We decided to wind (turn) and fill with water on the day before leaving Braunston as we wanted an early start . We have been here for 14 days and most of that time we have been iced in and unable to move.
Giving it some welly to get Inca to turn.
Eventually around without using the Girlie button (bow thruster) and with nobody watching it was a text book manoeuvre . But if anybody had been watching you can guarantee i would have cocked it up.
We pulled pins from Braunston at 08.30 in thick mist and headed South towards Napton and the flight of locks. The plan was to get to Fenny Compton and according to Canal Route Planner that was 7 hours and 30 minutes away.
We met Richard on coal boat Towecster coming in the opposite direction, they had just done their run up to Stockton and are now on their way to Hillmorton before heading back through Braunston and down The Grand Union Canal. We topped up with Diesel and coal the day before when they went through Braunston. We have now run out of wood ,so are just burning coal . It costs a lot more money ,but it does make life a lot easier.
With no ice in Braunston we were surprised to see so much of it out in the sticks. But luckily there had been so many boats through that it was broken into small pieces . It did slow us down a bit as i didn't want to go fast and risk taking the blacking off.
After 2 and a half hours of cruising and the mist lifting we reached Napton and the flight of 9 locks. A bit of bad luck and we had a boat was in front of us ,so all the locks were against us.
Finally reaching the summit at Marston Doles and we saw this canoe full of wood , saves storing it on the roof. We thought there would be a lot of ice on the summit as it is so high and exposed, but to our surprise there was none at all which speeded up our journey.
It took us another 3 hours to get to Fenny Compton where we picked up a mooring just before the pub, and with the temperature never getting above 3 deg C all day it was a long and cold but enjoyable cruise. We had to wake Hamish when we arrived and the journey ended up taking us 7 hours and 25 minutes in total. Luckily Carolyn had a casserole cooking on the stove all day , So it wasn't long after mooring until we tucked into the delicious casserole with a bottle or three of the red stuff.
Happy Days