A little closer to ‘canal time’

Saturday 19^th August; Elton to Fotheringhay

The heavy rain forecast for last night turned out to be not very much at all, at least where we were.  A FOTRN facebook member who had sent advice last night passed us early on (we hadn’t noticed) and posted a message congratulating us on our ‘pin work’.

Dave’s handiwork actually – he wields the hammer with much more force than I do, I just hold the rope!  I walked up to the shop with Meg before breakfast so I could get the Saturday paper, and dropped off the rubbish in the handily placed skip on the Green.  That was the only (slightly) untidy thing about the whole village – it’s very pretty and impossibly tidy.

The village shop, whose owner is delightful

We spent a bit of time looking at the maps discussing places we might moor tonight – we anticipate a shorter cruising day – and set off at 10.  There was plenty of sun this morning but the wind was very strong, which made the locks a bit tricky – both top gates had to be opened to make getting to the landing stage easier.  The first lock, in fact the only one as it turned out, Warmington, had a wheel-operated guillotine, so that was hard work too.  While I was occupied with that, Dave took a photo of his view from down below – he said it was like looking out at the sea, with the waves and the wideness.

Warmington -on-sea?

But the illusion was lost as the lock filled.

We cruised on in the strong wind, seeing the occasional kingfisher and this kestrel, sitting on a post.  Its feathers were so ruffled it was difficult to identify.

We arrived at Fotheringhay late morning, and moored to consider our options.  Should we whizz up for a quick look at the church and have lunch on the move as we cruised on?  Would we actually get a mooring outside Oundle marina, where we would like to be tomorrow to catch the final of the women’s World Cup?  While we were deliberating, the fee-collector came along with his syrup tin to collect our £2.50 for a short stop.  It was very tempting to stay on this lovely mooring, so when we worked out that we could spend the rest of the day here and still have time to get home when we needed to be, that’s what we decided to do. 

So after lunch we strolled up to visit the church knowing there was no rush.  It was beautiful inside, but not as grand as we were expecting – probably because of the dissolution of the monasteries, and then maybe the Puritans too.

Embroidered kneelers on a Victorian trolley

There were several other visitors looking round, studying the various information boards, which were fascinating.  To the right of the altar at the east end is the York window, with family crests of the Dukes of York who founded the Collegiate Church and lived in the castle.  Wikipedia says a Collegiate Church is one where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy.  They are not part of a bishop’s see.

York Window

The beautiful ceiling at the west end, angels in the corners, falcon symbol in the middle

Astonishingly for such a large church it seems only to have had four bells until 1989 when the tower was restored and two bells were added to the original four, following a fundraising appeal.  Outside we squinted up at the tower to see the weathervane, which is a golden falcon (one of the symbols of the Yorkists.  There are others too, including Richard III’s white boar, explained online).

Dave went off for a walk with Meg, and came back commenting on the proliferation of Scottish thistles on the far bank.  I met an interesting man who was writing a book about mediaeval manuscripts and was visiting sites associated with Richard III.  He had just been to visit Richard’s grave in Leicester Cathedral.  I made a cake, and while it was baking the fee-collector came round, so we upgraded to an overnight stay.

2¾ miles, 1 lock, that’s more like it!