Making our way to Braunston

There was not a huge amount of slothing about on our way from the top of the Foxton Locks to Braunston. We did discover though, that by doing four hours or so a day, starting early in the day (7 or 7.30) leaves a whole afternoon for other pursuits - actually, things that are more like non-pursuits when it comes down to it ...

Although I did give David a haircut one day, and hung out washing on about 3 days (1 of which was at the top of the Foxton Locks, and already posted about). But apart from that it was reading that took up my time, as well as making lunches and dinners.

The trip from the top of Foxton to Crick is a bit boring as it is a very long pound and it wanders hither and yon following the contours rather than indulging in any locks. However, it is very beautiful countryside, and looks just wonderful in the sunshine.

On the first morning out of Foxton we only moved a couple of miles up the cut until we heard from our son Tim who was joining us for breakfast on his way down from Manchester to Devizes for work.

Before breakfast though, Tim had to retrieve the gas bottle spanner that David had dropped in the locker - the gas ran out as I was pre-cooking breakfast bits.

A 43 year old can contort himself upside down into a locker far more ably than a 70 year old can. And the 68 year old didn't even bother volunteering!

Breakfast was served in the cratch at our new table, with us sitting on our new side lockers (thanks, Mick 👌👍😙). We did determine that we need the little stool for a third person because sharing the seat with a certain person who spreads his wings when eating is not conducive to comfortable meals. That meant the same certain person has had to retrieve the stool from within the gas locker where it was put when deemed to be on the critical tasks list for long-term stowage just a few days ago.

We stopped for diesel, a new gas bottle (requiring emptying of the gas locker that had been stacked with other things prior to leaving Debdale ...)  and water. We always find the people at North Kilworth Wharf are very helpful and friendly, even though it is not a fancy shmancy place. John, the owner, was very excited to see that the mother duck still had four ducklings and that the nearby mink had not got them. He keeps a large jar of cornflakes on the wharf so he can feed them as soon as he sees them - that did make me smile!

We decided to find a place to moor in the sunshine just past the Welford Junction near Bridge 41 - so lovely and peaceful!

The next morning, wearing three layers, plus silk scarf, gloves (ineffective really)  and hat (me) and three layers with no hat and no scarf and no gloves (David), we set off in brilliant sunshine - at 7am-ish it was still parky! I don't think I got all the way down to the T-shirt that day even though it did warm up considerably.

I think it's a may tree. There are a few dusky pink ones around too.

Lovely mooring spots abound on this section.

We had thought we would aim for Crick which was 10 miles away (probably only about 6 as the crow flies) but found a lovely spot before Yelvertoft - sunny, bucolic, peaceful. It seemed to warm up in the afternoon, and I spent a few hours, after David's haircut and hanging out washing (I am sure we are not THAT grubby!), sitting in the sun reading and listening to podcasts while David was inside trying to work out the technology of a secure system for making an appointment with an ophthalmologist near Birmingham. That necessitated changing all settings on the laptop so the colours were reversed out, the text bigger, the brightness lifted or lowered, and several other critical changes, before the identification of which I lost the will to live and closed my ears ... And the emails that took weeks (I swear - well, that's what it felt like while I was waiting ...) to construct.

The next morning we started off quite early again in lovely sunshine but it was still chilly - raincoat was at hand this time as we were going to be going through Crick Tunnel which is notorious for being wet and drippy. David had made me a cup of tea, but I hadn't finished it before we got into the tunnel and I wasn't game to drink it in there, in case roof seepages had made their unerring way into the mug. I added the remaining tea to the canal water level ...

Even though we were at Watford Top Lock by about 9.30 (after a stop to fill with water at the fastest tap on the network in my view - Skew Bridge. The tap was fast, but we were slow esp as the tap was so fast that the tank overflowed and David had to dry out the lockers and the cratch...) we didn't start down the flight until 10.30. There was a boat in front of us waiting, and four boats coming up. By the time we were first in the queue there were 6 boats behind us. While we waited I started the previous blog post, made cups of tea, said hello to a variety of dogs and people that came past. David on the other hand, emptied the elsan, chatted with the lock-keepers, and kept coming back to give me updates on progress.

The locks of which there are 7, are an amazing engineering feat - four of them are in a staircase, so you go from one straight into another, using the same water all the way down the staircase. The flight is very close to Watford Gap Services on the M1. If you want to see how the other half travel, then park there, climb the fence by the railbridge (watching out for barbed wire in the nether regions) and walk along the the towpath to the top of the locks - or you can, more safely, get off at Watford Gap junction and head south on the A5 for a wee way, and find a side road.

One of the side pounds near the bottom of the flight - by one of the non-staircase locks.

David winding the paddles, and behind him you can see a van on the A5. The M1 is not far away at the top of the locks on the other side of the boat.

We had wanted to moor at Norton Junction, before the turn back on to the mainline of the Grand Union. However there was no suitably-sized space, so we turned on to the mainline where there have been repairs to the towpath and lovely new armco and sunny places to moor. Out with the washing line again, a late lunch and then the decision that we would walk to the top of the hill under which Braunston Tunnel resides. I have driven through the tunnel lots, but never seen it from above.

What a lovely walk - such a beautiful space up above! And Daventry is not far away at all, but you wouldn't know it from the canal.

We took this from our mooring spot - just after that bridge is Norton Junction and the Leicester line is in front of the line of trees.

Up on the top of the tunnel - a farm.

One of the tunnel's airshafts. Much bigger than I thought.

And from the top of the hill, there in the distance, is the spire of Braunston church - never seen it from there before!

On the way back though, we both got caught short, so I do hope the path stayed clear of people for a few minutes for drainage purposes after we moved on - David could safely descend deeper into the undergrowth, but although I moved off the path,  I wasn't exposing my bum to nettles ...

These flowers were all growing on the towpath.

I did have to massage my feet with the hard tennis ball when we got back - I'd done almost 13,000 steps and my feet felt them all ... David had done over 19,000 steps that day, but he'd done lots of walking up and down and across the locks whereas I was pretty stationary on the stern (and I don't have my phone in my jeans pocket when I am steering - too easy to knock it out and into the cut ...)

A lovely sunny evening - wine almost finished.

My view from the cratch, back down the cut.

 I rewarded myself for the long long long walk with a glass of wine and we ate dinner in the cratch - lovely stuff, and our thanks to Mick and John who have made it possible.