Our plan
for Wednesday was to get to the bottom of the Stoke Bruerne flight leaving just
the flight itself and a few miles to go on Thursday.
As it happened, we were both awake early with neither of us feeling we
could doze off again so we decided to set off early and then get further than
planned if we felt like it.
After
three miles we reached Cosgrove lock which is at the start of the long climb
all the way to the summit at Norton junction to the east of Braunston. We have been going downhill ever since getting off the Aylesbury Arm at Marsworth a month ago.
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| The relatively shallow Cosgrove lock |
At the top
of the lock an old arm goes off to the left with some residential moorings on it. The arm, the Old Stratford Cut, used to go a mile
or so down to Old Stratford but, apart from the short section at the beginning,
is now derelict. After leaving the lock,
Karen and Buddy went for a run ahead of me towards Stoke Bruerne.
The
stretch between Cosgrove and Stoke Bruerne is really rural with the odd
farmhouse – a lovely part of Northamptonshire.
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| One of the farmers' accommodation bridges typical of this part of the Grand Union canal |
When I reached
Yardley Gobion, I met Karen and Buddy at the bridge on their way back to meet
me. We decided to continue to the
service moorings at the bottom of the Stoke Bruerne flight before we stopped
for lunch. It had begun to feel a bit
cold, as it can do just standing on the back of a boat without moving, and I
donned my gloves for the last couple of miles.
Karen went inside and started packing away some of the more fragile
items that we would be upset to find broken when we arrive in France.
After
lunch we agreed we were up to getting to the top of the flight and mooring just
before Blisworth tunnel, this would leave us just about 3 miles with no locks to do
on Thursday.
I was
looking through my emails before we set off and was pleased to see an email
from my middle brother, Adrian. He had volunteered
to pick a few pieces of music for our mother’s memorial ceremony and had
suggested a piano piece by Scarlatti. Adrian had
mentioned this to our father and, apparently, Mum’s most played cassette tape
was of Scarlatti’s piano sonatas. Adrian’s
email said, ‘Looks like I made a serendipitous choice!’. Not only was that true but I was also jealous
that he had got the word into a natural sentence 😒
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| Karen dropping the paddles at one of the bottom locks whilst Buddy has a good sniff |
During the
day we passed three stanking plank piles.
The first two piles were of new planks and at either side of Cosgrove lock. The third pile contained old planks that we had seen before and was near the top of the
Stoke Bruerne flight. I have included
all three as they will probably be the last pictures of UK stanking planks you
will see for a while.
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| Top of Cosgrove lock; bottom of Cosgrove lock; top of fifth lock up the Stoke Bruerne flight |
We were
soon into a good rhythm going up the locks and it seemed no time at all before
we were approaching the top lock. At the
penultimate lock I asked Karen if she felt emotional about going up the last
locks in the UK for a while. She said
she hadn’t thought about it but wasn’t surprised that I felt emotional about
it.
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| Approaching the top lock (the sun had come out and was encouraging people to eat outside at the pub) |
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| In our last lock in the UK for a while |
As we were
waiting for the lock to fill Karen reminded me that not only was it our last
lock in the UK it was also the first lock we had taken most of our children down on our
first family narrowboat holiday – now that’s what I call serendipitous 😉
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| I did have tears in my eyes contrary to how it looks |
We cruised
through the honeypot that is Stoke Bruerne and moored up just before the
entrance to Blisworth tunnel. The sun
was now out, and a few people were wandering up and down the towpath but it was
the quietest we had ever seen it at any time of year.
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| Moored for Wednesday night between Stoke Bruerne and Blisworth |
Karen had
prepared a sausage casserole in the slow cooker after breakfast and it was
great to have a hearty meal ready once we settled in for the evening.
During the
day we cruised 9 ½ miles up eight locks.
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