The Sumpners Afloat

13th to 19th October – Radford Semele to The Marina of Dreams

Monday Monday – what great song! Drugs obtained, I set off in a very very light drizzle – bound for Radford Semele and a very nice spot that we have used before, by the water meadows of the River Leam. It’s a popular spot, but we found a nice space and pulled over for the day. A short but sweet cruise.

We plan to stay a few days here, maybe until Thursday morning, as we are very near Radford Bottom Lock – the first of the 26 locks we need to get through this week.

The locks are in clumps – Radford (or Fosse), Bascote, Stockton and finally Calcutt, before we turn at Napton Junction. All quite familiar. We shall pass two Aquavista Marinas on our way and may well be tempted to pull in for a night – it’s been a quiet year for the Aquavista Explore 100 Moorer Benefit – unlike last year. All down to our choice of route this year. The Marinas in question are Ventnor and Wigrams Turn – both of which we have visited in the past and like.

We stayed where we were on Tuesday – we do like it here, plus we are very close to the next set of locks we need to go through so cannot go any further until Paul is available.

We were up at 06:45 on Wednesday morning, in the pitch black just before dawn. We set off up the first couple of locks and then noticed that who ever had gone ahead of us the previous evening had left the top gates open. This was not a mistake – it was a conscious decision based on laziness and a “screw you” attitude. By the time we got to Lock 20 the pound was very down – about 18 inches. I set off towards Lock 19, sticking very much to the centre line – hopefully the deepest section.

As there are lots of hire boats on this stretch, I thought it best to report it and did so, saying that it was navigable with care. Shortly after I’d pressed send on the report, we slowly ground to a halt (between Lock 20 and 19) and it became evident that it was NOT currently navigable! Darn it!

I rang CRT and explained and they said they would get somebody out. After about 45 mins of “stuckness”, the water levels started to recover (because we had shut the gates behind us) and we gently floated off and managed to make it into Lock 19 and out the other side. The next locks were the 4 Bascote Locks (2 singles and staircase pair). And it was there we encountered the boater who we suspected had been responsible for the unclosed lock gates. (he’d been the last boat through yesterday teatime).

Paul asked him why he’d left all the lock gates open. He did not respond – other than to say “I’m stuck, I’ve gone aground – aren’t you going to help me?” Paul replied that we were also struggling and would need to bring our boat up before we could help. The pound in which he had got stuck was the one below the staircase pair and it was very low indeed – I’ d say a good 2 feet down, maybe? Very tricky – at any moment I expected to grind to a halt, but slowly made it into the comparative safety of the bottom of the two chambers and tied off, so that Paul could go and help the old man. He did not have a boat pole so Paul grabbed ours and then grabbed the old man’s rope to help him off the mud. While Paul was doing this, I rang CRT again (a lovely lady) and updated them on the situation.

We suspected some possible mental health issues and this was somewhat confirmed when the old man point blank refused to come into the lock with us, saying that he had his own way of doing locks and wanted to do it solo. Paul reminded him that water levels were an issue and it would be a waste of water and that he (Paul) would do all the work. The old man was obdurate. So we had no choice but to go up without him. I’m deliberately not naming him or his boat, by the way. He has a right to privacy, poor old chap.

Due to the very low water levels, we could not actually get into the bank to moor (unless we deployed the gang-plank) so we ended up doing way more locks than planned, which ate into Paul’s work time. He’s very good though – he worked late to make up for lost time. We thus already had 10/26 locks under our belt, which left us in pretty good shape. So much so that we decided we’d have a night in Ventnor Marina on Thursday.

We found a spot of Armco just past Bascote Road water point and pulled over for the day. The water levels were low – maybe 6″ down – but we managed to get close enough to moor – which had been a bit of a worry. The old man went past a little later and we were not at all confident that he would have closed the top gates behind him.

We woke up early on Thursday – Paul’s day off – so we thought we might as well make a start. We set off with fresh coffee and a Pain au chocolat in hand as a quick breakfast. At the first couple of locks – Itchington and Shop lock – we met a Mum and her son having a boating holiday together. The Mum was steering, whilst the son – who volunteers at Lapworth and Hatton locks – made himself very useful and we fairly flew through them and made a good start on the 8 locks in the Stockton flight. Those went well too, until we caught up with our old chap from the day before.

Our lockmates had moored near him the night before and had suggested that they lock up together the next day. He was having none of that. Once again he said that he had his own way of dealing with locks and working with others made him anxious. But his loss was our gain.

When we caught up with him, he was once again leaving the top lock gates open. It seems he won’t (or can’t ) see reason, sadly. Or maybe it’s all a bit too much for him? I feel very sorry for him – he’s probably not able to do what he used to do as a younger man, but is too proud to admit it and ask for help, which the boating community would be only to pleased to provide. It must be hard reaching that age and having to think about giving up boating. Very sad.

At the top of Stockton, we bade our new hire boat friends adieu and wished them an enjoyable remainder of their holiday. They set off for Calcutt Locks and we headed for Ventnor, where our berth had been confirmed. We saw a photo of the Calcutt Locks – that we would be tackling on Friday – boats in the pounds were pretty much sitting on the bottom. Oh well – that was for another day.

We had a lovely peaceful stay at lovely Ventnor (as usual) and a shopping delivery on Friday morning, before setting off for Calcutt Locks. We saw a Grebe – a young one I think – in the basin – a fairly unusual sight in these parts.

Calcutt Locks were under the control of Volunteers, who marshalled us into position. It’s a busy stretch, and as we approached the locks, a couple of boats had pulled out of Ventnor in front of us and a couple also pulled out of Calcutt Marina, which is directly below the first lock. Boats to the left of us, boats to the right! And also some behind and in front! It’s a good job the Vollies had it all under control.

We were selected to go up with a hire boat – Germans – grandparents, son and DIL and twin boy grandkids. Paul didn’t have to do a thing as the boys were very keen – just the right age! I give it another couple of years! The grandfather has been coming over for 32 years! He loves the English canals and we had a good chat as we progressed up the 3 locks.

We turned at Napton Junction and started on the familiar stretch down to Braunston turn, stopping for lunch at my beloved Bridge 100 – where we’d moored with Jacquie and Craig on our outward trip. It was a bit sunnier then, mind you!

We set off again after lunch and had a nice chat with our bezzies Sue and Paul Rogers. Wish they’d get a boat and join us on the cut. That was always the plan – fuelled by gin, usually!

It got steadily chillier and by late afternoon I popped the central heating on in readiness for us to pull over for the day. We would easily get back to Brinklow tomorrow and just need to time it to get through the Hillmorton 3 locks, which are still on reduced opening hours. And then it’ll be the home stretch.

Well we timed it perfectly for Hillmorton on Saturday morning – first boat through! Had to chuckle as we passed the row of moored boats. One chap was clearly getting ready for the off and said “We’re just setting off if you want to share the locks?”. We told him it might be just a tad snug, as Hillmorton are narrow locks! He’d never been this way before, so it’s not surprising he was confused – the locks are all double-width until you pass Braunston. It is pretty strange in some ways – especially of you’re not familiar with the stretch. It’s lucky he wasn’t a widebeam! I wonder if that has ever happened?

Thanks to the vollies, we whipped through Hillmorton Locks and that was it. Cruising 2025 done – apart from the last very familiar leg down to the Marina of Dreams. What a lovely season we’ve had. Just shy of 500 miles on 12 different waterways and one lock for every day of the year! No rain. Lots and lots of sun – and canal closures. A year to remember, I think?

And in the forthcoming week, we”ll be settling back into Marina life and getting used to being in the same place for a while – except we will of course be up and down to Fareham and we have several theatre trips already booked. Thanks for coming with us this year – we will have more adventures over the winter, but will probably be posting a little less frequently, but stay with us or we’ll miss you. One thing that we will definitely be celebrating is the 5th anniversary of the launch of Old Nick.later this year. Watch this space.

Period	Miles	Locks
6 – 12th Oct	28	26
Cumulative 2025	493	365