The Grand Adventure - Day 4

We left Newbold Upon Avon and headed through a small but funky lit short tunnel towards Hawkesbury Junction where the Oxford Canal meets the Coventry Canal. We were pretty low on water and gas and full on the toilet front so we needed to find somewhere along the way to get ourselves sorted out. I had spotted a likely point on the map but when we arrived I started to pull in to the right and we run aground! I was a bit shocked and not too sure what to do, and to make it worse the wharf was derelict! My first reaction was to open the throttle up and try and power off it but that was not the best move as we simple dug ourselves in to the silt! It dawned on me that the best way was to reverse off of the silt and it worked a treat!

Stretton Stop

The next likely place was Stretton Stop which turned out to be a lovely little spot on the canal. I filled Hannah up with water after pulling out the gas bottle for the girls to replace at the shop. We got a few snacks and once all sorted we headed off again.

The countryside was quite stunning and relatively free from human influence apart from the odd farm until we began to get closer to Coventry. We passed under the M6 which ran really quite high above us and alongside a busy railway line before tranquility was restored. It was actually beginning to get a little dark and we soon realised we were not going to get all the way to Hawkesbury Junction due to our extended stop (and running aground earlier) so we kept an eye out for a likely mooring point.

The Oxford Canal passes under the M6 Motorway

We ended up in quite an overgrown part of the canal and needed the gangplank for the first time. It was actually really quite nice as it was in the middle of nowhere with just ducks and moorhens for company.

The Dog never gets left out when it comes to beer!

We were all worn out so it was 'that' time of day - beer, food and then sleep.