Boat Jam and Pickled Onions

 

Watford Locks

Morning Jotters

Don’t you just love a rainy Monday morning?  We got up late, pottered around, drinking coffee and watching the procession of boats passing us by.  Pat and Malc were still moored next door and neither of us were in a hurry to move so it was early afternoon before we waved goodbye to them as they set off towards Napton.  The sun came out and the boat traffic thinned out a bit so we set off too, heading towards Braunston.  We were picking up our visitors, Ian and Di, the next morning for a cruise towards Rugby, a picnic lunch and an slow chug back for dinner at ‘The Boat House’. What could possibly go wrong!

Working Pair at Braunston

We were all shipshape and ready for inspection on Tuesday morning when our guests arrived, loaded with goodies (home made bread and pickled onions, home grown rhubarb, lettuce and tomatoes - yummy).  We set off up the towpath towards the marina and had breakfast in the little garden by the Gongoozlers Rest - bacon butties never tasted so good!  Back down the towpath and it’s ‘All aboard the Skylark’ for our little jaunt.  Carl and Ian stood ready to cast off, but there was a constant stream of boats coming by, making it difficult to get going.  I walked to the next  bridge to see what was coming and waved them on when there was a suitable gap and hopped on as they glided by. Finally! We’re off! Except we were stuck behind a  Black Prince boat, who sounded like he was flat out but was crawling along at a snails pace.  I went up front and called to them that they had something on their prop.  It took a bit of sign language to get them to give it hard reverse, to try to clear their prop but eventually, they gave up and pulled over.  Carl knocked the throttle up a gear and we raced by (if you can call 4mph racing).  The next boat we came up behind was tootling along on tick over and with so many boats coming the other way, we had no option but to follow behind - it seemed like a very long 5 miles to our destination - the winding hole just before Hillmorton Locks. We hoped to make better progress going back but we soon caught up with another BOTO (Boat On TickOver) and crawled along behind him too.  I had planned to moor at Olney on the way back, for a lazy picnic lunch but by the time we turned, it was way past lunchtime.  We ate as we cruised along in the sunshine and arrived back in Braunston just as a convenient mooring spot was vacated, that was lucky.  We rounded the day off with supper in the Boat House pub and it was the perfect end to a lovely day.  Come back soon Ian and Di and don’t forget the pickled onions!  

Ian and Di are glad to be back on dry land!

I couldn’t wait to get going on Wednesday morning, we slipped off before anyone was up, past the Gongoozler's Rest and started up the Braunston broad locks before Zoe Ball started her screeching.  There was a work boat at the top of the locks and a gang of workers chatting and supping tea - not much work going on there!  We plunged into the depths of Braunston tunnel and Carl threshed along at 14 thousand revs (I know this because I was sitting under the hatch with only the instrument panel and Tricky for company).  It was all going so well until we got to Watford Locks!  A queue of boats stretched ahead of us and disappeared around the corner, we were 6th in line and would be waiting here until the 6 boats already on their way down from the top, got through.  I set off up the locks with my windlass and made myself useful, opening and closing paddles and gates to help the boats down so that we could get up the locks before they closed.  Boating in the summertime does have its disadvantages and Boat Jams are one of them.  We didn't mind the waiting, it was a pleasant couple of hours chatting to passing boaters and the very busy Volunteers.  They were buzzing up and down, directing operations, working the locks and still managing to smile.  A couple of them were painting the marker posts and it looked like hard work with all their protective gear on.  I reflected to myself that the unpaid volunteers seemed to be working much harder than the paid ones.  Once we'd got to the top, we pressed on through Crick tunnel and found miles of free mooring by the marina and settled in for a cosy evening, disturbed only by the very occasional boat passing by.  A far cry from Braunston where we were continually getting clattered as boats tried to pass us – that will teach us to moor by the water point! More painting for Carl.

Early start 

The summit pound from Watford to Crick is very rural and, because of the restrictions on the lock opening hours, not too busy.  We have dallied along from one idyllic mooring to the next, enjoying the cooler weather and the noticeable changing of the seasons, as autumn approaches.  The hedges are speckled with blackberries, not yet ripe but promising their juicy sweetness in a few weeks.  The fields are busy with machinery as the farmers race to gather in the harvest, leaving behind giant rolls of straw and stubble fields thick with black crows. I love the long summer days but already I am looking forward to the cosy evenings, when we light the stove and hunker down with our books and a glass of something warming.

Braunston Top Lock

We should be arriving in Market Harborough sometime this week, its one of our favourite canals and we will probably be spending a couple of weeks floating around between Foxton and the town moorings. Carl has some rust to banish and I have brass to polish ( it has been sadly neglected and I am put to shame after visiting Naga Queen - their brass and copper gleamed!)

Have a great week and I’ll be back soon with more Hedgerow Jottings

Take Care

The Floating Chandlers

Ps We do see some great boat names and the prize this week goes to ‘Filthy Oar’. A beautiful boat with a memorable name.

Gongoozler's Rest

Pps Their are some great holiday cottages on the canal but the most memorable must be the Crooked Cottage on the Braunston Locks.  I can never resist taking a photo every time we pass by.

The Crooked Cottage

Ppps Met the very talented Charlotte, who runs a pair of working boats and sells her painted wares along the way.  Thanks for my ‘Blackbird’ Charlotte - I hope we meet again somewhere along the way.

Charlottes Arts

Poor little fella didn't survive

Love this Cottage at Norton Junction

Peacock Butterfly in the sunshine

Watford Staircase Locks

Nice to meet this happy band of Volunteers

A Good Pairing

 Entrance to Shrewley Tunnel and the Horse Tunnel

Morning Jotters

There's been a whole lot of lockin' going on this week!!

Monday morning was sunny and bright and we were only planning a short cruise to a spot we remembered from our last trip this way.  No locks today – Hurrah! I wanted a day off to be fresh for the Hatton Flight on Tuesday.  We met the fuel boat, Roach, as we came through the first bridge and flagged him down to get our fuel tank topped up.  He squeezed exactly 100 litres in - 'So much easier to work out the bill' he said.  The preferred mooring spot was empty when we arrived – happy days!  We like this spot because it's very rural and open and catches the sun all day.  There was a nice breeze blowing too so we popped up the whirligig and my towels were flapped away nicely.  I took a chair and my book out onto the tow-path but was distracted by a family of ducks who popped up onto the bank, begging for scraps.  They don’t know that bread is bad for them and will gobble it up if they can but, luckily for them, we ran out of bread yesterday, so the cupboard was bare.  Tricky flopped down by my chair, snoring loudly, completely ignoring the duck family and all was peaceful in the morning sun.  Swallows dipped and swooped over the water and a family of buzzards soared and wheeled in the sky.  The canal is wide here and, occasionally, a boat passed us by but, for once, no-one moored by us and we're glad to be alone for once.  It was such a nice afternoon so we decided to walk to the tunnel in Shrewley and have a look at The Horse Tunnel which is set into the hillside, next to the Boating tunnel.  We had heard tales of Boggarts inhabiting the dark depths which was originally built so that the  towing horses could be led over the top of the tunnel, while their boat was 'legged' through.  Today it takes pedestrians from the tow-path up into the village of Shrewley.  It is very dark and dank in the middle - Tricky came to a complete standstill and refused to move, Carl had to carry her up the last bit, then we had to fight our way along an overgrown pathway to reach the road and civilisation. Civilisation was out, so we went home.

Is that a Boggart?

We arrived at Hatton quite early on Tuesday, hoping to find other boats waiting to go down.  The locks have been nicknamed ‘The Stairway To Heaven’ by the working boatmen of old, something to do with it being on the way to the wages office.  The canal descends for almost two miles, through 21 broad locks, taking boats into Warwick- it looks spectacular and a little daunting from the top.  I was relieved when we paired up with another boat called ‘Chatterbox’ at the top lock, Andy was at the helm and he had a happy team of 3 assisting him. Carl and Andy were soon chatting away and they paired the boats together and chugged between the locks, they looked almost professional!  The Hatton Vounteers were working ahead of us, filling the locks and opening gates as we emptied the one above and closed the gates again. We must have broken the record for descending the flight - Carl clocked us at 2hrs 35 minutes, but even with all that help, I was still very pleased to find a space outside the Cape Of Good Hope and settled down for an afternoon nap.

 

Paired up for the journey

  The next morning was fine and sunny and we walked into Warwick for supplies.  The outdoor market was on in the square and we collected sour dough rolls and a fresh brown loaf from the bread stall.  We sat outside a cafe with our coffee and watched the world go by then wandered home along a street filled with hanging baskets and pots of summer flowers.  Only two locks for me today, I soon got those done and we pootled off towards our next mooring in Radford Semele.

Almost there

We had a quick bus trip into Leamington on Thursday to collect my prescription – the system seems to be working well, thank goodness, a great improvement from the old days when I had to register with a local doctor to get my tablets.  Some of those receptionists were really very disapproving when I mentioned that I was passing through on a boat.  The forecast for the afternoon was for rain and we cast off under lowering skies with our waterproofs at the ready.  We wanted to get to Long Itchington to meet up with our friends and more importantly, to put some charge in the batteries. Our luck was out today -  a pair of boats came through the bridge just as we were preparing to set off and they beat us to the locks.  By the time we got there, the first drops of rain were falling and we resigned ourselves to a wet afternoon.  We managed 4 locks before the heavy rain started and we had to call it a day.  Carl hammered in the mooring pins as the rain beat down on us and we were soon tucked up with steaming mugs of tea and another episode of 'The Detectorists' 

Posing in Warwick

We had a couple of days in Long Itchington -  we chose this as a good place to meet up with our friends, Richard and Mel.  The village boasts 5 pubs and we selected The Duck on the Pond to have a long, leisurely lunch and as always, we loved having them aboard. We'll be seeing more of them I hope as we get closer to Market Harborough.  Our boating buddies are close by and as I type this we are waiting for the Naga Queen to hove over the horizon and moor along the tow-path from us.  Tricky will be happy.  More visitors from our winter quarters are arriving on Tuesday – I hope they bring the sun with them.

Warwick in Bloom

This morning we set off early, there were 13 locks between us and Wigram’s Turn and we were hoping to get them done today before the main rain started.  We did a couple of locks by ourselves then we were joined by a Black Prince boat.  They set off yesterday and had gone the wrong way and got through 8 of the 10 locks before they realised their mistake.  They were just setting off back up the Stockton flight when we came along and they asked if they could share the locks with us.  We were very happy to see them as they had two brawny, teenage sons and I hardly had to lift a paddle for the rest of the morning.  The boys were very enthusiastic and were running around the locks, opening gates and winding up paddles and having a whale of a time.  I walked ahead and set each lock ready for them and we were making easy work of the big locks, until we ran out of water!  Canal and River Trust were already aware of the problem and had sent someone to run water down the flight to fix the problem. We had to sit and wait until there was enough depth to get the boats from one lock to the next then we were off again, like greased lightening.

Long Itchington

This stretch of canal, from Braunston to Wigram’s Turn, is very rural and it's a nice change to be lock free for a while.  This week we will be pottering about around Braunston, trying once more to order a new canopy for the bows.  The wet, warm weather has turned our old one green with mildew and it does look very shabby. I’m hopeful that the weather will improve as the week progresses - we don’t mind a drop of rain, but this wind makes us grouchy.  I hope you have a good week and I’ll write again soon

Love from

The Floating Chandlers

Ps  I don't normally hang around in the bin area but I couldn't help noticing a selection of items that looked as if they had been dumped by a builder.  2 good ladders, yard brushes, gloves and boots, electric tools in cases and boxes of screws.  I'm still wondering who would just throw that stuff away!

Bike on board

Duck on the Pond

Hatton 

Hatton

Hatton

Two Captains Chatting

Birds eye view

Wild Mooring

Garden Boat - listing a bit

Fuel delivery by Roach

   

Shakespeare and Chips

Our last river mooring, Stratford-upon-Avon

Thank goodness for some cooler weather!  We puttered up to Stratford quite early on Monday morning and met a flotilla of boats leaving the park - we timed it just right to get a nice mooring by the church.  We still had a couple of days left on the Avon River Licence (£50 for the week) so we decided to moor on the river for one more night and have the allotted 2 nights in Bancroft Basin.  The moorings there are right by a busy road and the basin is busy with tourists and trip boats, so we were happy to enjoy the peace on the river for an extra night.  The school holidays are here again and the park was full of families enjoying the crazy golf and a small fun fair.  It was a hot afternoon and Mr Whippy was doing a roaring trade, selling cones with a double flake called ‘Bunny Ears' - I tried to resist, honestly I did, but the best I could do was restrict myself to one flake instead of two.  The prices were eye-watering, in fact Mrs Whippy had a card machine to collect the loot - highway robbery! 

Ferry in action

The next morning we moved the boat into Bancroft Basin and settled onto a pontoon. It took longer than it should as one of the lock gates was well and truly jammed.  I couldn’t shift it and Carl was still down on the river, waiting for me to let him in.  Eventually, a nice young man took pity on me and together, we got the gate moving and Carl chugged in under a bridge full of gongoozlers – now where did they all come from?  The bridge was empty when I needed help!  He had his own problems once he got out of the lock, it was windy in the basin and the mooring slot he chose was in a bad place - right in the firing line for the trip boats turning. He reversed out and into a better spot and were thankful that he did as we witnessed the trip boats roaring round the basin later that day, creating a wash that set us rocking on our lines.  Once we were settled with our fenders down and the panels up, we had a chat to our pontoon neighbours and thanked them for their timely warning.  

Open air entertainment

We strolled over the bridge into town, stopping to listen to an actor delivering his Shakespearean Soliloquy to a very sparse audience.  It was a little early for that much drama so we left him to it and went in search of coffee.  We heard a deejay playing our sort of music (last century) - he was there to attract people to the little market, set up in the square by the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.  A couple of sumo wrestlers on stilts walked across the park, gathering a trail of children as they teetered along, encouraging them towards the market, to be tempted by waffle cones and cheesy chips.  The morning was showery and cool and tourists were scarce in the town.  A few people were waiting patiently for their turn to go into ‘Shakespeare’s Birthplace’ and ‘Harry Potter’s Spell Shop’ was busy but the Christmas Shop next door was empty, a sign said ‘152 days To Go’ and I heard one mother saying to her teenage daughter ‘Don’t you dare mention the ‘C’ word to me”

Pontoon Mooring

After a couple of days of sightseeing, we were ready to tackle the Stratford Canal, with it’s narrow bridges and single gated locks.  We were too slow off the mark and an Anglo Welsh boat pipped us at the post to be first out of the basin and under the very low bridge.  I must mention that Carl made a splendid reverse out of our spot, in spite of all the boaters who had come out to see the fun, I felt quite proud of him. The rain threatened, but we managed to get to Wilmcote before the rain started in earnest and we settled down for a wet evening.  I was hoping to walk into the nearby village - the Nicholson’s guide describes it as having 'many fine old buildings' including Mary Arden’s House - but I couldn’t work up the enthusiasm for a wet walk after so many locks.  Maybe next time.

Edstone Aqueduct

Wootton Wawen was our next mooring - we arrived in a cloudburst and crossing the Edstone Aqueduct was nail biting in the blustery conditions. After tea we walked into the village and found St Peter’s Church and took shelter inside, as the heavens opened again.  We were almost disappointed as we stepped into a fairly plain building and nearly missed the Saxon Sanctuary, tucked away behind the towering modern organ.  The uneven flagstones have been there for hundreds of years and we could feel the passage of time under our feet. There was much to read, far too much to tell you about here but well worth a visit if you find yourself in Wootton Wawen 

St Peter's, Wootton Wawen

We crossed the River Avon on our way back and I wished for sunshine to capture the pretty waterfall and mill race behind it.  Sadly, the dark clouds kept rolling in and although I took a quick snap, I don’t think I did it justice.  Another reason to make a return trip this way sometime soon.

River Avon

More locks next day, there are a lot of them on this Canal! We passed through Preston Bagot and found one lock gate had jammed slightly ajar.  We managed to work our way through it and I took pictures to send to Canal and River Trust to let them know about the problem - like most places these days, they don’t seem able to answer the phones anymore so I thought I might Tweet them.  I’ve no idea how to do that but I was going to give it a try but when we reached our mooring at Lowsonford, we found we had no WiFi or phone signal and nothing on the TV either.  There’s only one thing to do in those circumstances - go to the pub.  We popped over to the Fleur de Lys, famous for its pies, and battled with the online ordering system.  After a while, the waitress took pity on us two old codgers and let us order the old fashioned way.  It wasn’t until I was half way through my G & T that I realised that it was our wedding anniversary.  Neither of us had remembered the day, I’m not sure what that says about us! Tricky had told us not to be late when we went out,  so we were home well before dark and settled down to watch an episode of Dinner Ladies. Not everyone’s idea of a celebration, I suppose, but after so any years, it’s lucky we can still stand to be in the same boat together!

Fleur De Lys, Lowsonford

We turned onto the Grand Union today and will be tackling the Hatton Flight of 21 locks sometime this week.  I’m looking forward to Warwick and maybe visiting the castle this time, instead of walking around the outside of it.  The forecast isn’t great but we don’t mind getting wet, the canals need topping up if we’re to continue our journey and I’m not ready to come home just yet.  

Have a good week everyone and I’ll write again next week

Love from

The Floating Chandlers

PS We had a rude awaking early one morning when a boat tried to moor on the pontoon beside us and managed to crash into us and then bump along the length of our boat till they finally hit the walkway. Not the best way to start the day!

Barrel Roofed Cottage

Lovingly restored

Very leaky lock - there was a brick wedged in the gate.

Where too?

Wilderness on the Stratford

Prince Hal

Clock Handbag.  You'll always have time

Rose and Crown

The biggest scones ever!

Lady Aberlour in Bancroft Basin

Bancroft Basin by day

Evening Spire

Last of the big river locks