We had been
warned about Valhalla’s departure at 0730 through the tunnel, so we had
decided to go first, at 0700, to avoid being stuck behind them at 2mph.
There was some
dew around, so we dried the boat off a little and put the tunnel light in
place, before setting off past Valhalla and into the tunnel. Despite the
dry weather the tunnel was still wet as usual.
We emerged at
Blisworth in beautiful sunshine. At Gayton Junction we carried on without
pausing for the facilities, but Kairos needed to stop to fill water
containers, as their water pump had stopped working. Thankfully they were back
on the canal again before Valhalla appeared. Gabriel was now
about 15 minutes ahead of Kairos.
As there were no
locks for a while, we could each have breakfast in turn whilst on the move.
There seemed to be lots of moored boats around, probably not yet used to
cruising since the lockdown. We had friendly words with many people as we
passed, perhaps due to the sunny weather which put people in a good mood.
From Weedon
onwards, James decided to make a note of all the wild-life related boat names
he saw. There were a huge number so this will not be a daily exercise. Barn
Owls, Swallow, Puffin, Kingfisher, Sloth, Chequered Skipper, Hawk, Otter Holt,
Blue Monkey, Trout, Falcon, Osprey, Mallard.
At Whilton
Locks, a boat was going into the locks, and invited us to share, but we had
decided to wait for Kairos, We went to the chandlery and bought some
milk and ice creams, and made a note of the water pump they had. It was not the
right sort, and Chris had already reserved one at Midland Chandlers later on in Braunston.
Kairos arrived
as we emerged from the chandlers, so we had a brief ice-cream break before
starting up the locks. A boat was coming down in the bottom lock, and he said
he recognised James from St Neots, where they had intended to join BCF. Well we
weren’t at the St Neots IWA event, so it
must have been someone else in a BCF shirt. The boat was call Ebinka, and
we gave them a BCF leaflet.
As we set off, there
were two boats immediately behind us, so we left a paddle up for them at each
lock. At lock 9 we decided to stop doing this, as they were a long way behind,
and we didn’t know what was coming down in front of us. At this point we heard
a very loud noise getting even louder and a few seconds later the Red Arrows
flew over our heads and then were gone. Sadly no time to get the cameras out.
When we got to
lock 7, the top lock, there was indeed a boat coming down, so we had done the
right thing by leaving the previous two locks full.
Gabriel used
the water point, while Kairos went on.
The Braunston Tunnel was mostly dry and we didn’t meet any boats.
We caught up
with Kairos on the moorings above the Braunston Flight. Chris cycled off
to Midland Chandlers who close at 4pm, while the rest of us had a tea break,
with the last of Hazel’s bara brith. Chris returned with his water pump, and
joined us.
Just as we were
about to start down the locks, a boat came from behind, and went down in front
of us. We followed them.
The lady in
front was being very inefficient with the locks, putting down the paddles
before the lock had finished emptying, and then struggling against the lock
beams, before putting up the paddle again. She also was opening both gates,
meaning she had to walk round the lock twice each time. They stopped above lock
2, and were asking what Canal Ministries was all about, so we gave them a leaflet.
We were very
pleased to arrive in Braunston, where there were plenty of moorings, so we
stopped alongside the marina where there was a little shade. Drinks and nibbles
on the towpath. It had been a very long day.
We knew Valhalla were planning to come through Braunston Tunnel
in the morning, so once again we planned to be away before they came down the
locks.
13 locks, 19
miles, 2 tunnels. Dep 0655, arr Whilton 1145, dep 1210, arr Braunston Top 1520,
dep 1625, arr Braunston 1805.
Tue 16th
June
We disposed of
rubbish at the Stop House, and planned to empty a cassette before bridge 91.
However, the facility was taped up and evidently out of order, so we proceeded
to the one by Braunston Turn. We stopped on Midland Chandlers moorings, hoping
to buy camping Gaz, but there was a sign saying that due to Corona Virus, they
have restricted opening times, from 10am till 4pm. Not very logical. If it is
safe to open at 10am, it would be safe to open at 9am. We could see that staff
had arrived. So we didn’t buy gas, but we did empty our cassette.
Kairos had
already come past, going under the Braunston Turn bridge towards Napton.
As we were
reversing out to follow them, a boat came round the corner towards us. It was
Roger on Ragged Robin. He said he was heading for Milton Keynes. We last
saw him on the Shroppie two years ago.
We crossed the
Braunston Puddle Banks embankment, and then saw what we thought was a lake
where we hadn’t seen one before. There was what appeared to be a flooded
building in the middle, until we realised that it was a blue crop, presumably
flax.
We met very few
boats, unusual for this stretch. We turned right under the bridge at Wigram's
Turn.
There are some
large marinas around here. Thankfully not all the boats come out at once. There
are three locks at Calcutt, with the worm screw paddle gear unique to the
northern Grand Union. They are quick to fill, quick to empty, and quick to give
you a stiff back from all the turns of the windlass needed – 21 to 24 turns on
each one. We crossed over with a single boat coming up as went down.
Then came the
eight Stockton Locks. As we were filling the top lock, a lady came to say there
was a problem further down, and we shouldn’t start yet. We tied up on the lock
bollards and went to investigate. The problem was at the third lock down, where
on of the top paddles would not close, as it was jammed on a piece of wood that
had come adrift from the lock gate. There was a CRT volunteer there, who had
drained the pound above to investigate.
There was talk
of it taking several days, and we considered our various options as Chris and
Sally needed to get away on Thursday. Thankfully, after almost four hours, we
were told it had been fixed, and we could go. It was very hot and humid as we
descended the eight lock flight. Further down we came across another challenge
– a work party who had put out some bollards to protect some engineering work
they were doing. All we had to do was keep left of the bollards.
At Stockton
Bottom Lock, in the heat and humidity, James said he would really like a
shower. We moved into Lock 12, and his prayer was answered, as we had heavy
rain very suddenly. We put up the boat hoods, and stayed in the lock to wait
for it to pass. A man came to warn us that the next bridge was low, and we
would need to take down our hoods to get underneath.
When the rain
eased, we left the lock, lowering our hoods as we passed under the bridge. We
must have been going in the same direction as the storm cloud, as we caught up the
rain which had another go at us at the final lock of the day, Itchington Bottom
Lock.
Arriving in Long Itchington, we found Brace Yourself,
and had a chat with Shirley and Colin. They had been short term winter moorers
in Aylesbury but had left before we came back from our overseas trip, so we
hadn’t seen them for over a year.
We tried to find someone doing a takeaway, but were
unsuccessful, so we combined resources to make an evening meal.
13 locks, 9
miles. Dep 0840, arr Stockton Top Lock
1225. Dep 1615, arr Long Itchington 1840.
Wed 17th
June
Brace Yourself left
first, heading for the staircase locks. We followed, passing the Two Boats pub,
where we had enjoyed listening to a folk duo last time.
When we reached the staircase locks, Colin encouraged
Gabriel and Kairos to go first. We left a paddle up for them to make it easier
for them to follow.
There was another boat going down in front of us, but he
stopped to take on water at Fosse Wharf. Gabriel and Kairos only needed to
empty cassettes, so we passed him. The remaining three locks were all set
against us any way.
We cruised through Radford Semele, and found a mooring
between bridges 39 and 40, with an uninspiring view of a brick wall. After another tiring day, we dozed off, to be
woken by a loud crash of thunder and more very heavy rain.
James spent over an hour on the phone to Three, on a very
bad line with a lady with a strong accent. It sounded as though she was in a
shower with a squawking parrot in the background. She took some details but it
was hard to understand what she was suggesting. She said the details of our
conversation had been noted on my account. Try again tomorrow and speak to
customer services.
Chris kindly let us use his phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot, so we
managed to take part in the Canal Ministries Zoom meeting, although our video
camera on the laptop was not working.
10 locks, 7 miles. Dep 0915, arr 1255.
Next: A few days in the Leamington Spa
area keeping an eye on Kairos.
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