WHAT DAY IS IT ???

 

And that’s what I woke up this morning thinking, I couldn’t remember if it was Thursday or Friday. This is what happens when you drift along at 2mph, the days just merge together. As it turned out it was Saturday, where has this week gone?

We started on Tuesday moored below the first lock of the Long Buckby flight, with 6 more locks to do. As we prepared to set off NB Teal passed us, as did a group of volunteer lockee’s. Great, thought I someone to go down the locks with, and helpers to boot.

I walked to the first lock and made polite conversation with the lockee’s. Teal had a large crew on board, so once both boats were in the lock and its crew were happy to lock both boats down I walked down to set the next lock. This made easy work of the remaining 6 locks.

Our aim was to get to Weedon Bec and to the pub (of course), there are2 pubs, The Heart of England which is right by the canal, and the Wheat Sheaf a short walk away. We tried the Heart first, no darks on but we weren’t surprised, its a Marston’s pub and has an extensive food menu with different offers on every night. We have eaten here before and the food was good but we were not eating out tonight. The Captain had to make do with lager. Then we walked down to the Wheat Sheaf, and although there was a Camden stout on the bar the Captain was still out of luck as they had run out so lager again. The pub is a little scruffy and could do with some tlc but the beer was good. After a quick shop at the Tesco express opposite we headed back to the boat and a quiet evening.

It rained heavily during the night, I love the sound of the rain on the boat, its quite soothing. The rain was meant to clear by mid morning next day but it really didn’t and after only 6 miles the Captain had had enough and we moored up just before Gayton Junction and the Northampton arm of the GU. We have been down this arm in the past and there are 16 narrow locks which take you down to Northampton itself. From here you can drop down onto the River Nene and do what is known as the Mid Levels, a trip we still have to do.

There are boater services at the junction and we stopped to drop some rubbish off, a wide beam was on the water point but it wasn’t until I returned from the bins that I realised it was an old friends boat, Steve Jay. We haven’t seen him for ages so we had a long chat and got caught up on all the gossip.

Eventually we said our goodbyes and headed for the village of Blisworth and the Blisworth Tunnel, its the 3rd longest tunnel on the system at 3075yrds and extremely wet in places. It opened in 1805 after the second attempt to build it, the 1st attempt in 1800 failed and a tramway was built over Blisworth Hill. The goods were unloaded and transported by horse and cart over the hill to boats waiting at the other side to continue their journey to London.

It was very wet, not surprisingly after all the rain we had had, and we followed a hire boat through which meant it took us a little longer than usual.

Our day wasn’t done yet, as just after the tunnel is Stoke Bruerne, considered to be the spiritual home of boater’s, it has a canal museum, 2 pubs and an Indian restaurant.

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

Its most famous resident was Sister Mary Ward, she dedicated her life offering free medical care to the boat people and was awarded on BEM in 1951 and appeared on This is Your Life in 1959.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoke_Bruerne#History

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ward_(nurse)

The 2 pubs are the Boat which sits above the first lock, and the Navigation which is just below the lock. But we weren’t stopping to try either so set off down the 7 locks. We had help at the first 2 but then we were on our own, not a problem for a pair of old pros like us. At the last but one lock I got chatting to 2 lovely ladies walking a dog, and with the Captains permission I offered them a ride down the lock, one accepted gladly but the other stayed with the dog.

We decided to moor up not far after the last lock and had another peaceful night.

We had an almost lock free stretch before us. The weather had improved and we cruised the 5miles to Cosgrove next day. The aim was to go to the pub, The Barley Mow. We found lovely moorings opposite the pub and after a late lunch we headed out to sample the beer. To get to the pub we had to use the horse tunnel that takes you under the canal. It was very low and narrow and the Captain had to be careful not to bump his head, I even ducked, even though I had plenty of room. The pub was lovely and had a selection of real ales but unfortunately, as usual, nothing dark to suit the Captain, so for a change he had Guinness zero, which I must admit is very palatable and I had Madri. The food menu looked good to.

The Horse Tunnel

A single lock next day and I thought I would get rid of some rubbish at the boaters services, but what a sight met my eyes, the large industrial bins were overflowing and there was bags of rubbish all over the floor, I decided my rubbish could wait as I didn’t want to add to the mess. The Captain emailed CRT (Canal and River Trust) informing them of the issue, so hopefully they will get it sorted sooner rather than late. They really need to keep on top of these things, but also boaters need to report issues when they occur, its a 2 way street.

We stopped at Wolverton to do some shopping, there is an Asda, Tesco and Lidl all within walking distance of the canal, however it does included a number of steps so maybe not so good for disabled boaters. The moorings in Wolverton are ok but very hemmed in by buildings, so after shopping we decided to find somewhere a bit nicer and of course we ended up at a pub, The Black Horse. We moored right outside the pub and gave it a try. Once again no darks on for the Captain so we had Prahva instead, it was lovely sat outside in the sun watching the world go by.

During the last couple of days of the cruise we had people running past the boat at all hours of the day and night, it turned out these brave (or stupid) people were taking part in an ultra race, which meant they had 100hrs to run 250miles, which was a circular route taking in the Thames, Grand Union canal and the Oxford canal. Absolutely mad in my opinion but each to their own. Out of the 39 runners who started 9 actually finished including 1 woman. The overall winner was Colin Crowhurst who completed it in 74 ½ hours, and then went on to run the London Marathon 2 days later in 4hrs 13min. MAD, that’s all I am saying

The Route

https://challenge-running.com/thames-ring-250/

Thats all Folks, for now.

27miles, 13locks, 1tunnel 3057yrds long.