Back on the canals - phew!

We did another long day today, from Northampton to Wolverton. The train takes 12 or 13 minutes; by boat it took us 11 hours. We said goodbye to the River Nene and queued for the bottom lock of the 17 of the Northampton Arm.

The flight was unlocked slightly earlier than advertised: at 0830 rather than 0900. We were the fourth boat to go up, entering CRT waters at about 0900. Behind us were our friends on Bimble and Constable; Bob on Bimble was single handing so I opened paddles for him as we ascended the flight.

It felt good being back on a canal after almost two months on rivers, creeks, dykes and lodes.

One or two pounds were a bit low, but we all got through OK.

At Cosgrove we crossed over the Great Ouse, a river we have now navigated - albeit downstream of here.

The ups and downs of boating on the rivers

This is an example of the lockside bollards on the Nene. They are fine bollards, but I think you can see how low they are. It is easy to graze one's knuckles when untying a rope, which is what I did the other day.

There has been a lot of upping and downing of paddles (and guillotine gates) on this trip. Jan has shared in the fun.

We left Wellingborough at 0800, but we could have had a lie-in. Despite the clarity of the Waterway Routes maps I had miscalculated the time it would take to get to Northampton. Somehow I subtracted two hours from the eight shown, and thought we could arrive at the Northampton Arm locks in time to beat the 1530 cut-off. We arrived in Northampton at about 1630, i.e. at exactly the time predicted by WR, and too late to start on the flight.

On the right below Northampton Lock is a curious oversize boat. Far too tall for the bridges either side of its mooring.

I don't know if it's just me, but on all maps I find the non-navigable backwaters, weir streams etc. difficult to read. They are always too faint in comparison with the heavy blue denoting the route to take. Approaching the University Bridge the main channel appeared to be to the left as the way was broad and weed-free. To the right beyond the bridge looked narrow and weedy, but on the bridge there was a hand-painted "LOCK" with an arrow pointing right.

Confirming my suspicion that perhaps this might indeed be the correct way to go a boat came towards us from that direction.

The moorings above the lock were busy so Mary on Chedoona invited us to tie up alongside them. We were last alongside them at St Neots before the festival started.

I was sorting a few things out on the boat while Jan was shopping when there was a knock. Bob from Bimble was there, suggesting that we might like to join him and Dave and Marjorie from Constable for a curry in the town (city?) later. Well, a no-brainer really. Before we went we all convened on Jubilee for drinks.

Me, Jan, Marjorie, Dave and Bob

We plan to start on the 17 locks at 0900 tomorrow with the intention of getting to Wolverton before Ally has her second baby. The signs are that it might be coming soon: Jan might have to leave me to single hand the boat while she goes off by train. We shall see what transpires.

Heron eats big fish in five photos

We hadn't been going long this morning when Jan spotted this heron with something in its beak. I grabbed the camera and snapped what I could. Unfortunately the undergrowth got in the way a bit, and we were going away from the action, but I think you can see the heron with a large fish eventually getting it down its neck.

The paralleled railway viaducts carrying the line to Wellingborough from Bedford are impressive. Unlike my photo.

When we got to Wellingborough we topped up with water ...

… which is unnervingly close to the pumpout machine.

We moved away from the noisy flour mill - as much as it is possible to do - and tied up opposite the old mill building, now infested by pigeons.

There is a disgustingly vast amount of guano on a covered balcony. Shall I show you?

All right, then.

This afternoon Ally came to drive me to St Neots so I could retrieve our car. It was odd going past the IWA festival site and seeing it empty again.

Our plan now is to go to Northampton tomorrow and Wolverton on Wednesday, which is where I took the car to. All ready for when Ally has her baby (as long as it doesn't come before then).

Swans living dangerously and a historic fly-past

I'm rather pleased with this shot of Jubilee at the pub mooring at Wadenhoe this morning. We set off at about 0915, just before a group of a dozen swimmers climbed down the bank into the river.

At one of the first locks we came to we found the guillotine gate down and both vee doors open with their sluices up. The rule on the Nene is to leave the lock empty with the guillotine gate (the bottom gate) up. In this instance it didn't matter much as three boats came downstream into the lock as I walked up to set it.  There were another two locks left with the guillotine gate down; I did a lot of wheel turning today.

We were just about to fill another lock when five swans dropped over the top gates vee doors into the chamber. I opened the paddle sluice my side gently ...

... but the crew from the other boat in the lock was less kind to the birds, opening his sluice quickly and causing the swans to swim around furiously in the turbulent water.

I'm pleased to report that all the swans survived and swam out as soon as the vee doors were opened.

We passed an apparently windowless new-looking narrowboat. Are windows cut out later, or is this boat strange?

Before tying up at Irthlingborough we were treated to a fly-past by what looked like WWII aeroplanes.

Does the one on the left have German markings on the wings?

Is this a Hurricane?

And is this a Spitfire?

I cycled into Irthlingborough to see if there was a service at the church at 5 pm as advertised on their website. There wasn't.

It has been a perfect day for boating: wall-to-wall sunshine, warm, little wind. Tomorrow we'll go the short distance to Wellingborough where Ally will meet us to help with a little car shuffling.

Our technique for going up Nene locks

Away at 0800 this morning as another longish day was in prospect. There was still a little mist hanging around as we left Wansford Station. The water was beautifully still, giving perfect reflections of the trees.

Our technique for locking up on our own in a Nene lock is to secure the boat with the centre line to a bollard approximately level with the back of the boat, holding it near the back of the lock. Then I open a paddle slowly on the gate vee door the same side as the boat. The boat is pulled forward by the inrush of water but the centre line holds the boat back and to the side. We copied this technique from the lockie at Stanground. This is Yarwell Lock, by the way.

We didn't have many locks where we were on our own; we caught up with our friends John and Jane on Ichthus.

We shared with them as far as Oundle Marina.

Oundle had been our original scheduled stop today, but our progress had been good and the weather very good, so we carried on to the King's Head pub mooring at Wadenhoe. We shared locks with Zavala, and then tied up alongside them at the pub until another boat left, giving us space to moor against the bank.

We had decided to eat at the pub. As Jan was investigating at the bar, she got talking to a French couple and their Wadenhoe resident friend. This led to Jan inviting them to have a look round Jubilee which they were thrilled to do.

John, Jean-Pierre and Marie

We had a good meal in the pub; tomorrow we're aiming for Irthlingborough in a shorter (6 hour) day.

Steam trains, boats, planes and parachutes

Not such an exciting day as yesterday: the anchor stayed unused (but ready if needed). We had another early-ish start and kept going until (almost) sunset.

We left March at 0820 and continued along the old course of the River Nene. At Floods Ferry the old course of the Nene bears left; we took Whittlesey Dyke to the right.

nb Salar was leaving Ashline Lock as we approached; they opened a paddle for us while we were securing the boat to the lock landing. nb Annie and Walt were behind us; they also helped and we were soon under way to our 1430 appointment at Stanground Lock. We were ahead of schedule, actually arriving almost an hour early. I had been expecting to have to wait on the lock landing but the lock keeper waved us in. Everyone had been early, she said, and she was looking forward to being able to run some more water into Whittlesey Dyke to keep the level up. She must have been doing that before we got there as our speed had been dropping with the flow against us.

We stopped at Peterborough to fill and empty, and decided to carry on another three hours or so as we had time in hand.

Today was not without interest. As we left Peterborough we heard a steam train whistle; at Orton Lock we glimpsed the source of the evocative sound travelling along the Nene Valley Railway.

That's the Union of South Africa loco behind the wooden buildings.

At Water Newton Lock Jan pointed out some objects in the sky. They probably look like dirt on my camera lens - or on your computer screen - but those specks on my photo are what I'm talking about.

Parachutists, at least eight of them, were spiralling slowly to the ground behind the trees.

Some were tandem jumps.

When I turned back to look at the lock the low sun was making the scene very picturesque.

At the end of today's journey we tied up alongside another boat at Wansford Station, where steam trains were running until after dark. This was an excellent spot for watching the train passing over the bridge above us.

My camera and I were struggling to take decent pictures in the gloom. I'll leave you with this shot of the train at night running towards Peterborough.

Tomorrow looks like being another long day: we're aiming for Oundle.

How to check a bridge clearance before getting there

We did lots of exciting new stuff today, including Stanground Lock, an unusual windlass, a little-used waterway and a low bridge. I have included rather a lot of photos, but bear with me.

Opposite our mooring on Peterborough Embankment was this splendid old warehouse, complete with integral loading bay.

We were booked into Stanground Lock at 0900, so at 0840 we set off down our last bit of the Nene and looked for the right turn leading to the lock.

This must be it … but why the no entry sign?

As we got nearer it became clear that the no entry sign merely warned off using the wrong arch, and there was a sign - quite small - indicating Stanground Lock.

After passing some waterside houses and a boatyard we soon came to Stanground Lock and were checked in by Ashley.

The bottom gates are hydraulically operated and we stayed on board while Ashley worked us through.

Now we were on Well Creek … and into fenland.

The tight bend at Whittlesey wasn't a problem, and we came to the visitor mooring just before Ashline Lock.

We tied up and walked across the recreation ground to St. Mary's Church for the 1100 service. We were only a few minutes late. Afterwards we looked round the small market town and had a roast lunch at the Sunshine Café. We probably won't eat there again.

There are some interesting buildings in Whittlesey, including the Butter Cross and this former town hall and fire station.

Back on the boat we waited while a boat on the lock landing entered the lock, then we went to the lock landing. After days of seeing few boats at the locks on the Nene this lock, Ashline, was busy. We witnessed two boats come up and three go down, including us.

This was where I could try out the special Middle Levels windlass which I had acquired from somewhere.

The paddles - here called penstocks - take a lot of winding. I counted at least 60 turns. And the lock is very slow to fill - no danger of buffeting a boat coming up.

Having talked to various boaters I decided we would try the Twenty Foot River route, but we needed to see if we could get under a low bridge. Tying up at the lock landing below Ashline Lock I used a long batten and a tape measure to calculate that our air draft was 1.86m. Oh dear. According to the Middle Level Navigation Notes which the Stanground lockie had given us (and which our friend Tony had printed off for us in Northampton) the maximum air draft at Infield's Bridge was 1.60m.

Then I had a brainwave. The air draft at Angle Corner Bridge is supposed to be 1.95m, so Infield's must be 35cm lower. All I had to do was measure how much headroom we had at Angle Corner. If it was at least 35cm then we would fit under Infield's. We had 42cm to spare under Angle Corner Bridge ...

so we continued along the wide, deep Twenty Foot.

Eventually the low bridge got close enough to photograph. Would my calculations be right?

Yes! I reckon we had a good 10cm in hand.

So why were both bridges higher than advertised? It must be because the 'book' measurements were taken at a much higher water level than we are experiencing. According to the Navigation Notes there are only two bridges lower then Infield's: Bradford Bridge on Yaxley Lode (1.56m) and Exhibition (Stokes) Bridge on the Old River Nene (1.53m). If the water levels stay as they are we should be able to pass under both of them.

We weren't going to make it to March before the F1 Grand Prix highlights so we tied up to the reedy bank in the middle of nowhere.

Tomorrow we intend to turn right onto the Old River Nene to go through March and on towards Ramsey.