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Shoestring Northampton IWA Rally Trip
Day 1: Saturday 22nd April 2006
Northolt to Bulls Bridge
4 Miles 0 Locks
17:25 - 18:22
I got the boat ready while waiting for Dad to arrive. I purchased two new single dinettes for the holiday as I needed the sleeping space. I already had one in, but Dad was bringing the other one down. We spent all afternoon installing them in their final location, so by the time we reached Bulls Bridge it was about 7pm. At 7:30pm as we went around Tesco's we realised that we were missing Doctor Who!
Day 2: Sunday 23rd April 2006
Bulls Bridge to Bratchworth
11 miles 7 locks
~11:30 - 13:30
14:35 - 18:00
It was raining quite hard in the morning, so we stayed on the Tesco moorings. It was nearly lunch time when we finally left. It was still raining, but by the time we reached Cowley it was starting to stop. We sat on the lock moorings while we had lunch, and just as we finished several boats came at once. A dredger being pushed by Mick's Tug was coming down, followed by two more boats waiting to come down. Another boat going to Denham Boat Services was wanting to go up, but he seemed a little confused as to who's lock it was after Mick came down, but I said we're in next, and we locked up with them.
We looked in Uxbridge Boat Services at their Desmo legs- just the same as the cheaper Fiamma legs we had got from Hull. Aldagate and Angel were just going Denham Deep when we arrived. He was turning them around to go to the Cavalcade, and asked us to leave the gates open for when he returned - we did but some other boats came down first! We stopped just below Batchworth as there was a good TV signal to watch the repeat of Doctor Who.
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Day 5: Wednesday 26th April 2006
Horton to Cosgrove
23 miles 8 locks
10:44 - 19:24
A single boat passed, and we followed him down to the lock. He was also going to Northampton, but was single handed, and seemed in no great rush. He stopped for some lunch, and to clear his prop at Grove Lock.
We continued on, and reached Three Locks for 2pm, doing them on our own. Dad managed to flood the towpath, as all the locks and pounds were full. We did them in 23 minutes.
I let Dad take over the steering through Milton Keynes, but near New Bradwell I took over again. I noticed they were doing a lot of vegetation clear up work around the Wolverton railway works. It was getting late now, but I wanted to push onto Cosgrove mooring just the other side of the aqueduct. Our friends David and Jan King had a big barge on their mooring, and no sign of their boat Jappa - maybe they have already set off for Northampton.
Day 6: Thursday 27th April 2006
Cosgrove to Northampton
16 miles 24 locks
10:16 - 19:00
A good run up to Stoke Bruerne locks arriving 12:21. Had to wait awhile for two boats to leave the bottom lock, the gates were open, but still seemed to take an age to get going. One of them was a woman single handed on an ex-BWB tug (not Bantam), they mentioned that they rode over something between the 2nd, and 3rd lock up, which felt like a car.
By the time we were leaving lock 2 a BWB man also said there was a car in the pound, and to keep out of the center. As a slide past on the left side I took a picture of the blue roof hiding under the murky water and bubbles rose from it as Dad emptied the next lock. We reached the 3rd from top lock, where BW were readying a tug moored there. Dad asked if they called the police in case someone was inside, but apparently they don't normally bother. After messing about trying to get the tug out of the shallow water at the end, we continued up the rest of the locks reaching the top by 13:30, where we stopped for ½ hour to watch Neighbours.
4.1 mph average through the tunnel, and turned into the Northampton Arm at 15:15. No troubles down the arm apart from following another boat, which only had two old people on board. Dad helped them down the flight, while back setting, and I worked myself through mostly on my own. The problems with the Northampton locks are that it is difficult to jump between the lower gates due to the handrails. Eventually managing to push one gate together as the boat left the lock, jump on, stop the boat, and push with a pole the other gate closed. We reached the end of the arm at 18:43. We moored up just below the footbridge in Northampton. We needed food quickly so we went into town and found a Burger King.
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Day 7: Friday 28th April 2006
Northampton
~3 miles, 0 locks
12:00 - 14:50
After going shopping at the ever so handy Safeways, we went up the Westbridge Arm. David King, a friend of ours, has always waxed lyrical about the cruises up the arm, and thanks to information given in the Northampton Arm information leaflet available from the sanitary station at Gayton Junction, we knew where to go.
The Westbridge Arm, actually a brook flowing into the Nene, was once a hive of commercial activity. The IWA had to fight to keep it open, and now every year volunteers clean the arm out, this year pulling out enough to fill a large lorry.
The entrance is just upstream of the Carlsberg factory on the right, and after passing the factories grounds, and a nice footpath bridge, the arm takes a sharp left turn under an older footpath bridge, and becomes a bit enclosed, and industrial. Another low bridge brings you to a junction where the brook splits into two, staying on the left fork takes you under the ring road, and along the back of a retail park. A piled wharf with bollards shows its industrial heritage, and just upstream of that is a winding hole.
The arm continues further up to Northampton's West Bridge - near the station. I reversed under the railway bridges, and halfway around the council yard wall - a high steel piled wall, but came to halt on some shallows. We decided to leave it at that, and returned to the wharf to have some lunch. Afterwards we visited the B+Q floating jetty just a few hundred yards from the Westbridge Arm junction to have a look, but only short boats can turn here, so more reversing.
Returning back to the main river found a large abundance of boats that had come down the arm during the day, and we decided to find a quieter mooring spot down the weirstream. I did not know the layout of the area, so reversed in, but later found that the river opens right out around the two bends enough to spin my 60ft narrowboat around in one go (just managed it later in the weekend!).
We managed to catch the local news, and were surprised to see an empty pound of the Stoke Bruerne flight, with a car in it. It turned out there was a body in the car, and that the police are calling it suspicious.
Day 8: Saturday 29th April 2006
Northampton to Birmingham and back
103 miles, 0 locks
The TV signal was terrible in Northampton - I later found out there is a fill-in repeater just to the west of the town - and Dad had been thinking on getting a proper satellite dish for our other boat anyway. Maplins has been selling a portable camping kit at £80, so we went to have a look at one.
We walked the mile to the shop, but from yesterday when Dad called them up for some information they had sold out. Milton Keynes were out, but Banbury had some, but not very handy for us on foot. On our way back, we stopped at the station to see if there was a route to Banbury, but it involved a 1 hour wait at Coventry. We found that Birmingham was an easy place to get to, so we went back to Maplins to see if they had any there. They had plenty, and so took the train, eating lunch on the way. We spotted the Leicester Arm, North Oxford, and the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal on the way - interesting to see these places from the train.
The train back to Northampton left in 20 minutes, and so we rushed to the shop just off New Street, and bought two! One of me, and one for Dad. We rushed back, weaving between the bank holiday weekend crowds, and just made it with less than a minute to go.
We had fun trying to set it up, as the satellite doesn't not have Astra2 on the manual satellite finder, but once we worked out how to work it we had no more problems. We watched Doctor Who, and had some tea. Later we went to the lock island, where a marquee housed a folk band called Old Speckled Men, who were quite good. We found out that David King was off on holiday towards Stratford, and not coming this year!!! We'll give him some grief when we see him at the National.
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Day 8: Saturday 29th April 2006
Northampton to Birmingham and back
103 miles, 0 locks
The TV signal was terrible in Northampton - I later found out there is a fill-in repeater just to the west of the town - and Dad had been thinking on getting a proper satellite dish for our other boat anyway. Maplins has been selling a portable camping kit at £80, so we went to have a look at one.
We walked the mile to the shop, but from yesterday when Dad called them up for some information they had sold out. Milton Keynes were out, but Banbury had some, but not very handy for us on foot. On our way back, we stopped at the station to see if there was a route to Banbury, but it involved a 1 hour wait at Coventry. We found that Birmingham was an easy place to get to, so we went back to Maplins to see if they had any there. They had plenty, and so took the train, eating lunch on the way. We spotted the Leicester Arm, North Oxford, and the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal on the way - interesting to see these places from the train.
The train back to Northampton left in 20 minutes, and so we rushed to the shop just off New Street, and bought two! One of me, and one for Dad. We rushed back, weaving between the bank holiday weekend crowds, and just made it with less than a minute to go.
We had fun trying to set it up, as the satellite doesn't not have Astra2 on the manual satellite finder, but once we worked out how to work it we had no more problems. We watched Doctor Who, and had some tea. Later we went to the lock island, where a marquee housed a folk band called Old Speckled Men, who were quite good. We found out that David King was off on holiday towards Stratford, and not coming this year!!! We'll give him so grief when we see him at the National.
Day 9: Sunday 30th April 2006
Northampton to Northampton via Northampton (passing through Northampton).
5.6 miles
~10:00 to ~17:00
Chris, a friend of ours from Bethells Bridge Boat Club was joining us for the second week. We moved the boat to the footbridge near the supermarket, and after a quick shop loaded him, and his stuff aboard. We soon left on the Westbridge Challenge, which involved picking up ribbons on the arm and surrounding waters, and answering some questions, whose answers could be found on the quest.
Going up the Westbridge Arm (again), we spotted another narrowboat approaching the first major bridge on the arm, and then turning around. I happened to mention it was navigable for a further mile, and they followed us up. We collected the ribbon hanging from some of the bridges, and after making sure that the other boat know where to turn continued up forwards under the railway bridges (and another ribbon) and around the council yard bend. This time I got much further, nearly to the pipe bridge, and could see the end, but the silt stopped us from continuing with any sort of real progress.
On the way back, we went up the Nene to the B+Q jetty to pick up another ribbon, and then to the Northampton Arm first lock to see if there was one there. On the way back our friends were manoeuvring at the junction, so they were on the challenge as well! Chris spotted some more ribbons on the piling near a dry dock with an old Nene lock guillotine, and so did the other boat. I had to reverse up, so they beat us to it, but as they grabbed the ribbon the whole lot fell into the water, and promptly sunk! They had a fragment, and so after apologising left us to it. Thankfully Chris (sharp eyes that lad), spotted a fragment floating near to the gate and so we grabbed it.
On Friday night we had spotted the organisers putting a ribbon on the railway bridge near the lock, so we knew where that was, and we found another on the wall near one of the weirs. We were still one short, and we travelled up and down the river a few times trying to find it. When we arrived back at our moorings we were talking to our neighbour, who told us where the one we were missing was, so we hightailed back up the river for the umpteenth time.
We were the only ones with all ribbons, and we probably went further up the arm than anyone else, but last years winner won it again - fix, I say! Still it saved having to bring the trophy back next year!
We also watched some of the boat handling competition (mostly from the boat as we passed). It involved holding a funnel under a running pipe from the bridge until the beaker was full - the quickest time wins.
Sundays entertainment was not as fun, as it mostly involved a non canal related quiz we know few answers to, so we satisfied ourselves with the drink. The fish and chips were well worth it though, and while we were there several kids were running around selling raffle tickets to all and sundry. It's nice to see the young enjoy these things as well.
Chris managed to win a bottle of wine, and we may have won something else if, after throwing away all our tickets, they found some more prises!
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