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November 1
Left Brentford Basin early and went back up the Hanwell flight of locks. We learnt that a boat had sunk in Denham Deep Lock (a lock just after Uxbridge) and that the lock would be closed for at least four or five days until the BW crew could get the boat out. We therefore had some time to spare and so moored outside Tesco’s at Bull’s Bridge. After stocking up again, we walked along the towpath towards Bridge 200 to discover where the nearest laundrette was. It was the Indian festival of Diwali and fireworks were going off all night.
November 2
Heavy cloud, rain showers all day.
Stayed at the Tesco mooring.
November 3
The weather had improved so we moved from the Tesco mooring to the bottom of the Cowley Lock. News from the Denham Deep Lock is that the BW work crew are on site and that today they will be installing the stop logs and pumping the lock dry. They hope that by Saturday the sunken boat will have been removed and the lock will again be operational.
November 4
The Cowley Lock mooring was extremely wet and muddy so we decided to change moorings and tied up in the Packet Boat Marina, Yiewsley, for the night. This is a commercial marina that offers all services including piping hot showers. It also has a large car park which is very convenient as Angela's Mum and sisters are to visit us tomorrow.
November 5
It was nice to welcome Angela's family on board for lunch and a tour round the boat. Luckily the weather was sunny and dry and so lots of photos could be taken outside. Unfortunately they had to leave mid-afternoon to get back to London that night. shortly after their departure we left the marina and proceeded up the Grand Union Canal as far as the top of Denham Deep Lock which by now had been cleared of the sunken boat. That evening we had an excellent vantage point from which to watch the Guy Fawkes night fireworks.
November 6-15
Our return up the Grand Union Canal towards Braunston was uneventful. The November weather was kind to us though we did experience the first heavy frost one morning. The solid fuel stove in the boat is now working 24 hours a day so the inside of the boat is lovely and warm.
It is noticeable how many of the trees are now bare - a big difference from the autumnal colours of our journey down the same stretch of water four weeks ago. The colder weather is keeping many boats off the canal and in fact on some days we only met three or four boats all day. This number doubled at the weekend when people took advantage of hire hoats. The cold weather does not affect fishermen, dozens of whom line the banks.
Going through Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamstead the water level was very low and we had to take special care to avoid going aground.
November 16
Leaving Braunston we joined the Oxford Canal heading north towards Hawkesbury Junction and Coventry. The canal now ran through wide open country, backed by bare hills to the east. It was an ancient landscape and medieval ridge and furrow field patterns are in evidence. These were created as villagers cleared forested land, and each ploughed strips throwing soil towards the centre. Gradually a collection of strips, all running parallel to each other made up a furlong or cultura. This was then enclosed by a low bank and an access track was created. Fields, consisting of dozens of furlongs were then sometimes fenced.
From Braunston we had a couple of hours of easy cruising before reaching the first locks at Hillmorton. These locks are particularly noteworthy since they are the only ones in the system having two single locks side by side. We moored just before them and settled down under a clear sky and full moon.
November 17
We woke to a very heavy frost - everywhere was white. We dropped down through the three Hillmorton Locks and continued to the mooring to the east of Rugby from where we made a quick trip to the Public Library to update the website. Returning to the canal we continued to our overnight mooring at Newbold-on-Avon. Of interest here is the Newbold Tunnel, 210 metres long and illuminated internally by red/purple, green and blue floodlights.
We are finding that the Oxford Canal is quite popular as it is unusual to be alone on any section of the canal.
November 18
Nighttime temperature dropped to -5 degrees C and the canal was covered by a thin layer of ice for most of the day. We remained in Newbold carrying out minor maintenance.
November 19
A second night of sub-zero temperatures and the ice had thickened to 4 mm. Today seemed to be a waiting game, waiting for another boat to break the ice before others ventured out. Crunching through ice can damage the paintwork at water level. We finally left at 11 o'clock, being the third boat to go. Everywhere was very foggy but this slowly dissipated and by 1 o'clock we were under a blue sky and wintery sun. Even though the canal passed close to the cities of Coventry and Rugby, little could be seen of them as we cruised the open countryside.
The North Oxford Canal terminates at Hawkesbury Junction where a sharp turn is made onto the Coventry Canal. We moored as the sun was sinking below a golden sky.
November 20
Another very cold night and the thickness of the ice had increased. We were again third to leave, heading towards the Ashby Canal. This canal has been described as one of the prettier canals since it passes through both wooded and open agricultural land. It is narrow, very twisty and in places quite shallow.
November 21
The only open water to be seen was occupied by ducks, swans and geese. We were lucky that a hire boat passed early opening up a route through the ice. We followed for four or five miles until the hire boat put in at a marina. We continued a short distance with the fog getting thicker and finally decided to turn back. We were within a couple of miles of our final destination which was the Shenton Embankment. We could not proceed pas this because \british Waterways crews were undertaking programmed maintenance work.
November 22
The ice had disappeared during the night so we left our mooring earlier than usual and returned to the Coventry Canal heading towards a mooring in Nuneaton. We were surprised by how dirty the towpath was and in fact had quite a problem finding somewhere suitable to moor.
November 23
Angela made a journey to Brighton to visit her mother in hospital while Peter carried out minor maintenance on the boat, supervised by Jason.
November 24
We saw and reported a "drowned" car in the canal and were interested to learn that British Waterways could not remove the car from the water (only make it safe so that it does not obstruct navigation) until "paperwork" had been completed. An emergency stop was made on our return to Hawkesbury Junction when a freak hailstorm suddenly hit us. The storm only lasted about fifteen minutes, no damage was done and we were soon on our way again.
November 25
A very pleasant five hour lock free journey back to Newbold-on-Avon to collect mail.
November 26
Remained in Newbold attending to the mail but managed to escape in the afternoon for a breath of fresh air and some exercise for Jason.
November 27
On our way from Hawkesbury Junction we had passed an attractive mooring at All Oaks Wood and, as we had time to spare, decided to return to explore the are. Several other boats were doing the same.
November 28
Washed and waxed the boat and polished the brasses before we left at midday for Rugby. We moored in a snowstorm alongside what would have been an attractive park in the summertime. So much for waxing and polishing brasses! To make matters worse the only free mooring space was underneath a willow tree so within a couple of hours we were covered by half an inch of snow and fallen leaves.
November 29
Angela made a second trip to Brighton while Peter and Jason visited the vet where the latter (only) was given a rabies shot in preparation for his trip to Canada. We moved the boat away from the willow tree.
November 30
It rained most of the day clearing the snow away. After a quick trip to the local Tesco supermarket we stayed indoors catching up with correspondence. This seemed to be the general feeling amongst the other boats moored in this spot.
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