Southwards

Thursday 6^th July; Gayton marina to Stoke Bruerne bottom lock.

We came up with a sort of plan over breakfast; we’ll potter southwards for a while, maybe visit Bletchley Park, then come back to Gayton and hope for better luck next time.  Dave took Meg out and popped into the chandlery for some bits, and we finally left the marina mid-morning, still a bit grumpy but determined to view this as an opportunity not a disaster.

Resident swan family

First stop was the sanitary station to take on water.  We were very careful not to overfill, as it is a fast flow on this tap and we don’t want another wet cabin bilge!  I had emailed Colecraft after our last trip, to ask if they had any experience of our problem (where there is a gap between the water tank and the filler cap on the well deck, resulting in water in the cabin bilge when the tank is full).  Gary called us back and we had a chat about how to approach the problem, and as he is only in Long Itchington he would be happy to come out and have a look at it at Gayton.  So that’s a job for this trip, along with the major project of fitting a solar panel.  We carried on towards Blisworth, managing to squeeze into a mooring so that I could pop up to the shop for some milk.  After an early lunch we set off for the tunnel.

Blisworth tunnel, north portal

As tunnels go, Blisworth is a good one – although it’s very long, and rather wet, it’s high and wide and we passed the three boats we met very easily.  We were through in 32 minutes and soon approaching the gongoozler heaven that is Stoke Bruerne. 

Sculptor moored outside the museum.

Two boats were rising up the top lock, so we hung about, getting blown around rather a lot.  When it was our turn, we waited a while to see if the boat not far behind us in the tunnel would arrive, but there was no sign of them so down we went.  A passer-by helped close the top gates, and plenty more were around as I raised the only working paddle on the bottom gates.

Tape and foliage at Stoke Bruerne top lock

There were so many bits of plastic tape it was hard to see what was what at first.  The towpath side paddle gear has been removed, and the walkway is taped off too as it is in such a parlous state.  I hope it’s on the winter stoppages list!

We were lucky to meet boats at most of the locks which reduced the number of gates to be opened.  These locks are generally much easier to work than the Buckby flight, but I’m not locking fit so was glad of every little bit of help.  These locks have side ponds, although they haven’t been operational for many years.

They are now little havens for water life.

We pulled in for the night right at the far end of the moorings below the bottom lock.  It’s been very quiet boat-wise – just two between 4 pm, when we stopped, and dusk – and no towpath traffic till the evening, when the local dog-walkers came out.  We had a Red Arrows flypast at about 7 pm – presumably on their way from a display.

4 miles, 7 locks