It's Plan 'B' then.....What was Plan 'A'? I hear you ask. Plan 'A' was to cruise Tempranillo along the Kennet & Avon Canal to Reading, turn left on the Thames up to Oxford and then take the Oxford canal to Napton-on -the-Hill and into Wigrams Turn Marina. There waiting for us would be our new home, which we then hoped to cruise back to Devizes.
Our new home "Patience".
However it was not to be, as you may have read in our previous posts.We set off but the K&A was overflowing with too much water after the wet winter we had and we had to turn back.
So Plan 'B' is now in operation. On Thursday we left Tempranillo in Caen Hill Marina and drove to Wigrams Turn Marina. After some lunch we cast off. As Patience is 10 feet wide we booked a slot to pass through the seventh longest tunnel on the UK waterways, Braunston Tunnel, for Friday morning at 8:00am.
Leaving our berth in Wigrams Turn Marina.
Between Wigrams and Braunston Tunnel there are six locks climbing up to the three mile long summit of this section of the Grand Union Canal. The tunnel is 2042 yards long and only just wide enough for two 7ft narrowboats to pass each other inside. Due to a miscalculation and unexpected soil movement during the building in 1796 it includes a kink in the middle, which makes navigating a wide beam boat through the tunnel interesting, to say the least. Lots of concentration was required to avoid scraping the brickwork. There are many scars on the tunnel walls where previous navigators may not have been as accurate in their aim as perhaps they should have been. I am pleased to say I made a clean passage all the way through.
It was a beautiful sunny morning and as soon as we hit the sunshine at the tunnel end we pulled over and Sue produced a big boaters cooked breakfast to set us up for the rest of the day. The Grand Union was busy that day.
Pleasure craft and canal traders alike taking advantage of the sunshine.
Fed and watered we set off again and soon arrived at Norton Junction. This is where the Leicester Arm, wide enough for 7ft narrow boats only, joins the wide main line of the Grand Union. Here also is Buckby Wharf, the home of the 'Buckby Can'. Traditional metal water carriers adorned with Roses & Castles that were essential to boaters of the time as they had no water tanks aboard.
The lovely weather continued for the next couple of days until we moored up for the night at Weedon Bec. For quite a few miles The Grand Union Canal constantly exchanges paths with the M1 and the main London-Midland railway line. At one point we could clearly see the M1 and being a Friday afternoon, at 4 miles and hour we were moving faster than the traffic was.
In the early 19th century as Napoleon was battling his way across Europe the Government of the time were looking for somewhere safe to hide King George lll and they found the tiny Northamptonshire village of Weedon Bec, just linked to London by the newly finished Grand Junction Canal. Barracks and a Royal Pavilion were built in preparation but the King never had occasion to use them. The barracks though were used for many years afterwards allowing troops to be transported by canal.
Despite the trains and the M1 traffic we had a very peaceful sleep.
