Friday, 3 November 2017

Weedon to Long Buckby Wharf

Friday 3rd November

We were lucky to have a nice bright sunny start to the day and it kept on shining. Not bad for November!
 We could see the church of St Peter and St Paul at Weedon Bec below us as we cruised along the embankment.
 Growing old disgracefully is my motto too! 😄
 We passed by Weedon Marina. So many boatyards there is clearly a lot of business in the narrow boat trade.

 We passed by another converted wharf by the next bridge.
 This cow didn't even look up from it's feeding trough as we passed by.
 There was a lot of construction work going on. Here they were busy constructing a new bridge to span the canal.



 We saw this beautiful old Dutch barge which had been lovingly restored. 
 The sky was so blue today it really made the Autumn colours stand out so beautifully.
 This art sculpture really freaked me out, luckily I wasn't walking past it at dusk or on Halloween!




 The countryside was idyllic however the noise of the M1 and the railway spoilt it. The M1 was only a few hundred yards away on our right and the railway passed on the left. Such a contrast to life in the slow lane on the canal.


Not long after we came to the first lock. We were to climb a flight of 7 locks up to Long Buckby Wharf. We moored up and I went to get some milk from the shop at Whilton Marina. Whilst I was gone another boat came along and they also wanted to go up the flight which meant we could share! Great timing. 



 It turned out that Al and Del owned the really beautifully polished boat that we had passed yesterday. They had been cruising around for the past 9 years. We teamed up with them and I helped Al (Alison) with the locks and John steered the boat.
 I liked this painted bench at the side of the lock. 







 Sharing the locks makes the job so much easier and this was then made easier still when another boat came down the next lock, leaving it ready for us to enter.


 The hours quickly passed as Al and I were chatting away. She gave me some good advice on places to moor on the Leicester arm of the canal. She also told me that Tesco will deliver groceries to a bridge number as long as there is room for the Tesco lorry to pull in! Could be handy..
As I was walking along the towpath I saw a sign which mentioned the Harry Reynolds trail. This area has a lot of historical walks which show places of interest linked to war heroes. http://whiltonlhs.org/whilton-locks-trail


 At one point the canal was so shallow that both boats got stuck on the bottom. Al and I had to walk on to the next lock and let some water out so they could be re-floated. They soon caught us up.



 
Another quirky seat at this lock.  




 A bit further on we passed this novice in real difficulty. The lady on board was shouting that she didn't know what to do and Al came to the rescue and helped her to avoid crashing into the passing boat.

At the top lock is the New Inn. We had arrived at Long Buckby Wharf which was our destination for the weekend. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Buckby



We found a nice mooring spot just past the lock on the right hand side. Far enough away from the road and railway!


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