Autumn in Welford

A bright autumnal day, and though the mellow fruitfulness may have gone the leaves are still on the trees and filtering the sun in golden shafts. A good day for boating, except that Patience is currently having her bottom blacked in Oundle.
So, reluctant to miss the a boat-flavoured visit, I headed further west along the A14 to spy out some other marinas. Despite some confusion in my mind between Walton, Whilton, Welton and Welford I ended up in the latter and found it a very attractive spot.

Welford is mid-way along the route of the Leicester to Northampton turnpike, at a point where there was a ford on the river Avon. There is a neat, if packed, wharf, a  marina a few hundred yards further up, and boats moored along the canal between the two. The pub, The Wharf, was packed with locals and walkers (its website briefly describes local walks too) and it all had a busy and sociable feel to it.

A detailed set of information boards suggest walking routes and gives local history, and evidently it is popular with walkers.
I took the simplest route from the wharf, around the marina, past the lock and along the tow path to the junction with the Leicester Line of the Grand Union, returning the same way, a distance of 4 miles or so.

I couldn't find any contact details for the marina while I was there. They seem not to have a website, but I found one phone number: 01858 575995 which might be a contact for Les, the man in charge.
Welford: A bit off the beaten track, and all the better for it!

Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka ...

Just back from hot and humid Sri Lanka - and still shivering with the temperature change - I thought I'd give a mention of a canal in that far off Island.
The Hamilton Road Canal at Negombo, now only a few miles from the international airport, was started by the King of Kotte to transport local produce from the interior to the coast. It was later developed by The Dutch and later again by the local British agent Garvin Hamilton.
We didn't have time for boating ourselves but would recommend it if you're staying more than a day or two at Negombo. Apart from anything else it's cooler afloat!
I won't go on at length but leave you with a photo from the Visit Sri Lanka website and a few links for further reading.

The Hamilton Canal: A Past and Future Waterway 
and Explore Sri Lanka

An enchanting waterway
Trip Advisor

Environment Agency at Work

Taking advantage of a brief window of good weather, we took Patience to The King's Head at Wadenhoe, a two hour trip each way, giving Patience a useful stretch and ourselves a beer and a fine lunch.
On the way up the weather was splendid, bright with whispy clouds. It started to rain at Wadenhoe in the afternoon and stayed wet or damp all the way back.
But what it was good to see was the efforts of Environment Agency men busily keeping things up to scratch.
Here we encountered three men in a boat, at Barnwell Top Lock, painting the yellow "cill" signs inside the lock.

And here we found more men, one in a Landrover and another in a giant weed-gathering machine (most impressive) which is bigger by far than the weedy little boats we passed last year on the Middle Levels.

Thank you, EA men - and keep up the good work!

Google to Map UK Canals for Street View

Initiated by the UK Canal and Rivers Trust, Google have offered up one of their rare Trekker Street View backpacks to the Trust's members. 

Weighing 40lbs, the four-foot tall backpack houses a 360-degree camera and lets a person carry out on foot what Google's Street View vans do on roads, allowing for otherwise-inaccessible areas to be mapped. It's the first time one has been used in the UK, having previously been used to map locations like the Grand Canyon. 

Genuine pic, from www.techradar.com 

"We're delighted to be the first people in the UK to get the Trekker on our backs - it's fantastic that our 200-year old network is being given a different lease of life thanks to cutting edge, 21st-century technology," said Wendy Hawk, corporate partnerships manager of the Canal & River Trust. 

"The footage we get will allow millions of people from all over the world to see our canals, rivers and towpaths, and will hopefully encourage some people to make a trip to see them." 

Google's Pascale Milite added: "We hope to help boost the discovery of and make these historical canals accessible to more people in the UK and across the world through Street View technology." Google and the Trust are hoping to map 100 miles of canals and waterways, kicking off at London's Regents Canal later this week. - See more here and more including a pic here.

What I find amusing is that a few years ago there was a spoof photo of a narrow boat in the cut with a Google camera on the roof. And now (truth is stranger than fiction etc) the spoof has come to pass!

(spoof pic!)

But I suppose the serious question is - presuming the Trekker pack will be carried by a walker rather than a boater (could they hitch a ride?) - whether the view from the river is better or worse, more or less useful, than the view from the towpath. And hands up if you'd like Google to pay you for visiting your favourite canals with a camera on the roof of your boat! Count me in: I'd even quit my present job to be a Google employee afloat. Google, can you hear me?

Oundle to Wadenhoe And Back

With warm weather expected followed by a cool change, we took Patience up river to Wadenhoe on Wednesday and back on Thursday. This gave her a breath of fresh air, a bit of leisurely exercise on a sparkling and clear river and a change of scene.
Wadenhoe is a charming and attractive village, preserved by a Trust, and our interest is focused on The King's Head and its garden which rolls down to the river, near the lock. So popular is it that we had to moor alongside another boat for a while, with river edges at a premium.

On arrival at Wadenhoe and tying ourselves to another narrow boat, we headed up the slope to the bar for our choice of beers.
In the afternoon, torn between going for an improving walk or relaxing in the shade down by the riverside, we opted for the latter, while swimmers and canoeists floated energetically to and fro.
In the evening we indulged in some great food at The King's Head.

Thursday dawned misty on the river ...

... but we headed off for our walk (a modified version of the walk at Walking World id=5874 bypassing Sudborough but including Wadenhoe) of 7 - 8 miles roughly following the Lyveden Way to Lyveden New Bield (National Trust) where we found more of interest than we had expected...

... including a very pleasant coffee shop, useful information centre, replanted orchard, moat, lake and entry to the never-completed Elizabethan house built for Sir Thomas Tresham.

Our walk in bright sunshine took us across fields and through woodland, with no traffic, hardly any other people, and a sense of surprise that we were so far from the non-stop frenzy of the A14.

With deteriorating weather expected on Friday we headed home to Oundle reinforced by a substantial lunch at The Kings Head, very satisfied with our little trip.

Fotheringay and Ashton

Surviving the lightning strikes we - and our wives - took a leisurely two days down stream from Oundle to Fotheringay and back via Ashton.
Though too hot at times this was a relaxed trip, being not very far along the beautiful winding river Nene punctuated with meals at The Falcon, Fotheringay, and The Chequered Skipper at Ashton. Both have been mentioned on earlier blogs, for example here, so I won't repeat myself, but I'll take the opportunity to feature a photograph of The Chequered Skipper ...

and feature our wives relaxing at Fotheringay

Only one other thing worth noting. An elderly chap at Ashton lock had screwed a small winch handle to the large wheels that raise and lower the guillotines at the non-electrified locks on the Nene. Apparently this used to be the way EA staff operated the guillotines some years ago. Nowadays they use battery drills with a fitting to match the boss in the centre of the wheel. The small winch handle had been taken off because of the risk of it catching someone's arm as it sped around - however the screw holes remain and this fellow had fitted an old handle to speed up the guillotine, and was in the process of removing it when I arrived.

Given that it's not legal and could be dangerous, and that you're unlikely to be able to lay your hands on one, and that the time taken to screw it on and unscrew it again more than made up for the time saved in raising the guillotine, it's not something to be recommended. But look out for the remaining little screw holes. They're a curiosity.

Lightning strikes

Still at home but preparing to get back on Patience, there were massive local and long lasting lightning strikes which kept us awake and were very close indeed!
Of course it's common to say that the odds of being struck by lightning are low, but years ago a house I was in (and on the top floor at the time) was struck by lightning and I saw the wood splinters and debris falling past my window, leaving a jagged line on the glass. Since then I've sometimes wondered whether my odds of being hit have narrowed or not.
Anyway, there I was, grateful I wasn't lying in Patience with water and thunder and lightning all around me, but trying to remember whether a narrow boat is a Faraday Cage or not and whether I dare touch the metal window frame.

Now, scanning the forums, I see that the odds of being hit in a narrow boat are very low. Ships at sea are frequently hit, but then they may be the only thing above sea level for many miles. Narrow boats are generally at a low level in cuts and on rivers where trees are far more likely to take the strike. In fact the danger there is more being hit by a smoking branch than the lightning itself!
So the odds are low. If you are struck it's almost sure that you'll be protected by the Faraday Cage effect. If moored up (and who'd want to be under way when there's lightning about?) try to be fairly near - but not under - trees. Minimise the slight risk by taking down or at least disconnecting a TV aerial so any charge doesn't fry your TV on the way out. Avoid use of umbrellas, especially where clamped to the superstructure, whose metal points can attract a charge.
But sleep tight. For a narrow boat on UK waterways, as Macbeth would have observed, lightning storms are full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.