Lazy Cruising: from Blisworth to Welford and Foxton part 1

This part will be followed by 'Illusions of cruising on the cut' and part 2. I've adjusted the order so that you can read them through without going backwards and forwards.

Friday July 30th 2010





We arrived at Blisworth Tunnel Boats mid-afternoon, drove past the closed gateway, not having been to this boatyard before, and had to turn around and come back. We found it very relaxed and friendly, booked the essential valet service, loaded our stuff on board and set off for Welford and Foxton about 5pm.

On our way

We didn’t intend going very far because this was to be a relaxing week. Our days of cruising from 7am to 10pm with no lunch breaks, travelling to exotic places like Wigan, Ellesmere Port or round the Cheshire Ring in a week are over. This week, we only have about 35 miles and 28 locks to do. We moored at Bugbrooke and, just after, it rained heavily, so we got that one right! This is possibly the closest part of the canal to the railway; trains are frequent but by no means as noisy as they used to be.

Back over the tiller

Saturday July 31st 2010

Traditional boats. The small back cabin is the

living accommodation. The rest is for cargo.

Even mooring so close to the railway, the trains didn’t keep us awake. Molly (the spaniel), however, did. She woke us about 3 times wanting to go out. In fact, what she really wants is to come and sleep in our cabin but we’re not having that!

Canalside dwellings

We cruised up past Gayton Junction...

...which leads to Northampton, through the Heyfords, Weedon and Brockhall to Long Buckby locks.

Arriving at Buckby Locks

These are double locks, accommodating 2 boats, and are deep and heavy to operate. The usual thing (and the correct thing) is to share them with another boat, saving water and dividing the work. We were lucky to share with ‘Herewego’ crewed by 4 men so this made progress easier and quicker.

Sharing with 'Herewego'

Molly wanted to be both on and off the boat; at one point, with Marea on the lock and me, on the boat, making a gradual progress towards the lock (the intention is to cruise slowly to arrive as the gates are opened), Molly didn’t know where Marea was, so decided to join me on board. She jumped in and seemed rather surprised to find herself in the water. I shut off the engine so as not to risk and injury to her and Marea eventually dragged her onto the bank.

Wet Molly

We shut her on board for the rest of the flight. The weather was mostly cloudy but we got a bit more sun later on.

Turned right at Norton Junction towards Watford Locks...

Rope marks from horse-drawn boats

...and moored below the locks ready to go through at 8am Sunday.

We spent the evening sitting in the bows with books and white wine. This is what it’s all for!

Late brood

Sunday 1st August 2010

We were though Watford locks by 9.45 without the help of the lock-keeper who weemed to think others were less knowledgeable and needed more help.

Back down the staircase

The top 4 locks of Welford area staircase and you have to join the official queue before being allowed to enter the flight. Just below the flight is s gap in the hedge which allows access to Watford Gap motorway services for newspapers and other shopping.

In this photo (above), even though I've done some work on it to increase the contrast, you'll find it very difficult to see what's actually going on. The tiny dots aren't birds; they're gliders. If you look at the pic below, you'll see what I mean. This is nothing unusual; Husbands Bosworth is perhaps the busiest gliding centre in the UK and there was some sort of festival on. The only reason I've included it is because, a little later, we saw the air ambulance go over and, even later still, we found out from the radio news that one of the pilots had flown into the power cables and been killed. It all looks idyllic, but is still a dangerous sport.

From there, it was a peaceful cruise through Crick Tunnel...

Meeting another boat

The exit at last!

Looks too small for 2 boats

... turn right at Welford Junction and down the Welford Arm where the single lock was very busy.

We followed a boat which was clearly privately owned but the family had no idea how to proceed and seemed unconcerned. (One sometimes expects this of hired boats where newcomers may not have been shown how to work locks.) Marea gave them some advice and, as they left, we were amused to see the boat’s name ‘Barely-a-wake’. We found a good mooring at Welford and were joined after dinner by Ben and Emily.

Ophelia's front cabin

Monday 2nd August 2010

I took the opportunity to walk up the hill to the shop in Welford village (Welford is very close to home; Marea drives through it every day on her way to work) to buy bread, newspaper and superglue. It’s quite a steep hill so makes a good constitutional.We left Welford after a leisurely breakfast and had a lazy cruise in fine weather to Foxton.

Duck ladder by a newly dredged section

Husbands Bosworth tunnel was drier than I expected – for those who don’t know, canal tunnels drip water that percolates through the ground from above. I say ‘drip’; some pour and other, like Blisworth and Harecastle, deluge.

Canalside sculpture at Foxton

Having arrived at Foxton with no intention of going down the locks (2 hours down and 2 hours back – 20 locks) we showed a rabbi and a group of orthodox Jewish schoolchildren how to turn a boat, then cruised back to Laughton Hills (br 52-53), a favourite spot; very beautiful and peaceful, for the night.

Moored under Laughton Hills

I barricaded Molly into the front cabin; very successful.

Tuesday 3rd August 2010

We set off fairly early, though we had plenty of time to reach Watford locks, our target for today. There was sunshine as we got up but, by the time we set off, the skies had clouded over and the weather was cool. As the cloud get denser, it got rather cold (August?) and we had to put sweaters on.

Approaching Husbands Bosworth Tunnel

We cruised back through Husbands Bosworth Tunnel, North Kilworth, now more of a going concern than when we decided not to move ophelia’s mooring there some years ago, and had a look at the new Yelvertoft Marina which, like all new marinas, looks rather bleak.

Another glider being towed into the air

Through Crick Tunnel – reputedly haunted if you believe that sort of thing – which I don’t; not at all; never.

A good brood of cygnets

The harvest reminds us this is now August

We moored a little way back but ready to move on and go down Watford locks early Wednesday morning.

Illusions of cruising on the cut

1. The frequent feeling that you are cruising downhill as fields rise around you (particularly noticeable on the Llangollen

2. The certainty that, when you’re in a tunnel, the exit ahead is closer than the entrance behind you, in spite of what the figures on the roof say.

3. The feeling, also in a tunnel, that the canal and tunnel walls narrow dramatically as they enter the pool of light from your navigation light.

4. The illusion that, as you meet a boat coming the other way in a tunnel, behind it the tunnel opens out into a broad cavern (the opposite effect to 3. above).

5. That the speed of a boat on the canal is 4mph. In spite of a few lunatics who zoom along, bends, tunnels and moored boats mean your average speed will be about 2mph, so you should calculate for that.

6. That other boaters won’t moor just before a bridge hole, on a (double) bend, making navigation almost impossible and then come out shouting at you when, by a miracle of steering, you manage (just) to avoid hitting them.

7. That anglers are not all curmudgeonly b******s who resent your being anywhere near ‘their’ canal.

8. That hirers will have been taught how to work locks before being allowed to take a boat out.

9. That the boat’s tiller, if left to its own devices for a split second, will centre itself and the boat will proceed in a straight line; it won’t!. Because of the swirl of the prop, the tiller will shoot over hard left, sending the boat across the canal into the right bank (or nearest boat).

10. Wind (the weather kind) is not a problem. It is! It’s the worst kind!

Lazy cruising part 2

Wednesday 4th August 2010

We started out early to be at the top of the locks at 8am when they were unlocked. The woman lock-keeper was nice enough to open a few minutes early and help with the first couple of locks. There was no-one coming up and we were first down. All the locks were set against us until the bottom lock where, by the time we got there, a boat had come through and was waiting for lock

2.

Waiting for the lock to fill

We went on at a fairly slow speed and were almost surprised to find ourselves at the junction and then Buckby locks. There was a boat coming out of the top lock so we decided to go ahead. As we worked the lock, a lady from another boat waiting to come up, disappeared back to her boat and didn’t reappear. Marea worked the lock on her own. As we exited the lock and the boat coming up passed us, I said “Thanks for the help”. “Are we supposed to help?” was the reply from the steerer. Interesting point of view since we had completely prepared the lock for them in working it ourselves.

At the next lock, we were almost down when another boat came along so, having exited, we decided to wait for them to come down and join us at the next (these are double locks, remember). After we had waited 10 minutes and they hadn’t appeared, we started to work the lock anyway. With the lock half empty, we saw them appear round the bend, so we stopped working the lock, dropped the paddles and came round to refill the lock. As they came up, it was obvious that they weren’t going to join us, so we restarted the lock emptying.

Into every life a little rain...

They were, in fact, waiting for another boat with which they had been travelling so, after the next lock (pouring rain), we decided to moor, dry out, make coffee and let them pass so as not to hold them up – travelling in a pair, sharing the work, so faster than us.

After coffee and a rest, we teamed up with another boat to go down the remaining locks. At the penultimate lock, with two boats coming up and we two going down, the lock was set, ready for us. However, another boat below closed the gates, opened the paddles and set the lock emptying so they could come up. It’s called ‘stealing the water’. It set us back about 15 minutes – not that we were in a hurry, but it also doubles the work and Marea, who was working the locks was getting tired. Our working the lock would also have saved them the trouble and work so it was a bit of a mystery what they thought they were up to.

Improving weather

We hoped that the pottery at Long Buckby would be open (we bought some exciting pots last time we passed through) but it seemed to be closed and the pots in the window were rather boring. We moored by the marina for our last night aboard. Gentle cruise to Blisworth the next morning, then off and home.