It was raining heavily when we got up at 06:00 on Tuesday 14th September 2021 so we decided to delay cruising until it stopped. Hilary got on to planning our exit plans for leaving the narrowboat at the end of September 2021 before winter set in and the boat was completely taken over by insects.
Also at the end of September the Canal & River Trust would begin their winter program of inland waterways maintenance which would entail an extensive number of planned stoppages. Before long she had bought a Skoda Octavia.
Trusting Rylan Clark-Neal rather than ”economical with the truth” used car salesman Philip Schofield in the field of television used car sales she got it from Cinch. We needed a car as we sold our Mazda CX-5 and donated our VW Passat Estate to the Community Council of Somerset when we moved onto the boat.
We had enjoyed our time being car-free but the practicalities of living on land meant that we needed to rejoin the driving fraternity.
We had responded to the CCS call on the generosity of Somerset’s people to donate their second-hand cars, that are in working order but that they no longer need, to help get West Somerset moving. If someone is in need of a vehicle for work or training agency staff can make an initial referral to them via their website at https://ccslovesomerset.org/car/.
Rest-assured when we provide the vehicle it has been through a complete check, service and MOT, provided by Rusty Road to Recovery (RR2R) so it is completely roadworthy.
Rusty Road to Recovery is a social enterprise organisation in Bridgwater and surrounding areas of Sedgmoor. We support people will mental health problems, older people and young adults.
We sat out the torrential rain and wandered down to the New Inn at lunchtime. Dogs were not allowed inside the pub and sitting out at a picnic table under a leaky gazebo was not much fun.
On the walk back we talked to an American couple who were on The Squire, another boat from Dave Dare’s Long Term Narrowboat Hire stable. They had been shafted by “Escape the Rat Race”, the other long term hire company that we had a lucky escape from.
On Wednesday (14/09/2021) we set off again at 09:30 under a leaden sky. We got a peek at the quaint Toll House hiding behind the willow tree at Norton Junction.
We continued on the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union Canal heading for Braunston. We couldn’t work out what the dog was looking at.
Steve drove the boat through Braunston Tunnel which is on the Grand Union Canal about 830 yds (760 m) east of Braunston, Northamptonshire, top lock. It is in the northern outskirts of Daventry, about 2 km east of the village of Braunston.
Braunston Tunnel is 2,042 yards (1,867 m) in length. Built by Jessop and Barnes, the tunnel has no towpath and is 4.8m wide by 3.76m high.
It was opened in 1796. Its construction was delayed by soil movement and it was probably the resulting movement that led to the tunnel having a slight 'S' bend. There is room for two 7 ft (2.13 m) beam boats to pass. There are three air shafts along its length.
The tunnel passes underground alongside another Grand Union Canal feature, Drayton Reservoir, from which the feeder enters the canal at the east end of the tunnel.
We went through the six Braunston wide locks sharing with narrowboat Calamity Jayne.
The skipper explained to Hilary that the moon was hollow and put there by aliens 3,000 years ago to control the planet. He had seen UFO’s over the New Forest so he knew that they were real. When we met Ross and Amanda on Chuffed in Braunston they had been told the same story, the gospel according to Calamity Jayne.
We passed the site of a clay pit and works that made bricks mainly for lining out Braunston Tunnel when it was being built (3 bricks thick for 1 and 1⁄4 miles is a hell of a lot of bricks!) and the Victorian pumping station (disused) with the date 1897 written in dark bricks on the tall chimney. It was originally built in 1805 and rebuilt in 1897.
Maintaining water supply for lock operation was expensive and the Grand Junction Company didn’t want to gift it to the Oxford Canal just ahead, so they collected it in side ponds (now the marina moorings) and pumped it back to above the top lock. This pump-house replaced the original one.
We moored up in Braunston, intending to just go shopping, but decided to stay here overnight. We walked up to the splendid butcher’s shop in the town.
We invested in a couple of large steak burgers and a chicken and ham pie.
Vera loves the fields at Braunston. When we were here earlier in the year this one was covered in snow. You can see Braunston Marina at the bottom of the hill.
Our mooring was opposite the Boat House pub, a favourite of Hilary’s dad Brian on the family boating weekends in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
The Toll House was built in 1796 and is now known as the Stop House. The “look-out” man collected tolls here. There was originally a single lock, which was widened to the standard double lock and later removed. It is said that a rope with a bell was put across the canal so that any boat arriving would ring the bell and alert the lookout.
In 1768 the Oxford Canal was formed to link the Coventry Canal at Longford, via Banbury to Oxford, then to London via the Thames. Ease of construction was crucial to avoid unnecessary locks, embankments and so on, so by 1774 it followed the contours via Rugby and Hillmorton, to Braunston. The canal came to where the entrance to the Marina is now, turned sharp right and continued to Napton.
Soon a shorter, faster route to London was needed, resulting in the Grand Junction Canal Company Act of 1793. The canal joined the Oxford Canal at the present marina entrance, up the 6 locks, through the tunnel and south to Brentford via Tring and Hemel Hempstead. All the locks are double width and the canal is straighter and wider than the contour Oxford Canal.
Between 1829 and 1833 the Oxford Canal was shortened to avoid some of the twisting route from Braunston to Napton. This resulted in a new junction at Braunston, the ‘Braunston Turn’ and the original Oxford Canal being terminated to form an arm at the wharf.
At Braunston Turn, the beautiful pair of Horseley Iron Works cast-iron bridges with low graceful arches stand as proof that materials such as iron and the technique of mass production need not result in ugliness. The work was completed in 1834 and worked perfectly when the canal at Braunston was a very busy commercial thoroughfare.
The town was uphill from the canal where only the church spire was visible. All Saint’s Church is known as the “Cathedral of the Canals”. Braunston has had three stone churches since Norman times serving the ever changing community. All three churches have been on the same site at one end of the ridge where initially a cluster of farmsteads and dwellings grew. The site was almost certainly an ancient tumulus or burial ground.
Steve took Vera for her favourite circuit which took them over the footbridge at the entrance to Braunston Marina.
We were moored closed to the Gongoozler’s Rest Cafe where Vera picked up the aroma of cooking bacon.
Tomorrow (16/09/2021) we would be making our way along the Oxford Canal (north) on our way to Coventry and the Ashby de la Zouch Canal.
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