THE FIRST LOCK OF THE YEAR

Happy Times

The blog is back.

Yes we have set off for our summer cruise, but first I will update you on the winter months.

Most of you will know I don’t write a blog in the winter as we don’t move, so there is not a lot I can talk about, apart from work, what’s going on around the wharf, visitors and our visits to family. None of which are really cruising related.

I will say, work has been a joy this year, and I was very sorry to leave, which I did at the end of March, a little early this year as we took a trip to Budapest, the capital of Hungary for 4 nights. It is an amazing city, with beautiful architecture, stunning parks and amazing memorials. We found great food, and of course beer whilst we were there. We also took a busman's holiday by doing a night time cruise down the Danube, really the only way to see the city at night, with many of the landmarks lit up and looking stunning from the boat.

The Parliament Building

On our return we took a couple of shake down cruises, firstly with my cousins Gary and Toni down to Hawkesbury Junction, were after a couple of pints in the Greyhound we had a lovely (if I say so myself) Sunday lunch on the boat. Then a trip down to Coventry basin with the Captains daughter and grand-kid's and lunch in Playwrights also in the basin, which I would highly recommend.

https://www.facebook.com/PlaywrightsCafe/

Now onto our plans for this years cruise which is going to be split in half, as we will be returning to our home mooring in Coventry at end of June to head off for a big ship, and a cruise round the Adriatic and Mediterranean. We did the Caribbean last year for the Captains birthday and decided since we enjoyed the experience so much we would do another.

So the first half of our cruise is to London, were we will stay for about a week and hopefully take in a west end show. On our return from the Med we are heading north, probably Lincoln and Boston before our annual cruise up the Erewash in time for family birthdays. We have to be back at Swan Lane wharf by the end of September for our dear friends Col and Mags wedding, where the Captain is the best man.

Our cruise to London will take us down the Coventry to Hawkesbury Junction before we go through the stop lock (hence the title of this episode) and onto the North Oxford, through Rugby, the 3 locks at Hillmorton and Braunston where we will turn onto the main line of the Grand Union canal to London.

As I have already said, we have already set off, our first, night was spent in Coventry basin and we met up for a pint or 6 with Col and Mags, it was a great night and we ended up in the Windmill, a great pub for real ale in Coventry.

Col and |Mags

Next day we travelled down to Hawkesbury and through the stop lock. As we put in water I walked round to the lock, and with the help of a very nice volunteer lock keeper set it for us, but we were pipped at the post as NB Cariad got there first, its Captain was most apologetic for stealing our lock, but it wasn’t a problem, we met him again when we moored at Rugby and he reiterated that he hadn’t meant to nick it, but I assured him again it wasn’t a problem. We moored for the night just past the lock and for the second night went for farewell drinks, this time with Keith and Andrew.

Next day and our journey began in earnest. But it wasn’t long before disaster struck. I decided after my morning walk I would bake some breakfast muffins. I put them in the oven only to find out the gas bottle was empty, I wasn’t bothered by this as it was due to run out. The Captain pulled over and swapped onto what we thought was a full bottle and I tried again. Still no gas. Bugger. We soon worked out that he had forgotten to swap the empty bottle with the full bottle which was in the coal store back at the wharf. So no muffins for us or really any tea, as I was planning to cook chicken fajitas. I knew I could use my air fryer and we could get by but it put my plans for meals in disarray. We made it to Rugby by late afternoon and luckily we knew there was a pub there, the Bell and Barge, which turned out to be a Harvester so we went out for tea.

Unfortunately with it being a bank holiday weekend we didn’t know if any of the boatyards on our route would be open, the first one we tried, Clifton Cruisers wasn’t, and the second, Braunston Marina didn’t answer the phone which didn’t bode well.

Next day as I walked to Hillmorton locks I decided to give the second boatyard another ring, and luckily this time very very nice lady answered, and I was pleased to find out they were open until 4 and also 10 til 4 the next day, and yes they had gas. Yippee.

I reported back to the Captain and he decided that we could last until the next day, which meant we could moor just before Braunston rather than trying to find moorings in this very popular spot.

But before this we had Hillmorton locks to do. These are 3 single side by side locks and claim to be the busiest on the system.

https://www.hillmortonlocks.co.uk/

And it did seem they were busy as we approached the bottom lock. I jumped off early with my trusty windlass and walkie talkie to go and see what was occurring. There was a boat in one coming down and a boat in front of us waiting to go into the other lock. Me being my helpful self I went to see what I could do. However as I started to help the boat coming down I was told very sharply not to as they were showing their friend how to do the locks, the boat coming up was the same but not quite so rude about it. So I stood back and let them get on with it. It didn’t take us to long to do the 3 locks and we were on our way to Braunston, it was a lovely afternoon for cruising and we spotted a Red Kite being harassed by a couple of crows.

We picked up a bottle of gas next day, the price nearly gave the Captain a heart attack £60!! but need must and maybe next time we will remember to check them before we set off.

https://braunstonmarina.co.uk/

And onto the 6 Braunston locks, these are double locks and we were lucky enough to share them with a hire boat with crew on board. It worked well as it meant I could go ahead and set the next lock, whilst their crew looked after the one the boats were in. It mizzled (fine rain) the whole time so we got a bit wet, but not too bad.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/canals-and-rivers/places-to-visit/braunston

After the 6 locks is Brauston tunnel, 2042yrds long and 2 way working, it was the second tunnel of the cruise, the first being Newbold tunnel which is actually more like a long bridge at only 250yrds. The Captain hates meeting other boats in tunnels because its always in the worst place but on this occasion it was fine and we glided past without any problems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braunston_Tunnel

We moored up for the night after the first lock on the Buckby flight and headed to the pub, the New Inn which unfortunately was closed, should have remembered this pub does close on a Monday.

33 miles, 11 locks, 2292yrds in 2 tunnels