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)

Repatriation: Day 8

We left at before 8 this morning, covering the familiar miles between Hillmorton and Braunston.  Before long the landmarks of Braunston showed themselves — the knobbly church spire, and the windmill with no sails.

There was chaos at Bridge 90, with a boat moored off the end of the moorings, rather too close to the bridge, and boats in both directions.  Then there were two boats on the water points before the junction making it very narrow.  But once past the junction there was plenty of mooring space, had we needed it.  We stopped at the next water point and filled the tank, which might have been a tactical error, as plenty of boats went pas heading for the locks.  When we made it to the locks, there were two pairs of boats ahead, so it would be a while before we got going.  In fact, it was a good half an hour before we could enter the lock; with the number of boats around, I thought we’d definitely have gained a looking partner during the waiting time, but none materialised.

We met boats coming down at every lock, though, so it was a fairly good run up the six locks, completing them in a little over an hour.  At the top we moored up, as Catherine, Nigel, and the kids were coming to see us.  They arrived at pretty much the same time we did, so was had lunch on the moorings there.

Setting off again, we completed Braunston Tunnel without seeing another boat.

At the top of the locks there were also no boats going our way, so we set off down the flight.  The top lock needed topping up, but thanks to meeting a couple of uphill boats the rest were full — apart from the last one.  We had child labour to aid our passage too.

And this is Grace being a gnome.

We moored at the bottom of the locks, and sat around chatting for an hour or so, before Nigel headed off to the chippy in Norton to bring back a selection of fish, battered sausage, and chicken, and loads of chips.  It’s been great catching up with the family, whom we haven’t seen since we came this way heading north in March.

13 miles, 13 locks.  (133 miles, 76 locks)

East Mids Exploration: Day 1

After starting by going in the wrong direction, and then pausing to go to work, we're finally off no running. We left Wolverton at just before 8am, and it was an hour and a bit before we passed the entrance to our marina. When we got to the bottom of the Stoke Bruerne Locks, an Alvechurch hire boat was just in front of us, but they said they needed to top up with water, so we started up the locks alone. However, their topping up was quicker than they'd thought, so we waited for them at the next lock. The crew were a nice family from Bolton, three generations on their fourth boating holiday (including one in Belgium).

Our lock partners moored in the long pound, but we carried on. We'd started meeting moats coming down, including the widebeam hotel boat, Tranquil Rose. At the top lock we knocked on Kathryn's door, and she came out to say hello.

We headed off through Blisworth tunnel, but halfway through we caught up with a boat so the rest of the passage was on tick over. That meant it took a bit longer than usual to get through -- but not as long as another boat earlier this morning. Wide beam boats have to book a passage through the tunnel, and the crew of Tranquil Rose told us that when they came through heading south, another wide beam had been booked going north, and was allowed through first. It took them an hour and a quarter! Then the CRT guy let a narrowboat through, so TR had to wait even longer. They said by the time they arrived in Stoke Bruerne, there were seven boats waiting to go north.

At Gayton Junction, we turned onto the water point to fill the tank and start a wash load. There was a boat loitering there when we arrived, but they were just waiting to turn and reverse onto a mooring.

Setting off again, we had the long Stowe Hill Pound ahead of us. Adrian is still technically at work, so he had stuff to do, while I steered. This is very familiar water, but there were a couple of points of interest. Not long after Heyford Fields Marina, there was a bit of smoke across the canal. A fire in the offside hedge was still smouldering, but had clearly been quite fierce at one stage, because a whole fence post had all but disappeared. As we approached Furnace Lane Bridge, a fire engine went over.

After Stowe Hill Bridge, I saw a bird which flew like a kingfisher, but without the vibrant blue. It settled long enough for a photo; I think it may have been a young one.

Near Dodford Bridge, where we've moored a few times, I was eager to see what progress had been made with the new road and bridge over the canal. The field has been cleared, there's a big mound of soil, and a new temporary road.

We carried on until the bottom of the Buckby Locks, having travelled for more than 9 hours. This evening, my second cousin, Catherine, and her family are visited, and brought fish and chips with them!

23 miles, 8 locks. (37 miles, 9 locks)

 

Pre Crick: Day 3

A little boat that I wrote a feature about a couple of years ago came and moored in front of us last night, so this morning I went to have a chat with the owners. With the Buckby Locks still closed, we were in no rush to get going, and finally left at around 9.30. It's not far to the bottom of the locks, and we moored at the end of what looked like a very long queue. I walked up the flight to see what the situation was, and spoke to the most senior CRT person there, the aptly named Lee King. At that stage, all their efforts to put the gate back in place had failed, and they were waiting for more equipment to arrive. Lee said he'd never seen such a badly damaged gate.

Back at the bottom lock, I phoned Adrian, who'd stayed on board doing some work, and decided to have lunch at the Whilton Marina Cafe. While I waited for him to walk up the towpath, I sat on the balance beam and watched numerous birds busily fetching and carrying. A tiny wren made repeated visits to the lock, picking up things from the gate, and even disappearing inside the gaps under the coping stones to find food.

There are some nice cottages at the bottom lock, but one that's always been run down. It's now got significant work under way, with the owners appearing to be living in a caravan in the back garden.

Lunch at the cafe was so-so toasted sandwiches and rather greasy chips; I'm not sure we'd rush back there. Afterwards we went to the Canal Turn Farm Shop by the second lock, and bought some lamb chump chops for dinner tonight, plus some extra veg, butter, and milk.

The farm shop is collecting signatures on a petition, as they're having to close down at the end of the summer, because of the building of a new road. The Flore/Weedon by-pass is going right through the fields where they graze their cattle, and they'll end up having to pay rent on land they can't use. The same road is the reason for the works in the field next to our mooring last night: the road is coming right across it, and there will be a huge embankment and a bridge over the canal and the railway line. I guess that means we won't be stopping there again!

This afternoon we've washed and polished the towpath side of the boat, and talked to lots of people who are either stuck here like us, or were walking the towpath. It's not the ideal mooring, with the West Coast Mainline up on a big embankment on one side, and the M1 only about 100 metres away the other.

However, better news came this afternoon. Someone had been back up to the lock, and found that work boats have arrived, stop planks were in, the lock had been drained, and the gate wasn't as badly damaged at the bottom as had been feared. It might be possible to put it back in place tomorrow morning, so if everything goes to plan there's a chance the locks could re-open in the afternoon.

2 miles, 0 locks. (20 miles, 7 locks)

 

Pre Crick: Day 2

We were told to expect the RCR engineer between 9.30 and 10, and he arrived at 9.30.  Having listened to the engine trying to start he diagnosed an underpowered starter battery.  He'd brought with him a machine for jump starting the engine, and when it had run for a few minutes, our battery had enough juice to start the engine again.  We've had a long run today, so it should be ok in the morning.  The engineer said they normally last three or four years; this one was in the boat when we bought it four years ago, and it has a 2007 date printed on the side, so it really doesn't owe us anything.  We'll probably buy a new one at the show.

All this meant it was 10am before we left the marina.  It was sunny, but with a brisk and cool breeze.  The usual hour and a half later we were at the bottom of Stoke Bruerne locks.  A previous boat test boat, Willow Two, was on the water point.  Two boats were going up the bottom lock, so we had to turn it.  By the time we were up, another two boats had arrived at the bottom, so we carried on alone.  The boats in front were rather slow, and while we were waiting for the third lock, another single boat arrived at the bottom.  So one of the pair behind came with us, while the other waited for the single boat.

Our locking partners were an experienced boat share couple out of Gayton, and with boats heading down the locks, we made decent progress.  Some of the pounds look rather full when there are two uphill and two downhill boats swapping locks.

At the penultimate lock, our lock companions were joined by their daughter and three year old grandson.  He's got three years experience of boating, and like pushing lock gates!

It was 1pm by the time we got to the top, and we pressed on through the tunnel.  Adrian made lunch, but I waited until we were through the tunnel before eating mine -- not just because of the dark, but because of the danger of it being dripped on!

At Blisworth, another boat test boat was moored: the eyecatching widebeam, Valhalla.  The long lock free pound stretched ahead.  I steered while Adrian did some work.  Past Stowe Hill, a cow was using a bit of old machinery to scratch its head.

The stretch through Stowe Hill and Weedon seems to take ages, thanks to all the moored boats.  Time was getting on, so we decided we'd probably stop at the bottom of Buckby locks.  A couple of miles before we got there, I liked the look of a tree in a field of oilseed rape.  It's not quite as rural as it looks, though.  With a closer look you can see the M1 just the other side of the field.

It was almost 6pm when we moored in a sunny spot below the locks.  A hire boat in front appeared to be heading up them, but we decided to stop for the night.  To be honest, it's not the most peaceful of spots.  The M1 is on one side (although roadworks are keeping people's speed down), while on the other side is the West Coast Mainline, with Vigin trains speeding past every few minutes.

Tomorrow, we'll aim to get going fairly promptly to get up the locks in good time.

20 miles, 7 locks.