Hmmm....moored near to power lines which crackled all night and not helped by the misty drizzly conditions (would that effect the lines making them crackle????) Note to oneself. Do not stop by power lines!
The misty murky morning which didn't improve at all during the day. The only saving grace was it stayed predominantly dry.
Can anyone shed light on this development by the railway? Is it to do with HS2? Seen by Weedon and it looks to be quite extensive.
Not far past this and I spied a Kingfisher. With the dull day these photos leave a lot to be desired so apologies for them.
Today we managed to get a locking partner on the Buckby flight. Kim and Ken, on tug Speedwell. Turns out they used to moor their 70ft working boat next to Ike Argent's boat, one of the great old time boatmen who lived next to the Erewash canal at Long Eaton. You may have seen his son Barry Argent (who still lives in the same house) on the BBC program 'Britain Afloat' aired last week. We remember Barry restoring Perch, which was actually in two halves. One half moored alongside the garden and the other in a shed in the back garden. Took a photo back in 2013 of the finished boat to view click here
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| Buckby bottom lock |
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| Bottom lock and the volunteer waiting. |
Buckby flight had a few issues. The bottom lock had a volunteer Lockie and warned us about the top paddle on the right-hand gate being partially stuck up on lock 11. C&RT had been informed and sure enough, they turned up just as we reached the lock.
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| Paddle half way up. |
Couldn't do anything with it while we were in the lock so they got us up and out of the way. They suspect a large object to be lodged stopping the paddle from fully winding down.
Braunston tunnel with its bendy bits got me several times. Meeting three boats and always on the curve rather than on the straight. Scrapped the wall many a time much to Ian's despair. More paint to touch up!!!
Braunston flight and we made good progress. Lucky more times than not with meeting oncoming boats. Here I met two lovely ladies with windlass in hand walking toward me saying they read this blog. I took note of the boat names, Rivendell and Polgara, but didn't get their names, shame on me. I always feel humbled when my photos are praised so thank you for your kind words and hope to meet again one day.
Said farewell to our locking partners and found a mooring just past the bridge in Braunston. Tried fishing for an hour without any luck. All I did see was these rabbits playing in the undergrowth.
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| Braunston |
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| Moored just after this bridge. |
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| With a flash as the light was fading fast. |
9 comments:
The construction work near Weedon is part of the forthcoming Weedon By-pass according to the worker when we passed a couple of weeks ago.
Regards, Phil&Deb nb Tom Kitten
Thanks, Debbie, Very glad it's nothing to do with HS2.
Oh you were so lucky to get a locking buddy for the Buckby Flight and VLKs to boot - we were completely alone when we passed that way a week or so ago! They are big locks and all were against us. I was exhausted by the time we got through them and delighted to find a boat to team up with for the Braunston locks. Jennie x
Irene I mentioned in in a post back in March
http://www.narrowboat-waiouru.co.uk/2017/03/blog-post.html
No doubt it will be just as noisy as HS2, although the residents of Weedons will be happy to see the last of the heavy traffic.
Would you mind awfully if I 'took' your kingfisher photo and pretend that I took it please? ALL I ever get is dash of blue as the blooming things disappear into the bushes!
Hello Quaysider, I would be honoured for you to take the photo and use it as your own, I do have better ones especially on a previous post, http://nbfreespirit.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/a-kingfishers-burrow-how-lucky-was-i.html
Feel free to use one of these.
Thanks, Tom and Jan. I must have missed that post still being in Oz at the time busy with birthdays and weddings. Lots still to be done by the look of it and it looks like the locals will be inconvenienced for a lot longer.
Yes, the Flore-Weedon bypass — being built to cope with the huge development on the edge of Daventry. You can see the new houses from the stretch between Norton Junction and Braunston Tunnel, on the left hand side. Interesting to see those big black columns. When we came past about three weeks ago, only the footings were there. Photo here: https://nbbriarrose.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/north-west-passage-day-35.html
Hi Adam, We will be going past again next year around July time so be interested in how much further it has got.
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