Staying in the Marina

As we arrived in Northampton earlier than planned, we stayed in the marina almost all day. It has been quite cold and towards the end quite a bit of rain arrived although that should pass in the night.

The main activity was to walk to Morrisons for a few items including some crusty bread (in lieu of garlic bread which we cannot bake off at the moment as the oven is still playing up!)

In Beckets Park we spotted a squirrel climbing a tree trunk. Whilst obviously very wary of humans, it was kind enough to stay in place long enough for us to take some photos before disappearing from our view.

On the way back we talked to a boater moored on the embankment (most of the stretch is double moored with many expecting to make the transit of the Arm this week) and he said that another boater had  discovered that Lock 17 (the one that connects directly from the river) was still locked up. This contrasts with an email we received from the East Midlands office that said that 13 - 17 were to remain unlocked. We rang the main Customer Service Line but did not have any useful conversation as the person answering just read from the standard navigation  notice that is also ambiguous. Its headline refers to the whole flight whilst the content limits to 1 - 12!

The problem is compounded by the fact the the lock is directly onto the river and has a relatively short lock landing and queuing is not really an option. When we came down it was further complicated by most of the landing occupied by what was either a long stayer or abandoned boat.

So the uncertainties of this part of 2026 cruising continue and we shall just have to see what transpires. Andrew is driving up to join us tomorrow morning. The plan was for us to meet him just above Lock 17 where he had identified a suitable place to park. At the moment we have arranged that he will take a look at the lock and we will then decide what to do. One possibility is that even if it is locked that we will cruise up to the lock (for want of anything else to do!) and pick him up before returning back to the marina for the night. The prospect then is that there will be quite a log jam of boats on the short arm just off the main river all waiting to get through on Tuesday  morning! It seems possible that there are around twenty boats hoping to transit in the two days. Perhaps some will have to attempt it in the hours of darkness! It is probably a very long time since the Arm saw so many boats in one day.