Friday 3rd August 2018

A day of travelling today and not visiting any places of interest. This is because we have travelled this canal in both directions and have visited Rugby and seen the Museum. We stopped at Tesco in Rugby for some shopping. Since we were last here a lot of the mooring has been taken away, the towpath repaired and no mooring signs on very strong posts put up. They could easily have put in some running rails for the cost they must have paid and the manpower used to put in the very sturdy ‘No mooring’ posts.

After filling with water we headed through the Newbold tunnel. Quite a short one but this time with a towpath running through it.

Rather cloudy at times but still very warm. We spotted an ‘Eddie  Stobart’ lorry as we passed under the M6.

There was a single handed lady working the boat in front. She had beautiful flower displays on top but seemed to have trouble seeing over them!

Apart from the canal going under the M6 there were also the electric wires for the West Coast Main Line railway. You can just see them in this photo.

No train was passing when we did although we did see quite a few further on and managed to snap this one.

The canal now went through a rather unloved section. There is scrubland on one side and a huge power distribution station on the other. No one was mooring here.

At Hawksbury Junction (known in boating circles as Sutton Stop) an artist was hard at work.

Sutton Stop is where the Oxford Canal meets the Coventry Canal and the pair are separated by a shallow stop lock (about 12 inches)

Some photos in tomorrow’s blog which I’ll take when we walk back to the Greyhound Pub for our meal tonight.