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Headed down the south Oxford, expecting to wind at Fenny Compton, but the winding hole looked too small, so we carried on to the marina only to find turning there prohibited!  We carried on to Clattercote winding hole – an extra 5 locks in each direction!  Back past Rose, up to the Coventry Canal and on to the Ashby as far as winding at Hinkley Wharf Arm (plenty of space), then turned north on Coventry Canal as far as Nuneaton – winded after Bridge 21, which was quite tight!  Then back to Rose.

A complex itinerary due to meeting various people at different places, but all worked out well.  Ate at the Boathouse in Braunston, which was very good, and the Rose and Castle in Ansty, which was less inspiring.

Lots of wildlife – in particular, both kingfishers and water voles on the north end of the north Oxford and herons on the Ashby.

As ever, Watermark provided an excellent base for a great week.

JP & family

Route – Rose Narrowboats – Hawksbury Junction – Fazeley – Hawkesbury Junction – Rose Narrowboats

A repeat of last year’s journey – Oxford then Coventry Canal to Fazeley via Atherstone Locks, then short trip down Birmingham & Fazeley Canal to moor this side of Drayton Manor and return after day at the theme park.

Better weather this year, only one morning of rain and much more sun!  Great food again at Greyhound Pub at Sutton Stop (Hawkesbury Junction) and White Horse at Atherstone (good stop for supplies).

Lovely to watch the wildlife – was hoping to see kingfishers but they didn’t appear, but lots of ducks, swans, moorhens and a couple of herons.  Beautiful sight.

Water levels a bit low in places and canal not too busy.  Helpful lock keepers at Atherstone on way out but none on return.

Thank you for another great week on Watermark.

The G family

Weatherwise, the first week was cool, dry, warm, wet, you name it, we had it.  Second week was better, lots of warm, sunny, dry weather.

We headed to Oxford (not expecting to reach it but to get as far as we could).  Due to weather, we made Banbury then turned and headed back.

We have eaten in the Barley Mow at Newbold.  Not bad food, very nice people.  Good Co-op store 5 mins away.  Near Napton we met a lovely artist and bought some of her prints (Sylvia Hankin).

In Cropredy we had dinner in the Brasenose Arms – very good, not cheap but worth it.  Take note, they add 10% tip to your bill.

Also, in Cropredy, make sure you try the canal side café.  Great place to eat and have a beer.  It’s outside but even the torrential rain didn’t put us off enjoying our meal.  The store in Cropredy is not great.  Fenny Compton has a good store and on Mondays they have a community lunch in the village hall.  We popped in and had tea and cake.  Very nice and at a very cheap price!!  An elderly lady was pleased to see “boat people” and told us all about Alan Bates the PO scandal man and how he came from Fenny Compton.

Also in Fenny Compton is the Wharf Inn – great meal there and a lovely beer garden.  Near Napton-on-the-Hill is the Folly Pub.  Definitely worth having lunch/dinner there.  There is also a great village store 10 mins from the pub.

On Saturday morning it all went wrong.  Near Brinklow a tree had fallen across the canal 10 mins before we got there and were stuck.  CRT came and said it would be Monday before it could be moved.  Clifton Cruisers had a hire boat on the other side and wanted it back so, ignoring any health and safety issues, they cut back enough of the tree to get their boat past.  This caused a rush of boats passing and our mooring (and that of others) was put at risk.  In the end we managed to get past and get to Rose Boats on Sunday evening.  Not the best end to our holiday but it was different.

F & G, S and T

PAINTING – The Crown Inn, Handsacre Bridge 58

Very fortunate to have 2 weeks on Watermark, although the landslip at Brinklow meant we had to change plans.  We travelled north on to the Coventry Canal – Hawkesbury Junction provides great manoeuvring practice!  Up to Fradley Junction to join the Trent & Mersey Canal, then on to Stoke-on-Trent to meet new crew on Friday.  We stopped for afternoon tea and a walk around Shugborough Hall (NT) at Great Hayward.  We then travelled some way up the Caldon Canal for the weekend – definitely one to go back to and explore in full another time.  Sunday lunch at the Foxley Hotel in Milton was good.  Back to Stoke-on-Trent to meet more crew, then started the journey back south.  We stopped at the Plume of Feathers in Barlastone (owned by Neil Morrisey) for lunch – excellent food!

On the way back we turned into the Ashby Canal, intending to wind at Shenton before taking a trip on the Battlefield Heritage Railway.  However, the winding hole was completely silted up and after fun and games extracting ourselves from the mud, we continued to Market Bosworth to turn around.  Did the train trip and visited the site of the Battle of Bosworth – an excellent visitor centre, well worth taking time out for that.

Finally, we travelled down to Lime Kilns and had an excellent meal in the pub by the canal – really great value too!

We were really lucky with the weather – really warm for the first week and only one day of rain in week 2.  We were a bit soggy after the 11 locks at Atherstone and 11 miles – the rain hardly stopped all day!  By the end of the week the sun was back – hurrah!

We have enjoyed exploring the canals around Rose Narrowboats and look forward to new adventures from Alvechurch next year.

J, D (the artist 😊), A, H & C

With two teenagers on board, we decided that a trip to Drayton Manor would be an ideal route for us, and it worked well.  An easy trip to achieve over 3 days, including the Atherstone Locks, then 1 full day at Drayton Manor, then same route back.

Highlights were definitely the Greyhound Inn at Sutton Stop/Hawkesbury Junction with great food including great value Sunday roast.  Need to book ahead!  Also, a good meal at White Horse in Atherstone – nice town for a stop.

Canals not too busy.  Weather variable this week (caught Storm Antoni on Saturday).  Central heating worked well (for those inside the boat at any rate!).

Drayton Manor well worth a visit.  Not too busy, rides for all ages and nice zoo.  Can moor up fairly close and walk to the entrance within circa 15 minutes. 

Great fish and chip shop close by as well.  Thanks to all the Committee for all the upgrades – curtains and seating look great.  Watermark very well equipped.  Thank you!

T, S, O & A

We did the Warwickshire ring, with a not so short and very eventful detour into Napton.  We discovered it’s a bit too long of a trip to do in 7 days, and a sprained ankle and a concussion didn’t help.  We did, however, see the glorious sights of Nuneaton, Birmingham’s inner-city canals – and get filmed by a lot of gongoozlers – and of course the beautiful Napton, where we were treated to an evening of folk music and a late-night singalong with “Innkeeper”.  Followed by the aforementioned injuries.  We also picked up the McDonald’s kitchen radio on our walkie-talkies whilst passing through Warwick, though sadly I don’t think they could hear us back.

Until next year!

L, H, S, G, U, N, C

Route – Rose Boats – Stoke Bruerne – Welford Arm – Rose Boats.

Like previous hirers we have had a fortnight of two halves.  Either hot and sunny or cold enough to need the heating on in the evenings.  We dodged most of the rain which was forecast, but not all.  We’ve done about 107 miles and 72 locks.  We’ve had a great fortnight.  Places to visit are – Weedon Visitor Centre.  This is a really interesting place and nearby units have vintage shops and a great café.  Worth the walk.

In Welford, the Wharf Inn is a friendly pub with great food (huge portions) and in the High Street (no 42) is a private house that has a tearoom.  We had a cream tea at a very reasonable price.

At Stoke Bruerne, the museum is a good place to visit, and the café has good cakes.  The pub opposite (Boat Inn) is nice with good food. 

We’ve also eaten at the Admiral Nelson in Braunston, the Crossroads at Weedon, the Red Lion in Crick and the New Inn at Norton Junction.  All were good and very reasonable prices.

As for the boat, no problems.  We were warned that the shower might be too hot (a problem from 2 years ago) but we didn’t have a problem.

The light above the microwave went off (needs a new bulb?) about 2 days from the end of the holiday.

The grill gave us a problem (not that we used it more than twice).  It lit okay but went out after 3 or 4 minutes and then wouldn’t light again.

The bulb and the grill have been reported to the boatyard.

On our last night we ended up back at the boatyard – mooring on the approach to the boatyard is poor (or full) from about bridge 37 onwards.

All in all, a good holiday again.

F & G, S & T

What a lovely sunny week we have had.

Went to Market Harborough (a delightful market town) good shopping facilities.  Sainsbury’s – Cook – Tesco – Co-op and numerous dress shops!  Managed to find a round bowl for Watermark in a little jam-packed hardware shop on the way into town – a must to visit you will find things you never knew you needed!!!!

Enjoyed Foxton Locks – only boat going up and down – stunning scenery and helpful volunteers.  Love picture on previous page, unfortunately we have no artists on board.

LB & Crew

It’s been a week of two halves.  From 5 layers of clothing to begin with to suncream, sunhat, sunglasses and shorts.  J and D were able and excellent skippers with A, V and N, the willing deckhands.  What an enjoyable week it’s been.

Slightly curtailed week as we need to be back for school on Monday!

Turned right at Braunston Turn onto the Grand Union main line, then right again at Napton Junction.  Winded at Leamington – nice big winding hole near a range of supermarkets.  Headed straight back the way we had come.  So we had a couple of days of lots of locking on broad locks – but mostly found good companions to pair up with.  Ate at the Boat, Birdingbury, which was excellent, and the Blue Lias, Stockton, which was a bit more “pub grub” ish.

Then back past the boatyard, onto the Coventry Canal and then the Ashby.  Only spent a day on the Ashby but it was very pretty.  Winded at Hinkley wharf, which was challenging – not much space and a tricky wind!  Good corner shop a short walk from there.  Then headed back via same route.  Ate at the Rose and Castle at Ansty, which was also very good.

All in all, an excellent week.  Weather mostly colder than forecast but completely dry.  Not many boats on the move early in the week but got busier.

JP & family