Sunday 28 Sep
Well the weather forecast was right and we had the best part of 9mm of rain overnight, but what a lovely morning was waiting for us.
It was less than an hour back to our moorings and a trip round the marina to reach our slot saying hello to a few of the moorers on the way.
It didn’t take as long to pack away, we had only been onboard for 4 nights.
Today’s Journey
1¾ miles with no locks in ¾ hour
Sat 27 Sep.
We were away at 1030am after a very quiet night, the back pumps were still running when we left. The farmer has made a very neat job of cutting the hedge between his field and the towpath.
A little further on at the off side long term moorings they were hard at work dredging as the moorers were having great difficulty both leaving and getting back to their moorings.
We were soon at Wigrams Turn and turning left towards Braunston Junction, again we would meet about half a dozen boats, although they are stuck on about 16 miles of canal some are moving around quite a bit. Today the weather felt much colder but thankfully the wind was very light. Due to the forecast for overnight rain we decided to go into Dunchurch Pools marina this afternoon to fill with diesel rather than tomorrow morning. Thankfully Dunchurch Pools is one of the cheapest places for diesel I know. By now the clouds were gathering,
so once we had filled up and paid our dues we left the marina, turned left and stopped on the first decent piece of mooring we came to.
Today’s journey
9 miles with no locks in 3½ hours
Fri 26 Sep
Set to working on the toilet again and fitted the seal I removed last time it leaked and guess what, perfect seal and no leaking away.
We were off by 1015 and the painters were hard at work on the bridge. Pity the cyclist didn’t read the notice back at Butchers bridge.
We stopped at the Stop House to fill with water but the flow was so slow we never got round to putting the hose in the tank before we gave up and decided to go else where. We were also told that the refuse facilities there are now closed, even though there are still bins there. The next waterpoint was in use so we carried to the one on the N Oxford just beyond Midland Chandlers,. At the end of the service moorings is a level indicator and it was indicating that the level was now only down 100mm. last time we were this way it was 200mm.
Once full we reversed back past the junction and then headed off to Wigrams Turn where we turned right to moor just above the closed lock flight.
We took a walk around the very empty reservoir and could see that the roots of the Bulrushes were well above the now low water level, so who knows if they will survive.
When we returned to the boat the back pump around the locks had just started running bringing water up from below the three locks and was still running when we left at ten the next morning.
Todays Journey
9 miles with no locks in 3½ hours
Thur 25 Sep
Late start in bright sun but quite chilly, not getting away until 11am. We managed to reunite the sheep with its rightful owner as we tiptoes through Barby Mooring along the straight. As we made our way we were to meet 7 other boats including a CRT work boat. At Braunston Turn we went left into the village but unlike last time we had no plans to visit the Boat House pub we had to look for a towpath mooring and none were visible as we made our way down to Branston Marina entrance to wind, however the bridge across the entrance to the canal is closed but there is still room for a 57 foot boat to turn with ease.
I spotted a friends boat moored up by Butchers Bridge so I considered mooring along side him and reversed up, but as I approached the bridge I could see the “disabled” moorings the far side of the bridge were free so pulled in there. As I would not be leaving Harnser if by chance a disabled person required the mooring I could move.
I spent the afternoon stripping the toilet pan to fit a new trap seal I had bought on eBay, needles to say it didn’t fit, so I cleaned everything and refitted the old seal only for it to leak worse than before.
Todays Journey
6 miles with no locks in 2¼ hours
Wed 24 Sep
Well guess who left his laptop at home, so the trip report is running 5 days late.
We arrived at the boat around lunch time and were away at quarter past two leaving the marina and turning right. As we passed Barby Moorings I rescued a sheep who spent the night on our roof.
We could only go as far as the winding hole just beyond bridge 74, shortly before the bridge was a lone Calcutt hire boat, moored for the night. Hillmorton locks are still closed so this was the last place we could turn. Looking back at bridge 74 it was good to see that CRT had seen fit to place this sign.
We made our way back to bridge 75 to moor for the night. Bridge 75 is looking quite poorly with large cracks in a the spandrel walls.
Diana went for a walk along the towpath and came back with half a kilo of sloes for the sloe gin. It’s been a bumper year for them this year but lots look quite small.
Todays Journey
1¾ miles with no locks in 1 hour
