Day 1: Oundle to Irthlingborough
Oundle has been a good place and we recommend it - and The Ship Inn nearby - to anyone seeking refuge on The Nene, though the Nene itself does come with the disadvantages of strong stream advice after heavy rain in the midlands, so boating is sometimes restricted.
So we bade farewell to Oundle Marina, our home for the last two years, with thanks to Mark and Jacqui, and headed on to the great canal network in our long journey west which started at The Lazy Otter at Stretham on the Ouse five years ago. It's a little later in the morning than we would have liked and there's a long day ahead but it's a lovely day and the sun shines on us as we pootle along visited by red kites and blue dragonflies.
The mid stretch of this trip is a bit short on waterway pubs, - with the exception of the Kings Head at Wadenhoe, normally packed by moored boaters yet today totally empty - so we've aimed to be self-sufficient in food just in case. Menus are covered in a previous blog.
Between us we have knees and an ankle that need nurturing so we must beware risky acrobatics (as if ...)
We pass Thrapston Bridge moorings where we have stayed previously, but there's no time to spare and few mooring options so the next stop is Irthlingborough - not our favourite town, but at 7.30 and after 8 hours of continuous cruising it's the perfect spot and as soon as John has checked the engine room I heat up the spaghetti bolognaise cooked the night before and we settle for the night.
Some long term financial arguments over the football stadium or at least who is responsible for the moorings here have resulted in some of the moorings being closed, but there's enough room for us and a couple of others.
At the end of the day we should be on track for reaching our destination of Welford by Saturday evening, though this depends on reaching some of the staircase locks in time. And we're not used to locks. How shall we cope?
Today: 16.5 miles, 10 locks, 8 hours
Oundle has been a good place and we recommend it - and The Ship Inn nearby - to anyone seeking refuge on The Nene, though the Nene itself does come with the disadvantages of strong stream advice after heavy rain in the midlands, so boating is sometimes restricted.
So we bade farewell to Oundle Marina, our home for the last two years, with thanks to Mark and Jacqui, and headed on to the great canal network in our long journey west which started at The Lazy Otter at Stretham on the Ouse five years ago. It's a little later in the morning than we would have liked and there's a long day ahead but it's a lovely day and the sun shines on us as we pootle along visited by red kites and blue dragonflies.
Between us we have knees and an ankle that need nurturing so we must beware risky acrobatics (as if ...)
We pass Thrapston Bridge moorings where we have stayed previously, but there's no time to spare and few mooring options so the next stop is Irthlingborough - not our favourite town, but at 7.30 and after 8 hours of continuous cruising it's the perfect spot and as soon as John has checked the engine room I heat up the spaghetti bolognaise cooked the night before and we settle for the night.
Some long term financial arguments over the football stadium or at least who is responsible for the moorings here have resulted in some of the moorings being closed, but there's enough room for us and a couple of others.
At the end of the day we should be on track for reaching our destination of Welford by Saturday evening, though this depends on reaching some of the staircase locks in time. And we're not used to locks. How shall we cope?
Today: 16.5 miles, 10 locks, 8 hours
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