Quite literary!
Another thing we are having to get used to is the CRT winter stoppages and, more importantly, planning to avoid them so that we don’t get stuck!
Each year during the winter months, the CRT closes certain navigations to carry out essential planned repairs and maintenance work. Many boaters choose to find winter moorings rather than navigate a restricted water system. But not us! We want to experience as much as we can.
Having checked the stoppages list, which you can view below, we discovered that locks 2-6 near Braunston tunnel are going to be out of action from 2nd November to 19th December. So, if we do not get through these before the planned closure, it means our planned route to the West & East Midlands will be thwarted! We also need to sit down and work out what other stoppages may affect our plans – something we have been putting off for a while as neither of us wants to tackle this!
Thankfully though, Braunston is only around 35 miles away and so we are confident we will get there – subject to no unforseen problems! We are also hopeful that we will be joined by Katie & Ryan this weekend to help get us up the flight of 7 locks through to Stoke Bruerne. They will also have the wonderful opportunity of tunnelling with us!
Since our last post, we had a short stay in Tring where we caught up with my brother and family (and avoided their Covid), and we also went to the local Rugby game which was good fun.
We also had a five night stopover in Leighton buzzard, which proved to be a delightful market town. We were joined by Jess and her girlfriend, Rachel, for the weekend and we sampled a number of the local bars and restaurants. Not to mention also making the most of the local launderette and shopping facilities.
Whilst in Leighton buzzard, I also commenced a new job as administration and compliance officer with Premier Solicitors. The role is 15 hours per week which I can carry out on a fully remote basis. I am hoping that this works out well – it will certainly give me the opportunity to use my brain again and provide us with much needed funds for beer! The hours are flexible which means I can work around our travelling. So if it is rainy in the morning then I will work and travel in the afternoon etc.
Boating has been in the news quite a lot recently, for a number of varying sad reasons. Firstly, there was the flooding that caused havoc and now there is the ongoing mystery of the dying swans and birds on the Grand Union canal. Unfortunately, we have seen evidence of this ourselves and have had to report a dead swan to the CRT only this afternoon 😞
There has also been a large fire at Northampton Marina, where we stayed for a night following our trip down the river Nene. One boat was burnt completely and sunk to the bottom of the marina and many other boats had to be evacuated. Who said boating was all peace and tranquility!
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2k2wvnq4go
Finally, there are also numerous stark warnings amongst the boating community and reminders not to cover the vents in your boat to avoid death by carbon monoxide poisoning! Paul and I have had numerous arguments on this exact point as he wanted to cover over the vents on the bow door to stop cold air coming into the lounge area. Needless to say the vents have not been covered and we do have two carbon monoxide alarms onboard.
We both remain in good spirits and are really enjoying the change in scenery that follows with the changing seasons. The trees are becoming a beautiful golden, red, orange colour and the misty mornings are magical.
Hope everyone is well and love to all.
Jo & Paul xxx
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