July 2026 - We are back, but not sure for how long with the water levels as they are

Dunchurch Pools Marina (Oxford Canal) – Wednesday 15th July

We got back to Mary H yesterday, about 3pm, after a good journey up.  We had driven up in the motorhome as we are having a few days away in her for my sister’s 80th birthday once our summer cruise is over.

It was so hot making the unloading a real struggle, but eventually it was done, then the unpacking had to be done.  Eventually the boat looked tidy but not clean as there was a thick layer of dust everywhere.  The spiders had been to work and there were cobwebs everywhere - there was no sign of any spiders though!  Maybe they had finished on Mary H and moved onto next door!

It was an early night and a cool one, I actually had to shut the front doors as I was quite chilly.


Kent Road Bridge No 69 (Oxford Canal) – Thursday 16th July

We were up bright and early as we had a Tesco order booked between 9am and 10am.  As we usually find they are early we were ready by 8.30am - she didn’t come until 9.45am!  I say this every year, but once everything was brought into the boat we wondered where it was all going to go! This year we did have a problem with too much freezer stuff.  Somehow, I had managed to order two large bags of chips and I just couldn’t get both into the freezer.  Fortunately, Tracey said that they could ram them into their freezer - thank you :-)

We left our berth and moved round to the diesel pontoon to fill up and noticed that Over the Moon was waiting for us outside the marina.  After ecstatic dog welcomes and big hugs from the humans we were on our way.

The locks at Hilmorton were the first locks of the trip and we sailed through the first two but only one of the bottom locks was open so we had a hold up there.

I decided to take Rio for a walk to the second bridge.  I was almost there when I got a call from Richard to say that they had decided to stop, so I had to turn round and walk back.  It was so hot and my back was aching - I will say no more   However, it was a really nice spot.  We sat out and had a cream tea (as you do on the towpath!) followed by bubbly - it was really nice.  The cream tea was a late Father’s Day present for Richard from my son, Robert.

5 miles
3 locks


Bridge 12 (Oxford Canal) – Friday 17th July

It was quite a chilly night considering how hot the day had been - we actually had to shut the front doors.  Still, it was much nicer than some of the hot nights we have spent on Mary H over the years.  It was also a much cooler day for cruising and Rio was able to take his rightful place on top of the boat, being the master of all he surveyed! It had been too hot yesterday for him to be up there and he really wasn’t happy!

We had been travelling alongside the railway for quite a while, so didn’t want to moor up at that point, as the noise of the trains thundering passed was very loud.  Once we got away from it, we started to look for somewhere to stop for the night.  We found one place under the trees but we didn’t fit the hole!  We were so close.  We moved on and Steve found a nice spot and moored up, but we couldn’t get into the side.  In the end we reversed back and tied up alongside OTM as the canal was quite wide at that point.

One of the things that has always intrigued me on the North Oxford Canal are all the abandoned parts.  Now I have found my new friend, Jem (Google’s Gemini AI), I asked him and why they were there and what they did to straighten the canal. I am now much wiser!

On this image (courtesy of Waterway Routes, which I use all the time) you can see where the canal used to go. When James Brindley originally designed the Oxford Canal in the 1770s, he relied heavily on the contour method. To save money on building expensive embankments or digging deep cuttings, he wrapped the canal around the natural curves of the hills to keep the water completely level. While this was cheap to build, the route was incredibly circuitous. It was so winding that boatmen used to joke they could cruise for an entire day and still hear the church bells of Brinklow or Braunston!  In the 1820s newer, straighter canals were being proposed that threatened to steal the Oxford Canal's lucrative coal trade between the Midlands and London.  It was also the dawn of steam trains which meant the canal network had to drastically speed up or face extinction. Between 1829 and 1834 a massive modernizing project took place. They essentially took a knife to the canal's squiggly lines, building bold embankments, aqueducts, and deep straight cuttings. This engineering feat shortened the North Oxford route by roughly 11 to 14 miles - nearly halving the original distance.  There was then the question of what happened to the villages and the lucrative trade wharves that sat on the old loops.  The company couldn't just dry them up, so they kept the entrances open, transforming them into dead-end "arms" so working boats could still reach the village wharves.

12 miles


River Anker Aqueduct (Oxford Canal/Ashby Canal) – Saturday 18th July

Last night’s mooring place wasn’t that far from Hawkesbury Junction where the Oxford Canal goes onto the Coventry Canal.  There is a stop lock, Sutton Stop, with a drop of only about 7 inches.  When the Oxford and Coventry canal companies joined their lines here in the late 1700s, they absolutely loathed each other. Water was the lifeblood of a canal, and neither company wanted the other to "steal" their water supply when boats moved between the networks. To solve the bickering, the stop lock was built as a physical gatekeeper. Because the drop is so incredibly shallow, passing through it takes only a minute, making it one of the quickest lock transitions in the country.

Once through the lock there is a lovely basin and then there is a very interesting 90 degree turn to get from one canal to the other.  The turn is just after the lovely Grade II listed foot (or horse) bridge.  In the basin is the Greyhound Inn, it has always looked packed in the past but we were early today and there was just one person having a coffee.

Between Hawkesbury Junction and Marsden Junction sits Charity Dock, which is one of the most famous, eccentric, and unforgettable landmarks on the entire UK inland waterways network. The yard - run for decades by the Gilbert family - is famous for its dense, chaotic, and artistic clutter. I just love it.

At Marsden Junction we turned onto the Ashby Canal, a canal renowned for its water levels - or lack of them!  People had told me that it was 5 inches down on its winter levels which is fine, so we thought we would give it a try.  Waterway Routes shows mooring places and the interactive map was absolutely spot on.  We moored on one side of a bend and OTM on the other but the boat in front of us moved so Steve moved and we were back together again.  The towpath was a bit narrow but we managed to shove our chairs into the hedge and, as the towpath was very quiet, we were able to sit out until dinner time.

9 miles
1 lock

August 2025 - Our last few days

New Banbury Lane Bridge No 43A - (Grand Union Canal) - Sunday 17th August

I’m putting this photo in for Sunday as I took it about 12.15am!

Yesterday I said we had moored at a milepost - Braunston 23 Miles.  I managed to find it this morning along with the Grafton overflow weir which takes any excess canal water onto the River Tove, except that it is bone dry as there is no excess water in the canal at present, in fact the water level is very low, as I’m sure you can imagine.

We left our mooring just after 9am as other boats were passing us and would get into the queue before us.  What queue you may ask??!!  We now had three flights ahead of us which were only open between 10am and 3pm, so we knew there would be a queue at all of them.  Today it was the seven locks of the Stoke Bruerne flight.  When we arrived there was a queue!  Three pairs of boats all waiting.  We joined the queue and were given the numbers of seven and eight.  

It was about 10.30am when we made our way into the bottom lock (number 20).  There were 6 boats behind us in the queue by this time.  Up we went and out and then STOP!  The pound above was too low for the boats in lock 18 to get out.  We had to wait while water was run down - we must have waited for about half an hour.  

After that it was fairly easy with two boats out of a lock and two in.  The top lock was our only problem as it was full so Tracey and I had to hover while it was emptied.  We tried to go in together but it was too tight, I got caught under a willow tree and crashed my way into the lock watched on by a crowd of gongoozlers - of course I had done the previous six locks perfectly! It took us 1 hour and 50 minutes which isn’t too bad.

Through Blisworth Tunnel with a shaking dog.  It really is strange how Rio didn’t mind the first three tunnels we did then suddenly he seems frightened.  He kept crawling up me until he was over my shoulder!

We moored up in the shade of an oak tree, I only hope these acorns don’t keep dropping on the boat all night!

8 miles

7 locks

Below Buckby Top Lock (Grand Union Canal) - Monday 18th August

My last day on the boat as I am decamping tomorrow to go home for a funeral and by the time

I get back on Thursday, Richard should be back in the marina.  We will stay onboard for a

couple of days but I don’t class that as actually being on the boat!

We had three hours cruising to get to the bottom of the Buckby flight, where the plan was to

go up six locks and moor below the top lock so I could get a taxi from the New Inn and the top

lock.

At Weedon is the entrance of a derelict canal, the  Ordnance Canal, which linked the Grand

Union to The Royal Military Depot.  An act of Parliament was passed in 1803 for the purchase

of 53 acres in Weedon, ‘for erecting buildings thereon for the service of His Majesty’s

Ordnance’. The Depot had a barracks for 500 men, eight storehouses and four magazines.

The storehouses had two storeys and were divided into four rooms. One of the buildings was,

at a later date, converted into a Military prison with three storeys and containing 121 cells. An

adjoining building was used as the hospital and one of the adjacent buildings housed a

chapel.  Gunpowder was delivered to Weedon by barge, where it was packed into barrels and

boxes and re-issued.  Three spacious white brick buildings, later known as the Pavilion, were

built at the same time as the depot, they were for the Governor and two Principal Officers, but

were later earmarked to be used as a residence for King George III should the threatened

Napoleonic invasion take place, something that the Weedon Bec History Society deny. “You

may have heard the story that Weedon Depot was intended as a retreat for George III’s family

in the event of war - not true!”  

The Buckby flight was a nightmare ☹️  When we got to the bottom the lockies waved us in with

another boat.  Richard said no thank you, we want to go up with OtM.  We had no choice

apparently!  The other boat was in the middle of the lock and had his pram cover up!  Finally the

lockies told him to move over and as we went in he poked his head out and said that he was a total

newbie!  He had just picked the boat up from Whilton Marina (based at the bottom of the locks).  It

was the first lock that he and his wife had ever done.  I said that the first thing to do was put the

pram cover down!  I gave him as much advice as I could and by the time we got to the top he was

pretty proficient.  His wife, however, was very slight and really struggled with the paddles and the

locks.  Richard showed her what to do and she soon got the hang of it, but quite how they were

going to manage on their own I don’t know.  Richard reckons it won’t really work for them as she

really wasn’t enjoying it.  He, on the other hand, was so excited (he kept telling me this).  They were

heading to Sheffield!  Good luck to them, I hope they make it one day!

The locks on the Buckby flight are not good, they leak like mad.  

We pulled over before the top lock for the night, so that I can get a taxi from the pub at the top lock

to our marina tomorrow.

10 miles

6 locks

Dunchurch Pools Marina (Grand Union Canal) - Tuesday 19th August

Me - I said goodbye to everyone and left them about to go into the Buckby top lock.  My taxi

was waiting at the New Inn and we set off for Dunchurch Pools where I was going to pick the

car up.  I was rather worried that it might not start but it jumped into action at the first push of

the ignition.  The journey home to Hayling Island wasn’t too bad and took me about 3½ hours. 

It was nice to be home 🙂

Richard - Tracey took Rio on board OtM as we weren’t too sure how much I would be on and

off the boat.  Up through Buckby top lock and off to Braunston Tunnel.  At Braunston top lock

there had been an incident where a windlass had flown off and hit the lady on the head. 

Apparently she hadn’t put the ratchet on across the winding mechanism and it flew off. 

Believe it or not it was the woman who we shared Buckby Locks with yesterday - the total

newbies.  There was blood everywhere and an ambulance had been called.  This would have

been the first lock they had done on their own.  Linda’s last words to her yesterday was to be

very careful with the windlass and make sure the ratchet is on otherwise the windlass could fly

off and hurt someone.  I shared the locks with a hire boat with three people on board so it

worked well.  Steve had to go down on his own again ☹️  I said goodbye to Steve, Tracey and

Ted, rescued Rio and cruised back to the marina.

8 miles

7 locks

To sum up.  I arrived back at the boat yesterday, Thursday.  Sadly our summer cruising is over

for this year, we have had to cut our trip short by about two weeks, but we aren’t the only

ones.  I feel sorry for the people who have booked hire boats who will now miss out on their

holiday.  We have no idea how long the canals will be locked down for - weeks, months, who

knows?

The trip down the River Nene was our third choice for this year.  Our first choice had been to

go up the Trent and Mersey and down the Anderton Boat Lift onto the River Weaver.  The boat

lift broke down in January and hasn’t been repaired yet.  Our second choice was to go up to

York but Yorkshire was the first area to put a hosepipe ban in place, so we decided that really

was a no go.  Neither OtM nor us had been down on the Nene, Middle Level or River Great

Ouse, so we chose that.  I was very disappointed when we had to turn round at Oundle but,

as it turned out, it was for the best  because if we had been on the Great Ouse when the

closures were announced we wouldn’t have had enough time to get back to our marinas and

would have been stuck until the water levels went back to normal.  

Our totals for the year were

185 miles

140 locks - that's 70 locks all done twice!

31 days

Our next trip away will be with the motorhome at the end of September when we go to

Germany for three weeks. We will actually visit 7 different countries in that time! If you want

to follow this and subsequent trips, hop over to my other blog

Kiwi on the Road - Our Motorhome Adventures

August 2025 - CR&T are going to close the locks - what to do!!!

Old Linslade Road Bridge No 110 (Grand Union Canal) - Thursday 14th August

Tracey and Steve’s son, Richard, very kindly took Tracey and I to Tesco in Leighton Buzzard

as, at that stage, we hadn’t really decided what direction we were going to go today.  

When we got back to the boats we learnt, from the lockies at Soulbury Locks, that Stoke

Bruerne, Buckby and Braunston Locks were going to be closed as from August 26th - 12 days

away.  Closing the locks basically closes the canal.  We now had a goal of getting back to the

bottom of the Braunston flight before then.  Once down there is quite a good sized cruising

area without any locks.  OtM is going to a new marina in September at Ventnor Farm.  They

have to go up the 3 Calcutt locks to get to the marina but, so far, there has not even been any

time restrictions on the flight.

So, what to do.  I’m going to be missing in action for three days next week as I have a funeral

to go to at home.  We decided to play it by ear and just keep moving on and see how it goes. 

We are not going to cruise for 10 hours a day to get there!

I had to put this photo in. One of Rio's favourite positions is with his bottom on your chest, a

woman is best, and with his legs on your legs. This is the same position but on the steps.

We said goodbye to Richard and set off for Leighton Buzzard to use the facilities and turn

around.  When we got to the services the elsan point was closed due to an “unsafe structure” -

it's been unsafe for years but now CR&T have decided that they had better shut it.

It was getting hot so we found a nice shady spot and moored up for the night.

Having done the Tesco shopping in the morning we didn’t need to stop at Tesco again, but I

found out an interesting fact about the Tesco site.  In 1917/18 the site was used by Morgan &

Company and the premises were used to assemble Vickers Vimy two-engined bombers. The

first three prototypes were ordered in August 1917, rapidly assembled and the first flown in

November of that year. Only three aircraft were delivered to the Royal Air Force before the

end of the war and one of these saw combat. The works also produced Sopwith 1½ Strutters

and Airco D.H.6s, both light bombers and Avro 504Ks, training aircraft.  Morgan and Company

were coach builders!!  This windvane sits on the Tesco building today.

4½ miles

2 locks

Woughton on the Green Bridge No 87 (Grand Union Canal) - Friday 15th August

Rumour had it that it was going to be another hot day, so we left at 9am.

Soulbury Three Locks were our first locks.  There had been 6 lockies on duty when we went

down but there wasn’t one in sight today!  Still it didn’t affect the dream team 😀

Stoke Hammond lock caught Tracey and I out as we both thought there was a boat coming

up, only to find an empty lock!

At Fenny Stratford we made good use of the facilities.  Tracey and I were chatting to a local

resident who told us that someone had rammed one of the gates and the lock was closed last

week for repairs.  On doing my research I read that back in the day southbound working boats

in a hurry would burst their way through whichever gates happened to be shut at the time - so

nothing changes!  Fenny wharf was a busy place, coal was brought to the gas works and flour

and sugar carried from London Docks to Valentin’s Mill, which was owned by Valentin, Ord

and Nagle, and manufactured sugars for the brewing industry until the 1990s.  The gas works

closed in 1956 and on the site in November, 1963, work began for Pergamon Press on a new

printing and bookbinding complex which was owned by one Robert Maxwell.

It was really hot so we looked for somewhere shady to stop.  Mooring places were either in

shade with a narrow tow path or in the sun with a good sized towpath.  Eventually we moored

alongside, what I think, is Ouzel Valley Park.  The Park is dotted with the remains of medieval

villages and their associated fish ponds. Some of these villages may have been wiped out by

the great plague in 1686 but most were simply abandoned as people moved further from the

river to avoid flooding and as increased trade reduced their reliance on fish for food.

I sat in the park for quite some time until Richard put up a sun umbrella.  S & T came up and

joined us.

8 miles

5 locks

Milepost - Braunston 23 Miles (between Bridges 57 & 58) (Grand Union Canal) - Saturday 16th August

We set off and almost immediately a boat pulled out in front of us and continued for an hour to go so slowly that Richard couldn’t even go on tick over.  It was crazy and so frustrating.  He finally pulled over at the services.

I use Waterway Routes maps when we are cruising and was fascinated to see that the canal once had a different route.  Initially, in 1800, the canal used flights of locks to descend to the level of the River Great Ouse to cross it, and then ascend again. However, to avoid the delay and water loss associated with this lock system, William Jessop, the canal company's engineer, designed a three-arch brick aqueduct to carry the canal across the river at a higher level. This structure opened in 1805 but unfortunately failed in 1808.  Following this collapse, a temporary lock system was reinstated. Eventually, Benjamin Bevan designed and constructed a new, successful aqueduct using cast-iron trough technology, completed in 1811. This structure, now known as the Iron Trunk Aqueduct or Cosgrove Aqueduct, continues to carry the Grand Union Canal over the River Great Ouse today.

Map courtesy of Waterway Routes

Photo courtesy of Grey Arrows Drone Club

Cosgrove Lock lies at the junction with the former Stony Stratford and Buckingham Arm.  Authorised in the Grand Junction Canal Act of 1793 and originally planned as a short branch to Old Stratford and the busy highway of Watling Street (the A5), the Arm was soon extended a further 9¼-miles to Buckingham, principally at the instigation of the Marquis of Buckingham who loaned the Company the construction cost.  It was opened on May 1st 1801.  Within a few years, trade on the branch had reached 20,000 tons per annum and was to remain at this level for almost fifty years.  The first section of the Arm to Stratford was built as a wide canal, but the extension to Buckingham was built narrow.  In its early days the Arm was successful, but from the 1850s railway competition led to its decline, which was further aggravated by leakage and by Buckingham Corporation using it as a dump for the town’s sewage, which caused silting.  By 1904, Bradshaw’s Guide was describing its upper section as being “barely navigable” and by the 1930s the Arm was derelict.  All that now remains is a section of about 100 yards, which extends westwards above Cosgrove lock and is used for moorings. 

We went up Cosgrove Lock and under the Ornamental Bridge, number 65, which was built around 1790.  There are various local theories about why Cosgrove has one of the only two stone ornamental bridges on the Grand Union Canal. None of these is supported by documentary evidence. However, the Bridge is now a Grade II Listed Monument. 

We pulled over in a nice spot with a good view.  We had to breast up as OtM couldn’t get into the side.  There was a nasty chilly wind and it was decidedly cold after yesterday.

12½ miles

1 lock