Oak on test

The November Canal Boat is out, and includes my review of Oak by Darren Aldridge Boats. 

Stowe Hill

We were seduced by yesterday’s warmth and didn’t light the fire last night — which meant the boat was pretty cold by this morning.  Adrian was up and off to work very early.  I had a more relaxed start to the day, and then drove up to Rugby Boats at Stowe Hill for a boat test.  When I got back at lunchtime, the marina ducks were making the most of the sunshine on our pontoon.

This afternoon I have been writing up the boat test, and then went for a long walk, down to Cosgrove Lock, across the fields to the mill, back to the aqueduct, and back along the canal.  Then I noticed there was another footpath from Cosgrove on the other side of the canal, so I used that for a change.  Some is not very user friendly though, so I think I’ll stick to the towpath next time.

I’ve also been doing to packing up and have begun loading the car, to make for a quick getaway straight to work tomorrow morning.

Autumn Cruise: Day 13

Our moorings were particularly quiet last evening and overnight, because of the rail strike.  In fact we saw only one train, a very long freight one, the whole day.  They also seemed very late starting this morning.  We were also later than usual, probably just trying to delay the end of the trip.  We cobbled together a cooked breakfast, using up remaining eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, and some black pudding bought in Braunston.  It was just before 9 when we set off, on a much better day than forecast.  We were soon going through Gayton Junction.

We plodded through Blisworth, then just before the tunnel there’s a tree down over the towpath and quite a width of the canal.  Narrowboats can get past ok, but I suspect a widebeam might have problems.

In the tunnel we met a plastic boat with just a torch and no headlight.  Then Mike on the trip boat, Charlie, came in as we neared the far end.  We just had time for a little chat, with him telling me that for once he was going right through the tunnel with his passengers, not just a little way and then reversing out.  At the locks, we joined a single hander for the top two locks, and there was very little water in the pound between them.  He moored up in the long pound, and we went down the next lock.  A boat had just gone down, and waited for us, so we shared the lower four locks with a nice couple who have lived aboard in the past, but currently just spend long periods on their boat.

We met boats coming up, and there was great discussion about which pair would stick to the middle of the pound and which would go round — but in fact what happened was a bit of a free for all.   By now the sun was out and it was properly warm.

There were boats coming up at the next lock, and one at the bottom.  Our companions stopped for water while we carried on to Grafton Regis where we moored up for lunch, and then washed the towpath side of the boat while it was accessible.  We then did the final hour back to the marina, where we followed another boat in, and were soon secure in our berth.

This has been our shortest autumn trip for a while, and we haven’t done anything new.  But it’s been nice to revisit some favourite areas, and we’ve met some lovely people along the way.

10 miles, 7 locks.  (169 miles, 162 locks)

Autumn Cruise: Day 12

We had a lovely visit from my cousin Catherine, Nigel, Grace, and Matthew last night — they brought fish and chips with them, and we had plenty to catch up on.  It rained pretty much the whole evening, and by the time they left, the roof was covered in leaves!  This morning it was a very different day, with clear blue skies and sunshine.  We set off just after 8.

Through the junction and round the corner, we arrived at the top lock.  It just needing a little topping up before we could go in.  At one point it looked as though one of the moored boats was making preparations to join us but nothing came of it, and another boat came through the junction but moored up.  So we set off alone.  The next five locks were all in our favour, and we made good progress in lovely conditions.

For some reason the bottom lock was almost empty, but by the time we were down a couple of boats had arrived to go up.  Along the next section the sunshine was so bright it made it difficult to see.

We passed a lot of boats going the other way, including one which had just been picked up by new owners, who hadn’t rally got the hang of steering.  We stopped at Rugby Boats for a top up of diesel and a replacement gas bottle.  As the day wore on, the cloud built somewhat and the wind really got up.  We stopped early afternoon at the moorings just before Nightingales Bridge.  We walked across the bridge and up the footpath to Gayton, where we had a look in the church and walked round the village.

There have been lots more boats past, many of them Gayton hire boats with people battling the wind.  Tomorrow is supposed to be calmer, but possibly wetter.  We’ve made sure we have working tv tonight, so we can watch my colleague Richie on Strictly.

12 miles, 7 locks.  (159 miles, 155 locks)

Autumn Cruise: Day 11

Last night’s mooring was particularly quiet — we wondered whether their might be early morning goings on at the farm yard over the hedge, but no.  It was a very murky morning, and our view has disappeared in the mist.  We set off about 8.15 and while the sun made an attempt to break through, it never really managed it.

The good thing was that it wasn’t raining, in fact the forecast now said rain from about 2pm.  We were soon at Braunston Turn, and took the right hand bridge towards the locks.

A boat on the water point by the Stop House made frantic efforts to set off as we approached — then waved us past once he’d got to the wide bit by the marina entrance where he wanted to turn around.  Not sure why he didn’t just wait for us to pass before setting off.  At the locks, there was a boat to come down the bottom lock, then we could go up.  The lady lock keeper remembered us from back in June, when we helped a hire boat with Canadians on board.  I went to set the second lock, which was almost empty, and a boat moored in that pound was then ready to go down.  One of the volunteer lock keepers came up the flight with us to lend a hand. The penultimate lock was full with one of the top gates swung open, and I could see a boat going into the top lock so I left it for them.  It was a Clifton Cruisers boat, which the helmsman was complaining was very difficult to steer.  It turned out he’d forgotten to put the tiller arm on!  Before long, we were going up the top lock.

It was only just after 10.30 so we’d made remarkable progress.  We moored above the locks and walked back down to go into the village.  After buying a couple of things at the village store and the butcher, we went into the Community Cafe for tea and cake.  They had a much wider selection of treats on offer today, after a MacMillan coffee morning yesterday.  Anyway, it was a lovely friendly place, with excellent tea and cake.

We walked back up to the boat and set off, thinking that if we went now we’d have more chance of beating the rain.  As we approached the tunnel entrance I could see a headlight coming the other way, so held back.  That boat came out and said there was another behind; then there was another, and then a fourth!  One of the privateers at the back said it had been a painfully slow passage, behind two Black Prince hire boats.  We moored just before Norton Junction, a little further back than we’d have liked so we don’t have the view across the valley this time.  We walked to the post box to post a birthday card bought in Braunston, at which point it began to rain.  But we got back before the really heavy stuff.  This afternoon I have refilled the stern greaser, and made an apple crumble (minus blackberries because they all seem to be over already this year).  My cousin Catherine and family are coming this evening, with fish and chips from Norton.

7 miles, 6 locks.  (147 miles, 148 locks)

Autumn Cruise: Day 10

When I looked at the remainder of our trip on CanalPlanAC last night, it turned out we had 45 miles and 45 locks to go, to get back to base.  Today looked as though it was going to be ok weather wise, while tomorrow looks wet, so we thought we’d get a decent chunk of the journey done today.  We set off at 8.15, straight into the two Cape Locks.

In Warwick, the Kate Boats base, from where we hired twice years ago, looked deserted; they are doing all their hires from Stockton Top this year.  There’s also a lot of building work going on nearby.  In Leamington, the cat mural is still there, and there was a very stiff man steering a moored boat.

We were following a Napton hire boat, and at RadFord Bottom Lock we went in with them.  The crew turned out to be four American guys who’d been hoping to do the Warwickshire Ring, but had been thwarted by the Curdworth closure.  They did do a mini loop through Birmingham, though, going in via the North Stratford and out via the Grand Union.

With extra crew on the ground, I was able to walk up to the next lock each time to set it, and we soon caught up with boats in front.  The HS2 works are huge, and there’s now some sort of bridge over the canal, I think carrying some sort of conveyer.  At Welsh Road Lock, one of the uphill boats stopped, and the other was in the lock when we got there.  It had just left and we were about to turn the lock when downhill boats appeared.  One of them turned out to be Bonjour, the new boat of Debby and Dave, formerly of Chuffed.  We’ve been following each other’s blogs for years, so it was great to finally meet.

There was very little water at the four Bascote Locks, with the pound below the staircase about two feet down.  The boats just managed to scrape their way across.

Our locking companions were stopping for a walk into Long Itchington, so we pulled up at Bascote Wharf to top up the water tank, dump rubbish, and check the weedhatch, where I removed a load of plastic from around the prop shaft.  We also had lunch.  Long Itchington had been our first option for stopping, but we’d made such good progress that we carried on to the Stockton flight.  It also helped that the sun had come out.  A boat had just come out of the bottom lock, so that was in our favour, but we had to turn the rest as a boat was going up ahead, although almost out of sight.  It’s a very pretty flight though, and another of our favourites.

We were at the top at 2.30 so again decided against another possible stopping point, opting instead to go up Calcutt Locks.  As we approached we could see a boat in the distance, which was going up the bottom lock when we got there.  We thought they might wait for us at the middle lock but they didn’t, but it turned out not to matter much as we benefitted from hire boats needing to be back at Stockton Top in the morning.  Two came down the middle lock, and two more at the top one.  We carried on to Napton Junction where we turned left onto the GU/Oxford shared section, and moored up before Bridge 102 in a very quiet spot.  It was almost 5pm, so a very long day for us!  Our new American friends have just been past, calling out to us as they went by.  With a bit of luck they’ll leave a comment here.

16 miles, 25 locks.  (140 miles, 142 locks)

Autumn Cruise: Day 9

We had a great evening yesterday with Bob and June.  Bob picked us up at the bridge near where we were moored, and took us back to their house, where June had cooked a lovely dinner.  We had plenty to catch up on over the past year, and then we were delivered back to the boat.

This morning we were up early, on a nice sunny day.  We were on the move at 7.40, starting down the remaining 15 Lapworth Locks.  It’s a very pretty flight, one of our favourites.

In the thick of the flight we met two boats coming up, but at least they were in pounds where passing each other wasn’t too tricky.

At the bottom, we met a volunteer lock keeper who lives on a boat there, and has a Braidbar on order, so we had a good chat about that.  A boat was coming up the bottom lock, so that was one of the few we didn’t have to turn.

We got to the Lapworth Link in just under two hours, which we thought was pretty good going.  We turned right out of Kingswood Junction, with bright sunshine in our eyes.  The scene as we crossed the Rowington Embankment was glorious.

The sunshine also made some great reflections at the far end of Shrewley Tunnel, which was extremely drippy inside.

We got to the top of Hatton locks just before 11.30, and Adrian set the top lock.  While the boat was going down, he went to set the second lock, and then a volunteer lock keeper who’d gone to get a coffee from the cafe came up and offered to help.  He started setting ahead, which was great as each lock was ready by the time we got there.  About six locks down we had a few minutes pause, as a boat was on the way up and the lockie with them had set ahead perhaps slightly too many locks.  We made use of the time by having lunch, which Adrian had prepared in the lock-free section, and admiring the view down the hill to Warwick Church.

Our lock keep stuck with us all the way down to two locks from the bottom, but because he was setting ahead we hardly saw him.  His help was really useful, though, and he really knew what he was doing.  It also helped that the weather was beautiful.

We completed all 21 big locks in two and three-quarter hours, which again was good going.  We moored up along at the Cape, where there was only one other boat; a couple more have arrived since.  Adrian had a call at 4pm, so while he did that I walked up to Sainsbury’s for some shopping, so we don’t need to stop tomorrow.  It’s been a thoroughly enjoyable day’s boating, and with 36 locks in the day we know we’ve done some work!

9 miles, 36 locks.  (124 miles, 117 locks)