White Mills

Today's Navigation : River Nene

We enjoyed our partial rest day and stopover in Northampton Marina last night - but today had to pay for it. More later!

The marina is built as an island, surrounded by a narrow strip of land. It is perhaps the only marina on the network that does not have any vehicular access. Moorers and staff have to gain entrance over a short footbridge from the town side. The bridge is gated and when we  arrived we had to exchange a deposit for a fob - which we never actually needed to use. But we had to wait until the office opened at 9 am to return it and regain our £10. However, Mike used the hour before that to do the usual round of emptying and filling.

Just before 9:30 we reversed rom the visitor mooring and turned to face the exit. Directly opposite is one of the main buildings of the University of Northampton. When we last came here in 2018 this new campus was just being made ready to receive its first students in the coming September.

This university has a complex and intriguing history, albeit with a centuries' long gap. Henry III founded England's third university, after Oxford and Cambridge, in 1261. However powerful bishops and businessmen reacted badly to the competition (no doubt they had well rooted powerful control over the other two) and persuaded Henry to close it after only four years. In addition he signed a decree that no university should be created in Northampton - for ever!

A Technical College came along in 1924 followed by a college of art and teacher training school. Non degree tertiary education never took off in the wat that pioneers in the 1960s envisaged. The institution evolved into a University College with its credentials validated by Leicester University. In 1999 it became a university in its own right but only after the Privy Council had repealed King Henry's decree!

This long evolution meant that it was based somewhat higgledy-piggledy on several locations in town but in 2012 plans were agreed to focus on a waterside site that was once home to a large power station.

So now we left the marina behind us.

We had to cruise a short distance upstream along what is a weir stream to return to the main navigation channel.

This then required us to make an almost 360 degree turn to enter Northampton Lock. This and the next two have the familiar arrangement of 'pointing doors' at both ends.

What is different is that the standard procedure is to leave open the gates as you leave, either top or bottom.

University Bridge is one of several important access routes into and out of the new university campus, It was nearly complete when we came by in 2018.

A largeish craft could be seen a little way along a bywater. In the past it was called The Ark and developed a good reputation locally as a quality restaurant. That business seem snow to have ceased a and has been replaced by another eatery called The Smoke Craft. (see) It specializes in dishes with a BBQ flavour.

The section of the river below the town and before the Washlands follows a very green corridor where the sunlight sometimes, even today, struggles to reach the water!

Soon after Abington Lock is a large structure that houses a sluice gate that can be raised in times of flooding. It is an important reminder that much of the work on maintaining the river navigation is motivated (and funded) in its role as a water management system.

The style of the locks changes visually at Weston Favell Lock - the bottom gate is a single guillotine gate raised by a large mechanism that is often visible some distance away. Operationally the impact is that now the bottom gate is always left open, regardless of the direction of boat travel. It will always be in the same state whether another boat has recently come up or not.

This lock and all the others today is mechanised - we have yet to discover how many of the manual ones we vividly recall from previous visits remain so.

Just below the lock is a fairly small Northampton Boat Club where it looks as if each mooting coms with its own bijou house on stilts.

 

The very large Billing Aquadrome sits alongside a comparably named lock. It has been home to a huge number of mobile homes and caravans, both static and touring. It is a permanent home to over 1000 people. It has seemed to gradually lose its sparkle and become somewhat dated a in 2024 it went into administration, seeking new capital investment. It has remained open and was then joined by the Cogenhoe Caravan Park just downstream (but see below) Billing still seems to not want any passing trade as its river entrance is quite hard to pick out!

The next lock is Cogenhoe and we recall ti (see here) as a busy, vibrant place and we could hardy believe the change - nothing at all beside the lock.

It seems that last year the caravan park closed after a series of serious flooding incidents and arrangements made to transfer at least some of the residents across to Billing Aquadrome. Today all that is to be seen are some of the hookup points and concrete bases to pitches. Nature is quickly reclaiming it as her own.

From the footbridge below Whiston Lock we could see nearby lakes - a common sight in this valley. However, the odd thing is that they do not seem to appear on any of our maps - we wonder if either they have been newly created or are perhaps occasional, even if the flood season is well past.

Having now done 8 locks and the sun gaining in strength - it was well after lunch time - we succumbed to the signs alongside While Mills Marina, offering bankside mooring at £6 and night. After calling to confirm that this was OK (we have to pay online using a QR code on the sign) we set about tying up. We had reached the bank with our stern but yet to come parallel. Of course there are no posts or bollards so pins it is. The problem next was that, firstly, the stream flow and the wind had taken the bow across to the other bank. and secondly that at an earlier lock, a complication had left both centre lines at the front so we had no way of pulling the boat in from the bank. Mike had to crawl alog the top roof to retrieve one of them. 

Having done that we could not now get the stern anywhere near as close to the bank as before and so we needed the gangplank - also well down the roof!  In the process of manoeuvring it to the stern Mike somehow caught the tab that inflates his life jacket. At first he could only hear a gentle hiss and did not connect it to what was around his neck until there was a loud bang and the yellow innards expanded to make him into an imitation of Michelin Man (if you can remember that) 

Anyway, we eventually made the best of the location and were secure enough for the night. Only one other boat came down and stopped briefly before turning around and returning to Billing.

7.3 Miles - 8 Locks 

Northampton Marina

Today's Navigations : Grand Union (Northampton Arm), River Nene

Not really a rest day but one in which we made very little navigation progress! 

We left our mooring quite late (by hot weather standards) ie just after 10 am. We had a short distance to go to the last lock on the arm after which we will be down onto the River Nene. As a boat had just passed us after coming up, the lock was all but full. Needed a few millimetres of top up.

In the background we could just see the brewery - there has been one here for a long time.

On the southern side of the canal these modern apartment blocks replaced former industrial activities. The small indentation in the edge of the towpath is already there on OS maps from over a century ago - presumably used for loading and unloading.

A sign alongside the lock reminds us that we are now entering EA waters, for which a separate licence is required - or, as in our case, a combined Gold licence that allows to travel on both CaRT and EA navigations.

As we leave the Northampton Arm behind us, we enter the River Nene. Yesterday we were unclear whether our slow speed was entirely due to the reed beds or perhaps too much caught on the prop. We put off checking last night in the hope that we would find as soon as we were on open water, we could open up the throttle. Alas, we had misjudged and struggled down the short section to the town moorings.

Almost opposite the canal junction stands the present brewery, currently owned by Carlsberg. Most of the production is lager, predominantly Carlsberg Danish Pilsner, and Carlsberg Export. This was the Danish company's first brewery outside their home country and started production in 1974. From the outside it does look a little showing its age but no doubt inside is state of the art.

Not far below the canal is this sluice gate. Rather unusually,. none of our usual resources give us any clue about its name or purpose. Anyone know?

We came to the three arched South Bridge, opened in 1818 although there has been a crossing at this point since 1100. Fortunately, the navigation arch is clearly marked - no room for confusion.

Just beyond the town moorings began - at first sight it looks quite extensive but look more closely and we found them all but full - with a few inconvenient unusable gaps in several places. We started to head for what looked like just enough room in a gap just ahead of the footbridge. Alas, as well pulled across to the opposite side to begin our approach, we could see that much of the space was occupied by a sunken cruiser!

We then had to reverse so that we could take the end of the line nearest to where we had come. It was long enough but the last mooring post was half way along. Our sluggish prop did not help although the breeze made up for it and eventually we sidled slowly into position and made fast. It is disappointing that no real mooring facilities are installed - these posts are not meant to take that sort of load especially if ropes are tied near the top. By using one post that the nearest boat had tied its stern to and the remaining free one, together with bow, stern and centre lines, we felt it was sufficiently secure for a shopping trip. (this photo was taken as we later left and shows the situation more clearly ie we forgot to take one from the towpath before we left!)

Morrisons is only a few minutes walk away and we did a good stock up - the trolley did sterling service carrying most of it along with quite a full shopping bag! Once back on board, Christine was left with the task of finding places to stow everything away - but then she did compile the shopping list . . . 

Before we cast off, Mike tackled the weed hatch yet again, expecting to find a mass of reeds and weeds. But none of that instead an unsavoury mass of unravelling rope and netting, along with quite a bit of plastic. No wonder we were going so slowly this morning. (Sorry that when we reviewed the photos - after having disposed of the mass in a bin -  we saw that it resembled a dead sheep at first sight. Ugghh! Lucky it wasn't)

After a few metres we passed under the impressive Wathen Wigg footbridge, opened in 2005. (see here for more about the name)

As we walked back, Mike floated the idea that, as we had to call at Northampton Marina for services and to purchase a Navigation Key (we did have two from a previous trip but it seems they were one the ring that was lost earlier this year) perhaps we might ask about an overnight stay - well,  a long afternoon was the real idea. With surprising alacrity Christine agreed and this is what we did.

0.8 Miles - 1 Lock  whether

Northampton

Today's Canal : Northampton Arm (Grand Union)

Today was set to be our most challenging on the trip plan. The arm has 17 locks, no mooring options until just before the bottom lock onto the river and lots of reeds beside the long pounds!

With much warmer weather predicted for the later part of the day we agreed yesterday to make an early start and were off just after 7.30. As this view of the entrance to Gayton Marina shows, the day started very overcast. It felt as if we were going to have a comfortable climate for doing these locks.

Just before 8 we were at the top of the flight and starting down. The top lock was full (in this case, beginner's luck) but we could see that the first short pound was not nearly full.

At its busiest, the canal had three full time lock keepers each with their own cottage. The one at the top, now in private ownership, is the only one remaining. (Emergency call outs were just a knock at the door - mobile phones not yet invented!)

The flight has a set of mosaics, each depicting a letter from the title THE NORTHAMPTON ARM, conveniently 17 letters! We have seen them before - the last time in 2018 and they have lasted well.

Lock 3 started OK but once empty our boat just caught on the bottom cill - a slight flush of water freed it. Again, with Christine steering, was a little on the bottom whilst half way to Lock 3 but the same solution cured the problem, We did not have to take much water out of the lock.

Mike filled the next lock so that Christine could drive straight in but no, stuck on the cill with about one third of the boat in the lock. A call to CaRT was put in place - a bit early for their proper response so it took some effort to get our needs passed to the right place.

We then noticed that the level in the lock was dropping fast (unusually leaky bottom gates) Time to get the boat to safety before it became a crisis. This entailed bringing more water down but did not prove difficult. We closed up the top gate and tied the boat to a bollard but it was not really sensible to try to get either on or off the boat at this time.

By the time someone attended from CaRT (they had been running water down from the summit meanwhile as they walked down) the lock was almost empty! Glad we were not still sitting on the cill.

This, by now, was the state in the pound above - we are not sure how it ran so low, not whilst we were taking water from it.

It did not take CaRT to adjust the levels sufficiently for us to continue - but time enough to have a friendly chat! It seems that these two pounds are regular culprits. We were delayed just over an hour and a half.

As we started off again, a chap arrived offering to help and, as he seemed to know what he was doing, we readily accepted. A good move as his assistance meant that we really flew down the next ten locks!

The arm once had four impressive lift bridges - only foot traffic - but now just one is intact and not actually in use.

The second one was already in pieces 8 years ago, supposedly awaiting repair but that never happened and those parts now form a decoration along side the canal!

Lock 12 is all but under the M1 with a huge arched culvert  creating an eerie space. 1950's architecture at its best (?) but it has at least survived well and today carries far more vehicles than when it was first opened in 1959 - no central barriers, no hard shoulder, no speed limit and almost no traffic! The first user travelled at almost an average of 100 mph.

Our volunteer lock keeper stayed with us until Lock 13, the last of the closely spaced flight. He then needed to return home and our grateful thanks went with him.

Although we had now completed 13 of the 17 locks, we were barely a quarter of the way along. As well as much longer pounds, the character was very different - it was not like this in 2010 when we first travelled this arm but had become so in 2018. Whilst the water is very clear and seems to have reasonable depth in the centre, the extensive reed beds restrict boats to a very slow speed. The gap between either side is often not much more than a boat width and so the water that the prop needs to pull past the boat is constrained. We mostly made little over 1 mph sometimes much less.

The construction of this modern footbridge cleared one side but not the other and the commonest situation is in the background.

We grounded gently on a couple of occasions which were easy to rectify, but at one point we almost thought we were going to be stranded well away from either bank. A large tree blocked half of the canal and Mike had to forward and reverse several times before he could find a way through (much of him in the tree's leaves! But we got through - eventually!

We now could see the prominent former Express Lifts testing tower. In 1997 the company was taken over by Otis in the US who transferred all the development and testing back 'home'. For a while the tower was unused but is now in private hands as the National Lift Tower and testing work has resumed. Permission has also been granted for it to be used for abseiling events up to 24 times a year. (Not by Mike! Christine has done fund raising  by abseiling a rock face in Cornwall) The tower does not actually lean Pisa-fashion - that was cameraperson inattention!

We did not intend to go out on the River Nene today so Lock 16 was the last for now. The industrialised past of this part of the town was becoming increasingly obvious. 

There were once three rail routes south of Northampton. As well as the remaining now electrified track and station there were lines off to Bedford and Peterborough which used a station close to Lock 16. There was also an extensive set of tracks serving the brewery and other industries. There is little sign of most of this history. The above photo shows one abutment of a former rail bridge.

This bridge remains but no track has run overhead in a long while.

We moored just before Lock 17 - we could not get both ends of the boat close to the bank but as there is no passing traffic it is not an issue. There are, however, at least four other boats moored here, perhaps hiding under the radar!

4.3 Miles - 16 Locks

Rothersthorpe

Today's Canals : Grand Union Main Line and Northampton Arm

We set off a little later today - 9:20! This was allowable as we did not have a challenging target today and one that included no locks at all.

Our overnight mooring had been very close to Whilton Marina entrance and in the background, elevated on an embankment is the very busy main rail line. It is only two track - the four tracks out of London separate for a while a little south of here, with one line diverging to pass through Northampton and often takes the slower, stopping trains. Some freight does also run past the marina, especially any related to the massive DIRFT, a major road-rail freight interchange. It was not hard to see the HS2 argument that this route is very busy and becoming a rail bottleneck. HS2, from here, does not look like a political vanity project but meeting a real need.

The next section of the Grand Union does not have many landmarks but is lined by dense green vegetation. Green and picturesque it may be but with next to no maintenance it is rapidly getting out of hand. Today Christine did have a close encounter with a hidden overhanging branch. She felt very fortunate to come away with only a small scratch just below her eye, saved by her new specs which luckily were not swept into the water nor damaged.

This unassuming bridge actually carries the A5, still busy but largely replaced by the close by M1. We shall cross it again later in the morning.

In a very rural location, a small day boat hire business keeps a couple for hire. This one was not out but the other we caught up with later.

There is also a business restoring old boats - wee understand that this splendid example was rescued here. Several more old 'project' boats await a lot of work to be done on them. 

We imagine this crane is not just a personal 'lift' for two boats! A truly 'rural' mooring.

A decorated former butty rudder is seemingly unconnected with anything . . .

The new bypass road for Weedon has begun to settle into its environment - we still remember before it was built and traffic had to wrestle with the bottleneck junction on the edge of the village. We passed here when it was in various stages of construction.

At some point  - forgotten exactly where - we came around a bend to follow a very slow moving boat going in the same direction. It made no concession to the fact that we had to drift in neutral for much of the time until eventually it pulled into the side to meet with friends and we could thankfully slip by.

Weedon used to be the home of a hire fleet, each with a name that of a weed. At one stage they were very well known and distinctive in design, especially large protective bars at the bows. They ceased some years ago and several buyers have tried to rediscover the earlier success. Today it is branded as Grand Union Narrowboats and have a number of hire boats as well as a boatyard offering a full range of maintenance skills.

We once left our former boat for a short visitor mooring at the small Stowe Hill marina, better known for its boatbuilding business.

Heyford Fields has been open now for a few years but is one of the more modern marinas on the central part of the Grand Union. We have passed quite a number of older and often quite small off line moorings.

We were also again behind a slow boat - the partner to the day boat we pictured above. We spent yet more time just drifting along behind it, slowing down even more for every moored boat. After passing many opportunities to let us by, it suddenly moved to the towpath to let us by - but did not signal so!

Banbury Lane road bridge carries a quite minor road into Rothersthorpe. However, before the new bridge was built the road crossed the canal by a standard historical narrow bridge, but more important crossed the adjoining rail track by a level crossing. The delays to rail traffic especially (the route we mentioned earlier in this blog entry) became unsustainable and an alternative was sought. Hence this otherwise seemingly disproportionate structure.

Shortly after, Mike spotted a small kayak being paddled right across our bows to pass on he wrong side and going out of sight in our blind spot at the front. Fortunately Mike made the right choice to avoid him but he seemed most put out that we had sounded our horn at him! He made the mistake of enquiring how many years we had been boating!

We stopped for lunch just short of Gayton Junction. Across the field we could still see the rail line but it was now moving well away from the canal and so we bade it farewell. Boats continuing south of the junction will meet up with it later.

After lunch we completed the short run to Gaydon. This splendid turnover bridge, with its extra lane for horses crossing from one side to the other (the turnover is now only relevant to the users of long term moorings on that side)

At the junction we turned left but immediately called at the service block. The route now ahead of us is quite sparse in such facilities and so we wanted to start down the Northampton Arm in the morning, full of water and empty of waste! (We have been this way a couple of times before so we know we can survive but care is needed)

Just beyond the service block is another small boat yard but with a large crane!

Moving off proved difficult, Not only was a strong wind blowing us onshore but the prop seemed to be much less effective. We struggled the short distance to where we planned to moor, opposite Gayton Marina. Fortunately there was a suitable space for us but it is quite busy otherwise.

Once we were secured to the Armco, Mike dived into the weed hatch yet again, find another heavy duty knitted garment that took some effort to pull out. No wonder we did not make much speed just earlier.

It was yere, some years ago when we were using the marina or a short stopover, that we met Adam for the only time in real life. He is a frequent reader of this blog and ready to correct Mike's sometimes erratic typing. All corrections are warmly welcomed - keeps Mike on his feet (as it were), at least keeps them on the ground.

LATE BREAKING NEWS

We have just seen that Adam has visited here today - thanks for the info, but, what, no corrections?!? Still, Christine had her teacher's marking pen at the ready.

*******

We are now well placed to make a prompt start on the long flight of locks down the Northampton Arm. These are narrow locks so somewhat easier but the flight is notoriously weedy and prone to empty pounds. There was a short lived closure notice a few days ago. Yes, it is Sunday but the churches around here are just a bit further than we are these days comfortable to walk and many only meet monthly, so we press on.

11.1 Miles - 0 Locks