Stupidity at Stoke Bruerne

Giffard Park turned out to be a much better mooring than we had expected it to be. It was very peaceful, and the towing-path was little used. There was open parkland opposite us, and quiet housing next to us on our side. It was clean and tidy. We've marked it as a favourite on our map.

It was flipping cold that night. 11° C in the cabin when we woke up. Thank goodness for the stove! It was milder when we left Giffard Park, but got progressively colder as the day got older. With no locks until the one at Cosgrove, I had time to enjoy the serene beauty of the canal; wide, peaceful, lined on one side by full leaf and early flower, and farmland on the other. Duck mothers were out with their ducklings, moorhens with their chicks, and herons on the lookout for feathery breakfasts. Have vegans ever noticed that a lot of birds are not vegan? Many other animals, too. Hmmm. It's sort of letting the side down, isn't it?

At Cosgrove Lock there was a goose nest, cordoned off by some thoughtful soul to keep idiots away. Mum was sitting, and raised one wing as I approached, to reveal several goslings nestled there in a yellow huddle, on display to be adored by enchanted onlookers.

We had intended to moor at Yardley Gobion for the night, and to visit the ancient church and its village, but we couldn't remember if there's any decent mooring there, so we played safe and stopped a couple of miles before, where mooring was good. It was a lovely, remote spot. We thought that perhaps we'd stop off at Gobion if we could when we moved on the next day.

It wasn't as cold the next morning as it had been the day before. It was all of 12° in the boat. We donned multiple layers of clothing against the chill and ambled up to Stoke Bruerne. We didn't stop at Yardley Gobion. We didn't want to delay our arrival at Stoke Bruerne and risk not finding a mooring there. We'll visit the village by car another time.

The five locks at Stoke Bruerne were easy going. There was no other boat to share with, and no vollies in sight. There were several very interested gongoozlers, however, and a lot of conversation most of the way up.

But my enjoyment of the day was very nearly ruined by an couple of elderly tandemists. While I was filling one of the locks, the pair of them crossed the top gates carrying their old (and therefore heavy) tandem bike. They were hindered by the paddle mechanisms and, ironically, the handrail. The top of the gate was too narrow for them to wheel it across, so they manhandled it across, slowly and very precariously. If I'd seen them start I'd have stood in their way and insisted they cycled on to the nearest bridge, but they were half-way across when I saw them. I was too alarmed to think to take photos apart from this one, snapped as they stepped down. It could so easily have resulted in a fatal accident.

Shaken but not stirred, we carried on to tie up below lock 15, next to the Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve, then hurried up to the wharf for some much-needed lunch. The wharf was unsurprisingly full of Bank Holiday visitors, and The Boat Inn was packed, so we had to wait forty minutes for our food. But it was well worth the wait!

 

Cosgrove to Stoke Bruerne (cruise retrospective)

It was warmer today. It must have been. I only wore five layers of clothing. But the sun was out, the sky was blue, and all was well in our world. Up the shallow Cosgrove Lock, and a stop above for services while Grace nipped into a nearby shop for bread and milk.

Today's journey was very rural. The canal is wide and river-like. There were few boats on the move. Tiny ducklings and coot chicks peeped around their paddling parents. Little lambs and their dams white-dotted the fields, and the fresh, sweet smell of rape filled the air. It was perfect. Even when I had to add that sixth layer!

Thrupp Wharf, Yardley Gobion, Grafton Regis - getting the Regis bit from Henry VIII who owned a manor house there. Six miles of peaceful countryside canal. That's about two hours, remember!

Not knowing what delays we might encounter as we climbed the five locks into Stoke Bruerne, we had lunch at the visitor moorings below the bottom lock. One of the delays might well have been NB Primrose, whom we knew to be ahead of us. We'd passed Foxglove not long before, but they had turned, and were now on their way back to the Wyverne base. But there they were, the Americans, busying themselves with filling their water tank and discarding rubbish at the service point close to the lock. They weren't going to slow our ascent, then. Up we went!

A vollie we met three locks up told Grace that the Primrose crew had seen the flight of locks, asked a lot of questions about it, then decided it was too much work for them. So they'd winded and were ready to follow Foxglove back to Leighton Buzzard. It was a shame, we thought. If we'd been there at the time, they could have come up with us. It would have been much easier for them that way.

Dense, dark blue clouds started to threaten us as we did the locks, and it started to rain as we moored below the second lock down. Excellent timing. And a lovely place to moor for the night. We were only a short walk from The Navigation Inn, and the rain had stopped in time for us to go and enjoy a good meal there later. 

Three photos from our windows