No moorings and no signals!

The day started well with a fairly bright morning. We passed rapidly through the bleak backwaters of Nuneaton, which, frankly, is the best thing to do!  More rubbish in the canal and graffitited bridges than anywhere else we have been. The town seems to have no other interest in the canal and its heritage and no welcome is extended to passing boats. However we had to be impressed with its extensive and well tended allotments. After taking on water and getting rid of rubbish at Hawkesbury  junction, we left the Coventry canal via  a stoplock which only raised us 6 inches onto the rival North oxford canal. Back in the day, this was where they were able to levy a toll on boats working their way throught the system, checking the loading and charging accordingly. Pushing on through Ansty, a commuter village within roar of the motorway, we discovered  a boat loose across the canal. We moored up and Mike ran around trying to secure it. There was no mooring pin and not much more than a tangle of thick string to do the job.He managed to make it fast after a fashion and we wondered how many other boats had just nudged their way past and left it to waft about. What if it were your boat?  By this time we were being drenched by fairly steady rain, but could find nowhere to moor till well after Stretton. There  was space on the moorings, but people had moored with not quite boat sized gaps in between. We moored right on the end of the section against a concrete bank...not good and in the wind, we banged against it all evening, despite our fenders. is it really to much for people to moor up with a bit of consideration for others, or at least offer to shove up and make room. Lit the fire to dry out and cheer ourselves up.you can't beat a real fire!