Splendid Isolation Cruise - Week 5

 

Monday 2nd November - Bridge 10 Norton Junction

Today we have decided to stay on our mooring as it is incredibly windy and we don’t like cruising in high winds.  A hire boat, moored ahead of us has been told to return their boat to a hire base in the opposite direction, they will need to reverse back to the junction and turn their 70ft boat against the wind.  They did it with the help of three boaters and several poles!!!

In the afternoon we went for a walk along the canal and down the Buckby Locks until we got to Whilton Marina where we visited the cafe for takeaway cake and then walked back again!  

Tuesday 3rd November - Bridge 10 Norton Junction to Nethercote Bridge 101

A much better day, light winds and sunshine!  A cruise through Braunston Tunnel and down the locks, then stopped in Braunston to go shopping and put on water. 

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We continued to a delightful spot on the Oxford Canal with open views across farmland.  We moored for the evening in tranquil peace and quiet.  When we came this way 2 weeks ago, it was like the M25 with boats passing in every direction, but this time we only saw a couple of boats all evening.  

 Dave took Toby for a walk on his own, apparently he got to this bridge over the canal and refused to go any further, a speech a bubble might say “Where do you think you are going?”  Needless to say they didn’t have a very long walk!!!  

6.25 miles, 6 locks, 1 tunnel, 4 hrs 36 mins.

Wednesday 4th November - Nethercote Bridge to Bickley’s Bridge 26

A lovely day for cruising, sunshine, light breeze and no rain!  We set off from our mooring, turned right at the junction and headed for the Calcutt Locks, no one in sight so a gentle descent at our own pace.  We called in at Ventnor Marina to fill up with diesel and buy a new gas cylinder, unfortunately their computer system had failed and they could only take cash, we had no cash but the boat beside us which was also waiting for diesel and had an account, offered to pay for us and we paid them back by bank transfer.  Many thanks to nbOlimpia for helping us! 

We carried on to the Stockton Locks, (Di and Mark we miss you) and after the first 2 locks we let a sole boater catch us up and we carried on sharing the locks.  It was fascinating watching the boater handle his boat and work the locks as a solo boater, I was fascinated!  

We moored for the night at Long Itchington, having made up a day’s travelling.  

7.5 miles, 13 locks, 5 hrs 36 mins.

Thursday 5th November - Bickley’s Bridge 26 to Radford Semele

A beautiful start to the day, the most wonderful cruising weather, and would you believe not a boat moving!  We did pass several hire boats moored up, which made us wonder - are they still hiring boats out? 

We passed a site of the work being done for the HS2, the route of the railway passes close to here, but this is the support area for the work to be done, an eye sore!  

Coming to the end of the 10 locks today, this is heading down to moor alongside the village of Radford Semele, one of our favourite moorings.  We had to say that it was slightly eerie, cruising along the waterways with no one else moving, but we have alerted the Canal and River Trust to the fact that we are on the move with the intention to return to our home mooring as soon as possible.

We moored up for the night and settled down for the evening.  Dave captured this stunning sunset from the boat, love the reflection on the side of the boat, beautiful!  

A dreadful evening with Toby who spent the whole evening barking at the fireworks, we were all so stressed by the time they had stopped! 

4.75 miles, 10 locks, 4 hrs 12 mins

Friday 6th November - Radford Semele to Cape Visitor Moorings

Today we travelled from Radford Semele to do our last big shop in Warwick and then continue on to Cape Locks Visitor Moorings.  A very quiet cruise, plenty of moored boats and no-one moving. 

We climbed up the two Cape Locks and moored at the Visitor moorings.  This is the pub at the top of the locks, usually busy with people sitting in the garden beside the lock, but very quiet with  people on the boats and a sign saying that take aways are available.  You wonder how these establishments are going to survive.

We went for a walk along the canal to the bottom of the Hatton Locks, where we will start our ascent of the locks tomorrow morning.  The lock keepers cottage is now holiday accommodation, although there is no vehicle access to the cottage.

Our mooring for the night, Ella is tucked away between two other boats, golden light shining on the paintwork.

Tonight we followed some advice for dogs stressed by fireworks.  We had to ignore the barking, contain him in a safe area (shut the dog gates) and play classical music.  I am seriously impressed with the effect classical music has on Toby, he was much calmer and we all had a better evening!  

4.5 miles, 2 locks, 3 hrs 42 mins 

Saturday 7th November - Cape Locks to Tom o’ the Woods

We woke to another sparkling sunny day and set off to the Hatton Locks, we arrived just before 9am and met our two volunteer lock keepers, John who works the locks on a regular basis and cycles up and down the flight ahead of the boat, and Paul who usually works the Wilmcote Locks on the Stratford Canal and fancied trying his hand at some wide locks.  We decided to put a timer on to see how quickly we could get up the flight.

After the first few locks, the majesty of this flight opens out ahead of you and you get this stunning view of the locks ahead.  Hatton's famous 'stairway to heaven' flight of 21 locks has a fascinating history. State of the art locks were built at Hatton to fight off stiff competition from the roads and railways and widened in the 1930s. When the locks were completed, bands played and crowds gathered to watch the Duke of Kent arrive by boat and cut the ribbon.

Towards the top of the locks is Hatton Cafe, it was doing a grand trade all socially distanced and serving only takeaway cakes and baps.  So Dave queued up to buy cake and was able to get this photo of Ella coming into the top lock.

The three musketeers, L to R, John and his bicycle, Paul From Wilmcote Locks and Paul who has been volunteering on these locks for almost twenty years, and has some fascinating tales to tell about the locks!  They were absolutely fantastic, worked really hard and I was delighted to be able to tell them that we had clocked 2 hours 20 minutes from start to finish, a record for us!!! 

We carried on down to Tom o’ the Wood moorings and went for a walk between the two canals, we came out at one of the barrel roofed cottages on the Stratford Canal, now a private dwelling.  The barrel roof mirrors the bridge holes on the canal and when the cottages were built it made sense to use the same format for the roofs!  

A stunning oak tree against the fading light, having shed many of its leaves and just leaving a silhouette of the branches, an abundance of acorns this year has provided a brilliant source of food for the wildlife and the chance for many new oak trees to take root.

Our companions for the night, on the other side of the canal are three small paddocks with an assortment of goats in them, needless to say Toby objected to their presence, but they took absolutely no notice of him!!

7 miles, 21 locks, 1 tunnel, 4 hrs 36 mins.

Sunday 8th November - Tom o’ the Wood to Hockley Heath

A much duller day today, so we hope to complete our day’s cruising before the rain sets in.  We set off and stopped very soon to fill up with water, then a left turn onto the Stratford Canal and then we made our way slowly up the Lapworth 19 Locks.  We had a solo boater ahead of us, so we helped out shutting lock gates for him and made our way sedately up the locks.  There were a lot of people walking the locks, keeping their distance but showing a lot of interest in the boat and how the locks work.

As we got up towards the top the locks became more difficult and finally we came across one which was completely out of action, the gates were ok it was the paddles that were so stiff!!!

The solo boater was on NbFantasy and he had two dogs, one with him on the stern and this one standing on the bow, impressive!  He had come from Cambridge and was taking his boat to the new Marina in Alvechurch.  Glad we could be helpful for him!  

3.75 miles, 19 locks, 2 lift bridges, 4 hrs 36 mins