I saw the narrow-boat coming and it gave me time to plan the shot.  I stood under an oak tree with overhanging branches and waited for the boat to sail into the right position.  Today was the first day I had seen any boats during canal walks with the dogs.  Earlier there had been a small cabin cruiser, now what looked like an authentic canal boat.  As it sailed gently past I got a friendly wave from the man at the tiller and I could hear the relaxing music playing on his phone.

How different it would have been when this canal was in his heyday with boats carrying goods between London and the midlands.  Horses would have plodded along the toe path where now I was walking and there would have been lots of boats.   I walked past a mile marker which told me that it was 92 miles to Brauston which is a small village on the canal between Rugby and Daventry where the Grand Junction Canal and the Oxford Canal meet.  I wonder how far this narrow boat was going?

We continued our walk enjoying the wonderful rural setting and wildlife of the canal banks even if the M4 motorway and a railway bridge carrying underground trains crossed over us.