Braunston

Here I am Rune

Distance 3 miles

Total 1774 Locks 86 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2551.9 miles

Just a short hop today, the 3 miles from Flecknoe into Braunston, pleasant trip in and quite surprised on a Bank Holiday weekend to have immediately been able to find a decent mooring directly opposite the Boat House pub (close enough in fact to be able to use their WiFi!). Once moored up we got on to do the necessary  shopping now we are fully stocked up with food & alcohol for us and oil & filters for the engine. Not sure how long we will stay here but since it is now 48hour mooring the longest we can stay is until Monday.

Flecknoe

Here I am Rune

Distance 6.3 miles

Total 1774 Locks 86 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2548.9 miles

Have to say that for the time of year it is still stunningly cold, at the bottom of the Napton flight of locks we had what was almost like a shower of snow, and it will be May on Sunday! In fairness though we didn’t do too badly for being caught by showers as we had moored up to take on water when the snow/hail/sleet storm hit. To give an example of how cold it still is, we bought another two bags of coal today, I wouldn’t normally expect to be doing that at this time of year, I’d normally be thinking about breaking out the T-shirts and sandals.

One small highlight for the day, as evening came on tonight we had a Barn Owl flying around the trees opposite where we are moored, I think that there is some sort of Barn Owl nesting box on a pole alongside the trees which may be where he came from.

The forecast for tomorrow is better, but still not much warmer, but it will probably be a shortish sort of day as we only need to get into Braunston where we can get the weekend shopping. There is always the possibility that, on a Bank Holiday weekend there may be a shortage of moorings so we need to get there reasonably early so that if we cannot moor we have time to press on beyond the Braunston Tunnel where there are more mooring within easy travelling distance of Daventry.

Marston Doles

Here I am Rune

Distance 11.5 miles

Total 1765 Locks 86 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2542.6 miles

A fairly steady day today taking us to Napton Adkins lock, a distance of 11.5 miles which is basically the entire summit pound of the canal completed. For some inexplicable reason the water level in the pound was down by about 6 inches, which doesn’t sound a lot but on a shallow canal is the difference between running aground, or not. We didn’t do too badly but we were following another boat who seemed to run aground on a lot of the bends of the canal which slowed us down a bit. I would also have preferred to have stopped for lunch a bit earlier but since we couldn’t get close in to the canal bank to moor up it wasn’t going to happen and we had to press on.

I think that my hope of getting to Braunston by tomorrow is beginning to unravel a bit. We still have a flight of 7 locks to do here, then I want to go to Calcutt boats to refuel which will be down and back up another lock, and when we get to the Napton bottom lock there are a couple of domestic chores to complete so it looks very much as though it’s going to be Saturday before we get to Braunston, on a Bank Holiday weekend, what are the chances of finding a mooring?

Claydon

Here I am Rune

Distance 7.2 miles

Total 1763 Locks 86 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2531.1 miles

A good day’s work that has seen us get up to the summit pound of the canal, so it’s all downhill from here. Interesting day with the weather which was very generous to us, the only time it rained significantly was during the hour we had moored up for lunch. Throughout the afternoon a couple of major storms were circling around us but didn’t drop any of the wet stuff on us so we did well. Today has been the first day for a while that we have done any significant amount of locks and we are both aching a bit from the 12 that we’ve done. At least we now have an 11 mile break before we have to do any more, although the next bit twists and turns all over the place and, although it is only a fairly short distance to Napton as the crow flies, it is 11 miles by canal.

Banbury

Here I am Rune

Distance 9.6 miles

Total 1751 Locks 86 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2523.9 miles

And, as planned, here we are back in Banbury, probably for at least a couple of days as I’d like to have a look around the museum and the crew wants to do a bit of shopping. It still remains pretty cold at the moment, we are still lighting the fire and keeping it in overnight (forecast for tonight is down to 1 degree C ,and feeling like -3). The forecast for the next few days in no better. On the slightly plus side, I’ve checked the Thames conditions and they are still mainly yellow boards between Oxford and Lechlade so I think that moving off was a good choice.

Somerton

Here I am Rune

Distance 4.8 miles

Total 1746 Locks 86 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2513.7 miles

A shorter trip than originally planned for today, we stopped for lunch and didn’t start again. We are still comfortably within the time frame for where we are intending to go so there is no real rush and since it started raining the incentive to press on sort of evaporated. We are moored about 200 yards down the canal from the overnight mooring we took on the to Oxford, alongside a field full of cows.

If we had continued it would have only been for another couple of miles or so since if we go too far beyond that we are within hearing of the M40 which wouldn’t make for a quiet night. When we do move on we should hopefully get to Banbury within the day.