Mill Bridge No.40 to Bridge No.51 Laughton Hills

Now moored at Bridge No.51 Laughton Hills and enjoying the long awaited sunshine, perhaps having put our “Coal for Sale” board out has worked after all.

Keith.

Bridge No.21 to Mill Bridge No.40

Moored near Mill Bridge No.40.

Keith.

Bridge No.33 to Bridge No.21 Yelvertoft

We winded at Cracks Hill, Crick, and returned to Bridge No.21 near Yelvertoft.

My theory of putting our “Coal for Sale” boards out hasn’t worked in making things warm up, that wind still has a cold bit to it, brrrr, despite the sunshine.

Keith.

Welford Wharf to Bridge No.33

3½ tonnes of coal loaded today, and back out on the summit at Bridge No.33.

Keith.

Oops!

We won't be going far any time soon, at least we have a good mooring here at Welford Wharf. CaRT are doing an inspection Monday, hopefully they can do a temporary repair for now to get the lock reopened.

Keith.

Dry Docking

Wednesday morning we moved Hadar into the dry dock

Jet washing .

 

We only just fit inside the dock.

 

Thursday first coat of blacking on and Jo repainting the tunnel bands.

 

Saturday morning refloated.

Back out moored at the wharf ready for our coal delivery Monday.

Keith.

North Kilworth to Welford Wharf

Moored back at Welford Wharf, alongside Tysley, ready to go into dry dock Wednesday morning.

Keith.

 

Foxton Top Lock to Bridge No.43 North Kilworth

A drizzly journey this morning to Bridge No.43 North Kilworth.

Keith.

Union Wharf to Top of Foxton Locks

Back moored above Foxton Locks.

Keith.

Foxton Top Lock to Union Wharf, Market Harborough.

Now moored at Union Wharf, Market Harborough, looking forward to seeing many friends who live here.

Keith.

Welford to Foxton Top Lock.

Moored above Foxton Locks​ where we will spend the weekend and hopefully do some trade.

We are moored near Richard and Ruth, so at least we are in good company. Had a couple of ales with them in Bridge 61 for the evening.

Keith.

Welford Lock to Welford Wharf

Big journey today, moved from just above Welford lock to one of the towpath moorings near the wharf, and then ½ an hour later moved to the wharf itself, ready for our Tesco delivery tomorrow.

Keith.

Yelvertoft to Welford Lock

Now moored above Welford lock, just in time too, we had just shut the boat up when we had hailstones!

Keith.

Braunston Top Lock to Yelvertoft Marina

Now moored opposite Yelvertoft Marina, rain stopped play, but not before Jo had her first ever turn at taking Hadar through locks at Watford, she did OK. She took the helm at the 1st of the 4 staircase locks and took her up through them and even into the single lock at the top. She said she actually found it easier than she thought she would.

Keith.

Boat House Braunston to Braunston Top Lock

Moored above Braunston top lock, behind Aldgate. Had a great journey up the locks in company with Tony & Sue, made a nice change to share the locks with another boat, and lots of boats coming down the flight setting the locks open for us.

Keith.

Napton Junction to The Boathouse, Braunston

Moored in Braunston opposite “The Boathouse”.

Had lunch there Saturday, Jo’s favourite curry, Pasanda was on the menu, so 2 of those washed down with Marston’s Pedigree, rude not too really!

Keith.

Claydon Top Lock to Napton Junction

Sunny day travelling across the Claydon/Napton summit to just past Napton junction, we have even been sitting out on the towpath enjoying the sunshine, both Paddy and Marmite enjoyed rolling in the gravel of the towpath. Staying here tomorrow to avoid the rain.

 

Taking on water below Napton locks.

 

Keith.

Cropredy to Claydon Top Lock

A great run up onto the summit, a tad breezy up here so we have moored just above Claydon top lock.

Keith

Banbury to Cropredy

Having had a great weekend at Banbury we winded and headed back north to Cropredy.

Keith.

Cropredy to Banbury.

We let go at 8.00 am and our first port of call was the Sanitary Station, where we filled up with water, empty the rubbish and both the toilet cassettes.

We were very fortunate that at the locks we met boats coming up, so the locks were left ready for us.

it is sad to see Bourton Lock cottage is still not finished. We met the couple who were doing it up in 2009 and they seemed in full flow as to what was going to happen to the cottage. But it looks like nothing much has happened since.

A nice smooth cruise into Banbury, which was extremely quiet boat wise, which was somewhat of a surprise.

Having tied up at 10.45 am, we shut the boat up and strolled into the town to see what changes had taken place. We were actually hoping the Top Wok Chinese Buffet was still there and phew it was. So that was where we had a scrummy lunch. We had a lovely chat with the lady running it as we ate a very good lunch. With being pleasantly full, we had a walk around the town and of course did the charity shops, where we found Keith a couple of tank tops and I got some more DVD’s for 70p each in the Katherine House Hospice Charity Shop. Banbury is a fabulous town, but like with many towns and cities it has empty shops and is suffering.

We are going to stay here for the weekend, so we can enjoy Banbury a bit more.

Jo

Welcome aboard our working boat Hadar. Pull up a chair and join as we cruise the waterways of the UK selling coal. Hadar was built by Roger Fuller in Stone Staffordshire in 2007 and is everything we wanted and much more.