However, so that they did not have to leave home at the crack of dawn, we did not plan to leave until mid-late afternoon but, unusually, their journey down was not exceptionally impeded by traffic. Hence they arrived earlier than we had expected and we could leave in good time.
Expecting a late departure we had already opted to break the journey part way an booked into the Holiday Inn at Bristol, just over half way. As we approached J27 the overhead signs warned of an hour's delay in the section to J22. Sadly, the warning was correct! There were no specific reasons other than sheer volume of traffic, made worse by people changing lanes - which then causes a ripple effect as other drivers have to brake. Each we cleared one slow section we had a minute's respite until the next one. We were really quite pleased by the time we arrived at Bristol that we did not have to go any further.
The Holiday Inn was satisfactory - the staff made a good job of making a silk purse from a sow's ear. The building looks very 1960's in style as does a lot of the decor. But it is kept in good condition and everyone was very friendly and helpful, the room was comfortable enough. We ate a meal in their restaurant - again with pleasant and efficient staff even if the menu would win no gastronomic awards!
In Saturday morning we set off in good time somewhat apprehensive about the journey ahead. Would it be a repeat of last night? In fact traffic on the M4 was remarkably light and overall there were few delays. The only disappointment was that our route involved a right turn off the A43 as we neared Northampton. However the gap was closed - the notice said that it was until late July but no-one seems to have remembered to re-open it or perhaps update the sign. This meant we had a diversion of several miles as we had to go on to very near Northampton, come off the dual carriageway and return back along minor roads.
We stayed in the marina as we had arranged to meet with a possible solar panel installer but he was delayed on another job rescuing a broken down boat on the Oxford Canal. (He did later confirm other reports of the low levels of water on that canal). We agreed to meet mid morning on Sunday.
We saw as we arrived that nb Briar Rose was moored on the towpath opposite the marina. We exchanged a brief few words but the noise from the A43 made it difficult to hear properly! Adam and Adrian were awaiting the arrival of relatives who have a share boat in the marina and were due to arrive at the start of their week.
We had deliberately not brought many food stocks with us so an early priority was to drive into Northampton for a good supermarket shop.
Later Mike walked around and had a longer chat with Adam - we have had contact over various matters before but this was the first proper face-to-face conversation! Such is the way with canals and social media!
Shortly after Mike had returned back across the bridge and back to the boat, they set off with the other boat just behind.
A phone call came from Graham, the solar panel advisor, to tell us that he had been delayed on his rescue mission on the Oxford Canal and, after some discussion over the phone, agreed to meet tomorrow morning at 11:30.
This morning we began by going to the Morning Service at Milton Malsor, one of several similarly close villages. We had spotted this church as all of our SatNav routes to or from the marina have come via that village.
Whilst their numbers were down on more usual times as a result of people being away on holiday, it was a wonderful, relaxed, happy and supportive atmosphere. There was no organist and so they use a CD to accompany the hymns. This can sometimes lead to unexpected results but here they all took it with great good humour.
Afterwards we stayed for coffee and had a good chat with several people including the rector who is about to start on a three month sabbatical studying art and Christianity. It was evident that she will have quite a few interesting things to say about the subject afterwards.
We stayed long enough to mean that once back at the boat we needed to do a quick change to be ready for 11:30.
As well as advising on the solar panels, Graham is looking at an issue with the electrical system that appears to mean that more energy is drawn from (or less supplied by) the batteries than is stated on the Mastervolt system. Eventually, after everything else seemed to be normal we did find one anomaly but as yet not enough to explain everything. This has been an on-going frustration for us but we have not really had time so far to focus on getting to the bottom of it. So we have given ourselves a very relaxed schedule (ie none at all yet!) and agreed with the marina office that we could stay an extra night to see if we can make some progress. It is not the end of the wold if we do not find it but we really do hate having physical things that we cannot explain!
By the time Graham left it was too late to set off and, in any case, he suggested returning tomorrow morning to fit his data logger again - a short period of measurement at the end of the last trip did give some fascinating data, even if it only confirmed what we have been saying less scientifically hitherto.
Mike had already done all of the preparation for tonight's roast beef dinner - just needed cooking - so, with Christine confessing to a touch of cabin fever we plotted a shortish walk around the local area that took in Gayton village.
After leaving the marina by the back gate we soon reached the bridge over the junction. Wee have seen this stretch of canal many times from the rather different angle of water level but not had the overview before.
We probably guessed that this house at the junction was a toll house but, after seeing its name from the other side by the road, we now know that it is still called after that former purpose.
Although we walked around a couple of miles we never really lost the sound of the A43 - it does seem to have a worse noise footprint than even a motorway. Why is that?
We crossed the main railway line twice as well as having a grandstand view of the swathe of logistics buildings alongside J15A of the M1.
We spotted numerous banners objecting to the plans out for consultation that will create a large road-rail interchange on the land just across the canal from Gayton Martina, going almost all the way to the edge of Milton Malsor. Somehow more objections seemed to be raised from Gayton which is further away but that is only based on a non-random sample of the banners!
Later, we looked up details of the plans for this huge development - of course no-one likes such large scale change on their back door but it does go some way to meeting government targets to shift bulk freight from road to rail. The main purpose of the scheme will be to tap into the existing growth of J15A as a major logistics hub so road vehicles are unlikely to want to use other than the immediate trunk roads rather than rat-run via the villages. Our awareness of this debate has now been raised so we will be more likely to listen out for how it goes and when it might come about. The main page of the objectors web site puts a focus on the impact on Blisworth rather than any other village. However, there is already the main line rail link between the village and the proposed site whilst nothing will protect Milton Malsor.
We crossed over the elegantly designed turnover bridge on the main Grand Union line just above the junction. This was to allow horses to cross safely at a point where the towpath changed sides, away from anything using the accommodation bridge.
Just before the main entrance to the marina we spotted this item in the grass beside the road. It looks like a standard Grand Union distance marker but why it is located here is not obvious - unless it was 'rescued' from its original place when the marina was expanded.
When we returned to the boat Mike made an immediate start of completing the roast dinner (the meat had been put on a low setting before we left) but we knew that it would be somewhat later than our usual hour! We also found, to our surprise, that we could just catch a tv signal - previously we had thought that a large tree obstructed the view but in the end it just edged to one side.
No comments:
Post a Comment