New waters for us (well a short stretch anyway)

 Monday 12^th June; Gayton junction to Gayton marina

We were up in plenty of time for Dave to meet Phil at 9 and off they went.  Meg and I followed the road to the entrance of Gayton marina to book us in.  As it was changeover day (loaded cars were leaving as we arrived, and another hirer was paying for the fuel they had used as we went in) I was shown our mooring on the map and asked not to settle up until we were moored – we’ll try to make it before the new hirers start arriving!  We crossed the canal and walked back along the towpath.  I’m glad we hadn't tried to moor opposite the marina last night, it’s extremely noisy from the A road running parallel to the towpath and not very pretty either. 

I cracked on with cleaning and packing.  Fortunately it was quite cool in the boat as the side hatch was wide open on the shady side.  Dave was back in good time (thanks to the lovely Phil deciding he wanted to speak to the engineers at Calcutt about his engine), so we pulled pins and set off.

Rounding Gayton Junction

This is another spot I remember from a previous cruise – the boater facilities block has a mosaic of a horse-drawn boat, created by local children in 2015, the 200^th anniversary of the opening of the Northampton Arm which connected the GU to the Anglian waterways and the sea at the Wash.  I couldn’t take a photo today, as we were in the wrong position and a boat was in the way anyway.  So here is the one I took in 2017.

Now onto a few hundred yards of new water!  Next to the facilities block and the CRT yard is a boatyard, where slings were being readied for the crane to lift Yavaş Yavaş out for repair.  We know it needs repair because it passed our mooring while Dave was away getting the car – being man-hauled from the stern.  They didn’t seem to have had too much trouble getting past the long line of moored boats, then round the junction and across the canal.

The name means slow, or slowly, in Turkish.  Five minutes later we were turning into Gayton marina.  Our mooring was easily found, close to the entrance from the canal, and with little wind it was easy to reverse in.

Apart from the road noise the moorings here are pleasant, well-maintained and convenient as you can get your car very close, which Dave did after collecting the car from the handy car park by bridge 47.  We set off for home soon after 2.  The weather was hot except for one point when the rain was hammering down, and so bad were the conditions we were relieved to be pulling in to Gloucester services to give the dog her tea.

The rain stopped after 5 minutes.

 Less than a mile cruised today, and a new marina.

Trip stats;

60 miles, 5¼ furlongs of narrow canals and 36 narrow locks; 22 miles, 5 furlongs of broad canals and 16 broad locks.  A total of 83 miles, 2¼ furlongs and 52 locks.

4 moveable bridges (the two on the Market Harborough Arm, twice); 15 small aqueducts or underbridges (though we only noticed the one at Weedon Bec); 5 tunnels - Braunston, Crick (twice) and Husband's Bosworth (twice) a total of 4 miles, 1¾ furlongs underground. Thanks to Canalplan

Nearly there and an amazing stroke of luck

Sunday 11^th June; Grand Union bridges 31-32 to Gayton Junction turnover bridge 47

It wasn’t too hot overnight as the boat had been in shade from 6 pm.  This morning it was pleasantly cool as we would be in shade till after lunch, and as we haven’t far to go now we got on with some jobs.  But first we admired the Brandy Bottles opposite our mooring.

Dave went up on the roof and used the dry mop to get the collected hawthorn blossom to the edge where it was easier for me to sweep it off with dustpan and brush, before he got a bucket of water and mopped down the roof which had become revoltingly sticky after all that mooring under trees.

Just like aphid-infested plants in the garden, the roof was on its way to becoming black with the sooty mould that grows on the honeydew excreted by the aphids.

Yuk!

He washed and rinsed the roof, while I swept through the inside of the boat and the stern deck to get rid of yet more drifts of blossom.  There are fewer May trees round these parts and the blossom has mostly gone now so I hoped I wouldn’t have to do it again!

Dave then moved on to wash the port side of the boat, while I followed with a cloth to dry it and hopefully prevent streaks.  Before we left we were visited by a nosy swan at the open side hatch.

Weed all over his face

The cob then attacked, or perhaps just tasted, the left hatch door, so I pulled the doors shut to discourage him.  Before we left I snapped the reflections opposite the boat – just a shame the top of the pylon didn’t appear too.

We set off at about 10.15, making for Gayton junction as tomorrow we will be going into the marina.  It was very hot, but with just enough breeze to make cruising comfortable and highly enjoyable.  We passed a few interesting things along the way; a couple of beautiful old boats, the motor I think called Caashman, though I couldn't find any information with a quick glance online.

Large tin of Brasso for all the brasswork

 

 

 

 

A nice project for someone?

 

 Hello nosy

Running in this heat?  Perhaps he is training for the Marathon des Sables (across the Sahara)

Then we passed a field with a strange crop in it.  We saw more like it on the Leicester line – what looks like whiskery barley surrounded by wheat.  Why would this be, or is it due to a mix-up with the seed?  Perhaps my farming correspondent can find out!

A mystery crop

We were approaching Gayton junction by lunchtime.  The visitor moorings looked pretty full on both sides, and were in full sun, but there was just room for us behind the short stretch of permit mooring on the west side of the canal just past the turnover bridge.  At the bow I shared the first ring with a permanent boat, and Dave banged in a couple of pins for the stern rope.

The sun was nearly behind the trees as we arrived and soon we were in cool shade.  But as we were still mooring, someone stopped to chat, as you do.  His name was Phil and he had two boats on the visitor mooring, one to live in and the other was an ex-hire boat which he had stripped out and was doing up.  His father was a boat engineer and he has spent his whole life around boats, owning one at least for many years, though strangely hadn’t done much cruising.  Anyway, when he heard Dave had to negotiate public transport to Calcutt tomorrow, or pay for a taxi, he offered to give him a lift as he was going to Daventry anyway which is only 5 miles from Napton!  How lovely!

The afternoon was extremely hot and cloud began to build up.  Even in the shade we were very hot, even with everything wide open.  We had hoped to be able to walk down to Blisworth village hall for the Mikron show this afternoon, but realised yesterday that we couldn't possibly leave Meg in the boat in this weather so would have to miss it.

Will there be a storm?

Around 4.30 there was a rumble of thunder, but no rain. Then very suddenly a while later, the rain started.  The porthole glass was out and the hatch open, so they had to be sorted first, and by the time the cratch cover was down and zipped up the well deck had got quite wet.

Although there was a lot of thunder, thankfully it was never close enough for Meg to get upset.  When it stopped the air was a lot fresher and cooler.

5 miles

 

 

Flypasts

Saturday 10^th June; Bridge 21-ish to between bridges 31 and 32

The motorway was not intrusive overnight, and we barely noticed the railway.  As the boat was cool in the dappled shade, and we don’t need to go far today, we started late.  Dave mopped out the cabin bilge which seemed to have a lot more water in it than before.  Where had it come from?  It struck him later on that we had filled up with fuel the day before, causing the stern to sit lower in the water thus increasing the slope from front to back – so the trickle rate of the spillage from watering up had increased.

We were soon hot once we set off, as we cruised in and out of the sun.  We have been this way before, but that was about 6 years ago and apart from the little canal shop near the top of Buckby Locks we remember absolutely nothing about it.  I do remember walking down to the small Tesco which is the other side of the canal from Weedon village, down by the A5 I think.  At the time we had no idea that a pretty village lay the other side of the canal!  The only shop shown in Nicholson’s is that Tesco.  Thanks to other blogs, particularly Briar Rose, we had subsequently realised that there are offside moorings with easy access via the churchyard, though today we didn’t realise where they were till we were passing, and could see the ‘reserved’ sign on the space available. 

So we moored on the other side, needing to use chains, and walked down to the bin area and under the aqueduct to the village.  First, we went into Tilly’s Pet Supplies, where Meg had a fuss made of her by the chap there, who lives on Fellowes Ship (growing old disgracefully) which we passed earlier.  We bought a couple of new balls, as she has lost one, and came away with a pocketful of treats too.  The One Stop shop was a welcome oasis of cool for me, Dave having to find a patch of shade outside for Meg.  It was far too hot to go and have a look at the Ordnance depot, as we would have liked to do, so we walked back on the shady side of the street.  We found the path to the offside moorings and went up the steps to have a look.  We could have stopped on the reserved spot after all, it was reserved for Tuptonia, the Guides boat, and not for today anyway! 

We had lunch as the mooring was cool and shady.  We have noticed a strangely large number of noisy motorbikes today and yesterday – we heard in Tilly’s that there is a motorbike rally in Daventry which is not far away by road.  We were off again by 2, on the lookout now for a shady spot to spend the rest of the day.  We were in the sun for a lot of the time and it was very hot.  Freddie must have been baking in his royal cloak.

Hello Freddie

Once we were moving away from the noisy A5 we started looking for a shady mooring spot, as it is far too hot to countenance mooring in full sun.  I had to wear my old gardening hat this afternoon as I couldn’t lay hands on my favourite sunhat.  I think it must be languishing somewhere around the aqueduct in Weedon.

Poppies and cornflowers at the edge of a canalside garden

The canal runs roughly north to south with the towpath on the eastern side, so the afternoon and evening sun will hit any towpath moorings that face south or west unless there are tall trees on the offside.  We found what looked like a suitable spot between bridges 31 and 32, around Nether Heyford, facing north-west, under a tree for early shade and with a single not very tall tree on the offside which we hoped would eventually shield us from the sun.  Perfectly judged as it turned out!  We needed chains again as at Weedon, and as we started mooring a kite soared overhead – we must be in the south!  Then, as we finished tying the ropes there was a roar as the Red Arrows passed overhead, on their way from one display to another, though we only caught the second group of 4, flying in close formation as they do.

A good spot, all things considered

The shade on the towpath held till about 4, and we could relax in the cool for about an hour.  Then it was in full sun till about 6, but with judicious use of curtains and porthole glass removal it was cool enough, just, to be inside till the sun dipped behind the tree (not visible in the photo, it was just about level with the bow) and we could open the side hatch.

About 3½ miles

 

Sublime to the ridiculous

Friday 9^th June; Crick to not quite bridge 61, Grand Union main line

We were up fairly early, as we wanted to get down Buckby locks today and of course don’t know how long we will need to wait at the Watford flight.   I went up to the Co-op as we needed more supplies than the Post Office stores could supply.  The school bus was waiting, students hanging about or buying sweeties.  We were away at about 9, remembering our waterproofs for the tunnel this time – just as well, the Crick end is very wet.

Crick tunnel north portal

We arrived at the Watford flight at about 10, behind two other boats and soon with two more behind us.  A group of boats had just been started up, so we all went back and put the kettle on!  We only had to wait for an hour.

Entering the top of the staircase

There were only two lockies on duty today, who were pleased that most of us knew how the staircase worked so the lockies could control the top and bottom of the flight and leave the boats to go down the staircase on their own.

A side pond when the white paddle has just been opened

Watford Locks are always smartly kept, with flower troughs in various places which will look great once the flowers really get going.  There are herbs too near the top of the flight, though they are on the towpath side, in the sort of place a dog might find a bit tempting to anoint – and once one’s done it, well, that’s where they all go to check their wee-mail (not my joke sadly, Alan Davies used it years ago).  A boat had come up the first two locks and was waiting below the staircase for the descending boats to finish, and both crew were helping the lockie, which meant we fair flew down the rest as not only were the locks ready for us, they did the offside gates too.   

The lock moorings at the bottom were empty, so we pulled in to top up the water tank.  Once again we were caught out and more water went down the side of the tank into the cabin bilge.  Although Dave had put sealer in the part of the gap we could see from above, part of it is underneath the well deck and can’t be reached.  I think we will have to take the fitting off the well deck to find another solution, and contact Colecraft to see if they have any suggestions.  The company that did the original fit-out is no more.

We pulled in for lunch at the Watling Street bridge no 5.  There was quite a lot of noise from the nearby railway, as well as the roar of the A5 and M1, but we weren’t planning a long break.  How many people remember learning about the Watford Gap in their geography lessons at school?  I remember it well, but then I enjoyed geography!  It’s the ‘narrowest and lowest point in the limestone ridge that crosses England diagonally from the Cotswolds to Lincoln Edge’.  So that's why the road, canal and railway are so close to each other.There’s more interesting info on Wikipedia about how Telford considered the Roman Watling Street route through the gap unsuitable for coach traffic because of quicksand, so the A5 makes a sharp detour to the west near Kilsby to avoid it, and it’s also the reason for Crick tunnel under the higher ground, as the canal also was forced to avoid the area.

After lunch we pulled into the wharf at Weltonfield narrowboats, for fuel and a pump-out.  The fuel seemed very expensive, but the pump-out was very thorough and good value for money, unlike the somewhat perfunctory effort at Stockton Top on our last trip.  Somewhere around the junction was a little swan family.

At the top lock of the Buckby flight, a single-hander had just started emptying the lock.  He offered to wait at the next lock, but saw another boat was approaching so decided to let us share with them.  By the third lock it was obvious that we were quicker then him, even with me or the lady from our partner boat helping out, and awhen another boat appeared behind us he waited for us to join him, and our erstwhile partners waited for the boat behind.  Both pairs worked extremely well together, and as the second pair had two crew ashore they had caught us up by the last lock.  The single-hander was very agile and had a short boat so was able to manoeuvre and climb in and out of locks quickly and easily.  He was a boat mover, and would be leaving the boat at Whilton marina for brokerage, and so time was of the essence and he was grateful for our help.  Sadly this meant there was no opportunity for photos as we descended, and I forgot to ask Dave to take some.  Then all our efficiency came to naught, as we were held up at the bottom lock waiting for a hire boat to sort itself out – their second holiday, but they didn’t remember how to do the locks!  They were grateful for a quick lesson, no doubt repeated by the pair behind us.

Nicely placed for a sales photo

The blog title refers to the two sets of locks.  The Watford locks are well maintained and are easy to use, both the paddle gear and the gates.  And they are close together.  However, the Buckby locks are much further apart and the gates are heavy, and some gates, mostly the bottom ones, I could only just manage on my own.  Ok, I know some might consider me to be past it getting on a bit (and the boat mover doubted me too, Dave told me later), but I managed, so there!  All afternoon the weather had been extremely hot.  All we wanted to do was to get away from the racket of the M1 and find some shade, so went just as far as we needed.  Waterway Routes shows several mooring possibilities before Weedon, which we thought would all be crowded as it was now about 6 o’clock, so we grabbed the first suitable spot between bridges 20 and 21– a bit rough, but shady and it would do.  The noise from the M1 was about the same as in the marina at Droitwich, so we knew it would be annoying, but bearable.

8½ miles, 14 locks (Watford and Buckby), Crick tunnel

 

 

Sweeping out the blossom

Thursday 8^th June; Welford to Crick

We were up quite early, as I needed to pop up to the shop for the paper and some milk.  It was dustbin day, and there was a lot of traffic backed up on the main street behind the lorry.  A large noisy tractor was just outside the narrow entrance to the post office stores, trailing a large something-or-other, tall, long, metallic and complicated-looking.  Meg was NOT happy and I was so keen to get her past the noise on the narrow pavement I completely missed the shop and ended up walking another couple of hundred yards.  At least when I returned the binmen had moved on and the tractor had got past.  I couldn't have left her outside with those huge vehicles so close anyway.  Meg hadn’t noticed Postman Pat and a giant Jess on the way up and was very taken aback when she saw them on the way back.

The pocket park has grown a bit since we were last here and was lovely.

 

Back at the arm, Emperor Ming was making ready to move so I took the opportunity to take a photo of Bonjour before we left.

Isn't it time we were going Mum?

We gave Emperor Ming a few moments and followed them down to the lock.  The identity of the large group of boaters in the pub last night was solved – there were at least 3 Napton hire boats moored, a couple must have been at least 65’.  We congratulated ourselves on getting to the locks before them, but still had to wait -  Emperor Ming was still on the landing waiting for another boat to finish locking down.  And someone soon arrived behind us.  They all seemed to be going to Foxton, so we suggested they be prepared to wait!  At last the east of England has the sun and we had a delightful cruise back towards Crick.  One boater was taking advantage of the quiet canal and warm weather to do some painting.

Not broken down after all

The wind was still cold but behind us now.  We felt sorry for the drivers belting along the busy A14 (Thanks Adam for pointing out it's not the A5!)

We wanted to stop for lunch at bridge 31, so we could walk up into the Laughton Hills.  The mooring is on a bend but has Armco piling.  Normally the bend wouldn’t present a problem, but the offside vegetation now reaches out so far we couldn’t see round to pass the two (unattended) boats that were moored already. We crept round and tried again by another bridge with footpaths to follow – but they were so overgrown we opted not to bother.  We moved off again straight after lunch,  in glorious warm sunshine.  We identified reed buntings, yellowhammers and what may have been a spotted flycatcher.  I spotted this amazingly fluffy willow tree with wild roses growing through it as we went the other way, and took the opportunity to get a photo.

Never seen willow fluff like it!

Rather pretty, unlike the first of the newly-shorn sheep we saw as we neared Crick.  I hope they don’t get sunburnt!

Summer haircut

Our favoured mooring at Crack’s Hill was occupied, so we went on to moor between the first two entrances to the marina at about 4pm, far enough away from the road bridge to be quiet.  There were no hawthorn trees in bloom nearby, so I took the opportunity to sweep through the boat – as well as the normal bits of towpath and dog fur, there was now a large amount of little dry petals.  The blossom seems to have been especially prolific this year.  I tried clearing a drift of petals off the roof the other day, but they are so light that the wind blows them away as you sweep and they just land somewhere else on the roof.  When it had cooled down a bit I went for a short jog round the Jubilee Wood, which was beautiful, and explored the footpath which comes out at the roundabout where the bypass dives away from the village.  Meanwhile Dave did the far more sensible thing of taking Meg round the wood.  It was really too hot do to anything else.

11 miles, 1 lock