Spring Cruise - Day Two

We started the day with a cooked breakfast, as it was Saturday, then set off at 8.30. It was a lovely sunny morning, and we passed quite a few boats going the other way. Before long, we arrived at Hillmorton Locks. I was surprised to find both top locks empty, but a boat was coming up one of the middle locks, so the rest were set for us. At the bottom, we moved onto the water point to fill the tank. It took ages – a good 45 minutes. But while we were waiting I spotted a familiar boat moored a bit further along, so went and had a chat with Del and Al on Derwent6.

As we’d spent so long on the water point, we had lunch on the move through Rugby. Then we made a brief stop at Newbold to go to the Co-op. Ten Bob Note was moored there. We reached Ansty at about 4pm, but there were no moorings available. We spotted our third blogger of the day, Pickles No2, resplendent in newly applied green paint. Because of the lack of moorings, and with it still being relatively early, we decided to carry on to Hawkesbury Junction. The lock was in our favour, and Adrian did a skilful 180 degree turn through the bridge.

Now in spite of all the things Hawkesbury Junction has in its favour -- the lock, the bridges, the pump house -- I still don't like it much. It's probably because of the electricity sub-station, the pylons, the M6, the modern housing, and the scrub land between the two canals. It's no Fradley, and not even a Fazeley. Still, we're much further ahead than we thought we would be, so it's good to be here.

We moored up just after 5pm on the Coventry Canal, with a chicken casserole bubbling away on the cooker. And no more locks until probably Tuesday.

21 miles, 4 locks (30, 7)