We made a little more progress today than yesterday - not difficult! The weather again was just right for cruising, quite warm at times, plenty of sunshine and limited breezes.
Before leaving we made further trips to rubbish and elsan, just to make sure that we had maximum capacity. We are uncertain about the next few days. We know that we need to do the second part of the car shuffle by Friday at the latest, preferably on Thursday, although we are still not clear what we can do about the car once we have collected it from Oundle.
We left around 10. The boat in front of us looks like a 'project' boat. There was a largely bare interior, no sign of anyone around and plenty needing to be done if it is to be habitable again. Enforcement of overstaying does not seem to be a priority here. We think that the moorings are courtesy of the local council whilst the water, pumpout and elsan are EA.
Just beyond the Mills and the busy road bridges is this slightly unusual stream inflow. We looked at the old OS maps from around 1900 and discovered that before the new A45 concrete bridge was built, there was little at this point except that a short straightening cut bypassed part of the original river course. This is the downstream end.
The present Upper Wellingborough Lock is located on the new cut. The 1900 map makes no mention of a lock at this point but on the old river there was a significant corn mill and race which presumably provided some degree of water control. Like the Lower Wellingborough Lock, this also has vee doors at both ends. This meant that we came through a bit quicker than when there is a guillotine gate.
As soon as we were back into open countryside we could see this large facility. This is HMP Five Wells. It was built in 2020 in just 45 weeks, comprising nine main blocks. It is operated by G4S and is Cat C, specifically aiming at rehabilitation and uses an extensive range of community interactions and retraining opportunities for prisoners before release. It has space for 1769 male prisoners but the speed at which it was announced, built and opened led to extensive operational difficulties. However, an unannounced inspection in May this year reported, "Five Wells has come some way since its turbulent early period" although there is still plenty to be done to achieve and acceptable regime. Alongside there is a very large solar farm which provides much of the energy to run the prison.
The landscape around the river is largely flat but there are few high embankments so the navigation feels much more part of the overall environment.
Wollaston Lock took us back to the guillotine lock style of lock. The time taken to open or close this gate is noticeably longer than with the vee doors. Partly because the physical drive mechanism is substantial and unsurprisingly slow, but also because the self-operation status has delays built in for safety reasons. Rather a lot of detritus had collected above the lock and Mike had to move some out of the way in order to open one of the upper gates, including a watermelon and a sheep carcass! (At least he did not have to move the latter)
Before the next lock there is the Manor Farm FOTRN mooring. Our plan, however was to go though Doddington Lock and moor at Hardwater Mill mooring.
We came through Doddington Lock without any real difficulty - but again were conscious that working uphill is much more work than downhill, not least the need to secure the boat to a bollard before starting to fill the chamber. But as it has a powered guillotine we shall not complain!
A short arm runs parallel to the lock section and at the end is a former mill. A mill on this site was first recorded in the Domesday Book! The present building dates from mid 18C and has not milled since 1946. Part of the building now operates as a self catering holiday let (see)
Our blog from 8 years ago describes how we found the mooring to be rather tricky, needing the use of a gangplank. Perhaps we were luckier in this time choosing a better piece of the bank but we were able to come right alongside - our boat pole proved useful in ensuring that we stepped off onto firm ground as the grass was rather long! It is a quiet place to stop - and also has a mobile signal.
3.0 Miles - 3 Locks
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