27th April to 10th May – A bit of cruising, a trip home, followed by more cruising
Monday morning. A beautiful day. I did a bit of admin before setting off on the first hop of our trip back towards Crick and left late morning. It was already hot and I wished I’d set off earlier – but hindsight is a wonderful thing, eh?
it was almost too hot as I cruised along this lovely rural canal. The rape is now in full bloom and provides a lovely contrast to the acid green of new leaves. I love this time of year. And as I came through a wooded section, the birdsong was once again a joy.
I reckoned I’d do around an hour today. The canal seems a bit shallower than I recall and I met a couple of boats – of course at a bridge! One was a massive ex-working boat, who gave me a gravy bone for the boys as we passed each other. Obviously a dog lover “They’ll have to share” he said. How kind!
We were cruising along in a state of Nirvana (Paul coined this phrase) which means we were garnering so much solar that we were cruising on power of the sun alone, without depleting the batteries. And it was so hot, I used the brolly as a sunshade because I could feel myself burning.
After about an hour I began looking for a suitable spot that would meet all my Captain’s strict criteria and found it and nabbed it. A nice spot of Armco in full sun. Until it clouded over!
Well – what a difference a day makes. It was scorchio yesterday and today? Well – I would not have quibbled if you’d told me it was November. Absolutely Baltic! I had a long chilly solo cruise and was unable to feel my fingertips for most of it. I forgot to say last week, that when we moved early morning and it was chilly, Paul resorted to the oven gloves as we had stowed all the winter gear! My Mum would be saying “Ne’er cast a clout ’til May is out” and she’d be right! That’ll learn us!
I had spotted a few places as I cruised that looked a possibility but rejected them as it was too soon to moor. I was to live to regret that! I couldn’t find anywhere for miles after those potential spots. We ended up back at Crick and they very kindly let us come in a day earlier than planned. Good Old Aquavista! We were very grateful.
We had cleaned the roof on Sunday – I say we but I mean Paul! It was sparkling. Sadly it rained Monday night and then the wind blew up and deposited all the blossom from the hedgerow on the roof. It now looks a right tip! Annoying.
We had a couple of days before we needed to leave and I did a few overdue jobs – drawers (the pulling out kind, not the wearing kind) cupboards etc. On Thursday, I met our friends (from Brinklow) Karen and Paul for a quick coffee at the lovely Magnolia Tearooms, as they happened to be in the area. Lovely to see them. And there are donkeys in the adjacent field! I thought I’d heard one calling me!
We then packed, set off after work and arrived home after a largely uneventful journey and George had dinner ready for us. It was great to see them and we had a pleasant evening, playing with Chester before he went to bed and then catching up with George.
The funeral day was fine and sunny. The Carters arrived from London – Bruce, Mel, Lenny and Evie and we grabbed a quick lunch before leaving to get to the Crematorium. We had elected not to have a celebrant, instead Bruce would hold it all together with input from me and also from George. Bruce had a quick rehearsal and then it seemed like it was over in a flash. As everyone left, they were given a packet of crisps, in loving memory of Uncle D and his love of snacks. I think he’d have liked his funeral. And now we have to learn to live without him in our lives. It’ll take a while.
Funeral day was also George & Bethany’s wedding anniversary so we looked after Chester for most of the day on Saturday, while they went and had some quality time together at a spa and lunch to celebrate 4 years of Marriage – although It’s 6 really, as they were married with just 2 people present in Covid times.
We took Chester to Gosport, where we jumped on the ferry across to Portsmouth. He had said that he didn’t want to go on a boat trip but when we get off he asked if he could go again, so I think it was a success! We had a “nic-nic” lunch before going back to the flat, where Chester fell asleep on Grandad’s lap, just as his Ma & Pa arrived back. A quiet afternoon ensued, which I think we all needed!
We left around lunchtime on Sunday and unpacked. We decided we’d have dinner at the pub – especially as it was “Pie NIght”. We took the crib board with us and had a good game or two.
On Monday Paul had to get the car back to Brinklow and he took care of that while I did some cleaning and pottering. Nothing too strenuous! It was a Bank Holiday after all!
We finally left the Marina on Tuesday morning and went all the way – to the bank outside! Our friends Ali and Del were there and we had a lovely evening with them, having sundowners before Del went indoors to watch his beloved Arsenal. I didn’t realise how chilly I had got until I went indoors. I actually put the heating on – in May! Whatever next?
I did a solo boat move on Wednesday – not far but a nice spot just before B22 (///repair.duplicate.lifters). It was fine but cloudy with a biting wind. I gradually layered up until I was finally warm enough. Roll on flaming June!
Another solo move for me on Thursday, too, back to where we spent a night the week before last. I could have carried on, as it was a delightful morning, warm and sunny but from here, we’d be breaking new ground on this trip and we’d do it together the next day. And as I’d arrived early, I did a load of washing – which dried very well thank you.
///crank.reading.argued
Friday dawned very fair and we set off in high spirits. Breaking new ground. And – bearing in mind we did this section a couple of years ago with Bruce and Len – I found it all pretty unfamiliar but delightful. People sometimes ask whether we get bored doing the same bits over and over again, but we don’t find it to be an issue. Different weather, different people, different time of day, different mood – it’s never really the same twice.
We arrived at the lock to find that a boat had taken it, despite seeing us. Not very friendly and they made all sorts of excuses, so they knew they’d been a bit cheeky. But it’s a very small rise (3@ 6″/I.07m) so, other than a waste of water, no real harm done. Once out of the lock, we proceeded along the short distance to the Welford Arm Terminus, arriving at about 2pm. We’d seen five boats coming away from the terminus, so we were pretty confident we’d get a space and so we did. We got tied up and settled in for the night.
The terminus of the Welford Arm, at 415 feet/126 meters above sea level, is the highest point on the entire Grand Union Canal – which you may recall runs from London to Birmingham. Quite a claim for a canal arm that is only 1.6 km in its entirety! It was built as a navigable feeder canal for the Grand Union – a vital trade route between the North and South.
///arose.reading.tastes
We had a lovely, peaceful night and – after Paul had done a quick recce – we set off to wind, empty the loo and take on water and victuals (courtesy of Ocado) before leaving the basin. Paul walked ahead with the boys and by the time I had cruised the short distance to the lock, it was open and ready for me. And what a beautiful day it was! Warm and sunny – the perfect temperature to enjoy it.
We chatted as we cruised down to the junction. We had watched David “Cruising the Cut” Johns’s latest video last night and he talked about setting off and finding the first nice spot and mooring up. As we have nowhere in particular to be, we decided we’d do that too. We turned right at the Junction, towards Foxton and the gods must have been smiling on us. As we came round the first bend after the junction, we spotted the boater’s dream! One boat Armco! In a lovely quiet spot,
We quickly made it ours and tied up for the day after – maybe 45 minutes cruising?. The joy of boating is not necessarily related to continuous movement . Sometimes it’s nice just to moor in a pleasant spot and just reeeeelaaaaaaax. We planned a bit of that, but also some boat cleaning/maintenance. That’s never-ending! And there may have been a short beepy?
///unheated.residual.bedspread
| Period | Miles | Locks |
| 27th April – 10th May | 19 | 2 |
| Cumulative 2026 | 45 | 16 |