No locks today but we did have a rendezvous to keep, We first met Judy and Don of N.B. Angonoka last year near Chester, we all, including the dogs got on really well. We had hoped to join up with them later in the year, but my heart event prevented that. They were travelling in the opposite direction to us, but we planned to meet at Hawkesbury Junction, where the Coventry meets The Oxford Canal.
On the way we passed the well preserved BW yard at Hartshill and the interestingly dilapidated old boatyard just south of entrance to the Ashby Canal, I remembered the owner had a fascination with mannequins from the last time we passed and it didn’t disappoint this time.
We arrived at Hawkesbury to see Don & Judy waving at us, we tied up a couple of boat lengths down, Cressy, their Bedlington/Whippet dog was jumping up and down with excitement and as soon as Duggie leaped of the boat they resumed their love affair as if they had never been parted. We lunched, walked the dogs and dined together and following morning again walked the dogs, before we waved them on their way.
We filled with water and turned of the Coventry onto the Oxford Canal under the black and white iron bridge, in front of The Greyhound Inn. We continued with the weather either throwing torrential rain at us, or the sun so bright that the hull steamed as it baked dry.
On the way we passed several traditional cast iron bridges carrying the towpathover arms leading off the canal, apparently these were built when the Northern Oxford canal was straightened in the 1820’s and the new cut bypassed the old loops, some of these arms now lead to small marinas. Eventually we reached our intended destination at Rugby and squeezed into a mooring close to the path that leads to the Tesco store, good result.
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