Northern Exposure: Day 3

We wanted to get a good number of miles under our belts today; these are very familiar waters and also not terribly inspiring, and if we make good progress now we can slow down when we get further north.  We were up pretty early and having dumped rubbish at the bins by the Stop House, we set off at 7.45.  We were soon passing through Braunston Junction, although we were going straight on today, not under one of the twin bridges.

There was a mix of sunny spells and cloud, but it was relatively warm.  There are loads of busy birds about; we’ve seen vast numbers of robins, and just before Hillmorton was this (I think) sparrow hawk (well camouflaged, in the middle of the photo)

At Hillmorton Locks, we had to fill the top one, but we swapped with a boat coming up at the middle one, and the bottom one was full and open ready for us.  There are some nice daffs and a view of the church from the middle lock.

We continued through Rugby, where there are lots of new roads to service lots of new houses.  At Clifton Cruisers, all the hire boats were moored up two abreast, making me glad we didn’t meet anything coming the other way.  We’ve seen water voles in two separate places, one on the edge of Rugby, the other before Stretton Stop.  Neither hung around long enough to have their photo taken.  In the cutting before Stretton Stop, where for years boaters have been asked to slow down because the bank is unstable, there’s been a significant land slip, with lots of trees down.

At Stretton Stop, one of the Rose Narrowboat guys opened the little swing bridge for us as he was about to come across it.  A bit further along, a CRT gang was on a boat on the offside cutting back trees and bushes.  Then we passed a blacksmith’s boat, with a workshop in a butty.  The visitor moorings at Ansty had only one boat on them, the emptiest we’ve ever seen them.  Then at around 2.30 the forecast rain arrived.  It turned much colder and windier too.  We were aiming for Hawkesbury Junction, and picked up a mooring immediately before the stop lock.  The rain looks to be set in for the evening.

23 miles, 3 locks.  (49 miles, 23 locks)

Northern Exposure: Day 2

It was very windy overnight, and there was rain heavy enough to wake me up.  But this morning there was bright sunshine while we had breakfast, and we set off at just before quarter to nine.  It was still fairly breezy in places.  As we approached Buckby Locks, a man on board an ex OwnerShips boat, Cotonwood, asked if we were going up the locks, and would we like company, as they were just about to set off.  The answer to both was yes.  At the bottom lock, Catherine, Nigel, Grace and Matthew were waiting to act as crew, and there was a boat just coming down the lock.  With all the help and good company we made excellent progress up the flight.

Just round the corner at Norton Junction we saw Derwent6 so tooted the horn to alert Del and Al; our chat was brief as we passed, but it’s always good to see them.  We came through the tunnel, and moored at the top for lunch; Adrian had made a chicken and broccoli pasta bake with garlic bread and salad.

Our locking partners we’re going the same way as us, and had also stopped for lunch so we could do the Braunston flight together too.  We were following a boat down, but there were also a pair to come up the top lock.  We all got on very well together.

During the bottom half of the flight, Matthew took over the tiller and was excellent at steering into the locks in spite of a stiff breeze in places.  He’s too young to do a helmsman’s certificate, but is hoping to get a Scout badge for steering powered boats.  At the bottom, we found a mooring outside the marina, where we had dessert — one of Catherine’s amazing sticky toffee cakes.  We’d had a couple of sharp showers during the day, and after we moored up there was another.  Within a few minutes the sun was out again, lighting up Butcher’s bridge just behind us, again the dark sky.

10 miles, 13 locks.  (26 miles, 20 locks)

Northern Exposure: Day 1

Adrian has been on board since Thursday getting things ready, and I came up to Milton Keynes this morning at the end of four night shifts.  My train arrived just after 8, and barely half an hour later we were pulling out of the marina.  It was a bit chilly and there was a stiffish breeze, but it was good to be on the move.  With Adrian not working at the moment, I have taken all my Long Service Leave, so we have a good amount of time ahead.  Extended and unexpected stoppages mean we’ve had to change our plans several times, and we’re still not a hundred per cent certain where we’re going — but we are definitely heading north.  There are signs of spring, like the daffodils at one of the cottages near the bottom of the locks.

When we got to Stoke Bruerne locks, the bottom two were empty and ready for us, but the next three were full.  At the far end of the long pound we caught up with a single handing boater who’d been on the winter moorings there, so we did the top two locks together.  There were plenty of people about, walking and gongoozling, and we roped in a few to push gates.  We also said hello to Kathryn.

We followed the other boat through the tunnel, passing one coming the other way almost immediately.  There was another in the distance, and as we got closer, it appeared to be on the wrong side; sure enough, the boat in front of us had to swap sides to get past it.  He must have told them their mistake, because they then shot across to the correct side, right in front of me.

We had lunch on the move after the tunnel, then just got these familiar miles under our belts.  As we went along, Adrian started making a chilli only for the gas to run out.  We made a brief stop to switch the bottles over.  When we got to Rugby Boats we stocked up with coal, logs, and topped up the diesel tank.  We then pushed over to the towpath side and moored up.  It was about 3.30.

16 miles, 7 miles.

On board

Adrian is on boat, having driven up this morning.  He’s also taken the old oil to the recycling centre, and done a big shop.  This evening he’s meeting a former colleague at The Navigation.

Knights spec boat on test

The April Canal Boat is out, and includes my boat test on this 65ft boat by Knights Narrowboats.

Heyford Fields

A visit to Heyford Fields today for a boat test.  It was sunny and when in the sun and out of the wind there was even a bit of warmth.  This is the view from the bridge to the marina.

Coffee logs and an oil change

I had a few jobs I wanted to do today, and the first was to go and get some more fuel for the stove.  I drove into Milton Keynes, and as well as buying some coal I got three bags of coffee logs.  I’d never heard of them before, but they claim to burn twenty per cent hotter and longer than kiln dried logs; each one is made from the grounds of 25 cups of coffee, and turning them into logs is claimed to produce 80 per cent less greenhouse gas emission than sending the grounds to landfill (and it saves on landfill too). Another plus is that because they are uniform in size, they’re very convenient to store.

I also called in to Tesco in Wolverton and topped up the cupboard staples.  Then it was on to the main job of the day, an oil change. The last one was, unusually, not done by me; Boating Leisure did it at the same time as blacking last year, so I was a bit worried about how tightly the oil filter would be on.  I was right to be worried.  I couldn’t get it off by hand, and had to get out the filter wrench.  This has a thing a bit like a bike chain to wrap round the filter, but it’s a job to get it to grip, and there’s not much room for the handle either.  It also tends to dig into the filter.  Anyway, it took me about half an hour but it came off in the end, a dented mess.

While I was there, I cleared out the storage area of the engine hole, removing a lot of empty containers and sorting out the oily matting at the bottom.  Everything is much neater down there now.

While all this was going on, I had a text from a friend I’d been chatting to yesterday, and who lives about an hour away.  The upshot was that he drove up, and we retired to The Navigation for a drink, a shared pizza, and a catch up.  A very pleasant afternoon, all the more so for being impromptu.

Once Paul had left for home, I topped up the batteries and the water tank.  It’s been a very sunny day, although every now and then a very sharp shower blew through.  And it’s been windy and cold.  Tomorrow I have a boat test, so it would be good if the sunshine stayed but the wind and cold switched to something else.