Slowly does it.

 Friday 20th September

A nice quiet night even with the railway so close as luckily it is in a slight cutting where we moored. The first train I heard was after 06:00 anyway.

Once underway it got crowded on the water, and in the field were an even greater number.

There was nobody on the services so we stopped for a top up and dump some rubbish before heading on in the gloom and the threat of rain. The Northampton Arm opened in 1815 (The year of the Battle of Trafalgar and Waterloo) and was to give an outlet to the sea via the RiverNene. It was important to Northampton as the River Nene Navigation was unpredictable due to silt and water levels, and the canal was thought to bring permanent access to the rest of the country.

Not a good photo but the buildings at the boatyard look very interesting. The Grand Junction Canal was open from Braunston to Blisworth in 1797 but the tunnel was not completed. I assume that the boat yard and the Navigation Inn that was next to the junction are from those early days.

We were very surprised when we got to the first lock to find a boat that had moored ahead of us last night and left just after 07:00 this morning. It seems despite getting there at 08:00 they couldn't go down as the lock keeper was adjusting the levels as some of the pounds were empty! They had just bought the boat at Rugby Boats and were heading towards Cambridge, verrrrrry slowly...

I kept going ahead of them to set the next lock for them and we were still catching them up at each lock. 

I then also started to close up the bottom gates of the lock we were heading to after they had left when they got the hang of working ahead. They were speeding up, a little.

There was another lock keepers cottage here I think. There is a bunch of flowers here but not sure why. Sirius was the boat ahead of us. They seemed to be well satisfied with their purchase and it did look a tidy boat. It was for sale at £54,950 but they told me that the price had dropped by £10,000 and after a survey had needed a further £7,000 needing doing to it, so I'm not sure whether this is the original price, probably with the initial £10,000 reduction.

After a bit of rain at the top by the time we got to the motorway bridges the sun was out. They young couple ahead had worn themselves out and decided to stop for a rest and some lunch just after the motorway so we could crack on.

The canal starts going through some park lands next to the Nene (Pronounced Nen in this part of the world) and is a very nice run with clear waters but slow with the weed and depth.

The lift tower stands out like a sore thumb, quite literally it seems. Built by the Express Lift Co. and opened in 1982 by HM Queen Elizabeth. In 1997 it became a Grade II listed building. In the same year Express Lifts were bought out by Otis lifts who used their USA facilities and the building. It has six lift shafts or various speeds and one is used for safety testing by British Standards and others. It was sold to Wilcon Homes in 1999, but is now privately owned and known as the National Lift Tower doing similar things as previously, plus abseiling, I'm not sure whether it is externally or internally. It is 418 ft high and 48 ft at the base and 28ft at the top.

After nearly five and a half hours we arrive at the river lock. We did debate chancing finding a berth on the river and not having a licence, and heading out of the lock to wind, but in the end just went to the end and winded before mooring at the first rings trying to avoid the trees that would have blocked the canal if we had moored opposite them a little further up. Here we are with the Carlsberg brewery over the way. We locked up and rewarded ourselves with a few pints and a walk. In 1883 beyond where the present brewery is were two older breweries, The Northampton and Phoenix Brewerys as well as the gas works. At the end of the canal, tow path side, between the end of the canal towards the road, were saw mills and, after WWI, and oil tank depot.