Day Twenty-Two - Stoke Wharf to Stoke Prior to Napton on Hill to Norton Junction

We had heavy rain overnight and woke to a very overcast morning. The boat had to be returned by nine o’clock and we made it easily as we moored only twenty minutes away from the marina. We only had one lock to do and this took us straight to the Black Prince moorings where we quickly unloaded our bags. Bill rang the car hire firm to arrange for them to pick him up so he could go and collect the car.
We left Stoke Prior at about eleven o’clock in a very smart Ford Mondeo and arrived an hour later at Wigrams Turn Marina at Napton. Our boat was going to be ready at one thirty so Lyn and Bill dropped us off at a nearby pub near Napton on Hill so we could have lunch prior to our departure. We farewelled Lyn and Bill and they drove off to Cambridge and are then going onto London. They leave to return to Brisbane on Thursday. We are going to miss their company on the boat. We all got on very well and developed our group routine on the boat and the locks.
After Lyn and Bill dropped us off we realised that we had plenty of time to see Napton on Hill, buy groceries and have lunch. This would mean we could save time as we wouldn’t have to moor at Braunston later in the afternoon to buy groceries. We set out to walk up the hill and found a lovely village but we simply couldn’t find the centre. We asked three people including the postman before finding it. The directions were all very vague. We had lunch at a pub and finally found the elusive store. We stocked up on some basic groceries to tie us over until we can get to a bigger store. We must have walked about six kilometres and got back to the boat on time to collect it at one thirty.
We were given “Carli” again and we were soon on our way. The sun came out and we had a lovely afternoon motoring alongside farmland. The canal was very busy and we passed many boats coming our way. We passed five boats coming north in the Braunston Tunnel (about two kilometres long) and we were in a line of three going south.
I didn’t have my lock helpers anymore and I wasn’t looking forward to doing six double locks in a row prior to the tunnel. I needn’t have worried as along came another Black Prince hire boat with six middle-aged men wearing blue t-shirts labelled “Men’s Drinking Cruise” which is an annual event. They were very friendly and helpful and shared the double locks with us. They were all over the locks like locusts so I had very little to do. Lucky! As the canal was so busy we were passing two boats coming up the lock as we went down.
We moored at six thirty at Norton Junction where we moored about a week ago. We are heading south towards London on the Great Union Canal where we pick up Brian in a week and a half. We then head up toward Oxford before returning the boat in three weeks.
Photos: Henk outside the elusive Napton on Hill grocery store; Farmland near Braunston; Canal boats passing each other between the double locks. Our boat is front left.