Rugby

Sunday and we had already researched available church services and concluded that the best option was Hillmorton - which is why we moored here last night. However, the service this week was not at the parish church, just beside the canal, but at the Rogers Hall in the middle of the nearby housing estate, suburbs of Rugby.

St John the Baptist, Hillmorton

We walked up beside the bottom locks and across to the church. Altogether it took just under half an hour and we were in good time so sat for a few minutes in the playing fields alongside the hall. (Whilst we took photos of the parish church, we forgot to do so of the hall itself!)

We were warmly welcomed - a congregation of around 30 adults and 7 or 8 lively children and teenagers. The service was rather different from our usual fare and was conducted mainly by a local evangelist couple (or so we assume) with strong Australian accents, although the new parish priest was also there with her husband - who greeted us outside as we arrived. He certainly engaged his listeners of all ages at the outset but went on at some length and we rather lost the plot towards the end! In fact, apart from a DVD at the beginning, sponsored by the Eden Project, promoting the Big Lunch for the Diamond Jubilee in June, almost the whole service comprised the talk/show given by the two Australians. We began to see advantages in a liturgy!

Muddy towpath

It was a pleasant sunny morning/afternoon as we walked back to the boat following a different route, ending up by walking along the towpath from the opposite direction. We discovered that it was rather muddier than where we were moored.

We set off, with a mug of coffee to sustain us, as making progress seemed a good idea. We planned to stop in Rugby where we have visited a large Tesco supermarket on previous trips this way.

The Goodyear airship passed close to the canal - the third time we have seen it this year!

We passed a large imposing viaduct which was part of a now abandoned railway line. According to the map there some five disused lines out of Rugby. Another former bridge is now decorated by a modern mural.

Clifton Boats were closed - no chance of diesel there - so we continued into Rugby (actually the canal rather skirts the town centre). However we did see Petroc, one of the blogs we follow as they are friends of our acquaintances, John and Fi Slee on Epiphany.

Clifton Wharf

nb Petroc

Eventually we did our shopping, including some bread for lunch, which went well with more of Christine's soup.

At times the canal was rather busy - always when there are narrow pinch points! We probably saw more boats today than so far on this trip.

The Oxford canal was originally built to follow the contours and was very winding. Later it was straightened and a lot of loops were cut off but some of the bridges remain across the remnant, sometimes used as a mooring arm.

Lime Farm Marina

We stopped at Lime Farm Marina (yet another cut off loop) when we saw a sign indicating that they sold diesel. The place is named after an imposing line of lime trees. The people there were very pleasant and it was unusual in that they have non-bio diesel which they have to purchase specially - they are keen to have it for their hire boats! Reversing out was quite tricky and we had to wait to allow another boat to pass - turned out to be the two ladies with whom we came down Braunston locks. we followed them for some while until they moored for the night.

Stretton Stop

The little footbridge across Stretton Stop was closed so Mike had to hop off to open it!

Coventry Skyline

Christine spotted the tower blocks of central Coventry - just capturing the view across a bright yellow field.

After passing under the high M6 motorway bridge, the railway line followed the canal closely for a while. However, there were very few trains today and this was one we did spot. We wanted to moor away from motorways and railway lines but the next stretch was a cutting and rather boggy. A little further, alongside a golf course, we pulled in. It looked OK from a distance but the vegetation disguised the shallow edge and we ended up having to use the gangplank - not often that we have to do that.

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