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