Locks, locks and more locks

By Heather Bell, Posted on May 30, 2026

We’ve now two thirds of the way to Newbury. We try to pick the drier days for cruising, but the weather does like to have a laugh and has given us all the seasons in one day, several times.
Ian’s attempt to stop the use of the multifuel stove for the year (following his efforts as a chimney sweep) went out of the window. It’s been so cold! In the mornings the temperature has nearly hit zero, then it’s gone up to high teens for the afternoon- ridiculous, so I’ll have to bribe the sweep with silver to get it cleaned again. Now, as I type this, we’re sitting in a heatwave with temperatures rising to 30+ degrees C so instead of a fire, we’ve got the fans out!

We left the Worcester & Birmingham at King’s Norton Junction and headed east on the North Stratford Canal (stopping for necessary supplies at a local bakery along the way). Dropping down the 18 locks at Lapworth we weaved through the moored boats and channels at Kingswood Junction to turn onto the Grand Union. We’re now into areas of the English countryside that are very familiar, as we spent many years cruising them for our family summer holidays – it was either that or camping!

Heading uphill on the wide locks of these bigger canals can be a little daunting, but we got lucky and managed to pair up with another boat for both the 21 Hatton locks and the 10 at Stockton. Having two boats side by side when you’re rising in these broader locks stops the boat from being thrown around as the influx of water can be quite violent at times.

At Napton Junction we turned onto the South Oxford Canal. There, we paused at the bottom of the Napton Lock Flight long enough to wander into the village and visit the Napton Cidery. Wherever we go on our travels, we like to “support the local community”, so having heard about this place from fellow boaters we had to stop and sample their wares. It was yummy, so Ian gallantly carried a case of bottles back to the boat. Lucky for us we discovered they also sell their cider through Ocado online shopping so we can replenish our supplies from them (and continue to support the villagers of Napton!!)

The contouring South Oxford Canal has always been a favourite. It curls around the hills and can be very bendy, especially in the section known to us as “the wiggles”. This summit level of the Oxford has an ongoing issue of low water, so you can’t cut corners on bends, or the boat can get stuck on the silt. Being such a pretty area makes it very popular, particularly for hire boats, and you can guess where you ‘re going to meet them! Yep, it’s always under a bridge or on a blind bend and one or both of you ends up going aground. But a wave and a smile usually keeps everyone happy…..usually. At one bridge we did end up listening to a hire boater toot his horn at us repeatedly even though we were already stationary and leaving plenty of room for him (we saw him coming!). Since our last blog we’ve done another 85 locks, so we’ve been busy and due a treat.

Tooleys Boatyard and Castle Quays at Banbury

In Banbury the canal cuts through Castle Quays which has shops, restaurants and a cinema (arriving late morning is usually best to get a spot). I’d been promised a trip to the cinema to see “The Sheep Detectives”. As we were tying up, our phones bing-bonged with a CRT notification that the navigation ahead of us was closed, a tree was down completely blocking the waterway and the towpath. Ian went off to investigate and returned with news that we were stuck possibly for a few days. Oh well, what a shame, time to go see some crime solving sheep!

Magical misty mornings on the South Oxford

Footnote: As my editor hasn’t published this yet I can add that in this current heatwave the inside of the boat reached 33.8C Everything inside was feeling a tad warm so I had to actually cool a bowl down before I could grate cheese into it for tea!

Running out of time and water!

By Heather Bell, Posted on July 28, 2025

July has been a bit of a battle. Having made the decision to head back up to the Macclesfield Canal, we had 21 days to tackle 189 miles and 132 locks. There were also planned stoppages and time restrictions on some of those locks, so we had to “get a wiggle on!”. But we did have some fun along the way too.

Even at full speed (3mph) there’s always time to enjoy the surroundings and watch the water, occasionally seeing long, streams of large clear bubbles rising up from the bottom of the canal. So we pondered this phenomena, we each proposed a theory of it’s origin.

H: (Boring sciencey idea) There are oxygenating plants with long tendrils growing on the canal bed, the bubbles of oxygen produced are trapped by the fronds of the plant, as the boat passes by, it disturbs the plants and the bubbles are released, rising to the surface.

I: (Bonkers idea) There are shoals of fearful farting fish (Please don’t choke on your coffee). The fish are swimming gently in the water and are scared by the passing boat and fart (jet propulsion?)

So do fish fart?-According to Do Fish Fart? (And More Must-Know Fish Facts) – Scuba.com, herring and sand sharks do. There have also been sightings of air escaping from the nether region of a fish after they’ve gulped air at the surface, but this isn’t really a product of digestion, so can’t it be termed as a fart and may have more to do with their swim bladders (now you’re just taking the p***)

One day, the boat decided to go for a little ride on its own. We’d pulled in at the bottom of a lock. Ian jumped off to go and sort the lock out and Heather hopped off, assuming that Ian had taken the midline (long rope tied to the middle of the roof and used as a quick temporary mooring rope) with him and was tying it to a bollard to secure the boat. As often happens with Heather, she was distracted by a nice long branch hiding in the hedgerow, that would be a great addition to our store of firewood. On turning around with the branch in hand, Heather discovered that Ian had already disappeared up to the lock and the boat was now halfway across the canal with a rather bemused Sammy dog staring from the stern. Dog’s aren’t the best at steering boats or throwing ropes. Luckily, that lovely branch happened to have a nice little hook on the end of it; so as the boat slowly drifted across the canal and the bow twisted lazily towards us, we hooked up the bow line and pulled the boat back. Amazingly nobody had to get wet (makes a change – says Heather!!!), the dog hadn’t panicked, and the boat didn’t come to any grief. Lesson learnt – never assume!

Blocked towpath Bolbeck Park, Milton Keynes

Whilst we did our best not to flag in the heatwave, the same cannot be said for the canalside trees. With their roots weakened by the dry soil, it became a daily occurrence to discover a tree toppled across the canal leaving it “passible with care” or evidence of where a bigger tree had recently been cleared. On passing one of these, we were told by a local that it had only been cleared the previous night with a crew turning up at 5pm and working solidly for 5 hours. There’s going to be plenty of firewood this winter.

Almost at the same lock that we’d met them on our way down to London, we pulled in alongside the fuel boat, “Bordesley” Jules Fuels Southern, which was looking particularly gorgeous having just won first prize at the Braunston Historic Boat show.

Bridge over original line of Oxford Canal, Rugby

Another obstacle was discovering the pounds (short stretches of canal between locks) being empty. This happened on several of the flights of locks and despite Ian’s best efforts to refill these sections, the boat still got stuck and we just had to wait until we were floating again. We actually think that our boat has a draft of about two foot, so that kind of shows how low these water levels have got. The worst flight by far was the eleven locks at Atherstone which took us twice as long to get through. Mainly because the bywash at the top lock was out of use and feeder from the reservoir was stopped, so there was no extra water to maintain the levels.

We shared a few locks with a young couple whose boat was positively festooned with raspberries and loganberries overhanging the sides. It was so tempting to reach across and nab one but having complimented them on the display, they gave us a tub of fruit. As exchange is no robbery, I returned the favour with a slice of my rich fruit cake and some Cheshire cheese to nibble with it (originally it would have been Wensleydale as it’s one of Ian’s family’s Yorkshire’isms)

We even shared a lock with the current owner of a boat we’d previously seen in a bit of a state on the Leeds & Liverpool. In July 2023 it was a brand new boat that had sunk in a lock and been refloated. It was lovely to see it on the move again, but sadly, this owner had no idea that it had previously been an insurance write off. He had found watermarks and damp smells inside the boat, which had made him wonder as to the cause, but he knew nothing of the unfortunate event and it seems that there is no legal obligation to inform a purchaser of any previous incidents, which I find quite concerning.

You tend to be extra careful in locks when you see and hear about such situations. I don’t know what it is about this trip, but we saw least one wreck near every town we passed through.

We did have to keep moving at quite a pace and we thought our mission to get on to the Macclesfield Canal was going to fail when we heard that Aston Lock (near Stone in Staffordshire), which already had a planned stoppage on it in a few days time, had been closed early due to low water levels. Well we honestly felt like that was it. But then, thankfully, the levels recovered enough and the lock reopened and the boat got through …just! But not so lucky at the Meaford flight, when Ian was actually solo boating for a few days and got stuck.

As I type this, we have had a few rain showers but unfortunately it’s not enough and a lot of the northern end of the canal system has got planned closures within a few weeks. It does mean that they will lift some mooring restrictions, so at least we won’t have to keep trying to move around. Just to be on the safe side, we have asked for a mooring overstay, as we need to stay put for at least a few weeks while Heather recovers from yet another surgery – yep, she’s finally getting that right knee replaced.

We still have plenty of plans for this year both with the boat (water levels permitting), the van and a very, very big ship!

A Grand Journey

By Heather Bell, Posted on June 18, 2025

We’re back on the water and have spent the last month meandering south on the Grand (Junction) Union Canal; it’s a wider canal with big double locks, so pairing up with another boat is always welcome. It’s been concerning to hear about the water shortages that have already started to affect the northern canals, preventing navigation on the Leeds and Liverpool, Huddersfield and Ripon Canals. To be honest, we’re quite relieved that we decided to head south this year.

We stayed for a few days in Milton Keynes, moored up alongside one of the many parklands included in the grid system of its design. We were both surprised by how lush and green the landscape is, there are miles of cycleways and footpaths to explore; it makes quite a contrast to the more traditional towns that we pass through.

Campbell Park, in the urban area of Milton Keynes

Light Pyramid sculpture in Campbell Park

This “new town” was founded in 1967 to relieve some of the housing congestion in London and is situated in the heart of the country, being equidistant from Birmingham, Leicester, Oxford and Cambridge. Building it swallowed up four towns and fifteen villages to create an urban area that grew its population from 40 to 250 thousand people. Today, its Borough is one of the most productive cities in the UK.

Red valerian aka Kiss me quick or Jupiter’s Beard

Green Alkanet, used for dyeing and wound healing

Whilst we’ve been travelling, Spring has transformed into Summer and we’ve been treated to a floral highway that has set both of our hay fever allergies off. There are persistant chirps from fluffy chicks and quacks from parent ducks trying to find them, drowning out the melodies of the blackbird and the shrieks from a red kite being hassled by crows. One mooring just south of Marsworth junction at Tring reservoirs was particularly good for a bit of a twitching and an impressive sunset.

A mandarin duck with her speedy ducklings

We’ve been moored up for a time near to Kings Langley. The nearby railway station gives us easy access south to the Big Smoke or north to visit family. Thankfully during our travels the boat hasn’t had any great issues, but that’s probably more because of Ian’s tinkering, like fixing the main ignition cable that fell off the back of the control panel and servicing the bilge pump that decided to do its own thing (if that packed up we would sink, bum first!) His latest project, which has been sitting in a plastic bag for a while, is to run a mains cable down the port side of the boat, it’s part one of his plan to get an automatic washing machine installed, as we currently use a pull out and plug-in twin tub, which is a bit of a pain to use.

Sammy, our dog is still very much enjoying life on the cut, but she’s beginning to show her age, slowing down and spending more time sleeping. Having said that, she’s still as cute as ever and continues in her self-appointed role as a towpath therapy dog. Walkers often stop to ask if they can stroke her and have a hug.

Ian walking the plank as we get refuelled

Ian’s just done his shortest main line rail journey ever, a three minute ride back up the line to Aspley to do a biggish food shop and then back to Kings Langley and the boat. The return train fare was only £3, mind you, that’s with the discount from his old person’s railcard tee tee! Having stocked up, we are cautiously heading towards Central London where we’ve booked a mooring for a few days. We met a fuel boat as we came out of a lock, so we pulled alongside for a top-up of diesel and to catch up on the latest gossip. We’ve been warned numerous times by other boaters and lock-keepers that the further south we go from here, the less chance there is of finding anywhere to moor up and that’s not a pleasant thought. But then again, it’s the reality of canal life in a city and I don’t blame the liveaboards who work in the city for needing a good spot to stay. After all, we’re just sightseeing and passing through, so fingers crossed we time it right and find spaces to pull in for a night or two along the way..