The bridge is gone at Titchmarsh!

Thrapston to Wadenhoe, River Nene, 5 miles 2 locks

The wind is so cold!  From the north it is coming from, and it was coats on today as we cruised downstream to one of my most favourite moorings at Wadenhoe.  Lucy was just fine, and she has settled to the fact that she is virtually immobile, she is happy enough on the back of the cruiser stern of No Problem…

She does look a bit odd as she has had her hips shaved by the vets, you will have to get used to a few pics of her like this.. but she is a happy lass.

We took the chimney cooly hat off to go under the bridges just downstream of Islip Lock.. well those two are very low normally, let alone if the river is slightly high.   I enjoyed today, it was nice to get going again after the events of the last few days.. run down the river, change of scene, change of luck, change of attitude… I need to do that, I have been miserable, it’s not fair on everyone else..

Titchmarsh Lock was a bit unfriendly.. take a look at this!..

This is the upstream gate.. we are waiting for the guillotine to raise in front of us to exit the lock.

I like Wadenhoe.  I took Tony to see the dovecote this afternoon.. well Vic said to me “Go on, go and have a wander, I will watch Lucy a while”.. so I went off.  I need to walk a bit.  Not that I am keen to do so at the moment without my mutt, but I don’t want to put weight on.. so I thought about a wander round the village coupled with a nice walk of about 3 miles.. here the dovecote in the village…

The ladder bit actually swings round, I guess so that birds can be fed?  Probably somebody will enlighten me on this..

Son Tony is enjoying himself.  A city lad now, but not this week.  No Problem has shown him life in the slow lane, and he has so enjoyed himself at a paced forced by the pace of the water itself.  He is very relaxed, and enjoyed his walk this evening away from the city streets. 

He made me laugh, having to keep up with his Mum.. the reason for him having to keep up?  Well he took out the binoculars and just couldn’t stop looking through them at anything that moved… then it was ‘catchup the walk’ time!!

Still at Thrapston..

Moored Thrapston, River Nene

They came and changed the board today.. it was “Do not boat on the River due to fast stream conditions”.. now there is no notice at all, so the river is at normal levels and available for boating…

It really has been a real awful week for me, well not only me but the whole family as well.. not only Lucy having this horrendous accident, but news from home today was so sad..

One of our retired ponies, Little Nell, has had to be put to sleep.  We have three retired ponies, Nellie was the youngest at 31 years old.  She had been a bit poorly for quite some time, but enjoyed life so much that she was determined not to give up on that.  Little Nell was a jumping pony, a little 12.2hh or 128cm pony that daughter Wendie rode as a youngster of 10–12 years old.  She qualified in 1985 for the Horse of the Year Show, and finished in 3rd place.  She represented her country too… So she had been in our family for some 23 odd years.. now that IS a long time to own a pony… We will all miss her for sure, and her two stable companions Lulu aged 33 and Roger aged 48 are pining tonight..

News on Lucy…. Vet Renee arrived at No Problem this afternoon and was delighted at her progress, and has told us to continue along the Nene.  It will be 3 weeks now until Lucy has the pin out holding her hip joint together.. it is essential that we don’t allow her to move too much..

Son Tony has joined us this evening for a few days, a long journey for him up from the South Coast.. it’s great to see him on board.  Funnily enough the last time he visited was in much the same place last year!  Tomorrow I think we will move to Wadenhoe, he will enjoy it there, I must show him the dovecote..

Thrapston, River Nene..

Weekend – Moored Thrapston, River Nene

Just a very quickie this evening to say that Lucy is doing just fine, much chirpier today.  We are learning to live with a K9 with a fragile injury on a narrowboat.. it might be 24/7 but it works

I will try and write a bit tomorrow during the day..

Lucy is home..

Denford to Thrapston, River Nene, 1 mile 1 lock

It wasn’t until late lunchtime that the vets said Lucy could come home today.  Oh I wish they could have said this morning.  Made the next hour or so very hectic having to move No Problem and Moore2Life to Thrapston to be near a road on a river that we shouldn’t have been moving on.  A strong stream advise was in force from the environment agency which meant that they did not advise boating on the river at the moment.

A bus from Thrapston to Peterborough took an hour and half, and a taxi brought us back from Peterborough vet hospital with Lucy and dropped us close to No Problem.

I carried Lucy to the boat..

She is happy, I am happy, Vic is happy, everyone is happy..

More tomorrow..

Farmer Vic deals with the Cows at Denford..

Moored Denford, River Nene

We share this mooring with the cows.. but sometimes they get a bit inquisitive.  They are only young, but I am not too sure what good it is doing them when I see them licking No Problem’s paintwork.  Here farmer Vic moving them on…. It won’t be long till they come back though!

I left Vic with the engineer from Foxton Boats while I went into Thrapston on the bus to get some flowers and cards for two special people.  The first card and flowers I was able to deliver in Thrapston to Renee and the girls at The Best Friends Group Vet Practice, and Renee came out the back just as bubbly as ever “She is doing OK is Lucy, I have been in touch with the vet hospital this morning”.. she smiled and we chatted a while about Lucy’s future recovery. 

In fact we chatted so much that the bus back to Denford was missed.. another hour before the next one, so friend Ann and I went to the top of the town to the co-op.. I didn’t know there was a supermarket in Thrapston till I asked.  Got some bread and milk then had a good ‘ol window shop around the small town.

“The engineer can’t find anything wrong, he has had the engine running tor hour and half and it is not overheating at all”  Vic phoned while I was in Thrapston… Typical… bloomin’ typical.  It has boiled over every day this week after about 35 to 55 minutes or running… today.. nope!! There was nothing to be done but to send the mechanic away…

Returning back to No Problem I had a quick cupper before setting off across the countryside to go and deliver my second bunch of flowers and card.  This time to the farmer lady who had kindly taken Lucy to the vet so rapidly the other day.. I saw again the gate where the dreadful accident had happened.  I am still at a loss to really understand what went wrong that day.  Unfortunately the farmer wasn’t in, but I left the flowers and card by the back door.. she will find them.

I continued with Ann and Molly across the fields to complete the walk that we set out to do the other day…. An interesting walk to say the least.. here a field crossed that had horses, cattle, sheep and goats in..

I phoned the vet hospital as I walked, and Lucy is just fine, she is eating well and “wagging her tail at us”.. good.  I won’t go and visit, much as I so dearly want to.  If I go, then leave her she will be devastated, I know she will.  “We want to keep her over the weekend”  “OK.. sigh.. whatever is best for Lucy”.   I will phone tomorrow morning again for an update.  To be honest I think they are just waiting for her to put some weight on that leg just to make sure the pin in her hip joint is holding OK.  I can understand their reluctance to let her come home. Just getting her from the hospital to No Problem is going to be quite a major worry.. still she is “wagging her tail at us”.. she is OK

I got back from the walk a bit late this evening.. guess what.. the engine had overheated after Vic had run it for battery charging!

 

Lucy is in Peterborough tonight..

Moored Denford, River Nene

A bad injury unfortunately, Lucy has had a long operation this afternoon at the Vet Hospital at Peterborough and has had a pin put through her hip joint to hold it all in place.  She will need ‘cage rest’ for three weeks when the pin will come out, then another three weeks cage rest, as they put it, in fact they say it will be a good two months before she can move about much at all. 

It has been rather an anxious day for sure, but they did say she might be able to come home on Saturday as long as she is OK in the morning.  I hope to move to Oundle by Saturday as it is easier to get a bus.. but obviously I cant bring her back on a bus, so I will have to try and find a taxi who is willing to transport a dog.. but finding one of those is the least of my worries though

Our engine is also giving us a problem at the moment.. this time the cooling system is playing up.  We have an engineer arriving tomorrow from Foxton Boat Services to take a look.. All this calls for ‘one day at a time’ tactics me thinks..

Thankyou to everybody for all your good wishes for Lucy .. she is a grand little mutt and deserves all the luck in the world for a complete recovery.

A disastrous walk.. Lucy is hurt..

Moored Denford, River Nene

It rained for most of the morning, then by lunch time the sun came out again, the weather sure did look fair, so I decided to take a stroll..

I couldn’t open the gate.. a five barred steal gate.  I climbed it and tapped the wooden fence beside the gate, but she didn’t listen to me and followed her friend Molly.. the leggy jack russell through the gate, jumping high to go through the top bar but one.. EEK!

Head, body and rump went through OK, but Lucy left her back legs out behind as she dived through.. one of them got caught and took all the weight of her body as she hung for a split second before landing in a heap and squeal.

It was obvious it wasn’t going to ‘walk off’ and we were some mile and half away from Denford.  Ann and I were looking at the map wondering what to do for the best… “You OK over there?”  shouted a voice.. The farmer wondered why we were hanging about on the footpath beside her farm… we explained … “Jump in the car.. I’ll take you to the vet”

Within 10 minutes Lucy was in the capable hands of Renee at The Best Friends Vet Group in Thrapston.  As soon as I went in Renee the vet came straight to her and began examining the injury. “I don’t think its broken… she hasn’t dislocated the hip..”

Lucy is back home.. we caught the bus back from Thrapston to Denford and she painfully hobbled back to No Problem.  The vet gave her some anti inflammatory drugs and pain killers and we are due back there tomorrow morning.  If she still isn’t standing on her leg then it will be x-rayed etc.  Renee is expecting her to be putting weight on it tomorrow.. I just had her out for a wee, and she is not putting any weight on it yet.. oh dear..

I definitely have not had a good day today.. Mr Tesco phoned “Are you a real person?”… prodding myself, I re-assured him I most certainly was!

I needed a few bits and bobs to tide me over while we are waiting for the river to go down a bit so asked for our delivery to be picked up outside the pub.. “Very odd delivery place, I wondered if it was a hoax” says he “I live on a narrowboat, and unless you can come up the river with your van, oh and by the way don’t even try, its in flood, then the nearest you will get to me is that pub”.. He was happy enough when he arrived..

More news on Lucy when I get back from the vet tomorrow..

What water shortage at Denford on the Nene?..

Moored Denford, River Nene

This morning was lovely and sunny so I decided to go for a hike across to the east of Denford.. not many people in this area walk their footpaths.. some so overgrown that it was difficult to find a way through, and some paths non-existent.  Making my way across a field of oil seed rape higher than my head and finding my direction was errrrrrrr fun.. well fun-ish!  Good job I have a gps to help me.. but I got there, and have sent off some photos to Northamptonshire Council to see if they are prepared to make the paths a bit more obvious and walkable..

I did have a smile though when passing this house close to Denford on a quiet country lane.  Now this is the way to beat the water shortage.. stick one of these in the back garden!!..

It even had a TV aerial on the very top!..

As I walked back across the meadows back to No Problem I spied two Environment Agency guys at Denford Lock.. “Uh Oh” I thought, and yes I could see now, the river had come up 2 feet in the 4 hours that I had been away.  Now the water was pouring down the weir streams.. the Nene was in flood!..

“You and Moore2Life are fine there”  We were just off the main river running down through the meadows bypassing the lock.. in the safety of the lock stream, and although the water was high, it was not running fast at all.  “Stay for a few days ‘till the water goes down.then give us a ring”…

We will watch the headroom under the Farm Bridge, here tonight…

But what a wonderful place to be stopped.  I don’t mind really if the river stays in flood for a week or so.. what more can one want than views like this across the meadows..

Great to see all the pics back now after losing them all off the blog over the weekend, and many thanks to all those who offered to put them back on for me, I really do appreciate that.. I had quickly sent them off to my good friend Keith in Scotland, who put them all back on the server this afternoon.. thanks Keith

It's a bit wet on the Nene

Weekend and today – Moored Denford, River Nene

Goodness it has been wet, but I have managed to get out with the dogs on each evening.  It seems the rain is determined to fall by day, and not by night at the moment.  I hear that Scotland is to have a frost tonight, and maybe some snow tomorrow in the highlands!

I asked the owner of The Cock Inn here in Denford how long the chef had been working for him after we had finished our sunday lunch.. “Fourteen days” was his reply.. Yes, I was not surprised.  This pub was my number one of the year for sunday roasts, but not any more it isn’t, what a shame.  Presentation was good, but the meal itself I felt was not up to the standard of a £9 roast.. still never mind, still tops then for this year then is Lock Stop Bistro at Hillmorton on the Oxford Canal..

The farmer knocked the door this morning.. “Is it OK if I let my heifers out into this field?”.. Amazing!   We are moored in HIS fields, and he asks if it is OK to let the cows out!  It was really funny this evening, they all came over to watch the tele through the window!

I am quite happy staying here for a few more days while this awful weather passes.  I feel like one of the villagers.  Everyone says Hi when I am out with the dogs, and they all seem to know it’s me that is moored in their meadows.  Anyway I have some repairs to do to my website server after a bit of a disaster on their part over the weekend.

Lost Blog...

My website server mananged to get their hard drives corrupted last night.  Emails in my box early this morning told me something was wrong.. “Time Warp” as Paul Balmer put it.  Sure enough showing on the blog was the ‘latest post’ … back from November 2005.

The email from the server people made my heart drop…

“We have gone through your issue and noted that your site is not functioning as it was working inlast night. You have to reupload your files on server.

Sorry for inconvenience faced with web-mania. Upload your data on web space.

Unfortunately the hard drive was giving errors last night and we had to attempt to repair the hard drive before the hard drive became corrput.

During the scan several bad sector were repaired on the hard drive, unfortunatley data on those sectors will have been changed.

You will have to restore you data from backup.”

I have managed to put back all of the blog, but with no pictures for now.  I cannot upload 6 months worth of pictures onto the server again, it is too many MB’s for my priceplan with orange, so I will have to send them off on cd to be uploaded by someone else.  I need to do all the location files again, and check out all the other stuff on the left hand side.  The Moore2Life blog will also be without recent pictures for now, Chas uses a folder on my server to store his on.

To be fair to web-mania, this is the first time I have had a major problem like this with them in over 6 years of being their customer.

Given a couple of days the blog will be back to it’s normal self.

It's like the North Sea outside here at Denford

Today – Moored Denford
Yesterday – Thrapston to Denford, River Nene, 1 mile 1 lock

It was all my fault apparently…

The overcrowding at Thrapston visitor moorings, 4 narrowboats.. good job no more came round the corner!  Yes my fault it was.. Eric (Oh I do hope it was Eric and not Brian.. I am so dreadful with names) from Australia comes to Britain for about 12 weeks a year and travels the waterways.  This year he chose the Nene and Eastern Waterways because… “Your blog influenced what we would do this year!”.. He and his good wife were travelling with another narrowboat and crew that they had met last year.. .  I was flattered, but also a bit embarrassed to think that all 4 boats on the moorings were there because of me!

We decided to go back to Denford for a week… well the 7 day weather forecast on Countryfile was dreadful for this week, and we do like Denford, and do hate rain and wind.  So we pulled the pins and went back upstream after nipping into Thrapston again to top up on fly spray of all things.. well on the rivers the mossies drive me nuts in the evening, and I do like the windows and doors open.  There is the most fascinating hardware shop in Thrapston, it is hard to pull yourself away from there.. wooden floors and that typical ‘oldy worldy hardware store’ smell about it.. they sold just about everything.. “Got a hand brush without the dustpan to go with it?”  I got a dustpan you see, there is nothing wrong with that, it’s just the brush has seen better days “Well not sure.. the second row by the spades and forks, there are some loose brushes there”… Sure enough in amongst various brush heads I found a hand brush, just what I needed!

Short trip to Denford, and we had just moored up when the heavens opened..

Today I had to go back to Little Irchester, the Post Office near the Wellingborough embankment.  Not by boat, but by bus.. an hour it took to get there.  Post!  Blooming post had arrived after we had left.  I had lost a parcel somewhere and phoned them.. “Yep it is here”.. darn it.  “Would you forward it to Thrapston for me”.. “Err not for nothing no”.  They wanted the postage before they would send it.  Said to Vic it would be about the same price to go fetch it by bus.. By the time I had sent a cheque, they put it in the bank, it cleared etc etc etc, … anyway I decided to go get it.

I was back by late lunch time to find Vic going for it with the grinder and sander below the back deck planks, doing out all the channels that take the excess water away under the back deck boards..

Done a good job on that he has, and later this afternoon he got the red oxide and paint brush out to make sure the nice ‘non rusty now’ shiney bits don’t rust over before a nice coat of blue gloss later

Woodford, Denford and Thrapston..

Ringstead Lock to Thrapston, River Nene, 5 miles 4 locks

Cruising the River Nene is just so laid back, so relaxing and so totally different from the canal system.  I am always really surprised that there are so few people who choice to cruise it.  I might be surprised, but I am delighted it is so quiet, and when a boat is met it’s almost like a huge social occasion, huge hellos and chat to go with it.  I suppose other boaters are surprised to see us too!

So today then..

We didn’t call into Woodford Riverside although they still advertise on the bridge that there is pumpout and water.  I did report last year that the facilities were not available, but still it is advertised… but I had to smile to see a heron on the top of the bridge.  It looks lovely under the bridge there, and there are quite a few boats moored in this very quiet and remote place.  Lots have large TV aerials, so presumably they are resident.. I wouldn’t mind a mooring there…

At a lot of the locks the Environment Agency have put up very informative boards.. I really like them, very user friendly and show where all the facilities are, not that there are a lot of those though along the Nene!..

It’s rubbish really, there are very few places were rubbish can be officially dumped at EA depots.  Here at Thrapston would be an ideal place, there is a gate where a bin could easily be put for boaters rubbish… There is a tap here at least though.

We moored at the visitor moorings just after lunch and went into the town heading for the butchers and Post Office.  Super butchers that is too, and I found the prices very reasonable.  Mr Tesco duly brought us lots of carrier bags full of goodies.. then it was time to relax…

At our very own picnic table before nipping back into the town for fish and chips this evening, yum they were good too!

We decided to ‘raft’ up tonight to Moore2Life.. you can see the two boats moored together.  It was a good job we did, two more narrowboats arrived and moored behind us to completely fill the visitor moorings here, again they also rafted up.. It was nice to meet one of my regular blog readers on the way back to the canal system after a short tour of the eastern waterways.

Just enough light left for a quick wander around this place.. Lucy is staring at me with pleading eyes!!

A quiet few days at Ringstead

Weekend and today – Moored close to Ringstead Lock, River Nene

Not one boat passed on Saturday.. one or two on Sunday and today again we have not seen a boat..

We normally moor at the weekends because boaters are out and about from their Marinas enjoying themselves, but this weekend has been rather odd.  Even though we are on the Nene, I would have expected more boats about… never mind, I love it really!!

Here is No Problem beside the bank..

Along the top of the ‘bank’ is a lovely grassy track that stretches alongside the river and down to some lakes where fishermen have been camping out and spending the whole weekend trying to catch the biggest carp.  To be honest I have not seen any of them catch anything, let alone a carp, and they were fishing all night long too.  It is a really lovely area here, and I have done plenty of walking in the area.  I can’t believe the number of fields that has oil seed rape in them, seems the whole area is a sea of yellow…

Here I took a pic of Ann walking along a footpath right through the middle of one of the fields yesterday!..

Gave NP a bit of a ‘brush up’ yesterday.. it is amazing how much gets brought inside, plus Lucy's hairs on the floor everywhere.. I am so pleased we decided to lay the floorboards last year instead of having a carpet, it has made such a huge difference.  Much easier to clean through, and much quicker too!  We do have some loose mats which takes away the starkness of the floor.. Anyway I decided to take away the tiles in front of the fire while I was at it.. summer is here surely I thought!

Having said that, it rained off and on today, and each time we thought there was a break in the weather enough to move on down to Denford, it started to rain again.. so in the end decided to stay here ‘til tomorrow.  We will miss out on our stop at Denford, and go on to Thrapston where we have booked a Tesco Home Delivery for tomorrow afternoon.. The freezer is more or less empty too, so a visit to the butcher is needed as well. Definitely back upstream to Denford though for a few days afterwards.

I will update the Picture Albums shortly, there are over 60 pics in the May album already!

It's the Costa De Nene!!

Great Doddington to Upper Ringstead Lock, Little Addington, River Nene, 10.25 miles 7 locks

We had quite a bit to do today, so pulled the pins fairly early to make our way to Wellingborough.  But not before I took a pic of our mooring of the last couple of days.  This one taken before 9am this morning, for sure it was going to be a hot one today!

Wellingborough embankment was quite when we arrived, but the main roads around were noisy with the hustle and bustle of traffic.  Vic filled No Problem with water while I went over the bridge to Little Irchester to collect the post from the Post Office there.  It is only about 100 yards from the embankment at Wellingborough, so very handy to the river.

Dropped the post off on the boat then took off in the other direction to Tesco to pick up some bits and bobs.  Didn’t get much though because I think we will probably be at Thrapston in the middle of next week, and we can get good ‘ol Mr Tesco to do us a ‘home visit’ there..

Then it was off to our next call, being Rushden and Diamonds Football Club.. not to watch the footy though, but to empty the loos and dump the rubbish.. EA have some facilities there.  It’s quite funny really, each of the facilities has a door in a large building that has to be opened with a key.. even the rubbish disposal has a door and key!.. Refilled with water.. well did some washing after leaving Wellingborough and on top of that, Vic and I had a shower each.. Yes we can have a shower on the move!!… Well the next water will be next week sometime, so we will now have to be careful on our usage!

Wildlife on this river has been wonderful, here a heron posing for me on one leg..

Not only are the lakes a super place for wildfowl, but they are a source of recreation for humans too.. This guy was just a strip of land away from No Problem, I think he came close to the edge of the lake to show off his speed!!

Looks good fun that, I wouldn’t mind a go at it!!

But the Nene has more to offer for boating recreation, here a group of children enjoying their canoes, well I think they are.. looks like someone up there has capsized, I spy a canoe the wrong way up!  Better slow down a bit more for sure!

We met a couple of boats coming through Irthingborough Lock, very unusual that, hey two at once!!  Both had come from March on the Middle Levels and were going to spend summer on the canals, making their way to London before travelling along the Thames and up the Southern Oxford canal..

No doubt we will meet again in the autumn on our way back..

Well we certainly paid for the most glorious day today.. heavy thunderstorms have rocked us tonight, but we are nice and cosy, warm and dry just listening to the radio right now, having just opened the bar on No Problem..

Great Doddington is great!

Moored Great Doddington

It’s a nice village just up the hill from the river.  It has a shop too, and the post office has been opened again with new owners, although UK Villages Online are not showing it as re-opened yet.  We walked there this morning to have a look round, before walking over to Summer Leys Nature Reserve on the other side of the Nene.  This was created from old mineral working in the Nene Valley.  We sat on the benches and watched the wildlife on the lakes, a very beautiful area indeed.

Chas and Vic  found a bridge to take them back to Moore2Life and No Problem…

While Ann and I along with the two dogs set off across the countryside for a lengthy walk which too much of the rest of the day!!

As we wandered round, we kept seeing pointers along the paths with Waendel written on them.  It was only when I got back and put that into google that I found out that there is to be a International Waendel Weekend this very weekend in this area.  I wondered where the name Waendel came from and found..

 “In the early 6th Century an Anglo-Saxon leader named Waendel gave his name to a settlement which was sited on the banks of the River Nene - "WENDELINGBURGH - The stronghold of Waendel's people" - later to be known as Wellingborough.

It seemed appropriate to name the walk after the town's founder - Hence the name "Waendel Walk". “

So now I know!

We came back via the Nene Way, passing the very pretty mill at Doddington Lock.  It can’t actually be seen from the lock, so it was nice to get a pic of it from the other side.

It was being done up, it sure is gonna look good when it is finished. 

A very welcomed cuppa from Vic on our return, and we got the chairs out and spent the rest of the late afternoon enjoying the sun.  Off came the walking boots!  It’s a lovely evening now and Lucy is pleading with me to go out across the fields for a while.. think I will

Cogenhoe to Great Doddington, River Nene, 4 miles 5 locks

After visiting the village for fresh milk and bread we pulled the pins on our mooring at Cogenhoe and made our way to the lock.  The Environment Agency had just decided at that time to take their boat down through the lock!..

Errrrrr sideways! .  Seems the skipper let go the ropes at the lock landing there on the right before turning on the engine, and the engine wouldn’t start, which left him in quite an embarrassing situation across the river!  However it was roped into the lock, locked through, and finally got going about 10 minutes later on the lock staging downstream.  Meanwhile we ‘moored’ in the lock and filled with water.  A glorious day today, the sun was warm, just perfect.

EA are doing a lot of painting, well all the bollards and white bits around the locks, it really does look quite smart..

They had just about finished here at Cogenhoe, and by the time we had gone through the next lock at Whiston and on to White Mills Lock we met the ‘EA Painting Crew’ again, just about to start on that lock, and they very kindly locked us through that one..

All the guillotine locks so far had been mechanical, and Vic and I knew the next one would have to be done by hand.. “Your turn to do this lock Chas and Ann” we called as we arrived with Moore2Life at Earls Barton Lock.. Teehee!!..

Round and round they turned the wheel.. no push button here to lift the guillotine.  I can’t remember how many turns it is now on the big wheel, I wonder if Chas counted.. anyway he was well pleased with himself by the time he had finished!..

Arriving downstream of the little footbridge that takes a footpath over the river to the pretty village of Great Doddington, we shoved the two boats into the side and put out the long plank.  The vegetation was well high, but we have a rip hook, or bill hook some people call it, and made a path from the gangplank to the meadow.  Then time for a cuppa, and we got the chairs out and spent a very nice hour or so enjoying the late afternoon sun..

After tea Ann and I took the dogs across the meadows and through the village of Great Doddington.  The view from the village is stunning.. you might just spot Moore2Life and No Problem in the very centre of the picture, the Nene is along that tree line in the middle of the pic ..

We will stay here tomorrow and explore

Cogenhoe is a place to share my space!!

Monday and Today – Moored Cogenhoe, River Nene
Sunday – Weston Favell Lock to Cogenhoe, River Nene, 2.75 miles 3 locks
Saturday – Moored Weston Favell Lock, River Nene

Change of plan for Sunday, well the F1 Grand Prix started at 12pm after Country File, so trying to fit cruising down to Billing Aquadrome, mooring up, walking to the pub for lunch into that was not going to work, so we decided to watch the tele in the afternoon and cruise to Cogenhoe instead,  The weather forecast was for rain yesterday, so we wanted to just move downstream a couple of locks.  I like Cogenhoe, and know to moor just before the caravans..

Mind you, if you want to moor here then you have to be prepared to share!….

And Chas and Ann’s dog and cat have to learn to share…

While Lucy decides she wants her own space!!..

On the other side of the river!  …………..

It has been lovely here, the weather has been really nice, but I have had this cold to contend with the last few days which has kept me down a bit, but today, I thought darn it, I am going walking no matter what, and chose a beautiful walk to the east of Cogenhoe and over to the village of Whiston through the gloriously colourful fields…

It’s good to be back on the Nene, it seems so tranquil after the canals, just one or two boats by this weekend, seems we have the river almost to ourselves.  I thought I might do a bit of a River Nene guide as I go along, I have found a water tap that isn’t mentioned in any guide book.. tis just downstream of Cogenhoe lock, moor on the lock landing below the lock, and its a standpipe just across the track on the right.. so there you go!

I think we might just meander on a bit tomorrow, the weather is going to be good I think.  Will pop to the village for bread, milk etc, oh there is a Post Office in the village by the way, then fill with water and onward..

Relaxing on our first day on the River Nene

Moored close Weston Favell Lock, River Nene

Another glorious day today, lovely and warm.

A ‘girlies lunch’ was on the cards, so said goodbye to Chas and Vic and accompanied by Ann and the two dogs, wandered down the Nene Way in the direction of Billing Aquadrome.  We walked round the large lake there to take a look at the visitor moorings.  I didn’t take No Problem into the Aquadrome on our last visit to the Nene, for the simple reason that I missed the entrance both on the way up and on the way down.. Well the ‘visitor moorings’ look typical of the wonderful items, like bits of rotten ply, that make up many of the moorings along the river…

We will have a go at mooring here on Sunday so we can go visit the pub on the other side of the river for their carvery.. should just about get half of NP alongside here!

We all sat out on the pontoon moorings this afternoon, hey the first day of the year that the chairs came out.. will have to get the sun brolly soon!.. the Nene is just as beautiful as I remember.  It is amazing, it’s so different from the canals, close to nature and plenty of wildlife to be seen..

…and as we strolled today, we heard our first cuckoo of the year just across the river.

Just the one boat passed today, but late this evening we were joined by another narrowboat on the moorings here.  They had left at 6am this morning from Braunston.. now that is a long way to travel in a day..

I have a cold.. spose I picked it up from somewhere ‘dan saff’.. I wish it would go away.  I am not feeling like doing too much walking at the moment, but I did venture out late this evening and got a nice pic of our moorings from the far bank of the river..

Our friends join us as we cruise to the Nene at last..

Top Lock Rothersthorpe Flight to Weston Favell Lock, Northampton Arm GU Canal and River Nene, 6 miles 20 locks

Many thanks indeed for all the happy birthday wishes I have received today, thank you all. 

A late walk last night saw perfect conditions for a pic at the top lock of the Rothersthorpe flight….

 I was hoping today would be just as calm with some added sunshine to make it the perfect day.  I sure wasn’t to be disappointed, what a wonderful day for a relaxed decent to Northampton and the River Nene.

Two boats to go down then, No Problem and Moore2Life, and Chas took the lead as we slowly tumbled down the lock flight.  It was great to see our friends John Sinclair and Paul Balmer, who had offered to give a helping hand.. John is off in the summer to have a look at Stratford on Avon, but Paul will have to wait until next year for his own boat, this year he is on the Scottish Canals.. I am looking forward to the photos and blogs on that one, and also looking forward to the produced DVD under the Waterways Routes banner for that particular canal.

Paul was telling me that he is used to ‘doing’ cruising at a much faster speed.. he sure does go a long way in two weeks, and last year did the Leeds and Liverpool canal both ways, plus all the branches in that time!!  Today he had to slow down a bit!!

After having to wait at one lock for a boat which was coming up, it wasn’t long before we caught Moore2Life up again, and I spied Chas and Ann moored in the lock below me having lunch!..

We said a fond farewell to John after 13 of the 17 locks, with a promise that we would meet again at Bedford during the summer.  It is always a pleasure to welcome John, thanks for a lovely day John

Then the most wonderful sight….

We started singing “We’re all going on a summer holiday”.. and a huge, huge smile on my face.. We stopped at the Town Quay to visit Morrisons, just a short walk away, and said an equally fond goodbye to Paul.. I do hope to see Paul again this summer.. he does tend to knock my window and surprise me unannounced!.. Thanks for your help Paul and your company today .

I don’t know why Morrisons don’t bake more meat and potato pies!  It is so annoying.  The last three times I have visited Morrisons especially to go get those, there are none left on their shelves.. I said to the guy.. “Hey why don’t you bake more?”.. “If we bake more, we wouldn’t sell any other type”.. I had to laugh at that, so what??   Anyway, the only reason they sold two steak pies to me today was, in fact, because there were no meat and potato pies left!!

Three more locks to do then, the first was the Town Lock…

Through the park, out into the full Nene, two more locks, before cruising through Abington barrage gates on the Northampton washlands..

Settling this evening at the moorings just before Weston Favell lock.  The beauty of this river is lovely even through the outskirts of Northampton.  Wildlife so different from just a couple of miles ago on the canal.. with grebe, warblers, sandpipers, terns and swans jostling for nesting space being very much in evidence.  Hooray we are here!

Tomorrow will see us on the River Nene

Last couple of days – Moored top lock Rothersthorpe, Northampton Branch GU Canal

I did say that I probably wouldn’t write a blog until tomorrow.. but it is my birthday tomorrow!

I was going to stay up late tonight, well into the early hours actually.. I thought of doing something special for my birthday..

I was going to post a blog at a certain time because it’s amazing..

The time I was going to post was…

01.02.03.04.05.06

For those not sure, that is two minutes and three seconds past one o’clock on 4th May 2006 – check it out!  

But I am absolutey shattered from my trip ‘dan saff’, and I need an early night!

Ooops.. not so quiet an escape this weekend at Gayton Junction!

This weekend – Moored Rothersthorpe Top Lock
Friday 28th April - Bugbrooke to Rothersthorpe Top Lock, GU Canal and GU Northampton Branch, 4 miles 0 locks

I forgot the IWA rally at Northampton!

I thought poking No Problem into the Northampton Arm of the Grand Union Canal would free us from the constant passing of boats over the bank holiday… wrong!.. Ha no problem though, lots of boats passed us, we enjoyed actually.  Moored fairly close to the top lock of the flight of locks that drop down to the Nene, boats were going past slowly.  There was a rally this weekend in Northampton, and they all returned today back up the 17 locks.. one boat after another!

Ivor Batchelor, who sells coal and diesel, is at Bugbrooke at the moment…

We passed him on Friday making our way to Gayton Junction.  I was very surprised to see the price of his diesel at 55p a litre.  Scarey really to see such a high price.  We filled up to the brim at Nether Heyford the other day at 50p a litre.. such is the huge hike that we are now having to pay for the pink stuff.. I remember a year ago we were paying under 30p a litre.. .. I am wondering what the Rivers Nene and Great Ouse are going to offer us in the marinas.. 60p maybe?

The weather this weekend has been far better than the BBC predicted and spring is definitely here, the trees are filled in with leaves, the birds are nesting, and we are passing swans doing the motherly thing..

On Saturday most of my day was taken up with a ramble across some lovely Northamptonshire countryside, visiting 4 villages, Milton Masor, Blisworth, Gayton and Rothersthorpe, criss crossing the canal along the way.. very pleasant indeed.

I have to go ‘dan saff’ tomorrow for a couple of days, so no blog from me ‘till Thursday.. anyway next time you see a blog we will be on the River Nene!!

Now that brought a smile to my face!!