We returned home on Sunday as Mike had a medical appointment 8.45 on Monday that has been in the pipeline for about a year and was not to be missed! Knowing that it was generally expected that the Northampton Arm would only have a possible transit towards the end of October, we made arrangements for our boat to remain at White Mills for a month.
We have found White Mills to be very supportive - as indeed have the other two marinas (Cropredy and Brinklow) where our planned winter moorings have successively been thwarted by the continuing effects of the ongoing drought.
It was with the expectation that we would be back within two weeks that we left the boat ready for a quick getaway, once we had a date. Winterising could wait until we arrived at our destination (currently set as Brinklow) We also had crew assistance lined up! And the anchor and lifebuoy remain deployed . . .
Everyone involved knew that CaRT had planned a review of several inter-related closed or restricted waterways on 6th October and, on schedule, there was a series of announcements today. After seeing that several canals that had either been closed or under significant restriction had decisions to re-open, at last partially, there was a sense of positive expectation.
Alas! Not only was the decision to leave the Northampton Arm, together with the Leicester Branch, Foxton and Watford flights completely closed (it was already known that the southern Oxford was unlikely to re-open this boating season) but also the notice gave no subsequent review date. Once the end of October is reached then the Winter Stoppage Programme starts to kick in and through routes often become impossible.
Right now we feel in limbo! Unable to come completely to terms with not being able to get Alchemy back onto the canal network, we also have to face the reality that the odds on this being possible are rapidly in decline!
There will obviously be some admin consequences. How far do we extend our White Mills arrangement? Like almost all marinas the monthly cost is a function of the length of the contract. If you book too little then the overall cost increases but if you book too long then some of the period will be wasted. Come the turn of the year we will also have to sort out licences. At the moment we have a Gold Licence, along with an Anglian Pass. We did not have any expectation of needing other than a CaRT licence in 2027. If we do not transit the Northampton Arm in October (almost now a certainty) then there will be a period in 2027 when we are on EA waters!
Still, we have all the maps and data to hand to plan what we do next year, consistent with our ever changing health status. Not yet quite ready to give in, even if the boat is more of a moving holiday cottage than a rapid transit system. For once, the choices are more to do with climate change than health change!
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