We’re on our way….

Gayton Marina to Weedon Bec

This morning dawned bright but a little cloudy and still quite windy, but with no rain forecast we slipped our moorings and were away!  And then we weren’t -  because some tosser chap in a car buggered up the automatic swing bridge which spans the boat entrance to the marina.  It is normally open to boats, but when in a car, you press a button and the bridge slowly closes to complete the track around the marina.  After a minute and a half with no weight on the bridge, it sounds an alarm and opens again.  It was half closed when the car came along, and instead of waiting for it to complete it’s cycle, he pressed the button straight away.  It closed again then didn’t open after the requisite minute and a half.  We waited, and waited and after about 5 minutes Rog went and messed about with the ‘electrikery’, pressed a button on the control panel and eventually it decided to work!  Good start!!

We stopped at Gayton Junction to fill with water and empty a cassette (yes the marina does have an Elsan, but it’s a car ride away from our mooring, and the boat is moored stern end in, the pontoon isn’t full length and it’s a pain to run the hose either all along the roof, or through the boat.  Much easier to do both at the junction 5 minutes away!

And we’re off!!

It’s a pretty run to Bugbrooke, with lots of flora along the way – absolutely tons of these:

Are they Dog roses?  I think so

Through Bugbrooke, with a look at one of our favourite watering holes – The Wharf pub.  Hmmm, bit too early to stop for lunch!  On towards Nether Heyford

The Wharf at Nether Heyford always looks lovely, beautifully kept.  I’ve always wanted to moor there, but all the moorings have a BW reserved sign – presumably for the working boats that are often there.

We stopped at Stowe Hill Marina for diesel (the pump at Gayton Marina is always rammed due to the hire boats – we should have done it another day!) We were very pleased with the 84p a litre price, and they are quite happy to accept any split! (For the uninitiated amongst my new blog readers – the ‘split’ is the amount of diesel that you estimate will be used for propulsion, on which you pay the higher rate of duty and VAT, and the amount you use for ‘domestic’ purposes, ie heating, charging batteries etc, for which you pay less duty and VAT)  Obviously those boaters who travel for 8 or 9 hours a day are using more for propulsion than those of us who only travel 3 or 4 hours a day.  We always estimate that the first 3 hours of cruising is charging the batteries so that knocks the amount used for propulsion down a fair bit!  Nobody wants to pay more duty for their fuel than necessary – 70% domestic and 30% propulsion is what most boaters seem to declare to stay legal!)

It was heading for lunchtime after filling with diesel so we debated whether to continue on and go up Buckby locks, with the possibility that we might not be able to moor, which would mean doing Braunston tunnel and Braunston locks as well, or stopping short of Buckby and having a quiet afternoon.  No prizes for guessing which option we chose!

Passing a camp site near Weedon we came across something you don’t see very often.  A German Shepherd outside a caravan and awning, laying quite unconcerned with a pair of swans and their very young cygnets no more than 10 feet away – the swan family were also unconcerned!  Very well trained dog!  Cassie would have tried to see them off and probably been attacked by the cob for her trouble!

I think this is the same little family who swam by us a little while ago – very cute!

We are now moored just north of Weedon Bec, about half an hour short of Buckby locks.  We have found a reasonably sheltered spot (it’s still very windy!) and we have a nice view and good telly reception for the footy tonight.  Rog is dangling his tackle and I’m, well, I’m writing this!

View from our mooring

I decided to risk putting my newly planted pots on the roof, although how the petunias will fare in this wind is anyone’s guess!

8.5 miles and 0 locks