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