Perfect Harmony

Perfect Harmony
Moored at Huntingdon

Sunday 21 April 2013

21st April '13

As promised here's a photo of our mooring last night...


Not something I want to do too much of to be honest. Taking Paddy out was a nightmare and after he got his foot caught under it, I had to carry him over - great! Mind you his last walk was lovely as Braunston Church which sits on the hill behind our mooring was floodlit and looked wonderful.

While we were contemplating this mooring a boat came past us from the other direction and we asked if they'd seen any moorings a bit further on but they both said no.


I took this one not long after moving off this morning to show how horrible the sides were - sloping stone when it wasn't a shelf a bit under the water. Then about 10 minutes away we came across pilings....miles of them. If we'd have kept going just that bit further we'd have had a good mooring for the night and Paddy wouldn't have had to be confused by going out from the stern rather than the bow. The pilings continued on and off all the way along the canal so we aren't as worried about moorings now.

We came past the junction where you can go off to Birmingham - we'll have to do this some time as we can see Birmingham from a different angle and visit my cousin Jeremy who has a boat in that direction.


This is probably the most understated junction we've seen - hardly any notice of it and less signage. It is a bit strange really because that is the Grand Union Canal. This starts in London - we'll be coming back up it - and goes up the east side of the country but then it decides that it needs to go to Birmingham as well so rather than build a new section of canal, it branches off to join the Oxford near Braunston and comes south a bit until it goes off here. So although we've been on the Oxford canal, if we'd have been coming up from London to Birmingham this section is the one we'd have taken. Sort of like a road that disappears for a while while it joins a bigger road and then emerges again when it needs to. For some reason I've only just worked this out today - not my most intelligent moment!

We have come up the Napton Locks, all 9 of them. The first 3 had boats coming out then the next 3 were against us and then I can't remember but luckily they seemed to empty and fill quite quickly. The first lock was a bit different.

 
 
This was taken while I was going up and you can see that there is a boat in the rather small pound beneath. This was the boat that came out and I'd been thinking how easy it would be as I was moored exactly where the boat is now. Obviously that one wanted to visit the sanitary station next to the pound so within a short distance I had to get over to the other side and then work my way around the boat. I have to say that I must be improving somewhat as I did it without hitting anything. I still worry so much about each and every manoeuvre though. One day maybe it will become natural but I still have to think about it and always imagine the worst happening.
 
The locks seemed to be very narrow, pretty much the same as the Llangoglen but without the awful water cascading down the side pushing me everywhere though so I didn't mind these.
 
We stopped in the middle of the locks on a long pound and actually put out the table and chairs and had an al fresco lunch. Last year we can only remember eating outside 3 times so are hoping that we can better that this year.
 
As we arrived at the top two locks, a boater moored at the base of them warned us that the pound in between them was very low and that some boats were getting stuck, so warned me to stay to the centre. Talk about panic, I imagined every possible worse case scenario but John just got on with it telling me not to worry and that all would be well. Naturally it was but I was so tense that I thought I had tooth ache, I was clenching my jaws so tightly! I have to say I was never so glad to get in a lock than I was at that one.
 
We are now at the summit. We have risen 226' 2" since leaving Mercia and have miles of meandering canal before we get to the next locks that start to take us down eventually to the Thames. To give you some idea of how bendy this section is, our map books usually show about 4 miles on a page if the canal is pretty straight. There are 9 miles on this page and the canal goes up and down and round and round. Where we are moored we can look across a small field and see the boats going past completely parallel to us! Crazy.
 
The next town we get to will be Banbury. I've never been there so we hope to find decent moorings and stop off for a bit of a wander and to replenish stores. The wind has got up again today but until half an hour ago it's stayed dry, and that was only a short shower. We have TV reception so will be settling down for a quiet evening since we've done 9 locks and nearly 10 miles today, a record for this trip, but done in 4 1/2 hours which is pretty good going for us and we've actually done it quicker than the guide suggests which is REALLY  unusual.

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