Fotheringhay Barbecue and Sunday Cruise back to PYC

Well I am back from the sailing trip up the east coast and as promised I will now finish the Blog.
Margaret and Michael met us on Friday and we had an enjoyable lunch and catch up at The Falcon Pub/Restaurant, which has always been a favourite of ours, as it is where we celebrated the Launch of NB Lottie with Christine's Dad Ted and several other members of the family.

We had the barbecue in Fotheringhay as arranged meeting up with Dave and Betty Cash the night before as they and a few other members had decided to come down to have the whole of Saturday at Fotheringhay.

We then set off early on Sunday morning with Dave and Betty on NB Olly Oaks for the final leg back to Peterborough Yacht Club. It was a perfect day showing the River Nene at it's best. We had breakfast on the go as we needed to get back leaving enough time to get the boat packed up and to get back home.

It has been a very enjoyable trip with almost perfect weather all the way, visiting new destinations and old ones alike and seeing friends and family en route.


We have travelled around 470 miles this trip with about 160 Locks😅

Thanks to all our followers😃

Tom and Christine




Michael and Margaret meet up on board



The Falcon PH in Fotheringhay



The Old School House Fotheringhay






Wall Flowers?




Fotheringhay Church



The Church was decorated for a wedding ( Christine wanted to renew our vows )

Inside The Church

Ah! the last Saturday breakfast on board ( good job it's only once a week)



The first of the PYC Members arrive

And set up camp ready for the Barbecue

Christine just had to see the bride

The rest of the PYC members arrive in style under Fotheringhay Bridge built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st

Barbecue gets underway

Locking down with "Olly Oaks" and crew



The River Nene at it's best



The Trip Boat at Wansford operational at last

Wilma keeping watch

A familiar sight at Wansford  para glider from the Sibson Airfield 



Nearly Home

Last Post Fothringhay to Peterborough

Hi All

I will be off sailing the East Coast of England for the next few days and won't have internet access. so I will post the final update later this week. Thanks for taking an interest in our journey
watch for next years trip.

Cheers Tom & Christine

Cogenhoe to Fotheringhay 2 days

We left Cogenhoe and teamed up with another boat NB Cormorant with David and Daphne on board.A straight forward trip without too much to see that we haven't already covered. We left NB Cormorant at Irthlingbourough on the Rushden Diamond mooring after having lunch and a short break. We had decided to stop at Denford  on a small grass bank mooring that had been prepared by the local pub to encourage trade. We had never explored the village so were looking forward to going ashore for a look around. However when we got to Denford we found that the mooring had been taken over by a River Gypsy who had probably been there for weeks. We therefore had to moor up on the lock landing stage and stay with the boat in case other boats came through. We set off in the morning heading for Fotheringhay where we have arranged to meet up with Michael and Margaret Daking for lunch at the Falcon (a late celebration of their Ruby wedding anniversary as we weren't able to attend the official one earlier this summer)

We will be staying here again tonight as we will be meeting up with some friends from Peterborough Yacht Club who have organised a weekend barbecue at this picturesque mooring spot.

David and Daphne on Cormorant

The Village of Great Doddington nestled in the hills



The Old Church on the Hill at Wadenhoe



A fellow boater at Wadenhoe but not much traffic on the river



NB Lottie at Fotheringhay with swans waiting at the canteen window
 (a few battle scars but still in good shape)



The Church at Fotheringhay never ceases to impress us



Our Evening Mooring The Old Bridge at Fotheringhay



Or so we thought
(must be related to that awkward cow at Lechlade)

 

Gayton Junction to Cogenhoe via the Northampton Arm

We contacted the Canal River Trust when we arrived at Gayton Junction to find out at what time they filled the leaking lock pounds in the morning. They said that the work would start at 8am and we could start our descent of the Northampton Arm at around 9.15am.
The day was perfect for the descent and I was determined to beat the previous time of 4hrs 10mins. and we set off at 0920hrs
Christine helmed the boat while I prepared all the locks 17 in total. Chris came up with the bright idea of pulling the opposite gate too
 with the boat hook as she was alarmed at me leaping ( well gingerly stepping actually) over the gap between v-gates. The Thames lock keepers have a pole that does same job and it does save time. We eventually arrived at Northampton Town Lock at 1310hrs so beating my previous time by 20mins. We then travelled on to Cogenhoe, having lunch on the go and arrived for our evening mooring at 1600 hrs.


The Ring Completed now on the way back to PYC



Third Lock Down and Tom ready with his trusty boathook ready
to pull the gates together



Last Lock of the 12 descent locks The M1 motorway crosses above
(and Tom  does look a bit Knackered)

The bottom of The Northampton Arm which has been
dramatically de-weeded and cleaned up
(Well done CRT)

Always sad to see someone's pride and joy ending up like this
But it does need to be attended to before an accident happens.

A glorious end to a glorious September day.
The view from our mooring

Hemel Hempstead to Gayton Junction

I have not done the blog for a few days for two reasons. Firstly we have been doing long days( to get us back in time to fulfil some commitments we have made) and have been tired. Secondly not really much to see as we haven't stopped off anywhere along this leg of our trip. We are now at the top of the Northampton arm and will start our descent to the River Nene in the morning. We will meet up with some of our friends from Peterborough Yacht Club at Fotheringhay on Saturday for a riverside Barbecue, which although not organised for us, will be a great way to end our trip. Watch this space!!!
Despite the lack of interest in this leg of the trip hope you enjoy the pics.



Approaching Berkhampstead. Towns always look better when visiting by boat.



A Loveley Warehouse conversion at Berkhampstead a busy canal port in it's day



Another conversion with added boathouse

A superb example of a  Victorian canal bridge



Approaching Wolverton Aquaduct



Crossing the Wolverton Aquaduct (Milton Keynes)



Young Crane ( not often you get a pose in a tree)



Hang on Who's steering?




I think he's on Twitter



The Grand Union Canal is not all industrial



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The Elusive Kingfisher in flight



We Can See You (but despite the Kingfisher's colours this is not normally the case)



 

I know the feeling mate!!!

I OFFERED TO BE HIS MANAGER!!!

 

Up the Stoke Bruene Flight with Lee Linda and Louis

Top Dog Louis



Stoke Bruene Canal Centre and Museum



Bye Bye Linda Lee and Louis. Thanks for your company see you again on the cut

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In the Blisworth Tunnel

 

And Out Again! 
 Strange.  I'm sure I've been here before!
(Thanks for the inspiration Joan and Ray)