Our mooring last night was very quiet. We set off this morning at 8.15, and there were quite a few boats moored round the corner, so I’m glad we stopped where we did. I always like the little pool between Bridge 10 and Crick Tunnel.
We passed one boat in the tunnel, which as usual was dry until the last few hundred yards when it was very drippy indeed. As we left the tunnel, we looked at the signs on the towpath, to identify our Crick show mooring. To our surprise, our name hadn’t appeared by the time we got to the next bridge — and we were even more pleased when we spotted it the third boat down from the road bridge, which is a single mooring not a doubled up one. Basically, a much better mooring than we’ve had for the last few years. But we weren’t going onto it yet. We stopped at the water point to fill the tank and get some washing going, then carried on north. At recent Cricks, we’ve escaped for a night, gone to Bridge 27, and then used the winding hole at Bridge 28 to turn and go back; this time we were going further, so it was quite exciting to go beyond that winding hole! At one point, there are a couple of glamping pods with hot tubs, this one had its fire going, although I’m not sure if this is to heat the pod or the hot tub.
There are many lovely places along the summit level, and the hawthorn blossom is spectacular this year.
We didn’t pass many moving boats for hours, but then we saw quite a few, including some heading for the show. There are also lots of moored boats; I came over a bit Brenda from Bristol as each one appeared round the next corner: what, another one? But one of them was quite interesting — what looked like a former Anglo Welsh boat called Bluebell. We hired an Anglo Welsh called Bluebell on the Llangollen in 1997 — could it be the same boat? Having fished out an old photo from back then, it certainly looks like it.
We moored on the rings at Welford Junction at just before 1pm. Adrian had been working all morning, and had a call at 1, which was why we really needed to be stopped. A slight issue was that neither of his phones had much signal, although mine had enough for a video call. While that was going on, I washed the roof which was a disgrace, particularly after the tree sap from the other night, and also did a bit of prep for repainting round the Houdini hatch. I also dusted the towpath side of the boat and cleaned the windows. When I put the plank back on the roof thought it turned out to be swarming with ants. There then followed a bit of an ant massacre, as they all seemed to fry on the hot roof. The next job was sweeping the chimney, and blacking the stove. I then took a walk along to the junction, to look back to where we are moored.
Next to our mooring are some steps down the embankment, where you can see the River Avon flowing under the canal. At the bottom is a sea of stinging nettles, so this is the best photo I could get. The river is the boundary between Northants and Leics, so we are just moored in Northants, while the boat in front of us is in a different county.
12 miles, 0 locks. (44 miles, 23 locks)
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