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  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    Back to Weedon Bec

    October 30 in England ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Last day of boating today. Not a swift start, but we did want to get through the final two locks before the slow boat! The tunnel only took 32 minutes going back! We stopped at Bugbrooke for a pub - one was closed down, one didn't open til 3pm. Nether Heyford pub didn't open til 4pm! So we eventually stopped at the Narrowboat at bridge 26 for a few pints and a game of cards. This only left us a mile short of the yard too, which we have to be in by 9am on Friday.
    On arrival, three boats were ahead of us and two behind so it was a bit chaotic! But happily there was no fee for fuel 😄    Read more

  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    The Boat in a Boat

    October 29 in England ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Departing for Stoke Bruerne this morning, with fears that the slow boat from the tunnel might make a reappearance. We ended up only going up five of the seven locks at Stoke Bruerne and mooring in the midst of the flight. As we walked to the pub hilarity ensued as we realised the slow boat was moored in front of us! It must have passed us yesterday when we were in the pub. The Boat at Stoke Bruerne was a lovely "traditional" pub for a few pints, before dinner over the canal at The Navigation.Read more

  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    Iron Trunk Aquaduct

    October 27 in England ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Breakfast and bookshop in Wolverton...quite honestly, the only things in Wolverton! After a lazy start, we decided we'd turn the boat and head slowly back to Weedon Bec via the local pubs rather than go through built up Milton Keynes and its winding and bridge-laden canal. This also took us over an unusual aquaduct over a motorway. Despite the urban sprawl, we spotted a couple of kingfishers, a couple of herons, a deer, and a very large and brazen rat, as well as ducks, moorhens, geese and swans. Mooring up just past the Iron Trunk Aquaduct over the River Ouse gave us an opportunity to see the structure from the outside, rather than from the top.Read more

  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    Wolverton, or Milton Keynes

    October 26 in England ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    First through the restricted locks this morning with a partner boat considerably more able than the boat we followed through the tunnel. We met a surprising number of boats coming the other way which did make for this traffic jams as we descended. We bimbled through picturesque and very quiet canals to Cosgrove, where a floating market and the Milton Keynes suburbs made for a busier canal. Stopping in Wolverton, on the MK outskirts, we found a fabulous little bar that served a huge range of beers. The town itself had little in it beyond takeaways and restaurants, all of which seemed to have MK in the title in case you forgot where you are!Read more

  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    It'd be faster to walk...

    October 25 in England ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    A wander through the antique shops of Weedon Bec resulted in a few "bespoke" purchases by Mum and Kev. We pushed off the moorings about midday heading for Stoke Bruerne, through the third longest tunnel on the network. However at Blisworth we came up behind the slowest canal boat ever, and we tailed him into the tunnel. Not only did he have no lights on his boat, he also seemed to have absolutely no control over his boat whatsoever. After passing two oncoming boats very early on, he then pinballed down 2.5km of canal and Ben kept having to put us into idle as even tickover meant we were catching him. The tunnel was supposed to take 43 mins to traverse. It took us nearly double that. Some onlookers at the tunnel exit even commented on it to us! We definitely deserved a pint this evening.Read more

  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    Back to Weedon Bec

    October 24 in England ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    We spent yesterday as a 'day at sea', enjoying canal boat living whilst Storm Benjamin passed through. A few pints, a few webinars, and nachos for tea!

    This morning we headed down to the Buckby locks, and were greeted by an understandably unhappy CRT volunteer who told us the lower locks had lost their water overnight causing very low canal levels, and yet a pair of boats had been let up the flight. We went through the top lock whilst he went to the second to open all four paddles and flush some water through. The pictures he showed us of the canal levels were quite alarming. By the time we got to lock 4, another CRT volunteer was equally unhappy as the pair of boats were now grounding out in the pound below the lock so we had to wait for them to sort themselves before we could go through. We also picked up a boat partner here who, despite claims of many canal boating holidays, smacked their boat as rather high speed into the far lock gates!

    By the time we got out, we were able to wend our way through to Weedon Bec along an idyllic canal in time to visit the antique shops. I was delighted with my find of the smallest oil lamp I've ever seen! We grabbed the car for a Tesco run to Daventry, and Ben found a fantastic craft beer pub for a brief stop. The owner was kind enough to let us have third-pints so we could try lots!

    As evening descended, we headed back to the Roman Way Brewery for drinks and dinner at the Moo Hatch.    Read more

  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    Braunston Summit

    October 22 in England ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Having survived the night staked into the ground, we head today back through the Braunston Locks and Tunnel, aiming to beat Storm Benjamin due tomorrow. This stretch of canal is perhaps rather busier than we're used to (although still not heaving!) and we had to negotiate tight turns and oncoming traffic more than once. The Boathouse at Braunston did a fabulous lunch overlooking the canal, and having stopped to fill the boat with water we headed up the locks. Again we shared with another single-handed boat, so whilst Ben drove, I did most of the locks. Because they are time restricted, we did have help from a Canal and River Trust volunteer and a lock keeper - the CRT staff are superb. Both remarked how quiet it was due to the restrictions, having seen less than 20 boats today; apparently they'd normally have 50-70! So despite restrictions, it seems we're rather lucky it's as quiet as it is...even if we though it was busy! We staked in after the Braunston Tunnel, and headed for a pint at the New Inn about 15 minutes down the tow path.Read more

  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    Hillmorton

    October 21 in England ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Setting off back along the Oxford Canal, we decided to aim towards Rugby, with a view to being back in Weedon Bec on Friday. The journey back to Braunston was uneventful bar watching Boris Johnson give evidence at the Covid-19 inquiry. Braunston junction was rather busier than we like so we navigated moored and moving boats to head north. The boat seems to have a temperamental issue where is doesn't like to turn right but Ben seems to have the knack for solving it. The weather held for all but the last half hour of the journey, which did mean we were treated to a lovely rainbow as we rounded out the day. We pulled up just short of a winding hole and had to stake into the ground, with the canal bed keeping us about a foot-and-a-half from the tow path. The local Greene King pub was a fairly mediocre affair so we only had one and headed back to the boat.Read more

  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    Napton

    October 20 in England ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    We headed along the Oxford Canal towards the Napton locks, through it tight bridges and tighter bends. All the more challenge in a 68ft boat. Apparently we aren't too far from RAF Odiham which might explain the chinook that flew low over us as we went. Given only one of Napton's two pubs was open on a Monday, we moored up quickly to make it in time for their lunch menu. Both opting for the steak sandwich, the description was alarmingly accurate - a square slab of steak between two bits of bread! It was, however, very well cooked, even if the local cider was decidedly more like dishwater than one might hope.
    The winding hole was further up the canal than our lunch stop and took a bit of manual handling to achieve, with me on the banks with the stern rope and Ben on the tiller.
    A quiet spot for the night with no amenities nearby, so dinner on the boat and finished watching Wednesday.    Read more

  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    Braunston locks

    October 20 in England ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    No point being up too early as the locks didn't open until 10am. The rain that persisted throughout the night clearly knew that too, easing off just as we set out. We were joined through the locks again, which does make life a bit easier - less control of the boat needed in the lock and more hands to help operate the locks. By the time we got out an hour later, we were none-the-wiser as where we were actually headed, and took an impulse decision to head towards Banbury (although we can't go that far) rather than Rugby.Read more

  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    Braunston Tunnel

    October 19 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    About an hour from where we moored was the Braunston Tunnel, the seventh longest navigable tunnel on the network at about 2km. The canal to it was very picturesque. We had the tunnel to ourselves for the entire length of the journey, your sense of time warped by a tunnel-end that never seems to get closer. The whole thing took about 40 minutes to navigate and we pulled up shortly after the bridge rather than go through Braunston Locks.
    Having come up the seven Buckby locks, we'd not realised we'd be going down through the Braunston Locks and therefore begun to understood the restrictions with both flights being fed from a reservoir in Daventry. Whilst Braunston canalside was historic and pretty, the town was painfully boring. Albeit a Sunday, I'm not sure it would have been anymore lively on any other day! Light rain set in as we walked back up the locks, and got heavier during our lunch at The Admiral Nelson. A lazy afternoon on the boat after that, listening to the rain, relaxing, and watching Wednesday...which fortunately we'd downloaded as there was no signal whatsoever!    Read more

  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    Buckby Wharf

    October 18 in England ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Breakfast in the yard before trying to reverse a 68ft boat onto the canal. Ben spotted a bolt of blue and we were graced with a lovely view of a kingfisher not long after we departed. We pottered through the Autumn foliage, stopping briefly at the Heart of the Shires to pick up some obligatory cake, before hitting the Buckby locks. We followed two rather slow canal boats up through the locks who were rafted together due to engine failure. We were joined in our wide locks by Mark on his 28ft boat. The wide locks are considerably more work than narrow ones, but we fell into a rhythm with me working the paddles and the boys driving the boats. We'd not been through restricted locks before - time restricted due to low water levels, so they don't open until 10am and last boat into the flight is at 1pm. At the top lock was the New Inn, so we moored up past the turn off for Leicester (non-navigable due to Foxton Locks being closed) and headed back for a well-deserved pint. Mum and Kev joined us for an evening game of crib and some drinks too.Read more

  • Canal Boating on Grand Union

    Our story begins in a brewery...

    October 17 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Bolt out of school, pack clothes, pack food, pack board games. Sling it all in the car and head for Weedon Bec.
    Grand Union narrowboats had very kindly agreed to meet us in the early evening so we could sleep in the yard overnight on Jimsonweed, our 68ft narrow boat. The Roman Way Brewery is housed in a fabulous Royal Military Depot of victorian-esque building reminiscent of an RAF base. Tucked away in the back, the brewery was clearly a well-known local Friday night haunt. Ben tried their golden and ruby beers, whilst I indulged in the cherry cider over tacos from the food truck. The bar itself was small and industrial but the benches, gazebo and fire outside made for a lovely evening. Now to decide whether to head north or south...Read more

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