Just messing about on the river - the River Nene !

 We are now gradually heading downstream on the Nene after coming down the 17 locks from the Grand Union Canal. We set off down the Northampton Arm on Wednesday (23rd June):

Here is the signpost at Gayton Junction where we turned off on Wednesday morning after deciding what licencing to buy for Environment Agency waters - we've opted for a gold licence giving us maximum flexibility. So we were heading for Northampton having come from Braunston. It may be less than 5 miles but there are 17 narrow locks down.

Less than half a mile from the  junction we came to the top lock. These are called the Rothersthorpe locks after the village we had visited the previous day. It is this flight of locks, being narrow, that prevents wider vessels coming up from the Nene onto the Grand Union.

Each of the 17 Locks has a mosaic of a letter which together spell "The Northampton Arm". Here is the 'm' from Northampton showing a mouse and a motor - a narrowboat with an engine commonly towing an unpowered butty.

There used to be a lot of lift bridges down this flight of which some have been restored.

The main part of the flight has locks very close together and here at lock 12 we are under the M1. We met a boat here on its way up.

After 13 locks we decided to call it a day and moored where a concrete side marked where a high pressure gas main crossed the canal. We were careful where we hammered in our mooring pins! The water was amazingly clear - it was not shallow, being about 4 feet deep, but the weeds looked as if you could touch them.

From miles away we could see this tower on the edge of Northampton. It was built by the Express Lift company to test their products and became the youngest listed building now it is no longer used.

On Thursday morning we carried on down to the river. This is the last lock, 17, before the Nene. We had to stop just below the lock to clear the propeller of weed as we were about to enter moving water. In fact the river is barely flowing, though it has a reputation for rising quickly in rain and had been on red boards (which means don't go boating) only a couple of days earlier.

Here is Leo approaching South Bridge in Northampton. We moored just past here to restock and to have a look around the town.

Just walking into  town (after using the handy Morrisons) we passed this Swiss looking house.

We've not been impressed with Northampton on previous visits but our views on the town have changed. This is the Guildhall which is a wonderfully preserved Victorian edifice which has been extended sympathetically in recent years.

The extension is around a courtyard complete with bronze statues of local people.

One of the figures is Francis Crick of DNA fame, who we didn't know was brought up in the town. You can see that his statue is holding the famous double helix.

On Friday we decided to do some more sightseeing around Northampton. First we cycled south to Delapre Abbey and explored the walled garden, admired the parkland and treated ourselves to coffee at The Orangery cafe. We may well return to go inside the house when we come back this way.

Next visit was to 78 Derngate, a terraced Georgian house which was owned by the railway and ship modeller, W. J. Basset-Lowke who engaged the Scottish architect Charles Rennie Macintosh to refurbish the house. The results were amazing but not really restful to live in. The picture is of the hall/sitting room which was dark but intriguing. The panel to the right allows light in from the stairs to the lower floor.

The guest bedroom shown here would drive a visitor crazy. The parallel lines make the surfaces seem bent when they aren't. George Bernard Shaw slept there and when his hostess asked if he had any problems sleeping he is said to have replied "No madam, I sleep with my eyes shut".

After an excellent lunch at the Dining Room at 78 Derngate, we set off down river. Three locks brought us to this flood gate which gives access to the Washlands where water is accumulated in times of flood. A gate is pulled up from the bed of the channel keeping the flood water away from the town.

Waters on the Washlands are wide and open.

At the far end of the Washlands is this pontoon mooring where we spent Friday night. We took prime position looking out over the open waters. This mooring is open only in the summer as it is on the flood side of the gates. Later two other boats joined us.

On Saturday morning we went through the flood gate to Weston Favell Lock shown here. This was our first Nene Lock where the downstream gate is a guillotine. Most, including this one, are electric so can easily be lowered or raised by a finger pressing the button. However the process takes a long time. You have to leave the guillotine up so going downstream the locks are bound to be set against you.

Here is the view from the helm as the guillotine lifts. The boats in the lock cut below Weston Favell Lock are at the Northampton Boat Club.

Having stopped at White Mills Marina to join the Friends of the River Nene, we used one of their moorings on Saturday evening above Doddington Lock. It was pretty windy as the washing is demonstrating.

 There were good views from the mooring of a lake with lots of bird life including a pair of great white egrets. This photo was taken with a long zoom. The village of Great Doddington is a fair walk up from the moorings but has good views over the valley and we rewarded ourselves with ice creams from the village shop,

Getting off our mooring this morning was tricky with the strong wind but we managed to avoid leaving one of us behind. The bank was not ideal and we had to use our gang plank to get on and off the boat. Today (Sunday) we continued downstream into Wellingborough for services and Tesco. There are hundreds of swans here waiting to be fed. The elsan point is not working at the moment and seems from the sign to have been out of action for some time. Wellingborough is not an ideal place to moor because of the noise from Whitworth's Flour Mill opposite. So, having filled up with water and provisions we pressed on.

The Nene reminds us of the upper Thames winding in a leisurely fashion through water meadows. This evening we've stopped at another mooring of the Friends of the River Nene at Ditchford. The red canoe seems to have been left here. We had a walk around the adjacent lake which is used for water skiing. Intriguingly today they are playing host to a group from the Philippine embassy.

So we have water skiing for entertainment and good bird life and song when it stops. We've heard a cuckoo and seen and heard a couple of oyster catchers so far.

Our plans from here are to meander gently down the River Nene to Peterborough before heading across the Middle Levels. We'd like some better weather: it has been cloudy, cool and breezy today, more like autumn than summer, and some blue sky would make all the difference. Please!