Post-Crick: Day 2

David and Lisa on What A Lark were getting ready to leave this morning at the same time we were — but the local swan apparently didn’t want them to go.

We left at about 8.15, on a really lovely sunny morning — so different from yesterday.

We passed five boats in Blisworth Tunnel, all of them in the final third.  The last of them was only just inside, and was another Braidbar.  We emerged into the sunshine.

As we approached the locks, Robbie Cumming was just mooring up.  A boat was just going in the top lock and a lock keeper opened the other gate so we could join them.  We did the top two locks with them, but at the third lock there was a single boat — a guy with the usual story of having bought a boat at Whilton Marina and being on his way to London.  Needless to say, he had very little idea what to do.  Our partner boat joined him, much to the relief of the volunteer lock keeper, leaving us on our own.

We made steady progress with a boat or two coming up.  When we got to the bottom lock, we had to wait for a boat to come in, and there appeared to be chaos below the locks, with boats everywhere.

A stiff breeze made the entry into the marina a bit tricky, but made the reverse into our berth very easy.  Adrian had done most of the packing as we came along, so had lunch moved everything to the car, and set off at about 2pm.  We had both cars at the marina, so while Adrian headed straight home, I went to Moonraker to pick up a new suction mount for the tv antenna.  That meant I came a completely different route, which took much much longer!

10 miles, 7 locks.  (71 miles, 56 locks)

Post-Crick: Day 1

Apparently it rained in the night, although I didn’t hear it.  It was pretty gloomy this morning, and we set off just after 8, making the very short journey to the junction where we turned left for Buckby Locks.  The top one had a bottom gate open and both bottom paddles up, so I went to check whether someone was about to come up.  There was no-one there, so I re-set the lock for us.

At the third lock we met a boat which had just done down.  He said the two locks he’d done this morning had both had both bottom gates open and both paddles up.  He agreed to wait for us at the next lock.  We assumed he was single handing, but in fact his wife was setting ahead; we didn’t actually see her until the bottom lock.

We were down by 10am, which was good going.  It had been raining lightly, but now came on harder at times.  Before Furnace Wharf, a boat which had been sunk and was drifting about in the water last week had now been lifted onto the towpath.

We plodded along to Heyford Fields, where we tied up on the outside for Dave to have another look at the Eberspacher.  Although it had worked after last week’s loan brain was fitted, it didn’t work at Crick, with the controller doing odd things.  Anyway, Dave diagnosed a fuse problem and Josh fixed it, so all was well.  We’d been there about an hour and a half, and it hadn’t rained the whole time, just like last week.  Similarly, as soon as we set off again, the rain came back.

We moored in a spot we like before Bridge 46.  We had seen What A Lark a couple of times earlier.  We passed the  moored at Standing Barn Bridge, then they passed us at Heyford Fields.  After we’d moored, they came back the other way and pulled in to stop too.  Lisa and Davis came round for first tea and biscuits, which then seamlessly morphed into wine and crisps, along with plenty of chat.  We know lots of the same people, yet it’s taken years for us to actually meet — but it was worth the wait!

12 miles, 7 locks.  (61 miles, 49 locks)

Crick Show: Day 4

Surprisingly sunny today, the final day of the show.  I had nothing much to do, so we mooched round the show again.  Adrian also worked on the Braidbar stand again.  I also had a walk up the towpath the other way, and caught two of the little show trip boats passing each other.

At 2.30 they made the announcement of the Favourite Boat winners.  As there were only five widebeams eligible, there was just a winner, Bespoke Boats.

The winner of the Narrowboat category was Kingsground.

Stoke Bespoke Boat Co were second, and Boating Leisure Services and Braidbar were joint third.  We set off straight away afterwards.

It seems that many boats had already left, but when we got to the top of the Watford Locks there was only one ahead of us.  Three boats were coming up, so we waited about 45 minutes; we moved over to the water point and filled up while we were waiting.  Once we were on our way down, things went smoothly.

We tried to fit into a gap past Bridge 3 but it was a few feet too short, so we have moored just before Norton Junction, opposite Weltonfield Marina.  The trouble is, you never know how busy it is round the corner!  Once we were moored up, the local swan family came to visit.

4 miles, 7 locks.  (49 miles, 42 locks)

Crick Show: Day 3

There was rain in the night but it cleared up by the time the show opened. Adrian worked in the Braidbar tent again, while I pottered around the show. In the afternoon I went to a presentation by Richard Parry, the chief exec of CRT. 

While that was going on, there was a massive rain storm. It was hard to hear at times because of the rain on the roof of the seminar tent. It also made the whole site very muddy. In the evening we got pizzas from the van in the food court and ate them in the snug, where there were tables and shelter. The headline act in the beer tent was Fleetwood Bac. 

Crick Show: Day 2

Adrian was again working with Braidbar. I got on with writing up the short boat reviews, in a few spells across the day, so I didn’t have to do them all at once. I also walked into the village to get some things from the Co-op. 

One special event on the Braidbar stand was a presentation to Sheila Napier, who’s leaving the waterways and moving back to land, after 50 years of boating, 20 of them on three Braidbar boats. She and her late husband Bruce set up the Braidbar Owners’ Group. She was given a lovely bread board with pictures of the three boats on it. 

In the evening, we went for pie and mash in the Snug, and shared a table with a man from Canada and a couple from the US. In the evening, we came back for the Elton John tribute act.

Crick Show: Day 1

Friday is trade and preview day, so things are a bit quieter. It’s a good day for looking at boats. Andy the photographer had a job in the morning, so arrived about 12.30, by which time I’d looked over a few boats. By the end of the day, we’d looked at 20. Adrian meanwhile worked on the Braidbar stand. 

Pre-Crick: Day 8

The noise from the motorway and the trains didn’t keep us awake, but we were up quite early and set off at 7.15.  It was dull and a bit chilly, but at least it wasn’t raining.  I walked up to the bottom lock, which needed emptying.  As Adrian brought Briar Rose towards it, a chap on a boat moored outside the marina asked if he could come up with us.  He was moving the boat to Gloucester for friends, but was single-handing, so it meant quite a bit of extra work for me, opening gates etc.

It wasn’t until the penultimate lock that we met a boat coming down, then at the top lock a huge widebeam had just come down.  By the time we were up, there were four boats waiting to come down.  We moved onto the water point, got a wash load going, and topped up the tank.  It’s a nice fast tap here, and I suspected the water points at the top of Watford and at Crick would be in demand.  Once we were full, we set off again, and turned right at Norton Junction.

The moorings round the corner were surprisingly empty — often there’s not a single space.  The section between the junction and Watford Locks is always longer than I remember, even though I’m aware I always think that!  At the locks, boats were going up in front of us, with one waiting.  The lock keeper said we could follow.  The boat immediately ahead was Renfrew, which was the boat used in the film, Wonka.

We did the two single locks, then the pound before the staircase was really low, meaning the water from the lock set up some strong currents, making getting into the staircase even more tricky than usual.

We made good progress and were soon at the top, where a couple of boats were about to come down.  We carried on a little way, then moored up for lunch, and because we didn’t really need to get to Crick yet.  When we set off again, we had just a couple of bridges to pass through before the tunnel.

We passed one boat in the tunnel, then out the other side a mooring manager was able to tell us which berth number we had been assigned.  We’re again on a single mooring rather than a breasted up one, which is nice; it’s a couple of spaces further from the road bridge than last year.  We went along to the marina entrance to turn around, and retraced our steps to our spot.  When the next boat arrived, there wasn’t enough room for them, so a boat which had moored when no-one else was here had to be moved along a bit.  We wandered over to the show site to see what was going on, and bumped into a few people we knew.  There was lots of last minute prep going on.

7 miles, 14 locks.  (45 miles, 35 locks)