Winwick

Today's Canal - Grand Union Leicester Branch

The weather today seems to confirm that the months of May and April appear to have swapped places in the climate calendar. Just a few brief sunny spells interrupted the monotonous grey skies and chilly temperatures.

Last night Mike failed to spot the half-mile distance marker that he had previously recorded close to our mooring spot. Before leaving he went to look for it - and take a better close up photo - initially looking in the wrong direction only to discover it was directly opposite out center line! However there is now much more vegetation and he had to remove a little to gain a clear view of the sign.

We were late setting up this morning, thanks in part to Mike having had a wakeful patch around 2 am, then sleeping in a  chair for three hours only to find that it was all but 8 o'clock when he finally got up! In the end it was after 10:30 before we started to cast off.

Very soon we passed under a railway bridge that carries the electrified line through Northampton. It leaves the West Coat Main Line near Blisworth and rejoins it at Hillmorton. It is one of the two railway bridges that we featured in our 1st May blog. It was included in the electrification plan to provide additional capacity for slower passenger and freight traffic. This, of course, interacts with the main arguments for HS2 (possibly!)

Shortly after we entered Crick Tunnel. Another straight, two-way tunnel that only gushes water down the steerers neck about 75m from the northern end. We took just over the advertised 15 minutes passage, due mostly to the four oncoming boats that we had to pass.

Crick, immediately after the tunnel, has two marinas. First is the very small Crick Wharf Marina. At one tome ABNB, a canal boat brokerage known for its stylish brochures, was based here but they have now moved up the canal to North Kilworth.

At one time there was a thriving cafe in the old wharf buildings but that has closed. Today the area is being used to crane new boats onto the water.

Just beyond the A428 road bridge is the much larger Crick Marina, now part of the growing Aquavista group. It even has three separate entrances and is home gto the annual Crick Boat Show at the end of May Bank Holiday. Soon the canal will be very busy with many boats arriving to take part but as yet it was still quiet with lots of mooring available.

Crack's Hill is a prominent landmark with a lot of history. It is understood that the Romans used it as a sentry point for Watling Street which passes nearby. There is also said to be evidence of an earlier Iron Age Fort.

We were now heading out into the countryside with few nearby villages or even hamlets. The next few miles are very much a contour canal - the summit pound between Watford and Foxton Locks is 23 miles in length and includes a short arm up to the village of Welford, mainly as a feeder from the Welford and Sulby reservoirs to keep the pound topped up. (A lot of water is also pumped up below the Watford flight from the Main Line)

Yelvertoft Marina offers around 150 spaces in quite isolated open countryside. It opened in 2010 after many years in  the planning. We have called there in the past for diesel but we are not yet ready for that this time.

We opted to stop just after  Bridge 24 as we spotted some armco complete with rings. It was also now 1 o'clock and lunchtime. (We only used one ring as the spacing was not suitable for our length but the armco readily took a goat chain)

The nearest place is Winwick, a tiny hamlet that Wikipedia describes as 'a lost settlement' with perhaps a  couple of dozen houses. There is a manor house nearby and the parish church is still in use with one evening service a month. Some of the history of Winwick can be found  here and here.

5.9 Miles - 0 Locks