A night on the Buckby flight

After leaving Crick this morning and getting through the tunnel we were  ………….

…………. soon passing under the M1 (the sound of which we’d been aware of for the last mile or so) and then immediately onto the Watford locks.

The lovely Watford Lock flight, with its staircase locks and the tubs of flowers around each lock, is drowned by the noise of the motorway on the other side of the hedge.  Birgit helped with the boat coming up the flight ………..

………. before we made our way down.

The drivers eye view of the staircase locks ……..

……… and then it’s out into the daylight again.

We stopped at Welton Hythe marina for a pump out of the black water tank which was certainly a weight of our minds and ‘Chance’!)

Turning left at Norton Junction we got a picturesque view when looking back.  Just before the junction we were hailed by one of our readers (it was good to say a quick “hello”).

The top lock of the Buckby flight.  Although very windy and generally cloudy today we were very lucky to have some sunshine as well.

We moored after the second lock, had some lunch and then took Birgit to Long Buckby station for the train to Birmingham International for her flight back to Germany.  We took the train with her as far as Rugby so that Doug could buy himself a new phone. (the wet one is working but not dependably so!)

Walking back from the town centre to the railway station we were reminded of one place in Rugby’s history – Sir Frank Whittle and his invention of the jet engine.

Getting back to ‘Chance’ in the late afternoon we decided to call it a day and stay the night where we are.  Hopefully we’ll get an early start in the morning.

James ends up in the canal at Crick!

We awoke to a very still and quiet morning after a eerily quiet and wonderful night in our ‘middle of nowhere’ mooring at bridge 51. 

Mirror calm waters make for a lovely setting.

Further up the canal the locals were down having their morning ritual.

The approach to the Husband’s Bosworth tunnel (another great British place name!) was beautiful in its autumn colours and misty atmosphere.

Some of the Grand Union Canal is not so grand these days -  it feels more like a backwater which we’ve mistakenly taken.  There really needs some urgent cutting back in places.

Our 15 mile lockless journey today was dry and mild until the last couple of miles when the forecast rain arrived and we reached our Crick mooring encased in waterproofs and glad to get inside the boat.  After some lunch we walked into Crick village………

………. where there are some lovely old buildings, especially this perfectly presented one just round the corner from The Wheatsheaf.

The same well cared for building from a different angle.

Getting back to the canal we went to find  nb ‘Ellen’, moored in the marina, with John and Angela (and Lola) on board.  We were given the most wonderful welcome and we spent a much enjoyed hour or so with them.  Lola is recovering from the operation to put right her broken leg but, at only nine months old, she still wants to bounce around regardless of the restrictions placed on her!  She’s a lovely dog and we hope she heals quickly so that John and Ange can get back to some sort of normality.  It was great to catch up this year – we didn’t think it was going to happen.

While at the marina we bumped into Frank and Jenny on nb ‘The Lady C’ who we met while tideway cruising earlier this year. (Small world!)

This evening we spent our last evening with Birgit, before she leaves us tomorrow, having a very nice meal at The Red Lion. After that we walked back to ‘Chance’ where Doug decided to drop his phone into the canal  between the boat and the armco.  James had to strip to his underpants and use his long legs to fish for the blessed thing!  Not the perfect end to the day but it had the desired result and its now drying out by the fire.  (The phone that is not James!)

Farewell to friends and forward to Foxton

Yesterday evening we all had great fun at The Navigation at Kilby Bridge.  James, Debbie, Birgit, James and Doug about to tuck into very good pub food.

This morning we said goodbye to James and Debbie on nb ‘Lois Jane’ as they set off towards Leicester in the rain.  Our black water warning light came on this morning and, although we’d still have about ten days before disaster struck, we went to use the pump out facility opposite our mooring this mooring.  Amazingly the hose was far too short to reach to the other side of the boat so we packed it all away and started today’s journey.  (A text to C&RT we think)

The weather improved very quickly this morning and we enjoyed a completely dry day.  However, regardless of the weather conditions someone still has to do the dirty work!

Birgit continued to practice her death defying act.

It was an extremely quiet day and we only only met two boats in our 14 mile trip today.  Hence, when we entered the Saddington tunnel we could see light at the other end.

Birgit’s working very hard on her holiday – after lock operation she’s back on the tiller.

Doug took a “walk on the wild side” and readjusted the rolling fender heights after they’d been through a few locks and stretched a bit.

We were happy to change from wide to single locks when we got to the wonderful Foxton Locks.  Having seen so few boats during the journey we were surprised to find we had to wait about an hour and a half for six boats to come down, so we used the time to light the fire and have some lunch.

With the first lock behind us we had the other nine to negotiate.

It can be a lonely old life steering a boat up through the flight – you seem to be in a brick-lined canyon most of the time.

Birgit enjoyed operating the “baby” locks better than the double ones.

Getting a good way up the flight the views are lovely – even with the autumn mist masking the farthest points.

After getting up the Foxton locks we modified our plan to moor at the top and we carried on cruising for another half an hour and found a very lovely quiet spot, in the middle of nowhere, at bridge 51.  We took advantage of the extra travelling time and had a glass of wine and some nibbles “on the hoof”.

Cruising again. Heaven!

With everything in order this morning we slipped our mooring at 8 o’ clock ……….

…….. and, with Birgit on board, made our way from MGM  and up the River Soar towards Leicester.  We remember making this same journey in 2011 when we took ‘Chance’ from this boatyard to Crick for the boat show.  James is now just slightly less precious about his paintwork this time round!

On the approach to Belgrave Lock, on the outskirts of Leicester, the National Space Centre looms over the tree line like a giant silver bouncy castle.

Birgit soon got stuck in to the job of lock operation but our trip through Leicester was not without incident – we picked up a burka, a string of gold Christmas tree decoration (in very good condition) and a jumper.   The burka was a nightmare to get off the propeller but thankfully the owners of the jumper and burka were not in them!

At Kings Lock we met some long standing blog readers, who we first spoke to at the Crick Show in 2011.  It was very good to see them again and have a quick chat but we’re sorry we can’t remember your names!  Safe cruising guys.

Birgit, being fairly new to lock operation and finding some of the lock gates a bit tough, brought in the heavy gang to give her a hand.

Getting to some of the locks we found the lock gates wide open – due to the wind we were assured by one boater.  It turned out to be true as we had to put a little water into the lock before they’d stay closed.

‘Chance’, with only one minor scratch, at Kilby Lock – our last for today.  After that we were soon at Kilby Bridge where we’d arranged to meet up for the evening with friends James and Debbie on nb ‘Lois Jane’.

Doug, Birgit, James and Debbie enjoying coffee, and delicious home-made cake, on board ‘Lois Jane’ as soon as we’d roped up.  Not too much cake though(!) as we’re planning to go to the Navigation Inn just over the bridge this evening for a meal together. 

‘Chance’ moored nose to nose with a very well presented and shiny ‘Lois Jane’ this evening.

Even Keel again.

Well, we’re back afloat at last after a luxurious drying time for our blacking over the weekend.  Doug left fairly early this morning(travelling by bus and train) to collect our friend Birgit, who was flying into Birmingham from Germany today.

The launch this morning went extremely well -  ‘Chance’ slipped effortlessly into the water. Rachel was asked to take photos of the launch, which she tried very hard to do, but with a flat battery in the camera we’re sadly lacking in slipway shots of today. 

However, we soon got ‘Chance’ on the visitor moorings to get things finally ship-shape.  It was a case of lots of little things which seemed to take all day – including washing down to remove all the spider poo from our time under cover on the slipway.

With new rope and rolling fenders, and the blacking as black as black, ‘Chance’ was looking splendid.  At 4:30pm Doug arrived with Birgit after a tiresome return railway journey from Birmingham.

After she’d settled in Birgit presented us with some wonderful German Christmas decorations straight from the early German Christmas markets and small enough to use on a narrow boat.

We took Birgit on a guided tour around the boatyard, giving her an insight into the strange world of boat building.  After that, as we will be leaving in the morning before Mark, Martin and Rachael arrive for the day, we said farewell to them before they left work this evening.  MGM have been so very helpful over the last three weeks we’ve been with them – nothing’s been too much trouble and we thank them very much indeed.

This evening we tucked into a fish and chip supper before having an early night – we’re all very tired from our various and productive activities today.  Tomorrow will be an early start for us, as at last we can start cruising again!!

Technical Stuff

We’re coming to the end of ‘Chance’s’ improvements and we are very much looking forward to cruising again next week.  James is getting tired and Doug is complaining about the dust everywhere!

One job which we decided was necessary was to install a charcoal filter in the breather line from the black water holding tank.  The tank is under the bed and there was plenty of room to cut the tubing and position the filter.  It was an instant answer to the poo pong problem (which sometimes comes out of the vent on the outside of the boat) when we flush the loo.  The filter should be changed every year but it’s well worth the £25 spent at Aquafax.

The weed hatch (or should it be the plastic bag hatch these days) also got a makeover.  For the non boating readers this hatch is the regular source of much angst when we get a plastic bag caught round the propeller.  Sometimes it can be  something much more difficult to remove and the poor volunteer has to get the lid off and get his (or her) arm down to the prop and unwind whatever is caught.

It wasn’t too corroded so it was a quick scrape and an application of rust inhibitor, then a couple of coats of paint.

If it hadn’t been for Geoff on nb ‘Seyella’ the other day James would have forgotten to do this while the boat was out of the water.

Luckily the propeller is in really good condition with no major nicks out of it.  We’ll replace the split pin, which stops the nut coming off, tomorrow just as a precaution while we can.