Welford Junction to Stoke Bruerne

Wed 12th Oct  Welford Junction to Bridge 27

We had a pleasant sunny day for a gentle rural cruise through beautiful countryside. We went back under the A14 at one point.

Sunny cruise

 The A14

Wildlife sightings included a good view of a kingfisher in the sunlight, a buzzard, a green woodpecker, and about a dozen pheasants in a group.

We stopped at Bridge 22, where the towpath was south facing.

Moored near Yelvertoft

Crayfish time

James put out the crayfish traps once more

0 locks, 7 miles

Thu 13th Oct  Bridge 22 Haddon Road Bridge to Crick

Early morning near Yelvertoft

There were nine crayfish in the traps this morning, larger than the previous ones.

One of this morning’s catch

We had planned to stop near Crack’s Hill and walk to the top, but it was wet underfoot and we thought we would leave it until another time.

Crack’s Hill

We paused at the tap in Yelvertoft, and filled our water tank, and emptied our rubbish.

We moored opposite Andy Burnett boat sales, and went to The Moorings for lunch, where we got the last table, mainly due to the presence of a group of ten people from Atkins, and another group upstairs.  Hazel had smoked haddock and James had a chilli dog.  Both were good, washed down with a scrumpy cider.  Sadly their breakfast doesn’t start until 10am, too late for many, particularly if they have a few miles to make on the canals.

Hugo came in and miaowed at us. He had brought us a gift of a mouse, which James caught and released back into the undergrowth.

Hugo’s gift

In the evening we took our instruments, and wandered up first the Co-op for a few items, and then to the Royal Oak for FATO – Folk at the Oak, which happens on the second Thursday of the month.

There were lots of performers there so it was a packed programme. We sang Antiques, Santiano and Waterloo Road.  It wasn’t a singaround – everyone performed from in front of the fireplace. We sat in chairs right in front, feeling a bit like X Factor judges.  Jim and Jan were there with the musicians from the event in Yelvertoft, and they called themselves Canal Fever, singing waterways songs.

An assorted band at the Royal Oak

Canal Fever

Our turn

We tried Carling cider for the first time, and it wasn’t too bad. Less fizzy than expected.

Jan and Jim Lyon

0 locks, 3 miles, 1 mouse

Fri 14th Oct  Crick to Nether Heyford

There was a beautiful sunrise this morning in Crick

We reversed up to a sanitary station we had spotted at Crick Wharf, not marked in the Nicholson Guide, although it looks well established. 

Sanitary station in Crick

Having disposed of the rubbish and emptied a cassette, we lowered our chimney and made our way to Crick Tunnel. We realised we could have left the chimney up as the tunnel walls were quite high. Halfway through the tunnel we noticed another boat following us further back.

Crick Tunnel

Emerging

We were the first boat to Watford Locks, and they were ready for us, so we started down immediately, completing all seven locks in just 35 minutes.

Approaching Watford Locks

Top Lock at Watford

The side pond

The staircase

The bottom of the staircase

Entering Watford Bottom Lock

A sunny conclusion to Watford Locks

Autumn Colours

A boat pulled out of the marina in front of us by Balls Bridge, and we followed them to Norton Junction. They also turned left, as we did, and we ended up sharing the Buckby Locks with them.  Two brothers, Graham and Les on Foxy. The seven locks took 1 hour and 25 minutes.  15 minutes of this was taken up two hire boats who claimed the lock too early, and then took ages to get organised and complete the manoeuvre.

Norton Junction

Sharing Buckby Locks with Foxy

Bottom Lock by Whilton Marina

At Whilton marina, there was only one mooring space, so we tied alongside Foxy, and we all four went to the cafe for lunch. We also bought some stove glass cleaner from the chandlery.

We set off first, and paused at Weedon  to visit Tesco – just 35 minutes stopover. We stopped again at Stowe Hill Wharf, where we filled up our fuel tank – 61p per litre.  We moored at Nether Heyford where there were no houses in sight.

A pair of boats at Weedon

The crayfish traps went out when it got dark.  Hugo brought us a mouse as a present, unfortunately one that could no longer move.

14 locks, 11 miles, 1 mouse.

Sat 15th Oct  Nether Heyford to Stoke Bruerne

The view from our mooring at Nether Heyford

There were 4 crayfish in the traps this morning, one in each trap.  We had no locks today, just a twisty canal and a long tunnel.

We departed at just after 10am, and attempted to visit Heyford Fields Marina to discuss some work to be done on Gabriel. We couldn’t get in to the visitor mooring as it was shallow.  We were debating whether to go in and moor up, when a man came and asked us if he could help us. We told him what we were there for, and suggested we might bring the boat in, but he said we weren’t allowed to do that!  A bit odd as they have a diesel pontoon. He went to see if there was anyone from the engineering dept, and returned to say they weren’t in on Saturdays. They had been recommended by the Axiom propeller people.

 Strange container boat

We continued on our journey and just round the corner we came across Inchy, so we had a chat with Roberta and Tim.  They told us they are planning to leave the boat and live in a house fairly soon.

Inchy

Nothing to add

Eye of Horus, seen first in Nottingham this year

The turnover bridge near Gayton Junction

We stopped at Gayton Junction to empty a cassette and dispose of rubbish. Water stocks were OK so we carried on through Blisworth.

Blisworth

We entered Blisworth Tunnel and met no boats.  This is a long tunnel, and we were most of the way through when we saw a boat with a tunnel light at the entrance.  The light was very bright, and we had to slow down to tick over as we couldn’t see anything else except the dazzling light, and we assumed the boat was coming towards us.  It turned out it was the trip boat, with Mike at the helm with Kathryn keeping him company at the stern.  They turned round and went back towards Stoke Bruerne, and we were following about six boat lengths behind. 

Blisworth Tunnel

Making an exit

We saw Graham and Les on Foxy, moored up halfway along the visitor moorings.

The moorings were nearly all taken, and we turned, with inches to spare, above the locks by the Boat Inn.  We invited Kathryn for a meal before we returned to the first mooring slot, by the woodland walk.

James cooked the crayfish we had caught

Crayfish

Kathryn came along at 6pm, and we had an enjoyable catch up.

0 locks, 9 miles, 1 tunnel

Next:  Continuing south towards Milton Keynes

Crick to Welford

Thu 6th Sep  Crick

We spent most of the morning preparing for the Sunday morning service. Then we walked up to the Post Office to post Oliver’s birthday card. We also put out some leaflets as we went.

In the afternoon we had a music practice for both Saturday and Sunday.

Later that evening we had a strange crunching noise every time we moved. We traced the noise to a plastic coke bottle between our hull and the edge.  When we had retrieved it all was quiet.

No boating today. No photos either.

Fri 7th Sep  Crick to Yelvertoft

James nipped to the Co-op first thing for some milk and other items.

Our Crick mooring

The Red Lion, Crick (we went past, not in)

We then visited the marina for a new gas bottle, and to empty cassettes and dispose of rubbish. There was a half sized boat there with James name on it.

Into the marina

Half a boat with his name on

We had a slow cruise assessing moorings on this very rural canal.  We saw some swallows – probably the last of the season.

The rural Leicester section

We found an ideal mooring just past Bridge 19 and before the water point. We needed to be near a road to unload our equipment into Jim’s car.

We then accepted a visit to Sainsbury’s in Rugby with Jim and Jan in their car

That night we heard tawny owls talking to each other in the trees.

0 locks, 2 miles

Sat 8th Sep  Yelvertoft

Grace came by early on, trying to ascertain the best place to moor.  They continued on past, with the plan to turn at the winding hole (an hour each way) before settling on a mooring.

We walked into the village to go to a coffee morning in the Congregational Church, run by the local History Society.  We learned about a mid air collision over Yelvertoft between a Halifax and a Lancaster during WW11.  There had been a memorial service to mark the anniversary.  We were then shown upstairs where one of the tail fins of the Lancaster was being kept.

Lancaster tail fin

A Lancaster model

We went for lunch at the Knightley Arms as we did not want a big meal this evening before the concert.

John and Jan arrived by car, and came on board Gabriel for a practice of the songs they were going to join us on.  Terry and Chris arrived back on Grace, and moored nose on to us, overlapping slightly to avoid blocking the water point.

Jim and Jan arrived to collect our equipment, which was loaded into their car, and then offloaded into the church.  They left us to set up, which took about 45 minutes. We then had to move it all to the back of the “stage” area as we were on in the second half. 

We then went to the pub for a pre-concert drink. We found Peter and Lin there, but no Bob, Alan or Hazel. Apparently Bob was meant to be bringing Alan and Hazel, but he put petrol in his diesel engine in error and they didn’t make it.

The Congregational Church

The Canal Fever concert was really well received. The room was packed out, and we had about 15 familiar faces from BCF and Canal Ministries, which was a great encouragement. Jim and Jan and their group all dressed for the part, with flat caps and cravats. They didn’t use any PA. During the interval we needed to move all the PA equipment back to where we could use it properly, and we sang a mixture of boating songs and songs with a message. It was all good fun. We finished with a full line up of all the musicians performing Oh When the Saints Go Marching In.

Afterwards we crossed the road to the pub once more, and continued socialising. Thankfully we could leave the equipment for the morning.

We needed torches to light our way back to the boat.

No boating today

Sun 9th Sep  Yelvertoft to Br 24 Smarts Bridge

Yelvertoft mooring

We went back to the church in the morning, and we needed to rearrange PA system to create some space for the service. While doing a short sound check, James found his capo falling apart.  Thankfully it didn’t happen during the service. He used his old one instead.

We led five worship songs, and James gave his testimony. Peter spoke later in the service

We managed to put away the equipment after the service while coffee was being served.  We then went for Lunch at Jim and Jan’s, with Peter and Lin. It was a good time of fellowship.

We loaded the gear back into Jim’s car and took it to the boat.  We said farewell to Terry and Chris on Grace as they went south and we went north.

We didn’t go very far – just to bridge 24 Smart’s Bridge where we had rings and a view.

Moored near bridge 24

0 locks, 2 miles

Mon 10th Oct  Bridge 24 to Bridge 38

We had a cold night, followed by a morning fog. Our view had gone.

A few hours later it had been restored as the fog lifted and we made a late start

Smart’s Bridge in the morning fog

The countryside missing

Countryside restored

We went under the A14, the only intrusion into the quiet Northamptonshire countryside.

It was a slow canal as it was fairly shallow, and there were some huge fields where the farmers had grubbed out the old hedges to make way for large agricultural machinery.

Huge fields

We stopped near Bridge 38 as it was south facing and we wanted to make the most of the autumn sunshine.

Hazel put the washing out to dry, and that was the signal for the rain to come, fairly suddenly and heavily for a brief shower.  With the washing all back inside the rain stopped but the washing stayed inside.

James put the crayfish traps out to see if this was any good as a crayfish venue.

Hugo caught and ate two mice! Then he brought one in as a gift

0 locks, 5 miles, 3 mice

Tue 11th Oct  Bridge 38 to Welford Jct via Welford

Our rural mooring near Bridge 38

Morning mist

There was one more mouse on the mat this morning, and 8 crayfish in the traps. There was a heavy dew and lots of condensation under the canopy.

We set off north once more and at Welford Junction we turned right, in the direction of Welford, and cruised slowly along the Welford Arm.

Welford Junction

 Right Turn to Welford

 Bridge 1, Welford Arm

As we approached Welford Lock, a Fox boat was just leaving.  Photo duly sent to Peter Ekins who keeps a register of these distinctive boats.

Fox boat Mary Christine

Welford Lock

We continued to the end of the arm, where there is a sanitary station.  We turned the boat and did the necessary with rubbish and cassettes, and started to fill the water tank. It was very slow and the tank was nearly empty, so it took an hour. Meanwhile, hazel went to visit the shop. Last time we were here, in 2002, the shop was very run down, and we hadn’t expected to come away with much more than some milk. This time it was much improved and well stocked.

 The end of the arm

We set off back down the arm once more, and as we approached the lock we saw a Sparrow Hawk hoping to surprise small birds by the hedge.

The lock has the single paddle gear on the opposite side to the balance beam

Welford lock again

 The site of an old lift bridge

We turned left at Welford Jct and moored soon after. It was a lovely sunny evening.  Hugo caught another mouse and James put the crayfish traps out again.

2 locks, 5 miles, 8 crayfish, 2 mice

Next:  South through Crick, where we visit a monthly folk club, then on down the Grand Union towards Stoke Bruerne.