Crick Walkabout

Yesterday we walked up to The Red Lion in the village for roast dinner which was served piping hot with fresh vegetables. Their portions are just right and very reasonably priced too. They start serving food at 12, so we thought we would be early, but when we walked in at 12.10pm the place was almost full! Not surprising really as it is a very welcoming, homely little place with low ceilings and open fireplaces. There are three pubs and two useful shops, a Post Office Store and The Co-op. We sauntered around the lanes to discover that there used to be many thatched cottages which have been either tiled or sport corrugated roofing now. Quite a few still remain in their picturesque thatch though, including the pub.

  Today we washed the boat, had Graham and Betty in for  a farewell coffee, then decided to walk along the canal up to ‘Cracks Hill’. On reaching the top there was an obelisk informing us that this is a glacial outcrop. A large metal beacon which can be filled with wood and set alight stands nearby. There are lovely views across to Crick and Yelvertoft and their marinas. Crick has 270 moorings and Yelvertoft advertises 150 spaces initially, although it looked much larger by comparison and work is still ongoing.

This is Crick from Crack’s Hill, we have discovered many delightful footpaths between the canal and the village around the fields. We passed Crick Millennium Wood, a 2.5 acre enclosure on the hillside with a wide variety of trees planted by the local people. On returning to the boat I cooked lunch and did the washing, then we relaxed for the rest of the evening doing our own things.

Norton Junction to Crick

It was delightful mooring in the cutting above Braunston Tunnel as the birdsong echoed all around and the fresh new green leaves were adding some welcome spring colour.

At Norton Junction we saw this little living wagon in the garden of the cottage where we turned left and moored in another fairly quiet spot. We set off this morning after coffee and were first in the queue for Watford Locks so we went straight up to use the services at the top. Once clear of the buzz of the traffic we were back into the lovely lush countryside. Unfortunately it became rather windy as we approached to turn into Crick Marina for a pump out, so that was fun. Bottle did well and managed to manoeuvre us around without hitting anything. Luckily we have good signals here for all the electrical gadgets and with the fire alight we are thawing out.

Wild about life

We left Braunston and went up the locks with Tranquillity, sadly leaving Piston Broke behind.

We continued uneventfully through the tunnel, with no on-coming boats and moored just outside. A quiet night but this morning…… I opened the side hatch  to be greeted by two Muntjac deer looking at me across the canal.

Later whilst talking, on the tow-path, it was noticed that something was in the water between our boat and the piling, lots of splashing. It was a young Squirrel, I offered it the boat pole and it clung on.

We thought it would just scamper away but the water was running of it and it was obviously exhausted. It just gently slipped of the pole.

We got a towel and gently dried it and then let it rest still in the towel, it eventually recovered enough to get itself out of the towel and rest under some twigs.

Whether it will survive we will never know but we did give it a chance.

After all that excitement we moved onto Norton Junction and turned left towards Foxton.

Moving on

This is the delightful, though neglected, Tudor House in Braunston’s main street and I am pleased to say that it has a sold sign on it. It was last in use as a hair salon and with loads a money and tlc I think it could become a pretty desirable little cottage. The variety of different types of houses and cottages is what makes Braunston so interesting don’t you think?

One resident has disguised the central heating oil tank in their garden with this painting, what an ingenious idea. Anyone know what it is? Sadly we will be leaving all this loveliness behind  tomorrow, but no doubt we will be returning sometime!

Reversing

This was the view from our 48 hour mooring spot and as our time was up we practiced reversing back past the junction, round the corner via the services to moor by Bridge 90 onto a 14 day place. We needed to be near the road as we are awaiting a diesel leak to be fixed. The reversing went well as no other boats came past and luckily the wind had dropped too. Paul and Lynne came by for coffee and Paul flung himself on his hands and knees to look under our chair. No, he wasn’t throwing a wobbly as we thought, but later explained that his swivel chair had collapsed and he was pondering buying two new ones. Having health and safety instilled in us all by Big Brother we spotted some fluorescent tennis balls in the local shop. These are now atop our mooring pins to warn walkers of a possible trip hazard.

Saturday morning started with us having breakfast whilst listening to our weekly fix of ‘Sounds of the Sixties’ on radio2 with Brian Mathew. Then it was on the bus passes to Daventry to forage for food to stock up the freezer and fridge. Bottle made bread and Betty and Graham came to share some drink and nibbles.

Today the winter weather has returned so we have lit the fire again. We saw that a man had somehow fallen into the canal from his boat moored on the service point wondering how to get out. Then some  bright spark lowered a chair into the water and he climbed out on that. Happy Birthday Betty, thanks for inviting us round to celebrate with coffee and cakes. We climbed the up the hill to The Old Plough Inn for roast lunch, and pudding, which was as delicious as usual. This afternoon I have made Boat Cake and the gang are coming round to help us eat it tomorrow.