Buckby to Braunston…

The weather was dull and very misty this morning as we set off up Buckby Locks – the first locks since last September.  Must say I was dreading it as I’m so unfit after the winter.  Turns out I was fine after all!

Damp and misty morning

Having recently re-read Shirley Ginger’s Lock, Stock and Barrel, about her and her families adventures when they bought the cottage and ran the shop at Buckby Top Lock, I remembered to take a photo.  Unfortunately it is no longer a shop, but a private home.

Top Lock Cottage

Onwards and through Braunston Tunnel – must be the first time that we haven’t met a boat coming the other way.

Braunston locks (6 of them) were soon out of the way – why does it always seem quicker going down a flight of locks than up? A quick stop to fill with water and to buy a couple of egg and bacon sarnies from the newly refurbished ‘Gongoozler’s Rest Cafe boat at the entrance to Braunston Marina.  No sooner had we scoffed them than we spotted nb Valerie, no sign of Les aboard though (pub?), then we came upon nb No Problem and nb Moore 2 Life around the corner.  Les was helping to install a new oven on No Problem.  Of course we had to stop for a chat and block the canal for a while!

L-R, Ann & Chas (nb Moore 2 Life), Les (nb Valerie) and Sue and Vic (nb No Problem)

Around the next bend we came upon nb Piston Broke – nobody aboard though.

More bloggers today than you can shake a stick at!!  We continued for 20 minutes or so up the North Oxford and found a nice quiet spot to moor for the night.  Bliss!

13 locks and 7.17 miles

And we’re off…

We couldn’t have had a more beautiful morning to begin our 2011 cruising.  The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and signs of spring were everywhere.  There was real warmth in the sun in places, promising that summer is not too far away.

Daffs and buds of blossom on the trees

We left Blisworth Marina about 10 o’clock, having said a sad goodbye to Claire, the Marina Manager’s wife (Steve, the Manager wasn’t around).  Thank you both for your friendship and kindness – we will keep in touch, and please keep reading the blog, Claire.

Furness Wharf near Nether Heyford

Flore village – one for Mum’s friend June – she was born here

At Weedon Bec we spotted fellow bloggers nb The Maisibert – unfortunately there was nobody on board – sorry to have missed you, Andy and Hilary, it would have been nice to catch up, it’s ages since we saw you last.

Cassie, off for a ‘comfort break’ – well, she was supposed to be having a pee, but there were far too many interesting smells she got distracted!

By about 1.30 the M1 started to make it’s presence felt (heard!) and we approached Buckby.  We decided not to go up the 7 Buckby Locks today as we know that mooring is scarce up the top, so we are moored for the night a few hundred yards below the locks.  It’s going to be a noisy one, we know from experience as we’ve moored here before – the M1 one side and the railway the other!

Tonight’s mooring

The M1

The railway line

Having fortified ourselves with a cuppa, we set off to do some geo-caching, to look for a cache that we had searched for in 2009, but not found – this time we found it without problem, and liberated a ‘trackable’ to move on to another cache.  We then proceeded to look for another, but as Rog had deleted it from the GPS we had to guess where it was – needless to say we didn’t find it! 

10.6 miles, 0 locks

Almost ready for the off…

Windsong is now re-equipped, re-provisioned, re-fuelled and almost ready for the off on Monday morning.  Just Cassie to collect from my Mum’s tomorrow (Cassie gets very stressed with all the packing, to-ing and fro-ing that we have to do that we try not to subject her to it), a quick trip to the garden centre for compost, pots and something pretty to put in my new planters (cut-down gas bottles that we bought from the Smithy boat at the back end of last year, now painted a glossy black), then the car needs a wash as it is to sit on Mum’s drive for the new few months (she won’t like it if it’s dirty!)  We’ve worked hard the last few days, we hadn’t realised how much stuff we had taken off when we de-camped to the cottage in December, and we are now knackered, so feet up with a pizza tonight!  Pity the telly is so rubbish on a Saturday night! Good job we are so knackered, the bed felt awfully hard last night. Compared to our brand new pocket spring one in the cottage, I felt like I was sleeping on a park bench!  We’ll get used to it again I suppose. 

Getting ready…

We were over at the marina today, starting to get the boat ready for cruising.  We took a bit of stuff back that we had brought home for the winter (we seem to have spent most of this winter either taking stuff off the boat or putting it back on!)  I unpacked the box of stuff and then gave the fridge, freezer and oven a good clean, and Rog did some touching up of paintwork.  After we had finished, we locked up and Rog gave the back deck a new coat of non-slip paint.  Hopefully it will dry before it rains!  The plan is to set off next Monday (14th), weather permitting, for a cruise up to Llangollen before the season starts.  We found out today that many of the escapees from our marina will be heading for the Llangollen too, so maybe it won’t be as quiet as we supposed!

Beacon Boats build slot available…..

Due to a cancellation, our boat builders, Beacon Boats, have an unexpected build slot available in 2012. If anyone is interested in having Beacon build a boat for them, please use the link here to browse their website.  Contact details are on the website also. 

The slot would also be available for a refit. 

Please note – they are fully booked for 2013 and the first half of 2014.

Fixed….

Winter frost damage fixed!!  Rog replaced the shower mixer tap today without any problems, and the parts we ordered for the drinking water tap arrived and have been fitted. We turned on the water pump, ran the taps, and the Webasto – water and central heating, and all seems to be working fine.  So far there are no puddles on the floor to indicate any broken pipes, and the water pump turned on and off when expected and stayed off, which I don’t think it would have done if we had any leaking pipes.  So, all in all, I think we’ve come off lightly.  Fingers crossed!!!

New look for the blog…..

Having spent so much time looking at the blog recently whilst fixing my blunder with the photos I became thoroughly bored with the look of it.  This won’t affect those of you who follow the blog on Google reader (or any other reader, come to that!), but I decided on a change of look and have redesigned it, and have added a couple of photos as well.  Hope you all like it – let me know what you think.