Moored up in Welford

We had high expectations for Welford. Our friends, Dom and Helen had been moored there for a few months a few years ago and enjoyed it. As the rest of the arm, it is shallow, but the fun bit was that having gone through the Welford lock, we were on the highest pound on the Grand Union Canal. Not Everest, but a high point for us! The pictures show the lock and the lovely landscape.

We were moored there on the 25th and stayed through to the morning of the 28th. On the 25th, Elizabeth knitted her way through two bus journeys to collect Reg from Crick via Northampton. on the 26th, Pete took a train from Market Harborough to Doncaster for a piece of work while Elizabeth welcomed the glaziers to fix Reg's windscreen. On the 27th, Elizabeth took Reg for his annual service, MOT, etc in North Oxfordshire and knitted her way to and from Oxford for a few errands, collecting Reg and getting back to Welford very late in the day.

On the morning of the 28th, we were pleased to pull away. We had absolutely no connectivity, it was raining or mizzling or just cloudy almost the whole time and the wind was awful. No day was without some kind of headache. It was not Welford's fault, clearly. But the lack of connectivity was much harder than we ever expected that it would be. Learning point.

From Crick to the Welford Arm - August 24

We turned on the engine at 9:30, did a few hours of work with communications being not too brilliant and then set out north just before 2pm. For the first time in a long time, we were on a new section of canal for us. This is the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union, taking us north to join the river Soar.

We decided at this point to go on and do the Leicester Ring before mooring up for the winter. This will mean we go through Leicester and Loughborough on first the canal then the river Soar, then when we meet the river Trent, we'll turn left and west, travel the Trent for a while then join the Trent and Mersey Canal. We did this canal a few years ago and so enjoyed it that we are looking forward to doing it again. From there, we'll turn left and south onto the top section of the Coventry Canal, another new one for us, then travel down to a familiar section, turn left and east on to the north Oxford Canal at Hawkesbury Junction and end up in Hillmorton sometime the end of September or early October.

We do not want to do the Leicester Arm past Crick again soon. It is very shallow, very overgrown and generally hard to steer. Yet, the scenery is wonderful and this pic is of the mooring just short of the turn to the Welford Arm.

Crick - August 22 and 23

We had a fine day to set out to Crick. Very few clouds and no mizzle. Amazing. Strong winds, as ever, but we enjoyed the journey. We do enjoy Watford flight and though we had to wait in the queue, we enjoyed the trek.

We moored opposite Crick marina, then took a taxi back to get Reg, do a little shopping and return to Bella. We stayed put on the Sunday so that Elizabeth could travel out to sew a bit for a friend and Pete could listen to the Cricket (last day and successful English end to the Ashes!).

Buckby Top Lock - 21 August

We moved up the Buckby top lock from just below it to just above it on Friday the 21st of August. HUGE move; all of .5 miles and 1 lock. We moved because we needed to visit the BW services point. Carrying three full cassettes with Bella is far easier than taking each one a half a mile with a trolley with too short handles... And we decided to set out early on Saturday for Crick and this mooring, just next to Norton junction into the Grand Union Leicester Arm was a good place to be. Elizabeth knitted her way in a taxi to collect Reg and parked him up at the New Inn on the A5, this being the pub which sits at Buckby top lock. And we decided to spoil ourselves and eat dinner out! We cannot recall the last time we saw gammon with pineapple or prawn cocktail on a menu, but it was all good stuff and filled holes from such an exhausting day.

Sorry - no comms and a drowned phone

Our last post was the 20th of August. From there we travelled to Crick, with hardly any connectivity, but we thought, oh well, it's the weekend. We'll post on Monday. Monday the 24th, we travelled to Welford and realised we had no comms whatever. We even had to stand outside facing one direction to get a phone signal - and even then, the wind was so bad, interspersed with rain, that we hardly did that. So until our present mooring in south Leicester, we had zip connectivity. Odd for us. We managed to survive, but we felt profoundly disconnected. At least at Foxton we had phone connectivity and managed a telephone call with James in New York with the speaker phone on. We had to use Elizabeth's phone as Pete managed to drop his in the canal when going for lines. This was all because he used his phone to telephone Andrew, who, with Sarah, had visited Foxton with us, so we wanted to tell him we were there in a boat not a car! He slipped his phone back into his outside top jacket pocket, funnily enough, the same pocket used to house his Ray Bans, now gracing the bed of Blue Haven Marine. He usually puts his phone in the lower side pocket, but was in a rush with lines. Hey ho! Virgin Media had a giggle and has put a new sim in the post. After this post of catch up, we'll do a journey by journey record, but this is a quick "Hello again!"

Bella in the Buckby flight

We set out from Weedon at 9 this morning, making our way to moor up in the pound between Buckby top lock and the next down - between locks 8 and 7 of the Buckby flight on the Grand Union east of Northampton. This is where we thought we'd set out for last Friday and we ended up in Bugbrooke instead! We needed to moor up by 1pm, as Elizabeth had a telephone appointment, and even with stopping at the bottom lock for a visit to the Chandlery and cafe for coffee, we moored up easily by 12:30.

The way up the flight, we were joined by Goldeneye - a frustrated Bond Girl presently working for British Waterways. She was pushing a barge of clay being used to fill holes in the canal sides. Having the very open barge at the front presented quite a risk, we were told. Should the water from the upper pound be released too quickly into the lock, the water rushes and can fill the barge - making it sink! Apparently this has happened a bit much for the liking of the BW worker who joined us in working locks.

As this is written, we are basking in a bright day day and being severely buffeted about by winds with gusts up to 43mph. Rosemary has already fallen over and been restored to rights, and we have pushed the rest of the garden into a heap so each pot can support the other. Pete is listening to Cricket. The phot of the little shop is the canal side shop with canal stuff just by lock 8. Elizabeth has frequently wanted to stop here and today, achieved it! Two ice creams and a new oil lamp are the evidence. Well, the ice creams are no longer in evidence.

Weedon & BBQ

When we were moored in Thrupp on the 11th of July and helped Kate car hopping to Banbury, we stopped and bought a BBQ in Banbury. We had internet shopped the choices and realised that this stainless steel barrel shaped was best for us, being able to be used as an oven in a small space, let alone being able to store easily in the bows.

It is now the morning of the 18th of August - nearly 5 weeks later. We finally had the kind of weather last night when we could use it!!! So here is Barbie, in all her glory, baking potatoes first, then cooking great sausages and veg kebabs. Yum.

We're still in between the Aqueducts in Weedon, having much work to do in the days. We had planned to set aside August as a non GKG month and a Bella Maintenance month, but two excellent contracts came mostly Pete's way and we could not turn them down. So Elizabeth is working lightly, doing a bit of project management here and there, and Pete is working most days including the odd train journey (Cambridge, Bristol, soon Sheffield...). Maintenance will have to wait though Elizabeth is doing a bit. And Pete wants to deal with the rust on the roof. Really.