Voyage Of Discovery

Having had a rather hectic schedule back in London and a day trip to Glasgow for me (!), Sue and I arrived back on board Tempranillo on Saturday and decided to gather ourselves together by relaxing in Crick Marina until Sunday morning.

But first, Sue had to feed the friendly Swans












As the sun set we thought we should wish ourselves a safe voyage over supper in the stern deck.

Sunday morning we set off after fueling up and headed through Crick Tunnel. I was a bit more confident this time and was more prepared for oncoming boats.

As always, our trusty tiller pin accompanied us as we descended again the lock flight near Watford Gap Services and Sue remembered "Red Afore White and you'll be alright..."

With the red paddle open first about two thirds of the water in each lock is saved and used again next fill. The water can be seen below flowing into a side pound.

These locks are only just the width of one narrow beam boat and not much more.

Not a lot of room for error either side!!!











After leaving Watford Flight Sue thought she was in for a restful time but about 40 minutes later we arrived at Norton Junction where the Leicester Arm joins the mainline Grand Union Canal. Turning left to head south we rapidly approached a queue if boats waiting to enter the top lock of the Buckby Flight of 7 more locks. We were number 4 in the queue but fortunately these lock are wide enough to take 2 boats side by side. We paired up with Foxhunter captained by Craig. Sue worked the locks with Stacey and his mate who's name I didn't get but it could have been 'Lurch'.
Perhaps at this stage I should mention that this trip turned out to be rather eventful, to say the least. We met some "interesting" characters along the way, the crew of Foxhunter being the first 3.
It took the best part of 2 hours to pass through this flight ending up at the bottom lock to be greeted by a massive spider's web.

After all these locks the canal meanders between the M1 and the main electrified railway line connecting London with the North East, but not another lock for miles. We decided to moor up for the night after a couple of miles and then enjoy the lock-free cruise the next day.
It was a lovely evening as we sat and enjoyed candlelit steak and salad on the rear deck with a glass or two of Tempranillo.
As it was getting dark the peace and tranquillity on the canal was shattered by some abusive language echoing across the water. It was too dark to see much but it went quiet for a few moments before there was suddenly a knock on the front of our boat.
"Please can you help me?" came a very weepy and distressed female voice out of the darkness.
I grabbed my torch and shone it in the direction of the voice. There stood a very wet and disheveled female in tears. She was claiming that her boyfriend had pushed her off his boat into the canal and wouldn't have her back.
Moments later a beam of light sinisterly hovered over the water behind us....could it be 'him' and his boat?
It was. He then slowly sailed past us muttering his name and where he was from and telling us to call the Police...I won't bore you with the details but the excitement eventually ended over 2 hours later with a Paramedic and 2 Policemen taking a very distressed and manic female away down the towpath, and Sue having given a written statement to the Police.

The next day dawned and the sun was shining again. We were looking forward to a lovely slow cruise where we could enjoy the surrounding countryside.

Must have been a high tide last night as we passed a stranded barge in a field.

The next major event on our journey was to be Blisworth Tunnel, the third longest tunnel open to navigation in Britain.

I will continue this tale in my next update later this week.