Hillmorton to Welton Hythe marina
Tuesday 13th August
We left Hillmorton at 8 am and took a gentle cruise to
Braunston. At first, not knowing the availability of moorings further on, we
stopped between the last two bridges on the Oxford. Had it not been for a
couple of cider-swilling blokes sitting on the towpath, we might well have
stayed there. However, Wifey took the short walk into Braunston and discovered
that there was plenty of room for us and so we moved around and stopped just
past the double-arched bridge.
From past experience of mooring along here, we weren’t
expecting phone or Internet, so we were pleasantly surprised to discover that
we have both. Someone has been busy in the interim period; either that or we’ve
hit a clear spot.
After our cup of coffee we walked up to the shops in the
village. This is quite a climb, especially for my new knees, but it does get
the circulation going. Later in the afternoon we walked around to Midland
Chandlers for a couple of bits, including some Blue for the loo and a new ‘eye’
for our side fender, to replace the one I broke going through Ellesmere tunnel
a few weeks ago.
Today we’ll take a walk to the other chandlery to see if we
can find that ‘soft’ rope we’ve been looking for. Perhaps it’s me, but I feel
sure there is some much softer and more pliable rope out there, but we’ve
having a great deal of trouble finding it. We want to dispose of the two 14mm
ropes on the roof; used for double locks and pulling the boat into moorings;
with just one length of 12mm, more flexible rope.
At present the two ropes are simply tied to the centre ring,
which looks pretty amateurish. What I want to do is make an eye splice directly
onto the rope but, with the 14mm stuff this is pretty difficult, to say the
least. It would be much easier with the softer 12mm.
Now, those elusive, permanent moorings, we have been
searching for suitable online moorings, as you all know, but up until now we
haven’t seen anything we like. In fact, we’ve not seen anything available either.
Ordinarily we wouldn’t entertain river moorings, simply because of the fear
factor where flooding is concerned. However, the pontoons on rivers and in
river marinas actually float on very high poles, so there’s very little fear
involved these days.
With the above info in mind we took a look at the website
for Blackthorn Lake in Northamptonshire, which sits on the River Nene. From the
information on their site we have discovered that there are only 65 berths for
narrowboats, with the rest being taken up by cruisers. Not only that but we can
shave over £500 off the normal price for full time moorings in other marinas.
On the strength of that info, and knowing that we would only
be subjecting about 10% of our pensions to pay for permanent moorings, we are seriously
considering booking a spot there.
For your further information, this lake is close to the town
of Ringstead and, going by the pretty pictures of the place, is quite a
beautiful spot. Besides which, we’ve never cruised around that area and, according
to Bill and Babs, it’s well worth the effort.
The real purpose in considering Blackthorn, is that it is
only half the distance to Harlow that Mercia is and, at about 85 miles, should
only take me about 1½ hours at the most. Straight down the A14 and M11 should
be a doddle and will save at least £20 in petrol.
Later this morning then, we’ll be making plans for making
our way to Blackthorn Lake.
Wednesday 14th August
Well, so much for Blackthorn Lake. We’ve been checking up on
several things here and the one fly in the ointment is the cost of getting
there. The Environment Agency; which maintains and regulates our rivers; want
£200 for a licence that will allow us just 1 month on the Nene or,
alternatively we can fight the good fight with CRT, to try and get our current
licence upgraded to a Gold Licence, which will cover us for canals and rivers
and then, when our licence becomes renewable, we’ll simply stay with the Gold
one.
However, as with all things CRT, trying for the upgrade will
be like farting against thunder. Our friends, Bill and Babs, had the devil of a
job doing this and, if it hadn’t have been for their son, who works for EA,
they might never have made the trip.
So, what to do now? Well, we’ve been checking up on some of
the marinas on the GUC and, so far as I can tell, Brinklow is the cheapest.
But, in order to be the cheapest, they insist on six months rental up front,
and six months in advance on renewal, and that six months is over £1000!
So, we keep on looking!
Meanwhile, the mornings are becoming quite chilly in the
boat, especially in places like Braunston, where the rising sun is shielded by
buildings, so we really must get this heater fixed and that’s going to coat
about £300, because we know it needs a new burner.
Who said living on a boat was cheap? Well, it is if you
don’t have a mortgage to pay but, even so, it’s not easy on a pension. It
doesn’t really seem to matter which way we turn, marina or canal side through
CRT, the overall cost of winter moorings is almost identical when you consider
the additional fuel usage.
I suppose we could do what Mick and Sue do and stay on the
cut a wee bit longer and leave the marina a wee bit sooner, which could save us
£2-300 in marina fees, but would still use up more fuel. Horns of a dilemma, is
what I call it.
Ah well, mosey on down the canal and enjoy our remaining
couple of months on the cut and keep looking for suitable moorings. If we are
unable to find anything cheaper and closer to Harlow, we’ll probably go back to
Mercia where we do at least know people and have a regular doctor and bus
services to major towns.
Thursday 15th August
We are now at the mouth of Braunston Tunnel, having
travelled up the six locks which, because the CRT man hadn’t done his job, took
us almost two hours, and we’ve only come a mile.
His explanation for the delay was that he had prepared the
pounds for filling and had left notices for boaters not to use the locks. But,
as you would expect from impatient boaters, the locks were used, so we had to
wait for him to fill the pounds.
Later in the day we took a walk down the six locks, to the
chandlery for some sealing strip for the fire glass. On the way back, rather
than leave it until the evening, we called into The Lord Nelson pub for my
missed Sunday pint. That’s the one I should have had on Sunday but abandoned
because of that queuing fiasco.
This morning, at, or about 7am we’ll be going through the
tunnel. Being the Grand Union Canal this canal has two-way traffic, and we
would rather not meet boats coming the other way as the likelihood of
side-swipes is quite high. Goodness knows, we have enough scrapes along the
sides as we need, and would like to avoid adding to them. So, I’ll be preparing
the boat for lift off pretty soon and, whilst Wifey gets breakfast organised,
take us through.
Friday 16th August
Double width tunnels! We haven’t passed through those for
several years and I really wasn’t looking forward to the usual bang and clatter
of colliding boats yesterday. So, being the coward that I am and erring on the
safe side, we left our moorings before 7 am and passed through Braunston tunnel
without a hitch.
We are now just outside Welton Hythe marina and, if this
pesky rain stops this morning, we’ll make our way to Crick and, most probably,
stay for the weekend.
Saturday 18th August
Well, it did stop raining yesterday, but it was too late for
us to move off when it did, so we stayed put. Today though, we must get down to
Crick, we only have one bottle of milk, no crumpets and, despite the
scrumptiousness of Wifey’s bread, it’s only a small loaf so we’ll need more of
that.
Now, a message for all family and friends who have my mobile
number, just recently; and I’ve never experienced this since owning a mobile
phone; I have been receiving spurious calls but, when I open the handset there’s
nobody there. Sounds familiar? Yeah, well, I know Alan has suffered the same
thing for quite some time now.
Anyway, having opened my handset in order to take the call,
I played into ‘their’ hands and ‘they now knew that my number was a legitimate
one to target. After telling Alan about it, I then instituted the Call
Rejection facility and that number could no longer get through.
However, the next one was from a different number, so my
number has now been sold to other companies. They’ve caught up with me at last.
So, dear friends and family, just in case you wish to
contact me on a different number to the one I have stored, please text me first
to let me know who you are, because I have now blocked all unknown numbers.
End of message and end of this blog, which I shall now post.
Have a great weekend.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
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