TRIP REPORTS

SUMMER 2005
Our last long cruise in Felis Catus II

Part 3 : A week-end from Cosgrove to Welton Hythe

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We resume the story with Felis Catus II on a mooring at Cosgrove.

Yet another weekend northwards

We came up from home in daylight, bringing the weekend's food with us, and found all well. The towpath had been strimmed, for which purpose somebody had needed to move our pins, but all was secure with the pins driven in very deep at an acute angle. Wendy went to the camping shop to buy a fresh supply of barbecue charcoal. I went to the pub for a couple of pints of Tiger, then we both felt too tired to eat and sat watching some attractive cattle and a sunset the colour of a good pink gin, all to the accompaniment of excellent birdsong.

07:54 is what Wendy calls a leisurely start and I call an early one. Nice sunny weather. We had a short wait at the foot of Stoke Bruerne locks for some boats to come down, and almost at once a boat appeared to share with us, in the form of Enigma from (appropriately) Bletchley Park, crewed by two brothers aiming to be at Coventry by lunchtime next day. There are now lots of what seem to be 14-day moorings below Stoke Bruerne locks, with mooring rings and dredged depth. We moored not too far past the Museum, which I wanted to visit. Wendy had a headache (too much sun while working the locks) so she stayed on the boat. I visited the museum - not a lot was new since my last visit. I felt their collection is superb but their presentation rather patchy. Then I went to The Boat for a couple of pints of Frog Island bitter and a sandwich. David Blagrove was there. There were a lot of moorhens around, but (as just about all the way since Cavalcade) no coots. Is this a sign of pollution? Bob Cooper (who for some years has been the on-site vet at Nationals) once said that coots are choosy, while "morons" will go anywhere.

We had a bad run through Blisworth tunnel, with a lot of boats coming the other way, and Wendy finding the pennant we were flying made it difficult to see what was what (and she'd not done a long tunnel for 3 years). At Bugbrooke we found a conveniently-placed spot on the visitor moorings - good ones with lots of rings - we remember all the mud when they were being put in. The weather had turned grey & cold so we dropped our plan for a barbecue. I did all the prepping for a pork stir-fry and went to the pub (while the pork was marinading) for a couple more pints of Frog Island and a chat with some of the locals. Then I cooked the meal and we turned in after eating it.

This time it was a genuinely leisurely start at 09:38, after Wendy had cooked a full breakfast. We'd hoped to make Braunston by the end of they day, and possibly leave the boat in the Marina for security (Finch was known to be about) and to get an oil-change. It was a grey cool day, and even lock-working was to prove quite chilly. From the start we were being followed by another boat, which turned out to be Lancelot from the London Narrowboat Project, and we shared Whilton & Buckby locks with them, amid heavy traffic. The flight was a slow and tiring as ever. We met Sue Cawson working down the locks, and later a couple of very friendly dogs (one greyhound and one greyhound cross) also off a down-hill boat.

We planned to stop for lunch at the visitor moorings at Buckby Top, but there weren't any gaps as we arrived. Then a boat moved off the last space before the junction, so we got in there for our lunch stop. On one of the boats on the long-term moorings opposite were five cats leaping on and off the roof and chasing each other. By the time we'd had lunch we felt that Braunston was out of practical range without wearing ourselves out, and in any case the Marina office would be closed by the time we got there. So we rang Weltonfield and arranged to leave the boat there. Round the corner onto the Old Grand Union, and we arrived at Welton Hythe at 16:38. We had a pump-out and bought a fresh gas bottle, then went on to one of their finger moorings in pleasant leafy surroundings. But it was too windy for a barbecue. If they have time, the marina will do an oil-change for us.

A taxi to Long Buckby station & off to Orion, via New Street & Smethwick, to see progress on the new boat.