The first trip

The main objective was to move Mooo from her temporary home at Oundle Marina on the River Nene to her permanent mooring near Norton Junction on the Grand Union Canal. We gave ourselves 4 days to cover the 53 miles and 50 locks. We were planning to do two very long days followed by two easier days.

Day 1

Thursday 4th October 2007

Oundle Marina to Irthlingborough. 

We originally planned to get to Wellingborough at the end of the first day but we were advised by several people that the moorings at Wellingborough were not really suitable for overnight breaks due to the local youth.

The day went well and we moored at Irthlingborough as planned. Across the whole day we saw just one other boat on the move and that was someone just travelling up river from his mooring to Irthlingborough for a pumpout. I know it was a work day and it was a bit out of season but the weather was glorious so I had expected a bit more activity.

The mooring was excellent, right outside Rushden and Diamonds football ground. The early evening entertainment was provided by the groundsman and his none-too-bright "lad" who were attempting to paint white lines on the training pitch next to us. It must have been very complicated because there was lots of swearing and shouting and no matter which end of the bit of string the nice man stood, the problem always seemed to be at the other end. Using only the art of verbal communication (and maybe a bit of gesticulating) the nice man kept explaining to his helper where he was going wrong and offering useful suggestions, although we did not see any actual proof that a ****ing monkey could have done it any better.

The stats for Day 1:   16.5 miles, 10 locks, 9 hours cruising.

Day 2

Irthlingborough to Northampton

Day dawned to find a heavy mist on the river, visibility about 50 yards. We consulted the guide book we were using and were amused to see that immediately ahead was a series of tight bends and an entertaining bridge. So, we set off anyway with Jo standing on the front on lookout. The bends were not too bad but there was a comedy bridge moment where we had lots of arches to choose from but we couldn't see through any of them or see the nice helpful navigation arrow. But it's OK, we survived. After the tricky bits, the mist lifted and the day developed into a "sun cream required" day.

The wildlife highlight of the day, apart from the occasional cow, was a grass snake which had been lying in wait for us all day. As we approached it leapt into the water and swam all the way over to us, banged its nose on the hull then swam back. Ah, what a sense of humour those snakes have.

We were not sure we would reach Northampton by the end of the day so we had a contingency plan to moor at Billing if necessary. We reached Billing with a couple of hours of daylight to spare so we pressed on, planning to overnight on a lock landing stage if we ran out of light. I know you are not supposed to do this but once again there was virtually no boat traffic and we would be leaving early the next morning. 

Just after Abington lock we passed under through a barrage gate and entered the Northampton flood defences. The river becomes very wide and there is a huge floodplain and storage reservoir on the left. When the barrage gates are raised, they block the river flow and water is diverted into the reservoir and, ultimately, onto the flood plain. The system can hold 500 million gallons. There are a couple of floating moorings with large signs about what to do if you are in this area when the warning lights start flashing and the klaxons and sirens go off ....

In the event we did reach Northampton and we moored on the new moorings near South Bridge. The area has been redeveloped although there are still plenty of potential troublemakers loitering. There was a heavy CCTV presence and I suspect that this was all that was keeping the peace. There was a bit of early evening motorcycling down the footpath and some noise as people returned from the pub but the most sinister thing was that Jo awoke in the middle of the night to hear a group of lads singing Frère Jacques on the footbridge. At least, that's what Jo says. I reckon she had just had a bit too much tequila.

The stats for Day 2:   17.3 miles, 16 locks, 10  hours cruising.

Day 3

Northampton to Bridge 42 (Evans Bridge) plus a little bit. 

After 2 long days we were ready to take things a bit easier so we didn't set off until really, really late. It was almost 8.30am. The start of the Grand Union was just a few hundred yards up river and we almost cruised right past it. After the annoying manual "wheel" locks of the Nene, the narrow canal lock at the entrance to the Grand Union was most welcome. Now that I am a hugely experienced skipper I only bounced the boat off each side of the lock a couple of times. It was about this point in the journey when Jo's smile turned into a great big grin. I think she was pleased to have reached the canal system. 

We had arranged for a friend, Steve, to meet us and help with the climb up the 13 Rothersthorpe locks. As we approached the first of the locks, we were informed by a local chappie that there was not enough water in the locks so the crew had to zoom up to the top lock and let some water down. A couple of the pounds between locks were about 2 foot lower than normal so it took quite a bit of water to bring the levels up. We were through the locks by lunchtime and we moored up outside Gayton Marina and settled down to watch England lose to the Aussies in the Rugby World Cup quarter final. Much to our surprise and delight, England won! Blimey. How did that happen? WE'RE GONNA WIN THE WORLD CUP!!!!

After we had calmed down a bit, and had another beer, Steve collected his car from Gayton and departed for the land of the, erm, landlubber. We cruised another couple of miles before mooring up for the night. We selected the spot furthest from the railway. That evening we had the pleasure of watching France beat New Zealand in the second quarter final. Normally we would be reluctant to support France but we would much rather face France than NZ in the semi final. (Aside: I'm writing this the day after that semi final and England won! It wasn't pretty but we got the result. Woo Hoo! WE'RE GONNA WIN THE WORLD CUP!!!!  This evening we will be supporting Argentina against South Africa....)

The stats for Day 3:   7.1 miles, 17 locks, 6 hours cruising.

Day 4 

Bridge 42 and a bit to Welton Haven

Day 4 was another short day. Another friend, Paul, was meeting us at Weedon, supposedly to help with some of the locks but he managed to choose a stretch that had only 7 locks and we shared each of those locks with a 70 footer that was crewed by at least 7 blokes so we were not short of help. I reckon he was just after a free ride.

We didn't get many pictures of Day 4. We were too excited about reaching our destination and the camera was also getting low on the (second) battery.

We reached the marina in early afternoon. I was a bit apprehensive about manoeuvring onto our staging, especially because I wanted to go in backwards but there was no wind and Paul and Jo were on hand with ropes. I suppose Paul helped. A bit. And I suppose I should mention the bit earlier in the day where Paul spotted the boat coming out of the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union just as I started to turn in. But hey! How much damage can two 15 tonne steel boats with limited braking and slow steering do? So I suppose, on balance, Paul was averagely useful. 

And there we were. Job done. 

The stats for Day 4:   8 miles, 7 locks, 5 hours cruising.