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(Stockton to the Ashby Canal)
24th – 30th June 2008.
Tuesday 24th June
Stockton – Rugby
The first day of holiday starts at a very leisurely pace. By time we've had a lay-in, cooked a tasty and appropriately unhealthy breakfast, filled the gearbox with oil (our PRM gearbox leaks oil so has to be topped up before every journey – hopefully that'll get fixed at Calcutt next month) and stopped to fill up with water, it was gone midday. But that’s okay because we’re on holiday!
That all done (and with a Mars ice cream in hand) we set off down the GU towards Napton Junction. It's slightly overcast but warm and dry, so we cruise at a leisurely speed through the junction and on towards Braunston Turn. Kev gets very excited at seeing the historic white bridges there, as his parents had their first boat moored at Braunston in the seventies and it takes him back to his childhood – so we lurk for a short while to take some photos.
Turning left we find ourselves on the North Oxford and notice the quite considerable difference there is between it and the GU – mostly the apparent lack of maintenance on the overgrown narrow towpaths and crumbling bridges - but it's all very green and rural which we do like. By the evening we decide to moor immediately outside The Old Royal Oak pub just south of Rugby, which is a Hungry Horse pub and we were in the mood for a rump steak the size of said equine.
Wednesday 25th June
Rugby – Bulkington
Despite eating two whole cows the night before we wake up in the mood for a tasty fried breakfast and enjoy bacon and egg sarnies – Kev has breakfast in bed, but that's okay because we're on holiday! It soon dawns on us that our leisurely cruise yesterday had put us quite behind in our schedule to do the Ashby and back in a week. So we’re determined to do a full day’s cruising today. We pass through the pairs of locks at Hillmorton (I still can’t believe there were so few locks on this entire holiday – we usually do Hatton Flight with a crew of one (namely me) so just three locks and with Kev helping was great!)
A brief stop at the Tesco north of Rugby was deemed wise as we were getting low on beer, vodka and Kahlua (I'm partial to a Black Russian or twelve, and Kev enjoys a little lager lubrication). While near there we passed a fellow ex-Black Prince narrowboat (we don’t see that many down Warwick/Stratford way) and hallooed them. Onward through Newbold Tunnel illuminated with its purple and green lights, through more rural greenery and eventually under the fascinating concrete cathedral that is the M6 motorway bridge. Again we see another ex Black Prince who made us laugh by shouting: “It doesn’t matter how much stuff you shove on your roof, it still looks like a Black Prince!” They had one of the late nineties models like ours, with the black framed hopper top windows (we more often see the more recent ones with the brass effect window with rounded corners) – we couldn’t help but wonder if their windows leak like ours do!
At Annette a hireboat came hurtling through a bridge on a corner and hit us head on very fast, they then ricocheted off us and hit a moored boat. The group of people at the bow apparently hadn’t heard of fending off and didn’t even bother to get up – the chap at the tiller thought it was funny. We weren’t dented but lost a few glasses in the kitchen, and the cupboards flew open – could have been worse. But the joy of meeting a demented hireboater is that the company’s phone number is on the side of the craft! So Kev phoned Napton Boats and left them an answerphone message about what had happened. To their credit they phoned back and were very apologetic but said there was nothing they could do. But we weren’t going to let a prang ruin our day – after all, we were on holiday!
Near Rose Narrowboats we pause to allow a boat coming the other way through the swing bridge only to hear some horrible crunching sounds coming from the gearbox. After a bit of umming-and-ahhing we breast up alongside the empty hireboats and pop in to the Rose Narrowboats shop. I explained our plight and a very helpful chap came to take a look at it – the verdict: the drive plate is on its way out. But as it might last for years or it might pack in a hundred yards up the cut, he suggested we carry on with our holiday and don't worry too much about it unless it starts to suddenly and dramatically get worse. So we weren’t even going to let a dodgy drive plate annoy us – after all we were on holiday! We thanked him hugely, bought a bar of chocolate from his shop, and carried on with our journey.
I start to get slightly uneasy as we pass the electrical substation just north of the M6 (pylons and substations give me the heebie-jeebies and I'm convinced they're related to Daleks… don't ask) but I do get some interesting architectural photos of the pylons. It’s scorchingly hot and I slowly turn a nice shade of pink in the sun. Our next big landmark is Hawkesbury Junction where the North Oxford joins the Coventry canal. We earmark the Greyhound pub at the junction for a future visit when we’ve got less ground to cover and push on.
We're only on the Coventry a short while before the junction with the Ashby Canal looms into view and we finally feel like we've made some good progress. It seems so narrow but the surrounding trees and fields and the stone bridges make it very picturesque. It’s early evening now and we’ve only a few hours light remaining so we use the remaining daylight to get us as far as Bridge 5 at Bulkington where there’s a good food pub. Unfortunately the visitor moorings are completely full of overstayers (judging by their copious towpath accoutrements such as welcome mats, seats, tables, brollies and rubbish. We have to moor against a shallow area of bank with very high nettles but we just about manage it and are lured over the bridge to the food pub by our growling stomachs. We each had a two course dinner and two drinks and the food bill came to just 63p! It turns out the girl at the bar had keyed our table number into the computer where the price should have been. Kev kept it quiet till we were almost back at the boat before he revealed that one to me! Bargain!
Thursday 26th June
Bulkington – Bosworth
Another scorchingly hot day but the breeze picks up and becomes a welcome relief from the heat. We've been toying with the idea of not traversing the whole of the Ashby but mooring at Bosworth to do the touristy thing of visiting the site of the Battle of Bosworth Field and heading back to Braunston in time to catch the last day of the Braunston Historic Boat Festival. Today we decide that is indeed the best thing to do – so we head off north up the Ashby, determined to get to Bosworth at a civilized hour. It turn out to be easier said than done as the breeze rapidly becomes gusty wind and it become increasingly difficult to steer round the many corners without running aground in the shallow water! But despite the wind it’s still warm and sunny and we arrive at the Bosworth Field moorings with plenty of time to go for a walk through the woods before supper and bedtime!
Friday 27th June
Bosworth – Hawkesbury Junction
It rained heavily in the night but although it's wet on the ground the sun is out this morning. Despite the sense of urgency to get back to Braunston by Saturday we didn’t want to come all this way and hurry off. So we wandered past the monument to where Richard III fell in battle, then on through the woods to the museum which was great – I do recommend it to all ages. Interactive but not patronising! And we got to try on a few medieval clothes too. By midday we’d had our fill and sauntered back to the boat via the gift shop which supplied us each with a bottle of the local brew – an ale called “Let Battle Commence” armed with which we began the journey back
This meant using the winding hole next to the Bosworth moorings – I don't recommend this to anyone else though. It hasn’t been dredged and there was 2ft of clay and only 1ft of water in it. We spent much time aground, I snapped the boat pole because it got stuck in the clay, and a miffed looking boater had to wait for us to complete the turn! We made it eventually but it took nearly 45 minutes.
It was a long journey topped and tailed, like every day, with me refilling the gearbox with oil, and we finally moored just before Hawkesbury Junction on the Coventry Canal in the failing light at about 10pm. Fortuitously we were within staggering distance of the pub we'd earmarked two days earlier, and we spent the rest of the evening in the very pleasant, very busy (in a nice way) and very jovial Greyhound pub.
Saturday 28th June
Hawkesbury Junction – Braunston – Wolfhampcote
Showers today meaning intermittent putting on and taking off of kagool but we had an epic cruise ahead of us to get to Braunston by nightfall. The wind picked up again today and we experienced for the first time what happens if you slow down for a moored boat and the wind catches you! We'd lived aboard for a year but by pure chance never had a cross-wind while slowing down for moored boats. We missed colliding with the boat only with the use of a fleshy part of my body betwixt the two crafts! Not wise, but effective. The owner who stood watching us on the bank gave us a reproachful look, but help fending off would have been more useful!
We continued on our way, until ten minutes before Doctor Who came on the tele which meant all hands on deck for fast mooring, rigging of TV aerial and a cocktail in front of the tele (I'm a bit of fan and it was the penultimate episode with the Daleks in!). It was difficult to moor as the side of the canal was lined with large stones and Kev was rather more adept than me at leaping the 2ft to the bank so he hammered in pins while I got the tele tuned in. It was worth it for an excellent episode of Doctor Who! Alas Kev left his favourite mallet behind on the bank when we hurried off again – but as he’d originally found it lying on a towpath a few months ago, I think it was destined to be feral and to help out lowly boaters in their hour of need before continuing on to the next boater – kinda like The Littlest Hobo.
I got jeered at by some unpleasant teenagers who were camping in someone's garden near Bridge 90 on the north Oxford Canal, and who thought sexual obscenities a nice way to greet a passing female… I could have expanded their vocabulary enormously had we not been in such a hurry. But even those little oiks couldn’t put us off what was a beautiful evening cruise with a sunset that changed every few minutes. After all, we were on holiday! Fabulous!
We reached Braunston at dusk and of course there were boats moored at every suitable spot and even some at very unsuitable spots. Kev held the boat in at the bank of a very rough bit if towpath which had half collapsed into the water, while I hurried down the towpath to find another mooring. We passed a small dayboat that had run out of fuel and had been towed by a plastic cruiser to Braunston, but the poor ole cruiser promptly crashed under a bridge into one of the many dodgily moored boats there. When we passed by later it was fortuitously still afloat!
We eventually moored all the way down in Wolfhampcote at about 11pm! We'd tragically missed the pubs’ hours but as we were pooped we went to bed and fell asleep almost straight away!
Sunday 29th June
Braunston Historic Boat Festival
Despite it being a fairly long walk to Braunston from our mooring, the weather was gorgeous and we spent a great day at the boat festival. It was nice spending a day not cruising but watching other people do it. We watched and photographed many a ye olde boat, enjoyed some folk singing in the beer tent and tried on lots of hats in the stalls and shops. Kev took a shine to an advert for a little Springer for sale called “Bullfrog” so we went and had a look at it. Very cute but it rocked a little too much for my liking! The afternoon was spent watching a display of how traditional boat horses were harnessed, which was fascinating and Queenie the horse was beautiful and very well behaved. Kev wanted to say hello to her after the talk and Queenie responded by lifting her tail and urinating at his feet! The day ended with a nice meal at the pub followed by a mooch through the village and a relaxing night watching digital TV on the boat (nice to be able to get a reception!)
Monday 30th June
Wolfhampcote – Long Itchington
The cruise back was very pleasant – saw a heron take off and land repeatedly in front of us at Napton Junction but my fumblings to get the camera foiled my attempts to get a good picture of it. The journey was busy with historic craft returning to their home moorings, and we got chatting to the owners of Panther at the waterpoint at Calcutt. It was very busy because the water north of Napton had been tainted so everyone seemed to be travelling south to fill up their water tanks.
Stockton fight passed enjoyably, sharing with a single hander who (as most single handers do) taught us a few extra tricks about locking and boat handling before we arrived at Long Itchington. We moored just passed the Two Boats pub, stocked up on provisions at the little Co-Op shop in the village and enjoyed a fabulous barbeque by the towpath till the wee hours. We look as tanned as a couple who'd spent a week in Portugal, despite having travelled no further than Leicestershire! Back to work tomorrow though.
I wish we were still on holiday…
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