We’ve never seen Braunston so quiet — there were plenty of mooring spaces available last night, whereas it’s normally packed. It was another misty morning today, but not in a good way like yesterday. There was rain in the night, and it was just a bit grey and dreary by the time Macc needed to go out. For his walk, we went down to the junction where a former Yellow Peril was already on the move. We then went along to the next bridge, over to the other side, and back across the junction bridge.
We had our first porridge of the season for breakfast, and then got under way a little after 8.30. The Gonzoozler’s Rest cafe boat is for sale, and the Braunston Stop House which was recently sold, is fenced off with work going on.
Before long we were passing the junction bridges, going straight ahead which is actually transferring from the Grand Union to the North Oxford. New water for Kingley Vale, but very familiar water for us. We originally thought we’d be hanging around in Braunston for a couple of days waiting for the review of the closure of Atherstone Locks, due tomorrow, but in fact CRT announced last week that the flight was re-opening (albeit limited hours) which means we can crack on. The Braunston to Barby part of the North Oxford is probably its prettiest, but it really wasn’t looking its best today in the gloom.
Many of the normally packed mooring spots had just a boat or two on them. I keep having to remind myself it’s the end of September, which might explain it. Or it could be because of all the stoppages and restrictions. We8d gradually been catching up with a Calcutt hire boat and then plodded past all the Barby offside moorings behind them. The converted stables by Bridge 74 always require a photo.
Blue Haven Marina have a massive crane which had evidently lifted a boat out — which seemed very retro given that all the boats in the basin itself have been replaced by floating lodges.
Just after the road bridge, the Calcutt boat pulled over to moor up just as a boat was coming the other way. They were also directly opposite a fallen willow tree, which turned out to have a trunk just under the water, as the other boat and then we discovered. I’ve always liked the pair of rail bridges just past here.
We got to the top of Hillmorton Locks to find no-one else around. A volunteer lockie refilled the lock for us — our first narrow lock since we came up the Aylesbury Arm in June. Having done so many wide locks, these ones seem to fill and empty very quickly.
The lockie said it had been very quiet today, in contrast to last week. Apparently some days during the limited opening times have been very busy indeed. A boat was coming up the middle lock, so we could swap with them.
Part of the restrictions at these locks mean that only one of each pair of locks is in use. At the middle locks, the one that’s currently closed has had a boat abandoned in the jaws. We asked one of the lockies how long it had been there, and he just said ‘too long’!
A boat was just coming up the bottom lock too, so that one didn’t need turning either. The three locks had taken only around 25 minutes.
We carried on to moor round the corner on the nice piling, where again there was loads of space. There have been a good few boats go by in both directions, and the sun even made an effort to come out a bit later. We took Macc for a walk along to the bridge, under the railway line, and into Bluebell Woods. No bluebells at this time of year of course, but it was still a nice place to take him.
During the afternoon we had some sad news. Our friend Simon, whom we last saw at Crick, died at lunchtime. He’d been diagnosed with cancer and brain tumours just a few months ago, and took part in Sir Chris Hoy’s Tour de 4 a few weeks ago to raise money for cancer — something he was determined to do no matter how ill he was. Simon was a genuinely lovely man and it was always a pleasure to see him and his wife, Chris. We will really miss him, and send our condolences to Chris and their son, Tim.
8 miles, 3 locks. (198 miles, 139 locks)