The Finale - Napton On The Hill to Yelvertoft - 13 locks, 16 miles

I really can't believe this is our last day of cruising at the end if what has been the most fantastic journey.

We left really early, 6:20, Rod cast us off for the last time, the reason for the early start was the historic boats for the Braunston show were due to start arriving from today, so we wanted to get through Braunston before it got too busy.

It was a pretty overcast start but I am very pleased to say it didn't take too long for the sun to put in an appearance.  

The first stretch to the junction at Braunston was fairly uneventful, although we did pass a couple of Kate's boats, we first came across these on our second hire boat holiday, when I rather butch lady informed us, as we struggled to shut a gate, "leave it, it'll shut" she scared us to death, so every time we pass one now we have to do the quote in our deepest voice.

Just before we arrived at Braunston bottom lock we passed the wharf where By The Way was first dropped into the water.

As this is the Grand Union Main Line the locks are double locks, the first that we have encountered for over 6 months.  A boat was going up ahead of us, I helped them with the lock and they said they would wait at the next lock for us, these locks are so much easier with two boats.

It got pretty hectic as we got to the top lock, two boats had just come out of the lock and two more were waiting to complete their descent, it was like Picadilly Circus, still we made it through unscathed.

Next was the Braunston tunnel which is two way, we have yet to go through this tunnel and not encounter a boat coming the other way, today was no exception. (Mike I am really gutted there is still no museum at the other end!!!!)

Finally George could see light at the end of the tunnel.

You can see from the picture below how tight a squeeze it is through this tunnel, there are also some pretty serious leaks.

Next stop was the Watford flight. This includes a staircase of 4 locks.  The paddles are coloured red and white, you have to open the red one first.  The saying is Red before White, you're right, White before Red you're dead!!!  I checked in with the lock keeper, who said we could start the ascent immediately so we were off.  As we got to the first of the staircase locks, he came over and said, it is so much easier when people know what they are doing, I'll leave you to it and go and help the lady in front.  I have of course been milking this for the rest of the day!!  Mind you after 12 months it would be a pretty sad state of affairs if I didn't know what I was doing :-)).

Following the Watford flight, we made our way through the Crick tunnel, again it's two way and again we met a boat coming the other way - we also got soaked there is a lot of dripping water as you get towards the end of the tunnel and it is full of lime, so we then had to pull over for Mr B to shammy down the boat.

We now only had one mile to go before we pulled into Yelvertoft marina.

Rod has gone on his last bike ride to pick up the van, it is a pretty mammoth one, but the sun is shining and he was going via the house so he could get on his road bike, so hopefully it has been a pleasurable one.

This is our penultimate post.  

Tomorrow I am going to summarise the journey the highs the lows (if I can think of any lows), the things that have made us laugh and the stats - how far, how many locks and how many falls into the canal!!!

Barby to Napton On The Hill - 8.5 miles

Monday morning was gorgeous as we pulled pins at about 7:30.

We arrived at the junction at Braunston just after 9:00, there were quite a few early movers this morning all making the most of the great start to the day.

We made the right hand turn onto the Grand Union without incident.

As we travelled along I was entertained by some ducklings trying to out run the boat, their little legs were going 99 to the dozen.

In the end they gave up on trying to stay in front and headed off to the bank.

We ate at the Kings Head, Monday night is Steak Night, so I had Fish & Chips!!!

We then had to have a desert, because the Steak night offer includes a pudding :-).

Rod had the Bakewell Tart and I had Sticky Toffee pudding, yummie.....

Tuesday night is Gourmet Burger night, so we are booked to go back tonight........naughty but very nice and it is our last week of cruising, that's our excuse any way :-).

Napton is a really pretty village with some beautiful views.  We took the opportunity to take George for a nice long walk this morning, into the village and then down to the locks and back along the canal.

(EH 680, M 802.5, L 615)

Hawkesbury Junction to Barby - 17.5 miles, 4 locks, 1 swing bridge

Friday night was the boys Curry night.  Having had to watch what I drank last week I offered to drive so Rod wasn't so restricted.  It would be fair to say he took full advantage of this offer, if you want me to dish the dirt I am open to bribery, suffice to say it was quite entertaining and more than a little challenging :-). A big thanks to Dave for getting him back to the house safely. By the time we got back onto the boat it was 1:45 a.m. and thankfully we avoided falling in the canal!!!

As a consequence we were a bit later setting off on Saturday morning, the first job was to tackle Hawkesbury junction and the stop lock.  It was surprisingly busy, but the lock is so shallow it didn't take long for the boats to get through.

As we headed away from the junction there was a horse tethered on the bank, not sure if it was being used for pulling a traditional boat or if some one was just taking advantage of common land.

We were also followed for a distance by a pair of swans and their signets.

Unfortunately the sun seems to have deserted us, that will teach me to make reference to the fantastic weather!!!

We passed under the M6 again, it never seems to have been far away!

We moored at a nice spot that we had stopped at on the way up back in August, we were lucky as we were a bit later we got one of the last spots.

I cycled back for the van as Mr B was still a little worse for wear, bless him :-).

Later that evening Rod got talking to the guy in front, they had been the proud owners of their boat since new - 30 years ago, I wonder if we will ever be able to say that about By The Way.

It was a late night, as we stayed up to watch the England - Italy game, oh well - maybe Thursday will bring us a better result.

Sunday we set off about 8:00, we had no set destination, other than we wanted to get through Rugby and the locks at Hilmorton.  It was a pretty busy morning, there are a number of hire boat companies on this stretch so we encountered more traffic than we have for a number of months.

It was very strange coming through Rugby, this is our home town and was weird seeing places from the canal.

After Rugby come the locks at Hilmorton, these are narrow locks, but they are in pairs. So as we headed into the second lock, we took the right hand lock, there was a boat going in the same direction heading into the left lock. They were really struggling, it was a hire boat and this was clearly their first set of locks, they had no idea, we tried to give them some advise and help them on their way, but I really felt for them.

As we travelled on looking for a good place to stop, we passed a quaint terrace of canal side cottages.

We eventually found a good spot and moored up.  At this point George took the opportunity to deliver his Fathers Day card - it would be fair to say that he was about as enthusiastic as the words on the card!!

I managed another short run, just over 2 miles, pace is really slow, but I must be patient - Rome wasn't built in a day :-) but as my Dad used to say I wasn't foreman on that job!!

Tomorrow we are heading to Napton, so we can revisit one of our favourite pubs from our travels - The Kings Head.  So the next posting will have a few foodie pics I expect.

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there and to our Dads you are always in our hearts, we miss you loads.

(M794, L615, EH676.5)

Ashby Terminus to Hawkesbury Junction - 25 miles

Wow what fantastic weather.

We stopped part way down the Ashby on Tuesday evening ready for Rods two work days.  We had spotted a really lovely mooring on the way up and knew that the internet was good, so this was our spot.

I went back to the house as the carpets were being cleaned on Wednesday and I needed to finish decorating the bathroom.

So that's the lounge, the kitchen and the main bathroom done and that is my lot!!!

I managed a 2 mile run on Thursday morning, the foot is holding up ok, so I will continue to build up the distance slowly.

The final journey down the Ashby was pretty and very quiet, although there were still a few of those nasty horse flies about, but we survived with no more bites today - thank goodness.

The build up to world cup fever is clearly evident, even on the canal.

We passed a paddle boarder, looks relaxing but hard work at the same time, I think I would fall in if I tried this, I wobbled enough when we took the kayak out in the Florida Keys!

As we turned onto the Coventry canal, it was like we had just turned onto the M25, we passed more boats on the short two mile stretch, than we passed the whole time we were on the Ashby, I suspect people are also making the most of the beautiful weather.

It has been a real nature day today, we have seen a Terapin, 2 water voles and loads of butterflies, but unfortunately I wasn't quick enough with the camera - sorry!

Oh nearly forgot, we have tickets for the Radio 2 Hyde Park festival, I was on the internet for nearly an hour but got through in the end :-)).

I can't believe that this time next week we will sailing back into Yelvertoft marina :-((.  The year has flown by.

Polesworth to the End of the Ashby Canal - 11 locks, 33 miles

Had a great night out Friday with the girls, food was lovely as was the company.

I was very good, didn't drink too much as I knew I had to drive early Saturday morning, which given we had Presseco with the meal was not an easy task!

Saturday I got back to the boat for 8:00 and we set off to try and get through the 11 locks that make up the Atherstone flight before the predicted rain arrived.

We did ok, although the second lock took about 25 mins to fill as only one of the slackers was working.  We didn't however beat the rain, we had 4 locks to go when it started, initially it wasn't too heavy but by the third from last lock it was getting worse, so George was unceremoniously dumped on the boat, whilst I continued with the locks. Luckily because it was a Saturday there were 2 volunteers manning the last two locks so our progress was pretty quick.

We then found a beautiful spot to moor just outside Atherstone and the sun decided to reappear a little   later.

The next morning we set off nice and early it was a glorious morning. I think my body clock is getting ready for going back to work, as we keep waking about 6:30 (it's the only bit of me that is ready!!).

We were making pretty good progress but then we got stuck behind a hire boat, they were going so slow that even on tick over Rod had to keep putting the boat in reverse!  We only had another 1.5 miles to the turning for the Ashby but at this pace it was going to take 3 hours (that is no exaggeration), as we went passed a wishing well at the end of some ones garden, there was only one thing we were wishing for, thankfully we came to a straight stretch and they pulled over to let us past.  

Now I am not one for devine intervention and all that stuff, but we had just got passed them and suddenly there was this banging noise, something was wrapped round the prop, Mr B was determined he wasn't stopping until the Ashby as he wasn't getting stuck behind the hire boat again, so we just had to live wth the tapping noise and hope it wasn't doing any damage.

We turned onto the Ashby and very soon left behind the urbanisation that had been pretty constant on the Coventry, the Ashby is very rural, but it is also home to some pesky Horseflies, and despite our best efforts we have both been bitten!!!!

We found a nice spot to moor and managed to get into Nuneaton to do some food shopping before they closed a 4:00.

When we got back Rod checked the prop to discover it was a bag strap wrapped round the prop making the banging noise and no damage was done.

Monday we were aiming for the end of the Ashby, again the morning started beautifully.  We travelled passed the Bosworth Battle site, unfortunately there was not much too see from the canal, but it did make me look it up on Google - what did we do before Google! - so I do now know this was the last battle of the War of the Roses, won by the Lancastrians, resulting in the start of the Tudor dynasty on the English throne.

There are no locks on the Ashby and as you can see George is finding it all very hard work!

This is the look of concentration when steering!!

The moorings at the end of the canal were very pleasant and a welcome site as we had just been through a thunder storm.  The rest of the afternoon was beautiful, and we were able to get the deck chairs out and sit in the sun.

They are continuing to restore the Ashby, the stretch we were sitting on was completed at a cost of £750k and they are now working on the next small stretch, slow and costly work.

( M 751.5, L 611 )