Today was scheduled to be a heavy day with at least two 'wheel' operated manual locks, There is nowhere to more between them so they have to be done on the same day. In the end it was somewhat heavier than planned!
When we awoke, a group of cattle were taking advantage of their bathing beach on the opposite bank but later, when we set off, they had retired to the other side of the field to agree - or not - the weather forecast for the day. Mostly they agreed with the Met Office that it would be clear sky and getting quite hot mid afternoon. The cattle were replaced by a group of swans.
We did not get around to including a picture of Islip Mill Mooring yesterday, so here it is, just as we were leaving,
It was only a short distance to the first lock which thankfully was mechanised. However, we did have to manoeuvre a large floating log out of the way in order to open the top gates properly.
Islip is part of the small town of Thrapston with a splendid old road bridge (others for the narrow arch of modern traffic are now available). The bridge is today aligned awkwardly for river traffic especially upstream where a blind sharp bend immediately precedes the narrow arch,
A rather faded sign on the downstream side of the bridge directs navigators to make a sharp right turn after the bridge for a visitor mooring and access to the town. We tired to get in there on the way down but discovered that the mooring is closed awaiting repairs - no indication of how long that might take. Today, access is also blocked by a fallen treen that is newly arrived. Nothing seems to have been done to clear it so no doubt it will remain as an excuse for not repairing the mooring!
A part of the former Midland Railway's Kettering and Huntingdon Branch crosses on a splendid multi-arched viaduct. We previously saw this line near Godmanchester where it links up with other routes.
And so to Denford lock, one of today's manual lock. As the photo shows, the bottom gate was down and the top gates wide open, quite contrary to the requirements of the navigation (which serves as an important water management resource) /
We were not sure what to do, especially after encountering a notice on one of the earlier manual locks to leave the guillotine closed. In the end we opted leave the lock as it was when we arrived. Any temptation to go back and open the bottom gate was overwhelmed by the experience of opening once on arrival!!
The same experience was had at the next lock, Woodford, Its guillotine is also manually operated. In case you missed it in an earlier post, it takes about 100 turns up and down. With both of these, they were frustratingly easy in the middle part of the exercise but tardy to get going and definitely tough for the last 20 or so turns.
A picturesque view of Woodford Church through the riverside vegetation.
A fuller picture a little later.
At Lower Ringstead lock we were caught up by a large work boat and pusher tug that was being taken by team of three contractors up to near Northampton to begin a routine check of the lock structures and to do maintenance such as replenishing the greaser of the lifting mechanisms. One of the team remarked (disapprovingly!) about the fact that we had not left the two manual locks as they should have been. We explained why and they did hint that the 'miscreant' boat had been noted further on so we might find the same experience at the last manual lock, next to come.
We now committed to completing the third and final 'wheel' lock so passed on our earlier plan of stopping at the fairly new Clive's Retreat FOTRN mooring.
The contractors crew had said that we could stay a while on the lower lock landing but (hoping that they might catch us up before we had done all the hard work and they could lend a hand) we opted to crack on and have lunch at the upper landing. Again, the lock had been left incorrectly. But after having been put right earlier we did not think it appropriate to leave the lock 'as found' this time. So we tied to the upper landing whilst we turned the wheel for one last time.
Of course, just as we finished raising the gate the barge appeared under the bridge just before the lock! Furthermore they revealed that they needed to leave their boats on the upper landing as this is regarded as the last 'safe' place for some distance - they seem to have had bad vandalism experience in Irthlingborough in years past. So we had to move on - as we planned to do as soon as lunch was over but now just a bit sooner. Mike had quite a good chat with them about how maintenance work is changing in EA, following the CaRT experience a year or two behind. That is, some of the permanent EA staff feel their noses put out of joint and their long experience undervalued. Some works let out to contract go better than others.
We unmoored and continued to Stanwick Lakes FOTRN Mooring. We have used this spot in the past but we found that most of the bank is in need of dredging and we had to be content with the bow close in and the stern well away from the bank. Quite safe however. Alas, during the evening we were swamped by a huge swarm of midges/thunder flies/whatever. Fortunately they were more intent on attacking the lights inside the boat than eating us.
The news on the winter mooring front improved when Christine had a call from Brinklow - one of the longer serving members of staff who was able to say that, if we could decide in the next week, they expect to be able to accommodate us as several other boats have just left. We now need CaRT to come good on letting us through the Northampton Arm in sufficient time.
7.0 Miles - 5 Locks
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