Braunston - centre of the canals

It is another wet day so we are waiting for the rain to stop and it is time to tell you where we have got to. The last blog update was from the top end of the Ashby Canal so this narrative starts from there.

Having visited the Battle of Bosworth site we were keen to visit Dadlington Church where a plaque in the graveyard records the fact that many of the dead from the battle were buried here.

Stoke Golding nearby is clearly very proud of being part of the Bosworth story.

The village sign recognises the story of how, after the battle, Henry Tudor was crowned King of England. This apparently took place at Stoke Golding on a rise still known as Crown Hill. The banners of Henry (top) and Richard (upside down below) also feature on the sign.

The curious marks in the windowsills of Stoke Golding Church are said to be where soldiers sharpened their weapons before the battle.

At the Bosworth Visitor Centre we bought a Yorkshire flag and now proudly display this on Leo. Yes I know we've picked the losing side, but we do live in Yorkshire.

Having come back down the Ashby Canal in a couple of days we reached Hawkesbury Junction where the Oxford Canal meets the Coventry. The engine house is a well known landmark, as is the Greyhound pub at the junction where we had a lovely evening meal.

And here we are last Wednesday about to make the turn onto the Oxford Canal. You can just see where we need to turn under the bridge on the left. It is best done slowly as it involves a 90 degrees turn under the bridge and then immediately 90 degrees left again to enter the stop lock at the start of the Oxford Canal.

Here is the sign at the junction. We  had come from Atherstone and were heading to Rugby. The arm to Coventry is a dead end but there are good moorings in the basin from which to visit the city.

Here is the view round the corner to 'Sutton's stop' with the stop lock to the left of the white house where the lock keeper used to live.

And here is the view looking back towards the Coventry Canal as we are making the turn.

Perhaps it is because of all the rain recently but we've noticed that tree fruit is abundant this year. This is a hawthorn bush covered in berries and there are loads of crab apples, conkers, sweet chestnuts, sloes, holly berries and rose hips.

At Stretton Stop is a narrows, a boat hire firm and a small swing bridge.  With boats moored both sides there is not much room to pass oncoming boats.

An interesting feature of the North Oxford Canal is that it was dramatically shortened in the 1820s. 14 miles were removed of the original 36 miles by installing cuttings and embankments to straighten its course. A number of dead ends remain where the canal used to go. This one at Brinklow is spanned by one of the shapely iron bridges from Horseley Iron Works.

We liked this weathercock on top of the church tower at Newbold, where we spent the night on Wednesday. Appropriately it shows a pilgrim leading a donkey.

Right next to the churchyard at Newbold you can find the old route of the canal and the portal of the previous tunnel. The new route required the digging of the current tunnel, which is not very long at 250 yards.

We had a very pleasant walk from our mooring at Newbold. This bridge crosses the Warwickshire River Avon. Not surprisingly it had plenty of water in it.

On Thursday we pressed on round Rugby. As we approached bridge 59 a lady on the towpath warned us that a car had gone into the canal and no boats were being allowed through. We stopped behind two other boats and walked up to see what was going on. Two lorries had turned up to lift and drag the car out of the canal but had both got bogged down in the mud. However they had managed to get the car, an Audi A3, to the side of the canal and we were allowed to go through.

Not far away we came to the bottom of the three Hillmorton Locks. Here Leo is coming up in the bottom lock. In fact there are six locks in three pairs of two locks built side by side. However at each location one lock was out of action and the ones that were working seemed in a poor state of repair. Let's hope CRT mend this flight during the winter.

We moored overnight near Willoughby and walked in to this charming village.  On Friday we went through Braunston. In this picture approaching Braunston you can see the church in the distance. In many ways Braunston is the middle of the canal network with two junctions so that you can travel from here to Oxford, Birmingham, Leicester and London.

This is the first junction known as Braunston Turn. The two Horseley Iron Works bridges form a triangular junction which makes the turn easier from either direction. Turning right here takes you to Oxford or Birmingham.

Here is the sign at the junction.  We had come from the direction of Coventry and were heading for a few miles towards London.

We are now on the Grand Union so meeting broad beam boats should not come as a surprise. Look how tight is the fit for this hotel boat through one of the bridges at Braunston.

Being the centre of the canal system there are always loads of boats at Braunston and it can be quite chaotic. Under the bridge ahead in the picture is the first of the six Braunston Locks but we can't get there to join another boat in the wide lock because a boat ahead has decided to turn round in the boatyard.  No, it is not a winding hole but that didn't stop him holding up traffic while he turned there!

We went up a couple of locks and then moored to go shopping in the village, mostly in the excellent butcher's which stocks much more than just meat. We discovered that we had moored right behind Ryan's Lass whose owners Eric and Brenda we know from volunteering at Naburn Lock during the winter. After lunch onboard Leo we carried on up the locks sharing with Jono on Alice.  Jono publishes a vlog called 'Journey with Jono' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuEE3JlxGAM) so you may find pictures of Leo there as well.  The picture shows Leo and Alice in the top lock at Braunston.

Soon after the locks we came to Braunston Tunnel which is just short of a mile long.  We liked this plaque at the entrance with its quotation about the 1796 opening.

It had been raining as we came up the locks and we hoped that it might have stopped by the time we came out of the tunnel.  It hadn't and it soon came down even harder, hence the raindrops on the camera lens in this photo. A few miles beyond the tunnel lies Norton Junction and Ian is turning Leo round this very tight corner onto the Leicester Branch of the Grand Union which goes north here leaving the main line to carry on south towards London.

On Friday afternoon we moored just round the corner from Norton Junction and waited for our friend Maurice, seen next to Helen in this photo. We enjoyed catching up during the evening and ate at the New Inn nearby at the top of the Buckby Locks towards London. On Saturday we carried on to the bottom of the Watford flight of locks seen here. At the Watford flight we were back to narrow locks. There are two single locks, then a staircase of four locks and finally a single top lock, making seven in all. There are lock keepers on duty to see boats safely through the flight. The bottom lock looks a bit like an Inca temple.

This view is taken looking back from the second lock towards the bottom lock with its attractive lock keeper's cottage, now in private ownership. I should also mention that the flight is right beside Watford Gap Services on the M1 and the canal goes under the motorway at the top of the flight.

Here Leo is in the staircase of locks. Helen has just alerted Maurice to the fact that she is taking the picture while Ian is talking to the lock keeper.

The attractive small building at the top of the locks serves to shelter the lock keeper and volunteers as well as being services for boaters. The flowers are a feature of this lock flight. Rather surprisingly we were the first boat up the locks on Saturday morning and we didn't reach them until about 10.30.

We cruised on through Crick Tunnel and stopped a few miles further on at Yelvertoft. In the afternoon we had a longer walk with Maurice than we are accustomed to and found some more sloes for sloe gin and then spent a lovely evening onboard.

It was good to see Maurice again and today we said our goodbyes and carried on to Welford, but not beforer the rain had stopped. We now have only a few days cruising left this year so will do a final posting when we're back home.