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)

Return from blacking: Day 3

I was in no rush to get going this morning, but even so I was away by 9am.  I made my way through Gayton Junction and on to Blisworth, where the mill looked particularly fine in the sunshine, and the cutting on the approach to the tunnel had a sort of magical air, with dappled sunshine and mist rising off the water.

I’d hoped to get through the tunnel without meeting any boats, so I could keep the new blacking well away from the walls, but of course I met three.  At Stoke Bruerne the top lock needed filling, and Mike from the trip boat, Charlie, came along to say hello.  A friend who was visiting him today, Jane, helped me down the lock.  There was quite an audience.

A boat had just come up the next lock so they left the gate so I could go straight in.  I was soon down.

There was plenty of space to moor in the long pound, so I put my stern on the very first ring.  I was all secure by about 11.15, and began to wash the dust off the towpath side of the boat.  I’d only done about a quarter of the boat when I spotted that the boat coming down the lock was Debdale, the boat we had a share in before buying Briar Rose.  On board we’re Stuart and Jo Bilsland, who were in the syndicate back then.  I said I’d see them at the next lock, and walked down to give them a hand.  They provided me with a windlass and I ended up helping them down the rest of the flight.

We were following a couple of boats down, but there were also a few coming up so progress was pretty good.  At one of the locks, someone has repainted the cill markers, but has had a bit of spelling trouble.

At the bottom, they moored up and we all had a drink and a catch up.  It was really lovely to see them after such a long time.

This afternoon, I wandered back up to the village, had an ice cream, got given a trip into the tunnel mouth on board Charlie (thank you, Mike!) and knocked on Kathryn’s door for a chat.  It’s been a thoroughly pleasant day.

5 miles, 2 locks.  (11 miles, 2 locks)

West Mids Meander: Day 23

We had a nice evening with the Provincetown boys, including a look at their boat, which is beautiful.  It was very misty this morning when we set off at around 8.  None of the other boats pointing our way showed any signs of life, so we set off down the locks on our own.

As usual on this flight, some locks were full and others empty.  We completed the flight by 9.30.

At the bottom, there was a lovely boat moored up.

We hadn’t seen any boats at all on the flight, but then they came thick and fast.  Similarly, the sun had also burnt off the mist and it had turned into a lovely day.  At Weedon a site on the offside is being cleared — not sure what will be going in here.

We made a diesel stop at Rugby Boats, where the price has gone up to 84.9p per litre basic.  Just after Heyford Fields Marina, a hire boat coming the other way had got stuck on a rock, and we waited while a boat behind them helped pull them off.  Towards Gayton Junction I spotted a heron which had just caught a fish.

At Blisworth, the widebeam trip boat from The marina was moored right in front of the bridge so you couldn’t see anything.  The boat in front of us had had to take avoiding action when a boat came through the other way and ended up aground close to the mill building.  It all took a while to sort out. How the trip boat thinks this is a suitable mooring, I have no idea.

We passed one boat in Blisworth Tunnel, then did the two locks down to the long pound where we moored.  We walked back to the village and called in to see Kathryn, then on to see Jenny and Pete on Momentous, which was moored above the locks.  Back at the boat, we washed and polished the other side which was no on the towpath, and then Jenny and Pete joined us for a drink.  We all ended up going to The Navigation for dinner together — one of those great evenings that’s all the better for being unplanned.  On the way back to the long pound, the moon looked great above the lock, and a boat was coming down in the dark, it’s headlight lighting up the gate. 

16 miles, 8 locks.  (278 miles, 265 locks)

Flaming June?: Day 2

Dry this morning, and we set off about 9.30.  Two hire boats from Gayton had already come down and there was a third at the bottom lock, with four guys with cans, and Bob Marley blaring out of a speaker.  At the lock by the A308 there’s a big pipe under the road.  This has always been here, it’s just that it used to be under the towpath on that side.

We made steady progress up the locks, and at the penultimate one we met two boats coming down, one of which was a Grand Union hire boat.  Steve Furniss was also there, showing his customers how to work the locks, so we had a good chat.

We met Mike from the trip boat at the top lock, then went through the tunnel.  We’d had a notice about tree down at the far end, passable with caution.  It turned out to be one of the most pathetic fallen trees we’ve seen — almost indistinguishable from the normal offside vegetation.

At Gayton Junction we turned down the arm and stopped at the marina for a gas bottle — having already checked they had one, as there seems to be a shortage.  The price, £32.45 seemed pretty good to me.  One of the staff asked if we’d seen three of their boats that they’d been having complaints about and had called the police on.  We went down to the winding hole at the top Rothersthorpe Locks and turned around, retracing our steps.  We have come down two locks to the long pound, and Catherine and Co are coming to see us this evening.

10 miles, 9 locks.  (15 miles, 9 locks)

Autumn Cruise: Day 27

We had a very nice evening with Catherine, Nigel, and the kids — with good fish and chips delivered by them to our door.  They needed an escort to get home up the A5, as the road is closed overnight for roadworks.  This morning was overcast, but completely still.

We set off at 8.15, and one of the Canal Boat Club boats moored behind off was doing the same.  I wondered whether they might be turning at the junction for Market Harborough, but in fact they followed us round the corner on their way back to Gayton.  When we got to the top lock a boat was coming up, then our two boats went down.  Our companions turned out to be excellent locking partners, having had the timeshare membership for many years.  By the second lock, it turned out we were following another boat down, who must have been moored in the long pound.  Between us, we had enough crew that someone could always go down to the next lock to prepare it.

As we arrived at the second lock, the Anchor Cottage shop was just opening.  They were in the process of putting all the outside display items on the racks when I popped in to see if they had a Stratford Canal bridge plaque.  I’m not sure why we haven’t already got one as we’ve done the whole canal before; I tried in Braunston yesterday, as the bottom lock shop usually stocks the whole range, but the chap said the manufacturers had managed to lose the moulds and he hadn’t been able to get any for nine months.  Apparently they have been found, and production has restarted.  Anyway, Anchor Cottage had one, and it’s rather nice with one of the barrel-roofed cottages on it.  They are also slightly cheaper here than in Braunston!

At the bottom lock I popped into the chandlery to get some bread and cheese, as we’d realised we didn’t have much in for lunch.  In spite of following a boat down, we’d done the seven locks in two hours.  Our companions moored up for breakfast at the marina cafe, while we carried on.  A boat heading for the locks said there was nothing on the move, and they’d have to go up alone.  They could hardly have been more wrong: we seem to have seen more moving boats today than any other day of the trip.  The stream of boats going the other way has been constant, with one or two met at awkward bridge holes.

We stopped at Rugby Boats for diesel.  With the service wharf occupied by someone loading stuff from a car, we tied up outside two brokerage boats, and the diesel hose was brought across them.  That’s the second time this trip we’ve taken on diesel while moored outside other boats.

We plodded along these very familiar waters, went through the tunnel, and were surprised by how much space was available in Stoke Bruerne.  However, we decided to go down the top two locks into the long pound where it’s a bit more open.  There appeared to be a boat in the top lock, and they opened a gate for us to join them.  They said it appeared they were doing us a good turn, but in fact we’re just pausing for tea and a sandwich!  As Kathryn came out to say hello, and Mike from the trip boat wandered down for a chat, we all just paused in the lock for a few minutes.

There was loads of space in the long pound, so both boats moored up.  I’ve added the plaque to the collection in the engine room.

16 miles, 9 locks.  (278 miles, 296 locks)

Spring Cruise: Day 12

We set off just after 8 this morning, Adrian bringing the boat while I walked to the first lock.

As usual at Buckby, there was no rhyme or reason as to why we’d find locks either full or empty.  We had both, and then met a boat coming up at the bottom lock.  We started the long lockless pound towards Stoke Bruerne, and met numerous boats going the other way — several of them at awkward places such as narrows. We stopped for water at Stowe Hill, and started the washing machine.  The little house a bit further on, which I think could be a classic 1970s design and Adrian thinks is just awful, has been gutted.  It’ll be interesting to see what they do to it.

We had lunch on the move, and Adrian made a lemon drizzle cake as we have visitors tomorrow.  The season has moved on since we were last here only a little over a week ago.  The hawthorn blossom is mostly gone but the flag irises have come out.  There was plenty of other wildlife.

Blisworth Tunnel was very wet.  We passed two boats inside and caught up with a boat in front just before the end.  We came down the first two locks at Stoke Bruerne with them, and we both moored in the long pound.  A little while later, the rain started.

16 miles, 8 locks.  (95 miles, 57 locks)

Post-Crick: Day 1

We were awake early this morning -- at least I was, which meant Adrian was too, eventually -- and we set off at around 7.15.

The first lock was in our favour, but the pound below was more than a foot down, because the next lock leaks. This is the lock they had a stoppage for, just before Crick, to try to prevent water loss. Whatever they did hasn't worked. The next few locks showed no rhyme or reason as to whether they'd be empty or full. At the penultimate lock, we found all the water missing from above. The lock was full with water pouring over the bottom gates, yet the pound was even fuller, meaning the gates wouldn't open because it was impossible to make a level. Counterintuitively, I had to raise a paddle atbthe other end and let some water flow through the lock, until the level in the pound above had dropped enough.

We completed all six locks in about an hour and a half. Unusually, all the 48 hour moorings just below the bottom lock were empty. A bit further along we passed a swan family, with all the cygnets wanting to hitch a ride. There wasn't room for all of them.

Weedon was really busy with boats, both moored and moving. At 11 we got to Heyford Fields Marina, and moored up on the outside, alongside another boat, so the BLS guys could have a look at our Eberspacher boiler. They took it out and diagnosed something that was worse than we'd hoped -- so they're keepimg it for a few days to get a part. We were there for about an hour, during which time lots of boats passed, and almost none slowed down.

Setting off again we made good progress. There was the odd shower, but sunshine in between. Between Blisworth and the tunnel there is a tree down from the offside. Someone, presumably a boater, has made just enough room to get past, but it's pretty tricky going south.

Before the tunnel a boat crew told us it was very wet in there, but actually I thought it was a lot drier than normal. We passed two boats, including the restaurant boat with a party in full swing, then another right at the far end. A boat was just about to come out the top lock when we got there, so they left the gate open for us. Another boat was coming up the second lock, so we left a gate for them. It turned out to be Julie and Tone on Muchgigglin, returning from their annual trip to London for Cavalcade and the Ivor Novello awards. We usually see them about this time.

We stopped after the second lock, in the long pound, at about 3pm. I washed and dried the towpath side of the boat, then got to work with the Craftmaster Carnuba polish we bought at Crick; the difference is amazing. Adrian ended up coming out to help with the polishing, but it's such nice polish it wouldn't take that long to do a whole boat side on your own. I ended up doing the stern doors and the forward bulkhead too, and sweeping the roof. It's turned into a nice afternoon, with the sun and blue sky appearing.

16 miles, 8 locks. (69 miles, 37 locks)

July Works: Day 1

Adrian came up to the boat last night, and with it being Friday the journey took longer than usual. I worked a night shift, and came up this morning. The first thing we did was a car shuffle, so there's a car at our end point tomorrow.

It was fairly cloudy when we left the marina at around 10am, and there was a brisk breeze which made the turn towards Stoke Bruerne harder than usual. We hadn't been going long when the clouds cleared, the sun came out, and the temperature went up. We started meeting boats almost immediately, and had one behind us too. The scene outside Kingfisher Marina was pretty busy.

After the usual hour and a half, we arrived at Stoke Locks, and moored up at the bottom on completely empty visitor moorings. The main reason for stopping was to empty the loo; when that was done we had lunch. We could easily have stayed there, but decided to go up five of the locks. As we set off, a Wyvern hire boat was just arriving so we shared with them. At the third lock up we had to wait for a boat to come down, but otherwise we did well. The hire boat had enough crew that Adrian could go ahead and set the next lock, and we could go straight in.

The long pound was busier than we've seen it for a long while, but we found a spot to moor for the night. We had showers, then walked up to the village, knocked on Kathryn's door, and all went across to The Boat for ice creams. It was really good to see that her new hip is doing well -- and so much better than the previous repair. As we sat outside Kathryn's house, blog and Canal Boat reader Mark came by, having already been to the Cosgrove Canal Festival today.

We walked along to the tunnel mouth, talking to some of Kathryn's Byfleet Boat Club friends on the way, and Mike from the trip boat, Charlie. Adrian made a chili earlier, so we'll be having that this evening, and as I've now been up for 24 hours, I'm expecting to sleep well tonight.

5 miles, 5 locks.

 

Blacking cruise: Day 1

Adrian came up to the boat yesterday afternoon, arriving about 6.30 having done shopping on the way.  I came up after work, arriving about 11.30.  Adrian had found the boat surprisingly warm -- and had done the little bit of dewinterising necessary, and got the fire going.

Over the winter, a lot of work has been done on the Navigation Inn next to the marina, but there's still a lot to do.

This morning, we started by doing a car shuffle, taking one to tomorrow's destination.  We got the boat ready to cruise -- but when we turned the key, even with a lot of pre-heating and a some throttle, we couldn't get the engine to start.  There was an ominous clicking noise among all the others, and we feared for the starter motor.  After a number of attempts, and looking under the engine boards, Adrian phoned RCR.  We put the kettle on and killed time until an engineer arrived at almost 2pm.  He turned the key and listened a couple of times, then nodded sagely.  He prodded the stop button a few times, then tried again -- and the engine burst into life.  He said pressing the stop button like that would have freed the stop solenoid, and that it's always worth a try.  WW wondered whether he couldn't have suggested that on the phone, but we'll know to give it a go if it happens again.

So we set off at 2pm, in cold and breezy conditions.  There were lambs in the fields at Yardley Gobion.

The canal was much busier than we'd expected.  We passed eight boats coming the other way, between the marina and the locks at Stoke Bruerne.  They were pumping water into the canal from the Rover Tove below the locks.

A boat was coming out of the bottom lock as we approached.  We swapped with another boat at the next lock.  Adrian worked the bottom two, and then I did the next three.  We'd decided that the long pound would be a good place to stop, and by the time we got there it was 4.45pm and we were both pretty cold.  There was plenty of space, so we picked a spot on a straight section.  Another boat has arrived from the north, too.

Tomorrow is meant to be sunnier and less windy, which will be a plus.

5 miles, 5 locks.

Repaint cruise - day 1

We'd originally been due to collect Briar Rose after her repaint on Monday, but the damp, dank, foggy weather last week meant the job was delayed a little.  Consequently, we've spent the past couple of days visiting friends and family in the north west.

We spent last night at a hotel in Market Harborough, but we were up and about early and got on the road at about 7am.  We swapped cars at the marina, shopped, and went along to Baxter's Boatfitting.  We were both quite nervous -- would the two greens work together?  Would we like the raddle red?  Would the renewed signwriting look good?  Fortunately, moments after we saw the boat we were grinning from ear to ear.  It looks incredibly glossy; the colours look fantastic, and the signwriting is fresh and lively.

We unpacked the car and set off.  I was very aware of every branch sticking out from the side of the canal.  While I steered, Adrian started getting the inside of the boat sorted out.  It wasn't as dusty as we'd feared it might be, but everything still needed a good clean.  The view of the roof is now completely different.

We considered stopping below the locks at Stoke Bruerne (as we hadn't yet had breakfast), but a boat was just going in the bottom lock so we joined them.  It was reasonably sunny and relatively mild.  All the locks were against us, but we still made reasonable progress, and moored in the long pound above the fifth lock.  There was still quite a lot of sorting out to do, and we were both hungry.  As we had lunch, the forecast rain arrived, so we're staying put.

3 miles, 5 locks.

August weekend - Friday

We came up to the boat last night.  Adrian picked me up from work, and we arrived at about 11.30pm.

This morning, the promised rain hadn't arrived -  there was just a bit of drizzle blowing in the wind (and the wind was blowing).  We set off at 8.30 and headed south towards Milton Keynes.  At Cosgrove Lock we shared with a couple who were moving a boat to the River Lee for its new owners.  At Wolverton, I jumped off to go to Tesco, while Adrian carried on to the winding hole at New Bradwell and turned around.  Typically, he met one boat at the Grafton Street Aqueduct, and a hotel pair just as he was starting his turn.

Of course we could have gone to Tesco by car, but adding the few extra boat miles on suits our timings for this three day weekend on board.  Going by boat meant that it took about three and a quarter hours before we were passing our marina again.  We kept going towards Stoke Bruerne, having lunch on the move.  We passed a heavily loaded working pair, Clover and Fazeley.  The amount of water they displace when loaded like this is incredible - it makes just passing them seem like a bit of a fight.

At Stoke Bruerne locks, there was a sharp shower to add to the blustery wind, and it was heavy enough for us to put our waterproof jackets on.  It didn't last long, though, and the coats were soon off again.  We were going up alone, as by now the hotel pair were behind us, having pulled in to get all their guests onto the motor boat for lunch.

Having gone up five locks of the flight, we moored in the long pound at 2.30pm.  I quickly made a crunchy-topped lemon cake, then while that was cooling down we went for a walk up the remaining two locks.  We were surprised to see Waterway Routes, not realising they'd finished their exploration of the fens.  We walked up to the tunnel entrance and back, then continued down the flight to help Paul and Christine finish the last few locks.

During the afternoon, the weather front has passed over us.  It's gone from cloudy and windy to sunny and hot.  The rest of the weekend looks as though it could be good too.

12 miles, 7 locks.

Autumn Cruise - Day 2

Last night, we had a great evening with Kath and Neil from Herbie.  We hope they found their way back along the dark towpath to their car.

The moorings by Bridge 10 were very quiet, but for some reason we were up early.  It was a lovely morning -- blue skies and sunshine, and much calmer than had been forecast.  We were soon heading through the bridge to the junction, and on to the top Buckby lock.

The lock was full with its gates open.  We (possibly rather cheekily) decided that as we'd been up at least an hour and had seen no boats heading for the lock, that would count as our one hour waiting time, so we headed down alone.  The second lock was empty, but the subsequent ones all had their top gates open, and in most cases paddles too.

When we got to the fifth lock down, a lock keeper came along and asked us to moor up.  The pound below was extremely low -- the couple on a boat moored in the pound said they'd fallen out of bed when their boat settled on the bottom at an angle.  The lock keeper (who'd just asked us whether we'd waited for another boat to travel with) then started to run water down to refill the pound.  It took a while, so we had enough time to make some tea.  The boat which had been grounded joined us for the final two locks -- the bottom one had water weiring over the gates, and there were four boats waiting to come up.

The next stretch of canal has the M1 close by, but then veers off so becomes much quieter.  It's also surprisingly pretty.  We came this way four years ago, but we didn't remember much.  Weedon was busy, and we passed the base of William Piper Narrowboats.  We remembered Bugbrooke, where last time we stopped at the pub for lunch.  Not today though.  In an increasingly strong wind we carried on until we spotted a stretch of piling just past Bridge 42 where we stopped for half an hour for lunch.

Gayton Junction, where the Northampton Arm goes off to the left, came next, then Blisworth with it's nicely converted mill building, and the tunnel.  We thought we'd make some tea before the tunnel, but when I'd filled the kettle, the handle fell off!  There was water all over me and the floor, but at least it was cold and not boiling hot.

We passed three boats in the tunnel, including the trip boat.  The other trip boat, which goes to the tunnel mouth, pokes its nose inside, then backs out and turns, confused us slightly at the far end.  Until we realised it was the trip boat, we wondered what on earth was going on.

Stoke Bruerne was its usual chaos.  There were gongoozlers everywhere, a boat coming up the lock, a boat in the middle waiting to go down, and the trip boat was winding and coming into its mooring.  There's also a backpumping scheme, which sends a jet of water across the canal above the lock.  All this meant that I ended up in a less than ideal position to get into the lock.  However, Briar Rose's ability to turn came into its own again, and I did the sort of swing into the lock that makes it look as though you know exactly what you're doing!

While in the lock, we were being photographed and filmed from all sides.  Also, a woman introduced herself as the owner of Braidbar boat No 102, Up Spirits, which she said was moored down below the second lock, where we also planned to moor.

Once we'd moored, we walked back up to the top lock and had an ice cream from the museum shop (which doesn't stock kettles!)  When we returned from our walk, another boat had moored in front of us.  It turned out to be Nuggler, yet another Braidbar boat, and we had a chat with the owners and their dog.

We seem to have made very good progress today.  It was only 3.30 when we moored up, and we're already half a day ahead of schedule.  This may turn out to be a very good thing: the forecast is for even stronger winds tomorrow, so we may not go too far.

16 miles, 9 locks.  (32 miles, 18 locks)