A Magic Roundabout find.

 Dec 12th

I'm losing track of time, could it be put down to the brain not functioning properly due to old age? Or just because one lazy day runs into another with only the TV to keep one occupied. I'm writing this because I really can't remember the day we left Campbell Park, I know it was a lovely winter's morning with the sun very low in the sky, a right B when trying to cruise looking directly into it. Although the sun was at our rear when we left, the canals meander quite a bit which meant and at one point the sun was directly in front of me and I nearly ran into the towpath at a bridge 'ole because the glare was so great. Anyway, no doubt I can find out the date from when the photo below was taken, if I can be bothered that is!

 

We have a new dog! It came floating past us at Campbell Park and of course we had to rescue it. It now has pride of place on our roof!

Dougal from Magic Roundabout (first aired on BBC in 1968)

 From Campbell Park, our first stop was a food shop at Wolverton. We struggled to moor, the wind trying to blow FS away from the bank, Ian managed to get off with the centre rope but was unable to bring FS in. The bow was almost across the canal, I managed to get the stern near enough to the bank so I could jump off (something I could never have done pre knee op!) and grabbed hold of the centre rope with Ian still hanging on for grim death. With our combined effort got FS back to the bank.... Phew! Leaving was easy though, release lines and let the wind take us off.

Mooring at Wolverton

 Cosgrove was our hoped for destination. I say hoped for because it is always busy there, and fingers were crossed as we came through the bridge by the Galleon Inn. As luck would have it, a space was found right on the 2-day mooring section by the Inn. Not knowing if there was anything beyond the Iron Trunk Aqueduct, decided that would do for the night. It was the ideal mooring for us to wash the starboard side of FS, not so ideal was the dog dirt we both nearly trod in as we made our way along FS's length! It's our pet hate... folk not picking up after their dog!

Iron Trunk Aqueduct in the distance.

On Thursday late morning we set off for Stoke Bruerne, cruised along the aqueduct and would you believe, we could have stopped at the Cosgrove visitor moorings after all as there were loads of spaces to be had. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, don't you think? Anyway the lock was against so had to be emptied, wind was again an issue, so I held FS in the narrows while the lock was emptying. A gentleman came past asking if I was in trouble, thought I had got jammed and couldn't move. What a nice gesture, I thought, but laughingly put him straight by telling him I was waiting for the lock. It's people like him that makes cruising on a narrow boat a joy, there is always someone ready to give a helping hand if they think you are in trouble.

 I always find the next stretch of canal to Stoke Bruerne tedious! It's long, shallow in places, and plenty of continuous moorers to make the 5-mile-long pound slow going. But we did see Kingfishers, quite a few of them too. This year must have been a good breeding year and the GU an ideal fishing ground. This one may have bitten off more than it could swallow, though! 

 

Two hours 30 minutes later we reached the visitor moorings at the bottom of Stoke Bruerne flight. The light this time of year fades quickly, so decided not to go up the flight that day. Very surprised to see the moorings empty as it's also very near to the facilities and I would have thought continuous moorers would have found this attractive. Maybe CRT mooring enforcers check more often than in other places. Anyway, good for us, we had our pick and although there was quite a bit of road traffic, what with the wind blowing the sound in our direction, a peaceful night was had.

 

Today (12th) we went up the flight. The locks were all empty, great as we were locking up. But the pounds were very low! The last boat down had left paddles up on two of the locks in the flight, consequently Ian had to run water down so FS could get over the cill on exiting. We eventually stopped in the long pound and hope to stay over the weekend. Water level is still down a bit but with FS getting right into the side, thought we would risk getting stuck. Not a boat has been seen on the move these last two days, so we don't expect much boat traffic over the weekend. 

Leaving the second lock 

 

I stayed half in and half out of this lock. The wind was much gentler than the last few days but still strong enough to blow me off course if I had to hover in the pound, and the pound was much too low for FS not to stay in the middle.Until the gate was open in the next lock, I was going nowhere!

You can see how low the water was by looking at FS.

Moored in the long pound.

And seen on route

 

Flooding. A far cry from the drought conditions mid-September.

Not sure what these berries were. They were as big as crab apples.