Day One - Napton to Rugby

Liz, Tomas, Henk and I left Hereford at noon in Tomas’s packed car and drove through some heavy rain arriving at the Black Prince Canal Boat Mariner at Napton two hours later. Our canal boat, “Carli” was waiting for us, stocked with food that we had ordered from Australia and we were efficiently given a quick tour of the boat before setting off. They asked us if had he driven a canal boat before and as the answer was positive then it seemed not necessary to go into any details. We left the mariner at two forty-five motoring past the large number of moored boats and we were soon heading north along the very pretty Grand Union Canal.
“Carli” is a fifty-eight foot four-berth boat and is about ten feet longer than the previous boats we have hired. The extra ten feet does make a difference with the inside space but it also makes a difference manoeuvring the boat along the canal.
When we moved out of Wigrams Turn Mariner onto the canal we were met with a constant stream of on-coming canal boats. Henk and Tomas took to the situation likes ducks to water and showed their proficient boating skills. The canal is not wide and this is made a tad more tricky with boats moored along the side of the canal. Liz and I will be doing the locks but as there weren’t any on this stretch of the canal this afternoon we were able to relax and take in the beautiful English countryside. Later in the afternoon whilst Henk and Tomas were sharing the steering Liz and I sitting at the front of the boat managed to eat our way through a large, soft brie cheese poured down with a very nice Australian red wine whilst taking in the views. It was very pleasant indeed.
There were heavy storm clouds all around us and there was one heavy bout of rain which meant that Henk and Tomas had to don their wet weather gear. Henk has new Wellington boots which were purchased in Hereford and they have proven their worth already. Unfortunately, Tomas got soaked through and his clothes are now hanging over the radiators.
We turned off the Grand Union Canal at Brauntston Junction and continued to motor along the North Oxford Canal for three hours until we moored the boat for the evening. We secured the boat and walked down to the next bridge only to find that the pub, the “Old Royal Oak” wasn’t where we thought it was. When we returned to the boat Liz rang their phone number which was in our canal map book and we found we had moored “Carli” one bridge too soon. We motored down to the pub and were lucky to moor right along side it. When we ventured into the pub for dinner we found that we had walked into a Hawaiian evening with lashings of leis and grass skirts in abundance.
Photos: “Carli” outside the “Old Royal Oak” outside Rugby; Swans and boat approaching us along the canal.