Frederick on test, and the C&O canal

The January edition of Canal Boat is out and includes my boat test on Frederick by Braidbar boats. There’s also a piece I wrote about the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which we stumbled across when we visited Washington DC in October.

Dazzling Jewel on test

The December Canal Boat is out, and includes my boat test on Dazzling Jewel by Cain Narrowboats. 

Crick

I came up to the boat yesterday afternoon, as I had a boat test to do today.  This morning was very foggy across the marina.

It was also foggy when we got to Crick for the boat test, so we did all the internal stuff first.  The sun was braking through, so as the boat was heading south, Andy drove to the bridge on the way to Watford while the owners and I came through the tunnel.  South of the tunnel is much better for photos.

From blacking: Day 2

As I was ahead of schedule I had a pretty relaxed start to the day.  I walked up to the village as I’d arranged to meet Kathryn for a cup of tea in the cafe when they opened at 10am.  It’s good value in there, with a pot of tea only being £2.  It was another misty day, with not a breath of wind, but felt colder than yesterday.  Back at the boat I did a few jobs, then had lunch, and set off at about 12.45, just after another boat had arrived down the locks and moored in front.  I assured them I was leaving anyway, it wasn’t because of them!  Despite the murk, there were still some nice autumn colours.

It took the usual hour and a half to get back to the marina.  I could have done with a bit of a breeze down the pontoon to help me line up to reverse in, but I did it ok.  The ducks which take a liking to our jetty when we’re away were most indignant that we were back.

Once the boat was secure I washed the other half of the roof and did the windows.  By then the engine had cooled down enough so I could do an oil change; I wanted to get it done so there was new oil in for the winter.  I also checked the oil im the gear box and that still looks clean so I didn’t change it — which was a relief because draining out the old oil is a bit of a performance.

I’m staying tonight as I have a boat test to do tomorrow.

5 miles, 0 locks.  (17 miles, 7 locks)

From blacking: Day 1

I drove up to Weedon yesterday after an early shift, stopping at Brent Cross Tesco on the way for some shopping, and arriving at about 6.15.  Steve at Grand Union Narrowboats had kindly moved the boat over to the towpath side before he went home.  It was dark by the time I arrived, so I couldn’t really see much of what had been done.  I soon had the hot water on, the fire alight, and a pizza in the oven.

This morning I was up in good time and could have a look at the blacking, the repainted top plank, and the new raddle red on the gunwale tops.  It all looks very smart.  Steve has also fixed the broken hinge on the bow locker lid.

I took the car down to our marina — the traffic was terrible on the A5 so Google took me cross country to the A508, and even that was very slow approaching our turning, and that’s a mile from the A5 roundabout which causes the delays.  I got an Uber back to Weedon, then had a chat across the canal to Steve before setting off.  I’d only been going about 20 minutes when I stopped at Rugby Boats for diesel.  They were preparing to get some boats out of the water, so I had to stop alongside one of them.  I set off again into the rather murky morning, although it was also very still.

The boat seemed to be moving particularly well today; maybe the new blacking means it cuts through the water better.  I saw no moving boats until Bugbrooke, when a boat set off from the pub moorings in front of me.  Then boats started coming the other way too. The old farm building by Banbury Lane Bridge is having lots of work done on it.  It’s not just the scaffolding, where you can see through the doors and windows, there’s major work inside and in the farmyard beyond.

I kept catching up with the boat in front, so I decided I’d stop for a few minutes for lunch.  I was hoping for a space at Gayton Junction where there are rings but it was completely full.  I should have just stopped opposite, on the empty long term moorings like we did on the way up.  I eventually stopped after bridge 49 at Blisworth, and put the kettle on and made some lunch.  I was only there for maybe ten minutes as I ate lunch on the move; I was pretty sure I’d catch up with the boat ahead before the locks anyway.  In the tunnel, I could see the boat ahead of me and I was about 5/6ths of the was through before I saw them get to the other end.  I did the tunnel in 24 minutes.

The boat ahead was at the lock landing as I arrived.  It was a share boat with three people on board; the lady was showing some American tourists how the lock worked, and then got them to help open and close the gates.

I’d planned to stop in the long pound after the top two locks, but the other boat said they were going all the way down so I thought it would be daft not to keep going with them.

We made good progress even though all the locks were against us.  Even the really slow draining one didn’t seem to bad.  I moored at the bottom of the locks; the was only one other boat here, and even that has now left.  The owner came back from work and I thought he was just going to run his engine, but in fact he set off.  There were also only a handful of boats above the locks, and only a couple in the long pound.  As the towpath is on the side that’s away from the pontoon in the marina, I washed that half of the roof, to get the workshop grime off, and also did the windows.

12 miles, 7 locks.

To blacking: Day 2

It was very windy this morning, and we’d had some rain.  We set off about 9am, struggling slightly to get away from the bank against the wind. At least it wasn’t raining.

Most of the two miles has moored boats and had to be done on tickover.  It was particularly tight through Rugby boats.  Not sure whether someone thought it was a good idea to moor opposite breasted up boats, or whether they were there before the breasting up took place — but either way, it wasn’t very sensible.

We have delivered the boat to Weedon for blacking this week.  Today’s journey was less than an hour, so we were on the road back home in good time, and the weather got worse as we headed south.

2 miles, 0 locks.  (17 miles, 7 locks)

To blacking: Day 1

Adrian came up to the boat yesterday, with a holdup on the A34 making it a very slow journey. I came up after an early shift at work. It rained pretty much all night, and the forecast wasn’t good for today either. This morning started with a car shuffle, and on the way back we went to the Gayton car park where we picked up our friends Helen and Andy who were spending the day with us. We drove back to the marina, and set off. It was dry if gloomy, but still with some autumn colours.

At the bottom lock at Stoke Bruerne a couple of lockies emptied the lock for us. A pair of boats was coming down, so we could leave the gates open.

With crew and lock keepers we made good progress up the locks, with the cloud gradually clearing too.

The long pound was very low, which is unusual. At the top the headed straight into the tunnel. We passed two boats, the second of which hardly moved over at all, and gave us a significant whack as it went past. At the Blisworth side of the tunnel, the improvement in the weather was significant. 

We moored at Gayton for lunch — but while checking down the weedhatch, I managed to dunk one leg on the canal!  Not sure exactly what happened as I stepped onto the tow path, but I reckon it would have been worse had Andy not been there to grab hold of me. After lunch, Helen and Andy headed off to their car in the car park by the bridge. It had been a really lovely day with them. We set off again, to make the most of a lovely sunny afternoon. 

At almost 5.30 we were at Nether Heyford, with the sun beginning to disappear behind the hill. We moored up shortly after the narrows where there’s decent piling. 

15 miles, 7 locks. 

Tusitala on test

The November Canal Boat is out, and includes my boat test on Tusitala by Finesse Boats.

Annoying

This is really just to log a night on the boat.  I went to work yesterday from Milton Keynes station, and during my lunchtime walk my phone was snatched by a kid on a bike.  Very annoying.  Without it, I didn’t even know Adrian’s number!  The process of getting everything sorted was begun.  This morning, I did a few boat jobs, such as swapping some bulbs, sorting the loo, and sealing a couple of leaking mushroom vents, and then headed home.  It’s difficult to do anything without internet, and the weather for Monday (which was supposed to be a boat test day) is dire.

Step up

I came up to the boat after work — and the drive took ages. When I got to the marina, I could easily seen the water level was high. Then I found there was a step up from the jetty onto the boat, when there’s usually a small step down. 

September Cruise: Day 18

It rained a lot all night and was still going this morning, sometimes very heavily.  Having looked at the rainfall radar, we waited for a lull and set off at 8.45.  Really, it was the sort of day when you wouldn’t move unless you had to; unfortunately we had to.

The first lock was full — and the rest of the flight turned out to be too full.  Because of the way these Grand Union locks are designed, there are no normal by-washes.  Extra water goes through the ground paddle somehow, and if there’s more it goes over the top gates and over the bottom gates.  The gates are different heights, so if there’s water going over the top ones, the lock will never make a level and you’ll never be able to get the gate open.  So from the second lock down, I had to run water off by opening top and bottom paddles, to lower the whole pound.  Of course each time this just moved the problem further down the flight, so there was a lot of running off water.  It meant the five locks took us an hour and a half.

It had rained again while we were locking, but once at the bottom it had stopped.  It was also pretty warm as we made our way along the five familiar miles back to our marina.  I saw a couple of kingfishers, and there were what looked like hundreds of geese at Grafton Regis.

The last mile had a fishing competition, but at least they weren’t fishing opposite the marina entrance, so I didn’t have to annoy an angler by turning in.  There was no wind, so my spin and reverse into our berth was one of my worst.  Then our next door neighbour came out to tell us that the marina owner, Roy, had unexpected died a couple of weeks ago.  He was 80, and the marina had been his project since retiring from his farm, which surrounds the marina.  He’ll be sadly missed as he would come down to check on everything at least once if not twice a day.

Adrian had done most of the packing as we came along, so we had lunch, loaded up the car and I headed home — while Adrian began the journey to Warrington for work tomorrow.

6 miles, 5 locks.  (215 miles, 137 locks)

September Cruise: Day 17

Another day where the actual weather was better than the forecast, although it was a bit overcast when we set off a bit after 8.  I walked round the junction to the top lock while Adrian brought the boat.

A Weedon hire boat was coming up, so the lock was set for us.

The second lock was full and we met a couple of other boats on their way up, so we didn’t actually have to turn any locks.

We got to the bottom about 9.45, and began the five hour journey along the Stowe Hill pound.  It turned out to have its moments.  In the quarter of a mile between High House Bridge and the narrows, we passed six boats going the other way — it it would have been seven had they managed to get through the narrow bit.  Near Heyford Fields, a day boat from Gayton waited for us to come through the bridge, then got it all wrong and shot across the canal before heading straight for us.  Then in the narrow section before Bugbrooke, an enormous widebeam came through.  We pulled over to let it pass.

It took three people to steer it: one at the bow with a walking talkie, one at the stern with a walkie talkie who also dives back and forth looking down each side, and one actually on the tiller.  None appeared to be enjoying themselves much.  We carried on, and eventually went past Gayton Junction.

As we passed through Blisworth there was thunder rumbling around; thundery showers had been in the forecast, but originally for much earlier.  The rain came between the Mill and the tunnel.  We passed two boats in the tunnel and Mike’s trip boat, Charlie, came in and backed out again at the far end.  Much to our surprise it was sunny in Stoke Bruerne, and we shared the top two locks with the hire boat Sally.  The were lots of people about.

We moored in the long pound, just as there were more rumbles of thunder and some showers.

17 miles, 9 locks.  (209 miles, 132 locks)

September Cruise: Day 16

It was very murky this morning, with a not very promising forecast.  We set off about 8.30.  Napton windmill seems much more visible from this angle than it has been previously; I wonder whether some trees have been taken down.

Napton hire boats were returning to the base and reversing in, so we waited for one to do that while another waved us past before attempting it.  Then we passed Napton Junction.

Just after the junction we make a brief stop to go down the weedhatch, and got a handful, of weed off from round the propshaft.  Adrian was just pushing off the bow when he put his foot down a water-filled hole in the towpath, resulting in a wet boot and a grazed leg.  A bit further along, there’s so new piling going in.

In what seemed like short order, Braunston church came into view, and then we turned right at the junction.  After the junction was a black swan, a white swan, and a load of sizeable cygnets — so presumably the black and white swans are a family.

We stopped at the water point at the Stop House, and while the tank was filling there was a brief torrential downpour.  Then we pulled the boat back onto the moorings, tied up, and walked into the village where we had toasted sandwiches at the Community Cafe.  We returned via Midland Chandlers, so I could buy a tin of Crimson Lake paint for the handrails, as the current tin is completely empty.  Then we set off up the locks.  Once in the bottom lock we spotted a boat coming, so waited for it.  It was an ABC Diamond Resorts boat, with two couples who’d been from Gayton to Leamington and back — but seemed to have got so used to the candlestick paddles they’d forgotten how normal ones worked!  They were back in the swing of things by the top.  By now the sun was unexpectedly out.

We met boats coming down at the first four locks, and there was a surprise at the lock by the Nelson, when a couple about to have lunch recognised Adrian.  They turned out to be Braidbar owners he’d met at the Crick Show, whose boat will be ready in a couple of months.  At the top we led the way into the tunnel, and almost immediately met a boat.  The couple on board seemed to know me, but I didn’t catch who they were and didn’t see the boat name, so leave a comment if you read this.

We carried on to Norton Junction, and found a space just the right size before the junction bridge, with a nice view across the countryside.

11 miles, 6 locks.  (192 miles, 123 locks)

September Cruise: Day 15

It was very autumnal as we set off about 8am, and not in a particularly good way.  It was grey, a bit chilly, and blustery.

We made our way along the summit, through Fenny, and hardly saw another boat.  The HS2 works seem much more prominent when you’re going this way, with a huge embankment across the countryside, and the new bridge across the canal.  Then when the line passes close to the canal there are more concrete supports.

We got to the top of the locks at 12.15, and found ourselves seventh, yes seventh, in the queue.  It seems everyone was going our way, and all arrived at once.

We were there for about an hour, gradually moving along as boats went down.  We had our lunch on the towpath, while hanging on to the centre line.  Then it was our turn.

There was another queue for the third lock down, which has only one top paddle working.  The other problem was that with several pounds near the top where people moor, more boats kept joining the procession in front of us.  Still, it’s a very pretty flight, and the sun came out.  It was still very breezy at times though.

Today, the water buffalo were all walking purposefully across their field.

We got to the bottom in just under four hours, which is incredibly slow.  But we’d had nice chats with the people ahead, on a boat called Willow.  One uphill boat had a grey parrot in a cage on the stern.  I wanted to see if the Merlin bird song app could identify it — but the parrot talked rather than making bird noises, first saying ‘hello mate’, and then ‘let’s have a cup of tea’!

We moored up just round the corner from the bottom lock, where the towpath hedge was laden with blackberries.  It took out a container and soon filled it, so there will be apple and blackberry crumbles on the menu in the next few days.

13 miles, 9 locks.  (181 miles, 117 locks)

September Cruise: Day 14

The weather was a bit dull to start, when we set off at around 8.15.  The first lock, Grants, is the last that has the big single bottom gate.  It’s mitred pairs from Banbury northwards.

When we got to Banbury, we stopped on the water point to fill the tank, and got a wash load going.  Then it was up the lock which was ready for us, and through the lift bridge.

We passed Herbie moored a little further along, just as they were about to set off, then as we moored by the park Kath and Neil came by — so we managed two brief conversations.

We walked across the foot bridge and restocked the cupboards and fridge from Waitrose.  We had been running rather low on quite a lot of things.  When we set off again, we found a long queue at Hardwick Lock; it seemed CRT had been running water down to top up the Banbury pound, so no boats had been up for a while.  We were about fourth in the queue, and before long there were another three behind — and similar numbers waiting to come down.  It all took a while, but by the next lock the queue had dissipated.  The pound between Bourton Lock and Slat Mill Lock was very short of water, so it was more like ploughing than boating.  We were watched by cows when we reached the lock.

At Cropredy, everyone takes a photo of the lock cottage, but the house the other side of the bridge is, if anything, even nicer.

We made a brief pause while Adrian went to find a post box, then we carried on up Broadmoor, Varney’s, and Elkington’s Locks, mostly meeting people coming down.  We also met boats at the bottom couple of locks of the Claydon flight, but had run out of downhill boats by the middle lock.  The penultimate lock has an interesting temporary repair to the balance beam.

We knew the top lock had one paddle out of action, but couldn’t remember which end.  It turns out it’s both ends.  We moored on the end of the moorings just beyond the lock and bridge.

10 miles, 14 locks.  (168 miles, 108 locks)