Author: Cheryl

When Brindley was building the Oxford Canal back in late 1700’s he favoured following the contours of the land when planning it’s route. Its a very twisty canal and you never know if you’ll be facing north south east or west. Which is why the windmill on the skyline is such a landmark.

Even when we got to the locks it’s just about visible, if you know where to look.

 

We got a lovely surprise at the locks, there were 2 volunteer lockies waiting to help us along. Not only that, one of them greeted us by name, it turned out to be Bill from Beltaine Spirit, Braidbar 168. Bill came though all the locks with us and lots of chatting was done an route.

Unfortunately I’d gone ahead to set the last lock so didn’t get a chance to say Thank you to Bill before he turned to help the oncoming boat back down. So if you’re reading this, Thank you Bill.

We did the 7 Halton locks and the 2 at Marston Doles before we moored up to enjoy the sunshine.

 

 

The first place you arrive at going down the South Oxford, is Napton on the Hill, although the village itself is just over the hill. Not being deterred by the strange yellow object in the sky, I thought I’d go exploring in the hope of finding some refreshment.

This pub, imaginatively named “the Bridge” has sadly closed down but it is being renovated into a rather nice home.  I left the tow path and followed the signs pointing towards the windmill. And as I climbed up and up and up I was able to sit on these fabulous rocks to look out over the vista.

It looked like I could see for miles and miles, although it was too hazy for the photo to pick up, I could see the Rugby cement works well over 10 miles away as the crow flies.

I eventually made it up to the windmill, which is also now part of a private home so not accessible to the public.

However there was a small commemorative garden, recognising  the service from the village during the second world war as Naptons elevation made it a key observation post.  The brow of the hill now has too many tall trees to see 360 degrees but I can imagine how terrifying it was to see the bombs being dropped on places like Coventry. 

I carried on walking down the lanes past the Norman church, saying hello to the sheep on the way

The sensible ones where taking it easy in the shade.

 

On Tuesday we woke to the what promised to be the first day of summer 

So we said goodbye to our Braunston moorings and set off under Butchers bridge (having first gone up to the butchers and stocked up on Braunston Bangers).

Under the twin iron bridges that so gracefully mark the entrance and exit to Braunston.

We’re never quite sure what this next stretch of canal is called, is it the South Oxford or the Grand Union. One day I’ll ask.

The weather really was glorious, too hot to be standing at the helm. So we moored up at Napton  for a late lunch and to soak up the heat.

 

 

You know how sometimes things just go well, Monday was one of those days. We woke refreshed and eager to get on. We got to the tunnel just before 9 and came through in 22 minutes without meeting any other boat. We dont like Braunston tunnel cause of its kinks. It makes it so much easier when you don’ have to tuck in close to the wall. Then we had the locks to do.  No other boat to share the workload with but again we struck lucky.  We kept meeting boats coming up, which not only meant all the locks were all set for us we were able to go through open gates and didn’  have to close them.  No wonder I was still smiling at the bottom of the flight.

Beautiful daffodils by the admiral Nelson pub bridge.

And the cherry trees were in their full glory in the marina. Spring has sprung and we are very relieved.

While we were in Braunston had a visit from Jo-NB BluePearl, chatted so long a quick cuppa ended up in sending Eric up the hill for fish and chips from the Braunston Fryer.

With Amy’s help we did the Buckby locks easily. I then hitched a lift back to Suffolk leaving Eric to polish the floors while I attended to some essential maintenance back home. The trouble with the visitor moorings at the Norton junction is that they are restricted 48 hour stay. They’re fine for an overnight stay but otherwise mundane and functional.  Not knowing how long I needed to be off the boat, Eric decided to cruise around the corner onto the Leicester line. Oh what a treat. Plenty of good 14 day official mooring and even more unrestricted mooring with pilings all within 5 minutes walk of the New Inn pub (that does good fish and chips) it’s even got a water point.

Once I was back on board we cruised up to the Watford Locks.  I still find it amusing to find us travelling at 2 or 3 miles an hour right alongside a motorway. This time the M1 and the Watford gap service station. 

I know which side of the fence I prefer to be on. But this wasn’t the time for us to venture back into the ‘north’ so we winded Firecrest and returned to moor near the juntion ready to head to Braunston.

One of the downsides of this mooring is that it’s quite a hike to the convenience store at Long Buckby, so on Monday we pulled pins and turned right under the bridge at the toll house, in search of a pint of milk.I believe this gorgeous cottage is now a holiday let But it was once the home of Major Feilding and his wife Ivy, who were canal minister with the Salvation Army.

We stopped at the East end of the Braunston Tunnel to walk into Daventry to restock the larder. Lots of boats coming through the tunnel and we got a lovely surprise when we saw Mike off NB Mister E. Mike’s boat was just being completed at Braidbar when we were planning Firecrest. He’d made us very welcome so it was an ideal opportunity to repay the hospitality and show him around our boat.

 

Last November we cruised south on the Grand Union past a major construction project. The A45 Daventry link road. This has meant a new bridge over the canal and railway. It meant night time closures over the winter to allow the work to progress.

This is what we saw as we approached in November

But when we returned this month, traveling north, they were still at work.

But as we rounded the corner we found a bridge

which was looking quite impressive

Plenty of clearance for the narrowboats

Of coure what we were really looking at was the glorious blue sky.  Not sure what the timescale is for completion of the new road, but I’m sure the locals will be glad when it’s done. And I’ll be sure to post a follow up photo next time we cruise this way.

And after so much rain and miserable non cruising days we had the pleasure of being accompanied by Amy, our crew to see us through the Buckby flight of locks.

And if you moor underneath a tree, the dripping onto the roof will keep you awake in your bed. Which in turn leads to a certain degree of insanity. Hence today’s photos will be celebrating sheep. (Loosely connected to our current mooring at Nether Heyford, which has a particularly good independent butchers selling spring lamb.)

I can’t help but get excited when I see sheep. Because without them what would I knit and spin with. So many different breeds across the UK. The first three photos were of sheep I’ve seen in the last few days here in Northamptonshire.

I’m not 100% sure but I think these are Blue Faced Leicester cross.

These look like Romney.

The next three photos were taken a few weeks ago around mum’s village in the Lake District

This one is a Cheviot

A Jacob

And my favourite the Herdwick.

With any luck the rain will ease off and we can get back to cruising again. At least the snow we were forecast today hasn’t happened, yet.

Happy Easter everyone and if you are a first time holiday boater, please believe me when I say usually it’s a lot lot lot more fun than this.

Bank holiday weekend, and guess what…..its raining

But there’s still a phenomenal number of boats passing us. I feel so sorry for the holiday boaters.

However today is Good Friday and I have made hot cross buns

I though we needed some sunny photos taken over the last week just to remind us how lovely it can be living on a narrow boat.

This is the Northampton Arm at Gayton Junction

We stayed on the main Grand Union canal and we moored just beyond bridge 45

That’s us, a lovely peaceful mooring opposite a riding stable. I went off for a walk and when I got back found Eric hard at work spring cleaning.

Our reward was the first magnificent sunset of the year.

 

Just beyond Stoke Bruerne is the Blissworth tunnel the third longest canal tunnel in the UK. It’s 3,076 yards (2,813 m) that’s about 13/4 miles long.

Before the tunnel was built, a horse drawn tram was used to connect the two sections of the canal and today there are some attractive sculptures commemorating this route, the track is a popular footpath now.

The tunnel was completed in 1805, joining the north and southern section’s of the Grand Junction canal. It’s construction was beset by problems including wiggles that made it difficult to navigate and a collapse due to quicksand which cost the lives of 14 workers. We are constantly amazed by the engineering skills and sheer physical commitment used to build the canal system. The museum at Stoke Bruerne has lots of information and displays about those ‘good old days’ .

In the 1980’s the tunnel was restored using preformed concrete rings. One was laid out on the embankment so we could see the dimensions. It barely seems plausible that 2 narrowboats can pass by safely. But we can testify that yes it is possible. And what’s even better they have straightened out the kinks making it a relatively easy tunnel to traverse.

The average time it takes is supposed to be 45 minutes. However when we the the Harecastle, our first long tunnel, the C&RT tunnel keeper advised us to go quickly to help prevent us bashing the sides. We’ve stuck with this advise and it took us 26 minutes. Although I am always very glad to see the light at the end

 

Last week we shared a coffee with John and Martina from Burnt Oak. 
I forgot to record our meeting with a photo. This week I forgot that not only does my new camera have an auto focus, it also has several buttons that need pressing to return it to its autofocus mode after I’ve been playing with it. Or perhaps it was just the pints in the pub that blurred my image of the past few days. However I did manage to capture one or two moments as we picked the best days weather to work up the 7 locks at Stoke Bruerne.

John and Eric taking the boats through.

Burnt Oak and Firecrest chillin’ out in the Jacuzzi together.

Its a lively busy spot at Stoke Bruerne, lots of boat candy and gongoozelers. We were lucky to get in, that’s Burnt Oak, second the right.

Martina and I getting down to the serious business of spinning a yarn together on Burnt Oak after the hard work. We met through an online knitting forum called Ravelry about 5 or 6 years ago, then met up at a fibre festival. It didn’t taken us long to discover we had other mutual interests, and were both planning to have a liveaboard boat built. Not only that but we both have a daughter called Heather and we are both nurses, albeit at differing ends of the lifecycle, Martina helping with the hatching whilst I was making the dispatching a little easier. As for John and Eric, besides both having perfect wives in common, they also know how to share a pint or two.

Burnt Oak had to move on the next morning but we made the most of our 48 hour mooring and visited the canal museum, which we thoroughly recommend.