Sewing machines and chain saws

It was so quiet where we were moored at Hawkesbury on Wednesday evening that we decided to stay there on Thursday.  We planned out a five mile circular walk taking in Hawkesbury junction, a bit of the Coventry canal and part of the Coventry millennium circular walk.  

First we walked to the junction which is where the Oxford canal meets the Coventry canal.  At the junction an old pumping station still stands by the Coventry canal but is no longer in use and the little building on the right is, I think, the old toll house (Karen is centre picture calling Buddy down from a bridge over the Oxford canal).  We've probably mentioned before how nervous Buddy is of new experiences and how we have to drag/cajole him over/under/across new things.  He was petrified at his first bridge that had open steps and then his first bridge that had open planks across the top.  Now, of course, we can't keep him off them.

This notice explains some of the history of the pumping station.

We walked north up the Coventry canal and met up with a fender maker who continuously cruises the canals in the Midlands selling his wares.  We stopped to have a chat about the pros and cons of various types of fender.  He had a tee-shirt on and we had our walking jackets on which made us feel most un-intrepid.  We always joke about how intrepid we are when walking through thick mud or up hills etc. Just before we turned off onto the Coventry millenium circular walk the canal was very straight and quiet.

We thought that about a mile of the route was on a little country road.  Unfortunately when we came to it we found it was really busy with fast traffic so made it really hair raising as there were no pavements.  Of course, it probably felt worse as we hadn’t really come across traffic for over five weeks.

When we got back home Karen got her sewing machine out and Buddy and I went to play with the chainsaw.  We ended the afternoon with a couple more nice place mats and a week or two supply of logs for the stove.