½ell today did not go to plan. Last night was a lovely moonlight night with the Tawny Owls out calling to each other.
The sun was out this morning and we set off at 1030 all the other boats were long gone
The towpath along the Grand Union canal is quite bad in places where is fallen right into the canal.
Unlike a little further on where its all concrete pilled, its just a pity they don’t stick to the dredging measurements.
Water levels on the Braunston pound are only down by about 30-40mm. so the doing was easy, this is the weir at Lower Shuckburgh.
We hadn’t filled with water since last time out so we stopped at the waterpoint by the Folly Pub. Its so slow we were able to have dinner while it filled up. That done we set off to the locks and that folks, is where it went wrong. Napton flight is still closed due to lack of water until Monday. How I missed it checking the stoppages I don’t know. Nothing for it but to reverse back to the winding hole and do something else.
Something else was to retrace our steps, back passed Napton Narrowboats with most of their fleet in to Wigrams Turn. Here we turned left and head to Calcutt Locks, not with a plan to go down them, but wind above them and moor for the night. The flight is still closed and the back pumping going full bore, however the flow of water over the bottom lock
bywash is quite substantial, I am not sure where its coming from. We walked around the reservoir, its not as low now as when we visited last September see this photo
I have never seen one of these before beside the water, stops the vandals throwing them in or walking off with them.
After returning to Harnser we were treated to a splendid sunset over the reservoir before closing up for the night.
Today’s Journey
8½ miles with no locks in 4¼ hours
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