Gayton Marina and Rothersthorpe Flight Canal trip

Leaving Gayton Marina

I was looking forward to a nice few hours cruising on the Grand Union Canal. I had been called in to help a good friend of mine get his boat back home to Becket's Park in Northampton. He had already done the stretch from Weedon to Gayton after having a few repairs completed.

'Earl'

It was an overcast sort of day with the chance of rain later, fingers crossed we might be back by then.

I had already been forewarned that there were going to be a lot of locks to negotiate on what is known as 'The Rothersthorpe Flight'. 17 locks in total, most of which are very close together. While my friend stayed on the boat in the pound I was in charge of opening and closing the locks ..all 17 of them .

Did you notice I slipped in the word 'pound' ? That's a canal word meaning the stretch of water between two locks , and can vary greatly. I shall try and slip in a few more canal terms as we go along . At least it shows that I was paying attention of a sort.

Locks are essentially there so that boats can go up and down hill. Now I am far from an expert so please bear with me on this. In simple terms it works by altering the levels of water.Either lifting the boat up by letting in water or letting the water out to go downhill.

So armed with my 'windlass' which I had been warned under pain of death not to lose... A windlass is an L-shaped handle, attached to a square socket that, in turn, connects to the winding mechanism on the lock gate. Without said tool the lock gate will not open. Just to complicate the matter some locks are also 'locked ' thankfully we had a master key for such an eventuality. Oh and 'the cut' is a Boater's term for the canal because they were literally cut out of of the land.

Opening and then closing the lock is quite physical , particularly as some are very stiff.

The purpose is to open or close the lock 'paddles'. Most locks have either ground paddles that are set in the canal bank or ones that are fixed in the gates. Some actually seem to have both. They act just like a sluice letting water in or out.
Some locks have a hydraulic system but unfortunately none of the ones we would see today.

Is always important to remember to close the paddles back down again once you have cleared the pound.
At one point a representative from the CRT (Canals and River Trust) turned up and started to quiz me on how the locks were flowing and a few trickier questions. I think I managed to bluff my way out anyway.

The other problem is that you are something of a tourist attraction. Every dog walker and rambler seem to want to watch you going through a lock . It's quite off putting for a mere novice.


Lovely countryside

I think they are just hoping that I fall into the cut and they have recorded it. At least armed with my trusty windlass in hand there is the vague perception that I know what I am doing.
We pass some lovely countryside but progress is slow, but that is the great thing about it really. Life isn't hurried and its relaxing , at least I'm sure it would be if I could only get on the boat..
I'm working up a bit of a sweat with all the running from side to side to open the gates , cranking the paddles and then closing them again.

Coming through

Wild flowers on the towpath

It had all been going very well until disaster struck ... We ran aground in extremely shallow water.
It got very dodgy for a few minutes with the hull suck firmly on the bottom. Putting the engine into reverse didn't help. Only one thing for it , to resort to the long pole like a gondola. After a lot of effort and shoving and pushing we got some forward movement. The locks just come thick and fast , in fact after about four hours we had probably only traveled half a mile or so..

Swans following the boat

Hungry Heron

Always lots of wildlife on the canal Moorhens, Coots, Herons , Swans , Buzzards and the occasional dive-bombing Tern. Plenty of insect life too with Dragonflies, butterflies and water creatures. It is sad to see the amount of junk , mainly cans and bottles that gets dumped though. Not to mention the amount of graffiti that is scribbled all along the route.

We journey on down river stopping briefly for a sandwich and a herbal tea.We are warned by another boat that water levels are really low further down . One has moored up and informed the CRT that action is needed. A boat going up canal has had an encounter with a shopping trolley! No doubt dumped in the water it managed to get tangled up with the boat propeller.

We decide to carry on as our boat is smaller but it's tough going and progress is painfully slow. A combination of low water and heavy weed growth is not good.

Familiar sights come in to view such as the old Express Lifts Tower and the Carlsberg Brewery.

Express Lifts Tower

The Carlsberg Brewery

As we get closer to the centre of Northampton the canal joins up with the River Nene and the low water problem is eased. We pick up speed and cruise under south Bridge as we head for home.

In total it has been a shade under 5 miles and probably taken the best part part of 6 hours.

A very enjoyable trip and I feel as though I've walked from Gayton to Northampton with so little time spent actually on the boat !