Into Northamptonshire

Wednesday 22nd May, 2013 at Flecknoe.
What a super day's cruising! The weather was unseasonably cold, more like March than May, but it was thankfully dry. Beyond Fenny Compton was a long stretch of lock-free canal, which interestingly wound round and round the contours of the landscape to the extent that it frequently doubled back on itself, playing strange tricks with one's sense of perspective.
At the "Old Engine Arm" near Napton locks, we passed another Kingsground boat, nb "Julanda", still looking good although she is 10 years old. We also saw some lovely highland cattle getting very muddy at the water's edge.

Fortune smiled on us at Napton locks. An Anglo Welsh hire boat that we had been following for a while, moored up just before the flight of locks and we found all seven locks in our favour. Also, we were assisted all the way down by Chris, a CRT volunteer, accompanied by his lovely Border Collie named Molly.

As MM descended in the final lock of the flight, R and Molly played a game of hide-n-seek.

The flight of locks going down is picturesque indeed, with the pretty village below in the valley and the restored Napton windmill on the hill beyond. The windmill is a landmark for miles, as the canal twists around below the hill on its meandering course north.

We took on water and then walked up to the village shop before going on past Napton Marina, where Mick and Jackie had picked us up on their boat "Zodiak" three years ago.
We passed Napton Junction, known to working boatmen as "Wigram's Turn", and sailed on into Northamptonshire.

This was familiar territory to M. who remarked on the classic landscape with its open rolling countryside. There was some very welcome late afternoon sunshine and this lovely rural lock-free stretch was a delight.
We moored up, and after dinner, went for a walk to explore a nearby abandoned railway line, yet another casualty of the Beeching era. A splendid sunset guided us home, to be followed by a bright moon whose reflection appeared to dance in the movement of the canal water.

We lay in bed with the curtains drawn back, watching the moon and listening to the Vivaldi Mandolin Concerto on Classic FM. Magic!
Today: 12 miles, 9 locks and 6.0 hours.
Trip: 40 miles, 32 lcks and 21.1 hours.