New Year Cruise 2026 - Week 2

 Monday 19th January - Priors Hardwick to Napton

We left the Summit and headed back towards Napton.  Dave drove the boat and I spent time below cleaning through the boat.  This is the HS2 bridge from the other side, still a work in progress!

Passing one of the farms on route I spotted a single Herdwick, it’s the grey one on the right of the photo.  My favourite sheep!

Here we are approaching the first of the Napton locks at Marston Doles.  This is the site of the old wharf, just above the lock, with the old lock keeper's cottage and the stable block for the boatmen's horses. These buildings were extensively renovated in 1989 and used as the local British Waterways offices for 4 years after which they were occupied by private business.

Unfortunately, Dave managed to drop his windlass in the lock before  it began to empty.  He carries it in a windlass holder on his back and it caught on the door and popped out and in to the water, never to be seen again!  

We continued down the flight of locks and finally managed to secure a mooring in the pound above the bottom lock.

6.25 miles, 8 locks, 3hrs 42mins

Tuesday 20th January - Napton Bottom Lock to Moat House, Braunston

A lovely sunny day but with a biting cold strong wind.  We left our mooring, stopped at the water point and filled up the water tank then set off for Braunston.  The windmill on the hill from the other side.

Dave sporting the bandana I made for him for Christmas, I think he is very pleased with it!

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Here we are passing Napton Marina and Boatyard where our friends moor their boat nbDulwich 3.  It is the one on the far side in the middle of the photo.

Beautiful blue sky but with a very strong breeze which made steering the boat a little more of a challenge. 

Passing the turning off the Oxford Canal onto the Grand Union Canal and the way back to our Marina.  We are going to carry straight on towards Braunston.

The twin iron bridges heralding the approach to Braunston.  We are turning right under the bridge and going as far as Braunston Marina where we will turn the boat round and find a mooring space.

We passed nbMinuet, the boat we used to own shares in 11 years ago, she is looking very good and it is lovely to see her again.

We found a mooring on the other side of the canal outside The Moat House.  As the wind was blowing the boat away from the canal side, we provided great amusement for the diners in the pub as we tried to secure her!

Toby and I went for a walk whilst Dave set up the boat for the evening.  I found several clumps of snowdrops being blown around in the wind.  A winter flower, they bloom from January to March and symbolise hope and the coming of spring!

After our lunch, we went for a walk to Midland Chandlery to buy a replacement for the windlass that ended up in the lock.  We also bought an ash shovel for the wood burner, only taken us 11 years to do so!

7.5 miles, 1 lock, 2hrs 48mins

Wednesday 21st January - Braunston to Bridge 103 (The Green Sheds)

A very short hop today out of Braunston heading back towards the Marina.  Dave decided to leave early in the morning to avoid the bad weather - heavy rain and high winds!  However he did all the driving and unfortunately he did get very wet but the wind didn't get bad until after we were moored up.

So, no photos, but we did go for a walk along the footpath in the wind and the rain and it really wasn’t very pleasant.

3 miles, 0 locks, 1hr 12mins

Thursday 22nd January - Bridge 103 to Ventnor Marina

We woke to a much calmer day but with heavy rain, so we waited until it had stopped raining and began our journey back to the Marina.  

After a while it began to rain, gently at first and then really heavy again.  I was wearing two coats to try and stay warm and dry.

Dave took this photo from the front of the boat as we turned at Napton Junction.  We passed this long line of boats, heading towards the locks when we spotted another boat following us.  This was good news as it meant we could share the locks with them!

 

By the time Dave had set the locks the boat had arrived and we went down the locks together.  nbEnigma was also heading for Ventnor Marina and moors in the same basin as us but on the other side. 

Getting the boat into our pontoon was a challenge as the wind was getting up, but we managed in the end!

3 miles, 3 locks, 1hr 48mins