Goodbye Vagabond.

  

On my afternoon walkabout I saw Biddie towing it’s buttie Olive away under the bridge going South. Further on down I spied the top of a crane and went down to have a look. Just in time to see the old trip boat “Vagabond” being carefully hoisted up out of the water. She was an elegant vintage motor launch about a hundred years old and used as a popular trip boat. You can read more about her on this site, www.foxtonboats.co.uk

       

The next trip boat named “Harry Stevens” was already unloaded into the water and in need of some tlc before starting to earn it’s keep.

Tuesday.

          

Plover and Elizabath came cruising by with several other boats including Paddy and Ruth on Comfortably Numb and Echoes. We said our goodbyes for now as they headed off into the countryside to recover from a long  busy Easter weekend opening their shop.

  

So we decided that so many boats had gone past that there would be room for us further down. So we upped pins and moved nearer to Foxton to moor just above the road bridge. In the afternoon we decided to walk along to Debdale Marina to discuss blacking our bottom with Mike and Nicki. We paused at the Top Lock Cafe for some of their excellent bacon butties with mushrooms. Whilst at Debadale we called around to see our friends Mike and Gerry on nb Tubbs and were invited in for a long interesting chat over a cuppa. After our long walk back to Oakfield it was time to cook our evening meal, then it began to rain again!

BH Monday.

      

Many of the big old boats were leaving Foxton including these two, Owl and Hampton. We left very early through the short Husbands Bosworth Tunnel only to emerge into a thick mist. It brightened up by the time we moored up just after B58 in a super open spot with views for miles across the countryside, perfick!

  

After having coffee aboard we walked the mile or so down to Foxton to meet up with Paddy and Ruth who were trading their wonderful wares from their newly extended butty Echoes. As usual the crowds were out enjoying themselves and spending their money. It was good to chat with them, then it was time for a bacon roll and drink from the Top Lock Cafe. We mingled with all the gongoozlers watching the boats in the locks and caught Chertsey about to ascend, Swallow departing under B61 and Dove which came to turn in the basin.

B 27 Barnfield.

  

Here we are in a lovely peaceful spot the only activity being the woolly munchkins circulating their field twice a day nibbling grass. Oh, and loads of boats passing by, then most returning from whence they came Maybe the marina moorers were giving their boats a run after spending the winter static. Last time we tried to moor in this idyllic spot we couldn’t get into the side as it was too shallow. Since then several stretches of the Grand Union have been dredged, hurrah!

  

We cruised past this unusual Dutch barge style narrow boat on our way to moor at Welford Junction. Just after tying up it began to rain, which became quite a downpour in the evening.

Oakfield’s travels.

This is our map of the canals and rivers with the ones we have cruised picked out in black. As you can see we have crawled all over it at snail pace up to Chester/Manchester (top left) Stoke on Trent/Birmingham (centre), Nottingham/Market Harborough (over on the right)  and down to Gloucester, Oxford and London/Paddington (shown across the bottom left to right) The rivers we have cruised are the Weaver, Soar, Trent, Avon, Severn and Cherwell. We have also enjoyed exploring up ‘the arms’ leading off from the main canals. Ashby (Steam Trains), Coventry, Caldon (more Steam Trains), (to Leek and Froghall, Erewash, and along the Peak Forest Canal to Bugsworth/Waleybridge. We particularly enjoyed the Droitwich and Sharpness Canals. As we were interested in Industrial Archaeology we very much enjoyed mooring in Bugsworth Basin too. There are also many more places left to discover.