Being, not doing

For most of us, the largest part of our lives is spent doing, so I really enjoy those days that can be spent simply being. Yesterday was like that, and the day before, when there were few locks or swing-bridges or lift-bridges or any other kind of distraction, and our time is spent simply chugging along at 3 mph - less when passing moored boats (and we've passed a lot of those!) - enjoying the canal and the countryside, the peace and quiet.

Tuesday was the same. After another cold night, the morning was mild and sunny as we ascended the last two locks up into and through Stoke Bruerne Wharf. We met no other craft in Blisworth Tunnel, and the journey on through Blisworth, Gayton Junction, Bugbrooke, and Nether Heyford was simply beautiful and beautifully simple.

One of our favoured moorings - just before Stowe Hill, opposite a farm and its camping site - had only two other boats, and we happily tied up there.

It rained hard overnight and into the morning, torrential at times, and with a strong wind. Our hatches were already battened down. We stayed where we were, and pitied the hire-boaters who hurried past, who didn't have the luxury of time to spend moored up, who had to be back at their base by Friday regardless of the weather. We remember it well. Been there, done that, T-shirts were unavailable.

Several boat owners, however, landed on our stretch over the next few hours, furiously banging in pins and fastening lines, and longing to get inside to dry off, warm up and recover.

And after a day of on and off winds and teeming rain, it all cleared away to reveal a newly-washed sky pierced by a bright sun and adorned by scraps of cotton-wool cloud.

All that, and I didn't have to do a thing.

Our week with Michelle - return journey

Thursday's travel started with Blisworth Tunnel. This time we encountered just one boat coming in the opposite direction, and two going our way.

We stopped at Gayton Junction services, then moved on to a vacant spot on the long-term moorings for lunch.

The journey to Nether Heyford, where we stopped for a quick bit of shopping, and on to our mooring just beyond, continued hot and sunny, through beautiful countryside.

Normally camera-shy, Michelle allowed me to take one photo of her.

On Friday morning, we moved on to Buckby where, after the bottom lock, we paired up with NB Windsong for the rest of the flight. Pip and Roger were very good company, and we moved along at a good pace with them, with lots of chat on the way. At the top lock, Pip told Michelle that the lock-keeper's cottage there is featured in the book "Lock, Stock and Barrel", a title which Michelle recalled seeing on our bookshelves. It's a signed copy, given to us by brother-in-law Rod - I'll have to read it soon.

Windsong and Kantara left the top lock and made off towards Norton Junction, turning right there onto the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union. Pip and Roger took the last remaining mooring straight after the turn, and kindly invited us to breast up to Windsong, which we did. We all needed lunch! 

Within the hour, the boat next to Windsong moved off, and we hauled Kantara back into that space, where we stayed for the night. When Roger told us that there was a good satellite TV signal at that location, we tried our FreeSat (which we had finally got working back in the marina). Nothing! Roger came along and helped us, but all to no avail, and we concluded that the tuner in the TV has an intermittent fault. We have a standalone tuner in the house, and there might be one still in the marina lounge (subsequently, I found that it had been taken by someone else), so it's not too much of a problem.

Saturday morning, Windsong left before we got up, but I saw them leaving Watford Top Lock as we arrived later, and I went up to sign in with the lockie. Unlike our descent the week before, our ascent was speedy. The lockie took it upon himself to do the locks for us, thus depriving an enthusiastic Michelle of her last locking session of the trip. We had lunch above the top lock, then left for Yelvertoft, arriving there in the sunny and hot weather we had been fortunate to have throughout the whole week. 57 miles and 42 locks.

Michelle treated us to a meal at The George that evening - excellent as usual - and left for home the next morning, feeling relaxed and refreshed. Thank you, Michelle, for sharing the week with us; for your company, the laughs and the fun - and your help on the locks!

She sent me the following photos the next day; her favourites of the many she took during the week.

Tuesday on the Grand Union

Waking to a dull Tuesday, we realised that the day's priority had to be the finding of an Elsan disposal point. On Monday we had found that the Nicholson Canal Guide was giving us wrong information, and places where the book said we would find sanitation points just didn't have them. Added to that, it's possible we misread the map and passed places where such points are to be found. Doh!

We had an additional dilemma, too, in that we had been travelling rather slower than we had anticipated, and we were now in two minds about where we should turn around and start to head back to the marina. We would very much have liked to carry on down to Stoke Bruerne and have a pub lunch there, moor overnight and start the return today, Wednesday. In fact, if we found no Elsan point before then, we would have to go there anyway!

Stoke Bruerne

Blisworth Tunnel

But this would entail a fifty minute ride through the Blisworth Tunnel, and, having done that, we couldn't guarantee to find a mooring above the flight of seven locks which follows - after which, we would have to travel for a further hour or so before the next winding hole at which we could turn. So we had to abandon that idea and hope and pray that Gayton Junction would have the essential Elsan point.

It did!

We winded (turned around) at the junction, and cruised north in leisurely fashion, mooring for the night at a lovely spot just below Stowe Hill Wharf. The weather was good, although the evening was noticeably chillier than usual, and this morning is bright, sunny and hot already.

On our way here yesterday, we were a little puzzled by the sudden appearance of a film of some deposit over the canal. It didn't smell bad, and the water birds didn't seem to be bothered by it.

Looking forwards at the scummy water...

 

...and looking back

Then we saw up ahead clouds of dust, and guessed what might be the culprit. And we were right...

It's amazing to me that one combined harvester can create that much dust, that it would cover the entire surface of the canal for several hundred yards - who knows how much eventually, with the water moving slowly south as it does. But I can't imagine it would do any harm. It may well provide food for some water creatures, and will certainly sink eventually.

Shortly after that phenomenon, just north of the village of Nether Heyford, I caught sight of an unusual gathering of a dozen or so people, with cars and caravans, high on a sloping field to the west. Using binoculars, I saw what suggested was an archaeological dig in progress, and looked it up on the web later that evening. And here's what I discovered.

Facinating!