We've had a couple of busy days as we head for our temporary mooring at Cropredy. Having left our mooring at All Oaks Corner early on Friday morning, we headed towards Rugby, passing through the now unlit Newbold Tunnel. We remember the purple and green lights that used to illuminate the tunnel, but sadly, no more.
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| Towards Rugby on a lovely morning |
Rugby itself was unusually quiet, but we didn't need to stop this time, so continued on to Hillmorton Locks. These locks are duplicated, but unfortunately today one lock out of each pair was not open, so a bit of queueing was required. At the top lock we briefly met Richard and Ruth from Nb Comfortably Numb
It was supposed to be the hottest day of the year according to the weather people, but as we approached a busy Braunston, we were subjected to a good sharp shower. We managed to hop onto the last mooring before the junction and I popped round to Midland Swindlers as it was 'Freaky Friday' and 20% off everything and a new bow thruster battery was the order of the day.
With battery quickly installed and the sun back out, we rounded the junction and headed to Flecknoe where our good friends David and Sarah on nb The Hodma'dod were waiting to meet us. We moored next to them and then it was time for a proper boaters afternoon of catching up whilst sitting out on the towpath with wine and beer. How awful.
We all went for dinner at The Old Olive Bush which was a very pleasant (although uphill) twenty minute walk from bridge 102. What a lovely pub this is and well worth the walk. If you intend to eat, then booking is very much recommended. Flecknoe itself is a lovely village and the pub is clearly the heartbeat of it. Very friendly and engaging staff, a good meal and good company as always.
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| The Old Olive Bush |
The forecast for early this morning was for rain, and it arrived as planned. We waited for it to pass over and by mid morning the sun was back out. We had a chat with David & Sarah before pulling the pins and setting off towards Napton. It's a few years since we were along this stretch of canal, and we really enjoy it. The windmill at Napton was soon in view, although under a bit of cloud and the wind was getting a bit troublesome too.
Napton windmill
We enjoy Napton Locks and they were pretty quiet. We met a few boats coming down, mainly hire boats heading back to their bases at either Napton or Calcutt. We arrived at the top lock at Marston Doles just after 2pm in lovely sunshine.
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| Marston Doles |
The summit level was quiet although the wind strong. This contoured canal twists and turns and at times seems to go nowhere, but is very pretty and at times shallow. We came across this unique 'mooring'. What on earth is going on here. I presume the farmer has dug a hole in a field, breached the canal bank, put a boat in the hole and then filled in the bank. So, should it be licensed, and I wonder what CaRT are going to do about it. All very bizarre but if nothing is done about it, then such moorings could spring up all over the place. I see Maffi has posted about this recently here too, so I'm presuming it is quite a recent 'addition'
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We eventually moored up above Claydon Locks in a lovely spot and not another boat has passed us since we did. Tomorrow morning we will drop down the locks and into Cropredy Marina.
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