The Oxford, The Covenrty and Finally The Trent and Mersey

I had to hold off on this post for several days as we were running out of data on the wifi, we did in fact run out of data. If it wasn't for the horrendous cost of extra data it wouldn't have been a problem. Anyway here we finally are with a few extra days to catch up on in the blog.

I left off the last blog at Rugby on the Oxford Canal which, for us, seems an age away since we are now moored in Stone on the Trent and Mersey Canal having passed along the Coventry Canal in between. Rachael homed in on the shops at the new retail park and we managed to waste spend several hours covering most of the shops in the park. The owners have so graciously placed a nice entrance to the park off the canal with a nice map beside. The only thing that was missing was the neon sign saying 'come shop here'. We followed up our shopping experience by crossing the canal at Bridge 58 and having lunch at The Harvester Pub and Restaurant. We came across a Harvester Restaurant earlier in the  cruising season when we were over near Highclere Castle near Newbury where we had an excellent experience. Lunch at the Rugby Harvester was no different and only a 5 minute walk from the canal.

So after filling up at Harvester we decided to move off the mooring and head for Hawkesbury Junction, the junction of the Oxford and Coventry Canals. It had been a lovely day for cruising, we stopped along the way to fill with diesel and empty the holding tank. Late in the afternoon the weather closed in with a thunder and lightning display, fortunately the rain held off until we moored just half an hour cruising time short of the junction. Mind you, we did try to moor an hour before but it was too shallow and we were unable to get the boat to the side. Re-launching the boat I managed to slip and place one leg thigh deep in the canal. I finished the journey with a wet left leg!

Misty morning on the Coventry Canal

First thing I did in the morning was check the fuel, oil and coolant. Our stop for diesel yesterday had managed to fill the tank with lots of diesel, lots of water and lots of dead diesel bug, first time hadn't checked the fuel before allowing them to fill the tank! It was a short run to Hawkesbury Junction and as anticipated there was little room for mooring; a good decision to stop short of the junction the day before. There was a queue for the stop lock (a one (approx) foot deep lock used to stop the flow of water from one company's canal into another's) so we pulled over to fill the water tank. Noticed a bit of work going on at the junction, looked like a demolition. There are several very old 'huts' around that seem unused.

We cruised passed Charity Dock, I'm not sure what they do here but it looks like a car wrecker mixed in with a boat wrecker. Whatever it is it's a shambles!

A bit of everything here at Charity Dock

We cruised on to Hartshill where we moored for the night. There was plenty left in a beautiful day to start the painting. The gas locker lid was the first to feel the sander! It then got two coats of light undercoat; I'm changing the colour. The top of the sign post made for an excellent bench.

Next to get the sander was the bow, top and sides. Someone had done a pretty average job of painting the sides in the first place.

Nearly ready for a new coat of paint

All was going well until it quickly clouded over late in the afternoon, then we got the thunder and lightening show and there was just enough time to clean up and pack up before the rain came down and that was the end of the painting for the day.

We headed off from Hartshill nice and early and arrived in Atherstone an hour later. A quick dash to the off license for milk and bread and we headed off, working our way down the Atherstone Lock Flight, nine locks in total and quite a pretty flight. We had help with the first lock from CRT volunteers, the rest was up to us.

Nearly to Polesworth and there are not too many crops still in, the only one I've seen lately is corn (?) or at least that is what it looks like to the untrained eye!

We finished the day on a semi-rural mooring just passed Alvecote Marina, a half hour cruise from Tamworth. The stretch of canal between Polesworth and Alvecote is a most enjoyable hour of  forest cruising.

Once again off early and hoping to get a mooring at Fradley Junction, when we arrived late 'ish' there was not a mooring to be had! Even around the corner on the Trent and Mersey above the second lock! We had little choice but to continue of up three locks before mooring just passed the lock landing on Lock 20. This was our first chance to find a suitable mooring spot, the edges are in very poor condition from the boat wash.

Moored just above Lock 20

Heading for Great Haywood on Saturday and Rugeley was chaotic to the point of a traffic jam at Bridge 86 where it took quite a while to sort things out between half a dozen boats coming and going in all directions. There is never a lot of room to move at the best of times here anyway! Most boats wanted to moor, with no room to do it, others, like me, wanted to continue on through. Eventually it sorted itself as it always does! My speed was clocked on the way out of Rugeley! Four MPH, right on the money!

No problems getting a mooring at Great Haywood, we were in rather early. It's amazing that after spending so much time up north almost devoid of boats, you forget how busy the canals can get, the Four Counties Ring being one of the busiest. We moored right near the bridge across the Trent to Shugborough where they had a circus set up in the grounds. Throughout the afternoon we had background music for the mooring, nothing too loud and pleasant enough.

Heading out of Great Haywood on a cool but sunny Sunday morning we came across a sculptor working hard at a bust of what looked very close to Lady Diana Spencer.

Lots of hire boats along the way, one in particular going too fast and cutting a blind corner, not counting on Serafina being on the the other side. It ended up being a gentle head on fender to fender but I'm sure he learnt a valuable lesson. We arrived early into Stone, around 2pm, and took up a mooring in the 48 hour moorings, we have booked an appointment with the boat doctor here in Stone, Serafina needs a little TLC.