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