That's it for 5 months

We've not been out since returning from the R. Nene; today we prepared the boat for the winter.  We plan to wake up Bacchus around the middle of next March with some short trips up the Leicester Arm before heading off for the Llangollen Canal.  See you next year.  Bye.

Fens to March and back to Crick

To get to the River Great Ouse from the Nene you first have to cross the Fens by way of the Middle Levels.  This channel starts at Stanground lock, just outside Peterborough, and ends at Denver lock where you join the Great Ouse. Known as the Nene-Ouse link it’s a 28 mile link across the Fens. This journey is possible in a day but most people take two, stopping at March overnight.  We’d decided to chugg to March, spend the night and return the next day.  24 hours notice is required to pass through Stanground lock, we booked and arrived on time at 9am only to discover that you require a special windlass and key for the lock between Stanground and Denver, which the lock keeper is more than happy to sell you.  We were lucky, as we had booked a return trip through the lock for the next day the lock keeper offered to lend them to us.

Stanground Lock entry to the Fens

You pass through Whittlesey on the way to March, which is interesting as the channel through the village is only wide enough for one boat at a time, banks are 10ft high concrete and there is a very sharp right hand turn under a bridge. Shortly after leaving Whittlesey you cross the Greenwich Meridian Line.

Whittlesey Dyke

Reached March 2ish, took a bit of a gamble in hoping we would find a stretch of water wide enough to turn round in. Moored in the town centre and spent the afternoon wandering the streets.  Pleasant enough town, small but excellent local museum, plenty of shops and good fish and chips.

March moorings

Crossing the Fens

Returned to Peterborough next day (Thursday), sun all the way.  Had booked the lock for 2.30pm, passed through on time and handed over the borrowed windlass and key.  Moored on the town quay in Peterborough for the night.  All the services are provided on the quay including  free pumpouts.  Sun stayed out for Friday as we made our way to Fotheringhay  mooring just after the bridge.  Met Jayne & Carl for drinks at The Falcon Inn.  Thrapston was next day’s stop where we again met Jayne & Carl for a few drinks, this time accompanied by Tash & Joyce.  Thrapston’s only a small town/village with a short High Street but lucky enough to have, that we counted, at least 5 pubs plus an hotel. We only managed 2 and the hotel.

Sunday saw us chugg, in dull weather, down to the moorings at the Rushden & Diamonds (now Kettering Football Club).  Reached Cogenhoe next day. Strong winds and rain overnight, and delayed the start next day hoping for a drop in the wind.  After lunch decided to head for Northampton and had such difficulty getting away from the bank, due to the wind, that we changed our minds and remoored for the night.

Back on the Nene

We needed diesel and water and decided to call in at Billing Aquadrome Marina, as they were not due to open until 10am we had a later start than normal and left Cogenhoe at 9.15am.  Eventually made Northampton about 2ish, shopped and then carried on to locked 13 stopping 300 yds short of the M1 for the night. Next morning we made good time  climbing  the remaining 13 locks out of  Northampton , all set in our favour,  and turning right at Gayton junction by 11am.  Crick was reached after lunch next day (Friday). 

We really enjoyed our trip down the River Nene and would recommend it.  The ideal would be to take about 4 weeks, preferably in sunshine, and stop and look at some of the villages and do a few walks.

Not yet decided if we we’ll go out again this year, but for now that’s us signing off.

Peterborough

Fotheringhay was an excellent stop.  Moored next to the bank, close to the exquisite village church.  Fotheringhay was made famous because of the incarceration of Mary Queen of Scotts, who was then beheaded in the village castle in 1587 and laid to rest in Peterborough Cathedral. 

Fotheringhay Mooring

Fotheringhay Church

Chugged to Peterborough Monday and tied up on the town quay. 

Town Quay

We have now changed our plans and intend to move onto the Fens (Middle Levels) and visit Whittlesey and March before starting our return trip.  Today (Tuesday) was spent sightseeing,  specifically the Cathedral and surrounding area.  The bad news is that the Beer Festival was last week.

Peterborough Cathedral

Tomorrow we move onto the Fens.

Heading Down the River Nene to Peterborough

Monday, 22 August, saw us setting off for Crick once again, to start a short trip to Peterborough.  Not that we are tight but having bought a Gold Licence this year we planned to make the most of it.  This time however we have a time scale to work to, Tasha goes to Birmingham Uni mid September so we have to be back for the farewells.

Low water, I know unbelievable after the summer we have had, means that restrictions are in place on most of the canal locks, so we chugged down to Watford Flight Monday afternoon expecting to have to hold off until Tuesday morning only to be told to go straight through.  One hour top to bottom, and in sunshine, never done it so quick before.  Moored up a couple of hundred yards after the lock.

Tuesday was a chug down to Gayton Marina area, we moored up near Bridge 41.  On the way down we saw nb Dee Jay.  They were very helpful to me (Flo) on our very first trip on a hire boat 2 years ago, which we used as a trial run when deciding whether to buy a boat.  It is certainly a very small community this canal village.  One thing that kept Ken muttering all day was the £10 charge for the flimsiest of keys to operate the electric locks and water points along the Nene.  Originally the plan was to buy two, in the expectation that I would almost certainly drop one in the river, but decided at £10 my love of snorkelling could well be used in that event.

Wednesday we went down through the Northampton Flight.  We picked up friends Tony and Jean at the bottom for a short ride and a few glasses of wine.  Ken did not plan that well as an extra pair of hands would have been a great help down the locks.  Still as the saying goes “wear the old ones out first”.  After dropping them off we went on to Cogenhoe.  We were lucky enough to find a nice meadowside mooring spot about 6pm.  Next morning saw us pass Welllingborough, Rushden, Higham and the Addingtons before stopping for the night by St Mary the Virgin church at Woodford. 

Whitworth's flour mill Wellingborough

Rushden's railway viaduct

Our mooring at Woodford

Friday the weather finally realised that we are out and about so it hissed down most of the day.  Left Woodford for Wadenhoe but only made it as far as Thrapson before giving up for the day.   Tomorrow is Fotheringhay and Peterborough the day after.

Journey's End

Lunch at The Butcher’s Arms in Priors Hardwick was excellent.  If you don’t know it give it a try, you won’t be disappointed, but be aware, it’s a restaurant rather than a pub and the price reflects this fact.

Had spoken to Justin (JG Marine Services) about the continuing issue with the water pump/water pressure and he’d agreed to cast an eye over the problem on Monday in Braunston. As it was forecast to be a warm and sunny weekend we decided to moor off Flecknoe for a few days and move to Braunston Monday morning.  It was the right decision, a little walking, much lazing around, the odd drink the Hungarian grand prix and test cricket against India.  What more can one ask for?

Braunston, Monday morning, and it took Justin 5 minutes to decide the new pump he’d installed on the 4^th June was the problem and needed replacing. Phil, from Wharf House chandlery arranged a special delivery of a new pump for next day and on arrival was fitted by Justin in minutes. Presently it seems to be working perfectly – the first time in 2 months, fingers crossed.

We had a lovely surprise whilst waiting for the pump on Tuesday morning.  We were moored in Fred’s pound just above the bottom lock when who should pass by but Sue, Tony, son David and grandson, out for a few days on nb Pendragon.  So while they moored up we made sure the refreshments were in order.  Pleasant hour or so followed in very warm sunshine – the novelty of good weather has not yet worn off!!

Chugging up to Crick next day we entered Crick tunnel in sunshine and left it in pouring rain, arriving in our marina ten minutes later.

We left for Bristol on the 1^st June and arrived back 3^rd August. We’d travelled 394 miles, negotiated 342 locks, and opened/closed 60 lift/swing bridges.

All in all it’s not been a bad trip.  We’re planning travelling to Peterborough down the river Nene in September, so for now we’re signing off – see you then, bye.

Crick's in Sight

Yes, I know, it’s been some time since the last blog, but that’s the way it goes.  Blogging’s not my thing but it’s one way of keeping in touch and letting everyone know that all’s well.

As you can see from the previous blog we were on the K&A,  well we’ve moved on some since then.  We left the mooring shown in the pic and headed straight for the Thames, turned north, moored for the night in Reading before proceeding to Abingdon, where we stayed for a couple of days before heading for Oxford.

We decided to use Duke’s Cut to leave the Thames for the Oxford Canal.  This was the first time we had used this route and was fine until we arrived at Duke’s Cut lock and found that the exit gate would not open fully due to trapped branches etc, between the open gate and the lock wall.  Took some time to clear before we could move on.

  

Safely through we chugged to Thrupp.  By now the weather had changed for the better and the forecast was great.  Thrupp has some excellent moorings and we were lucky to find one that allowed a 7 day stay, and only 100 yds from the well known Boat Inn.  We stayed 4 days; had two excellent walks of around eight miles each, visiting Woodstock close to Blenhiem Palace and discovering the village of Hampton Gay, which though very small, has a really interesting history.

 We are presently moored about a mile south of Cropredy famous for the Battle of Cropredy (1644) and an annual folk festival hosted by Fairport Convention, due to happen in a week or so.

 Tomorrow we are heading for bridge 124, close to Priors Hardwick and the Butcher’s Arms, where we plan to have lunch on Friday. If you read the blog about our trip with Jayne, Carl, Oliver and Tash you will know about our previous visit to this eating place.

 That’s it for now.  Hope to make Braunston for the weekend and meet the engineer on Monday, to try and fix the water pump system.  Yes you’re right, still isn’t working properly.

Rained Off

We managed to find a decent mooring last night in the middle of nowhere, on the River Kennet.

 River Kennet mooring

It's day three of the Open and it's raining hard - so the obvious thing is not to move on, but stay, moored up, watch the tv and hope it's a little drier tomorrow. 

Burghfield Mill is three quarters of a mile down stream of our mooring, with the outskirts of Reading just out of sight. When we move on tomorrow we've 5 miles to go before joining the Thames. We expect tomorrow to be a long day, to include a Tesco stop plus watering up etc.  Five locks will takes us through Reading and onto the Thames, then heading north through Pangbourne, Goring and with some luck finding a mooring at Wallingford. Unfortunately it seems as though it's due to rain for most of the day, and to be honest it can be pretty miserable when that happens.

Took the following pic when moored at Kintbury - boating as it used to be.

That's it for now - must get back to the Open.

Kintbury

Presently moored just west of Newbury at Kintbury.  Had lunch at the Dundas Arms, which overlooks Kintbury lock, followed by a stroll round the village.  People we’ve met seem to rate the DA but we found it an ordinary pub with a very overpriced menu.

The last blog saw us at Seend Cleeve; since then we have travelled back up the Caen flight, past Devizes, through the Vale of Pewsey, stayed for two days in Hungerford, before arriving at Kintbury this morning.

The Vale of Pewsey is probably one of the most scenic parts of the whole trip.  Rolling chalk hills, two white horses, medieval hill forts and plenty of rights of way.  We had planned to spend days here walking and enjoying the countryside, but due to the shortcomings of the K&A moorings our plans never materialised. 

The K&A has fundamental problems in two areas directly affecting visitors such as ourselves.  Firstly there is a lack of visitor’s moorings over very long stretches of the canal and secondly there’s a large number of so called ‘casual cruisers’ that do not abide by the rules, and are obviously not casual cruisers at all.  Where there are visitor’s mooring it is not uncommon to find them in use by these so-called casual cruisers, who also seem to want to take over the whole towpath at the same time.  As a result many areas that visitors would like to stop at are unsightly, and are positively discouraged from stopping.  Everyone we have talked to complains about the issue, and in the majority of cases are quite adamant, that they will never return to the K&A.

Hungerford was an enjoyable stop.  A small town straddling the canal, full of antique shops.. Having complained in the above paragraph, we were lucky to find a good mooring and to cap it off it was warm and dry.

Hungerford canal side.

Tomorrow we pass Newbury, hoping to moor close to Thatcham, and move onto the Thames the day after.

Turn round at Bristol

Well, it’s now just over a week since our last blog and in that time we have chugged to down the River Avon to Bristol, back to Bath and are now moored at Seend Cleeve.  A walk had been planned  from SC followed by the climb back up the Caen flight, but the weather has turned for the worse so we intend to stay here for a day or two.

We left the last blog heading for the Dundas Aqueduct and travelling onto Bath, which we had decided to pass by and visit on the return trip.  Once at Bath you leave the Kennet & Avon Canal and move onto the River Avon.  This changes the feel of the journey completely as the Avon is much wider, has cleaner water flow, as rivers tend to have as they are somewhat deeper and free flowing, lovely scenery and locks that are at least 2 feet wider than doubles on canals.  We took 2 days for the journey, though most people tend to complete the journey in a full day primarily as there is a lack of decent moorings.

We stayed for 2 nights in Bristol.  There is a mooring charge, based on the length of stay and the size of your boat.  Ours was £39.  We felt it’s certainly worth visiting the floating harbour (the term given to Bristol harbour), which was a commercially working harbour until the 1970s.  One thing worth mentioning, on the return run down the Avon, close to Keynsham lock, we were lucky enough to see an Osprey perched on a branch by the river, obviously fishing.

Pics of Bristol Harbour:

We thoroughly enjoyed Bristol before moving back down the Avon to Bath.  We had visited Bath many years ago but still spent a day, in the sun, strolling the alley ways; I (Ken), enjoying an all day full English, we followed that by a drink in Bath’s smallest pub, later cream teas in the Parade Gardens whilst listening to the Chippenham brass band, and then a jug of Pimm’s as we watched the tourist (mainly Japanese) do their thing. 

Pulteney Bridge, Bath

We left Bath on the 4^th July worried about a change of weather for the worse and a planned close of the Caen flight to repair lock 29.  We’d also heard that diesel at Hilperton was the cheapest on the K&A and planned a stop.  What a stop.  We mentioned to the engineer of a problem with our water pump, yes you’re right it still hasn’t been fixed properly, when it was discovered that we had serious problems with our batteries.  I won’t bore you with the details only to say we left two hours later over £500 the poorer.

Seen in a cemetary in Bath:

Sat at Seend Cleeve and it’s raining. 

Wilcot, Devizes, Caen Hill Locks and onto Bradford-on-Avon

This is one of those unusual days for the K&A.  Travelling from Wilcot to Devizes there are 3 swing bridges, but guess what? there are no locks,  for 11 miles the K&A is lock free. We arrived at Devizes Wharf just after mid-day and were lucky enough to find a mooring behind Noel & Carol on Willy Nilly.

 Devizes proved to be worth a visit. We toured the streets, as one does, and then spent some time in The Pelican, a pub in the town square.  The landlady had been in situ for 45 years having taken on the role from her parents.  It’s a very “locals” pub,  friendly, and with an  interest in 60/70s music which was constantly played on the juke box.

 The aim was to leave before 8am next day (Friday,) as we had 30 locks to pass through ,which included the Caen Hill flight of 19 locks one above another.

 

 We were lucky, on reaching the top of the flight we met Joe and Fe (nb Broadleaf) who joined us for the run to the bottom.

Joe’s super fit and was running from lock to lock, backwards and forwards and, according to Fe, loving every minute. It certainly made life easier for Flo, though she tried really hard to keep up with him.  Thanks Joe.  Top lock to bottom lock, Devizes to Sells Green,  with a break for a drink, five & half hours.  Not bad.

Saturday saw us reach Bradford-on-Avon.  We moored 10 mins walk from the Cross Guns pub by the Avoncliff aqueduct.  If you’ve never been to B on A do stop, you won’t be disappointed: the Barton Grange Farm; which includes a magnificient tithe barn, the lock-up on the town bridge; the Saxon church and the award winning Victorian tea rooms, are all worth a try, followed by a stroll along the River Avon. Which all took place in sunshine and warm temperature, that in itself a great novelty.

One thing of interest, to us at least, was on the wall of a building that in its day was a brewery store, a figurehead of Bacchus.

Monday saw us move on towards Bath, still with sunshine, crossing the Dundas Aqueduct and mooring at Bathampton just before it rained.  Back to normal then.

Journey to Wilcot

Sunday morning left Woolhampton for Newbury.  Along the way paired up with Carol & Noel on board Willy Nilly.  As all the locks on the K&A are doubles it helps to share the load and also speeds up the journey.  I’ve inserted a pic of Monkey Marsh lock – one of only two turf side locks now in existence, as you can see the lock does not have sides above the high water mark and the water washes onto the side sloping bank.  Very strange, and not easy to manage. 

We were looking forward to Newbury as we hoped to surprise friends Mike & Emma, two Aussies that have lived in the UK for about 10 years.  We arrived early afternoon and after failing to raise them by phone we decided to visit their home and leave a note to say we tried to contact them.  The route to their house was one we had never used before and incredibly we met them cycling to their local.  How lucky were we?  A quick visit to show them Bacchus (see pic), we then retired to the Lock, Stock and Barrel next to Newbury Bridge.  A few drinks,  bite to eat, good company and plans to meet again on our return journed.  A very pleasant evening.

 The journey from Newbury to Kintbury on Monday was straight forward; we were lucky enough to double up with Malcolm & Linda aboard Canality J’Aime (see pic). 

Evening visitor

Tuesday was a long day.  Eighteen locks and 10 miles without seeing anyone else going our way.  Passing through Hungerford, Little & Great Bedwyn before finding an excellent mooring at Crofton Pumping Station and discovering Willy Nilly (Carol & Noel) in the next mooring.  Agreed to pair up next day and travel together to Pewsey.

Wednesday saw us leaving Crofton in tandem with Carol and Noel.  Talk about slow and interesting journey.  Firstly a boat adrift across the canal, hire boat moored up for the night in the lock layby  and still there, another having breakfast in the next lock, all locks slow filling and leaking like a sieve and the icing on the cake it poured with rain.  The picture shows Noel’s attemp at plugging the gap in the lock gate!! 

We wanted to moor at Knowle, but due to all the visitor moorings being in use, and not, I believe, by visitors, we moved on to Wilcot. Tomorrow Devizes.

Oliver Cromwell

Just after uploading today's blog the steam train Oliver Cromwell passed by on its return journey.  The pic was taken from the stern of Bacchus as the train flashed by. Enjoy.

Kennet & Avon

In the four days since we last blogged we’ve chugged from Wallingford, on the Thames to Woolhampton, on the Kennet & Avon Canal.  It’s now Saturday and we’ve decided to stay at Woolhampton for the day as heavy rain is forecast.

 Wallingford (see previous blog) was an excellent stop and Flo wanted to stay for an extra day and relax on the bank, taking in the sun.  The problem was that the long term weather forecast was grim, we were planning each day the night before, and unfortuately there was only one reasonable day left before the rain came back.  So, on Wednesday we set off heading for the K&A.

 The journey was straight forward all the way to Reading, stopping at the Tesco moorings to stock up, before turning right onto the K&A.  If you’re wondering why we didn’t stop anywhere on the way it was because we’d done the Thames last year and stopped at most of the recommemded places, such as Goring, etc.

 This is our first time on this canal and turning into Reading is not an impressive start, and certainly does not encourage you to stop.  Passing through the old and eventually reaching the newer shopping complex it’s obvious that Reading is not interested in inviting boaters to visit the town.  The first lock on on K&A is a little strange in so much as the lock mechanism is operated by what can only be described as a metal ships wheel.  No key or other locking required so you can imagine the fun kids must have emptying and filling the lock (see pic).  There is an interesting set of canal traffic lights that you need to activate before you can proceed through the Brewery Cut,  the canal is very narrow, the flow is strong, and each way is ‘one way traffic’.

 

 We had met a guy early in the day on the Thames that told us that he had nearly been sunk at Fobney Lock due to the pressure of water when filling the lock.  He warned us to open the paddles very slowly, only a couple of clicks.  The problem seems to be that the locks on the first section of the K&A only have gate paddles, resulting in an extremely strong a dangerous surge of water if opened to fully, too quickly.  He was so right, Flo opened one paddle 2 clicks only and the water spout shot 5 feet into the air.  Any boat’s bow near the front of the lock would have been filled in seconds.  White water boating was to be the order of all the following locks.  They also leak like buggery and even though gallons of water spurt in it still takes forever to fill, seems longer when you are trying to hold the boat still.  Moored for the night just passed the lock.

 Before moving off on Thursday we spent some time trying to source a spare Thetfored cassette waste water tank.  The idea was to order from a chandlery down stream and pick up on passing.  It sounded easy, but after ringing numerous marina/chandlers we were not achieving anything so decided to chugg on after the rain had stopped.  We reached Garston Lock, the only remaining turf sided chamber on the system, where we met a guy called Mick Hammond who is travelling with his wife to Brinklow on the Oxford.  Flo asked him if he new of a likely chandlery to find a tank.  We couldn’t have met a more helpful person, it transpired that Mick is the manager of Frouds Bridge Marina, less than a day’s travel away, and he grabbed his mobile, rang his marina and had one ordered for delivery by lunch next day.  Many thanks Mick.

 The railway is a constant companion on this part of the canal and we were lucky enough to see the steam train ‘Oliver Cromwell ’ pass pulling around 8 original carriages.  We came across our first scalloped-sided lock yesterday, one of two so far.  They are really quite pretty, if one can have a pretty lock. (see pic). 

 

 It’s now Saturday, moored at Woolhampton before racing the rain to Newbury tomorrow.   We cannot have had all our summer sunshine, it must come back soon!!!

Wallingford

The day was planned, but like all good plans sometimes they don’t always run smoothly.  The first stop was Clifton Hampden, the idea was to walk round the village and then have lunch at The Plough, before chugging to Dorchester and mooring for the night.  The village was small, full of thatched cottages, very picturesque, but guess what?  It was Monday and The Plough (which has a Chinese restaurant)  just happened to close on Monday lunchtimes.  So we settled for a hot sausage roll from the local post office. 

The next stop was Dorchester where we wanted to stay the night and complete a circular walk next day.  We couldn’t find a suitable mooring anywhere, so that plan  was also ditched and we decided to continue until something interesting showed its face.

And something did.  Wallingford was reached, and though the town moorings above the bridge were taken we found an excellent bank pitch (see pics) after the bridge and opposite the rowing club house.  Bonus also being free of mooring charges. 

If you have never been to Wallingford it is well worth a stop to investigate,  its small enough to walk round, at least 4 pubs, one hotel, selection of eating establishments, and plenty of  interesting old buildings and to cap it all only minutes from the river.  Waitrose sits easily in town and handy enough for carrying bags back to the boat.

The  morning was spent strolling round town followed by lunch in a riverside pub then a casual afternoon enjoying the sun on the riverbank.  We had company on the bank that kept rubbing their noses on the mooring spikes.  They were so friendly that when they ambled by you could touch them quite easily.  Did wonder whether Murray should be worried next week.

The forecast is for rain on Thursday and the following 2 days, so tomorrow it's down to Reading and onto the Kennet & Avon.

Clear Run to Oxford

 Left 214 early for Oxford to give ourselves a  chance of finding a reasonable mooring.  Run down was uneventful; only rained once, just as we were approaching Thrupp services.  As most boaters will know there are many lift bridges from here down to Isis Lock, some heavier than others, and to make things even more interesting BW has now placed locking devices on some which holds them in the closed position.  A BW key is required and connot be removed until the bridge is re-closed.  A real pain.

 Arrived in Oxford early PM and found an excellent mooring just after Osney Bridge (the lowest bridge span on the Thames) and only 10 mins from the town centre.

 Spent Friday in Oxford,  moving down to Abingdon on Saturday.  Moored next to Abingdon Bridge (see pic, Bacchus is closest to the arch).  The met office have forecast rain all day tomorrow, at least 7 hours, so we have decided to “ride out the storm,” as they say, complete with a book and a bottle of wine, and depart Monday.

Plan for Monday is to visit the village of  Clifton Hampden and then moor close to Day’s Lock.  Our intention is to spend Tuesday walking and visiting Dorchester.

Days of Strong Winds & Rain

 Strong winds all the way to Cropedy, arrived early and were lucky to find the last mooring near the bridge.  Stayed overnight and left early for Banbury. 
 
Passing this way last year one of my (Ken) caps came off and we had to find a dentist in Banbury to fix it – well guess what?  the same cap came off during our stay in Cropedy and we needed to book with the same dentist.

Tuesday morning all shopping completed and tooth restuck we decided to move on, even though the forecast was for rain on and off all day.  Passed through Aynho and made it as far as Chisnell lift bridge, number 193, and stopped for the night.  Good mooring.  Lucky enough to see a pair of sedge warblers flying in and out of the long grasses on the bank to feed their young.

Rain showers seem to be forecast for the rest of the week so we need to be prepared for the worst and just get on with it.  Today is Wednesday, we chugged passed Upper & Lower Heyford and stopped for the night just close to bridge 214.  Nice mooring, enough room for 2 boats, we used it last year on the way back from the Thames. 

The plan is to leave early tomorrow for Oxford to give us a good chance of finding a mooring.

Total Frustation

Saturday 4th June - still no signal

The pump was not delivered to the chandlery on Thursday due to a communication blip as a result of  a lost mobile message.  Phil, from Wharf House Chandlery, saved the day by ordering a pump to arrive on Friday by  special delivery. It arrived on cue and was  fitted by Justin of JG Marine Services. 

 Saturday, after 3 frustating days we then left the Nelson pound at Braunston and headed south.  Guess what? On reaching Napton on the Hill bottom lock the new pump started to play up and we thought “what a balls up,” we  rang Justin for advise and requested  a quick visit to sort us out.  It turned out that Justin was in Stafford for the weekend and wasn’t available until Monday lunchtime.  He suggested we try increasing the pressure in the  accumulator by a few pounds at a time until it  worked.  Though there is a delay when water is requested it now seems to work and  we have decided to test it over the next 24 hours.

 Presently moored above a very windy Napton top lock – aiming for Cropedy tomorrow.

Start of the Journey

Stayed at Crick for 4 nights during the show before starting off for our summer chug to Bristol.  The show seems to have been more  successful than last year, with many of the exhibitors happy having done more business in the first 2 days than they did in 3 days last year.   More exhibition boats on show with William  Piper Boats winning “best in show.”  Of course being Crick the weather had to play its part and Monday showed us how it could rain, so that kept the numbers down.  Still it was good fun catching up with friends and sinking a few bottles of wine. 

We’re having some trouble with the water pump which we are unable to solve and have decided to stop at the Wharfe Chandlery at the bottom lock at Braunston.  Spoke to them on the phone and explained the problem; they have agreed to order the spares for delivery on Thursday. 

Tuesday saw us feeling a bit stir crazy,  Flo suggested we leave and slowly proceed to Braunston.  Arrived at the Watford locks around 3.30pm, passed through at 7.30pm and moored for the night.  Next day (Wednesday),  chugged to Braunston and stopped in the pound next to the Nelson where we hope the engineer will meet us tomorrow to fix the pump.

Oliver's Big Catch

Scott said Oliver wanted to fish the canal, so we chugged up the Leicester Arm towards the Welford turn and stopped for the fishing.  The journey up was pleasant, the sun shone, and Oliver got the hang of the two way radios and continually gave the orders from the bow.

Waiting for a bite

Hook's stuck, let's hope Scott can remove it.

 All's ok - another successful catch.

A good day's fishing. Scott tried to hit bridge 11 on the way back but we managed to persuade him not to.  We must do it again Oliver.

Aynho and Back

It's been some time since there was a new post, but hopefully things should start getting back to normal.

We recently chugged down to Aynho in tandem with daughter and family. They hired a Black Prince from Wigrams Marina and we travelled down from Crick marina to meet them at their pick-up point.  The plan was to travel southwards along the Oxford for 3 days and then turn around and head home.

First night stop was bridge 124 - we decided that a stroll to Priors Hardwick and have dinner in the Butcher's Arms. And what a plan, we discovered that the BA was not any old village pub but a village pub that over the years has become a first class restaurant. We could go on for some time on how the owner found us a table (a table for six that is) when they were obviously fully booked, personally ensured we were looked after throughout the night, etc, but we won't.  Suffice to say we recommend it, but be prepared to hear many a story about who has been there, not to mention the owner's invite to "the wedding": http://www.thebutchersarms.com/

Second night Cropredy and third Aynho.  Some pics to meet the family:

Jayne (daughter)

 Oliver (grandson)

Tash (resident figurehead

Captain Carl



Return journey stops were Banbury fourth night, Fenny Wharf and then Braunston.

The last day, Friday, we chugged up through Braunston tunnel to Norton Junction, stopped for a sloe gin (see pic) and said our farewells, we moved up the Leicester Arm back to Crick and Jayne, Carl, Tash & Oliver returned to Napton Junction for their last night.

   End of a great week

Back to Crick

Monday night was cold, so cold that we woke to ice on the canal.  The day started sunny and warmed up quickly, but still cold enough to require coats, woolly hats and gloves.

We decided to aim for Crick by Thursday, with our first stop at Hillmorton Locks, second Norton Junction then home.  The sun shone all day and the chug down to Hillmorton was the best for days,  on arrival we met a guy who said that the weather was going to deteriorate, and there would be gale force winds by Thursday.Flo suggested we might consider continuing towards Braunston, then an early start on Wednesday and heading back into Crick by Wednesday evening.  This was sensible as under high winds Crick marina is a bugger to negotiate.

We plan on spending a couple of days living on the boat to do services and general cleaning.  All part of the joy of boating.

This is us signing off now until our next outing, which should be with the family up towards Banbury and back in April.

Ashby and back to Hawkesbury Junction

It's been 4 days since our last blog due a lack of a decent signal, so let's catch up.  We spent half a day looking round Coventry, visiting  the cathedral and Spon Street, but not much else to say about it, although the Basin itself is very good mooring and probably very colourful in the summer when more boats are about.  Just short of Hawkesbury Junction we were delayed for 45 minutes as BW were electrically stunning fish for removal to re-stock a local reservoir that had been emptied. See Pics. 

Chugged back down and turned on to the Ashby Canal, spending the night moored near Burton Hastings before going on up to Shenton, visiting the station and Bosworth Field visitor's centre.

Next day, to the top of the Ashby Canal at Snarestone before turning round and returning to Shenton for the night.  Now, the 7th, back at Hawkesbury Junction, visted the Greyhound again and this time tried the Lock Keeper's grill. What a plateful and  once more can can certainly recommend it.

Good to see some sunshine today hope it lasts for tomorrow's chug to Hillmorton Locks.

 Mooring at Coventry Basin