When we moored in the long pound at Stoke Bruerne yesterday afternoon, the levels were already pretty low. As we had dinner, the angle the boat was on gradually increased. A boat had been down so I walked down to the next lock to check everything was closed there, and then got a windlass to walk up to the top two locks to run some water down. As I did so, man from another boat was also heading up with a windlass. It all worked quite well: he helped a couple of boats down the second lock and then opened the paddles to run some water through, while I ran water through the top lock. It seemed to cause quite a stir with the people outside the pub. Even some boaters moored in the village were worried, until I pointed out that we were in a pound half a mile long, while theirs was 15 miles long and could spare the water. In all, it probably took an hour to get the level back up so we were floating. And we were still floating this morning. When I took Macc for his walk, I noticed the animals on this thatched roof.
A couple of boats came down the locks and passed up at about 8am. We set off at about 9 when a single hander came by on his own.
Having had to turn the first two locks, a couple of boats were coming up the third one, so we could all swap.
By the time we were down the fourth lock, we had seriously caught up with the boats in front. As they left the bottom lock, a boat arrived to come up, so we had a bit of a wait there too. At the bottom, we stopped on the water point. The water gauge started giving nonsense readings in the early hours, and we wondered if refilling the tank might reset it — but for some reason it just seems to be doing strange things. The stretch of canal south of Stoke Bruerne is really lovely, and a bit we know extremely well. The best space at Grafton Regis was free, but we carried on because we wanted to fill the diesel tank at Baxter’s and they’re not open tomorrow. There has been dredging going on in the stretch by Kingfisher Marina, with lots of workboats and flats moored up.
We took on 76 litres of fuel at £1.41, which is the cheapest we’ve seen for a while. We’re not really using any at the moment, but we prefer to have the tank fuller rather than empty. Were moored in a favourite spot between Bridge 62 and 63. The overgrown towpath meant we couldn’t actually line up the galley window with the hole in the hedge where the footpath goes off, so we’re a little further back. And even here, the towpath is pretty wild.
It’s been really sunny and warm again. I think the forecast is that the weather will break a bit tomorrow, which will actually be a bit of a relief.
4 miles, 5 locks. (25 miles, 21 locks)