When we got back from our camping trip Legend was exactly as we left it at Newbold and just as wet, but it was too late to light the fire, so we had a bit of supper then an early night.
The next morning there was more rain forecast, but - as the saying goes - there’s no such thing as bad weather, just inadequate clothing, so we wrapped up and carried on to the end of the North Oxford at Hawkesbury Junction.
Also know as Sutton Stop this is where the Oxford and Coventry canals meet. There’s a stop lock with a barely perceivable drop of about six inches; a hangover from the days when the canals were owned by separate companies. Back then water was an essential and valuable asset, so stop locks were used between canals to stop it flowing from one to the other. These days they’re just something to confuse newbies and hire boaters. Hawkesbury is also where boatwomen used to stay to have babies. A midwife lived in one of the cottages and the butty boat would be left moored up at the junction while the boatman continued the run with the motor.
Once through the stop lock we did a 180 turn under the bridge onto the Coventry canal heading for Fradley junction and the Trent and Mersey. We stopped at the top of the Atherstone flight and had a quick run ashore for supplies before lighting the fire for the first time since March.
We were onward again the next morning in much better weather and down the flight by ten o’clock.
Dave carried on to Glascote where we joined the queue to go down. He pulled Legend up to wait by the side of a beautiful old spoon dredger that was moored outside Glascote marina and tried to imagine a day in the life of the navvies who’s job it was to operate it. We really have no idea what hard work is.
At the end of the Coventry canal we turned left at Fradley Junction onto the Trent and Mersey looking for somewhere to moor.
There were several ten foot “git gaps” between boats, but nowhere long enough for us. We went up the first two locks and round the bend to a lovely solitary bit of Armco below Woodend lock where we were treated to a beautiful evening sky while we ate our dinner.
It was dry the next morning so we had another early kick off, stopping at Rugely to post a parcel and have a quick whiz round a Morrison’s that we’re sure wasn’t there the last time we came this way.
At Great Haywood we pulled in to Anglo Welch for some diesel.
We had more than enough to get us to Stoke, and beyond if necessary, but Dave gets twitchy if the tank goes below fifty litres, even though that is more diesel than we physically fit in the car!
The afternoon got wetter and harder as we went on.
At Weston lock, along with Nb Dream Too, we got a big clump of weeds wrapped round the prop. Dave had to take a trip down the weed hatch just to get us out of the lock. We also discovered that we’d packed our Nicholson guides for the canals above Great Haywood and they were now buried somewhere in the van. We do have a couple of excellent live mapping apps on our phones, but they just make life harder when it’s chucking it down.
We moored up below Star lock in Stone, feeling a bit cold and damp, but with a hot fire, a hot shower and a hot dinner, we soon felt a whole lot better.
When we’d set off from Thrupp, we’d expected to get up to Stoke by the beginning of October, so we were really pleased with ourselves to be on the last leg on the the 26th of September despite the hideous weather. On the other hand we were also becoming more and more concerned about how we were going to get our van out of a waterlogged field by the side of a rising Thames, so emotions were running high while we climbed up through Stone, Meaford and Etruria locks the next morning and finally got to Stoke Boats at Longport Wharf.
However, the staff in the boatyard were really nice and helpful. Russ, the owner, was away that week and would be back on Monday, so nothing was going to happen until at least then. At first that made us think that we’d not needed to put in such long days, but on reflection we felt better for getting there early without any problems, especially as there had been an unexpected lock beam collapse which had closed the canal just below Great Haywood only a week previously. Thankfully it had been quickly fixed with a steel splint, but it had made us very aware of how easily we could have been brought to a sudden and indefinite stop. Getting there early took a big weight off our shoulders and was worth all the long days at the tiller.
The next day it was lovely to have a lie-in and then go for a walk to Burslem and Hanley, have an oatcake for breakfast, pick up Dave’s new nail gun from Machine Mart (they don’t have Machine Mart in Ireland) and have a nice coffee. Later on that day Dave got two trains back to Rugby to retrieve the car. He very nearly missed his connection at Stafford, but the guard held off flag waving and whistle blowing while he hurtled down the stairs and onto the second train. The rest of the trip went like clockwork and he arrived back at the boat yard with the car in the early hours of Saturday morning.
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