Alwalton to White Mills Marina

We left Alwalton on Saturday 8 July and travelled further than we intended, the moorings we might have used were already taken until we arrived at Elton.  As it turned out the village was an interesting place to stop.  We had a potter round the garden centre and followed the unusual roped off path to the area set aside for a community garden. 

The roped off path uses shovels and spades to lead the way into the walled garden which is now a community garden.

Sunday was a busy day in the village.  First we went to the Rockingham Forest Woodcarvers exhibition in the village hall.  Over 100 carvings made an interesting display of different styles and all were finished to a high standard.  A table of 'works in progress' demonstrated various stages of the process and on one I saw some writing.  Leaning over to read it I expected an insight into the carving method but no, it was a reminder to watch 'Escape to the Country'!

Part of the Rockingham Forest Woodcarvers display

From the village hall we walked to Elton Hall where the gardens were open in aid of the British Red Cross.  Huge topiaries dominated the back of the house and quirky topiary hedges lined some of the paths. 

The huge topiaries at the back of the house

An enormous topiary dog 

Elsewhere tall hedges divided the garden into smaller plots and a ha-ha gave an uninterrupted view over the garden boundary and across the fields.

On Monday we sailed the short distance to Fotheringhay where we enjoyed some good walks.  A colourful mural brightened the concrete A605 road bridge on the walk into Warmington village.  

Part of the colourful mural on the A605 road bridge

 Most of our walking was on the footpaths across farmland and they revealed a variety of wildlife; we saw deer, a fox, a badger, hares and red kites which were constantly circling overhead.  

This hare didn't seem too concerned by our presence

On Thursday we moved on to Oundle which was holding a week long festival.  I had a look round the Nene Artists exhibition and was very impressed by some silk paintings.

The next day we sailed to Wadenhoe and found a secluded mooring below the church. Walking round the village we noticed the 2 llamas looking a bit bereft, they'd been shorn and looked very odd without their thick woolly coats. 

One of the shorn llamas

We enjoyed some more walks and watched the red kites but the best view was had back on board.  A red kite landed on the fence post on the opposite bank and started feeding on some unpleasant looking remains it had just picked up.  I crept out onto the front deck and crouched down to take some photos.

The red kite on the fence post 

On Sunday night all was well when we went to bed but at 2am Kev woke to find Brent III was listing.  The nearby overflow weir was strangely silent indicating the water level had dropped considerably and we were touching the bottom;  it didn't take a lot of effort to push her away from the bank so we were floating again. We can only assume someone had left a paddle open on the lock but it had resulted in the loss of a vast amount of water.  The next morning we left early and although the river was deep enough for navigation we were pleased to enter the next lock at Titchmarsh.  We made good progress and carried on to Irthlingborough.  

On Tuesday we sailed into Wellingborough and walked up to Tesco.  On the way we passed a horse leaning over his fence and Kev stopped to pet it.  The horse was clearly expecting something to eat so when we went back a second time Kev took it a carrot.  A bit later on we had to pass it again and had another carrot off Kev and an apple off a young woman.  That horse certainly made the most of his position on the way into town.  

The next day we left Wellingborough and it's noisy flour mill to sail up to White Mills Marina near Earls Barton.  

Our journey from Alwalton to White Mills Marina