Back to the canals

Wednesday 4th September 2019
Leaving the River Nene behind us we ascended the first of the 17 locks through which we needed to climb up to the Grand Union. The weather was a fine if a little blustery, as we made our way along the channel made narrow by the presence of thick weed. Our route took us through the outskirts of Northampton soon reaching the large bridge carrying the busy M1 above us.

Lift bridge outside Northampton

 This point marks the steepest part of the ascent with the locks coming in close succession, fortunately we were joined by a local chap whom as well as helping us up the locks, provided a wealth of knowledge about the surrounding countryside.

Climbing the Northampton 17

In no time at all we reached the end of the climb and, passing the busy hire boat yard, arrived at the junction at Gayton, there are full facilities here although on this occasion they proved tricky to get at as the wharf was busy with historic boats on their way down to Stoke Bruerne and an awkward wind.
We turned left here resisting the temptation to turn right and head north, we were heading south to join the historic boats at the 1940's weekend at Stoke Bruerne, we travelled a mile or so south before tying up for the night amid beautiful English countryside. Autumn was just around the corner but the summer was still with us with warm sunshine through the evening.

Blisworth canal warehouse

The following morning we were up early and soon underway passing the large warehouses at Blisworth wharf, before reaching the northern portal of the impressive Blisworth Tunnel, the third longest in the country, some  2,811 mts long and 143 ft below ground at its deepest point.

The northern portal of Blisworth tunnel

Partway through the tunnel just before the relining

 The tunnel was restored in the 1980's by British Waterways, a long section had to be relined, to do this they used a technique employing concrete rings gouted into position. This was used to test out some of the procedures that we proposed for the building of the Channel Tunnel. lots of information about the tunnel can be found here.
Leaving the tunnel we immediately found ourselves passing lots of historic boats moored all the way down to the village beyond. There was no hope of mooring here so we pressed on hoping there may be a spot further on. We past through the village, descending the first of two locks before finding the last two remaining places at the end of the long pound before the third lock.
Feeling relieved to have found a spot we moored up before taking a stroll upto the village, busy in its preparations for the weekend.

40's weekend Stoke Bruerne

The 40's weekend starts with music in the pubs on the Friday night before bursting into 40's life on the Saturday and Sunday. There are plenty of things to see and do here, there are war memorabilia stalls, re-enactments, vintage vehicles and entertainment at various locations. We really enjoyed our few days here, we met up with my sister Carole along with Jim and their son Tim with his partner Amanda and their son Henry.
One of the features of the festival is a floating market with numerous stalls on boats selling all manner of things,  whist chatting to some of the stall holders were were informed that there was a festival in Aylesbury Town Basin the following weekend. We decided to continue south on the Monday morning dropping down the five remaining locks that make up the Stoke flight. We pressed on through Cosgrove passing through its single lock onto the long pound that circles its way around Milton Keynes. Just below Cosgrove we passed over the River Great Ouse, a much smaller affair than the majestic river we had spent half the summer exploring. The crossing over the river is made via the high Iron Trunk aqueduct.

Crossing the Great Ouse on the Iron Trunk aqueduct

Pressing on through Wolverton we continued our circuitous route round the city, this long pound is popular with moored boats who move up and down the pound without ever travelling far from the city, this makes for a long day on tick over passing by.
We reached our chosen spot for mooring alongside the extensive Campbell park that lies between the canal and the city centre.
Another fine day greeted us the following morning as we continued our trip south, just beyond our moorings we reached the Campbell Wharf Marina beyond which is the start of the proposed link to Bedford and the Fenland rivers.
Reaching the pretty Fenny Stratford lock, with its swing bridge crossing the chamber and the Red Lion pub alongside, we started the long climb up to Marsworth Junction. The next lock was the single at Stoke Hammond before we arrived at the three locks at Soulbury, thankfully with attendant volunteers to help us through. The next stretch of canal is accompanied by the busy West Coast main railway line nearly all the way to Marsworth, it is quite a pretty length with rolling countryside around. It wasn't long before we reached the idyllic Globe Inn nestled in a valley making it feel quite
remote, we stopped here in 2016 on the night of the momentous Brexit vote, waking the following morning not quite believing the result.
On this occasion however, we pressed on climbing through Leighton Buzzard lock and the town itself. There is a very useful mooring here, right next to a large Tesco, with time limited moorings, we pulled here to take on provisions before climbing three more locks to moor in a beautiful peaceful spot above Church Lock.
We set off again in lovely weather to climb the last nine locks before reaching Marsworth, here we rang the Aylesbury Canal Society to check to if we were ok to moor in their marina. Having secured a place we carried on down the Aylesbury Arm through the 14 narrow locks to arrive at the marina around 5pm making a long and tiring day.

The narrow sections on the way down to Aylesbury

Aylesbury
We have stayed at this marina previously and always enjoy stopping here, the facilities are extensive and well maintained by the society, who always welcome boaters as it keeps the canal navigable and well used, we feel it is worth the hard work to visit. My sister lives in Aylesbury and we enjoyed almost a week here. The festival was a really good day with lots of music, street food and good beers.
We also enjoyed visiting the Millwrights, Jim's local pub, it is always vibrant with lots going on.
On the Saturday morning we went along to watch Jim play his guitar, with his guitar group, at a local church open day, whist sat in the audience we noticed Scruff tucking into a large slice of cake, whilst everyone was watching the show she had sneaked along the row of chairs and found a ladies a bag below the seats, she had quietly pinched the cake from within the bag and brought it back to enjoy whist the show went on. Seeing that the dog enjoyed cake, the local priest went off to buy here another!

Scruff meets a full sized Wheaton

We had passed the middle of  September and our thoughts were beginning to return to our journey north and so it was on a fine and warm September Tuesday, we set off  back up the locks to the main line, joined by Dad and Jim who accompanied back up to Marsworth.

Heading back up the Aylesbury Arm

Mooring up just north of the village we made our way down to the Anglers Retreat for a few cooling beers and a lovely dinner. Dad and Jim returned back to Aylesbury with Carole before rejoining us the next morning for a trip back down the locks to the Globe below Leighton Buzzard lock.
We were fortunate to find a mooring at this popular spot and went off to the pub for more beers and another fine dinner.

The busy Globe Inn

Dad enjoying the sunshine

The next morning we set off again in fine weather, September had been really kind to us, and we made our way back through the long slog around Milton Keynes before returning to Cosgrove where we stopped on a beautiful evening, we were treated to the sight of a hot air balloon drifting slowly westward above the water.

Tranquility below Cosgrove

Continuing north, again in good weather we made our way back to the Stoke Bruerne flight and began our ascent to the village, part way up we were again met by Dad, Carole and Jim who joined us for a trip through the tunnel.
We arrived at the northern portal of Blisworth Tunnel and continued along to the moorings at the far end of Blisworth village, these are pleasant moorings just a short walk from the local amenities consisting of a shop and a pub, we had intended to go for dinner at the Royal Oak, unfortunately the restaurant was closed due to there being a funeral. Jim and Carole  had left a car there so they

were able to run us all back to Blisworth to dine at the Navigation.
We said our goodbyes and returned to the boat to ready ourselves for the trip back up north.

Summer continues on the Grand Union