Standingham Bridge - No 28 (Grand Union Canal) - Thursday 24th July
Another chilly day though the thermometer in the boat was reading 22.6o, it's the breeze that's chilly I guess.
We had the seven Buckby Locks to do, so off we went. It wasn’t a good start as one of the top
gates was absolutely rotten so we couldn’t open it, let's hope it's on the closures list for the
winter.
The locks were busy and it was two in and two out. Going the other way it was worse and at one lock there was a queue of six boats and two more coming out of the next lock. Quite how the queue had formed I don’t know, perhaps there were a couple of very slow boats
There are some lovely houses and gardens just below Buckby Top Lock.
It seemed to be a long haul to where we wanted to moor, mainly because we had to go so
slowly passed lines of moored boats.
For a great part of our journey today we had the M1 on one side of us and the West Coast
Mainline on the other. It's certainly not an area I would like to moor in let alone live in!
Once moored up we sat out for a while but it was a tad too chilly for Tracey and I, so we retired
inside.
If you are a reader who isn’t a boater you may not have heard of Fund Britain’s Waterways
(FBW). This is a coalition of organisations representing hundreds of thousands of users and
supporters of inland waterways. They are campaigning for national and local government to
act now and protect the public benefit and natural capital of the waterways. The FBW is all
about bringing together the widest possible group of organisations and individuals, independenof navigation authorities, with the sole purpose of “campaigning collectively for an increase in
government funding of Britain’s inland waterways to avert their decline, and to promote
awareness of the huge economic, environmental and social well-being value they provide”.
7 miles
7 locks
Stoke Bruerne Visitors Moorings (Grand Union Canal) - Friday 25th July
The better weather has come back :-) The only problem is that it is too hot for Rio on the roof.
While I am down below he is on a chair but as soon as I go up on deck he is up there too.
We passed a huge field of beautiful sunflowers.
This is Bugbrooke Marina where our canal cruising adventures began. I met Richard in April
2009 and he had bought Mary H in December 2008 and put her in Bugbrooke. Richard was
still working full time so we had a few weekends away from there and managed to get as far
as Warwick. When Richard retired in May 2010 we took off in Mary H and our travels began.
I was working as a virtual secretary so I was able to work from the boat.
We went under Banbury Lane Bridge which, strangely enough, carries Banbury Lane which
is an old drovers road from Banbury to Northampton, however its origins may go back to
prehistoric times.
Passed Gayton Junction and the Northampton Arm, where we will return on Monday to go
down the notorious Northampton flight. Through Blisworth Tunnel and out into the sunshine.
The Stoke Bruerne visitors moorings were pretty empty so we had our choice. We moored up
and retired to the towpath.
Steve and Tracey’s son, Richard, came late afternoon and a party was soon flowing! We had
a BBQ on the towpath once it had quietened down, it was delicious.
10 miles
0 locks
Stoke Bruerne Visitors Moorings (Grand Union Canal) - Saturday 26th July
It was our turn for visitors today. My step sisters, Sara and Emma, and their mother, Chris,
were coming. Sara and Chris had been before in 2022 when we were in Milton Keynes but
Emma was abroad, so I hadn’t seen her for ages. Sara and Emma are the daughters of my
Mother’s second husband, Richard and they have been part of my life since they were school
girls! I sometimes look back at photos of Mum and Richard’s wedding and wonder who the
young girls were!
I had left the boat cleaning until this morning as I wanted it to be sparkly! I don’t think, in fact I
know, that no dusting had been done for 10 months
I walked down to the Navigation pub to meet them all and it was lovely to see them, they also
hadn’t met Rio before. Back at the boat we had coffee and then walked back to the Navigation
for lunch. The food was very good and so was the service. I think it would probably have been
different if it had been a beautiful sunny Saturday.
After lunch Sara took me to Tescos to top up the cupboards while we could. As we are
venturing onto new waters we don’t know where there are shops.
Back at the boat we sat out and chatted with cups of tea until it was time for our visitors to
depart. It was sad seeing them go as I have no idea when I will see them again.
A quick drink (soft!) with S & T and then back on our boats.
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