Late Planning
Back on the Grand Union at Gayton Junction for the last week of September we had about six weeks before we expected to be able to return to our winter mooring at the boat club by Hatton Station. We didn't have a specific plan for where to go in the meantime, so that was one thing we turned our attention to in the next few days.
Sunday was warm and sunny, once a heavy autumn mist had cleared away and we did some maintenance and even started to polish the outside paintwork for the first time. The smell from the Gayton Marina pump-out facility seemed unusually strong so we were keen to move on in the fine weather, starting with a visit to the service wharf on the junction. As we were about to move on "Gerty" arrived from the north. They had just picked the boat up after having the hull freshly blacked and it was interesting to watch them manoeuvring gingerly into the arm trying to protect the lovely fresh bitumen from scraping against the concrete side of the wharf. We suspected they would be much more gung-ho in a few days' time.
We had contacted the engineer that Beta Marine had put us in touch with, who lives in Nether Heyford which is a village we really like to moor near, so we headed down there intending to stay for a couple of nights at least. It really was a lovely cruise in warm, autumn sunshine and we found that our favourite mooring spot was free and waiting for us to tie up. We managed to round off the day with a nice walk in the sun, round into the main village, stopping off at the Foresters Arms for a couple of pints before returning to the boat.
Monday started with heavy rain at seven o'clock but that had cleared after breakfast and didn't return until late afternoon. In between, it was quite a nice day albeit with a persistent strong wind. We managed a walk through Nether Heyford's back streets and across to Bugbrooke, circling back to the boat along the towpath. More chores & polishing jobs were accomplished in the afternoon but the engineer let us know he wouldn't make it and promised to come by first thing next morning.
He did exactly that, was prompt and professional and went through the issue carefully. Ultimately, however, he was as confused as we were. He could suggest an approach that would probably cure the symptoms but it was not one that was normally needed with this set up and it would bring its own complications without really addressing the root cause. It didn't take that long to talk through it and he didn't charge us anything for the call, so while we were no further forward we had lost nothing in the attempt. We concluded that it was time to cut our losses, accept that this was just a unique issue for our boat and resign ourselves to continuing to manage the symptoms as we already had been.
In the meantime we had decided on a plan, of sorts. We would continue up the Grand Union and onto the North Oxford at Braunston. We would follow that to Hawkesbury Junction, take a side trip to Coventry and then head on down the Coventry Canal to Fazeley Junction. A turn on to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, heading South would lead us down into the centre of Birmingham. A couple of days of what passes for civilization in the West Midlands would be plenty and set us up to leave via the Worcester & Birmingham heading South to join the Stratford Upon Avon Canal at King's Norton Junction. From there we would follow the North Stratford essentially South-East as far as Briar Cottage in Lapworth, where we had moored up securely and cheaply once before. While waiting for our winter mooring at the yacht club by Hatton Station to become available, we would take a trip down to the deep South to catch up with family and friends before a final short hop through the Lapworth Link on to the Grand Union and down to Hatton. Hopefully, the little map will help!
The Final Route Plan
None of this was expected to be done in a rush, of course!