Shoestring Northampton IWA Rally Trip Day 1: Saturday 22nd April 2006
Northolt to Bulls Bridge 4 Miles 0 Locks 17:25 - 18:22 I got the boat ready while waiting for Dad to arrive. I purchased two new single dinettes for the holiday as I needed the sleeping space. I already had one in, but Dad was bringing the other one down. We spent all afternoon installing them in their final location, so by the time we reached Bulls Bridge it was about 7pm. At 7:30pm as we went around Tesco's we realised that we were missing Doctor Who! Day 2: Sunday 23rd April 2006 Bulls Bridge to Bratchworth 11 miles 7 locks ~11:30 - 13:30 14:35 - 18:00 It was raining quite hard in the morning, so we stayed on the Tesco moorings. It was nearly lunch time when we finally left. It was still raining, but by the time we reached Cowley it was starting to stop. We sat on the lock moorings while we had lunch, and just as we finished several boats came at once. A dredger being pushed by Mick's Tug was coming down, followed by two more boats waiting to come down. Another boat going to Denham Boat Services was wanting to go up, but he seemed a little confused as to who's lock it was after Mick came down, but I said we're in next, and we locked up with them. We looked in Uxbridge Boat Services at their Desmo legs- just the same as the cheaper Fiamma legs we had got from Hull. We stopped just below Batchworth as there was a good TV signal to watch the repeat of Doctor Who. Day 3: Monday 24th April 2006 Batchworth to Winkwell 12 miles 22 locks 10:30 - 19:17 We went up the locks with a hireboat we had caught up. They were fairly well together, but just didn't quite get to grips with stopping, and holding a boat. They often went up to the tail of the lock while it was emptying with amusing consequences. They stopped just below Winkwell, but we continued a couple of locks and moored just above Julian's barge – but no sign of him onboard. Day 4: Tuesday 25th April 2006 Winkwell to Horton 12 miles 27 locks 10:30 - 18:30 Dad noticed some boats coming up the lock, and we set off. The first one through was our friends from yesterday, and so we went together for the rest of the day. They were going down the Aylesbury Arm as they didn't need to be back till later. We stopped just above Horton wharf, the canal bank was shallow, but we managed to dig our way in. Day 5: Wednesday 26th April 2006 Horton to Cosgrove 23 miles 8 locks 10:44 - 19:24 A single boat passed, and we followed him down to the lock. He was also going to Northampton, but was single handed, and seemed in no great rush. He stopped for some lunch, and to clear his prop at Grove Lock. We continued on, and reached Three Locks for 2pm, doing them on our own. Dad managed to flood the towpath, as all the locks and pounds were full. We did them in 23 minutes. I let Dad take over the steering through Milton Keynes, but near New Bradwell I took over again. I noticed they were doing a lot of vegetation clear up work around the Wolverton railway works. It was getting late now, but I wanted to push onto Cosgrove mooring just the other side of the aqueduct. Our friends David and Jan King had a big barge on their mooring, and no sign of their boat Jappa - maybe they have already set off for Northampton. Day 6: Thursday 27th April 2006 Cosgrove to Northampton 16 miles 24 locks 10:16 - 19:00 A good run up to Stoke Bruerne locks arriving 12:21. Had to wait awhile for two boats to leave the bottom lock, the gates were open, but still seemed to take an age to get going. One of them was a woman single handed on an ex-BWB tug (not Bantam), they mentioned that they rode over something between the 2nd, and 3rd lock up, which felt like a car. By the time we were leaving lock 2 a BWB man also said there was a car in the pound, and to keep out of the center. As a slide past on the left side I took a picture of the blue roof hiding under the murky water and bubbles rose from it as Dad emptied the next lock. We reached the 3rd from top lock, where BW were readying a tug moored there. Dad asked if they called the police in case someone was inside, but apparently they don't normally bother. After messing about trying to get the tug out of the shallow water at the end, we continued up the rest of the locks reaching the top by 13:30, where we stopped for ½ hour to watch Neighbours. 4.1 mph average through the tunnel, and turned into the Northampton Arm at 15:15. No troubles down the arm apart from following another boat, which only had two old people on board. Dad helped them down the flight, while back setting, and I worked myself through mostly on my own. The problems with the Northampton locks are that it is difficult to jump between the lower gates due to the handrails. Eventually managing to push one gate together as the boat left the lock, jump on, stop the boat, and push with a pole the other gate closed. We reached the end of the arm at 18:43. We moored up just below the footbridge in Northampton. We needed food quickly so we went into town and found a Burger King. Day 7: Friday 28th April 2006 Northampton 12:00 - 14:50 After going shopping at the ever so handy Safeways, we went up the Westbridge Arm. David King, a friend of ours, has always waxed lyrical about the cruises up the arm, and thanks to information given in the Northampton Arm information leaflet available from the sanitary station at Gayton Junction, we knew where to go. The Westbridge Arm, actually a brook flowing into the Nene, was once a hive of commercial activity. The IWA had to fight to keep it open, and now every year volunteers clean the arm out, this year pulling out enough to fill a large lorry. The entrance is just upstream of the Carlsberg factory on the right, and after passing the factories grounds, and a nice footpath bridge, the arm takes a sharp left turn under an older footpath bridge, and becomes a bit enclosed, and industrial. Another low bridge brings you to a junction where the brook splits into two, staying on the left fork takes you under the ring road, and along the back of a retail park. A piled wharf with bollards shows its industrial heritage, and just upstream of that is a winding hole. The arm continues further up to Northampton's West Bridge - near the station. I reversed under the railway bridges, and halfway around the council yard wall - a high steel piled wall, but came to halt on some shallows. We decided to leave it at that, and returned to the wharf to have some lunch. Afterwards we visited the B+Q floating jetty just a few hundred yards from the Westbridge Arm junction to have a look, but only short boats can turn here, so more reversing. Returning back to the main river found a large abundance of boats that had come down the arm during the day, and we decided to find a quieter mooring spot down the weirstream. I did not know the layout of the area, so reversed in, but later found that the river opens right out around the two bends enough to spin my 60ft narrowboat around in one go (just managed it later in the weekend!). More later... Mike -- Michael Askin http://shoestring.zapto.org/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Everything you need is one click away. Make Yahoo! your home page now. http://us.click.yahoo.com/AHchtC/4FxNAA/yQLSAA/ygtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
