It was a proper misty autumnal morning when I took Macc out a little before 7 this morning. The moon was also still in the sky and reflecting in the water.
When we went for a proper walk a little later, after he’d had his breakfast, it was lighter but there was still mist rising off the water and out over the fields.
We set off at about 8.30, aiming to get through Braunston Tunnel before people were coming the other way, and to the top of the locks before there was much of a queue. The stretch from Norton Junction to the tunnel always seems longer than it should be, but we got to the portal just before 9.
As we went into the tunnel it actually felt warmer than outside. People talk about the kink in the tunnel, but actually there are many of them and you don’t want to meet someone coming the other way at any of them. This is one of the worst ones.
We had the tunnel completely to ourselves and it took about 20 minutes to get through. When we got to the top of the locks there were two boats already there waiting to go down, and there were volunteer lock keepers running water down to refill some of the pounds. We heard the front boat tell the second one that they’d been told they’d be able to set off about 9.45. The first boat was a single handing chap who definitely knew what he was doing; the second boat was a Canal Boat Club who definitely didn’t. I went to help with the lock, and the volunteers had set the second one for them. As I refilled the top lock for us, our friends Dale and Dawn from Dona Ferens, whom we last saw on the Wey, arrived to give us a hand. They moor at Crick and had driven over. We were soon in the top lock and quickly down.
Dale had gone down to reset the second lock, but after that we met boats coming up. The top couple of pounds were still rather short of water, and as we waited for the third lock to fill for an upcoming pair, our boat sat on something at the edge of the pound and began to tilt over. It took some more water from above to be able to push it off. At each lock, either Dale or I would go and help up ahead, so we made good progress.
Only the final lock needed resetting, and there was a bit of a delay while we waited for a boat approaching the lock from below — which rather than coming up, moored on the offside. The shop at the bottom lock is closed until Friday; I’m sure the old man who used to run it never closed!
The locks had taken about an hour and a quarter, which was good going. I walked ahead to check out mooring spaces, and there was one just beyond the ladder bridge which we claimed. Dawn and Dale came on board for tea and chat before heading back to their car. It was really nice to see them. We’d been expecting to keep bumping into them on the Thames, but they ended up hot footing it up the South Oxford before it closed, while we decided to enjoy a summer on the river. As they were leaving, Macc managed for the first time to get out of the well deck onto the towpath all by himself, so he could say hello to a dog. This means we’ll have to find a way of preventing this sort of exit! At lunchtime, we walked up to the community cafe and had toasted sandwiches, before doing a little top up shop at the store.
If we’d have been able to come up the South Oxford, we’d almost certainly have continued north via Braunston, so I did a comparison of the route. To get here from Oxford has been 190 miles and 136 locks. If the South Oxford had been open, it would have been just 55 miles and 38 locks. That’s a big difference.
4 miles, 6 locks. (190 miles, 136 locks)