Look East: Day 16

Another beautiful sunny morning — we really have had some great weather this week.  We set off at 8.30 and did the few miles through Bugbrooke and Nether Heyford to Weedon Wharf where we turned around, and returned to Rugby Boats.  We filled up with diesel (more than 100 litres, as it’s been a while) and replaced a gas bottle.  Setting off again, at Nether Heyford a boat set off just in front of us, and they had a very slow boat in front of them.  He virtually stopped when a boat was coming the other way, and at each bridge. The already slow bit through the moorings at Furnace Wharf were mostly done in neutral.  Fortunately the slow boat pulled over at the pub at Bugbrooke, where there was also a Gayton day boat full of pirates.

It wasn’t long before we and the boat in front caught up with Poshratz towing their butty, Bakewell (which used to be owned by Sarah and Jim), so another mile or so was done mostly on tickover.

At the bridge before Gayton Junction, there appeared to be chaos.  I always approach this one slowly as it’s on a bend, you can’t see much in either direction, and there are boats moored on both sides of the canal on the junction side of it.  As I came through the bridge a boat facing me seemed to be in reverse, while two other boats behind him were trying to get out of his way and were on my side.  It didn’t take long for everyone to sort themselves out, and we carried on across the junction towards Blisworth

At the tunnel we were following a boat through, and passed a couple coming the other way.  In the village, we gambled on there being a mooring in the sunshine beyond the cutting, and there was.  When the boat we moored in front of moved off, we pulled forward a length so we were no longer on the bend.  We washed and polished the towpath side, which now looks pretty good.  This evening we’re meeting Kathryn and going to The Navigation for dinner.

16 miles, 0 locks.  (158 miles, 115 locks)y

East Mids Exploration: Day 24

Last night, when it was getting dark, two boats came up the top lock. One of them told us a top gate had come off at the next lock down; the other boat had broken chains on its bow fender, which was dangling in the water. It seemed logical that he'd caught it on the gate, lifted the gate out, and then his fender chains had failed. I went down to have a look, and sure enough, the gate was at a strange angle. A boat which had been moored in the long pound had decided to come back up, so reversed all the way to the lock, and came up backwards. I helped open some gates and wind some paddles.

So this morning we knew we weren't going anywhere until CRT had put the gate's pin back in the cup. Fortunately they did that fairly easily by jacking up the gate. Then it was a matter of tightening the collar so the gate sealed.

We finally got under way at about 11.15 -- by which time there were quite a few boats waiting. We started sharing with an Alvechurch hire boat; the couple had been out for three weeks, doing the Leicester Ring.

By the third lock, we caught up with a lone boat which had been moored in the long pound, so we went with them. There were plenty of boats coming down behind us, so there would be a shuffling of partners. There were also lots of boats coming up -- and a couple of crews were a bit enthusiastic with turning locks, which didn't exactly help. It was also very windy, making waves on the canal. Added to that, there was an enormous amount of water coming down, making it difficult to make a level -- either full or empty -- in the locks.

The couple we were sharing with were a delight. We completed the flight in an hour and a half, which isn't bad at all. At the bottom our partners turned into Whilton Marina, where they're based.

During the morning, we'd seen two contrasting hoverers. At the top of the locks, a bird of prey of some sort; and down the locks, the police helicopter.

We carried on along the long Stowe Hill pound. Before Weedon, the earthworks for the new bypass have progressed in the past few weeks.

We stopped for diesel and a gas bottle at Rugby Boats. While I was in the office paying, a kingfisher perched on the tiller for a few seconds. We then just got the miles under our belts. It was pretty breezy at times, which made steering a bit of a challenge. There are now signs not just of Autumn, but of advancing Autumn: tractors ploughing and tilling.

As we approached Gayton Junction we'd almost caught up with the widebeam disabled trip boat, Mountbatten. At one bridge, Dolcie Blue was coming the other way, and said they'd had a bit of a close encounter with them! Mountbatten stopped at Gayton to offload passengers, who included a group of Chelsea pensioners.

It was about 4pm by then, so we decided to go through Blisworth Tunnel to Stoke Bruerne. In the tunnel we passed the Indian Chief restaurant boat, which had a couple of customers sitting on the roof -- which seemed a little unwise to me. At Stoke Bruerne there was no shortage of moorings. We stopped as far along as we could, which is fortunately out beyond the trees. It was about 5.30, so it's seemed like a bit of a long day.

16 miles, 7 locks. (393 miles, 174 locks)

 

July Works: Day 3

Having left the boat at Heyford Fields on Monday, we returned today for the journey back. The drive up seemed quite slow this morning, and we had to do the first stage of a car shuffle too. All the work had been done well -- and the view of our roof has changed a bit, with the addition of a solar panel.

As we were leaving the mooring on the outside of the marina (which involved reversing back to the marina entrance and swinging round), the Hudson boat the Boating Leisure Services have just finished was being taken to its mooring; it went in the water this week.

From Bugbrook onwards, we were behind the disabled trip boat from Gayton. It meant it was quite a slow journey as they necessarily took every bridge quite carefully. At Gayton Junction they swung round onto the service mooring, which is presumably where the passengers get on and off.

The last couple of times we've come through Blisworth I've resisted taking a photo of the mill, but this time I gave in.

We had an uneventful trip through the tunnel, and found the moorings at Stoke Bruerne pretty empty. We stopped before the bend in a nice open spot; Kathryn happened to be walking by, so she came on board for a cup of tea, and we're all going to eat at The Navigation this evening.

The other job we had done this week was a new flue on the stove. The old one has rusted through; it wasn't really fitted very well, going straight from the stove to the ceiling collar. That meant that neither end was in straight, and there was water coming in every time it rained. The replacement is cranked, so it meets the stove and the collar square.

7 miles, 0 locks.

 

Pre Crick: Day 1

Adrian came up to the boat yesterday, and had it not be chucking it down with rain would have boated down to Wolverton. As it was, he decided to stay in the marina, and stocking up with food was done by car.

I had the last of my night shifts to do, and this morning caught a train up to Wolverton, where Adrian picked me up in the car. We set off from the marina almost immediately, at around 9.30. It was sunny and warm (as long as you weren't in the wind). There was plenty of wildlife about, including ducklings and goslings.

At Stoke Bruerne locks we teamed up with a Gayton hire boat, and with a number of crew, progress was pretty quick, even though we were following two boats up. We did some synchronised boating across the shorter pounds.

We had to wait ages for the penultimate lock. The pound above was rather low, and there was a hire boat of Canadians who didn't go into the lock because it had been left open -- and they didn't realise it was to help them.

We moored at the top of the locks, having seen Kathryn. We're going to eat with her in the Navigation this evening, so we'll get the latest on her recovery from her broken hip. We're moored just along from the museum, which is prime territory for having people peering in as they walk past. With it being a nice day, there are plenty of people about.

Normally, we take two days to get to Crick, and go as far as we can on the first day. But as the past few weeks have been both busy and emotional, we're taking the whole week. The plan was to spend some time beyond Crick; but at the moment one of the Buckby Locks is out of action and we don't know when it will be repaired. So we haven't come very far today, and tomorrow we might only be able to go to the bottom of the Buckby flight. We'll just have to wait for news and play it by ear.

6 miles, 7 locks.

 

Sunny Stoke Bruerne

It rained in the night, but by the time we were up and about, the sky was clearing.  We made porridge for breakfast, and put some water in the tank, before setting off at just after 9am.  It was gloriously sunny, with a lovely blue sky.

We didn't pass another moving boat all the way to the bottom lock at Stoke Bruerne.  It was so sunny, though, that the owners of one moored boat were sitting outside in their deckchairs!

At the bottom lock, we could see a boat coming down.  It turned out to be Lizzie and Chris on the Braidbar boat, Shimshams.  They're making the most of the lack of winter stoppages on the Grand Union by going to London.  It was nice to see them, if only briefly; the last time was at the Braidbar weekend last year, and then a couple of weeks later as we crossed on the Audlem flight.  

We made good progress up the locks, passing a couple of boats coming down.  Everything looked very pretty in the sunshine.

At the top lock, there are some tiny mushrooms growing in a crack in the balance beam.

A boat was approaching the top lock as we came up, so it was another one where we could leave the gates open.  We went along to the winding hole just before the tunnel and Adrian made a very efficient turn.  We re-traced our steps for a few hundred yards and moored up in a nice sunny spot.

After lunch, we did a bit of cleaning inside the boat and I started a chili for tonight.  Later, we went to visit Kathryn who lives by the top lock, taking with up some Halloween cup cakes bought from the museum cafe.  We had a good hour or so, catching up over tea.

6 miles, 7 locks.

Post Crick -- Day 1

I listened to the weather forecast on the Today programme this morning, and couldn't determine whether we were in the part of the country where the rain would clear in favour of a much brighter day, or the bit where there would be heavy rain all day, leaving dangerous amounts of standing water on the roads.  It seems we were in the latter part.

We set off at 8.10 in the rain.  It was a little under half an hour to Norton Junction, and just as we approached a Napton hire boat went across, heading to the locks.  It meant we had a locking partner for the Buckby flight.  The couple on board are long time hirers, and we made good progress.  A few of the locks had to be turned, but we also met a couple of boats coming up.  It seems I took just one photo today.

At the bottom of the locks, Adrian pulled onto the offside mooring so he could get some firelighters and logs, while I walked back to the next lock to go to the farm shop for pork chops and some veg.

Setting off again, I steered the long lock-free pound while Adrian worked.  We had a stop for water just through Weedon, as we haven't filled up since before the show.  The tap had decent pressure, so it didn't take too long.  In the afternoon it stopped raining at times, but it was still pretty cold and damp.  We came through Blisworth Tunnel without meeting anyone, and then had a decision to make.  We prefer the moorings two locks down as most of the ones at the top are in a rather gloomy cutting; but we decided that if there was a nice open mooring in the village we'd stop there.  As it turned out, there's almost no-one here at all, so we tied up at about quarter to four, just as it came on to rain again.  I was so wet and cold I had a hot shower to warm up. Our locking partners from this morning have just arrived, and slotted into a space in front of us.

17 miles, 7 locks.  (22 miles, 14 locks)