Lost. A few Kilo’s.(I hope)

Upon arising this morning Dot declared that she wanted breakfast at the Gongoozlers Cafe (boat) just along from us. So off we trot for a fry up breakfast.

Gongoozler's Rest Cafe at Braunston. Dorothy had to have breakfast there one morning.

After breakfast we planned to walk up the hill to the village for some bread (which we decided not to get) and some cordial. We got this and a magazine OK but a visit to Braunston wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Butcher. Here we found 114g jars of all sorts of jams and jellies, so we came away with Strawberry, Raspberry, Bramble (Blackberry) and Lemon Curd. At least we have something to put on our bread now.

The local mailbox at Little Braunston, almost hidden in the hedge row.

Rather than retrace our steps we walked down Dark Lane to the locks intending to walk back along the towpath. As we had come this far we might as well walk up to the tunnel entrance to see the work done on clearing the 2008 slip. Just outside the Lord Nelson pub we found Graham of Matilda Rose awaiting an Enterprise Rental car which he had hired for the week-end.

Entering the west portal on Braunston Tunnel.  Before the slip was cleared there was barely room for one boat to get through here.

After a quick chat we wandered on up to the tunnel mouth where we were very surprised at the amount of work that had actually been done not only to the slip area but the whole non towpath bank between the locks and the towpath itself. Well done BW. We walked over the tunnel entrance to photograph the work from the non towpath side. What a difference.

The east portal and the Norton junction end of the Braunston tunnel.

Conundrum! How do you traverse the Braunston tunnel without moving your boat. Simple! You walk over the top of course. Yes, what started out as a walk to the crest of the hill finished up as a mammoth trek right across the top of the tunnel. A narrowboat that had entered the tunnel just before we set off actually emerged from the other end about 5 minutes after we had arrived so he must have been a bit of a slow coach.

One of the air vent shafts above the tunnel

Halfway through our walk we met another couple with the same intention as us so we walked it together. Of course once there we then had to walk back again. We finished up walking at least 4 to 5 miles in total so we must have burnt off a few grams or kilo’s.

Lock 2 overflowing on the Braunston Lock Flight this morning.

Just above the Norton junction end of the tunnel we found an apple tree overloaded with big green cooking apples just going to waste so both couples found numerous good apples to take home for Apple pie’s. Want not,waste not is what I say.

Don’t annoy me, I’m trying to get a tan

Farewell Northern Pride.

It is with a touch of sadness that we say farewell to Barry and Sandra of Nb Northern Pride. For the past 2 Summers they have cruised the “Cut” but they now have to return to New Zealand. It is for this reason that Northern Pride is now for sale and like Gypsy Rover she is being sold fully equipped so that her new owner only has to load their own personal baggage and fill the pantry before they can start cruising.  We wish them all the luck in the world with their sale and hope they have as much luck as we did with ours.

We wish them well back in Gisborne, NZ, the first city in the world to see the sun rise. We spent New Years Eve 1999 on the beach at Gisborne awaiting the rising sun on the new Millennium. What a night it was with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa singing at a specially built stadium accompanied by Maori warrior’s paddling a Waka (Maori war canoe) ashore. We won’t forget that day in a hurry.

An Interesting day to say the least.

0 Locks, 7.58 Miles.  Now moored at Braunston.

Before we had even finished breakfast this morning things were getting interesting with the Narrow Boat Trust Co Ltd’s barge Nuneaton and butty Brighton passing by our window. I quickly followed hoping to see them work through the lock. By the time I reached the bend in the canal there was all sort’s of activity going on. Apparently the crew had unchained their Buckby cans on Brighton in preparation to fill them at the water point. However, as they were fully loaded with coal bound for London, and sitting deep in the water, Brighton was grounding on the bends and heeling over as Nuneaton dragged her around, which caused the cans to slide off the roof into the canal.

Narrowboat Nuneaton on a coal run to London.

Luckily a hire boat was on the move in the area so they offered to help retrieve the cans bobbing around in the water. Eventually Nuneaton was brought up through the lock and they were just about to ready to rope Brighton through when the hire boat, who had also been at the water point, was allowed to jump the queue. As it was time for us to slip our moorings I returned to Granny Buttons with just a few photo’s.

Butty Brighton with Narrow boat Nuneaton backing back to collect their Buckby cans which had fallen into the canal.

We set off under a clear sky making for a brilliant days cruising. First stop was Napton Narrowboats for diesel. As we had to reverse back to the diesel pump and leave our bow out in the middle of the canal I opted to leave changing the gas bottle in the bow until a more suitable venue could be found. It was while here that we found Nb Valerie. Her owner, Les was away on holiday in Las Vegas so we just left him a message.

Strange paddock companions.

Arriving at Braunston we pulled into the marina and changed the gas bottle so we are now all set to complete our journey fully provisioned. Luckily there was a mooring available by the water point which we will now occupy for the next 36 hours or so.

A really strange array of livestock here, Sheep, Goats, Donkeys, 1 Ass, Cattle, Ponies and 1 Red Deer.

After lunch we wandered up through the locks to the Lord Nelson pub. Who did we spy between the first 2 locks but Nb’s Caxton and Matilda Rose. Both boats were all shut up so we guessed they were either at the pub or out walking the dogs. We decided to check out the pub just in case and lo and behold there they were, Joe, Leslie, Graham and Jill with a Guinness each at hand. Here we spent the next hour or so catching up on all the gossip over an ale or 2 before heading back to the boats. What a great day it has been.

Narrowboat Fero owners give some light hearted banter over their Australian flag being bigger than our NZ flag. But notice the difference?

A total of 27.97 Miles, and 21 Locks on Granny Buttons.

I’ve just remembered!

There is one advantage to living back on land.  Not having to wipe the windows of condensation every morning. Oh the joys of double glazing.

Inconsiderate boaters.

10 Miles, 9 Locks. Now moored below Napton Bottom Lock

The day started wet so we sat it out until 10am when the rain cleared. We had been watching the boats using the water point which was just ahead of us. Most boats were there for 10 – 15 minutes and then on their way. About 9am a boat which had already gone past us returned and pulled onto the water point. He proceeded to fill his water tank and then disappeared inside presumably to stay out of the rain. After 10 or so minutes his overflow pipe started to run but did he come out, oh no. When he did reappear several boats had already got fed up waiting and carried on. What happened next, he decided to wash his boat. We thought “Ah well,when the rain stops we will move up to the water point and fill up”. By 10 am matey was still washing his boat, so we thought that we would just go and get water later as there was another boat now waiting his turn on the tap. As I passed the boat washer I told him in no uncertain terms that I couldn’t wait all day for him to which he replied I’ll only be 5 minutes. I replied that he had already been there an hour. With that I left.

Our first sign of autumn, a Horse Chestnut tree. No sign of disease here.

We finally got water at Marston Doles lock where there was already a queue for the lock. It was all one way traffic unfortunately.  Going down through the Napton 9 locks we did meet a couple of boats travelling the opposite way which helped a bit. However we did meet up with Inconsiderate boater No2. At every lock he never did the same thing twice, roping the boat in, driving the boat in, and the same upon exiting the lock, sometimes helping his wife and sometimes just yelling orders at her. We could have done 2 locks to his one, he was just hopeless. Eventually we hung back in one lock for an oncoming boat and just let him get well out of our way.

The windmill on the hill at Napton in the distance.

By the time we reached the bottom lock we decided we had done enough for one day and pulled onto the first available mooring.

A solitary Water Buffalo near Napton. The main herd were in the field next door.

A total of 20.39 Miles, and 21 Locks on Granny Buttons.

Where’s Andrew?

10.39 Miles, 12 Locks. Now moored at Fenny Compton.

Leaving Banbury

Well the Towpath Telegraph has been working overtime because it didn’t take long before we were rumbled. We were accosted by so many boater’s along the way by the question “Where’s Andrew”? Obviously “Granny Buttons” is more widely known than we had anticipated.

Gently does it, coming into a lock on the Oxford.

We met our first familiar boat and crew at Cropredy. Narrowboat Epiphany was moored up to allow John to get in a round of golf. John was just having a quick snack before dashing off so we had a long chat with Fiona who was looking good after her recent spell in Harefield Hospital. The time flew by and we had to leave to make the most of the fine weather.

Fiona on Nb Epiphany gives us a cheery wave.

We actually travelled further than we had expected so that will be a bonus should we strike some bad weather, when we won’t want to travel.

Tom Rolt the original Continuous Cruiser and regarded as a pioneer founder of the leisure canal industry. Beautiful canal side cottage on the Oxford.Thank you very much for the free apples at the lock keepers cottage at Cropredy. A BW staff member ( grey top) making notes about the cottage at Cropredy Lock as if he were a Real Estate agent. Selling it off, I wonder. Unusual cloud formation with rainbow edges over the Oxford Canal.

A total of 10.39 Miles, 12 Locks on Granny Buttons.

All bussed out.

Banbury.

After being on the  go since 7am we are now safely aboard our charge for the next couple of weeks. We boarded our first bus at 9.40am and after 4 changes of busses from March, Peterborough, Northampton, and Daventry we arrived in Banbury at 4pm.

A quick look around the boat to see what was on board and then it was a quick trip to Morrisons for a stock up of quick and easy meals to see us through to Rugby. I think I feel an early night coming on after all that travelling.