Grand Union (Leicester Section) to Market Harborough

by Christine Rawe

Friday 23 April: This was our first venture on NB Rodbaston, and the second time that we had seen her. The first time being at the Ownerships open day at Braunston. Our crew consisted of Mike as Captain, Christine as keeper of the windlass and general gofer, our two aged mothers as chief feeders of the swans and our dog, Sacha, in charge of sleeping and 'security'.

We arrived early and parked in the Boat Inn car park and ordered lunch. Whilst waiting for our order, Mike and I went to the marina and found Rodbaston. Not easy when the boats were moored stern in and the boat name is only on the bow!

Inside the boat was clean and tidy, although grease stains by the cooker were easily visible. We were disappointed with the general outside condition of the boat. Compared to other boats in the marina it looked rather unkempt. Fortunately the boat was moored towards the Boat Inn car park so it was easier for us to unload from there (including the mums) and then take the car to the marina car park.

As this was our first time out, we had asked for a show around and request that we could get under way by 3pm. Our first problem was establishing who was the Ownerships representative, as no badges or Ownerships T-shirts were to be seen. However, contact was made and Graham went through the running of the boat with us. During the show round it was noted that the central heating tank required topping up which was done. Also a gas cylinder needed replacing. The marina staff said they didn't know that it needed replacing and at that time we didn't know about the money in the cash box - only found when we were underway and started to stow our gear.

We were eventually underway at 4.45pm, it was with great trepidation that Mike manoeuvred out of the marina and was grateful for Graham's help to do so. As we were in reality a crew of two, we wanted a fairly easy start to our week and so turned right towards Calcutt locks. We went through the locks with Honeysweet and moored for the night just before bridge 108 at 7pm.

We opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate our first day and enjoyed a leisurely meal onboard.

Saturday: After an 8am start and taking on water at Napton Junction we went through Braunston Locks with Kookaburra. Braunston Tunnel saw us passing another boat mid tunnel and we moored at 1pm for lunch just before bridge 9. This was a good television reception area, essential as the Formula One qualification was being televised, so we had to wait until that programme finished before setting off again! A short cruise took us to our mooring for the night by bridge 12. Mike, Sacha and I took a walk to the late opening co-op to get the essential drink that I had forgotten to pack - beer!!

Sunday: An early morning stroll to the paper shop and then back to the boat for a leisurely breakfast before setting off just after 10am. Once again television reception was a priority and we moored just after bridge 32. Whilst Mike watched the Formula One, I took the mothers and Sacha for a walk on the towpath. They (the mothers that is) enjoyed their walk but found the going a little bit uneven for their liking, still it got them off the boat - that was a feat in itself! I decided that the mooring by bridge 33 would be one to remember for future trips. Very peaceful, no local traffic and just a faint hum of motorway noise. Mid afternoon we continued on our way and arrived just before 6pm at Foxton. We had been to Foxton before, by car, and knew that there was mooring to be had just before the top lock. Mike and I walked down to check some was available and we were in luck. Moved boat down, took on water and then moored for the night. It was a lovely spring evening and we walked down to the bottom lock. Pity the pub there is still being refurbished, will be a brilliant site when completed. I must admit to being a tad nervous by this flight of locks, first time I had ever had to go through locks like these.

Monday: Early start at 8am as we wanted to get through the locks as soon as possible. Found the BW lock keeper, and as I have always found, was very courteous and generous with his help to a novice like me. He explained how the locks worked with the water being taken into and out of the side ponds, ' always remember red first up or down a flight'. It all made sense and I was confident I knew what I was doing. We were through the locks in an hour and then came the next challenge, a road swing bridge.

Slight mishap here, getting off the boat I dropped the BW key in the long grass, after a good five minutes search it was found. Phew!! We had put the mothers onto the towpath and they waited by the swing bridge for me and then watched as I did all the hard work in opening it! A lady motorist who had to wait whilst I opened the bridge gave me a hand, she said one of her friends had been going over the bridge in her car a few months back when one of the stop barriers swung out and hit her windscreen. Fortunately no personal injury but the windscreen was smashed. I made very certain that I secured and padlocked the barriers correctly. We arrived at Market Harborough just after 1pm, turned in the marina and moored near the BW water tap. We had intended to walk into town but was told that it was a good mile downhill. We could have managed this but it would have been too far for the mothers so we just got newspapers some basic provisions and ice creams in 'Joes', just across the road from the marina.

We headed back and I jumped off at bridge 8 and carried on walking until bridge 7.

The swing bridge was much easier the second time around and we left it with all barriers correctly secured! We moored for the night by bridge 3 and Mike, Sacha and I took a walk into Foxton. Very pretty village, two pubs - Shoulder of lamb and Black Horse, two churches, two graveyards, no shop that we could see and that was it!

After dinner we all went into the village, we had decided that the Black Horse was an easier pub to reach for the mothers. No problem with taking the dog into the bar. Very friendly staff, one regular, Dave, queried the price of his strongbow, apparently was 10p cheaper at lunchtime! The barmaid told him he was lucky at lunchtime because he had got it cheap! I somehow got into conversation with Dave, he used to be a publican in London and then had joined the prison service and worked at Pentonville prison and then Gartree prison, near Foxton. He's now retired and just has a part time job in one of the supermarkets. Said Foxton was the best place to live, because of it's proximity to the prison and therefore high number of prison staff living there, didn't seem to be troubled by too much crime in the area. Strange that!

Tuesday: Just after 8am I walked to the bottom lock at Foxton and was able to ascertain that we would be the second boat up after Mines a Pint. Using our two-way radios, Mike was able to bring the boat straight into the bottom lock. Again it took about an hour to get through all the locks. By the time we reached the top lock the weather had begun to turn, gone was the glorious sunny weather we had had so far during this trip. Slight intermittent drizzle was to be with us for the rest of the day. After taking on water we continued on our way and stopped by bridge 57 for a late breakfast. The mothers wanted a newspaper so we were on the lookout for any shops that might suit our needs. We stopped by bridge 43 for lunch and walked back to the marina shop but they had no basic provisions or newspapers. Our next stop was by Yelverton but by the time we reached it the shop/post office had closed at 5.40 (the sign by the canal shows the shop to be open seven days a week but does not give times). Once again we moored overnight by Crick and walked into the village where we knew the Co-op stayed open until 8pm (4pm on Sunday).

Wednesday: We woke after a very windy and wet night to a slight drizzle. After a visit to the paper shop (opens at 5.45am and 6.45 on Sunday) we were on our way again. We moored just before Braunston Tunnel for lunch and then went through the locks with Harveys Best (a Canaltime boat). The weather had deteriorated by the second lock and heavy-duty rainwear was required. We had intended 'off loading' the mothers so that they could look round the BW shop by the bottom lock whilst we took on water but it wasn't worth the effort considering the torrential rain. We decided to call it a day and looked for moorings as we entered the Oxford Canal, strong crosswinds and the heavy rain made the going hard but we found a suitable spot and were glad to get out of our wet clothes and enjoy a hot drink.

Thursday: Once again we had had heavy rain overnight but it had begun to disperse by the morning and after a late breakfast we left our mooring just before 11am. As this was our first trip we had decided to moor up at Blue Lias for the night and try and get pumpout and diesel taken care of on the Thursday. We arrived at Blue Lias and were advised that we could get these jobs done before the marina closed for the night and pulled over to the service area. Unfortunately this is when things started to go downhill. We had filled up with diesel and pumpout was in progress when there was a problem with the pump. Suffice it to say that this resulted in seepage onto the toilet floor. The engineer cleaned up most of the debris and after helping us to our mooring spot left us with a roll of paper towel so we could continue cleaning.

We paid for two pumpouts, diesel and also a new gas cylinder.

We hadn't realised that seepage had gone in under the dinette area and soaked into the bedding. Which, in hindsight was probably a good thing as it stopped it flowing any further.

We considered that this was the sort of situation where we needed Ownerships advice but could not reach anyone on any of the numbers we tried.

We cleaned the carpet and after our meal, Mike and I escaped to the pub for a well-earned drink. We made do with the bedding we had for the night and to be honest we were so tired it didn't really matter where we slept!

Friday : Once we were able to make contact with Ownerships representative at boatyard we explained what had happened during pumpout. He said he would take care of it and arranged replacement of duvet and pillow. The original duvet and pillow were thrown away, as were my duvet cover and pillowcase.

We cleaned all through and filled up with water and got away about 10am.

We realised when we were on our way home that we had left a Tamla Motown compilation CD in the player and also our small binoculars on one of the shelves.

So what were our conclusions after our first week on 'our' boat?

We felt the boat handled reasonably well although it was clear to see that the rudder was bent.

The appearance of the paint work did not match the age of the boat.

There were grease stains on the carpet in the galley

Only five small glass tumblers

5 mugs (one of which was chipped)

Plastic spatula, washing up bowl, small chopping board all had 'melt' marks.