Coventry Canal and Oxford Canal at Hawkesbury Junction. Both were troubled projects, the Coventry requiring completion by two other canal companies and the Oxford requiring a second Act to raise the funds to complete it. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Hardy December hire boater having negotiated the Hawkesbury Junction U-bend head up the Coventry Canal past the 1837-built former pump house that used to keep the canal topped up. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Wrangling over tolls between the Oxford and Coventry Canals meant the two originally ran parallel just a few feet apart for nearly a mile before meeting, until this new junction at Hawkesbury eliminated duplication 1803. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Amazing the number of underwater obstructions one finds right next to the towpath😡 1/2 mile added to the trip log in the bow-hauling column, and just another 1/2 mile more to reach a much-needed elsan. Wonder if Santa can drop a new engine down the chimney this year😟 #boatlife #ukcanals #narrowboat

"Days are too short," the skipper said as his narrowboat crept past, bow light illuminating the way like a very, very slow comet. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

One day it's blowing a gale and the sky looks like the Atlantic is doing a low-level flyby on its way to the continent, the next it's blue sky and millponds. Nippier today, too, but I scored me some coal, so all good 🔥😊 #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Bit blowy out & last of the coal just gone into the wood-burner, but all good because today was a laundry and hot shower day 🥳🕺 Old pic of Lower Parting on the River Severn at Gloucester, which ceased to be navigable 1941 #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

NB Sculptor turns 90 this year. Built 1935 for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co., it is now part of The Canal Museum on the Grand Union at Stoke Bruerne, one of three excellent museums operated by the Canal & River Trust #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Half way through boat licence year. If I don't move at all now, my CRT licence review next April will still show c.300 miles travelled. Should get a new licence on range, but they'll be wanting words about the 14-day rule #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Tad chilly on the North Oxford this morning, but the sun looks like it will burn off the fog and turn the canal back to liquid as the day progresses. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

🧵1/x Leaves that attached themselves to the prop & slowed progress as Autumn got into full swing have given way in the current wintry cold snap to ice, though just a thin broken sheet that did not slow me down today 🥶 #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

🧵1/2 The Commission on Boat Licensing has published its report on the Future of Licensing. See canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/docume.... Interesting reading. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Bright little oasis of vital supplies and technical expertise on the North Oxford Canal. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

c.1774-vintage original and now truncated line of the Oxford Canal disappears under an iron bridge built c.1834, when the canal here was straightened to better compete with the Grand Union for Midlands–London traffic. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Autumn. Dusk. North Oxford Canal. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Hillmorton Boat Services tucked down an arm off the North Oxford Canal between the locks, on what looks from old maps to be the site of former Oxford Canal Company workshops. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Grand Union at Daventry, just before Braunston Tunnel. Very pretty, but all those leaves in the canal meant constant anxious blipping of reverse to clear them from the prop while going through the tunnel 🥵 #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Extended and in part drought-enforced stay on the Grand Union finally comes to an end as me and m' little boat-home turn onto the North Oxford. Forecast indicates a fair chunk of that drought will be fixed tomorrow ☔☔☔ #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

NB Trout, built 1931 for Fellows, Morton & Clayton, breasted up on the Grand Union with its butty, Norah, built 1930 for London Midland and Scottish Railway. The pair are now home to Daisy's Bakin Butty floating cafe 🍰 #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Cleared the Buckby locks, thanks to vlockies and a couple on a hire boat who clearly knew what they were doing, so it is in theory, with only a bit of careful timing around planned stoppages, open waters for the winter😊 #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Bridgeless bridge hole on the Grand Union (used to be bridge 30, so bridge numbering here is a tad discontiguous now). 'Tis the season of colourful trees and, therefore, constant clearing of leaves from my leaf magnet prop 😠 #boatlife #ukcanals #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

🧵1/4 Canalside cottages opposite the Boat Inn, top lock at Stoke Bruerne on the Grand Union. Inn appears to predate the canal, having been built in the 18th century, whilst the canal followed at the turn of the century #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Crept into my fourth year of liveaboard continuous cruising last week. Nights drawing in now, fourth winter approaches. Pic: The very splendid Ashby Canal last April, before drought confined me to the Grand Union #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

🧵1/3 In 1793, digging began on the c.90-mile Grand Junction Canal (now part of the Grand Union) at both northern and southern ends. Seven years later, the two stretches met at this bridge in Cosgrove. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

🧵1/8 Abandoned lock on the original cut of the Grand Union, one of eight built 1800 to cross the River Great Ouse while the embankment that crosses it today (rising ground background left) was being built. #boatlife #ukcanals #canalheritage #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Until the narrative becomes "this would be a disaster for the Government" and "decline of infrastructure due to lack of funding", the future for our inland waterways looks grim 🙁 #ukcanals #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

August reservoir holdings report is out canalrivertrust.org.uk/specialist-t... Five reservoir groups are at historical lowest, while those supplying the K&A, GU sth, Lanc, Chesterfield, Grantham, BCN and S&W are still more than half full #boatlife #ukcanals #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Motor Nuneaton and butty Brighton, built 1936 for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company to carry cargo between the London ports and the midlands, now owned by the Narrow Boat Trust www.narrowboattrust.org.uk #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Followed this hire boat pair as they shared the locks at Stoke Bruerne on the Grand Union. Such a pleasure to hear them happily swapping stories about their adventures and brief encounters touching ground in low water. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

🧵1/8 Side ponds at Stoke Bruerne bottom lock on the Grand Union. Designed to save water, they were decommissioned mid-20th century when pumps were installed to send water back to the top of the lock flight. #boatlife #heritage #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

End of an overcast, rainless day in the boonies on the Grand Union. Not quite the solar rich day followed by a night of much needed biblical rain that would be the preferred weather scenario, but hey ho, it is what it is. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

My attempt to escape the south east in slow motion has hit a slight problem. Looks like the network between where I am and Birmingham will be closed by the end of the month, and I'm not going to risk making a run for it. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Distinctive Dutch barge moored on the Grand Union Canal. Over 100 years old, it once served the Dutch postal service. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

🧵1/x Wolverton aqueduct on the Grand Union, built 1811 to replace an aqueduct built shoddily in 1805 and catastrophic in its demise in 1808. One of the 46 scheduled monuments in the care of the Canal & River Trust. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Bit of movement, bit of colour on the Grand Union at sun down. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

🧵1/11 The challenges facing the CRT's boater satisfaction rating... The balance beam on one of the two bottom gates of Fenny Stratford Lock on the Grand Union was found lying on the ground last Monday. The other end of the beam, where the two gates meet, had splintered away from the gate. #ukcanals

225-year-old lock on the Grand Union at Stoke Hammond, with slightly younger former lock keeper's cottage to right, former pumping station to left and, between lock and pump house, long-since filled in narrow lock. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Hire boat heading down the Three Locks flight at Soulbury on the Grand Union, watched over by the former lock keeper's cottage. Clouds are gonna have to produce more rain than they did today; pound below is struggling 🏜️ #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Buckby bottom lock back in May. Whole flight now part of the many restrictions due to low water levels, & doesn't look like things will get better any time soon. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

NB Emu, built 1926, at Church Lock on the Grand Union. And what a glorious sound the old Bolinder engine made 🎶 #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Golden hour at Church Lock on the Grand Union, with boat moored at entrance to narrow lock, built late 1830s, closed by 1850 and now filled in. Bell cote of 14th-century church behind lock-keeper's cottage. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Good boy in the bow, with the 13th-century Church of St. Mary in the background betraying the location of Ivinghoe next to the Grand Union. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

NB Tyseley, built 1936 for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company and since 1975 the home of the mikron.org.uk touring theatre company, watched by lock-keeper's cottage as it emerges from Seabrook Lock 34, both listed. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Narrowboats meet at Marsworth Two Locks bottom lock on the Grand Union. In the stretch above, between top lock and the Marsworth flight, there be weeds...lots of the stuff, and plenty of trips down into the weed hatch🌿 #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Jules Fuels' fuel boat Bletchley & its butty Bideford, built 1936 for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company, at Marsworth Wharf, sporting its 21st-century reincarnation as a residential development, on the Grand Union. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

🧵1/x Top chamber of the staircase lock at the start of the Grand Union Aylesbury Arm, opened 1814, with lock keeper's cottage, both listed grade II. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Little used and, barring rain of biblical proportions, from next Mon temporarily unusable Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union, opened 1814 and planned to join the Thames at Abingdon, but never got any further than Aylesbury. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

🧵1/6 So that's a wrap on my third boat year, during which I travelled 700+ miles along 15 different waterways, made 460 passages through locks and 6 through scary tunnels. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

A VOLUNTEER-LED heritage survey of 2000 miles of canal network in England and Wales has started this year – the first in more than three decades. Read all about it, as they say, at towpathtalk.co.uk #towpathtalk #canals #canalsandrivers #narrowboat #rivers #waterways

Day boat heading into Marsworth top lock past the bridged entrance to the Wendover Arm, the original navigable feeder for the Grand Union which was quickly supplemented by reservoirs and, perennially porous, closed 1904. #boatlife #ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways