossing the impressive Tame Aquaduct and the extensive moorings of the Tamworth Cruising Club.

Next it was the two Glascote locks.
We were climbing for the first time since the Lapworth Flight on the Stratford Canal.

The first lock filled very very slowly and then I realised the short pound between the two locks was completely empty we has a water supply problem
With the help of another boater we began to fill the pound from the long seven mile  pound above.
We also called Bitish Waterways to let them know the difficulties
Eventually the water came up and Hallmark slowly made here way to the second lock.

The seven mile lock free run to Atherston was uneventful.

The highlight was passing the Samuel Barstow pub at Alvecote which had a wonderful collection of traditional boats moored all around.

There was a steady stream of boats heading for Fazeley.
They had obviously come down the Atherston Eleven the previous evening.

My plan was to do three or four locks and then stop overnight.

Three boats were waiting for there turn to climb and I joined them
It made a good start and chugged time after time into an empty lock chamber with willing helper

Other than a really heavy shower mid-flight the 80 foot climb could not have been easier or quicker.
Hallmark was at the top in 2 hours and 50 minutes.
The small basin at the top of the flight has been lovingly restored and there is a coal wharf alongside but sadly no longer functioning.
I moored Hallmark up just past Bridge 41.

Minworth to Fazeley Junction

8 miles:    11 locks


Hallmark was on its way by 7:35am.  It was a pleasant start to the day.
Leaving Minworth really shows that you have 'escaped' from the city and found the county again.with fields and flooded gravel pits lining the way.

First stop was Curdworth Tunnel.
This is two-way and short at 57 yards.
Easy............ no bumping the sides at all!

Although for five miles the M42 motorway runs parallel to the canal and the M6 Toll  road crosses it and it's construction necessitating the repositioning of the top lock,
This 10 year old lock worked a treat.

Not so for the second in the flight.
I knew I was in for difficulty when the bottom gate would not fully open.
Even removing my fenders did not help.
Neither did two large men leaning on the gate or even a third.
We the tried rushing water some water from the sluices to lift the boat .
Moving Hallmark out of the lock wasgoing to need British Waterways.
They promised to be there is 20 minutes but took 45.
They said this was a regular problem with Lock 2 and set clearing sludge behind the gate.
This was soon done and Hallmark was free to tackle the remaining nine locks.
It was hot work as the afternoon sun was fierce.

At Curdworth Bottom Lock there are four canal cottages.
Towards Fazeley you see the first open farm land since the Stratford upon Avon Canal.

As you get near to Fazeley the scenery changes again.
There gravel pits all around.
Gravel has been extracted from the valley of the River Tame since the 1930s.
First by dredger and then by dragline.
Some say the landscape has been irrevocably scarred by such activities.
Luckily the imaginative creation of the Kingsbury Water Park out of the abandoned gravel workings.

I made a diesel and water stop at Fazeley Mill Maina.
It is a very tight turn in but the pump is very accessible and I decide to back out into the canal rather that turn round in the marina.

Fazeley Junction is a simple T junction.
So I turned right for Coventry.

About 75 yards up the Coventry Canal I find a mooring place.
After a good day I pull in and get out of the sun.