New beginnings and the end of an era

So we have a new business venture aboard our new charges, 1960's Admiral class 

historic narrowboats Mountbatten and Jellicoe.

I have made the decision that I will no longer continue with this blog, and maybe create a new one following our new fuelboat and gift shop collaboration.

All that remains is that I thank all my followers for their unceasing support over the years and hope that I will be able to find time in our ever increasingly intense schedule to write about it in the future.

Best wishes to all my followers

Ruth x

Braunston to Cosgrove (26 miles and 19 locks)

So the motor is  officially up for sale via Rugby Boats (please click on this link for video tour/ details and photos), in order that we may pursue our next venture of buying a motor capable of carrying diesel, gas and coal.

Signets doing well as we left Braunston

Norton Junction

Below Weedon

 The beautiful 'Gosport' butty 

New relief road which will carry traffic high over the canal and railway line

Stove lit during the wet cold weather on Thursday morning!  

We had delayed a little our journey, in order to get routine doctor's appointments out of the way in Blisworth.  As soon as I had returned, we set off for Cosgrove and the festival at the weekend.

The sun breaks through as our journey progresses late afternoon

It was still quite windy, so I stayed on the tiller of the butty

Approaching the Navigation at Thrupp Wharf

Solomon's Bridge, Cosgrove

The lovely Tench

Large and small handbowls hang in the gift shop ready for  this weekend.

Come and see us and the other traders  if you can and support this fantastic effort to get the Buckingham Canal back into water and navigable!

Stoke Bruerne to Braunston (21 miles, 14 locks)

Changing our plans slightly for this weekend, as we realised that we had 2 more clear weekends before the next festival at Cosgrove, we decided to leave Stoke Bruerne last Sunday night and travel back up to Braunston.

We had had a good weekend at Stoke Bruerne for a change as it has been quiet footfall wise lately.  I needed to visit Wharf House chandlers in Braunston, for paint, Richard needed rope from Tradline and so we headed back through Blisworth tunnel to begin our journey.

Blisworth and a mooring beyond the bridge with our friends Ronni and Yogi overnight.

Ablutions were top of the list of 'to dos' as we set off the next morning.  The facilities are only a bout a mile from Blisworth at Gayton Junction

And on with our journey

A spruced up mast head lamp back on the motor boat which is for sale pending our decision to buy an 'open hold' boat to sell diesel, gas and coal.  More details later

Nearing High House Wharf, we spot the container boat apparently a little stranded as it is not able (or allowed?) to go through tunnels due to it's air draft..

Weedon

A stop off at James (Rugby Boats) where we filled up with fuel.  We will stop on the return journey next week to get the boat on his brokerage.  Serious thought processes have been taking place, but interestingly, we have had more enquiries about our beautiful butty than the motor this last fortnight!

Buckby locks done after a hot slow plod involving icecream from the little shop half way up the flight!

A love this view.  This is around the corner from Norton Junction heading towards Braunston.  A lovely shady mooring, further along, enabled us (and the boats) to cool down and rest before setting off through the tunnel the next day

Another great view over the canal as we walked the dogs in Braunston

I finished another pedonium (coal scuttle) for the gift shop.  I sold the last one at Boxmoor!  I am always on the look out to 'upcycle' things like this if they are in really good condition.  This one needed a good sand and restain and a new brass knob on the front, easy restoration jobs.

So here we are outside the marina in Braunston for the weekend.  If you are around, please say hello as you pass. 

 Please click on this link for information about our motor boat Eclipse.  

I will post a link from Rugby Boats when the advert becomes live next week.

For details our our butty (we are not certain of our intention to sell as it depends on which boats are available at the time we sell our motor), please express an interest through here or via our website Contact Us page

Norton Junction to Stoke Bruerne (16 miles and 7 locks)

Please follow this link Eclipse, for details of out motor boat for sale.  We would like to make the next stage of our business adventure a reality for this Autumn!

Meanwhile, another item ready for the gift shop, a full size horse nose bowl decorated in the traditional 'Roses and Castles' style

We dropped down through the locks from Norton Junction the other morning amidst the drizzle and horribleness.  As always though we rewarded ourselves with a visit to Whilton Cafe at the bottom (we also needed dog food from the garden centre..) as it would be rude not to!

Just a short day, mooring before Weedon to do some shopping and post a parcel.  The next morning, it seemed a bit brighter, so we plodded on to just before Gayton Junction and got noisy jobs done around the boats.

Today we would get to Stoke Bruerne below the locks ready for the weekend to trade

Gayton Junction

The marina on the right

Blisworth village

The old mill now converted to lovely flats

Blisworth tunnel connecting Blisworth to Stoke Bruerne 2813 metres away

Stoke Bruerne and our usual mooring space seems to be free!  But no, the shop is on the wrong side, so we have to go down a couple of locks, wind and return in the morning.  I could swap it around, but it takes approx 3 hours of my life and there are better things to do.....

Our next venue is Braunston village for next weekend, hopefully around the main marina entrance, come and join us if you can!  

Our calendar shows our next shows if you follow this link Chamberlain Carrying Co

Foxton to Norton Junction (22 miles, 7 locks)

So now the motor is up for sale on Apollo Duck, we can continue a relatively ordinary routine of festivals on our calendar, fitting viewings in where we are accessible.   

(It is possible that we may decide to sell the butty as well, if a working pair of boats was available on the sale of our motor.....!!!)

Please follow the above link for details and correspondence form.

Leaving Foxton on Sunday evening, we passed through the tunnel and arrived at Welford Junction around 8pm.   It was a good start to the journey.

The boys often enjoy a stroll along the towpath, as Richard doesn't really need me on the butty.  She behaves very well and I only need to help on tight bends, wiggly bits and windy situations!

Back on board

Yelvertoft Marina

This bend is difficult enough, because boats moor on it and there is usually a boat coming the other way, but to breast up?  She was a nice lady, so I decided not to put her boats on Facebook page 'Moored like a t@@t'..... Luckily on this occasion there were no approaching boats!

Crack Hill at Crick in the distance

Crick Marina on the left on the approach to Crick visitor moorings

For once, we decided that we would carry on, breaking the habit of a lifetime, as we always overnight in Crick.  The tunnel is in this next stretch

And out the other side

A beautiful day as we neared Watford Locks

Virtually no hold up at the locks and with the welcome help of the volunteers on duty, we flew down, me taking the motor and Richard bow hauling the butty

Left turn at the junction, and our usual mooring was conveniently free after the workboats.   The sun was burning, so we retreated inside and had showers ready for an early start on Tuesday morning....

Foxton Festival & a radical move forward...

Another successful, albeit not as busy (because of the scorching weather!) festival for all of us traders out of the way for another year

The festival field around 10am just starting to wake up

Traders bracing themselves

Carpark looking busy already!

We were just around the bend behind the Cheese Boat.

It was a relief to pack away on Sunday evening as we were feeling quite dehydrated and tired, but our thoughts were already on our big venture..

Now moored on the 14 day moorings, we have put our motor boat details on acclaimed website ApolloDuck, to gauge the depth of interest around our beautiful narrowboat.

If you are interested or know someone who is, please share the link below:

https://www.apolloduck.com/feature.phtml?id=521846