Braunston to Crick Marina
Sunday 27th
October
Well, our 2013 cruise is all
but over. We now have about 10 miles and two tunnels to go before our new,
winter moorings. I, for one, am quite looking forward to settling in and exploring
the surrounding area. I’m especially looking forward to investigating the town
of Northampton, which we’ll be able to visit by bus.
All in all we’ve had a very
successful seven months. We now need to decide what we’ll be doing for 2014.
Monday 28th
October
That storm arrived last night
and, this morning we have a flooded towpath, something I’ve never seen before.
Really, the water is about ½ inch deep all along the towpath. I don’t think
we’ve seen the worst of it yet either as this is suppose to continue well into
the rush hour, and it’s only 6.30 right now.
We’re on 48 hour moorings too
but, if any jumped up CRT man comes along and orders us to move, he’s in for a
shock. We ain’t going anywhere in this. Full Stop! The double locks would be a
nightmare for Wifey and I don’t relish getting drenched through, so there!
Actually, we had hoped to at
least get through the locks today, because that would leave us with an early
start through the tunnel tomorrow morning. Still, we’re only 10 miles from Crick
now, which will only take a couple of days. Then we can settle in for the
winter.
I started a new pastel
painting yesterday morning and immediately messed it up. Great, just great! For
some reason I simply couldn’t get the colour right on the roof of a house.
Still, it’s just as well it went wrong at the start and not half way through.
Tuesday 29th
October
Yesterday morning was pretty
grim weather wise, loads of rain and the towpath flooded, so we stayed put for
a couple of hours and then, once the rain had stopped, we followed another boat
to the locks. It’s really great when you can double up when negotiating double
locks. Going it alone can be something of a trial, especially if it’s at all
windy, when you usually find the boat drifting inside the lock.
The boater that I accompanied
through the locks was a Yorkshireman, but living in Clacton. His boat is stored
at Crick marina, so I daresay we’ll meet up with him and his family from time
to time.
When we finally passed
through the six Braunston locks, we moored up and left the other boaters to go
on through the tunnel and on to Crick. Apart from the odd boat that pulled in
preparatory to passing down the locks, or going through the tunnel, we were
left on our own and had a pretty quiet night. However, the silence was
shattered early this morning, by the sound of some small animal in mortal
terror, possibly caught by some carnivore or other, maybe an owl. It’s a pretty
grim sound, but that’s nature in the raw.
This morning we left
Braunston and passed through the tunnel, which is 2042 yards long and can
accommodate two boats passing each other. Fortunately nothing was coming the
other way and we made it to Welton Hythe marina within an hour and moored up
opposite.
Prior to entering the tunnel,
I set the ‘speedo’ to 1200 rpm and kept it there right through to the end.
Then, after a wee bit of calculation I figure that 1200 revs equals about 3½
mph. Some years ago, on a straight mile of canal, 1200 rpm equated to just over
4mph. I wonder how that can be!! Perhaps it has something to do with the new
gearbox that Andy fitted earlier in the year. Anyway, it now means I can cruise
at about 1300 rpm without breaking the speed limit. How great is that??
Tomorrow morning all being
well with the weather we’ll pass through the seven Watford locks and be in
Crick, just in time for a nice cup of coffee. If we can get moored up along the
towpath, we will do so and then take up our moorings in Crick Marina on Friday
1st November. This will give us time to pay a visit to the local
surgery and book ourselves in.
Wednesday 30th
October
Alan and Chris returned to
Germany yesterday morning, so perhaps we’ll start receiving some jokes. It
seems Alan’s normal UK supply has dried up, so I’ve had nothing to send on
whilst they’ve been over here. Shame on you!!!
Anyway, today we make our way
to Crick, which entails about five miles, Crick tunnel and seven locks. The
weather is calm and bright, so it should be an easy trip. Mind you, it’s good
to see an early sunrise now that the clocks have gone back.
We stopped at Welton Hythe
Marina yesterday morning and, later in the afternoon a holiday boat moored in
front of us. I’m hoping we can get away before they do this morning, because I
would rather be ahead of them at the locks. Some holiday boaters can be a bit
slow at locks and they can be less than helpful also, standing around by their
boat, instead of helping with the lock paddles and gates.
So, Crick here we come.
Thursday 31st
October
For our final day of
cruising, yesterday morning could not have been bettered, bright sunshine and
calm conditions all the way to Crick. We left Welton Hythe well before eight
and, thankfully, well ahead of the holiday boat. It wasn’t until about 20
minutes after we arrived at the bottom of Watford locks that they turned up.
Watford Locks, as any boater
will know, consist of a set of staircase, which are overseen by a lock keeper,
to whom boaters must report before entering the locks. From leaving Welton
Hythe to exiting the top of the seven locks, took us just 1½ hours, which is
not bad going. We even managed to dispose of our rubbish and top up with water
before the holiday boat entered the last of the seven locks, and we were then
on our way to Crick.
Our first port of call, after
our coffee of course, was the local Co-op and to find out where the local
Medical Centre was located. The walk up to the Co-op is enough of a slog for
me. For Sheila it’s a simple, leisurely stroll. However, from the Co-op to the
Medical Centre is, according to the roadside map of the village, another slog.
So, why am I telling you all
this? Well, Andy won’t be bringing the car over until Sunday morning but, at
about 3pm today I have an appointment with a doctor, which wouldn’t have been
necessary if I had enough medication to see me through until Monday.
Thankfully, Wifey walked to the Centre twice for me, just in order to get my
appointment.
When she returned the first
time, it was to tell me we had to first book in to the marina and get an
invoice proving we were actually going there. So, off we marched to the marina
office to sign in. We then had to fill in some forms along with which she took
that invoice back to the centre. Only then was she able to make an appointment.
What a palaver!! I now have
to slog along to the centre this afternoon, discuss my needs with a doctor and,
with a bit of luck be issued with the necessary medication.
Yesterday we had trouble with
the mobile signal, and this morning I’ve had problems with the Internet. So,
there’s a pretty good chance we’ll move onto the marina this morning, assuming
this rain stops later on.
All in all today promises to
be a busy one!
Friday 1st
November
Yesterday, straight after
Wifey returned from the doctor’s, we moved the boat into Crick Marina but,
almost immediately, we discovered that we have no mobile signal inside the
boat. That’s a great start to our stay here and it means we’ll have to take the
phone outside to make and receive calls. This applies to O2, Orange and
Vodaphone.
This morning I discovered
problems with the Internet. After three attempts I did manage to download my
emails and check online for the nearest vets. But now, as I look at the System
Tray, I see the Internet icon is blanked out, meaning I have now lost the
signal. They do have their own WiFi system here, but, from where we are
sitting, that signal is even poorer. I guess I’ll have to try to reposition our
WiFi unit to see if I can get a more permanent signal. Failing that, up on the
roof it goes.
Now, as to future blogs while
we’re at Crick, well, as with last year at Mercia, I’ll probably keep it going,
but only if something other than the boring day to day living crops up.
For example, with our wee
pooch being rather wobbly on her pins now, and the pontoons here being covered
in chicken wire, to make it safer for us humans to walk along in bad weather,
she does tend to get her claws caught occasionally. So, rather than have her
injure herself, we carry her out to the car park when she needs a call of
nature. We’ll have to see what happens when the snows come!!
I had hoped to post this now,
but even though I am able to access the Internet, Blogger is very slow. It may
be that I’ll have to put the Wi Fi unit in a box and put it on the roof then
connect it to the laptop. I tried this at Mercia, but that was no better. In
the end we found the best place in the boat and managed with that. I didn’t
have this much trouble with Blogger though.
Right, that’s it, I’ve moved
the WiFi to a different window and accessed Blogger almost immediately.
So, now we post.
Take care all.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty
No comments:
Post a Comment