A false start but an opportunity knocked…
Crick – Leicester Line – Crick – Leicester Line - Buckby Flight – Weedon Bec
Cleddau drew out of Crick Marina on Monday 1st June, at long last setting sail on the 2026 summer cruise.
Along past Crick Wharf – how this place is changing now since Smithwood Transformed have transformed the near derelict site into a working boatyard.
Into Crick Tunnel. It takes about 20 minutes to pass through the tunnel.
From the bow deck Boatwif mused that at last there was ‘light at the end of the tunnel’.
The boat was moored up about a mile before Watford Locks (“Do the locks tomorrow”) and Boatwif set off on a quiet meander along the towpath to the top of the locks. There was time for a browse inside the lock-keepers’ hut and to notice some footpaths leading away from the canal.
The otherwise very pleasant mooring spot lost marks on a “peace and tranquillity” grading due to the strong south westerly winds blowing intrusive noise from the M1 motorway…
A chilly morning followed – No heating, no hot water… NOT AGAIN! Not another Webasto failure …?
The Captain conferred by text with the marine engineer, the boat was turned at the winding hole a mile ahead and back to Crick Marina she went.
At the marina the Webasto fired up immediately.
Conflab. Other symptoms were reported: a rogue red light flashing on the fridge overnight. “Likely to be your batteries getting elderly,” said the engineer, “but you’ll be alright for the summer.”
The safety net of an electric plug-in overnight (2 nights actually…) offered an additional benefit. Mikron, the travelling theatre company, https://mikron.org.uk/ were to be performing at Crick Marina the following evening. Memories were still strong of a wonderful Mikron performance of Jennie Lee seen at Stoke Bruerne in June 2024. ( See here: https://www.boatwif.co.uk/boat-update/dressed-for-the-part ). To be audience for a 2026 Mikron production was too good an opportunity to miss…
Veterans of “summer” outdoor productions, the Cleddau crew prepared well for this unexpected theatrical treat: folding chairs, warm winter weight shirts, fleeces, hats and waterproofs, a blanket and waterproof capes, all of which were worn or carried over to the dog walking field.
Tyseley, Mikron’s boat, and the accompanying Mikron van, had arrived on site earlier. A small stage and backdrop were already set up, but a ‘backstage’ gazebo blown over to a very odd angle looked ready to take off across the canal and far away…
Among the otherwise unfamiliar boats in the far end basin Boatwif found Tyseley and alerted the crew to the gazebo’s precarious state. A rescue mission recovered it to upright and then collapsed it down. Yes, this was another outdoor show to be performed in bracing conditions.
No matter. An audience gathered, a mixture of marina boaters, local villagers and long-term Mikron fans within a half-hour’s drive.
The show, Top of the Wold, regaled the history and culture of the East Riding of Yorkshire via a PhD student’s placement with the mobile library service. Yorkshire locals would no doubt lap up all the place name references but even a non-Yorkshire audience would appreciate the romp through history, the humour, the pathos and, indeed, the business of adjusting and renaming county boundaries…
The cast of four played many roles - and many musical instruments.
Who would have thought there was such humour to be found in the manufacture of caravans!
It was a brilliant evening, achieved only via the false start to the summer cruise!
Thursday dawned, another showery, blustery day. Off Cleddau set, making her third transit through Crick Tunnel in about as many days.
Down the 7 Watford Locks she went, in showery conditions of course, but hurrah for at last being below the Leicester Line summit. ( No photos, too busy winding paddles and fastening up waterproofs).
Onwards to Norton Junction, round the corner,
heading south now on the Grand Union Canal. There was nowhere to moor, but Top Lock of the Buckby Flight was full and the gate was easily opened. Down the lock.
The pound between Top Lock, Lock 7, and Lock 8, is extremely pretty. It’s about a half mile in length and Cleddau was moored up about 200 yards short of Lock 8, opposite a field of docile sheep (and not far from Anchor Cottage, the crafts canal shop for those who know it).
Early in the morning, long before alarm clock time, Boatwif was awakened by a trundling, shuffling sort of sound past her head. It took some time to establish the truth – and the problem. The Captain had woken to discover a 20 degree list on the boat, little water in the canal and highly visible mudbanks on the offside. The boat was seriously aground and at a very odd angle. Steadily he was working with his feet and then with a barge pole to push the boat into deeper water. An hour later the boat was afloat – just – albeit not tied to the bank but out in the middle of the cut.
The Captain phoned the C&RT help line. “I suppose I am a hazard to navigation,” he reported, despite the fact there was little water to navigate upon…
Time passed. Then a flush of water from Top Lock allowed propulsion to the bank outside Anchor Cottage.
Relief. A Volockie (volunteer lock keeper) arrived and strode further on up the flight. Another boat, Tackley, arrived from above, floating (just) mid-canal for quite a while.
As the water level returned activity was focused on Lock 8 ahead. The Volockie and the other boat skipper spent some minutes in hauling sections of a floating weed island out of the chamber, returning several small fish and some crayfish to the water.
It was action stations then: get Cleddau and Tackley into the lock and continue down the flight.
It was a slow business; upcoming walkers and other boaters kept describing the waterless pound between Locks 10 and 11, a stretch which frequently loses its water, apparently. The Volockie managed the situation, the two boats bringing water with them as they left Lock 9 and then 10. There was a pause to allow for two ascending boats to pass and for sufficient water to fill the empty pound. The two pounds had drained empty for separate reasons, it seemed: the paddles at Lock 8 not properly lowered the previous evening and the second pound between 10 and 11 has an as yet untraced slow leak…
It was about midday when Bottom Lock was exited. Tackley pulled in beside Whilton Marina, its single-handed owner by then desperate for the cooked breakfast and pot of tea at the café that he had promised himself many hours before!
Cleddau and crew continued onward for about an hour, to moor up as on previous occasions on the embankment above the church at Weedon Bec. An extra night here would surely allow for a shopping top up and a revisit to a favourite destination…
Certain boat names caught the eye when passing:
Crick Marina to Weedon Bec: 15½ miles, 14 locks, 3 tunnel transits
2026 Monkton Moments* (Monkton Moment*- a reference to / recognition of Cleddau’s Pembrokeshire connections): 2
1. “That’s Pembrokeshire, isn’t it? Been across the Cleddau Bridge. Eaten meals at Pembroke Ferry.” Watford Lock Keeper.
2. “Which Cleddau river? I know where they are. I’m from North Wales.” Passing boater.
