Wednesday 29th October 2008
Location: Hillmorton, Warwickshire, Oxford Canal
Today: 2 miles, 4 locks. Total distance: 1840 miles. Total locks: 1258
We had snow late yesterday afternoon and a hard frost over night. The temperature outside was minus 3 degrees at 06:45 this morning.
Had trouble un-mooring at 08:30 this morning, all of the ropes were frozen solid.
Headed the short distance down to the water point at the bottom of the Hillmorton locks. Stopped to fill the water tank but had to throw a few buckets of canal water over the stand pipe as it was frozen solid.
After filling up with water, we headed up through the three Hillmorton locks with the intention of mooring up close to the top lock.
After leaving the top lock and turning the corner, we found that British Waterways have been along and have deposited fresh soil all the way along the visitor’s moorings. Apparently, there was a bit of difference in height between the grass and the top of the Armco so they have built it all up with soil. Well, you can imagine what it is like after the rain and snow we had yesterday, it’s a mess. We decided that there was no way we were going to moor there, especially with two dogs so I reversed back down through the lock and moored up in the pound. Someone within BW should be sacked for such a stupid waste of time and money.
We have had a change of mind – nothing unusual for us. We were going to head up the Ashby canal but have now decided on a trip to Warwick and Leamington Spa for a look around. The stoppages start next week so are options are becoming limited but it’s not a problem as we still have many miles of canal open to us.
Current Mooring
First snow of this winter yesterday afternoon
Hard frost last night
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