Narrowboat Firecrest – Page 12 – Coddiwompling with Narrowboat Firecrest

Helping hands at Hatton

With the mighty Hatton Flight looming ahead of us and with the prospect of company we didn’t linger to enjoy the delights of Royal Leamington Spa. For such a historic Georgian spa town, the canal through Leamington is a bit of a perfunctory back water. At one point we wondered if we would actually get through when we saw this leviathan looming ahead. Ok, we knew we’d fit, but there wasn’t clearance for a similar 14foot widebeam to pass. We really don’t know how they would have handled that situation.

Nice to live in, just not ideal to cruise in

The mile or so between Leamington and Warwick is a gift for boaters with Morrisons, Lidl and Tesco all having mooring right outside. We languished at Lidl whilst the passing storm clouds attempted to deal with the water shortages

myton visitor mooring, (aka outside Lidl)

We cruised through Warwick only stopping one night. Another place where the canal is not valued as an asset to the town if the state of the towpath is anything to go by. Until you get to the Hatton Flight, which is a real gem for gongoozlers and historians. Although boaters know it as the Stairway to Heaven because 21 double locks is such hard work. We struck lucky, no rain and finding ourselves a lock buddy to start the day.

We’d planned to moor up on the armco after the fourth lock so our family could join us, but the lock keeper told us to moor after the eleventh, on the bollards at Asylum Wharf. We were a bit reluctant because it was the lock landing, and it’s not good etiquette, but he assured us traffic was light and he’d make sure the gates were open so if anyone came through they wouldn’t need to stop. And a spectacular view

Heather and Ant were just passing through so they stayed for breakfast and we were on our way an hour later

I cant think why, but they didn’t offer to crew for us up the remaining 10 locks but we had another secret weapon. Friends who live locally. Ironically because of how well maintained the flight is, and the willing volunteer lockies, we flew up the remaining locks in super fast time

and James only arrived in time to do the last 3 locks, but never the less, we set him to work.

As his reward, he was allowed to take the helm as we cruised

on through the haunted Shrewley tunnel.

All in all we’d had a fantastic day, all our stars aligned

5 miles, 21 double locks, 1 tunnel and 2 lots of visitors- we slept well that night.

Sharing the load

There’s a lorra lorra locks between us and Liverpool, which is our summer goal. From Norton Junction, its 228 miles and 229 locks into Salthouse dock . We’re not planning the most direct route, this way we can call in on friends and experience a new canal on the journey.

So far we’ve done about 20 miles and 29 locks But thanks to delays with overrunning maintenance its already taken us just over 2 weeks, Perhaps we need to make some friends in Long Itchingham, who seem to have learnt something we haven’t.

However we have enjoyed our journey so far, sharing every single one of these heavy double locks. The Cheeky Pig did the Stockton flight with us.

and the guys who had been repairing the locks were happy to take a break from clearing up their equipment to help us on our way.

I doubt they’re going to sort the tow path out though.

We moored up by the Two Boats at Long Itchingham,

home to Colecraft boat builder, and a pretty village. Of course we’d rather not have the need for these, but its nice to see a contempory war memorial remembering our fallen.

Snatching a gap in the wind and the rain we completed our journey into Leamington under the watchful eye of Rudi and his crew on The Vicount.

Happily trundling slowly along the canals, preserving this gentle way of life, as HS2 looms large at Longhole, by Bridge 31

next stop Hatton Flight, anyone want to come along for the ride, we’ll be going up in the world. (And I have a plentiful supply of bacon butties)

Trapped again

We said goodbye to Braunston and turned left onto the Oxford canal We had a real spring in our step cruising in the sunshine.

looking back to Braunston from the oxford canal

And moored up at the beautiful bridge 100, to absorb the rays.

But winter wasn’t done with us yet, as there was a frost with ice on the water when we woke the following morning.

And to add to the gloom, we got an email notification from CRT informing us that the planned winter repairs at Stockton locks were overrunning due to the winter weather. Instead of a leisurely 3 day cruise to the locks we were trapped again for another week. And the weather was decidedly iffy. Nothing else for it but to get the jigsaws out.

With dwindling food supplies, and the towpath too muddy to trudge back to Braunston, we moved up to Flecknoe and walked up the hill…

…To the Old Olive Bush pub for Sunday lunch. It happened to be Mothers day so we pushed the boat out and treated ourselves to pudding as well. Really fantastic meal, and warm welcome from landlady Linda and the locals. We’ll visit this pub again.

With just 2 more days of captivity we moved on to Napton Junction, and turned right towards Warwick along to Grand Union Canal

Shared the Calcutt locks with another inmate bemoaning the delays.

So much more fun doing locks with company

The fuel boats had also been caught up with the extended stoppages so we popped into Ventnor marina for diesel. (£1.30l) It always seems a very welcoming marina especially with their golden daffodils outside.

Then joined the queue waiting for CRT to let us on our way.

Arriving in style into Braunston

The first thing we do these days is look at the weather forecast. Moan, groan or grin, debate whether to move or not, weigh up the pros or cons of our current mooring to our potential destination then make a cuppa tea whilst we agree to look out of porthole after breakfast, then decide. It seems nothing is predictable. However, we had agreed to meet up with our friends John and Martina on Burnt Oak, who were travelling in the same direction as us. And despite the grey sky we’d been promised 16 degrees so a good day to cruise.

We had suggested meeting up on the other side of the tunnel

However we were being chased as John and Martina arrived just after us

And half an hour later, they followed us out, and we got to see their new paint work. (I’ll leave it to them to share any details)

Luckily they trusted our boat handling skills enough to share the flight of 7 locks down into Braunston

sharing a lock, doubles the fun and halves the work

We even had a choice of mooring once we arrived in Braunston

Nice spot to moor, but poor tv and internet, and a very muddy towpath

The promised 16° didn’t happen, despite the tantalising glimpses of blue sky, but the clash of warm and cold fronts did produce some tropical downpours and 40mph winds which kept us in Braunston an extra day. We still managed to get to one of our favourite shops on the system, Tradline, the rope and fender specialists

And to the Butchers for some Braunston Bangers, although Gongoozlers Rest is still on restricted opening hours which meant I had to cook the breakfast

Locked In

We said farewell to our friends and continued up Buckby flight on our own.

The bottom locks were scheduled to start winter repairs from 6th to 17th and we knew our route onward had closures at Stockton until 17th so we weren’t in any hurry. We liked the view of this house below top lock and knowing the forecast was iffy, we settled in for a few days.

And oh boy did it turn miserable

Then to our horror, we discovered that, in their wisdom, CRT had decided to chain up the top lock despite it not being included on published closure. Pretty though it was, we weren’t prepared for another 10 days stuck there.

To be fair, CRT didn’t want anyone descending the flight, but surely a poster on the lockgate would have sufficed. We weren’t the only boats moored below top lock not expecting to be imprisoned. Luckily CRTs yard is right there and we found the man with the key who let us out. That 20 minute cruise was more than enough with snow falling. And it wasn’t long before we were snug under a snowy duvet.

a bit of blue sky would have made for a better postcard.

Which is what we woke to the next morning

We were expecting to meet up with some more boaty friends coming down the Leicester branch so we enjoyed another day on the Norton Junction waiting for them.

And who will we see along the route this week?

Actually this was last week, when we were working up the Stoke Bruerne locks, a friendly fella stopped me by name, but he was disguised in hat, scarf and dark glasses so had me at a disadvantage until he introduced himself as Paul from Waterways Routes, the creator of the digital canal map that we swear by. We had a bit of a chat and showed him our set up and promised to get in touch for our 6 monthly update.

We had plans to meet up with friends at Buckby so didn’t hang around. It’s gentle scenery along this section, nothing dramatic or too harsh

Until you get to Bridge 21…. when you never know who going to be watching you. we think it’s Tim and Prue who are gongoozling.

Not all the bridges are shrouded in undergrowth and mystery. Back in 2017 when we first cruised this way, the A45 Flore to Daventry bypass was being built, which required a new and significant bridge to accommodate both canal and railway. It’s nice to see it completed now.

Our friends met us outside Whilton marina,

And then helped us up the Buckby flight of locks. True friends indeed. They had never been on a narrowboat before and were amazed at the engineering involved.

We had a bit of a chuckle when we explained we were the filling of a superhighway sandwich, HighSpeed trains on our left, us in the middle and the M1 motorway on our right.

the canals were here first, even if our power source had changed.

the mosaic at the Gayton Junction services

Over, Up and Under,

Waving goodbye to Buckinghamshire, we crossed over the River Ouse on the Iron Trunk Aqueduct into Northamptonshire.

The original route of the Grand Union canal was built descending and climbing the valley using 8 locks, but this was both time consuming and a water management nightmare. Much better to iron out the issues and in 1811, the embankment and aqueduct were opened. It is the oldest broad iron trough aqueduct on our canal system. Not quite as dramatic as the Pontcysyllte, but impressive never the less

Weather wise, we were enjoying some lovely sunny days, Dramatic sunsets,

Rainbows when during the showers fell

And astronomic excitements when we were able to see the Venus and Jupiter conjunction

but it was still too cold to be standing on the helm for long. Unless of course you had to work up the 7 locks of the Stoke Bruerne flight.

It was such a lovely day and although we stretched some muscles that hadn’t seen much action for a while, we felt like spring was in the air… until it rained the next day. Not to worry we’ll be dry in the tunnel.

Ha not a chance…. we’re used to “spurters” in the sides of locks and drippy tunnels, but the amount of water gushing into Blisworth was quite scary.

Made worse by the fact that we could hear it before we could see it. We both had nightmare visions of some Hollywood style tidal wave rushing towards us.

Luckily -obviously, we made it out alive, and settled for a more tranquil night in the village.

Some tunnel facts
• 3,075 yards (2,812 m) long
• the longest wide, freely navigable tunnel in Europe (it’s wide enough for two narrowboats to pass in opposite directions)
• the third-longest navigable canal tunnel in the UK, after Standedge Tunnel and Dudley Tunnel
• the ninth-longest canal tunnel in the world
• about 143 feet (43m) below ground level
• roughly 18 miles (29km) from the northern end of the Grand Junction Canal at Braunston

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/places-to-visit/blisworth-tunnel/a-quick-history-of-blisworth-tunnel

On Track

Rounding the corner into Wolverton, you can’t help but be aware of the proximity of the railway, both as the high speed intercities thunder past on the right, but also on the left is one of the most amazing canal side murals you’re likely to see.

Wolverton itself, was one of the first innovative new rail towns, when in 1838, the London and Birmingham Railway Co chose the location to build a station here, Wolverton being roughly half way between the two cities. Back in the day, the station wasn’t just a ticket office and coffee kiosk, but as train travel wasn’t quite HS2, there were sumptuous facilities on site. Reading rooms and rest houses that passengers could disembark to use whilst the train was being serviced. And all that servicing required a workforce, so a whole community built up around the station. The company, now known as the London and Northwestern (LNWR) built the Wolverton Works, to build and maintain the system. It still houses the world’s oldest and longest continuously open standard gauge railway works, and it played a significant role in maintaining many military vehicles during WWII.

Nowadays the fast trains stop in Milton Keynes, and Wolverton is just a local stop. But it still remains home to the Royal train, as Queen Victoria set the trend housing her royal carriage here.

In the 1980’s, as part of the MK developement project, local artist Bill Billings was commissioned to create a mural along the Electrolux wall, celebrating local achievements. It was completed in 1986

The mural is said to be the longest in the country, its 160m long

there’s not much information about the mural online, but I can only imagine that this area of Northampton had a wealth of creativity industry and mechanical engineering skills, with an enthusiastic community to support it.

The mural suffered badly from vandalism and weather, so in 2011 a major restoration project began and we’re happy to report it still looks good today.

We didn’t stay overnight in Wolverton this time, but we were able to moor near the flats whilst I did the shopping.

The footbridge is supervised by 2 imposing sculptures also showcasing the towns heritage and progress, the railwayman is holding a Bloomer steam locomotive, which were built here at the Wolverton railway works in the 1850’s. ( nicknamed Bloomers – because they showed more of their wheels than earlier locomotives likened to the women who were wearing trousers showing more leg – as advised by American suffragette, Mrs Amelia Bloomer)

Mike Heron’s sculture with man holding the bloomer

And reaching ahead showcasing the evolution of the bicycle

Mike Heron’s Running man – Reaching Forward

Artists at Work

It was time to move on from central Milton Keynes, so we took our time visiting some of the places we had been in 2017/18. Our first stop was for lunch at the Camphill cafe, just 5 minutes off the towpath. It’s always a pleasure to support ventures like this, where people with learning disabilities are supported and valued. Not only does the cafe serve great lunches, but there are several well run workshops on the site. Of course I was fascinated by the weaving shed and treated myself to a bag made from the fabric they had made. We also bought some very tasty bread and a jar of their honey.

It seems like MK likes to encourage its artists, and we took some time walking the Gyosei Art trail.

Just some of the art along the towpath from the gyosei trail

Whilst we were feeling so creative, we had the opportunity to meet up with a friend of mine who lives close enough to join us on board for a knit and natter

And I proudly showed off my latest completed project, This Icelandic sweater is a gift for someone else, but you can bet I’ll be making something similar for me and Eric.

We moored in almost the same place as we had experienced our first real winter on the canal, in March 2018 when “The Beast from the East” stopped us in our tracks

Hoping we’ve had had our quota of being frozen in already this year, and i suspect Jules feels the same.

Meandering through Milton Keynes

For many people Milton Keynes means concrete cows and roundabouts. But we’ve seen them before in 2018-when we got frozen in during the beast from the east, now for us, it’s about 15 miles of cruising around 2 sides of a square from Fenny Stratford through to Cosgrove. Ironically, its where we thought we would be for Christmas but getting frozen in at Leighton Buzzard put paid to that plan. And we were still struggling with ice at the beginning of February. Milton Keynes means ice to us.

But at least we had reached Campbell Park, closest to MK central. Milton Keynes was a Roman settlement, which in the 1967 became the biggest and last of the New Towns planned specifically to house the London overflow. Sadly for the older people of Buckinghamshire continued development has seen the surrounding villages swallowed up and when MK was granted city status in 2022, it covered more than 120 square miles. There are many who don’t like Milton Keynes but we suspect that a lot of those people have never actually visited the area and believe its urban sprawl focused on cars. We would disagree, there are 215 miles of dedicated footpaths. no one lives more than half a mile from access to the 5000 acres of parkland.

Admittedly some of the housing estates are the worst 1960s construction imaginable and there’s a general atmosphere of squalor and neglect, but there are just as many very attractive areas. Although we’re not sure how this property got planning permission in the middle of the shopping centre.

Its a lovely walk from the canal up to the centre, through Campbell park, theres a lot of impressive art work

the Light Pyramid, Chain Reaction and Onwards and Upwards

But we liked the lawn mowers the most

and no park is complete without flowers

Although the Milton Keynes Rose is a commemorative art installation, not a floral display, marking the serious and not so

We can never resist trying to see a place from the highest elevation so we took the lift up to the 14th floor of the Hotel la Tour to look down over Campbell park. Eric said it was too early in the day for cocktails….

Looking forward to some warmer days and being able to cruise a bit more now.