Stoke Bruerne Locks

Boats frozen in below Stoke Bruerne bottom lock

Drained pound between locks. BW certainly earned my respect working in this weather!

Me and Ian, Jade and Judy

Snowman and dogs

Back to Stoke Bruerne

After my brother left us on 31st December for his return trip to Australia, we took the boat from Cosgrove back to Stoke Bruerne before the lock stoppage started on the 4th. We had planned to stay for a couple of days and then make our way slowly back to Sandiacre on the Erewash Canal. Best laid plans etc etc. and all that. Our fridge packed in!!!. Luckily we still had our car with us and so of to comet we went in search of another fridge. My only criteria was that it had a bigger freezer compartment as the old one was no use nor ornament! and every time I tried to open the door everything would slide out resulting in frozen goods all over the floor and me in a state of uncontrollable rage. Thankfully we found an under counter fridge with a good size freezer, but the down size was a slightly smaller fridge area. Oh well, he will have to hang his beer over the side of the boat if he wants to drink it cold. I'm happy at least!

We are now stuck on our mooring for the foreseeable future as the canal has frozen again and the weather forecast predicts this cold spell to last for at least another week. Still we are nice and warm. We have plenty of water in our tank and the dogs are loving every minute of the snow.

A lovely snowy scene

Blisworth Tunnel

Looks a little different from when we went through with my brother. I was particularly fascinated by the icicles from the tunnel walls.

Cane Art

These sculptures were on a woodland walk at Stoke Bruerne

Judy and Jade in the snow

Colins place

These pictures were taken on January 3rd at Colins house in Milton Keynes.

Shenley wood Milton Keynes

Stoke Bruerne Locks

By now Andre was a dab hand at steering and controlling the boat. We let him do the whole flight by himself and a very good job he made of it too.

Ice left hanging from the lock gate

Approaching Blisworth Tunnel

Next morning we took him through the tunnel. He couldn't believe it was so long and part of the way through another boat entered from the other end. He was very concerned that we wouldn't be able to pass and the nearer the boat got the more agitated he became. It didn't help matters that by now Ian had relinquished the tiller and "let him have a go". We assured him that so long as he had a couple of inches width next to the tunnel wall the two boats would pass without a scratch. Needless to say he performed the maneuver brilliantly and we "did" come away unscathed.
We got as far as Gayton Junction and then headed back toward Cosgrove again.

A boat had managed to break most of the ice before us and so we were able to make reasonable headway. Some of the sheets were over 4" thick and just trying to plough through them was an effort. The boat kept being thrown of course whenever we encountered a large slab.
We made it to Stoke Bruerne after 4 hours of slow going and as the light was fading we decided to stay there the night and enjoy the hospitality of the Navigation Inn.

More Ice Breaking

As my brother Andre had never been on a narrowboat we had promised him a Christmas cruise. Conditions were very much against us throughout his three week stay but finally on Sunday 27th December we managed to break the ice enough for us to wind round and head for Stoke Bruerne.