Northampton West Bridge Arm

[Denis R]

We fancy a weekend expedition down to Northampton to do the West Bridge Arm and the 'B&Q Arm'. I did a partial recce by bike last night and whilst there appears to be plenty of water in the 'B&Q Arm' (does it have a name?) the West Bridge Arm looked awfully shallow with plenty of vegetation growing.

Is the West Bridge Arm really do-able with a 48ft, 1ft 10in draft boat at the moment? I couldn't see the full way along by the gasworks site from the cycleway bridge - where exactly is the winding hole? Is it after the road bridge?

Ref. the 'B&Q Arm' - a couple of press-on types there assured me I could navigate under the road bridge with confidence as 'there are moorings the other side, but mind the hidden piles from an old railway bridge further up' but from the somewhat overgrown Nene Valley Way I couldn't see any evidence of moorings or anything that gave me confidence it might be navigable....

Any advice welcome, as getting stuck anywhere up either of those backwaters might not actually be a lot of fun....