Yelvertoft, Braunston, South Oxford

I've done a fair bit of this lately - and it's good!

Phone too...

Reading near Yelvertoft in the shade - lovely!

In the distance it's the A5 or the M1 - so good not to be on that!

 

After losing the will to live about just how slowly you have to travel along the L_O_N_G  L_O_N_G  L_O_N_G pound between Foxton Locks and Watford Locks, we moored up at Crick - we hadn't boated far but we needed some groceries and Crick has a nice Coop. David delegated himself for shopping and instructed me to blob -  I do not like the intense heat so I was not too sulky at agreeing...

I do get grumpy about the marinas that have somehow managed to convince CRT that they need a hundred yards or so of clear towpath outside their premises - not sure what for. If a boater leaving or entering cannot do the turn in one and a half boat lengths they should have their boats impounded and sold for scrap or something equally (s)crappy!

We noticed this phenomenon at Yelvertoft, Crick and at Weltonfield and given there's not a lot of clear mooring along that pound, it's a pain that a fair chunk of what is open (i.e. no reeds, trees not overhanging, and nice armco) is not available to use. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

OK, rant over.

David got back to the boat about 10 minutes before the start of the second thunderstorm in 2 days. We are getting rather quick at putting the sides on the new pramcover and closing down the cratch cover! We had done a load of washing (just one) as we travelled and I had vetoed putting it on the clothesline - I had read the forecast ... So the duvet cover was hanging in the pramcover and was pretty much dry before the storm hit.

Warm and dry in the cratch during the storm. Some of the longest, loudest thunder I ever remember. And that rain was heavy!

Sitting at Mick's table - drinking port

Taylors - but any port in a storm, don't you think?

 We decided to leave early in the morning, to boat before the heat picked up. So we were away and heading into the Crick tunnel by before 7am. A couple of days before I had got a bit freaked by the Husbands Bosworth tunnel - couldn't keep in a straight line for some reason. But my performance through the Crick tunnel was much better! My shoulders were not up beside my ears so clearly I was more relaxed!

On the way to the locks I saw these rooks in the field with the sheep - cohabitation... Made me smile.

The Watford Locks open at 8am and we had about a 15 minute wait close to the M1.

There is a confluence (right word?) of transport modes and routes as you approach Watford Locks - there's the main trunk line (for this part of the country) which crosses the canal, as well as the A5 and the M1 - plus a myriad of little local roads. Not the most peaceful part of the canal network ... But it was a BEAUTIFUL DAY

A couple of guys had pulled out in front of us a mile or so out from the Crick tunnel and so were ahead of us at the locks. No worries - it was a pretty quick trip down them: one lock, then a staircase of 4 then two separate locks to finish the flight. 

One of the staircase - know how I can tell? It has one paddle in red. The rule in a staircase is Red before white and you'll be alright. White before red and you'll be dead. Not quite dead, but the flooding is prodigious, I gather.

A couple of miles to Norton Junction and then a right turn on to the main line of the Grand Union. 

Very good surname - one I used for about 23 years... Thanks, Ted.

We decided to keep going to Braunston, so through the tunnel - met one boat coming towards us and I am fairly sure he was pretty much stationary when we passed him. As we approached the locks we found a single hander to lock down with. The woman whose name I didn't get, is 80, has been singlehanding for 14 years... 

 It was 25 minutes through the tunnel. 5.25 hours of boating for the day with 11 locks and 9.5 miles.

We decided to moor up just below the Admiral Nelson pub so we could go for lunch, but not before we both had a shower and I'd hung out yet another load of washing - where does it all come from!? Considering I had been thinking how much like being at the bach it was being on the boat (and in the motorhome) where you take lots of clothes and then wear the same t-shirt and shorts for days with only changes of underwear, I am not sure what keeps filling the laundry bag ... (I do know - it's bedding that we were catching up on washing - from motorhoming when we borrowed sheets from Marta [I gave up on the sleeping bags as they are too constraining and I got cold when I had the zip open], and bedding from being back onboard.)

My lunch - falafel and halloumi burger. Very yummy. Gave the coleslaw to David - I'm not a fan of mayo on coleslaw, I prefer vinaigrette.

 

I think there were about 10 of them - like little bumblebees buzzing around. Amazing how quickly they learn to swim flat out!

While I was sitting out in the shade a couple walked past and stopped to chat - they had noticed the name of the boat.  Conversation went well until:

• he defended Boris as being just like all politicians - well, that's not true, particularly if you measure him against the UK Labour politicians I know, and especially if you measure him against the entire Labour Government in NZ,
• he then said that Jacinda was an evil poisonous person.

I said to him to go away and to do it quickly. He did, muttering ... He was a bloody conspiracy theorist, FFS.

And Braunston - nightmare! no internet! They are having a new tower fitted or swapping from copper to fibre or something. But for the two days we were there there was NO SERVICE!! And we realised just how much we rely on it nowadays. We couldn't WhatsApp anyone, couldn't get emails, couldn't look up anything - and I couldn't do Wordle!! David was missing the US current affairs stuff about the dumpster's indictments - that was the worst of a tragic situation!

The only place we could get any service was on two of the public paths that head down the hill from the village towards Midland Chandlers. Enough to download podcasts but not enough to download the Waterways Routes map updates, dammit!

However we had a blobby couple of days, moved down from the Admiral Nelson to not far from the Waterside Pub, moored up, went to the shop and the butcher (for fruit and veg and two very nice veg samosas), to Midland Chandlers for a list of things only about half of which they could help with, and back to the boat.

Not sure where this family was - probably down by the Waterside pub.

 

This morning, I woke David and sprung on him the information that we were going to reverse back through the bridge for water before anyone else was moving. So by 7am, we were dressed and chugging backwards, with several corrections to make sure the boat was heading properly around the curve - there is no steerage when reversing in a narrowboat because no water goes past the rudder - and we don't have bow thrusters (or boy buttons, as I call them - most men call them girlie buttons, but so far I have only ever seen men using them ...) So there was the occasional use of forward gear and tiller while still moving backwards because it takes a fair bit to stop this craft once it's got a head of steam up ...

We watered up at the fastest tap ever, I (jet-)washed the port side and roof of the boat and then helped a hireboat crew come in for water, and then we were on our way having made sure we had a cup of tea at the ready and breakfast was prepared.

We have boated all of a mile and a bit. About 200 metres up from the Braunston Turn on the South Oxford, both of our phones pinged with WhatsApp messages - service restored. I had suggested yesterday that we move but we were both too buggered to do so in the heat... One of the messages was from Marta. A call to her and arrangements made for Karol to come and stay with us for a few days before he heads to Bulgaria to spend time with his dad. Yay!!

We stopped by Bridge 100 not much after 9am 😀😆😎 and will stay here overnight. David has tried to download the Waterways Routes updates on both the phone and the computer but it times out - copper in this area rather than fibre means there's not enough download speed or somesuch technical detail. So it's back to the Nicholson's Guides - good old paper rulz OK!

I had wanted to stop near Bridge 101 anyway as it is lovely and peaceful here. While David has battled with the internet service, I have 

• taken photos of where we are
• made a cauliflower, broccoli and carrot salad as part of dinner (we will have asparagus, pickled beetroot and this salad, plus a couple of slices of my SUCCESSFUL sourdough made yesterday)
  
• washed the starboard side of the boat using bucket and a cloth
• written this blog
• made baked beans on toast for lunch, and 
• got myself prepped for an afternoon of not very much - thank heavens for my kindle that has about 700 books on it ...

Bridge 100 in the near distance, David doing something at the cratch. Peaceful! Notice the clean roof - I had hosed it down this morning - by about 7.15am...

The view from the stern deck across to the starboard side

David thought putting the umbrella up on the Brollymate (that we use to hold the clothesline) would give me somewhere to sit in the shade. Now all I need is a floating chair...