Monday 17th August to Wednesday 19th August - Visit to Southampton
A lovely few days visiting Annie, Pete and Alba in Southampton, playing with Alba in the garden, lunch in Lyndhurst and a two hour walk through the New Forest at Bolton’s Bench.
We went into a children’s park so Alba could go on the swings and slide, Toby was not happy!!!
Thursday 20th August - Northampton to High House Wharf
We made an early start today, left the Marina and headed back up the Northampton Arm and the 17 locks. The first 5 locks are well spaced but very slow cruising as the water depth is very shallow and very weedy!
At the top lock is the only surviving lock keepers cottage, there were originally three cottages when the arm opened in 1815, and this one is now privately owned.
We moored up at High House Wharf and went for a walk. We met Brian, one of two Northamptonshire Recorders for Wildflowers, who was looking for a rare species of Bur Marigold that is currently migrating along the Grand Union Canal.
This is the plant that had caught his eye, but he wasn’t sure that it was the right one. He was going to take a sample of the plant and seed and send it off for analysis, he was extremely fascinating to listen to as he explained how the plants migrate.
11 miles, 17 locks, 3 moveable bridges, 6 hrs 18mins.
Friday 21st August - High House Wharf Basin Moorings
Today we have stayed at our mooring as there have been winds of over 20 mph with gusts of up to 40 mph, not ideal cruising weather, and we sustained a couple of side on collisions from boats that were cruising. Instead we went for a 6 mile walk along the canal exploring Flore and Upper Heyford, very pretty little villages.
A lot of the walk was along the Nene Way which I was a little surprised about, but it begins in Badby and we crossed the river in several places, this one being just as we entered Nether Heyford. This is a very different river than the one we were cruising on only a few days ago!
Today is my walking companion’s birthday - Toby is 6 years old today, Happy Birthday Toby!
Saturday 22nd August - High House Wharf to Braunston Lock 2
Wharf House at Weedon where timber was transported by canal boat, the last time we came past the boat wasn’t there, good to see a boat moored at a wharf!
We moored up above lock 2 in Braunston and went to find the butcher, but missed him by 10 minutes! When we got back, the boat behind us was playing loud music so we dropped down another lock and moored again in a much quieter spot. The pumping station (on the left) dates back to the early 1800 and originally pumped water back to the top of the Braunston locks.
It has been a breezy day today, and the Buckby locks were hard work, we shared the locks with a solo boater and Dave did most of the lock work. We were quite relieved to moor up for the night and have a well earned rest.
10 miles, 12 locks, 6 hours 18 minutes.
Sunday 23rd August - Braunston to Nelson’s Wharf
Woke to a less breezy day and headed towards the final lock through Braunston. We were fortunate to collect another solo boater and his dog and went down together. His dog was very well trained to get back into the boat as it exited the lock and went through the bridge, very impressive!
After filling with diesel, emptying rubbish and filling with water we were good to go and left Braunston leaving under the twin cast iron bridges, we took the first bridge and turned left under it heading towards Napton Junction.
After turning right at Napton Junction we soon came to Calcutt Locks, always an interesting place for us! This time we collected another boat with a family of four on it. They had borrowed the boat from some friends and were spending about 5 days on it. It soon became clear they had no idea how to control the boat, drive the boat or how to operate a lock. To my horror I saw the stern rope being attached to a bollard and then snap in two as the boat continued to pull away. We did go down the three locks with them, giving them as much help and guidance as possible, so hopefully they will take it slowly and learn as they go along!
We moored up and went for a walk up to Birdingbury Wharf and back past Nelson’s Wharf, behind the Willow Wren Training Centre. The moorings are linear at right angles to the canal with these interesting pods beside the moorings.
8.5 miles, 4 locks, 5 hrs 18 mins.
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