On Bank Holiday Monday (30/08/2021) Steve and Vera took a tennis ball down to the field by bridge 114, just passed Napton Lock 9. We had coffee with Nigel and Gina in the Lock Cottage and set off at 11:30. We could just see the windmill in the middle of the trees on the hill as we left Napton-on-the-Hill.
On Sunday night we started watching Vigil on BBC and were looking forward to episode 2 on Bank Holiday Monday.
We arrived at Braunston after a lock-free cruise and moored up at 13:15 hrs. We walked along the canal to the Admiral Nelson pub passing the smallest narrowboat yet, a working boat called Mouse.
Braunston makes the most of it’s canal heritage.
We walked up to Braunston lock 3 after bridge 4 to the Admiral Nelson pub.
The pub was full of boating reprobates and ideal for gongoozlers (lock watchers).
There was a patriotic theme to this pub. The building certainly pre-dates the canal, constructed circa 1730, before the introduction of the Enclosures Act 1773.
Over the bridge runs the Jurassic Way, an old sheep droving route. In the top field, signs of medieval ridge & furrow farming can be seen, best viewed early in the morning or at sundown.
Little is known & even less documented about the history of The Admiral Nelson, with only rumours hinting at the origin of the name. Some suggest that it was a member of Nelson’s crew who first opened the pub with the proceeds from services under ‘The Admiral’, naming the pub in honour of his former employer.
It is also known that at some stage, possibly during the construction of the Braunston Tunnel (completed in 1796), the room at the far end of the pub served as a morgue.
This picture probably illustrates the type of client they were trying to attract.
We walked back to the boat passing lots of old canal buildings.
The wharf had obviously been supplying diesel to narrowboats for a long time.
Braunston is an official Transport Heritage Site.
On Tuesday (31/08/2021) we worked our way through the 6 Braunston Locks and the Braunston Tunnel which is 2,042 yards long. We moored up just before Norton Junction where we were well poised for a visit to the New Inn on the Grand Union Canal.
We got chatting to a colourful character with a little dog. He was a musician and published the online magazine at https://canalsonline.uk/
He bills himself as the singing boatman and seems to get plenty of gigs in pubs along the cut. He told us one night that he was performing in Napton the landlord, Mark with the splendid moustache, was arguing with his then wife and she got him to sing “Love on the Rocks” three times to try and impress her errant hubbie what he was up against.
He told us that the Robertson’s Golly guitarist badge on his hat was a gift from a black American blues artist and he had only been challenged once for it being offensive. This Christmas card picture shows Gerry and his little dog, Angus.
He said that he was lucky to have met his idol Gerry Anderson and we reminisced about Thunderbirds, Stingray and Fireball XL5. He still played the theme from the latter as part of his set. Check him out on Facebook and CanalsOnline.uk.
Watch out for Snuggly Buggly on the cut as he may well be performing in the pub next to it.
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