Warp factor what?

This is a photoblog of our cruise from Earls Barton lock to Thrapston on Friday.  The majority of the time the dogs and I were confined to the boat as we were going to be covering 31 lock miles and that meant that Caxton and Matilda Rose would be travelling at warp speed and my little legs don't do 'warp' speed.  The GPS recorded our maximum speed at 6.8mph for a short period but anything above 3.5mph exceeds my walking pace so much of the day I was up on deck with Joe and the dogs were in their beds in the saloon - not that Fletcher was very happy about that, he doesn't like the engine noise at all.

Approaching Wellingboro' with MR leading the way.  Here we were to water the boats and dispose of rubbish.

The water meadows around Wellingboro' were well stocked with travellers horses and their new foals.

 

This one is easy but the next.....

Irthingborough Bridge

 

No problem then..

 

This boat looks familiar..

Nb. Indigo Dream who had been ahead of us by some 2/3 days had decided to turn back having reached Ashton and were heading homewards.

Richard, Graham and Joe playing silly arses..

Sue, Joe, Graham, Richard and Jill watching six dogs charging about together.  We had disembarked the dogs,Fletcher and Floyd, Muttley and Baxter and Blue and Lou to get acquainted yet again and they were taking full advantage of the canine company to have a great romp together.   After 30mins we said our farewells to Nb Indigo Dream and headed off towards Islip and Thrapston for our planned (hoped for) weekend mooring.

Above, approaching the thrapston/Islip bridge.

Islip wharf.

The last lock of the epic day before mooring up...

Nene voyagers

We left Northampton in beautiful sunshine and set off for a shortish cruise to Earls Barton.  We were on a promise so the day had to be short - Gra-Ham of Nb Matilda Rose was going to be cooking us a curry!

We were back to double locks after the single affairs of the Northampton Arm so no more running about each side of the locks with two lock wheelers - Jill and yours truly, to deal with them.

Our first electrified lock and Jill is confused...

No, standing further back doesn't help either..

By the time we had reached Billing we had left the boats to the men and hit the Nene Way which accompanies the river throughout it's length and provides attractive dog walking.

The guillotine gates are easy to use

Great cruising..

 

And here we are at Earls Barton. We backed out of the lock and settled for a bankside mooring on pins and VERY NICE it was too.

And below is the view...

Our Mooring in Northampton

This is a bit of a 'catch-up' because I have been simply too busy to blog for a few days - apologies.. We stayed in Northampton on the Midsummer Meadows mooring for two nights and it was just fine, no it was better than fine and I would stay there again without hesitation.  The major activity on the river was the barges that started their day at 8am carrying silt from the new marina that is being constructed at Becket Park and dumping it down stream.

The view from our side hatch - look at those reflections!

Destination silt - we passed this on our way out of Northampton.

The day time view from these lovely moorings.

Northampton here we come.

We are off and set for the first lock of the day. Leaving Gayton at 9ish yesterday after filling with diesel Joe steers Caxton towards Lock No.1.

Nb Matilda Rose follows us down the flight of seventeen locks.

Immediately after lock twelve we go under the M1 motorway.

Equine assistance?

Caxton and the dogs clear off leaving me to set the lock for Matilda Rose - thanks boys..

In the distance the 430ft Express Lifts testing tower.

Company on the moorings by the Carlsberg Brewery.  The police were scouring the area for a 'flasher' - our instructions were to call 999 if we spotted him as the Police were getting increasingly concerned about an escalation in his behaviour.  They were also interested in the two narrowboats of course and we were interested in their 'boys toys'..

Carlsberg brewery.

Having dropped down on to the River Nene and gone through the first lock we were confronted by a barage of barges (below) across the navigation being used by the contractors building the new marina at Beckets park. Dumper trucks were driving back and forth across the temporary bridge trying to get a road in place.  We pulled back to the lock pontoon and waited it out.  About 19.30 they gave us a shout and we were able to go through on to Midsummer Meadow moorings.  we managed to get both boats moored here - just, and last night we had an agreeable night, no disturbance and ideal for the dogs.

We plan to stay here until tomorrow.