Back to Gayton

Saturday 26^th and Sunday 27^th August; bridge 46 – Bugbrooke winding hole – Gayton marina

A distinctly cool and very cloudy start today, a far cry from some of the glorious mornings on the river.  With a fairly short distance to cruise today we weren’t bothered by the procession of boats passing us early on – unlike the annoying person last night who passed in the pitch dark at 12.20 am!! 

Did you know swans like blackberries?

We set off around 9 with our woolly hats on, and I wore my waterproof to keep the chilly wind from my bones.  We wanted to turn at the first winding hole, just before Bugbrooke Wharf bridge.  Would we fit?  Nicholson has it marked at 60’ so we knew it would be tight.  Meg didn’t help by getting between Dave’s feet and jumping off as he was manoeuvring, but the offside where you put your bow in was very narrow so the normal shuffling wasn’t going to work.  Luckily the stern fender was above the armco so I could haul the stern round quite easily.  We pulled back onto the visitor mooring and moored just as the forecast rain tipped down.   When it stopped Dave trudged off to find the shop.  It took longer than either of us anticipated as I had confused Bugbrooke (where we have not been for some years) with Blisworth, where the shop is a mere 10 minutes up the road.  We started back towards Gayton marina, soon passing a familiar-looking boat – Briar Rose, on their way to Wales.  No time for more than a brief greeting before we were off on our respective ways.  We moored at Banbury Lane bridges for lunch.

Striking out on its own

The weather was now warm and dry, all the heavy black clouds passing us by.  I got on with the big clean through inside, tedious but necessary, while Dave set to work on the starboard side scratches below the gunwales, till he ran out of paint.  So then he cleaned the solar panels and washed the roof before we carried on to the marina, where we arrived at 5.30.  We drove to the Spice of Bruerne where we had an excellent meal.

7½ miles

On Sunday we finished packing up and left in the late morning, and had an easy (but long) drive home, reflecting on our Nene trip. 

Many lock surrounds have been sown with wild flowers

We had loved some of it – the clarity of the water, some wonderful moorings, and good weather most of the time!  We weren’t big fans of the long distances between some moorings though, in spite of the beauty of some of it, and thought the locks rather tedious (and I found them pretty scary at times).  We were struck by the abundance of herons, which I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised at,  as one of the flooded gravel pits is called Heronry Lake! And they were very vocal, with their prehistoric cries.  There were buzzards and kites, and one bird of prey we couldn’t identify, but it might have been a harrier.  Lots of swan families, grey-lag and Canada geese, and kingfishers too, although only brief glimpses.  There weren't many mallards or moorhens or other water-fowl, except for coot on the Washlands area.  But we saw sandpipers, which you can see on the Stratford Avon too, and several grey wagtails which are fairly common on the waterways and always a delight to see.  We also enjoyed seeing so many fish, mostly small fry or little roach and rudd, though Dave saw a big roach and I spotted a small pike.  Will we go again?  Maybe ….  it’s good to travel new waters and we wouldn’t mind visiting the Fens, but there is the small matter of the Northampton arm and the Nene in the way!  Though that is a less worrying thought than crossing the Wash!

Trip stats

140 miles, 108 locks. This is made up of 9 miles, 6¾ furlongs of narrow canals; 6 miles, 7½ furlongs of broad canals; about 123 miles of small rivers, which includes some pottering around Peterborough; 34 narrow locks; 74 broad locks (thanks to canalplan).

Waterways; Grand Union Main line, Northampton arm, River Nene.