Blisworth to Yardley Gobion

Spent Friday and Saturday with my cousin Tom Brossard and his wife Silwia.  They are American and Polish respectively, and England is new to them.

What a comedy the rendezvous was.  Getting too and from the boat is always tricky.

I was due to meet them at Northampton train station - they'd just flown in from Poland - but what should have been a short hour's train ride from Euston turned into a long wait for them at Milton Keynes, since there was a fire on a nearby freight train.

I was assured by the train staff at Northampton that their train was held up at Milton Keynes, so I texted them to stay put and drove there - only to find they'd just left.  So I returned to Northampton to collect them. 

My fault; I took a gamble and it didn't pay off.

So we didn't get going on Granny until nearly five.  Still, what a marvellous introduction to the waterways for them.  Blisworth Tunnel to start with, then Stoke Bruerne, then the locks, then an hour's cruising in the late-summer late-evening sun, before tying up near Yardley Gobion canal basin.

A nod of gratitude to the crew of NB Sara Ellen (pictured above), and especially the cheeky-chappy son, who at only 11 years old is one of the most remarkably competent lockwheelers I've ever seen.

The last hour gave me the opportunity to photograph some simply marvellous ridge-and-furrow farmland, and tell Tom about its historical and linguistic significance.  I loved the fact that the light threw up the ridges into sharp relief.  It's wonderful to gaze on history like this.

Comments

[Steve Parkin]

Good to see you in our home patch.

The view you photographed is towards the village of Grafton Regis. It has strong royal connections hence regis. Henry VIII visted and Edward IV met Elizabeth Woodville near Grafton whilst hunting in the royal forest of Whittlewood. She eventually became his wife but that is just the start of a very long story.

Just around the corner alonside the canal are some disused fish ponds that belonged to the Dukes of Grafton. The ponds supplied fish for the table.

You should also try the local pub, the White Hart. Its food is great!