Aylesbury to Milton Keynes

Mon 27^th Mar  Aylesbury

Very high winds in the night, and heavy rain.  Katie was making her presence felt. Hazel woke up in the night with stomach cramps and took some Gaviscon.

The forecast in the morning looked as though the weather might be OK after lunchtime, when the winds were to drop from 46mph to 20mph.  We prepared the boat for cruising, taking down the TV aerial, disconnecting the electric cable, disposing of rubbish, and cleaning the seating area in the stern.  We phoned Julia and agreed 1pm departure.

Hazels pain was increasing, and, just before 1pm, Hazel became nauseous and was ill.  We phoned the Wheelers to postpone the trip, and then rang the doctors, being transferred to 111 as it was Easter Monday. She was advised to take paracetamol, which she did.  Later a doctor from Buckingham rang up and arranged an appointment at Stoke Mandeville hospital for 6.45pm.  We reconnected the electricity.

Infuriatingly, the sun came out, and it was a lovely day for boating.

When we saw the doctor, he said he thought it was a kidney infection, and prescribed some antibiotics should it recur.  Back to the boat via a pharmacy (strange that we used to call them chemists) and a Chinese takeaway – Hazel obviously feeling better.

No TV signal this evening – we had taken down the aerial!

No boating

Tue 29^th Mar  Aylesbury to Marsworth

It was still windy this morning, but not like yesterday.  Hazel said she felt well enough to go, so we emptied cassettes, rubbish and ash, and filled the water tank. We disconnected the electric cable, put down the pram hood, and removed the ramp and gave it to Bryan to store.

There were a few boat movements going on in the basin, trying to reposition boats that had been painted. One boat left, and headed down into town.

We untied the ropes and Sara kept the lift bridge open for us. We were off! 10.00am departure.

Leaving Circus Field Basin

Sara seeing us off

We passed the new apartments and took a few photos. Next time we see them they will be finished.

Cruising past our apartment

At the first lock, lock 14, there was a walker who paused to watch us go through the lock. We discovered that he had just moved in to one of the Canalside houses. He said he used to have an ocean going boat and missed the boating life. We offered him a lift to the next bridge and he came on board. We told him about the church in the canal basin, and gave him one of our “How do locks work?” leaflets.

Graham

Some of the locks had notices asking us to leave the lock empty, (or full in one case).  Bryan had obtained a list from Canal and River Trust, which showed which ones were legitimate.  The genuine notices were printed landscape and gave a reason. The bogus ones were printed portrait and gave no reason.  Many of the locks had water weiring over the gates because of all the recent rain.  The towpath was very muddy in places.

Weiring locks

Red House Lock

We encountered some wildlife. Chiffchaffs and skylarks were singing, and we saw several buzzards as well as red kites.  In one lock we found two frogs, and were careful not to harm them.  We spotted some badger setts among the bushes at one point.  No snipe this time, and no frog spawn.

Buzzard

Black Jack’s Lock

We only met one boat coming down – Eos. When we finally emerged onto the main line by lock 1, it was 2pm exactly. Four hours from the basin to Marsworth.

Bridge 1

Lock 1

We moored two bridges further north on some mooring rings with a sloping field opposite. Hugo was very excited to be boating again, and was quick to explore the hedge and all the delights to be found there.

We put up the hood, and there was rain later.

14 locks, 5 miles, 1 lift bridge

Wed 30^th Mar   Marsworth to Church Lock

Sunrise at Marsworth

It was sunny and breezy this morning, and larks were singing in the field opposite as the sun appeared.  We set off at the leisurely hour of 9.45am and were quickly through the two Marsworth Locks.  The swingbridge at Pitstone seemed heavier than last year. There were several boats coming the other way, but of course this is a holiday week.

Seabrook Bottom Lock and Cottage

We had dark clouds later on, and there were showers either side of us, but we stayed dry.

Somewhere near the Ivinghoe Locks we saw some mute swans in a field, and among them we were surprised to see two Australian Black Swans. We have seen one or two of these on our travels, and there is a pair that breeds regularly in Reading. The photo was a bit indistinct – they were a long way off.

Black swans

We were hoping to moor below Church Lock, where there are moorings for five or six boats. Usually there is no space, but thankfully today there was one space available for us.

Moored below Church Lock

Canalside Church for sale

James went for a walk to find Sears Crossing, where the Great Train Robbers stopped the train with a modified signal. He was expecting a level crossing, but found a bridge.

Sears Crossing

There was a footpath from our mooring across a field to a bridge over the River Ouzel. There was a flooded field on the other side, with many seagulls, plus two oyster catchers.

Celandines

 Church Lock Cottage

We were treated to a lovely sunny evening, and a beautiful sunset.

Sunset from Church Lock

10 locks, 6 miles, 1 swing bridge.

Thu 31^st Mar   Church Lock to Leighton Lock

Morning light below Church Lock

There are mile posts all the way from Brentford to Braunston on the Grand Union. The initials stand for Grand Junction Canal Company. We are not going all the way to Braunston – we’re turning off towards Leicester about four miles short of there.

 Mile post

Swan in flight

A leisurely start today as we did not have a long journey planned. We had pleasant sunshine as we left our mooring and headed for Grove Lock. We passed Eos, whom we had met on the Aylesbury Arm on Tuesday. They were going for a pumpout. 

Grove Lock

Below the lock we came across Tim and Margaret on Mollie and we paused for a chat. They were moored in the canal basin at Aylesbury last for the 2014/15 winter season, and we have seen them since at Cassiobury Park.

Tim and Margaret

Old coal wharf with rails

Further down into Leighton Buzzard, we were hailed by Malcolm, sporting his Salvation Army uniform, on a boat going the other way. He started the Waterways Chaplaincy, and goes to the Salvation Army church in Aylesbury. Sadly no time to chat.

We stopped to use the grubby shed they call an elsan point before going under the bridge, hoping for a mooring. The only ones left were the two hour ones, designed for shoppers.  Our shopping took us three hours so we overstayed a little. We have written to CRT before, suggesting these moorings should be 4 hours.  They could lose two or three spaces out of the long line of permanent moorings without too much hardship, as there are always gaps there.

In Tesco we spotted a few items that had been moved around by the Mix-up Kid, such as this girls dress hanging among the vegetables.  Who does this?

Mix-up Kid strikes again

We moved on to a mooring opposite Wyvern Shipping, which is a pleasant spot.

In the evening we walked across the small nature reserve, negotiating a huge puddle, and crossed the Ouzel and found our way through a new housing estate to reach the Stag, our venue for the evening.  What was down on a website as an acoustic session was in fact an open mic night with PA system. We sang Last thing on my mind, Antiques, and Athenry. We were the act nearest to a folk style there, and probably the oldest. All good fun.  The torch came in handy for the walk back.

The big puddle

One of the younger performers - Isabel

1 lock, 2 miles

Fri 1^st Apr   Leighton Buzzard to Stoke Hammond Lock

It was slightly frosty this morning.  Hire boats were returning to base for changeover day.  This drained water from the pound, so we found ourselves at an angle.  We decided to leave early before it got worse.  We still had some shopping to do, so we reversed past the hire boat base and turned in the winding hole, before returning to the two hour moorings by Tesco. 

Hazel went shopping, James trundled a cassette to the grubby shed.

With Hazel back on board, we went through the bridge, turned round and set off north once more.

Returning past the hire fleet

Leighton Lock was in our favour, so that was easy.  There follows a series of zigzags between the railway and the river, past the Globe Inn, Linslade Manor and some farms.  It was a lovely day and the birds were singing.  There were lots of rabbits on the bank on the left, but they kept still and were hard to see as we passed.

Globe Inn at Linslade

We met two boats, both at bridges, which was not clever timing.  A third boat had just left the Three Locks as we approached, so the top lock was in our favour.  There was a boat just entering the middle lock, so once again we had an easy time, especially as a volunteer appeared to help us through the last two locks.

Three Locks

We were amazed at how many boats were moored in the Stoke Hammond pound.  We decided to go further, as last year we had ended up stuck on the bottom here, as Stoke Hammond  lock below had been leaking and the water had drained away slowly overnight.  We went through the lock and found a pleasant mooring not far beyond.

Lots of moored boats at Stoke Hammond

Below Stoke Hammond Lock

This is the season for yellow flowers – we have seen daffodils, primroses, celandines, forsythia, and we have noticed another that we couldn’t name. There were some near our mooring, so with a photo and a book, we think it is Coltsfoot.

Coltsfoot

  

5 miles, 5 locks

Sat 2^nd Apr   Stoke Hammond to St Peter’s Church

The fire had gone out in the night, due to a failure to stoke it last thing last night.  We decided to leave it unlit, as a hot day was forecast.

Just as we were about to leave, another boat came past, so we followed him.  It was lovely and sunny, and Hugo made an appearance to sniff the air and to see if there was any chance of visiting the hedge one more time.

Hugo wondering whether to leap

We shared the only lock of the day with the other boat, and avoided having the shut it afterwards or swing the bridge, as there was another boat coming the other way.

 Fenny Stratford Lock and swingbridge

Spring has certainly arrived, with Swans and Canada Geese sitting on their nests, leaves starting to appear on the trees, lovely bird song, and wild flowers.

Celandines

Budding willows

Daisies

There used to be a canal arm going from Linford to Newport Pagnell (before the M1 was built!) and there is a lovely old stone building by what used to be the junction.

The Old Wharf House

We moored near Linford Lakes, at a place where we used to be out of sight of any houses – just fields and trees. A recent housing estate now appears at the top of the field. Milton Keynes is growing.

Moored near Linford Lakes and St Peter’s Church

James went for a short walk to visit nearby St Peter’s Church. There was no church notice board, but it seemed likely that there would be no service there tomorrow.

St Peter’s Church

1 lock, 10 miles, 1 swing bridge

Tomorrow we plan to visit King’s Church in Wolverton, where we have been several times, and then go to the Vaults Bar at the Bull in Stony Stratford, where there is a folk event every Sunday lunchtime. That will be new for us.

Next week we continue north through Stoke Bruerne, Weedon and the Buckby lock flight, turning onto the Leicester Arm.