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| Leaving Bugbrooke in the murk |
After a
couple of miles, we went through Gayton junction where the Northampton arm goes
up to Northampton to join the River Nene.
The River Nene is navigable for 88 miles right up to the Wash. It also provides access to the waterways of
the Fens (Middle Level Navigations) at Peterborough with yet another 100 miles
or so of waterways or ‘drains’ to explore.
Gayton is
where we are having the boat craned onto the lorry next March which is only
four months away now 😊
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| Going through Gayton junction |
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| Signpost at Gayton junction – Braunston is already 17 miles away |
When we
got into the tunnel, we could see the tunnel light of a boat coming the other way,
but we were OK as it’s a two way tunnel.
Well, it’s two way for narrowboats but we were slightly concerned as the
approaching boat, which was probably about ½ mile away, had two lights at the
front. For a brief moment I thought, oh
no it’s a wide beam who doesn’t know the rules.
Wide beams have to make prior arrangement with CRT to make a passage as
the tunnel has to be closed in the opposite direction.
I assumed
that it wasn’t a wide beam as, if it was, the driver would have started
flashing his lights when he saw us coming into the tunnel. His lights were extremely bright and were
pointing directly ahead which makes it very difficult for approaching boaters
to see; lights should be aimed slightly to the right and also slightly upwards.
In the end
it was yet another very new boat – when I reached him, he was hardly moving,
and he told me that he was really nervous as he had never been in a tunnel
before. I told him it’s safer to be
nervous and move slowly than be over-confident and try and rush past another
boat. I did tell him that his lights
were very bright and the angle should probably be adjusted and he laughed
saying, ”Yeah they’re OK for me but I suppose you’re right”.
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| Entering the tunnel with a leggers’ rest hut on the left |
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| Leaving the tunnel with stables on the right |
Stoke
Bruerne is one of the most touristy places on the network but not so on a foggy
and cold November day.
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| Looking back at the tourist trap of Stoke Bruerne from the top lock |
By the
time we got down to the penultimate lock it started raining and it didn’t stop
for the rest of the day. At least the
afternoon didn’t feel as cold as the morning and we made good progress, mooring
up for the day just past Thrupp.
We had had
several abortive attempts to moor before Thrupp but the sides were far too
shallow. Even so, we still had to use a
gangplank where we eventually moored.
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| Moored for Tuesday night |
A heron
was fishing from the towpath just where we pulled up and didn’t seem keen on
moving. He ended up just behind the boat
and kept eyeing me up as I was making the boat fast.
With
strong winds forecast for later on Wednesday we made sure we were away by 9 o’clock as
we wanted to get through and out the other side of Milton Keynes by the end of
the day.
As we cast
off, the heron from last night was still next to us but this time totally
ignoring us:
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It certainly
was windy as predicted and there were occasional very strong gusts that kept
taking us unawares. It was the sort of
day where you wanted to be able to hover in front of locks whilst they are
set. Otherwise it would mean mooring up
at the side and then finding it really difficult to get away when the lock was
ready.
The first
lock was at Cosgrove where a branch used to leave just above the lock and go
down to Buckingham. A local society is
active in restoration as with many other disused waterways around the
country. It always strikes us that it
takes a special type of person to be involved in these works as, in nearly all
cases, they won’t live to see the end result; they are doing it for future
generations.
I saw a
boat coming behind us in the distance, so we waited for them to join us in the
lock. I was gesticulating that we were
waiting but the driver seemed to be totally ignoring me. Once he was closer, he put his glasses on and
when I mentioned I had been waving at him he apologised as he could only see a
short way without his glasses on.
There were
two youngish lads on the boat and they were really excited as they had just
bought it and were taking it down to Bath to live on around there. They were also excited as it was their first
lock – that’s three new boats in three days that we shared with or saw going into
their first locks.
We were
then lock-free for the next twelve miles or so as first we went over the River Great Ouse and then wound our way around
Milton Keynes.
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| Crossing over one of the Milton Keynes boulevards |
As we were
passing through, we were on the look out for Jules Cook on her fuel boat. Her area is from Stoke Bruerne down to Berkhamsted,
so we had been in touch to find out where they were. As luck would have it, they were heading north,
and we met up to take on diesel and coal. Off course, we met them on a blind bend but, as there was no boat traffic around we just moored up across the cut together. They had their boat and butty breasted up too so there was no way anyone could get past us.
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| Jules preparing our bill |
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| Jules Fuels off on their way again |
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| Yet another new marina going up (or down) |
The proposed canal, the Bedford & Milton Keynes waterway, if ever constructed, will be a broad canal. This would mean that for the first time ever the north and the south would be connected for broadbeam boats. Up until now only narrowboats have the freedom to cruise both the north and the south.
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| Looks like the writing was handwritten |
At the far
end of Milton Keynes, near Bletchley Park, is a place called Fenny Stratford where there is a lock
with a swing bridge over it. We had both
forgotten about the swing bridge and were entering the lock and realised at the
last minute before any damage was done.
Amazing that two of us could get a lock set and start taking the boat in
without either of us noticing a metal road swing bridge across the lock!
We have never stopped off to pay a visit to Bletchley Park (the home of the WWII codebreakers) but when we are on our way back up to Gayton next March on our way to France, we should have plenty of time. It is one of the places we have both wanted to visit and we should be on a more leisurely mission to get to Gayton so there should be no excuses.
We have never stopped off to pay a visit to Bletchley Park (the home of the WWII codebreakers) but when we are on our way back up to Gayton next March on our way to France, we should have plenty of time. It is one of the places we have both wanted to visit and we should be on a more leisurely mission to get to Gayton so there should be no excuses.
About a
mile later I was passing some moored boats and a guy leaned out of a window
shouting and swearing that I was going far too fast. I was really taken aback as I was on tick
over, there was no wake and the cut was wide and deep at that point. I just concluded that he was just someone
that always did that whatever speed the passing boat is doing. This was further reinforced by cheery smiles
and waves received from other boaters moored near him.
Water
Eaton is the final suburb of Milton Keynes and we moored up as soon as we found
some Armco. We wanted to make sure we
were secure with the high winds forecast and didn’t fancy using mooring pins. As we were mooring up, Buddy seemed very interested in something in the hedge.
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| He had found a stone cat and appeared to have thought it was real at first |
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| Moored at Water Eaton for Wednesday night (a bit shallow as you can see!) |
Over the
last two days we have travelled 25 miles through nine locks and, weather
permitting, are still on schedule to be in Aylesbury by Saturday.
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