Welford Junction

 A pleasant and easy day's cruising with no rain and no locks.

Leicester Section Scenary

More Leicester Section Scenary

The canal follows a meandering course between low hills on its way north towards Leicester.We set off at 9:50 in cool but bright weather and, after a quick stop to fill up with water,carried on along down the canal stopping for lunch at 12:30. An hour later we set off again finally mooring for the night at 15:00 near Welford Junction where a short arm goes off to the village of Welford 1.5 miles away. 

Little else to report since the canal is completely isolated avoiding all habitation apart from a few farms.  Almost all the bridges are for farm tracks and very minor country lanes, the only one exception being the very busy A14.

Journey  Statistics

8.59 miles,  hours 55 minutes cruising.

Yelvertoft

 This evening we are moored near the small Leicestershire village of Yelvertoft after  a pleasant cruise along a meandering and interesting course through woods and isolated countryside.

On  the Watford staircase

Looking down the Watford Locks

Top of the Watford Locks

Typical canal scenary near Crick

We set off at 9:20  and passed alongside Watford Gap Services to reach the bottom of the 7 lock Watford flight  and joined a queue of 7 boats waiting to go up. After an hour's wait it was our turn to enter the bottom lock and aided by the lock keepers we quickly reached the top.

1.5 miles beyond the locks we arrived at the entrance to the 1500 foot Crick Tunnel and then travelled on to the outskirts of the large village of Crick where we stopped to do some shopping.

After lunch on the boat we cruised on for a further hour to moor up near Yelvertoft.

Journey statistics

6.22 miles, 7 locks, 4 hours 35 mins

On our way to Market Harborough

This report covers  Thurday 22nd to Saturday 24th August...

After some health problems we are now able to go out for a few days.  Our plan is to take Densie to Market Harborough in Leicestershire which lies on an arm of the Leicester Section of the Grand Union Canal.

We arrived on our marina on Thursday as we needed to talk to the engineering staff about some repairs they were making on the boat.  Unfortunately one, fault, a leaking central heating header tank, had not been fixed.  This was eventually found to be due to the plastic tank cracking after 18 years usage.  We would have liked to set out that day, but in any case there were extremely string gusty winds which would have made it difficult manoeuvre in the marina.

First thing on Friday the winds were still too strong for us to move but cleared up in the late morning.  After setting off at 11:50 we had a peaceful cruise down the North Oxford Canal to Braunston where we stopped for a late lunch.

Ascending Braunston Locks

We were planning to stay but there was no internet access.  Saturday was forecast to be very wet and the thought of being stuck in the boat for a day or two unconnected to the outside world did not appeal.  So we set off again at 14:30 to ascend the 6 wide Braunston locks hoping to get better reception.  Our journey was made easier by shareing the locks with another boat who had a crew of 4 aboard

We moored again at the top but still no internet signal.

First thing in the morning it was raining but we set off anyway as the first part of the journey was through the 2000 foot Braunston tunnel. But at the other end it was raining heavily and there was still no reception.  By 12:30 the rain had died down so we set off again, turning left onto the Leicester Section of the Grand Union at Norton Junction.

When the rain became heavier he moored near to Watford Locks at 13:40. Finally we were able to get a decent internet link.

Friday 23rd August

4.65 miles, 6 locks,3 hours 50 mins

Saturday 24th August

4.12 miles, 1 hour 45 mins

Back home

 

Densie moored in our home marina

 We are now moored back  in our home marina after an quick and uneventful cruise in dry and breezy weather back from Flecknoe.

Today's details:

5.89 miles  0 locks 2 hours 53 minutes

Total trip details

53.36 miles, 36 locks, 32 hours, 9 days

averaging: 2.79 lock-miles/hour, 3.56 hours/day

Two days 30/5/24 and 31/5/24 to Flecknoe

 No posting yesterday as we did not have any internet connectivity, so I am covering the past 2 days:

 

Entering HS2 Construction area

 

 

HS2  bridge over South Oxford Canal

 

 Canal passes HS2 gravel pile

30/5/24 Fenny Compton to Marston Doles.  At 9:10 on a grey and breezy morning we left Compton as 4th in a convoy of 6 narrowboats. Travel was slow as each boat had to pass in turn through  narrow bridges and past on-coming boats.  Progress was further impeded by the canal being shallow in places when we could not travel faster than 2mph.  The situation was made worse by frequent rain showers.

 We descended both the Marston Doles locks and moored for the day at 13:20 in heavy rain.  After settling down for the afternoon we then discovered there was no internet connection So not a happy day.

 Today's journey

7.9 miles. 2 locks, 4 hours 10 minutes

 

Herd of Water Buffalo at Napton Locks

 

A sorry lookingDenise operating lock in the rain

 

Next to bottom lock on Napton flight

31/5/24 Marston Doles to Flecknoe  We set off this morning in overcast and breezy weather at 9:55 and reached the 7 Napton Locks shortly afterwards which we quickly descended.  We had hoped to moor at the bottom but there were no free spaces so we carried on to near Napton Marina a couple of miles later where we stopped for lunch.

In the afternoon we joined the Grand Union Canal  and stopped for the night near the small village of Flecknoe.

Today's Journey

6.9 miles, 7 locks, 3 hours 20 minutes

 

 

 

 

Fenny Compton - no rain!

 

Entering Elkington  Lock

 

Fenny Compton Tunnel

 

A very enjoyable trip today with periods of sunshine and a light breeze. Returning on the route we took on Tuesday the first lock, Broadmoor Lock was still operating very slowly with only one paddle but with far fewer boats on the move we did not have to wait long.

 Then up the 5 Claydon Locks with the assistance of volunteers to the summit pound and through the Fenny Compton "tunnel" to stop for the day at 14:30 having eaten lunch on the move. The moorings were largely full but we were able to slip into a gap just a few feet longer than Densie.

Today's Journey

5.88 miles, 8 locks, 4 hours 30 minutes

Not going to Banbury

Last night he had our first meal out this trip at the Brasenose Arms, one of the two village pubs. The food was very good and clearly freshly prepared  The friendly and knowledgable staff were working very hard and efficiently as the place was very busy, it being a bank holiday Monday.

 It has rained for most of today so we have not moved except to go through Cropredy Lock, turn around, fill up with water and return to the mooring.  As more rain is forecast for later in the week, we are running out of time and Banbury is not that interesting anyway we have decided to go back to our marina. 

Todays journey

0.5 miles, 1 lock twice,  1 hour 25 mins

Down to Cropredy

Elkington Lock

Moored at Cropredy

The weather was bright and sunny though with a cold breeze when we set off down the 5 Claydon locks at 9:40.  All went smoothly with help from a couple of volunteers.  These were followed by 3 isolated locks.  At the last of these,  Broadmoor Lock, there were 2 boats ahead of us waiting to descend.  One of the paddles was out of use so the lock was taking ages to refill.  

An hour later later we were on our way again  stopping for the day at lunch time in Cropredy, an attractive canal side village with a pub serving excellent food, well it did when we were here last year which we will visit this evening.

Today's Journey 

2.7 miles. 8 locks, 3 hours  

No rain on the journey to Claydon Locks

 

Passing HS2 construction site

Woods near Fenny Conpton

Attractive Bridge

Lift Bridge near  Claydon Locks

There was heavy rain overnight and the weather forecast was for more during the day.  So we had resigned ourselves to staying where we were until tomorrow. However by 10am there was no rain to be seen so we continued on our journey.

The first break from the ongoing fields and low hills occured when we crossed the HS2 construction site.  From there the canal passes through Fenny Compton, the first village since Napton.  There were heavy black clouds in the sky but somehow the winding canal avoided them all.  The route south from Fenny Compton is of more interest as the canal goes through a wooded cutting where the former tunnel was opened up in 1868.

After Fenny Compton "Tunnel" the frequently wooded canal continues until it reaches the top of Claydon locks from where it is all downhill to Oxford, the Thames and London.  The photograph shows the first of the many lift bridges for which the Oxford Canal used to be notorious because of the effort to operate them.  Fortunately most, such as this one, are now left permanently open.

Todays Journey

8.7 miles, 0 locks, 3 hours 45 mins

Napton Locks

 

Waiting to enter Napton Bottom Lock

View from Napton Bottom Lock

Entering Lock 12

Bridge 122 near Prior's Hardwick

We set off this morning in bright and sunny weather reaching the bottom of 7-locthe k Napton flight half an hour later.  Here as at several other locks we had to wait for boats coming down the flight. Fortunately there were volunteer lock keepers stationed here which minimised delays.

The flight then took us up into the surrounding attractive hilly countryside with views across the pastureland full of buttercups and herds of sheep and cows. We stopped for lunch a mile before the final 2 locks at Marston Doles, a tiny settlement where the horses which towed the working boats were stabled.

In the afternoon we continued 2-3 miles further on and moored out in the countryside.

Today's Journey

5.7 mikes, 9 locks, 4 hours 40 minutes

Heading for Banbury

We started our first journey this year this morning after spending the night on Densie in the marina at Dunchurch in Warwickshire

Our route took us south on the North Oxford Canal to the canalside village of Braunston in Northamptonshire. At the junction near the village we turned west along the Grand Union Canal, the waterway being shared with the Oxford Canal..  The scenery is pleasant along this isolated stretch but there is liitle of great iterest to see, just trees, farmland and the occasional bridge.

Denise steering Densie on the Grand Union

On the GU (1)

On the GU(2)

Moored near Napton

At Napton Junction 5 miles further on we left the Grand Union turning onto the South Oxford Canal.  We moored about half a mile further on  at 3pm near the village of Napton On The Hill which overlooks the canal.

Today's cruise

9.1 miles, 0 locks, 4 hours

Sunday & Monday: turn around in Rugby and return to the marina

 No diary yesterday as we did not have internet connectivity.  Everythig now working OK.

On Sunday we travelled up the North Oxford Canal to Rugby.  We turned the boat around as this was the last opportunity to do so as the canal is blocked by the collapse of a cutting a few miles further on at Brinklow. We moored for the night just after climbing Hilmorton Locks which we had descended on Saturday.

5.23 miles, 3 locks, 2 hours 40 mins

Returning to our marina behind a slow hire boat

Today we awoke to heavy rain but it had stopped by the time we set off at 9:45  The weather was cold and windy so we decided to return to the marina at 11:35, a day earlier than originally planned.  But there were no problems on the journey so our objective was achieved.

4.05 miles 0 locks, 1 hour 50 mins

Densie repaired - shakedown cruise

 Densie was repaired at the end of last year and so now the weather has improved we are taking her out for a short journey to check all is OK.

But we discovered a serious problem before we set out.  The back of our smokeless fuel stove has developed a bad crack and so the stove cannot be used.  This is a common fault.  The engineers at our marina told us they had repaired 14 stoves with similar probems.  Fortunately for this journey our diesel central heating will be sufficient to keep the boat warm.

Moored for the night near Rugby

After booking a repair we set off at 10:20 stopping for lunch just before Hilmorton Locks.  After cruising for a further 1.5 miles in the afternoon we stopped for the night at Clifton Upon Dunsmore in the countryside on the edge of Rugby.

5.74 miles, 3 locks, 2 hours 50 mins