Oliver’s Grand Llangollen Adventure comes to an end

After 6 fantastic weeks, today is Oliver’s last day of his grand adventure to Llangollen and back.

 

We started with a beautiful sunny morning, the perfect start to the last day.

The day started bright and sunny
The day started bright and sunny

In no time at all we were coming up to Braunston junction

Ironwork bridges at Braunston
Ironwork bridges at Braunston – we took the right hand fork

Braunston is one of our favourite places to stop and gongoozle, but today we didn’t stop and went through the locks and up to the tunnel. On the way we came across this strange sight:

The poor horse was clearly tired of pulling boats and wanted to hitch a ride instead
The poor horse was clearly tired of pulling boats and wanted to hitch a ride instead

The tunnel is long and dark, but thankfully as there’s been so little rain recently it was relatively dry for once so we didn’t get soaked like we usually do. Sarah had great fun trying to get some atmospheric photos in the dark, here’s a small selection of them

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After the tunnel we were soon back at the junction to Buckby locks, our nemesis. Fortunately we met up with another boat, (The Denby Rose also from Heyford Fields Marina) so shared the work and got through them in good time, before refuelling at Rugby boats and finally returning back to where it all started. Little did we know Dad was keeping tabs on us all the time, and took careful note of our arrival

Someone's spying on us!
Someone’s spying on us!

It feels strange to be back in the marina, but we were delighted to find our neighbours Razamataz back in the water after 6 months of refit after a fire, and it was lovely to see everyone again.

Now we must start planning the next great adventure…. watch this space!

Two by two

A sticky night on the boat and it’s fair to say I was not looking forward to today and another 21 locks. We had a good hour before we hit the first lock and found  ‘Bones’, a single handed chap called Ray waiting for us.

The delights of Leamington Spa
The delights of Leamington Spa
This one is for Peter who likes his poppies! We passed many a poppy field on our travels, this is the best shot so far.
This one is for Peter who likes his poppies! We passed many a poppy field on our travels, this is the best shot so far.

It’s fair to say that I wasn’t impressed as it’s more effort for no reward.  How wrong could I be.

Ray and narrowboat Bones (called in honour of his dog)
Ray and narrowboat Bones (called in honour of his dog)

We only opened one gate.  Toby would go in first and I’d be on the other side with my trusty rope on a Karabina dangling down, Toby would then pass through the centre rope, and I pulled the boat across, Bones came in second.  I then opened one paddle and one gate and we carried on like this for the morning.

We did intend to stop for lunch but as the locks were in our favour, so we decided to carry on through the flight at Stockton Locks.  Ray was very trusting of Toby and suggested we tie the two boats together and Toby steer both boats into the lock.

Moving the boats together tied together at the bow and stern
Moving the boats together tied together at the bow and stern
Toby taking both boats in to the lock
Toby taking both boats in to the lock

All 21 locks done and I hadn’t even broken a sweat!  We pushed our luck a bit too far in the late afternoon in the hope of getting to Braunston; it started raining so we decided to moor up a bit early and watch some Wimbledon tennis!

A steam powered narrowboat
A steam powered narrowboat
A wonderful sight and sound, just like a steam train
A wonderful sight and sound, just like a steam train

Scorchio!

Today was a real melter. We set off at 8:15 to make a start before it got too hot, but it wasn’t long until the mercury started rising. We passed this cute little ‘house’ which made Sarah and I smile

An upmarket shed?
An upmarket shed?

We had some welcome relief from the heat when we went through Shrewley tunnel. What we hadn’t expected was quite such a cooling down from all the water dripping down, we both got quite wet!

Shrewley tunnel - cool and rather damp inside
Shrewley tunnel – cool and rather damp inside. Note the separate tunnel for the horses.

The big challenge for today, other than the heat, was always going to be Hatton and its flight of 21 double locks.

The Hatton flight always looks rather daunting
The Hatton flight always looks rather daunting

Sensible folk would probably have moored up for the day and done it the next morning, but we don’t want to be sensible so we cracked on! Fortunately for us, another boat Verity turned up after we’d only gone down a couple, and with 5 20-somethings on board it made everything a lot easier, even if almost every lock was set against us.

Verity lends a hand
Verity lends a hand

Hatton is never easy and the heat was wilting, but after we refreshed everyone with some ice poles we eventually made it down to the bottom and said farewell to Verity and her lovely crew.

Farewell Verity and thanks for all the fish
Farewell Verity and thanks for all the fish
Sarah was pooped after all those locks in the sun!
Sarah was pooped after all those locks in the sun!

After that we were done in so moored up in the next available spot. We’re still melting, but things are gradually cooling down from the earlier 36C the thermometer was registering.