Heading South

Holme Lock reopened on Saturday 17 May at noon so on that morning we had a steady run from Gunthorpe and arrived in time to join the first lock up with 6 other narrowboats.   Emerging from the lock we saw a queue of boats waiting to head north.   We then raced down to Nottingham to avoid being at the back of the queue for Meadow Lane Lock which only takes 2 boats.   On the Nottingham Canal we found more boaters waiting to head north and mooring space outside Sainsburys.  We weren't alone in bringing back a shopping trolley of groceries to our boat.  

The queue for Holme Lock

We teamed up with Ernie and Steph and continued our journey south.  At Cranfleet Cut we joined the queue of boats waiting for the lock and Bess and Brinny came out onto the pontoon. Brinny thought the sticks and debris floating on the water were solid and got a shock when she jumped down onto them.  She wasn't too keen on the rinse down that followed her dunking either.

Travelling in pairs we made good progress and stopped in Leicester on Monday night.  

A heron watches us pass on the outskirts of Leicester

An early start on Tuesday took us through 12 locks to Kilby for lunchtime and then we continued towards Foxton.  There were boats in front of us and water levels became very low. Something caught around the propeller and while preparing to free it Kev dropped our large kitchen knife through the weedhatch which is an open hole in the bottom of the boat giving access to the propeller.  Despite spending some time throwing our magnets on ropes over the spot we didn't find the knife.  We continued on to the bottom of the Foxton flight and moored up, having covered  18 miles and 24 locks in the day. 

The next morning Kev opened the weedhatch and was amazed to see our knife laid underwater on the ledge surrounding the opening.  We hadn't seen it the day before because the water was muddy.  The chances of the knife landing on the ledge and staying there when Kev pulled the material off the propeller and through the hole were slim.  Unfortunately there was nowhere to buy a lottery ticket so we went up the 10 locks of the Foxton flight and had an ice cream at the top.   There were no locks for the next 18 miles but it was busy at Crick with preparations for the show at the weekend.  We were lucky not to have any delay at the Watford Gap flight of 7 locks and even luckier to find a free mooring at Norton Junction which was busy with boats heading to Crick. 

The forecast for Thursday was heavy rain and we set off in our waterproofs.  We were doing well until Long Buckby Lock; the canal on the other side of the lock was completely empty. The cause became apparent when I walked down to the next lock and found a gate paddle had been left open, probably the previous evening.  Filling that stretch of canal would've taken a considerable amount of water and caused the levels to drop upstream so we rang the Canal & River Trust.   They quickly sent someone out who opened the lock paddles upstream so we could open our paddles and fill the empty pound.  

Filling the pound below Long Buckby lock, thankfully it stopped raining while we waited.

Heavy rain set in during the afternoon and we were pleased to reach Blisworth Tunnel which is 3057 yards long.  It's the third longest canal tunnel in Britain and after entering it was sometime before we could see the other end.  White and rust coloured deposits lined the walls and we didn't completely escape the rain, torrents were cascading down the air vents.  We emerged from the tunnel to find a thunderstorm was raging overhead.

It was a short distance to Stoke Bruerne and once we'd moored up I couldn't resist a treat from the Candy Boat.  

Jars of sweets line the side of the Candy Boat

  
Our journey from Gunthorpe to Stoke Bruerne