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)

Pre-Crick: Day 7

It rained all night, and was still raining this morning.  I was up early, and we slipped out of our berth at a couple of minutes before 7am.  It was very still, so the turn out of the marina was easy, but it was very dull and wet.

It took the usual 90 minutes to get to the bottom of Stoke Bruerne locks.  The bottom couple had some water in, the next one was full, but the next two were almost empty.  By setting ahead, we made good progress.

As we were almost up the fifth lock, three volunteer lock keepers arrived, amazed to see anyone on the move in the rain!  One of them radioed to their colleague at the top two lock, so she could set the next one.

The lockie went to set the top lock, so with her help we got to the top in an hour and 20 minutes, which is good going.

Before the tunnel, there was a lot of water coming into the canal from a feeder immediately before the old blacksmith’s place; I don’t recall seeing the like before.  The tunnel itself was drier than the outside, but the feed at the other end was running really well.

We plodded through Gayton Junction, and Adrian started making a chilli.  However that (and another cup of tea) had to wait as the gas ran out.  We pulled in outside Heyford Fields Marina, where we’d arranged for Dave (Mr Eberspacher) to have a look at our heater.  It’s been playing up, not for the first time.  Dave was out, so Josh came down and plugged in a diagnostic thing, which came up with a very rare error code.  Josh took the Eberspacher out, and we had lunch while we waited.  The plan had been to install a loan heater, but in fact Josh and Dave (who was now back) had diagnosed that ours needed a new brain — so they had installed a loan brain into our heater, and would put ours back in while a new brain was ordered.  A rest run showed it now worked, so we could set off again.

We were at Heyford Fields for just over an hour, and strangely all the time we were there it didn’t rain.  As we set off again, the rain re-started on and off.  At one point, there was an absolutely torrential downpour.

We got to the bottom of Buckby Locks at gone 4pm.  We’d normally try to get up the locks on this day of the Crick trip, but we’d had enough, and decided to stop.  It’s not a favourite mooring because of the M1 and the railway line, but it’s fine.  Since we stopped, there’s been a little bit of sunshine.

20 miles, 7 locks.  (38 miles, 21 locks)

Pre-Crick: Day 6

More work, I'm afraid.  Adrian had stayed in Reading overnight, but came back this evening via a supermarket for a top-up shop.  I used the train from MK again.  Tomorrow, we will be setting off properly.

Pre-Crick: Day 5

Adrian was up early and went off to work in Reading, via a train from Banbury Station.  I went to work a bit later, using Milton Keynes again.  

Pre-Crick: Day 4

Yesterday evening we could hear a cuckoo.  I walked along the towpath as it sounded quite close, but I didn’t manage to see it.  I did record it though.

This morning we were in no rush at all, and set off around 9.30 for the marina.  Once back in our berth we plugged in the shore power and got the washing machine on.  I left for work via MK station, and Adrian headed to IKEA to get some new wine glasses — as we’re now down to three matching ones!

1 mile, 0 locks.  (18 miles, 14 locks)

Pre-Crick: Day 3

Gayton Junction continued to provide entertainment yesterday evening.  Another hire boat went the wrong  way — this time turning towards Weedon when they wanted Stoke Bruerne.  However, their reversing and getting the right direction was really good.  Later on, Catherine and Nigel came for a drink or three; we haven’t seen them since Christmas Eve, so we had quite a lot to catch up on.

This morning, we did our own turn in the junction.  I gave the stern a good shove off, and we spun round very neatly, heading back under the junction bridge.

Back through Blisworth Tunnel, it was just as wet as yesterday.  At the locks, a Gayton hire boat was setting the top lock — and it turned out to be the one mentioned above: a boat-load of people from Stockholm, who were also sailors, which might explain why they had some idea what they were doing.  This was their first lock ever, though, so they had lots of advice from many quarters.  A volunteer lock keeper also joined us, so I ended up going down to set the next lock.  In fact, I worked ahead the whole way down.  In the main part of the flight, Adrian suggested some synchronised boating, which worked well.

We caught up with a single boat towards the bottom of the flight, so I set the bottom lock for them.  All in all, we had a very quick passage through the locks.  At the bottom, we carried on, then moored up at a favourite spot before Bridge 63, where we lined up the dinette window with the footpath through the hedge.  We had lunch, as the sun finally came out.  We have had a busy afternoon.  I decided the bow needed some attention, with the red paint on the nose and the bow flashes having faded a lot.

I rubbed down the red sections, then masked it all up.  The curves took quite a time, and kneeling on the bow to do it was murder on the knees!

Then out came the paint and the roller.  At the same time, Adrian had washed the towpath side of the boat, and while the paint dried we put some polish on.  Then it was time to take the masking tap off and put the button back on.  It’s not perfect, but it looks a lot better.

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

Pre-Crick: Day 2

We had a pretty relaxed start to the day, and left the marina just before 9.  It was already sunny and quite warm, with none of the mist which had been forecast.

We soon caught up with a boat which we gained on even when we were on tickover, but he let us pass.  When we got to the bottom of the locks, a man was just opening the second top gate for a downhill boat, which was in the next lock up.  This one is notoriously slow to empty, and it wasn’t helped when the lock above that was emptied, sending more water over the top gates.  Eventually the lock made a level, and the widebeam could come out.  It was a big one.

By the time the widebeam was down the bottom lock, the boat we’d passed had arrived, so we thought they could come up with us — but they wanted to fill with water first so we went up alone.  The second lock had been left for us, with a boat waiting above; then the volunteer lock keeper asked us if we would wait, as another uphill boat had arrived.  Things seemed to be taking a long time at the bottom lock, so I went down to investigate.  The boat wasn’t even in the lock yet — and then the watering boat had finished and was going to join them — so the lockie changed him mind and said we should carry on.  The people waiting for the lock were relieved that things were finally moving.

We swapped with a boat further up, then at the penultimate lock a boat was coming out.  It turned out to be Burnt Oak, with Marina and John, with whom we did a very quick Hatton flight a few years ago.  In the long pound, a swan was making an effort to take off, but then changed his mind.

Boats were also coming out of the top lock.  At the top, we had a quick chat with Kathryn.

We carried on through the tunnel.  It was exceptionally wet inside, with water pouring down in places I don’t remember previously.  Adrian made lunch while we were inside, which we had once we’d come out the other end.  We continued through Blisworth to Gayton Junction.  We were hoping for a mooring as near to the junction as possible because we need to head back tomorrow, and fortunately we got one.

This afternoon we have done bits of cleaning of the boat, but it’s been a bit too warm to do much.  We have been visited by ducklings and cygnets, and there have been plenty of boats through the junction.

After 3pm, the hire boats started being released from Gayton Marina.  I’d gone up to the bridge to take a photo of us across the junction, when this hire boat came by, which I thought made a nice addition to the picture.  I went down the steps to get another shot, when the steerer said ‘We are going the right way for Banbury aren’t we?’  They weren’t.  There then followed more than 15 minutes of turning around, not helped by another boat which almost made the same mistake.

This evening, Catherine and Nigel are coming for a drink.

9 miles, 7 locks.

Pre-Crick: Day 1

I did a Breakfast shift this morning, and came up to the boat after that.  There had been a crash on the M1, which meant the drive took longer than it should, so I stopped off at Tesco at Wolverton for lunch and then a shop. It was cloudy and a bit rainy.  Having unpacked the car, my plan for the afternoon was to get the cratch cover off and scrub it, but I found we had no cavas cleaner.  So I spent some time touring Milton Keynes trying to find some.  In the past I’ve used a soft-top cleaner, but a garage I tried had none, nor did B&Q (online only for them), and Halford’s was also a no.  So I went across the road to Go Outdoors and got a tent cleaner which was half the price. The cratch was looking very green, following a winter just sat in the marina.

By 4pm the sun had come out and the temperature had shot up.  I took the cover up to one of the picnic benches and scrubbed it.  Lots of green came out, but past experience suggests it won’t look totally non-green.  Then I laid it out on the bank, got the hosepipe out, and rinsed it off.  I then left it to dry, while I removed all the spiders’ nests from the cratch board.

I had an early dinner, then folded up the now almost-dry cover and put it in the car (there was a slight delay because when I picked it up, I found the underside was swarming with ants! They took a bit of removing).  I drove down to Stoke Hammond, to Lena of Infinity Boat Covers, who’d agreed to re-stitch one of the zips which came adrift last year.  She was moored along from the bridge.

As I walked along the towpath, she was measuring another boat moored there for a tonneau cover.  We went to her boat where she did the stitching.  Her husband was also there, carving a face and a mushroom into a big lump of wood.

I’ve come back to the boat and put the cover back on.  Re-proofing will have to wait until tomorrow.  Adrian is on his way up and should be hear shortly.

0 miles, 0 locks.

Bank Holiday Weekend: Day 3

We had a quiet night at Campbell Park, and this morning was much better than forecast.  We set off just before 9, and crawled past all the moored boats most of the way home!  There was an unintended pause at New Bradwell, where there are boats moored on the offside and there was a boat coming the other way, and we got stuck on a rock or something, a meter or so from the towpath.  It took quite an effort to get us moving again.  The house with the tower by the next bridge now has a huge hole in the garden and another extension going up.

At Cosgrove Lock, Walhalla, the big widebeams was coming down.  I did a boat test on it back in 2012.  As there was a boat on the water point, I waited before the narrows so he had room to come past.

We we all secure in our berth in under four hours, then we had lunch and headed home.  While we were eating the rain arrived, and it was a pretty wet drive home.

8 miles, 1 lock. (17 miles, 2 locks)