Busy Day Again

Today we were woken up at 7am by two old work boats passing by in close proximity. A very recognisable deep 'throbbing' from the old piston engines. By the time I was awake enough to realise what was happening and able to grab my camera, they were past us and approaching the lock ahead of us.

We got ourselves organised and about 2 hours later, just as I put the kettle on, we spied our fellow lock companions from yesterday approaching, so we quickly cast off to share the water as we passed through Bascote Locks and beyond. A lovely stretch of canal which crosses both a railway line and the River Avon on aqueducts. We stayed together until reaching Royal Leamington Spa where they, Lesley and Mike (Ottawa) decided they had had enough. Not sure if it was us or whether they just didn't want to go any further. However they had to turn round at some point and go back as they only had a week for cruising.

The highlight of the day was a gathering of Police and men in dark suits in unmarked vans. We saw them approach a tented area which, given my experiences of working with the late Philip Madoc playing Police Inspector Bain for many series of "A Mind To Kill" suggested to me that a body had been found in the woods adjacent to the canal and the men in dark suits were about to collect it. But what do I know?
Just before the above incident happened we were overtaken, because I was emptying the toilet cassette, (these things have to be done as and when the opportunity arises) by an unusual craft that we had seen yesterday. It is the oldest known conversion of an original horse drawn working boat and dates back to the 1930's. She is called 'Elizabeth'.

Apparently she is unique...and so were its owners. Didn't stop arguing all the time we were close to them. Lovely sounding 'throb' to the engine though.

Up ahead of us we knew that Hatton locks were beckoning. 21 locks climbing ever upwards so we thought we should take a break for lunch before attempting them. Or maybe we should not start until tomorrow? Our guidebook suggested that a good place for lunch might be The Cape of Good Hope just above The Cape locks. "Serving good food, especially fish". Well another lesson learnt. Don't believe the guidebook! Old world waterside pub. Probably serves good beer, the Rioja was certainly drinkable, as was the scrumpy, according to Sue. But the fish was not even average. Nice location though.

After Sue had a snooze (probably induced by the scrumpy) and I pottered about a bit and having waited for any boat to come along to save water, we decided to start the climb on our own. We got through 5 locks at our own pace before we felt too tired to carry on. So moored up for the night between the 5th and 6th locks. And so a glass of Rioja and off to bed. 

 

A Few Statistics for our Journey

Thought you might like to know a few statistics for our trip so far.

Day 1: Tuesday 26h March. After leaving Crick Marina we travelled a total of 5.5 Miles, passed through one tunnel (Crick) and Sue opened and closed the gates for 7 locks (Watford Flight). Moored overnight by Napton Junction. Only half a bottle of Tempranillo consumed.

Day 2: Wednesday 27th. Passed through 1 Tunnel (Braunston), 19 locks and travelled 15 miles. Overnight stop by Bascote Locks. 3/4 bottle of Pino drunk and 1 large glass Tempranillo.

Day 3: By lunchtime we had travelled 7.5 miles and passed through 12 locks but thinking about starting the ascent of Hatton Locks...21 YES 21 in total. Need to think a bit longer! Should finish off the Tempranillo.

Photos to follow.

Farewell To Crick

At last we have begun our long awaited cruising of the UK's canal system. Yesterday we waved goodbye to Crick Marina, where Tempranillo was launched on September 8th 2011 and has been her home ever since.

A last look at Crick Marina

On Sunday before we left as we were filling up the water tank, emptying the toilet, checking gas and doing last minute jobs etc., I asked our next door neighbours if I could make use of Dave's workbench to saw a bit of pipe. Sue needed an extra towel rail in the bathroom. It turns out Dave's talented wife Ann is an expert 'Castles & Roses' painter. She had done their doors.

And these too!

 The evening before we left the locals stoked up their stoves, as did we. It did get extremely cold that night.

Stoking Up.

So Tuesday morning came and we took advantage of the fantastic weather and decided to head towards Birmingham. After turning left out of the Marina we almost immediately entered Crick Tunnel. Quite cold and damp in comparison to the beautiful morning outside.

Crick Tunnel, for the final time.

About 40 minutes later we arrived at Watford Locks but due to the water shortage we had to wait until other boats had cleared, but we were first in the queue to descend.

Queueing at the first lock.

Waiting as the Juggernauts hurtle past on the M1 motorway above. 

Once we started we got through Watford Flight reasonably quickly and soon found ourselves at Napton Junction. Here the Leicester Arm joins the main line of The Grand Union Canal and we turned sharp right. Living right on the junction in the old Toll House there are some ex-neighbours of ours who, like us, used to live in Willowtree Marina. We decided to drop in and see them. We had a good couple of hours catch-up sitting in their garden right on the edge of the junction. A very pleasant spot. 

Soon the air began to turn cooler and as we had not really eaten since Sue cooked a major fry-up at breakfast time, we made our excuses and went back on board Tempranillo which was moored just round the corner. This was to be our mooring for the night.

Sunset at Napton Junction, Grand Union Canal.

This morning we awoke to a beautiful misty morning before setting off again.

Our next 'challenge' was to be Braunston Tunnel. Just over a mile long and again very cold. We have been here before and you can find lots more information if you follow this blog back a couple of months. The main feature of Braunston Tunnel is the kink in the middle where the two ends didn't quite meet, as they should when it was excavated back in 1796.

Then not far after this tunnel we entered the first of 19 locks that we passed through today. We arrived a Stockton Flight to find workmen blocking our passage! Nothing a good cup of tea wouldn't put right. 

Waiting.....again!

Nearly and hour later they finished and we proceeded to enter the flight. There were no other boats to be seen and though we were supposed to wait 'a reasonable time' to see if other boats were able to share each lock with us to save water, we felt that nearly and hour was more than 'a reasonable time'. So off we went. This was a flight of 10 locks. That's 20 sets of gates to open and close and wind paddles up and down. Poor Sue was on her own. That is hard work...and it was like a summer's day. Really hot burny sunshine.

Fortunately we spotted another narrow boat, Ottawa that had accompanied us through the Braunston Locks earlier and they were a couple of locks behind us. So to save some water, well actually it was to help Sue manage all the gates and paddles, we waited for them to catch us up.

We are quite exhausted by now, as you might imagine and Sue is already tucked up in bed and fast asleep. I am about to join her to rebuild our strength before taking on more of the same tomorrow. 

Good Night.

Not quite sure what happened to the last update but I did it from my phone and it appears to speak another language. I will try and do it properly in future.
Sue and I hope to start the first leg of our summer cruising next week by leaving Crick Marina and heading for Birmingham. We are hoping for some good weather as the clocks 'spring' forward at the weekend.
We did manage a couple of days last week and Lucas somehow got himself a lift on a passing boat whilst we moored at Watford Locks.

He was just supposed to help as he loves the locks but got a little more involved this time.

When we start our trip I intend to update this blog as often as possible. See you then.

The Thornton's Grape Escape

Got to cruise very briefly last weekend on Tempranillo and the weather was perfect. Felt like Spring had Sprung! Family joined us too. Brill.