Back aboard and a few days up the river to Northampton

After a great break staying with family on the Isle of Man and attending my nephew's wedding I'm back on the old tub and have spent the past three days trundling back up the Nene to Northampton.  I left Oundle on Friday for a short trip of up to Islip to meet up with other members of the Friends of the River Nene to celebrate the organisations first birthday on Saturday.

After several glasses of wine and a slice or two of cake I moved on in the late afternoon for a couple more miles to stop overnight on at Woodford - a lovely peaceful spot.

This morning I set off around 8 am in the early mist which burned off by mid morning and the day has been very warm and sunny.  

After two short hops I decided to push on and reach Northampton which I did 7 hours, 20 miles and 16 locks later. It's been an interesting day for sights.  There were lots of birds around including herons, an egret, several kingfishers a handful of pheasants and of course countless swans, geese and ducks.  Whilst operating one lock I spotted the BBMF Dakota flying overhead. Most of the sights were welcome but I would prefer not to have seen a man of advancing years walking along the riverside path naked.  I have nothing against naturists but why are they never young and pretty?

Having reached Northampton I moored up at the Britannia Inn and treated myself to a steak. Very tasty it was too.

The next few days will include many locks, starting tomorrow with the climb up the 16 lock flight connecting the Nene to the Grand Union canal. Once on the GU there are the 7 locks of the Buckby flight, which are very heavy and hard work, followed by 6 at Braunston.

Return to Oundle

After making my way through the Fens via Ely, Denver and March to Peterborough I stopped for a few days to catch up with my eldest son and drag myself round the 5k Parkrun at Ferry Meadows. The sunset at Whittlesey was quite impressive. 

I managed a PB breaking my 40 min target thanks to Steve running alongside pacing me. He was taking it very slowly as he normally runs 5k in the low 20's. In fact I realised afterwards that my pace for 5k is slower than his marathon pace. 

After a pleasant couple of weeks in Peterborough I set off up the river toward Oundle. I stopped overnight at Wandsford station and spent a few hours admiring the steam trains including "Typhoon" seen below which is only 8 years old and was named after the RAF aircraft. 

While there I bought an N gauge model railway kit which I will spend the winter evenings building. Progress will be reported in later blogs. 

The following day I had planned to

Travel up to Oundle but as the early drizzle turned into heavy rain I moored up at Fotheringhay for the night continuing to Oundle the next day. 

I'm now safely moored up at Oundle Marina where the boat will stay while I go to the IoM next week for a fortnight. This combines my annual visit to see my brother and attend my nephew's wedding which I'm really looking forward to.