Stoke Bruerne, Northampton and then moving on to Cosgrove

Wednesday, 22 October 2008 18:55

Staying moored at Stoke Bruerne yesterday, we went into Northampton by bus. It is an interesting town with a long history of shoe making. We went around the museum there looking at countless shoes of all ages, style and use. If you had a shoe fetish it would be heaven!

Northampton has a good market every day and the usual shops expected in a large town. There a few interesting buildings including a very ornate Guildhall with all the important people and events immortalized in stone on its facade.


We wandered down to the River Nene, Becket's Lock and the surrounding parkland was very colourful.

It was very cold last night! However the sun soon warmed things up, although there was a chill west wind. Time for my thermals

We set off down the Stoke Bruerne flight, mostly set for us. The first couple of locks are pretty and then the canal and flight open out with the tow path on one side and the Grand Union canalside walk on the other. The towpath finally swaps sides at the last lock.


The canal then runs through the countryside pretty uneventfully until the River Tovey joins it near Grafton Regis.

Passing Thrupp wharf and the moored boats there (we are still on the Grand Union - not the Oxford!) we soon approached Cosgrove and its much photographed Solomon's bridge, built in 1800 it has a unique Gothic style.


Cosgrove Boats was the start of it all for us and John has good memories of the start of our holiday on Pegasus in autumn of 1973 (or maybe Spring of 74, we can't make up our minds). He says we went through the lock and over the Great Ouse aqueduct, winded and then went up the Grand Union. I have no memory of this but maybe Pete, Steve or Rachel do?

The  Old Stratford arm is before the lock - now disused and used as moorings. Strangely it went into Old Stratford

John had a chat to a guy spraying the weeds at the lock. He said that he can at last grease the paddles as BW have finally put it on his worksheet! However he is supposed to scrape the weeds off and spraying them to get to the roots to kill them was definitely NOT on his worksheet. Will he have his job next week?

There a lots of permit holder moorings below the lock but at the far end there are a few 14 day ones but we pressed on over the Great Ouse aqueduct. It is a cast iron trough carried by stone pillars, built in 1811 to replace a brick one that collapsed. This brick structure built in 1808 was instead of nine locks which enabled the canal to cross the Great Ouse at the same level as the river.  Flooding was a danger with this system hence the brick aqueduct.

It is difficult to imagine the locks today as I looked down from the aqueduct as we followed the canal over the river.


This boat and butty had a timely reminder for us all as this week sees the re - enactment of the Jam 'Ole Run.


It was time to moor so we found the 48 hour moorings just before bridge 68 at Wolverton.

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