Fluff balls and frisky lambs
Napton Bottom Lock to Crick Marina
Down through Bottom Lock on Monday morning, pausing for a fill up of the water tank and then the boat was properly underway, heading back off the South Oxford Canal.
Up on the right was the Napton Windmill
and the boat chugged on, past the Napton Narrowboats fleet
to Napton Junction. Here the Grand Union from Braunston heads north to Leamington Spa, Warwick and Birmingham.
Blink! You might miss the entrance to Wigrams Turn Marina right opposite the Junction bridge.
It was a bitingly cold day, cold for boaters – and possibly cold for fluff balls too. There was a glimpse of yellow fluff ball goslings, closely supervised by Canada geese parents.
Nearer Braunston a crowd of cygnets was keeping close to a parent swan.
The route was familiar - the large farm with its array of agricultural equipment,
the church at Lower Shuckburgh, the lovely slopes near Flecknoe…
But it was moored boats that caught the camera: this old workboat seems to have had a recent hull survey, the chalked numbers being deliberate and meaningful to someone…
You have to smile at this boat’s name (and remember that last summer Cleddau, not for the first time, cruised upstream past Wyre Piddle on the River Avon).
In Braunston there were more cygnets (slightly older?)
and also a beautifully painted boat with a very appropriate name and decoration for this 80th VE Day week.
Two other points of interest in passing along Braunston bottom pound: Gongoozler’s Rest, the floating café, was open for business
and repairs to the wall of the bridge into Braunston Marina seem to be complete.
(As seen on 25th April)
(Wall repair completed? 5th May)
Fingers were crossed for a mooring space above Lock 2. As Cleddau approached the lock flight one gate was open at the bottom lock. A cheerful young volunteer lock keeper was keen to help.
Magic.
A family crowd were keen to help too, but didn’t know how. Quick lessons were given in water levels equalising and how to pull open a gate…
Along to Lock 2 – helped again by the lock keeper (even he finds the offside bottom gate a bit of a struggle) and on up to a preferred mooring place.
Despite the proximity of The Admiral Nelson pub, a night in a cosy boat beside a solid fuel stove was more attractive!
Next day’s climb up the remaining 4 broad locks was hard work; there was no other single boat to pair up with and down-coming boaters were not keen to share the workload…
Relief at the top lock: a lock keeper was monitoring the water levels. “I see you’re both wearing life jackets,” he said and he recounted a recent training session when his life jacket had been inflated.
“Reached a certain age,” replied the Captain. “We wear them at lock flights and through tunnels…” The tragic incident at Harecastle Tunnel (2014) is a stark reminder of the hazards of waterways travelling.
Onwards, through the Braunston Tunnel, crossing with three westbound boats.
It’s about three miles between the tunnel and Norton Junction. The popular mooring spots were well-populated. But it was early and Cleddau pressed on, past the pretty cottage at Norton Junction, doing the left-hand turn onto the Leicester Line.
The craft boats (seen at Foxton several weeks ago) were moored nearby.
Past Weltonfields Marina.
Past Welton Haven Marina..
Past the properties with various extensions at Watford village.
There’s a winding hole just before Watford narrow locks. Here a full length 70 foot boat was being turned round to return towards Norton Junction.
On arrival at Watford Locks – at the top or at the bottom – a boater must check in with the Duty Lock Keeper. You can never predict what the waiting time will be before you are allowed to start the journey through the 7 locks. The boat in front was a hire boat. The crew were uncertain about where ahead they’d be able to moor, so while Boatwif checked in with the lock keeper the Captain whipped out the laptop and printer. By the time the hire boat had reached Lock 2 maps giving the route ahead as far as Leicester were ready to be handed over.
Up the 7 locks (2 singles, the 4 chamber staircase and a final single).
A new installation is this, a defibrillator. (Who funds these? What is the process for deciding where they should be placed?)
There was entertainment for the final night afloat: lambs (both the curious kind and the nervous kind) were variously dashing about, nudging siblings out of the way and grazing contentedly.
Away the next morning,
past a line of moored boats,
under the railway bridge, through Crick Tunnel, to pass The Burrito Boat moored just outside Crick Marina.
The floating lodge that has spent 2 years tied up beside the dry dock has been repositioned at the far end of the large basin – that must have been an interesting move…
Joy - the wind was not blowing unhelpfully and Cleddau slid quietly alongside her pontoon.
It’s early May; many moorers have already left their pontoons and preparations are beginning for transforming the marina and adjacent fields into the host site for the 2025 Crick Boat Show… https://www.crickboatshow.com/
Cruise stats since last post: 16¾ miles, 14 locks, 2 tunnels
*2025 Monkton Moments* (Monkton Moment*- a reference to / recognition of Cleddau’s Pembrokeshire connections) - 2 (lady at Cropredy Lock, referred to Manorbier; boater moored near Crick Tunnel: “From St Davids, you’re from the salubrious part of the county…”)
2025 Towpath Dinners: 2
Towpath Pimms: 1
Cruise stats for Crick-Cropredy-Crick trip: 64½ miles, 62 locks, 4 tunnel passages
Stats to date for 2025: 149 miles, 86 locks, 8 tunnel passages, 4 swing bridges
