Wending to Wales: Day 33

There was more heavy rain last night, but this morning was very still.  We set off at 8.15 with Adrian walking up to the lock and me bringing the boat.  The water was like glass.

As we got to the lock I could see a boat approaching from behind, so they joined us as locking partners.  Halfway up the flight we met some boats coming down, and there were more coming down the top lock.  We did all six in about an hour and a half.

We passed one boat in Braunston Tunnel, fortunately not at the bits where any of the kinks are.

As we approached Norton Junction, a boat was about to set off and asked if we’d like locking partners down Buckby.  Of course we said yes.  We carried on at the junction, while our Braunston partners turned towards Watford.

At the locks, a boat was just about to go in so we joined him — leaving our prospective partners on their own; but that’s just the way it happens sometimes.  The boat we were with was a single hander, but the whole flight was easy because we met boats coming up at every lock.  We must have passed eight in total.

There was a bit of a delay at the penultimate lock, because a hire boat was waiting for another boat to come up the bottom lock.  It seemed to take them ages, even when they were out of the lock it seemed to take forever to get across the pound to the next one.  But it was sunny and warm so no real hardship, and even so, we got to the bottom in around an hour and a half again.

Having seen so many boats in the flight, we then didn’t see another one for miles, in fact not until most of the way through Weedon.  We had lunch on the move, and stopped for diesel at Rugby Boats, where the price has gone up again, to £1.28.  We carried on just a few minutes further, to opposite the motorhome field.  Catherine and Nigel are coming to see us this evening, so it’s easily accessible.  The towpath hedge has been cut quite low, so we have views of Flore and the M1 in the distance.

10 miles, 13 locks.  (369 miles, 307 locks)

Return from blacking: Day 1

I worked a night shift last night, and drove up to Weedon straight afterwards.  I did food shopping at Tesco in Towcester on the way, but was still at the yard before 9.30. After unloading the car, having a chat with Steve who has done the work on BR, and taking delivery of the bill, I set off.

It was only a journey of a mile or so, but it was all on tickover because of the number of moored boats.  I moored up opposite the little camp site just before Bridge 28.  The morning’s tasks included giving the inside a bit of a clean, as everything was very dusty and the spiders had been having a field day.

When we bought BR, the blacking had been done right up to the gunwales (even though it must have been paint on the top plank originally), and we’ve continued that each time up to now.  But over time, bits of the blacking have fallen off and it’s all looked a bit rough.  So Steve at Grand Union Narrowboats has removed all the old blacking and paint from the top plank and started again, and it looks much better.  He’s also repainted the tunnel bands, which were definitely in need of a freshen up.

We’ve also had a full engine service, because while I’m quite happy doing my own oil changes, I’m not confident with the fuel system and all the belts are definitely beyond me.

After lunch I walked back to the yard to get the car.  Adrian is arriving this evening after work and we’ll do a car shuffle in the morning. I’ve also made a chilli for dinner tonight, and went to find some blackberries from the hedgerow to go in an apple crumble.  This proved harder than expected; the hedges here have very few brambles and fewer blackberries — and I came back with barely a dozen.  They’ve added some colour to the apples if nothing else.

Also this afternoon, a boat tried to turn in the slight widening of the canal here by the camp site — the trouble is there’s actually piling just under the water line, so they gave that a clattering.  I was able to let them know that the winding hole is actually just through the bridge.  As they returned, I heard the couple d wondering where Lord Vernon’s Wharf is, and deciding to ask me.  It’s the question we get asked the most — at least once a week usually.

1 mile, 0 locks.

North West Passage: Day 35

With rain forecast this morning and only a few miles to do, we decided we'd wait for the rain to pass before setting off. Adrian had some work to do anyway, so it allowed him to get on with that. The rain was never that heavy, but kept coming and going. By about 11 it appeared to have passed, so we got ready to set off. A few boats had been down, and as we prepared, two more appeared round the corner, followed by a third. I asked the third boat if they were on their own and if so could we join them. They'd actually come down the top lock with the first boat, and the second had only just got in between them. Once we'd sorted that out, a boat moored in front of use also decided to set off, and two more came along from the top lock, so by the time we were on our way down there was still a queue of three.

Things continued very slowly. A couple of locks further down, one of the boats from the pair in front was left behind, as another single boat had appeared from somewhere, so we all swapped locking partners. Boats began to appear in the opposite direction, including two separate single handers. Among the others was a boat we knew well.

Finally we got to the bottom of the locks. It was 1.45 so had taken more than two hours to do six locks. We carried on, having lunch on the move. Just before Weedon, the earthworks where the new bypass bridge will cross the canal and the railway line together are now huge. We also spotted concrete bridge footings; the bridge is due to go in over the winter, with all the work which would normally need a stoppage carried out at night, presumably because they can't stop the West Coast Main Line.

We stopped for some shopping to top up lunch supplies for tomorrow, then stopped again at Rugby Boats for diesel. We had to moor outside two other boats and have the hose passed across to us, as a little 1860 ice breaker was being brought out of water. It had been put in the water yesterday after a three year restoration project, but was today found to be taking on water.

We continued round the corner to the moorings opposite the caravan club field. The M1 and the railway are both a fair distance away here.

6 miles, 6 locks. (395 miles, 287 locks)

August weekend - Saturday

It was a lovely sunny morning today.  We had scrambled eggs for breakfast, and set off at 8.30 up the top two Stoke Bruerne locks.  I sent a photo to my sister to show little Rachel -- she knows about Stoke Bruerne because it features in the Muddy Waters books.

We had Blisworth Tunnel to ourselves.  I had my eyes peeled for the side shaft, but didn't see it at all.  This, of course, reinforces it ghostly qualities: sometimes it's there, sometimes it isn't! As there were no boats coming the other way, we could steer round the worst of the cascades of water coming from the airshafts.

We carried on in increasingly hot sunshine, through Gayton junction and on to Flore, where we stopped for lunch.  I was forced to change into a long sleeve shirt, because my arms were burning in spite of plenty of sun cream.  After lunch we carried on through Weedon and on to Whilton Marina, where we turned in the marina entrance.  We stopped for an hour so so, because our friend Brian, who's visiting Long Buckby for the weekend, called in for tea and cake.

We started our return journey at around 4pm, and worked our way back through Weedon.  This whole section is full of moored boats, so it feels as though you hardly get off tickover.  We've moored up for the night opposite the caravan and camping field by Bridge 28, where we've stopped a couple of times before.  The view from the side hatch isn't too bad.

20 miles, 2 locks.  (32 miles, 9 locks)

Crick-bound - day 1

I set off in the car at 8 this morning, bound for Crick, to pick up my guest crew - Kath and Neil from Herbie.  I arrived a bit early, so wandered along the tow path to identify my booked mooring for the show.  We arrived back at Thrupp Wharf shortly after 9.30, and set off in blazing sunshine before 10.  At Stoke Bruerne locks, we paired with a waiting Napton hire boat, and flew up the flight.  Neil and Kath worked the locks with the crew of the hire boat and a couple of volunteer lock keepers.  All the locks were in our favour.

At the top lock, a boat was coming down, so we could go straight into that one too.

We stopped above the locks for lunch.  I've never seen Stoke Bruerne so empty: between the locks and the tunnel there were only a couple of boats.

After lunch, we headed through the tunnel, completing it in half an hour.  It was cool but not cold inside, but it was very wet, with massive amounts of water coming down from the roof.  It was still sunny at the other end, but soon we saw a black cloud approaching.  Just after Gayton Junction, we passed a boat with a garden in a little boat behind.

Before long the rain started, and while it didn't last too long, at times it was absolutely torrential.  We moored for the night at Bridge 28, Standingham Bridge, at about 5.15pm, with the sun out again.

15 miles, 7 locks.

Moving weekend - Day 2

It was a misty morning to start, but with the forecast of another nice day.  We set off towards Braunston at 8.30.

At the locks, boats were already going up, and we followed.

With plenty of crew, progress was swift and we were soon at the top of the six Braunston locks, through the tunnel, and ready to begin going down the other side of the hill through the seven Buckby Locks.  It was just before midday when we started, and around 2pm when we got to the bottom.  We went up 35ft 6in, and came down 63ft.  Some of the pounds in both flights were very short of water; others had water cascading over the gates.

We decided to carry on, and had lunch on the move.  We thought about stopping at Weedon, but carried on a little further to a nice and evidently quite popular spot by Bridge 28, Standingham Bridge.

As we arrived, the sun finally came out and the temperature went up by several degrees.  The plan is that we're all eating together again tonight.

12 miles, 13 locks.  (24 miles, 16 locks)