Crew - Graham and Brenda.

A surprisingly clear run from Braunston to Hillmorton without the usual hassle of meeting on-coming boats in restricted bridge holes ;^) Once we had moored near Moors bridge, Graham decided to try and remove the two week old duck excrement that adorned Jannocks roof. Copious amounts of water, detergent, scraping and scrubbing was required to shift the stuff. Therefore if you ever run out of Araldite (and no other two pack adhesives are available) - go squeeze a duck!

Crew - Graham and Brenda

We arrived at Hillmorton, unloaded the car and set off towards the locks, Brenda steering Jannock and me riding the bike. Down through the three locks following a port, starboard, port formation in cloudy but nice weather but with a strong wind. The weather today is like April, but with end of October winds. Graham remained steadfast in his shorts but we both needed a coat or fleece - yet the cabin temperature remained at 25 degrees with no heating and the hatches open.
Just south of Rugby we passed nb Rosie. I believe it is Bill’s Rosie (intrepid explorer of Billy Bubbles fame) because of the SSR number on the side. No sign of life so we continued on. As we passed Brinklow we noticed Brian’s boat Kyle moored up also with no sign of life.

At the bridge before Stretton stop I leapt off to run ahead and get the swingbridge only to be greeted by Terry Rigden who was on a covert Grace moored immediately after the bridge having her electrics ackled. A quick greeting was all I had time for unfortunately as there was no where for Jannock to stop. We moored for the night just before Sutton Stop feeling very cold and windblown. After tea we wandered down to the Greyhound to see if it has improved since our last visit. Then it was very smokey, now that was outside and inside was very noisy. A swift pint of Robinsons was followed by a walk back to the boat to get the new free Three dongle working. Et voila!

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Crew - Graham & Brenda.

On arrival at Sutton's Stop there was a queue of southbound boats waiting to pass through, from both directions, and it made for some interesting manouvering for Graham. Getting everyone in and out of the basin outside the Greyhound needed careful orchestration. Once through we had an easy run to Ansty where we moored just past the village bridge (14) on the fourteen day visitor moorings.

Crew - Graham, Brian, Ian & Peter.

After a delayed start the crew set off from Thame in two vehicles for the drive to Stockton. After leaving one car there we travelled via Coventry, and a fish and chip shop found using Google, to Ansty where Jannock had been left 12 days ago. Un-packing followed by 4 games of Soddit found us well into Saturday morning before retiring to bed.

A lovely day (weatherwise) started with Peter going on a 'fools errand' in search of a papershop in Ansty ;^)
We set off after breakfast and headed South, under the M6, to Stretton Stop where the keen crew were robbed of the task of opening the swingbridge by a kind boatyard member of staff who did it for us as we approached. Just beyond the road bridge we came across a "Mary Celeste" boat floating across the canal with both front and back ropes hanging down into the water. The trusty crew sprung into action getting the boat back against the bank and re-pegging the mooring ropes. We did notice a third line, still firmly attached to it's stake in the ground, that had a T stud and four screws attached to the other end. This had obviously been the last remaining mooring point when the pressure became too much. Feeling very proud we continued down the North Oxford where a stop was made for lunch just before Newbold tunnel.

After lunch (and No fish caught) we passed through the tunnel with 'Jerusalem' playing on Jannock's stereo much to the amusement of the crew of the boat moored immediately South of the tunnel entrance. They even complained about Brian turning the volume down as we left the tunnel because they were enjoying it so much. A brief stop was made at Rugby Tescos to allow Pete to fetch a newspaper as his pre-breakfast papershop hunt had been as fruitfull as the fishing has been. During this long stretch with little phyisical activity to perform, the crew have adopted a pet spider - Boris - who was found wandering around in the bath.

Ian - Any trip on the canal is enhanced by the flora and fauna identification as we glide by. The 'tit - tit - tit' call of a Wren, a loud rasping sound far in excess than one would imagine for such a small bird.
The next paragraph making graphical comments about a female tug boaters ample proportions has been removed (ed) . It's not all about fishing!