Newbold to Hawkesbury Junction - Again!

Wednesday, 04 February 2009 18:56

Oops - the previous version of this blog was posted by mistake by an efficient Executive Editor!

So now I will give a brief overview of the above which we did on Wednesday! The canal had a little ice on it and for most of the way there was a boat in front of us, unseen, breaking up the ice.

At Falls Bridge we passed the Old Newbold Arm, see this previous blog

Soon we spotted the sign for Brinklow Marina; its entrance with yet another of the iron bridges
Nb Maximus is based here and Nb Khayamanzi lives here!

The disused arms were created when the North Oxford was shortened in the 1820s to make it a shorter run in competition with the Grand Junction Canal. The iron bridges over them are attractive and everything was looking pretty with the snow. Soon we approached what in the summer can be a bit of a bottleneck.

Rose Narrowboats has a split site - the narrow gap in between is crossed by a swing bridge over the canal. The boats were all looking very smart as most of them we saw had had a repaint ready for the season.

Rose Narrowboats swing bridge

The canal winds its way to Hawkesbury Junction via the village of Ansty with its moorings and houses lining the main road. The second motorway bridge (M69) heralds the M6 (which crosses the canal after Rose narrowboats)as it follows the course of the canal for a bit. The countryside is flat and a few flocks of sheep populate the fields.

The outskirts of Coventry appear to the left around bridge 9 (Stone bridge) and then the Coventry Cruising Club's home in the Wyken Colliery Arm.

There is no iron bridge here - the arm was rebuilt as the old one was eaten by the M6

Tusses bridge (4) is not a typical Oxford Canal bridge. As we passed it was having it's new number attached. Many of the bridges still have temporary notices on sticks beside them, all looking a bit worse for the wear.

Hawkesbury Junction had our one lock of the day! This is a stop lock between the Oxford Canal and the Coventry canal. The area is also called Sutton's Stop after the Suttons who were the toll clerks in the 1800s.

Hawkesbury Junction lock

There is lots to see here and although it is winter a fair number of boats are moored in and around the junction. It is another very busy place in the warmer weather both for boaters and gongoozlers!

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