Cruising Unplanned
We still had reasons not to stray too far from home but hadn't yet confirmed where we might be required and when. That being the case we were faced with the challenge of not making too much progress. At the same time, just staying in one spot, however charming, while things resolved themselves would not be practical. We would quite soon run out of water, then food and eventually diesel, to say nothing of the issue of waste disposal. We needed to move but not too far or too fast.
We were following our broad plan to head for the Leicester Line, which would be in the right direction for our longer term idea of heading north and east. We could move slowly, spending a couple of days here and there, perhaps going as far as Market Harborough without being too far from home.
On Saturday eleventh June it was a lovely, sunny day but extremely windy, which slightly spoiled it. A good day to sit still at Flecknoe. We had a nice walk out around the area and did some little jobs around the boat, like touching up the blacking we lost off the stem yesterday and Sue put the little lights from the Jubilee on the roof. It was a quiet day for us but a hectic one on the canal. Busy in both directions, it was clearly being made more interesting by the wind.
It was another fine day on Sunday and still windy but easing up every now and then. We wanted to get to Braunston, less than an hour away so we got going and found a useful mooring just around the turn. Sue decided it was time to wash the towels and bedding, with ideal weather to get it dry, as well as cleaning through the inside of the boat. In the end four cycles of the washing machine were required but also most of our remaining water supply.
The floating café outside the marina, The Gongoozler's Rest, was open for business so we ordered some lunch. They only do takeaway now and offer to take orders over the phone but the staff were very young and don't seem to have got to grips with how that works. When placing the order we had a strange circular conversation in which they could neither confirm or deny whether the food would be ready or when, so I ended up trying different times to collect until I found one they would agree with. They seem to expect anyone ordering take away food to only take it away as far as the benches opposite. I arrived at the counter at the agreed time. They walked past me a few times without acknowledging my presence or asking what I wanted. Then a young girl emerged carrying what looked like our order and walked straight past to wander around the little garden trying to find someone who wanted it. When she came back, with the food still in hand, I stopped her and suggested it might be mine, which it was. She then had to go and pack it up so I could carry it. Strange but if the serving process was a bit chaotic, the food itself was very good.
In the evening we had a walk round Braunston itself and came round by The Admiral Nelson, half way up the locks. There is a new venture down Dark Lane called EWE Glamping and we were quite amused by this registration sitting in their driveway
Is This The Glamping Airport Shuttle?
We guess they still manage some sheep as well as their guests, or perhaps this is the shuttle bus from Rugby station.
Arriving back at the boat we didn't really want to move it and find another mooring on this busy stretch, so we ended up fetching water from the water point in our four, twenty litre containers, on the trolley. From the back of the boat we had a nice view of the famous Braunston Junction in the evening
Braunston Turn At Sunset
and we could also check out Sue's new solar lights
New Lights Shining Bright
If we needed to head south it was expected to be about the end of June. We stayed put on Monday and after a good walk, in a loop around Braunston via the old abandoned village of Wolfhamptoncote, we did a bit more detailed planning up to then. We were looking not so much at the route but at the right intervals between water and service points, the locations of supermarkets and moorings where we would be happy to stay for more than a night and that we thought would have a good wi-fi signal. This is an area we are sufficiently familiar with to have a good idea about most of these things.
Slow Boat To Market Harborough
I'm pretty sure we could have been in Market Harborough by Thursday night if we really wanted to but we had fourteen days before we needed to be at the marina so we definitely didn't need to rush.
On Wednesday we stayed put and walked up into Daventry to deal with a few things other than the main supermarket shop. A bit of hardware from Homebase, a quick, free, repair to my glasses at Specsavers, a couple of forgotten items from Tesco, a side trip for Archie to Pets At Home and we were able to pick up a prescription for Sue, ordered from her doctor the day before. We came across a little Greek, street food van in the car park behind the Chasers Bar & Grill, a pub beside Tesco. We sat at a picnic table there and had chicken Gyros with salad & tzatziki, which were freshly cooked and delicious.
Gyros & Tzatziki In Daventry
We wondered how they made it pay, tucked away here, with little passing trade. There was no-one else there waiting while we were. The answer became obvious, however, as a steady stream of cars pulled up, each to collect quite substantial phone orders that we are sure were lunches ready to take back to their offices. All these little things take a lot of time on foot and by the time we had walked back to the canal we were all pretty tired.
The next day was warmer still and we got out in the morning, while it was still comparatively cool, to take Archie round the nearby reservoir and have coffee at the café there.
The Reservoir Café
We had time to spare as our next hop was only as far as Norton Junction and the start of the Leicester Line. At least a mile and a half that took us all of thirty-five minutes. It did put us in easy reach of the New Inn and chance for refreshment as the day ended very close and warm. As we sat outside "Wigston" came up the lock beside the pub. They left the lock, pulled forward a couple of metres onto the lock landing, under the sign prohibiting mooring and without a qualm tied up the boat for the night before disappearing into the pub for a meal. It seemed bold but who was going to challenge them?
Doesn't Apply To Me!
We moved on round the junction on Friday morning, which was hotter still at the start. A bit more ambitious this time, although it was only about three miles in distance it took two and a half hours and included the seven locks on the Watford flight as well as dealing with water and services on the way. Rain was forecast for the weekend so we planned to moor up and stay put until Monday. There is a nice area around Bridge 9, beyond the Kilsby Road, that is one of the few stretches with a decent signal in these parts, essential if we were likely to be stuck inside. It was busy along this popular stretch but we found a spot and staked our claim and got out the barbecue.
Friday Night BBQ Before a Wet Weekend
The weekend had been forecast as a change in the weather and we had planned to stay put because of that. While it certainly got a lot cooler and we had periods of rain it wasn't as bad as predicted so we did get out both days. We had a walk across to Watford and back via the south portal of Crick Tunnel on Saturday and on Sunday went across the other side to Ashby St. Leger with its magnificent manor house. Genteely discreet, you catch glimpses of it from different angles all around the village but it is actually quite hard to get a very clear view.
Ashby St. Ledger Manor House
On the way across the fields we spotted the next big barn conversion for Ashby. A bit of a project but no doubt has great potential.
A Real Fixer-Upper
We met a couple with an enormous dog that she physically couldn't hold onto. Hearing where we had walked from, as she struggled to stay upright and in one place, she suggested that it was a long way for Archie, at his age. While this made us feel a little guilty we still felt we had the better behaved dog, until he suddenly snatched up and swallowed some roadkill we hadn't spotted, at which point we were more concerned about the implications of that for his digestion. Happily, it seemed to have no impact whatsoever.
Monday morning was fine and sunny again, although still cooler than the last week. We carried on the two miles through to the other side of Crick Tunnel and moored up there after dealing with the services on Crick Wharf. On the way, we realised that if the solar lights were going to come on at night then they would come on in the tunnel, as well.
Fancy New Tunnel Lights
Having been moored here for a year or so we knew the area and the nice walks up over Crack's Hill, responsible for the complete absence of any network signal in the whole town, and the fields around the town that had been laid out for the Millenium, a great place for Archie. The Moorings pub on the wharf was closed down now but it had always seemed very hit and miss as to whether it was open, at what times and what kind of service it would offer. We suspect that COVID will have finished them off, if only because they weren't efficient enough to claim the assistance on offer. We were happy enough to walk into the village and revisit the Wheatsheaf for one of their excellent homemade pizzas.
Our next stop was expected to be 'somewhere shady beyond Yelvertoft' as the next few days were forecast to be hot. We found a space just beyond Bridge 27, in the middle of nowhere. It was the last spot here and everywhere seemed very busy but this looked ideal.
Bridge 27 Elkington - Busy But A Great View
It was a little while before we realised that the people on "Philius", with whom we were moored nose to nose, had a cat on board that liked to stroll around at will. That meant we couldn't really let Archie have the freedom of the towpath but he was happy enough.
A couple walking past on the towpath stopped and told us about an area of woodland, just across the bridge behind us, that was managed by the woodland trust and open to the public. That turned out to be an ideal spot for a walk in the shade and it was so quiet we could let Archie off for a good run there.
The next day really did get warm and muggy so I went on my own to walk across to Yelvertoft and look around the village. Very well kept if not a huge amount to see but we have passed it by quite a few times in the past so it was worth a look.
Yelvertoft Church
And The War Memorial
We managed a barbecue in the evening as things slowly cooled down.
Thursday was cooler, damper and a day of revelation as we realised that the trip down the Foxton staircase locks was about five hours from here, a long cruise by our standards. We did want to get there today and then go on up into Market Harborough on Friday morning so we got on with it.
Our trip took us past the brand new North Kilworth Marina and through the very old North Kilworth Wharf. There are boats everywhere on the mooring around the wharf, double and triple breasted, on the wharf side but also on the towpath side, with just barely enough room to get through. This pair caught our eye as we threaded our way past
Boat And Butty . . . . .
. . . . With Their Matching Names
In the end the weather was cool and we had a couple of showers before a fine afternoon. There was no queue at Foxton Locks so we were able to go straight in. This flight of locks is a big tourist attraction and slightly more complicated, so it is managed by CRT volunteers. It was a bit surprising that, the lock keepers on duty having been asked by a member of the public, I had to explain to them why the top lock was number eight rather than number one (simply, counting from the start of the Leicester Line at Norton Junction, Watford Locks, at the far end of the long summit, are locks one to seven).
Arriving at the bottom we stopped at the service point, then went through the swing bridge and up into the Market Harborough arm where we easily found mooring in Foxton village close to the Black Horse. Archie and I went to check that out on our own and it turned out to be a very nice pub.
On Friday morning we set out for the couple of hours' trip to the end of the arm, where the Waterfront Restaurant overlooks the basin beside Union Wharf, who provide hire boats and have some mooring available for hire. The CRT two day visitor mooring is on one side of the arm as you approach the basin. We stopped short at a spot where we thought we could moor but it wasn't ideal, then went up to have a look. At first we thought we were out of luck, as the only space seemed to be by the water point. Then we looked again. There are several water points all along this stretch and the whole length is also signed as two day mooring.
Visitor Mooring - Water Point Or No Water Point
Several boats were moored beside water points and it seemed as though this was expected, so we went back to the boat and brought it up into the last space remaining and settled in.
Back Up The Way Down
On Friday we stayed near the boat. We had a training session with Archie. In actual fact, a training session without Archie, as we were practising separation and letting the trainer watch his response over Zoom. After that we needed to be at the Waterfront Bar as Sue had arranged for a supermarket delivery to the car park there. We went up in time for our slot, sat in the sunshine with a beer while we waited for Sainsbury's to arrive and had a chat with the lady who owned "St. Clair", moored close to us. An old trip boat, "St. Clair" was seventy feet long and had an enormous number of large windows which, the lady admitted, could be a problem in the brighter weather. At the moment, the boat is a bit tatty on the outside but from her description, it has been gutted and completely refitted on the inside with state of the art everything, especially a huge bank of lithium batteries and solar panels to power everything imaginable, from vacuum cleaners and washing machines to electric ovens and hair straighteners, without fear or needing to run the engine. It sounded marvellous.
On Saturday we walked down into the town. We have been to Market Harborough a couple of times before and always liked the feel of the place. Last time, in October 2020, it was a little bit depressing as everything was about COVID, with lots of places closed and limited activity. This time it felt like things were really back to normal, no doubt helped by the June sunshine. All the shops were open, there were lots of cafes and pubs, the park was busy and there was a big fete going on by the Old Grammar School in the High Street, with stalls, food and very loud entertainers. All of which, Archie took in his stride.
Saturday Fete in Market Harborough
Every time Sue went into a shop he would resign himself and lie down at my feet.
Archie Goes Shopping
He was interested in the loud music but not fazed by that or the noisy traffic
Archie Captivated By The Band
and he was more than happy to settle under the table while we had lunch in the courtyard café.
Archie Enjoying A Café Lunch
He did get to have a good run in Welland Park so it wasn't all bad.
The one downside for our current mooring was that it was mostly in deep shade, meaning we had to run the engine to charge the batteries. We were also surprised to note that many of the boats moored here when we arrived moved off on Saturday morning and weren't really replaced. We had quite expected that a lot of people would come up the arm and spend the weekend here, as we were. Our two days was up on Sunday, though, so we moved up to the basin to turn round and go onto the service wharf. It was quite a dry, sunny day but the wind was horrendous, which challenged our turning round manoeuvre straightaway. We succeeded reasonably well but were then presented with an unhelpful complication. Sitting on the service wharf, clearly having been there all night and with no-one in attendance, was a Union Wharf hire boat called "Marbled White". It was completely blocking the wharf and making it difficult even to back up into Union Wharf's day boat berths, which was our only option as we couldn't just sit and wait in the middle of the basin with the strength of wind today.
As we fought our way back a guy from Union Wharf did appear and apologise. Apparently, the hirers were due back on Monday but had clearly got back after they closed on Saturday and had just dumped the boat there and driven off. The wharf had just opened, being Sunday, so they had only just found out. They moved it out of the way pretty quickly, then and we moved up and got ready to leave.
As we headed back down to the junction at Foxton we caught up with and passed one of their day boats and then another a bit further on. That left me to open the swing bridge in Foxton village and wait for them both to follow Sue through before I could close it, to the annoyance of a handful of car drivers who arrived at the crossing during the process. Unfortunately for them a boat was also coming up and it would have been rude for me to shut the bridge on them. It shouldn't have caused the car drivers much delay but the last of the Day Boats suddenly veered right off course into the path of the boat approaching. A collision was averted and the mess sorted out but it added a few more minutes to the time the bridge was open and left me feeling a bit self-conscious as the muttering started.
We were back at the junction shortly after one o'clock but had a twenty minute wait while a boat on the way down cleared the lower group of five locks. Our passage up the flight was speeded, however, by the enthusiasm of a small girl, around ten years old, who was keen to open the gates on one side at every lock. She approached it with a lot more gusto than the CRT volunteers and we pulled over for lunch at the top a little after two o'clock. We were moored up and had sat down to eat when there was a knock on the door and a lady from the boat behind asked Sue to turn our engine off. If it is between eight in the morning and eight at night you are free to keep running the engine to generate electricity and hot water, even when you are moored up, so this was very unusual. It wasn't a problem for us as we wouldn't be there long anyway, so we agreed to shut it down. However, it was Sue who recognised her from a similar conversation we had had at Flecknoe in 2019 when we first took out the boat. On that occasion her husband had come to see us, apologised for her manner and told us that she had stormed off and he didn't know where she had gone. This time, the same harried individual appeared to thank us, effusively, for agreeing to switch it off. It was clear we had made his life a lot easier, at least for this afternoon.
We had selected a mooring site on the map, about half an hour further on, that appeared to be in a good spot, have a strong mobile signal on both networks and to be in easy reach of the road. We planned to stay there for the whole of Monday and move on into North Kilworth Marina, where we would leave the boat for a week or so, on Tuesday morning.
One reason for stopping here was that, having finally managed to get the covers collected for repair when we were at Wootton Wawen, we had been chasing for the last week or so to get them back on board. Holidays, staff sickness, workload etc. had all been offered as excuses for the delay and having finally agreed a date to meet in Foxton on Friday, that had then been called off on Friday morning. This evening we sent the details of our exact location, as agreed, ready for the promised delivery on Monday.
I took Archie for a walk on Monday morning. There was a lot of very long grass to walk through that, for Archie, must have seemed like hacking through the jungle. And then it rained. Once again I realised how little he had experienced proper rain, especially like this, where he couldn't just find shelter from it. He looked cold, wet and miserable and once we found a tree that offered a bit of shelter he just wanted to be on my lap, thinking, I suppose, that I would somehow turn it off. It didn't last very long but left everything around us pretty soggy.
We dried off on the way back to the boat and found some clearer paths as well as a farm with a collection of very unusual machinery and these examples on the front lawn.
I've no idea what was going on, presumably the farmer's true passion did not lie with crop cycles or the milking parlour. The whole farmyard was littered with old armoured vehicles, cars and planes in all stages of either decay and disrepair or loving restoration, it was hard to tell.
Sure enough, when we got back we got the cancellation message again, along with an absolute commitment to get the covers to us at the marina itself on Tuesday afternoon. At least we weren't waiting for them any more so in the afternoon we walked down to Foxton Locks and got an ice cream from the café at the top.
Tuesday morning was altogether brighter and sunnier but the wind had returned with a vengeance, never good news when planning to enter a marina. Nevertheless, we were booked in so we got going and arrived at North Kilworth about midday. We got across to the offices but there was a brand new wide-beam on the service dock, so all we could do was moor across the entrances to the two covered wet docks behind it and hover there while we booked in. We then had to turn around, get back across the lagoon and reverse in to a space allocated for us there. Against all expectation this really went quite well so, of course, there was no-one there to watch.
We went back across to the office, on foot, to sort out a few more details. Everything about the new marina was very organised and well-run, as well as being clean and tidy. The staff were very helpful and gave clear instructions. The systems were automated to a large extent so electricity and water, as well as the gates and doors were all operated by a key fob and that had a code to enter if the device itself failed. The one issue we felt was with the water. Although each pontoon could take two sixty foot boats and had three separate electricity points along it, there was only one water feed at the very start of the pontoon and that had no tap. You connect your hose (you had better have a long one if you are stern on at the far end of the pontoon) then activate the water for that pontoon with the fob for a fixed period of thirty minutes. If you want more you have to activate it again. More importantly, if you want less, there is no way to shut it off before the thirty minutes are up other than have a tap on your own hose connector and leave it connected until time is up. In the meantime, no-one else on that pontoon can get water. It seemed a strange set-up.
While we were at the office I arranged for their electrician to have a look at our charging set-up while we were away. The battery levels seemed alright but the day before we hadn't run the engine at all and relied solely on the solar. The batteries had gone to fully charged very quickly but then discharged to unusually low voltages overnight. Leaving there, we found the man with our covers just coming in the gate, so we took them over to the boat. When we returned, to let him out of the gate, the Sainsbury's van had arrived, so that all worked out very well and we could get on with the rest of the afternoon, preparing to leave the boat.