A winter cruise poses some different challenges. You must expect that everything is cold, stiff, and less simple. You must dress in lots of layers. Hot drinks are essential. However unappealing some of this may sound, there are significant rewards. The canal is MUCH quieter, you can see a great deal more as tress and hedgerows have no leaves so are easier to see through. Wildlife is easier to see. There is a crispness to everything that is invigorating.
Tom and Liam Fannin joined me for another few days (they helped me take the boat to get painted before Christmas). We had no particular agenda, other than experiencing the canals in winter. We set off eastward from Braunston, up the 6 locks and through the Braunston tunnel. We stopped in a sheltered area just east of the tunnel for the night. The next day, in magic sunshine, we went to Watford junction and then north for a bit on the Liecester branch of the Grand Union Canal. Gently moving along we turned around before the Watford locks, as we didn’t see the point in going up then straight back down. We returned to Braunston through the tunnel and back down the locks in increasing wind as the stormy weather loomed. Once secure in the marina, groceries were stocked up, and the storm had arrived with driving rain and winds approaching 100 km/h. We spent a rocking night as the boat bounced in the wind (even in the marina!)
Watford junction
