Busily going nowhere

At the end of April the River Nene was declared safe for navigation and we seized the opportunity to set off on our boat travels. Even then the river levels were much higher than normal and we had to do an ’emergency stop’ before we passed under the first bridge when it became apparent that our chimney would be chopped in two if we didn’t remove it pronto! I say ’emergency stop ‘ but as anyone who is used to travelling on narrow boats will testify there is no such manoeuvre in boating. Generally emergencies are proceeded some seconds later by a loud crunching sound!

By the first evening we had reached Northampton and the calmer waters of the canal system, which proved timely as the River Nene was promptly closed again to navigation for a further three days. And since then … well to be honest we have been doing a passable impression of Ratty in Wind in the Willows and have been simply ‘messing about in boats’ or more particularly messing about in a boat.

In ten days we have managed to travel a grand total of 62 miles, arriving eventually at Market Harborough which is only 20 miles from where we set off at the end of April. However we have gazed on bucolic scenes, traversed one of the iconic lock flights at Foxton in Leicestershire, cycled through rolling countryside thick with the scent from fields of oilseed rape and spent quality time with friends who have come to visit us.

The canals are pretty quiet this time of year which means we have been able to moor where we want, pretty much at will, but those who travel the waterways regularly warn that the summer months are a great time to park your boat up for a while and go away on holiday! Maybe by then we will have made it a bit further north where generally the waterways are less used, but at our current rate of progress I really can’t guarantee that will be the case.