Tuesday 31st July 2018

Wedding Anniversary Day!!!

There was a great deal of rain during the night together with some thunder. Consequently we had to spend some time this morning drying out the bilges and mopping the decks! We set off at 10.45 to tackle the Northampton Arm. This is about 5 miles and 17 locks which takes the boater up to Gayton Junction on the main Grand Union Canal. The latter has double locks but the Arm has only single locks. It was opened in 1815 and the decision to only put in narrow beam locks was a penny pinching decision which has come back to haunt both cargo carriers and leisure craft.

We passed the Carlsberg Brewery and we had been able to smell the hops when we were moored in the Marina.

The first few locks had an enormous amount of weed around the upper gate and Graham together with other boaters spent time trying to pull it out of the canal. As a result the first 4 locks took ages.

One of the bridges had a lovely mural depicting the history of Northampton. It was difficult to get a good picture.

Ghostly boat people sculptures are found at Bridge 6. I’ll have to research their origin when we are home.

Also there is a tent here and sure enough Leon appeared again between here and the next lock. He lives in the tent and he was helping another couple down. He is now very brown with the fantastic weather and luckily was again wearing shorts! 

The clouds today were very spectacular and luckily we had no rain.

So finally we reached the last lock and obviously Graham is looking pleased.

To celebrate our anniversary we bought ice creams from Gayton Marina as we sailed by and are planning to eat out tonight at the pub at Bugbrooke 

Wharf.

Monday 30th July 2018

Luckily the wind has dropped a little today and we only had 3 locks before we reached Northampton Marina for a night and a chance to catch up on washing, cleaning etc.

I went for a short look around our Washlands mooring and saw that these horses were back on the lock landing. They came galloping round the same spot yesterday when I was working the lock and I didn’t return to that side until they had gone!

A couple of boats which have seen better days!

We were allocated a berth in the Marina for the night and the chap in the next boat was saying that he had started to leave yesterday and to turn right for the first lock on the Nene. He heard a loud clunk as he moved from forward to reverse gear and lost all propulsion. His propeller had fallen off!!!!!! He was towed back to the marina and is now stuck there as a possible mechanic is on holiday for a week and in any case he doesn’t know if the boat will need to come out of the water for the repair.

Tomorrow we are back on canals as we tackle the 17 narrow locks of the Northampton Arm up to Gayton on the Grand Union Canal. Again there may be a couple of days without a ‘blog’ until we reach civilisation again!

Sunday 29th July 2018

We were not sorry to leave our flour mill site and to head out of Wellingborough as we had 10 locks to tackle today and the weather was not great. On the hill as you leave is Wellingborough Prison. It started life as a Borstal, then became a prison and was then mothballed. There were rumours that it would reopen but you obviously couldn’t tell from the photo.

This farmer has a good crop of solar panels this year!

With River cruising there is a definite lack of moorings as you cannot just stop where you like. We decided not to head all the way to Northampton Marina as arriving on a Sunday afternoon is not maybe a good idea when you need a fob to exit on foot and the duty manager is probably just for emergencies. Therefore we moored at Washlands where we were lucky to get one of 3 moorings and we fitted exactly between the boats already there.

The wind was very strong and you can see the waves on the water.

This photo shows how isolated the place seems. It is a huge area for wildlife and is obviously part of the water management system of the River Nene as there were sluices all around. (The photo below was taken on Monday morning when the wind had dropped to a more manageable level)

Saturday 28th July 2018

All along this stretch of the canal are fish farms and there is a very long fence which apparently is to keep the otters out.

Many of the locks are electrically operated so I became very familiar with this control panel. Each box has to be opened and locked with a ‘Nene’ key every time.

Some were manual and needed a lot of strength and turns of the wheel to raise and lower the guillotine gate.

Another variety was the radial barrier which was a bit like the Thames Barrier.

The sunny morning turned to rain and Graham was happy to be in usual Summer Holiday Wet Weather Gear!

We stopped at Wellingborough for water and a quick shopping trip to Tesco. Note the executive entrance for foot passengers!

When we returned to the boat the weather had turned really windy so we decided to stay at the mooring for the night. The only trouble was its location opposite a flour mill which works 24/7. A noisy night was in store.

Friday 27th July 2018

Another sunny day as we continued the journey to Northampton.

We have passed quite a few lovely old mills. Some of them have been turned into houses, one into a hotel - which unfortunately has closed - and some are just waiting for an entrepreneur to find a good use for the building.

We were pleased to see that the Environment Agency which run this waterway had some weed cutters out this morning as the warm weather has certainly increased weed growth and therefore has decreased the depth and width of the river.

This Archimedes Screw is supposed to be dealing with a shoal of rubble but again it wasn’t working as we passed.

We stopped at a lovely mooring for lunch. Rain is forecast and apparently there was thunder rumbling around last night but we didn’t hear any. We are really enjoying this trip back up the Nene. We thought that it may be boring as we had just passed in the other direction about 3 weeks ago but everything looks different when we approach from the other direction and yet it is good to recognise familiar landmarks.

Above Titchmarsh lock the river is definitely narrower as we move upstream. In parts it looks like an exploration into deepest Africa. At various points today we have seen paddleboarders, canoeists and swimmers all enjoying the fantastic weather and the lovely surroundings. We have seen young men jumping off bridges into the water having a great time. I know that it is dangerous but no matter how many warning notices are displayed the temptation is just too great!

Just After Thrapston the A45 crosses the river and a few live- aboards have taken up residence. Presumably they have become impervious to the noise.

At 5pm the weather suddenly changed and it started to rain, the first we have had in 5 weeks aboard. Luckily we were very close to our intended mooring so we didn’t get too wet. At least the temperature has dropped a little.

Thursday 26th July 2018

A long day today. We left Peterborough at 7.55am and headed out under the bridges, some of which have some good artwork/graffiti to Orton Sluice. This structure looks much more frightening than it is as boaters just head for the lock on the right hand side. I imagine the whole system looks more exciting when the river is in flood.

As we passed under the rail bridge at Wansford one of the historic diesel trains was passing above us. It was running on the Nene Valley Railway which travels for 7 miles. We often take a ride on these historic lines but not this time.

Some lovely houses near Wansford Marina and an extensive caravan park at Yarwell lock.

Unfortunately the site lacks trees and so much more could have been made of a very good location on the bank of the River Nene.

The bridge at Fotheringhay was again challenging but at least the covering of Fotheringhay church seems to be coming off so we could see a little more of it than we did when we passed here 2 and a half weeks ago.

An interesting boat house with seating on the roof although I think it is quite a few years since a boat has been housed here.

We moored near Oundle at a very nice site provided by Friends of the River Nene. We didn’t stop until 6.30pm and had travelled about 22 miles and worked 10 locks. Our longest day of this holiday.

Wednesday 25th July 2018

An early start for us (8.10am) as we needed to get to Stanground Lock for our 10.30 slot and you never know what you will encounter on the water. We made good time and were there for 9.45 and as a boat was coming the other way we got straight through. The photos show us entering the lock and then leaving to rejoin the River Nene. Due to water management they are only letting boats through in the mornings and they like to have one going each way.

It appears that Peterborough may have a new hotel on the embankment!

Graham had realised during our last visit that free ‘pump outs’ were available and was keen to try it. It worked very well.

Sometimes you can pay as much as £18.50 so this was great.

We had another good look around the city and as we managed to fix the headlight - after its encounter with a very low bridge on the Middle Levels - we are all set to leave tomorrow to begin the many guillotine locks up to Northampton.

Not sure if it will be possible to post in the next few days but keep checking!

Tuesday 24th July 2018

We were moored next to the Town Hall in March where the clock tower shows the correct time only twice a day!

It is a busy town and really the only one for miles around.

Today was really just a slog through the reed lined water courses of the Middle Levels but we were very pleased to find that weed cutting had taken place since we last passed through 9 days ago so we were not reduced to a crawling pace. 

Not great views at water level but an interesting cloud formation. We think that it looks like an ammonite fossil.

Mooring tonight was at Whittlesey and tomorrow we are booked to go through Stanground Lock at 10.30am and onto the River Nene at Peterborough.

Monday 23rd July 2018

Off to March today but definitely cannot visit Friday Bridge again as it is the wrong day of the week.

So much water and straight courses in the Middle Levels. Difficult to see over the banks and whilst we are glad that we have visited I don’t think that we will be back. A very isolated part of England.

After mooring in March we visited St. Wendreda’s Church. The famous internal roof of 120 angels was built after 1523. It is a double hammer beam design and was ordered from a work shop in Barton , Suffolk.  The figures depict martyrs and saints while the lowest tier is of angels holding musical instruments. It is quite difficult to photograph.

Chris and Alan are leaving tomorrow so there was just time for one last picture on the stern.