Voyages of Gabriel: Blisworth to Norton Junction

Sat 6^th May Blisworth

Today was the coronation of King Charles III. We watched it on our small TV screen in our boat. We found out later that we could have joined a group in the village hall on a large screen, but it would have meant a walk up the hill in the rain. We found the service and the pageantry most interesting.

It rained for most of the day, so we wouldn’t have done much boating anyway.

Coronation procession

King Charles and Queen Camilla

And it rained

No boating today

Sun 7^th May Blisworth to Whilton Marina

We started the day with a walk up the steep hill to Blisworth Baptist Church, a place we have visited twice before. We had a great welcome as usual, with many friendly conversations. The service was very informal with a lot of input from people in the congregation. The songs were well known but not very recent, led by a guy on guitar and a lady singer. The sermon was about David’s procession to the temple, and the prodigal son having a repentance experience among the pig food. The service started at 1030, and finished at 1215, followed by coffee and cake. We gave some Canal Ministries literature to one of the leaders.

We had worked out that the Royal Oak was not serving food, and the shop was closed today, so we wandered back to the boat. Meanwhile, Chris and Sally had passed us. They said they were meeting Simon at Gayton Junction and he was coming with them up the Buckby locks. We thought that if we caught them up, we could share the locks with them, and there would be an extra crew member for the locks.

So, we set off in lovely sunshine, and worked out that we were about twenty minutes behind them. We didn’t pause at Gayton facilities as we had planned, and in the Nether Heyford area, we found ourselves behind another boat. There was a day boat in front of that one, and three boats ahead we could see Kairos. We didn’t stop for diesel at Rugby Boats either, hoping to catch up with Kairos. Then we realised that the boat in front of us was Dizzy Duck, that used to be moored in Circus Field Basin.

The day boat pulled over to let Dizzy Duck pass, as well as ourselves. Then it dawned on us that Dizzy Duck was now owned by Simon, and instead of five crew for two boats, we had three boats going up the locks, one of which was a single hander. Not such a good plan!

In Weedon we met Destiny, skippered by Paul Garner, from the Wey Navigation.

Soon after Weedon, the convoy caught up with another boat, so we now had four boats, or two locks full. That was better. As we approached the locks at Whilton, a fifth boat pulled out of the marina in front of Kairos, so now there were five boats!!!. We decided to leave it until the next day, rather than go up on our own.

So, we stopped there, with trains rattling past on one side, and the M1 roaring away on the other. We still slept very well, after watching the coronation concert from Windsor.

Blisworth Baptist Church

Community tapestry in the Baptist Church

Kairos passing Gabriel (photo - Chris Buck)

Anchor Bridge

The trains run close to the canal

The Wharf at Bugbrooke

Conspicuously disguised phone mast

Yellow fields

Rape fields

the convoy

Rugby Boats - diesel 120p

Kairos, Dizzy Duck, Gabriel

Paul Garner on Destiny

The difficult slope to the shops and the disabled mooring bollards

Moored opposite Whilton Marina

Whilton Marina at night

0 locks, 11 miles. Dep 1320, arr 1715

Mon 8^th May Whilton Marina to Norton Junction.

It was forecast wet to start with, so we walked up to the second lock and from there went to a garden centre. They had a lot of things we didn’t need, but we did stop for a meal in their restaurant, overlooking the canal. We saw a few boats going up.

We visited the chandlery at Whilton Marina, but they couldn’t help with either the fenders we need, or a tunnel light bulb. We probably need an auto parts shop, or Halfords.

Back at the boat, we thought we would wait for a boat to share with. A hire boat pulled in behind us, and we asked if they were going up the locks. “I need to do some shopping first” he said. At that point, a boat was coming down in the bottom lock. He went to help get the lock ready for us, and told us to bring our boat in. He opened the opposite gate, which we didn’t need, and then went into the chandlery to buy a Nicholson Guide. We had to walk round to close the gate he had opened. When he came out of the chandlery, we asked if he was going to bring his boat in, and he said ”No, I’m good.” He then proceeded to “help” us up the lock by opening paddles, although we wanted to wait for another boat. He couldn’t understand that we wanted to share the locks. He thought he was doing us a favour.

In the end we went up the seven locks by ourselves. We emptied a cassette and rubbish at the top, and cruised past Norton Junction to our planned mooring after bridge 10, where we were to meet Tim and Hilary coming the other way. We found a good length of mooring but there was a spring in the adjacent field, and there was water running across the path and trickling into the canal by our boat. We left the drier mooring for our friends on Willowbrook.

We went round to their boat for drinks and nibbles later. It was good to see them again.