North Oxford & Grand Union Canals Hawkesbury to Gayton.

Before we left Hawkesbury Junction with our new Squirrel on board, Dave put our new bed base together. Using two slatted single bed packs from Ikea and some lengths of pine from Wickes he constructed this.

The idea, primarily, is to ventilate the mattress, but an unexpected bonus is that we can pull the whole thing a couple of inches out from the wall at night, which means that Ann-Marie isn’t tucked under the gunnel, effectively giving us a wider bed.

Which is nice.

On our way back to Braunston, because we liked it so much the last time we were there, we moored up again at the non-existent bridge at Ansty. From there we had a car trip up to Chesterfield and Buxton to pick up our roof box and go to Annie’s birthday party. When we got back we found John and Camilla - whose wedding we went to last year - sitting in the boat drinking wine!  Years ago, John owned a boat called Andante, and weekends spent aboard her gave us was our first taste of this wonderful life, so it was great to have them on board. They are toying with the idea of another boat and we think they ought to do it as soon as possible.

We boated with them to All Oaks Wood, a lovely, middle of nowhere mooring near Brinklow and when we got there it was a struggle to prise John’s hand off the tiller. Lovely people – hopefully they’ll be on the water before long.  Just in case you were wondering, we knew they were coming to stay and they hadn’t broken in.

In the field opposite the boat, as well as the antics of Redwings and Fieldfares, lambing season had just started.

While Dave was re-assembling the roof box, boingy, fluffy little lambs came down to the water every morning with their mummies for a drink. This activity was accompanied by excited squeaky noises from Ann-Marie. Everything was all fine and happy until one of them fell in. Lots of really squeaky noises followed, and just at the point when Ann-Marie had decided that pushing the back end across to rescue it was the thing to do, it climbed out. So that saved an argument.

On one of our walks back for the car we went through Brinklow and what a lovely little village it is. It’s got Roman roots from being a fort on the Fosse Way, and in the Middle Ages it gained a very impressive Motte and Bailey which we climbed up before finding that it also has a quite splendid chippy.

Brinklow had, at one time, a canal arm, but this is all that's left of it now.

We mourned the loss of our bucket on the way back through Newbold, and carried on through Rugby, with Ann-Marie at the tiller dodging the hire boats, to the top of Hillmorton locks, mooring back at bridge 72. We don’t always return to places we’ve moored before, but it saves having to recce somewhere else and, if we were there for a while the last time, it can be a bit like coming home. Anyway, bridge 72 was just convenient with somewhere to park the car. Anne managed to fit an overnight visit and post delivery into her busy schedule and it was lovely to see her.

When we left, Dave single handed Legend back to Braunston while Ann-Marie took the car and spent a very enjoyable morning swimming with Kim and George.  George did more pool drinking than actual swimming but they all had a lovely time. Dave moored up on the GU, just before the floating café, and Ann-Marie had the odd experience of going home without knowing exactly where home was. In the afternoon we drove back into Rugby and picked up two new phones that we’d ordered from Tesco’s. We’ve decided that owning the phones with a sim only contract is the cheapest option for us at the moment.

Braunston was a nice safe place to leave Legend for the weekend while we went off to Essex to see Martin and Yvonne. Their boat – Evolution - is moored in Ramsey on the middle level so as well as being terribly excited about seeing them and their wonderful cottage, we were keen to pick their brains about navigating the Nene and the Middle Level. They had a full weekend planned for us; trips out, walks and a beer tasting all included and, best of all, a canoe trip that took us from the tidal limit of the Blackwater River,

down to the sea,

where we ported the canoes over the sea lock

and came back along the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation.

A truly wonderful weekend with amazing people. Thank you Martin and Yvonne, thank you so much for having us, and for putting so much joy and enthusiasm into our lives.

 Back at Braunston, we stayed another day so we could pick up all the flower boxes and the other tat that lives on our roof, then in the morning, set off past the marina and the boat yards to climb up the six Braunston locks. On the way up we paired up with Nb Bodmur whose owner, Alan,  had bought it 4 days previously and had never owned a boat before. He and his brother Chris were taking it to Watford and sorting out a lot of stuff that needed doing as they went along. They moored up at the top and we imparted a few nuggets of advice that we’d have found useful when we first started, before wishing them luck and diving into the gloom of Braunston Tunnel.

We stopped at Welton Wharf, just out of the other end and within walking distance of Daventry. Chloe came to see us while we were there; she only moved from Daventry recently and she thought it was really cool that we were moored on a bit of towpath that she used to run along when she was training for the London Marathon last year.

We were both really ill for a few days at Welton. We either caught some kind of virus or got food poisoning, either way nothing much happened for a while.

When we were feeling better Dave set-to in the well deck and created a new pin/rope/hammer storage affair,

while Ann-Marie finished a new tea-cozy.

As we won’t be boating in that direction for a long time, we took a walk up to Norton Junction and up the Leicester Section to Watford Locks.

When we lived in South Lincolnshire we used to visit Foxton locks fairly often but we’d never been to the other end of the summit pound. Watford Locks are really pretty and very well looked after with flower tubs everywhere and neatly cut grass.

Ann-Marie had been a bit apprehensive about the next bit.

The gates and paddles on the Buckby locks are notoriously hard work and when we came up the flight four years ago she struggled with them. However we’ve been up the Calder and Hebble since then, and over the Pennines. Twice.

Be under no illusion, Buckby Locks are tough. Whoever built them must have had a wonky bubble in their spirit-level and a very ambitious attitude to paddle gear ratios, but the sun shone, there were no tears and no patronising blokes coming to help the girly boater, and we were down in no time. Ann-Marie’s nemesis is now well and truly buried.

Last time we were at Weedon we stopped on the embankment overlooking the church. This time we went on to Stowehill Bridge, where the Narrowboat pub is on the A5. Dave had a blood test and a retinal scan booked in Chesterfield the following morning, so we went up that night and had a yummy vegan curry with Anne and Jennifer. After all the medical stuff was done we reclaimed our folding bikes and camping gear from Anne’s shed and headed back down the M1.

We had a couple of days work to keep us busy while we were moored at Weedon; there probably won’t be very much of that this year while we’re out on the Nene and Ouse, so it was very welcome especially as we’d bought a new genny.

Yes, Dear Reader, once again we’re in a New Generator saga. To cut a long story short; our big, heavy, never-have-liked-it-very-much Hyundai has popped its clogs. We bought it because we thought that with an electric start, it would be easier to use and do a better job than our lovely Honda that got nicked in Wigan but, to be honest, it wasn’t and it hasn’t. We should have just bought another Honda and looked after it better, but there you go.

So this time, as money is really tight this year, we looked on Ebay for a second hand one and we found a 1Kw Kiam, up for £160. (they normally go for £350 odd.) A week later and we were in Peterborough to pick it up. The chap had it advertised as hardly being used, and he wasn’t joking. He’d only started it 3 times since he’d bought it, and the first time we ran it for more than a few minutes we could smell singed paint from the exhaust. We don’t think it’s ever been under load. It’s about a third of the weight of the Hyundai and although it’s only got half the output, we don’t have anything that needs more than 1Kw anyway, and it runs the hoover without a hitch; something the blue monster never did.

Result!

And, while we were in Peterborough, we went for lunch with Mandy and Chas. Double Result!

On the morning of the Eclipse, we were blessed with an almost clear sky. There was just a bit of cloud to start with, which actually made viewing easier.

The second one is reflected in the canal. We're so artistic.

Dave spent the rest of the day using up all the various bits of wood he’s been collecting and made a new gang plank. We’re going to need something better than our little ladder for a summer on the Anglian Rivers. This is more like it.

Chloe was on her last few shifts before leaving these shores for a life over the water, so she and Shandy came for a visit before she went. We took them from Weedon to Gayton Junction, stopping at Stowe Hill for some cheap diesel and expensive gas. Shandy did a stirling job on the tiller for most of the trip, with Dave only taking over when his hand turned from blue to purple. It would appear that there have been some mooring changes at Gayton; what we’d been told were permit holders only on the side opposite the Northampton Arm are now 14 days, so we dived into a sunny spot and chained up to the Armco. There’s a very useful car park at the bridge and full services, so it’s a good place to be for preparing Legend for our next adventure.

Mum and Dad found the car park handy when they came to stay; they had a couple of days with us before their car club AGM. Martin and Yvonne were in Northampton for a rugby match so they popped in for lunch as well and transferred all their notes onto our Imray Guides. After they’d all gone home we went off to see Lindsay, Paul and Jack on Happy Daze at Foxton before they go cruising, had a lovely lunch with them and borrowed their Middle Level windlass. We also cribbed their Imray Guide notes as well, so we now know where all the secret moorings are between here and Bedford.

North Oxford and Coventry Canals. Newbold on Avon To Coventry and back.

While we were on the visitor moorings at Newbold, some local oiks thought it would be funny to swipe a flower bucket off the front of Legend and chuck it in the canal. It had the Valentine’s Day snowdrops that we’d brought with us from the house, and we were rather hoping for several more years of enjoyment from them. Whoever launched it can’t have extracted more than 2 seconds worth of fun from the act and we feel sorry for them if that’s the limit of their imagination….. That’s not strictly true; we’re furious and we’d dearly love the opportunity to make them go and get it.

In the late 1920s the Oxford canal between Braunston and Hawkesbury junction was significantly straightened and, as a result, shortened by nearly 14 miles. This was done using cuttings, embankments and, at Newbold, a tunnel. It’s a quite small affair compared to the gigantic bore at Netherton, but built to exactly the same design, i.e. two boats wide with a tow path on both sides.  In 2005 floodlights were installed in the tunnel which cast purple and green light across the roof and looked fabulous. Apparently the last bulb failed a couple of years ago so it’s all dark again now.

In order to allow access the wharves and warehouses on the loops that were left behind when all this improvement was carried out, graceful, cast iron towpath bridges from Horseley Ironworks were installed, many of which remain.

We went from Newbold to Ansty with Kim and George on board and moored opposite the Rose and Castle. Marked on our map was a bridge from the towpath to the pub car park, however no such bridge appeared as we rounded the final bend. A pile of bricks suggested that there may have - up until quite recently - been a bridge at that location. Our faithful Canal Plan website shows the story of what occurred and why it's not there any more.  This made things a bit awkward as we’d deposited Kim’s car in the aforementioned car park that morning. Luckily there was a footbridge a quarter of a mile or so behind us so it wasn’t too bad.

From Ansty we went through Hawkesbury Junction - AKA Sutton Stop - onto the Coventry canal where we turned right.

This was so we could fill in a missing bit of our log and navigate up to Marsden Junction which was the limit of our journey from the other end of the Coventry last year.
Our trip took us past the amazingly haphazard and utterly chaotic Charity Dock boat yard at Bedworth,

before we winded in the junction and returned to Hawkesbury.

Kim, Luke and George joined us once again for the final section of the Coventry Canal; the trip into the city. They used to live there and know it quite well, but like John in Leeds, have never seen the other side of it from the water.

Bishop’s Street Basin is at the end of the line, right on the edge of the city centre, and we were pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get there after hearing tales of woe about the state of things. There was lots of evidence of off-side vegetation clearance and litter picking, and towpath improvement work was going on as we passed by, all of which has no doubt improved things of late. We didn’t pick up anything on the prop, despite ignoring advice about gliding through bridge holes and never going over tickover, and we thought the basin itself, with its statue of Mr Brindley waiting to greet you, was smashing.
Later on it got a bit noisy with the nightclub just behind it, but we were in a city on a Saturday night for goodness sake.

At about 1am there was a clonk on the roof. Dave looked out to find three lads standing right outside the window, one of whom had just put his beer bottle down. There were a couple of minutes while they stood chatting without noticing him, then he knocked on the window. They nearly fell over each other then, bottles in hand, they made a hurried, apologetic exit to the other side of the basin while we went back to bed with the giggles.

 

Next morning, after a trip to Ikea and Wickes for a new bed base, (more about that later) we retraced our steps under the tiny number 1 bridge and back out to Hawkesbury, where we moored up just before the water point and our passengers departed.

Since we’d left our new Squirrel stove at Dave’s sister’s house we’ve been on the lookout for a handy spot to tranship it onto the boat.

This one seemed ideal, so we shot off to Derby to pick it up. Getting it to the boat from the car was easy enough, but actually manoeuvring it through the doors took a little more planning. We did it though, and it now resides in the lounge next to the old one.

Maybe if we leave them alone there’ll be little squirrels running around the boat.
      

      

Grand Union canal. North Oxford Canal. Welsh road to Newbold on Avon.

Three years ago, when we were at Welsh Road locks for the first time, we only stayed for a couple of nights, which was a shame as it’s such a nice mooring.  This time we were there for a fortnight

with a walk to Long Ichington and the Blue Lias on one day, and a drive out to - and a lovely walk around - Draycote Water, where Kim, Luke and George joined us in the sailing club café.

Kim had slipped on the ice a few weeks before and broken her arm, so she was learning how to look after a baby one-handed – not an easy task - so it was good to see them out and looking happy.

After our allotted time we reluctantly cast off and made our way up Bascote locks (2 singles and a staircase)

where we found some very nice dead hawthorn, followed by the Stockton flight.

That took us up to Birdingbury Wharf; a very pleasant mooring spot near the The Boat Inn where the road runs parallel to the canal with just a hedge between and some very convenient parking places.

Car outside boat window; always a Good Thing.

Another stationary fortnight followed, some of which included ice. We went to see a band called the Jigantics at a gig in Warwick University Arts Centre. The venue was very intimate; the audience outnumbered the band by 5 – 1 but they were very good (the band, that is. The audience weren’t bad either.)

As we were quite near to Kim and Luke we volunteered to help whenever we could while Kim was recovering.  On the Friday she had an appointment at the hospital, so while Dave drove her in, Ann-Marie babysat George. The consultant threw a spanner in the works by deciding that the poor girl needed a metal plate to hold her humorous together and booked her in for surgery the next morning – Friday. Luckily Luke was able to take the day off so we were relieved of duty and drove up to Yorkshire to see David and Kate for the weekend instead.

Our longest standing friends were, as always, the perfect hosts. As always we had a fantastic weekend, we went for a couple of walks with Dylan-the-dog and ate some delicious meals, then on the Monday morning we packed our bags, said our goodbyes and set off. We’d just got to the bottom of their hill when we became aware of a rather horrible grating noise coming from the engine which, to cut a very long story short, meant we were unexpected guests for a further three days, while Keighley Diesels diagnosed and replaced a broken oil pump.

We are once again eternally grateful to our friends, and once again extremely lucky. It could have broken down anywhere, but it happened near some people who could not only put us in touch with a friendly local garage, but who were also more than willing to put us up while it was repaired. Thinking about what would have happened if we’d been hammering down the motorway when the oil pump pulley decided that being attached to the oil pump was not on its to-do list any more makes our blood run cold.

On The Thursday morning, after we’d spent three days watching from their window as the snow got thicker

the man from Keighley Diesels rang with the wonderful news that we were back on the road. We packed our bags - again, said our goodbyes - again and set off once more. This time, despite the snow, we had no problems getting home, although every time we stopped the blizzard that seemed to be following us southwards caught up; had the man phoned an hour later things might have been very different.

Our fortnight was up the day we got back, so we untied our snowy ropes and moved on.

Up the three Calcott Locks, where we had a fortuitous meeting with Mark on the coal boat Callisto, then turned left at Napton Junction onto the section of the GU between the North and South Oxford canals.

This short length was originally part of, and owned by, the Oxford Canal Company. When the Grand Junction Canal Company  were building their new link from Birmingham to London, they made an agreement with the Oxford Canal Company to share this five mile section, but omitted to get a limit on how much their boats would be charged for using it. This resulted in the most expensive five miles of canal in the country and the Oxford being subsidised by the Grand Junction for many years.

These days holidaymakers happily chug past the former toll houses; the old boaters must have dreaded them.

We moored at Nimrod Bridge for one night then moved up to Flecknoe, just along from Bridge 103 where we spent a very memorable fortnight with John and Jac three and a half years ago. Back then it was summer and we were out with the barbeque, this time we were iced in and it was snowing.

We’ve not been happy with the frosted glass in the bathroom ever since we bought the boat. It was a sticky-backed-plastic film that hadn’t been stuck on very well and we finally got round to doing something about it. This is what we did:-

1. Remove old film.

2. Get rid of the adhesive using white spirit and a stainless steel scrubby thing.

3. Apply new stuff and squeegee into place.

4. Trim.

5. Stand back and admire.

We sprayed the glass with soapy water to make it slippy and we got round the swivel window catches by cutting a line and a circle and then sliding the film into position. We're really pleased with the result and as soon as the boat is the other way round we'll post some pictures from the outside.

While we were at Flecknoe, Kim and Luke braved the blizzards to come and see us, and we had a day getting paid for counting parked cars in Birmingham. On the Friday, Dave went with Luke to Kent with a trailer to collect a Citroen Dyane that K&L will be taking to Poland in July for the World Meeting of 2CV Friends.

The girlies went shopping with George and Ann-Marie came home with some red shoes. When the boys got back there was a takeaway and a game of Harry Potter Cluedo. It doesn’t get any better than that!

The overnight temperature was forecast to be above freezing for the next few days so we didn’t mind leaving Legend for a bit. We slept on K&L’s sofa bed then after breakfast pancakes went to drop off the trailer. We said goodbye then carried on to Ross-on-Wye to see John and Camilla, whose wedding we went to last autumn.

In the afternoon we had a walk down by the Wye, a pint or two in the White Lion, then a lovely evening with Rich and Becky and a delicious lamb curry.

Sunday morning dawned chilly and misty which turned out to be the perfect back-drop for what we had planned for the day. We went to Purton on the Gloucester to Sharpness Ship Canal. This canal was built to bypass a notorious stretch of the tidal River Severn, allowing shipping safe passage into Gloucester docks.

At Purton the canal runs parallel to, and not very far from, the river bank. In the late 19^th century, concerns were raised about tidal erosion threatening the stability of the bank. To combat this old/irreparable river barges were towed up the bank on spring tides and sunk where they beached. Over the years they have settled into the silt and vegetation has taken hold and today the area is known as the “Purton Ships Graveyard”.

From 1900 to 1965 81 ships and barges were beached on a 2 mile stretch.

The last to join this eerie fleet were six 350 tonne Ferro-Cement (concrete) barges built during the Second World War when steel was in short supply.

One of these has since been removed and re-floated; we think it might be the one we saw at Ellesmere Port, but we’re not sure. They were notoriously unwieldy, horrible to steer, broke everything they came in contact with and there was probably a round of applause from the crew when they were rammed up the bank. Follow this link for more info.

After that we went to see Saul Junction, where the Stroudwater Canal crosses the G&S,

and had coffee and cake in the café. Fab weekend and lovely to see the newly-weds happy.

Back at the boat, after another fortuitous meeting with a coal boat (Jule’s Fuels), we spent a sunny morning boating to just outside Braunston where we moored on the Puddle Banks, which is a feat in itself.  The canal banks slope into the water so you can’t get right in. Some places are better than others, but the best you can do still leaves you on the bottom with a lean-on, and nearly a foot between boat and bank.  We still prefer that to being in the thick of it on the visitor moorings in Braunston itself.

Gordon and Helena live in Braunston; we met them and became friends on the Yorkshire Ouse a couple of years ago, so as we were there we got in contact and they invited us round for dinner. Their lovely house overlooks the marina and their boat, what a fabulous place to live! We were treated to a delicious meal and a brilliant evening in their company. Hopefully we can return the favour when we come back through on our way to Northampton and the Nene.

From the Puddle Banks we turned left at the junction.

After filling up with water carried on up the North Oxford to Hillmorton Locks.

This is uncharted territory for us; the first time we’ve been somewhere new since November. We moored just before the locks, which was lucky, because when we went for a walk down the locks later that day we found that someone had left the paddles half open at both ends of the middle lock and drained all the water out of the top pound.

We can’t think of a way it could have been done accidentally, or of a logical reason to do it on purpose, so we dropped them all and carried on. On our way back we were pleased to see that the level was recovering, and when we brought Legend down the following day it was back up to full.

In 2012, to commemorate the inauguration of CRT, these locks, along with Gargrave locks on the L&L, Farmers Bridge locks on the Birmingham & Fazely and Milnsbridge lock on the Huddersfield Narrow were chosen to have lines of a poem engraved into them.

The full poem reads thus:-

WORKING WATER

HELD CAPTIVE FOR A WHILE

THEN SLUICED AWAY TO JOIN

THE WORLD’S OTHER WATERS AGAIN

OPEN

ENTER AND

BE SAFE

WITH WORDS AT YOUR BACK

THESE DOORS MAKE DEPTH

POWER TO SINK YOUR BOAT

BODILY INTO THE LAND

AND LET IT GO RIDING OUT

UNHARMED

STEP AT A TIME A RIVER

CLIMBS CAREFULLY

DOWN THROUGH THE TOWN

The sculptor was Peter Coates and the three poets who wrote the words were Jo Bell, Roy Fisher and Ian McMillan. Roy Fisher’s words are engraved at Hillmorton, which in the correct order read:-

WORKING WATER

CAPTIVE FOR A WHILE

CLIMBS CAREFULLY DOWN

THESE DOORS MAKE DEPTH  

We stopped at Newbold on Avon, near the pub just before the tunnel. We’ll stay here for a few days and go and visit Rugby before moving on. An unexpected bonus about being where we are is that the canal is quite deep so we don’t get shoved about as much when someone goes past. The frequency of that happening had suddenly increased; we think it must be half term.