Willoughby

Here I am Rune

Distance 5.3 miles

Total 1520 Locks 78 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2188.3miles

Just a quick hop along the canal to the outskirts of Braunston (Willoughby). The intention was to go further along towards Napton after lunch but decided to remain where we are for the rest of the day. Since there is no real rush we’ll press on tomorrow.

Hilmorton (2)

Here I am Rune

Distance 0 miles

Total 1520 Locks 78 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2183miles

Another stay put day which gave me the opportunity to walk into Rugby and have a swimming session at the local leisure centre. By bad planning when I got back I just caught the end of the Scotland v Australia match in time to see them snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!! I didn’t  realise that Ireland had played their match earlier, so that is all of the home nations now out of the competition, oh well there’s always next time!

Hilmorton

Here I am Rune

Distance 3.2 miles

Total 1520 Locks 78 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2183miles

An easy trip down here to Hilmorton, stopping off at the locks to take on water (very low water pressure at the tap) and empty the Elsan. The trip was made easier with Vic on ‘Lindy-Lou’ being just ahead of us so he was setting the locks for us prior to our arrival. He has carried on to Bridge 80 but I wanted to stop here by Bridge 72 as we are right by a phone mast and have excellent reception on mobile phone and internet enabling me to watch tonight’s rugby matches. Close match with Wales v South Africa but France were wiped out by the All Blacks. May remain here to watch the matches tomorrow.

Rugby

Here I am Rune

Distance 4.6 miles

Total 1517 Locks 78 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2179.8miles

Variable planning, that is what it is all about! When we set off today my intention was to head to Rugby to get the weekend shopping in then press on to Hilmorton where we previously moored as the internet signal and phone signal there is excellent. First part of the plan went OK, got to Rugby but then bumped into (not literally) an old travelling companion, Vic, that we previously met on the Kennet and Avon a couple of years ago so it was necessary to catch up on a bit of chat, result was we didn’t get to move on today from Rugby.

It seems that Vic will be wintering in pretty much the same area that we are so it is likely that we will meet up again a few times during the winter (much as we did on the Kennet and Avon). It seems that we have only just missed meeting him during the summer as his route had pretty much followed our own although he went down the Trent whereas we went up it.

Tomorrow we’ll head on towards Hilmorton which isn’t very far from here, and probably remain there until Monday.

Brinklow

Here I am Rune

Distance 5.6 miles

Total 1517 Locks 77 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2175.2miles

Today’s trip was just a gentle wander up as far as Stretton Stop to wind the boat and then head back towards Rugby to do the weekend shop tomorrow. Since we aren’t in any particular hurry we got back as far as Brinklow and decided that was probably far enough since the engine is in need of a service so I spent the latter half of the afternoon carrying out the oil change and other checks.

At Stretton Stop the winding hole is by Rose Boats ,a hire company, and since it had been a quiet cruise to get there it was a bit of a surprise when the world and his wife arrived as I was turning the boat around. Having only passed a couple of boats all morning I then found 4 boats coming up behind me as I turned. The manoeuvre went OK (unusually when there is an audience) but whilst waiting for all the boats to pass by I noticed that Rose Boats had Stoveglow coal in stock at a reasonable £10 per 25Kg bag so we then stopped off and loaded up with a couple of bags. 

Interestingly one of the boats passing through on their way to Wheaton Aston was another blogging boat that I’ve followed for a while, http://noproblem.org.uk/blog/  I popped across and thanked her for her advice regarding the pallets that we are burning on an earlier blog.

So tomorrow, with a freshly serviced boat, it’ll be back to Rugby.

Newbold

Here I am Rune

Distance 4.5 miles

Total 1517 Locks 76 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2169.6miles

A short distance further up the North Oxford canal has brought us to Newbold, about 400 metres short of the Newbold Tunnel. Only 3 locks done today (the Hilmorton Flight) so all in all it was a pretty easy day. Tomorrow we’ll continue a little bit further up before winding and coming back to Rugby to do a bit of shopping.