Last Spring I planned to head North and cross the Leeds Liverpool canal but plans changed - as they do. However, Yorkshire is back on the radar and after spending a couple of weeks in Milton Keynes I am now on my way up the country. Yesterday was a long slog up the Grand Union main line from Milton Keynes to Bugbrooke. I had planned to stop at Stoke Bruerne but unfortunately there was no room due to a festival this week. On route I past a tiny pea green narrow boat called the Owl & the Pussy cat before stopping for the night at Bugbrooke Wharf where I decided to eat in the pub rather than cook.
As the forecast was suggesting 25c today I made a fairly early start in the hope of getting through the 7 heavy locks on the Buckby Flight before it got too hot. Sadly I failed and even worse did not manage to meet a boat to share the wide locks which made even more work. On the bright side the views were lovely and a gentle breeze eased the mid-day heat.
For this trip I've decided to come up through the Eastern route which saws me turning off the Grand Union main line at Buckby and onto the Leicester Line. This is a narrow canal which I prefer due to the narrow locks designed to fit one narrow boat and are thus much lighter and quicker to operate. After a few miles I met the first of the locks, a flight of 7 at Watford Gap. Unfortunately, having seen few boats in the morning, I discovered it was because they were all on this route and I joined the end of a line of 8 bots waiting to go up.
After a little over an hour, spent happily chatting with fellow boaters I reached the front of the queue and made my way up the pretty flight aided by volunteer lock keepers.
Once up the flight I carried on for a couple more miles, through Crick tunnel to the village from which it takes it's name. I'm now moored up near Crick marina for the night.
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