To London days 14, 15 and 16

We left Weedon continuing along the GUC passing the village of Bugbrooke and the Northampton Arm of the GUC at Gayton Junction. We passed Blisworth and were preparing for Blisworth Tunnell 3057yards long!

On our way there, a guy on a narrowboat asked us if he was on the GUC and which way to London. It seemed a strange thing to ask, didn't he have a map? As he left Leigh wondered if he knew about the tunnel but it was too late to ask him.

We carried on, put on hats and rain mac's and entered the tunnel. It was rather frightening as it was impossible to see the exit. About 600yards in, we spotted a boat across the tunnel - This was very distrubing. It is a rather oppressive space with engine fumes looming, echoes of rumbling machines and vague lighting by headlights, it is only wide enough for two narrowboats to just about pass. Leigh slowly approached ahead wondering what was going on. It turned out that one boat was towing another boat behind - the guy I mentioned before, he had no lights on, and his engine had apparently packed in so they were towing him back out. As we scraped along their side, their tow rope came off, so I lent a hand to get it back on. We carried on into the darkness. The blackness was amazing!

I was pleased to get out into the fresh air and daylight.

At the entrance of the tunnel, there is an old blacksmiths hut and an example of the renovated section. As in 1984 BW completed a restoration of the tunnel, lining with concrete the inner section. This tunnel is in fact, the third longest canal tunnel to navigate in the UK. It was built in 1805 and originally the boats were legged through. Yes, by men on their backs - what a job!

We moored up under a beautiful wood just before the village of Stoke Bruerne where we walked into and enjoyed a lovely curry from "Spice of Bruerne".

The next day, we waited until later in the day to head through the locks at Stoke Bruerne. It was Saturday and there were plenty of day hire boats, sight-seers and on-lookers plus many narrowboats all trying to get through the locks. We teamed up with a couple on 'Lady Ada' and went through the locks together. Leigh was on the tiller and I was working the locks. They were rather smooth locks but still quite heavy to open and close.

At the bottom of the lock was a little cottage with a sign and box, whilst the lock was emptying I wandered over to see what it was. They were selling free-range eggs for £1, unfortunately the box was empty of eggs! We have been lucky over the last few days, as another cottage over-looking the canal had a bowl of cooking apples for people to help themselves to, so I took a few of those to make a crumble.

We filled up with water at the bottom lock and carried on for another couple of miles until the sun began to go down. At Yardley Gobion we found a mooring point opposite a boatyard. Delia was happy as it was a nice stretch of grass for her to run up and down with bushy hedges to hide in.

This morning we left Yardley Wharf on our way to Milton Keynes. We reached Soloman's Bridge, 65 at Cosgrave, a gothic style bridge built in 1800.

We passed through the lock at Cosgrove...

leaving the gate open as there was another boat approaching and continued toward the aqueduct.

This aqueduct passes over the Great Ouse River which you can see far below.

To the one side is a railing and towpath, to the other there is nothing but a sheer drop. It was incredible! This aqueduct is a square cast iron trough situated on stone pillars and was built in 1811. It was very majestic feeling indeed.

Before we reached Milton Keynes, we passed this lovely boat, a Tjaik I think.

The one thing Leigh wondered was what is the purpose of the wooden flat pieces?

We reached Milton Keynes and were looking for a mooring near the station to enable Leigh to visit his mum. The wind was so blustery it was really difficult to moor up. The bow was in but the stern was floating away so I tied off the centre line to help stop the wind pulling the boat away from the side - I wont do that again! as the boat begun listing right over. Fortunately the wind died down, Leigh got control of the boat with the tiller, I managed to loosen the rope and the boat righted herself. We pulled over and tied up. Phew.

To London day 13

It has officially been 1 month since we left Nottingham for London. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. We have cracked on today determined to get to London as soon as possible. There have been more water restrictions on route due to the low levels in the reservoirs and we have been waiting to share locks again. Like last time, most boats are coming up and not going down with us so we've been riding down on the lock to allow boats coming up.

The visitors

Today in Braunston we had a lovely visit from some family friends. Leigh and I were given a wonderful gift by Fran which will keep the boat illuminated by candle-light and gently sway with the movements onboard.


After some exciting duck and swan feeding, a bit of noise making, collecting and preparing of plums to eat, some delicious banana-cake and talk of walking and writing it was time to think about moving on. We've got four miles to go to get to Norton Junction and then we are back on track to London. Let's start the engine!

Rugby to Braunston

We decided to wait until the festival at Braunston was over, so we stayed put at our Rugby mooring.


The past few days it has been rainy with a glimmer of sun and then plenty more rain.


Finding things to do, I got the singer out...


and completed some curtains to hang over the entrance to the utility room, saving space that a door takes up and it looks pretty! I also made some to hang around a unit in the lounge to tidy away some boxes of bits and records. I used some retro (well 70's) material from a second hand shop. They are vibrant and suited to the age of the boat.

We left Rugby today for Braunston.

We passed some delightful moorings at Barby, boats with small stretches of land that have fruit trees, log stores, vegetable patches, car parking spaces, sheds and one even had an outdoor pool. With an interest in self-sufficiency owning land like this would be delightful. We can dream....

Back on track almost!

We left Atherstone on Tuesday and stopped off to see our friends Rupert and Dylan at their mooring just before Hartshill.


After tea and cakes in the sun, lunch and more drinks, target shooting with a catapult, getting coal from a passing coal/diesel boat and visiting the local goats and horse...


and feeding them grass...


we realized we had better make a move.

The plan was to stop off at the marina to use the facilities and carry on back the way we came - towards Rugby. We said farewell to Rupert and Dylan, it was 4.15 and the marina would be closed soon. Delia was itching to get out the boat and stretch her little legs so we found a lovely mooring next too a wheat field and made dinner over a camp fire under the darkening sky.


We were soon enough back at the 180degree junction - Hawkesbury Junction where Leigh did a beautiful maneuver winding the boat in one great swoop to head straight in an empty lock. We cruised another mile until there was an almighty crunch and scraping noise in the engine bay. We moored up at a suitable point as soon a possible to discover that the drive belt from the pulley on the shaft to the alternator was twisted and the metal pulley had moved and was scraping against a metal bracket.

For those that have no idea what this is about, i'll quickly explain. The shaft from the propellor goes through the engine casing and at one end is the pulley (which looks like a big cog). A rubber band - the drive belt, goes round this to another smaller cog on the alternator. This movement of the cog on the alternator charges our batteries; the engine starter battery (much like a car) and the two domestic batteries (our brilliant 6v traction batteries) thus, we can start the engine and have electricity aboard.

Let me point out that neither of us are mechanics in any way. I might know how to change an inner tube on a pushbike but that is about it, Leigh has great instinctual skills but he is not experienced in tinkering away under a bonnet. After half an hour of trying to turn the belt round, we called up some more knowledgeable folk who advised on what to do. We slackened the alternator and popped the belt off. This was a new belt we purchased in March - when we had the engine serviced. Being made of rubber, the belt had softened and buckled being twisted on the pulley. It would no longer sit straight and we had to fix it back on at an angle until we reached the next boatyard to get a new belt. We carried on and then the heavens opened so we moored up for the night.

We reached the rose narrowboat marina the following day and picked up a drive belt. In replacing it, we discovered that the nut to secure the pulley was no longer tightening. On further inspection, the hole was threaded on the pulley and the thread on the nut was gone -it was an aluminium pulley with a steel nut as Leigh pointed out not a good combination. The pulley was beyond repair (unless it could be melted and reset - but who does that now?) so we looked into getting a new one.

By this morning we had our hands on a smashing new pulley and after a bit of brute force from Leigh we had it in place and the belt on by the early afternoon. During all this, we had it made clear that the cogs (alternator and old pulley) required different thicknesses of belts so with the new one we now had the right belt and the right sized pulley.

As as we set off for Rugby again, the rain poured and poured so we pulled over and moored and here we are on the outskirts of Rugby wondering if we should head through the festival goers and boats moored in threes at Braunston this bank holiday weekend or not.

A detour

We had the throttle cable replaced by an engineer from a boatyard just along the cut. He arrived an hour after I made the call to enquire about the job and he fixed it with no troubles. He also solved our faulty connection with the ignition too. By the sounds of it, the gear cable might be on it's way out also, but that will have to wait to be replaced at a later date.

I set off for Nottingham on Wednesday morning... After a long venture at work, I got home on Thursday night feeling weary and curled up on the sofa after dinner for a snooze.


So where are we now? Atherstone! Well, we needed to visit family here and it made sense to spend the beautiful day of Friday cruising so we prepared to leave our mooring.

There were lots of boats on the waterways and we had to wait for many boats to pass by before we could up the ropes and leave.

The route through Rugby was fine, wide canals with long straight stretches and not a lock for miles! According to the map we passed through an aquaduct going over the River Avon but I could only spot a fine trickle of water below us.


On this stretch of the Oxford Canal (heading North West) are a fine selection of beautiful bridges...


built by Horsely Iron Works.


After 7 miles we had reached the water point at Stretton Stop (the home of Rose Narrowboat HIre) which is close to the village of Brinklow and I jumped off to open up the swing bridge. We filled up with water and hosed the boat down - much to the dislike of a grumbling couple of boaters. I guess it is drinking water, but it is much easier to keep the boat clean and protect the paintwork using the hose at the waterpoint - what can you do?!

We continued along the way towards Bedworth sharing the steering. We passed an apple tree and I jumped off to run back to collect some but unfortunately they were sour and not yet fully sized.


The route skirted Coventry and stayed picturesque with the buildings on the horizon.


We reached Hawkesbury Junction...


and the tiny lock - which was our very first lock we ever went through when we first purcahsed the boat. This junction isn't an easy one especially for boats of 65feet!


Leigh had to wind the boat under the bridge to take us parallel to the route we had taken. We were now on the Coventry canal heading North for Atherstone.


This was a dramatic part of the journey as we passed a field on fire with large trees alight...


and two fire engines tackling the blaze.


The water was being pumped from the canal to extinguish the flames.


We noticed a firewoman working at the trucks too.

We passed Bedworth and Marston Junction - which takes you onto the Ashby Canal and continued to Nuneaton. It was in the thick of the town that we found a man collapsed on the towpath. We went to his aid along with other passers by and phoned for an ambulance. After the paramedics arrived we continued on the boat towards Hartshill.

Having stopped we were now against the clock to get to Atherstone before dark. By Hartshill the sun was low...


so we put the headlight on and continued along the route. Fortunately we know this stretch very well so were aware of the twists and turns. Leigh did brilliantly at navigating in the dark and we passed our good friends Rupert and Dylan at their mooring. By the time we got to Atherstone top lock it was 10pm and we were both hungry and tired. We moored up in a perfectly sized space for us and wandered to the fantastic chippy on the high street. We filled up and settled for the night.

We managed 25miles in the one day - the most we have achieved.

This weekend we had a visitor to the boat, Leigh's mum...


and had a lovely time in the blazing sunshine. Delia was so hot she rolled over to cool her fuzzy belly in the breeze.