Sunday 21^st October 2018

Trafalgar Day.

We left our moorings and, within a ½ mile we came across moored boats. With just short breaks in between, moored boats were encountered virtually all day, making for slow progress. There is nothing more annoying than boats going past too fast when you are moored.

At Dodford Bridge, just before Weedon, on a 180˚ bend, there is a huge, new road bridge being constructed. That we could see, it comes from nowhere, and leads nowhere. Curious. No doubt another “new village” or some such.

Between Weedon and Bugbrooke there are the remains of many wharves, giving an indication of how busy this canal, like them all, would have been. Weedon, Stowehill, Heyford, Furnace, Bugbrooke. You see these names painted onto boats these days and I had always wondered where they were from.

At Stowehill Wharf, we came behind a Napton hire-boat who had completely mis-judged a tight bend and was reversing to get around it. We were behind this boat for the next 2 miles. He was a nuisance. Moving at no more than tick-over, we had to keep reversing to avoid running into him, and he was literally all over the canal. Eventually he put himself into a tree that knocked his lifebelt off the roof and we slid passed him after recovering the liftbelt for him. By this time, he had no fewer than 3 boats behind him. He had hired this boat from Napton, so would have been travelling for at least 3 days, you would have thought he would have got to grips with the boat by this time. I am very patient when it comes to hire boats, we have all started at some time. But, oh dear, with some people …….

At Gayton Junction the Northampton Arm branches off and links into the River Nene and the Cambridgeshire Fens. There are 13 locks in ¾ of a mile followed by 4 more spaced out ones before Northampton is reached just 3 miles from the junction. I did suggest we go down to look at Northampton, but Brenda wasn’t up for it!!!!

We watered, dumped rubbish and emptied the toilet cassette at the junction service point, then carried on passed pretty looking Blisworth village and mill before coming to Blisworth Tunnel.  

At 3057 yards long, Blisworth is the third longest navigable tunnel on the canal system, and is the longest broad beam tunnel, allowing two 7 foot narrowboats to pass. The Grand Junction Canal, or Grand Union as it is known today, was a later canal, opening to navigation in 1800, with the exception of the tunnel. The first attempt at digging the tunnel failed and a tramway was built over the hill to link the two termini. Boats arriving at either end had to be unloaded onto horse-drawn wagons, which were then pulled over the hill, and reloaded onto other boats. A second attempt at the tunnel was more successful, and it opened on 25^th March 1805. Originally, boats were ”legged” through.

Due to changes in the shape of the tunnel, it closed to navigation until its £4.3 million restoration by British Waterway’s, completed in 1984. Almost half the length of the tunnel, especially at the southern end, were lined with pre-cast concrete rings, one of which lies on the canal bank at the southern portal. These concrete rings were used to test out materials that were later used in the construction of the Channel Tunnel.

At almost 1¾ miles long, it took us 35 minutes to pass through the tunnel and, surprisingly, we didn’t meet a single boat coming towards us. We did however, enter not far behind an old converted working boat that was puffing out smoke. There were boats moored at the entrance that tried to warn us but by this time we were already entering. It was a smoky, polluted passage. The tunnel is also very wet with numerous natural springs entering through orifices in the side walls. The ventilation shafts, the deepest at 243 feet, also pour with water.

 At the tunnel exit we winded and reversed up the canal to a mooring. The whole canal bank and especially the area around Stoke Bruene locks were very busy with people. The area is just 6 miles from Northampton and 10 miles from Milton Keynes, it is a very popular tourist place and it was a lovely warm, autumnal day.

We walked to the tunnel portal, Brenda bought a lovely hand-made, stained glass window ornament at the craft shop in the old blacksmiths shop. We then walked up to the locks. Crowds of people.

We tried to get a pint in the Navigation canal-side Hungry Horse type pub, but the queues were ten deep with not much movement. We crossed over the canal to the Boat Inn. A lovely, cosy pub, supposedly been in the same family since 1877.

Back at the boat we had home-made ham and lentil soup with our lovely fire burning.

Once we sat down to dinner Brenda put a pan of cold water on top of the stove to supplement the hot water for washing the dishes. It was such a success that we have decided to invest in a proper kettle that will sit atop the stove.

Weather: a lovely warm autumnal day. Sat outside the pub, in the shade, in just a t-shirt. 

Day Total: 0 locks; 11 miles; 1 Tunnel; 0 Swing Bridge; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 4.9

Overall Total: 293 locks; 487 miles; 21 tunnels; 2 Swing Bridge; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 300.4