October weekend - Day 2

Adrian's train from London was about 20 minutes late last night.  He got a taxi from the station, and I walked along the tow path to meet him at the bridge with a torch.

This morning, we got underway before 9am, with Chance close behind.  As we arrived at Hillmorton Locks, Free Spirit, was just leaving the bottom lock, so we had a brief bloggers chat.  It meant the bottom lock was ready for us, and there was also a boat coming down behind.  The next two locks were ready for us, but we had to turn them for Chance.

It was a lovely sunny morning, although rather windy and chilly at times.  After a while, Adrian got off at a bridge hole and jumped on board Chance, to make up for the chatting he missed yesterday.

At Braunston, we'd planned to turn in the marina entrance and moor, but spaces were scarce.  It was also rather busy with moving traffic.  Doug and James ended up mooring near the Stop House, while I turned and moored alongside them.  We then started on a Braunston pub crawl: we walked up to the Admiral Nelson by the third lock, but their lunch menu had only big meals on it, no snacks.  So after a drink, we walked into the village and had sausage baguettes at the Old Plough.  On the way back, we ordered our Christmas turkey from the Braunston butcher, then called in to the chandlers at Wharf House, and the shop at the bottom lock (where I bought a plaque for the Regents Canal, to add to the collection at the stern).  Then we went to Tradline Fenders, to talk about new bow and stern fenders.  We ended up reversing back to the marina entrance and going in, so the Tradline guy could have a look and advise what we need.  We've ordered some for collection next spring.  While we were there, Chance winded and headed off to Bridge 88, and we went through the marina to the exit and followed them.

We've passed lots of other bloggers today, including Piston Broke, Skyy, and Maffi on Milly M.

This evening, we're off to Chance for dinner.

7.5 miles, 3 locks.  (11 miles, 3 locks)

Autumn Cruise - Day 22

Apparently it's now October, but it was a summer's day from the off this morning, with no autumnal mist or dew; instead it was warm and sunny first thing.  There was no rush, as the lock flight down to Napton currently opens only at 10am, so we had bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast.  We then started a wash load.  At about 9am there was some activity at the locks, with a BW staff member running some water down to fill a pound which had got a bit low overnight.  Soon the boat at the front of the queue was on its way, and we, at number 4, entered the top lock at 10am.

The last time we did the Napton Flight was on Boxing Day 2008 on Debdale.  Today was much warmer and busier.  We met a few boats coming up, but there wasn't the same efficient one up one down rhythm that was achieved yesterday at Claydon.  It's a very pretty flight no matter the time of year, and the Napton windmill on the top of the hill makes for a nice view.

We got to the bottom of the 9 locks in two hours, and stopped on the water point to top up the tank -- we've done lots of washing over the past few days, as it was good drying weather.  In fact, we'll be taking home very little dirty washing.  There are two water points at Napton, and we remembered that one is fast and one is very slow, but couldn't recall which was which.  They were both free so I tested them and found that the one furthest from the locks was at least three times as powerful as the other one.  We had lunch while the tank filled, and as the first load of washing was already dry, started another one.

After the quiet of the summit pound, we went round the corner from the water point to find a rather chaotic scene.  There was a boat aground on the offside, and a procession of boats coming the other way, one of which decided to turn in the winding hole, rather to the dismay of the guy who was aground.

The length from the locks to Napton Junction always seems to last longer than I expect.

For the rest of the afternoon, the canal was incredibly busy.  We think we've seen more moving boats this afternoon than any other complete day of the whole trip.  But some of the usually busy mooring places, such as either side of Bridge 102, were almost empty.  The other change since we came this way in June is that all the offside trees and bushes between Bridge 102 and 101 have been cut down, making the canal much wider.  Soon we were approaching Braunston, with its distinctive church spire and the sail-less windmill.

We turned left at the junction, and in doing so completed the Thames Ring: Braunston to London via the Grand Union, and back via the Thames and the Oxford.

It seemed to have been quite a long afternoon, so we decided to stop at a favourite mooring just past Bridge 88.  There were only two other boats here.  It's quiet and peaceful, and we've been sat on the well deck with a glass of wine watching the world go by.

10 miles, 9 locks.  (354 miles, 205 locks)

May weekend - Day One

Yesterday was a long day.  I was up at 4.15am, and got Adrian up to drive me to the station to catch the 5.16 train to work.  He then drove to near Heathrow for a day of meetings.  After work, Adrian drove to Shepherd's Bush to pick me up, but the traffic was so horrendous he didn't arrive until almost 7.30pm.  We then headed for Brinklow, stopping at services on the M1 for a bite to eat.  It was almost 10pm by the time we got to Briar Rose, much much later than we'd originally anticipated, so we had a cup of tea and went to bed.

This morning, there was a very sunny start to the day.  After breakfast, we set about changing the roller blinds in the shower room, galley, and over the front doors.  The brackets holding up the old blinds were metal, so we re-used them, rather than the plastic ones which came with the new blinds.

Once that was done it was gone 10am, so we reversed over to the service wharf for diesel.  We filled up -- 160 litres!  Brinklow will only do a 60/40 split, but the blended price is actually quite good, and with the boat being on shore power most of the time, a 60/40 split doesn't seem unreasonable.

All this meant it was almost 11am by the time we pulled out of the marina.  We were surprised to pass several boats going in the opposite direction, given that the North Oxford is closed at Ansty while a weak bridge is taken down.  We were talking to a boater at the diesel point who'd managed to get through yesterday, in between the old bridge being taken down, and a replacement being put in place.  Along this stretch, we saw our first cygnets of the season.

At Rugby, we stopped to go to Tesco.  We moored on the park side of the canal, in front of Brian Jarrett on Kyle (which has had a smart new paint job).  We had lunch before setting off again.  At Hillmorton Locks, we were following a boat up, but the paired locks meant we still didn't have to turn a lock.  There were also several boats coming down, mostly Viking Adrifts (as we call them!)

Just after 3pm, it made a half-hearted attempt to rain, but it didn't amout to much.  Shortly afterwards, a sudden gust of wind took my hat.  Adrian went back with the boat pole to fish it out of the water, while I managed to slew the boat diagonally across the cut.  Fortunately, there was no-one around to see the display!  As we passed the Barby Moorings, there was real work going on.  Just recently, everything seemed to have come to a halt, but progress is visible again.

We moored up for the evening just before Bridge 88, short of Braunston.  After many attempts, we managed to get the satellite dish lined up.  It doesn't help that no compass works properly near the boat, so it's tricky to work out which direction to point the dish in.  Eventually, we found a website where you can put in your location, and it'll tell you where the satellite it.

There was another shower of rain at about 7pm, but the rest of the evening has been quite nice.  Tomorrow's forecast has improved no end, so me might get another day without getting wet.

10 miles, 3 locks.

Maiden voyage proper - Day One

Today we have battled the wind, and seen an incredible number of boats.  We're much more used to boating in the winter and the autumn than a bank holiday weekend, so it's come as a bit of a shock.

But back to the start of the day.  I was finishing my night shifts this morning, and managed to get away from work much earlier than expected, at 6.15.  I drove up the M1 from London to Rugby.  The huge long stretch of roadworks at the southern end of the motorway has been finished -- and replaced by miles and miles more, all with 50mph average speed cameras.

Still, I arrived at Brinklow at 8am, and Adrian came and let me in the gate.  Briar Rose already has something of our stamp on her, as we've got lots of our own things on board.  I had a quick shower, and we set off just after 9 in brilliant sunshine but a fiendish wind.  We turned right out of the marina towards Hillmorton and Braunston.  Naturally, the first boat we met was at a blind bridgehole; at the next bridge we had to wait for a convoy of three.  It didn't really matter though, as we were just enjoying being out on our own boat.

Several things quickly became obvious: We were constantly surprised when we saw our reflection in the windows of moored boats (green not blue; Briar Rose not Debdale):  BR is much more manoeuverable than Debdale - she's very responsive, and spins very easily; but the rudder is very heavy (it should self centre, but doesn't) - we suspect this is what the surveyor was talking about when he said it was badly balanced, and should have a few centimetres taken off the forward edge.  When we have the boat blacked, we'll try to get this done at the same time.

At Hillmorton Locks, we were lucky to go past half a dozen moored boats which were just about to set off.  There were about 15 people milling around the bottom pair of locks, from various boats.  We had to wait, for one of the locks to be free, and Adrian had problems getting away from the side: the wind was pinning him to the bank.  The flight was so busy that we didn't have to set any of the locks, and we were impressed as the way BR could turn sharply in the tight pounds.

We started having lunch on the move, but then moored up for half an hour or so near Barby.  We set off again heading for Braunston.  Again we met boats at bridges, but fortunately it was almost always our bridgehole -- just as well, because the wind made hovering impossible.  Many boats ended up stuck to the side.

The light indicating that our loo tank was full had just come on, and not really knowing how full that really meant, we thought we might as well get a pump out at Braunston Marina.  I did a great turn into the marina and came gently alongside the boat already on the service wharf.  But it turned out that the pump out machine was broken -- it was in bits on the ground, while the plastic lid of a milk bottle was removed from the mechanism.  So I reversed out, and spun round to moor just beyond the marina entrance.

We walked into the village to get a few supplies, but then decided to move back out into the country for the night.  We crept back out of Braunston, with boats going in all directions at the junction, and moored about half an hour later just past Bridge 88.  We're currently enjoying Prosecco and nibbles, while a chicken and potatoes roast in the oven.

11 miles, 3 locks.