Saturday 113^th October 2018

It was raining in the morning although the wind had dropped. We did crafty things while waiting for the rain to ease. I have started on another family tree to frame and mount on the bulkhead and Brenda continuing with the porthole bung.

 

Once the rain had gone off we went for a walk to trace

the River Avon and to see the canal reservoirs. At the

junction of the Welford and Naseby roads, a bridge passes

over the River Avon and here the infant river, no more than

a stream, splits into three field drains. The main one cuts

across a field and then simply disappears into mossy

ground, the source. It was interesting to see this though, as

our original intention on this trip was to go to Gloucester

 via Stratford-on-Avon and follow the Avon to Tewkesbury

where it joins the Severn.

There are two reservoirs a few hundred yards from Welford Basin, large bodies of water, that feed into the basin, down the arm and into the summit level of the Leicester Line. Welford reservoir and Sulby, we walked around the two. The engineering was interesting. Sulby is above Welford reservoir and feeds into it through a manually operated valve or overflows through a sluice. The level here was about 15 feet down, a lot of lost water. Welford reservoir empties, again through a manually operated valve or overflow sluice, into the feeder channel that could be clearly seen crossing a filed to the canal basin. This reservoir was also well down, probably by as much as 30 feet. The outlet valve is located in a tunnel with a locked gate. The tunnel is high enough to walk in and runs clear through the dam wall. The valve was cracked open with water spewing out into the feeder channel.

                                       

                                                                                      Sulby Reservoir                                                                                     

                                                                                         Welford Reservoir

 

               

   The embankment dam between the two reservoirs

                          

                                                   The tunnel and outlet valve from Welford Reservoir

 We had wanted to walk to sites of the Battle of Naseby but we had been told it was about 3-5miles away. As we didn’t have either internet or maps of the area we couldn’t tell for ourselves, so decided against it. As it turns out, it would have been a long walk.

Returning to the boat, we decided to move on as, while it was still breezy, the wind had largely dropped. So we thought. Brenda walked to the local shop while I got the boat ready to move. Took on water, emptied rubbish and the toilet cassette.

We moved down the Welford Arm to join the main line. And the wind got stronger. And stronger. We were heading for Elkington Bridge, 7 miles from Welford by canal, where there is an abandoned village we wanted to explore. The wind was coming from the south, our general direction, but the canal meanders around hilly countryside so, on bends, the wind was coming at us from all directions.

Narrowboats are notoriously difficult to manoeuvre in any kind of wind and with a strong, gusting wind, there is largely nothing you can do. Turning one corner the boat was pushed clean across the canal and I had no control. The thruster was used along with the engine, to push the bow across the wind, which then pushed us onto the towpath bank. We moored up and called it a day just 3 miles from Welford.

Sometimes it’s just not worth continuing.

Weather: warm out of the breeze. Winds becoming very strong, gale force in the afternoon and evening. 

Day Total: 1 locks; 3 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridge; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 2.5

Overall Total: 267 locks; 452 miles; 17 tunnels; 2 Swing Bridge; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 280.0