Grandparents Gadabout Week 13

 Monday 16th August - Northampton to Gayton

We left Northampton early this morning and headed away from the smell of the Carlsberg Brewery and up the 17 locks on the Northampton Arm.  This is the Guy Salmon Landrover showroom which was completely empty when we came up two months ago, good to see that it is being used now.

There are 3 lift bridges on this stretch of canal, only one of which is usually down.  However today all three bridges were in the up position so we left them as they were.  Certainly makes it a lot easier!  

This is the top lock, No 1, 4 hours of lock work and we were exhausted, after a couple of months doing river locks where the majority are automated we had become spoilt, however it is good to be back on canals again! 

This lock had the date 1858 written on it, that makes the lock 100 years old when I was born, and they are still going strong!  The canal is 4.8 miles long and climbs 98ft (30m).  The views over the Northampton countryside are amazing!  

We stopped at Gayton Marina to fill up with diesel and water and discovered that the hose had developed a series of holes and more water was going on the towpath than in the water tank!  We gave up and moved onto the junction where we stopped again to use our other hose to complete the water filling procedure and put the holey hose in the bin!  The wind caused us a few problems on turning right at the junction, ending up across the canal and Dave having to pull the bow of the boat round against the wind.  Once we were underway we got to Bridge 45 just below Gayton Village and moored up for the night.

We had a lovely walk into Gayton itself then walked back across the fields, as you can see it was still windy!  Toby had been walking ahead of us and veered off to the side and when we caught up with him, he had found us a bench to rest on!  Such a thoughtful boy! 

6 miles, 17 locks, 5 hrs 30 mins.

Tuesday 17th August - Gayton to Long Buckby Wharf

Can you spot the deliberate mistake?  

Today we had a long stretch with no locks and then the Buckby Flight of 7 locks.  When we got to the locks there was a queue of boats so we took our place in the line and waited.  We were able to share the locks with a boat that came up behind us, and at the top of the first lock there were more boats and we engineered a situation where we had two boats going in different directions in the lock at the same time.  Never done that before, but it certainly worked to clear some of the congestion.

We shared the locks with NB Nile, owned by Mark and Clare from Oundle on the River Nene.  They were heading for the Leicester Line where they were going to leave the boat for a repaint over the winter.  We moored for the night at Long Buckby Wharf, just before the final lock and went for a walk to Norton Junction and the Leicester Line.

11 miles, 6 locks, 6 hrs 24 mins

Wednesday 18th August - Long Buckby Wharf to Braunston

We left our mooring and made our way towards Braunston Tunnel, we passed two boats in the tunnel and were in a convoy of at least three boats ahead of us and two behind.  This is the view through the boat as we were in the tunnel.  We put all the lights on and keep the curtains open, with the headlight and navigation lights we light up as much of the tunnel as we can.

There really is light at the end of the tunnel!  The tunnel was opened in 1796 but its construction was hampered by quicksands and a mistake in direction whilst building has given it a slight S-bend!  That might explain why I kept losing sight of the end!  

Once out of the tunnel it is only a short distance to the Braunston Locks, where we joined the queue of boats descending into the village.  This weekend is the Crick Boat Show which might account for the large number of boats heading away from Crick.  

Sue and Paul were our jolly lock keepers today, keeping a smile on their faces for everyone.  We are always happy to see friendly helping hands!  

After we had moored up we went for a walk to the chandlery for some boat essentials and then into the village to visit the local butchers, always a must!  On the other side of the churchyard is this renovated windmill.  It is a tower mill, built in c1800 for flour milling and stopped working in c1895.  It was converted to a house around 1920 when the top floor was demolished and the sails removed. It is now available for rent as a holiday home.  

A local cottage was decked out in Olympics bunting and sporting the photo of Holly Aitchison, part of the Rugby 7’s team in Tokyo.  She currently plays for Saracens Women’s team.  After a drink at the pub by the canal we returned to the boat and I decided to barbecue our pork chops, yum! 

4 miles, 5 locks, 1 tunnel, 3 hrs 30 mins

Thursday 19th August - Braunston to Long Itchington

Just one more lock to get down into Braunston, joined by a hire boat, always welcome and helped once again by a lock keeper.  In the background is the 18th century dry dock still working today.   We stopped to fill up with water and to indulge in a bacon bap from the Gongoozlers Rest before turning left onto the Oxford Canal.

We then turned right back onto the Grand Union at Napton Junction, passing friends on NBGalene, managed a quick exchange as they were heading towards the River Thames!  Two sets of locks today, the Calcutt Locks and the Stockton Locks and then onto Long Itchington where we moored for the night.  After a walk into the village we stopped for a drink and then returned to the boat, poor Dave was quite exhausted having worked all the locks single handed! 

10.25 miles, 14 locks, 5 hrs 48 mins

Friday 20th August - Long Itchington to Leamington Spa

Another grey day as you can see from the photos, however no rain, so not too bad really! Progress of the new railway continues across the countryside, in this shot you can see the massive new bridge being constructed to pass over the canal, it all looks such a mess!   We came down Bascote Staircase Locks and a hire boat went in at the bottom, as we continued with the following locks we could see that they appear to have got stuck in the middle pound, I don’t think they read the instructions, however there were plenty of boaters around to help sort them out.  

A nice shot of the boat waiting to enter one of the Fosse Locks, the paddle mechanism is clear to see in the foreground.  

We moored up in Leamington Spa, had a late lunch and then wandered into the town to do a spot of shopping. We wanted to visit the 3 shop in order to update the Wifi we have in the boat, mission accomplished and we are now proud owners of a router which we can attach external antennae to, real pleased with the outcome! In July 1814 ‘The Royal Pump Room and Baths’, designed and built by C.S. Smith of Warwick at a cost of £30,000 were officially opened. The Spa treatment was claimed to cure, or relieve a huge number of disorders, examples being ‘stiffness of tendons’, ‘rigidity of the joints’, ‘the effects of gout and rheumatism and various paralytic conditions’. The Spa water is a mild laxative which is one reason why the water was drunk.  We returned to the boat and decided to stay for the evening and move on again in the morning

6.25 miles,10 locks, 4 hrs 24 mins

Saturday 21st August - Leamington Spa to Aqueduct over River Avon

Today we decided to move the boat a short distance to the aqueduct over the River Avon, the weather forecast is for heavy rain and we didn’t fancy working the Hatton Flight in those conditions, so a rest day for us.

In between the showers we walked along the River Avon to Warwick and found a side of Warwick we hadn’t found before.  This stretch of the Avon isn’t navigable for powered craft above Stratford so it was lovely to walk along this stretch.

We arrived at St Nicholas Park, beautiful gardens, a riot of colour!  There was a wedding going on in St Nicholas Church with a VW van decorated for the wedding couple.  

This is Mill Street leading down to Warwick Castle, a lovely old cobbled street, with many half timbered houses and listed buildings.  

1.5 miles, 0 locks, 0 hrs 48 mins

Sunday 22nd August - River Avon Aqueduct to Tom O’ the Wood

After our quiet day yesterday we made an early start this morning in order to be at the start of the Hatton Locks by 9.30 as Dave had organised for 2 Volunteer Lock Keepers to help us up the flight of locks.  After working two locks with just us in the lock we caught up with a hire boat and shared the rest of the locks with them.  It was their second day on the boat and they had never been on a canal boat before, so today’s 21 locks was a bit of a baptism of fire!  

Our two VLKs were David and Graham and they were brilliant, they were excellent with the group on the hire boat giving advice and guidance when needed, and it was a delight to work the locks alongside them.  

This is Shrewley Tunnel, it is only short and you can clearly see to the end of the tunnel, but it has to be the wettest tunnel we have ever been through, it was raincoats with the hood up!  A tunnel rather than a deep cutting was essential here as the route of the canal passes directly under the village of Shrewley.

We moored up for the night at Tom o’ the Wood moorings, we were here last on our way out, on the 31st May when we met up with Di and Mark and shared a meal at the pub across the bridge.

We went for a walk along the canal until Kingswood Junction where the Grand Union and the Stratford Canal meet.  Tomorrow we shall get to this point and need to make a decision as to whether we turn right and return the way we came or turn left and carry on down the Stratford Canal and onto the River Avon and then back up the River Severn from Tewkesbury to Worcester.  Time wise there is little difference, it is the weather which will determine whether it is safe to use the river or not.  I wonder.... 

8.5 miles, 23 locks, 1 tunnel, 6 hrs 30 mins.