Last night, Ansty needed to celebrate us staying for the weekend, so they laid on some fireworks. Turns out, I am useless at taking photographs, first it was trains, now fireworks. This shot is about the only one that worked. It didn’t help that it was dark, so I couldn’t see the controls, excuses, excuses.

I can recommend the Rose and Castle in Ansty. Good food, with wide choice, and they were so busy, they were turning people away. I was glad we booked a table. And to top it off, the landlord was more than happy to allow Heather to park there overnight. The only problem was, we overindulged. So, this morning, we decided that we needed to walk off last night’s very good meal.

The weather was a big contrast. Glorious, clear blue skies and very warm, even at 9am. We walked back along the canal towards the site of my train photography failure. I had it in the back of my mind to repair that failure. It’s an attractive stretch, capped off by this very elegant bridge, a contrast to the usual brick accommodation bridges.

 

We were heading to find Hopsford Medieval Village. That meant we had to descend from the canal and cross underneath it through a tunnel. I am more used to tunnels like this on the boat.

We trekked through some beautiful countryside but unfortunately we were not going fast enough. We never saw the remains of the medieval village, as we had to turn back to the boat so Heather could get back home in time.

 

Heavy dew has been a feature of every fine morning so far this week. Even today, at 10am, there was still a lot of dew around. We were following a trail of dewy paw prints. Instead of just reversing our track, we struck out across the fields back to the boat. I had walked these fields on Friday. Its remarkable what a bit of sun can do. The fields were now full of flowers, mainly buttercups. They seem to have sprouted up at least 6 inches in the last few days.

 

 

Back at Heron, we discovered her bows floating free across the canal, AGAIN! Now I had lost one of our best mooring pins. I was fuming, particularly because it was one of the really long ones that it should be almost impossible to pull out sideways. But someone had managed it. There must be something about the canal in Ansty that drives people to be inconsiderate. Or perhaps I’m just useless at mooring securely, despite my previous confidence.

When I calmed down, I waved goodbye to Heather then made the short jaunt to Hawkesbury Junction. Along this section, the canal runs close to the roaring M6. Some boaters choose to moor along here. I have never understood why anyone would choose to spend the night that close to one of the busiest roads in the country.

As you approach Hawkesbury Junction, you pass a large National Grid substation, guarded by several towering pylons. It’s quite a large facility, full of bus bars, insulators and transformers. But that currently means nothing to me. On a narrowboat, you are almost completely off-grid. Only when moored in a marina can you take advantage of all the technology the National Grid has deployed. Out on the cut, you generate all your own power. And that can make you quite power-paranoid. Electrical power is not a limitless resource, and you have to plan what you use to fit with what you generate. I am beginning to seriously consider getting solar panels for Heron.

Hawkesbury Junction is another well known waterways location. The junction of the Oxford and Coventry Canals, it includes a stop-lock, and several cast iron bridges,including an impressive one over the junction itself. There is an old engine house.It used to house a steam engine driven pump that drew water up from local coal mines to feed the canal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The junction itself can often prove challenging. If you intend traveling north on the Coventry Canal, you have to execute quite a tight u-turn on exiting the stop lock. This isn’t too hard when you are the only boat around.  But it’s quite busy right now. I watched a couple of boats get into difficulties when they both tempted the turn at the same time – from opposite directions.

Having done all the necessary chores. I sat down on the bows to relax with a beer. Of course, shortly after I took the picture, it started raining!