Day 84 - Through Hawkesbury Junc onto the Coventry Canal - 9.5 miles and 1 lock
Day 85 - Into Atherstone, mooring above Lock No.6 - 2 miles and 5 locks
First up we topped up with water and then came through the Hawkesbury Stop Lock, which at 7" was put in by the Oxford Canal Company in 1803 to protect their water at the 'new' Hawkesbury Junction.
It is said that 'proper' steerers can get round the sharp bends in one go - I've never achieved this and it took a 3-point turn to get around this time!
The run through to Atherstone is partly rural, partly reclaimed industrial and quarried land and partly urban. We moored overnight in a sunny, quiet spot just outside Atherstone and went on the next day - dropping the 5 locks to the long pound above Lock No.6.
I can report that we enjoyed good TV and 3 dongle coverage there for the weekend!
Our neigh - bour at Hawkesbury - loved being fed handfuls of grass!
A view of Sutton Stop Lock - so named after the family of Lockkeepers here
Manoeuvring under the 1837 Derby built 'new' bridge when Hawkesbury Junction was constructed to join the Oxford and Coventry Canals
Looking down at the Stop Lock and the Oxford Canal from the bridge
This view is north - away from Coventry City through the toll narrows, past the Engine House
Today - I am mostly doing steering!
We were past by this lovely steam launch - absolutely silently!
Strange goings on at Charity Dock?!
The other end of Charity Dock - no different from when we passed 10 years ago!
Marston Junction - the start of the Ashby Canal. We haven't done this yet so it's on the list. We spoke with a couple of boaters who had been to the Shackerstone Festival and spoke enthusiastically about the gathering up there
A relic from the past when the canal was a telecommunication route
Newish steel shuttering and back fill dredgings
The historic Hartshill Waterways Yard
This section of the Coventry Canal had a couple of these ornate overspills
The remnants of an old quarry wharf - generally there was little to see of the area's industrial past
Waiting at the Top Lock in Atherstone. There were a couple of Volunteer Lockkeepers helping
Chris taking the boat down one of the pounds
Unusual by-weir construction
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