Broughton Church in Aylesbury

We go to a different church almost every week when we are cruising.  Some are good at welcoming, some have good teaching, and others have good worship. Some are modern, others are traditional, the rest are somewhere in between.

When we first arrived in Aylesbury over a year ago we tried four different churches – Baptist, Salvation Army, Pentecostal and Charismatic.  Whilst they all had good things in their favour, we didn’t feel any of them were right for us.  Then we discovered Broughton Community Church, meeting in a school, away from the main road, in a housing estate.

Church sign at the school

The welcome was the best we have experienced in eighteen years of boating, and not just on the day we arrived. We were followed up with invitations for meals, encouraged to join a life group, and invited to join the worship team practices.  The preaching was relevant, the worship was modern, and the atmosphere was one of reality.  There were no traditions that took place because they always did it like that: everything had a purpose. 

Before the service at the school

We didn’t know what affiliations the church had until this chap stood up and said: “Hello. My name is Phil and I’m the vicar here.”  Until then there were no clues to the Anglican connections – no special clothes, ornate altar cloths, or prayer books.

The worship team in action

The church runs a cafe called More+ and they regularly hold Alpha Courses there, as well as special outreach events. It is in a row of shops near the school, and customers who walk in find a warm welcome and a caring atmosphere. It is a further connection with the community.

More+ Cafe

This year they have moved from the school, and they now meet in the function room at the canal basin. They have started some important children’s work, and are seeking to reach out into the new community that is being built, literally, just next to the canal basin. There are thousands of new homes due to be built in the next few years.

First service in the new venue – the worship team

The first communion service in the canal basin

We have now become members of the church, and have been involved with the worship on Sundays, have led a life group for an evening, and even been included in a drama. We have helped serve meals at Alpha, and really feel part of the community of believers here.

  

So if any boaters who read this decide to venture down the Aylesbury Arm from Marsworth, try to coincide with a Sunday.  You can have free visitor moorings in the canal basin for 14 days, and you will have a great welcome from the church here.

Aylesbury folk music scene

There is a good folk music scene in the Aylesbury area. 

We are members of Chesham Folk Club, which meets every Monday in a community centre.  On some dates there is a guest artist, and floor spots are limited to a few songs from one or two people.  On the other dates they hold a singers night, when people sit round in a large circle, and everyone performs a song in turn.  There are usually 15 to 20 performers, so each person only sings two or three songs in an evening.  This winter we have sung twenty songs altogether, and we haven’t repeated anything.

On alternate Tuesdays there is a session in the Queen’s Head at Wing. The pub chef has the night off, and we use the dining room, where most people sit round a few lined up tables in the centre of the room, and others perch at the bar or occupy comfy lounge furniture.  There is a mix of music, and everyone is invited to join in each others songs. Again each performer leads a song in turn.  Some sing songs, and others play tunes. It is a good atmosphere.

On the third Sunday of the month, there is a very informal event at the Half Moon in Wilstone.  If there are only a few people we cram into the back room, but if there are more than, say, eight, we need to move out from there into the main part of the pub.  We sing a song each in turn, and it is a good place to air some recently learned songs. We’ll be there again on 20^th March, a week before we set off once more.

 

A session at Wilstone

Staying in one place has been good discipline for us as we have had to learn new songs.

We gave a concert in the Aylesbury Canal Society function room, with some of the boaters, and some church people also.  Boating songs featured prominently in our song list, and we sang for ninety minutes.

We also have a good theatre in Aylesbury. Last year we went to a 60’s concert with people like the Swinging Blue Jeans. This year we had Fairport Convention, and we had a very entertaining evening.

 

Fairport tickets

Fairport Convention in concert

Recently we all said goodbye to David Bowie, and, as he had connections with Aylesbury, there was a memorial to him where people could lay flowers.

David Bowie memorial

There is a weekly Aylesbury Folk Club on Fridays, but we haven’t managed to visit so far, as it usually clashes with a weekly social event with the boaters in the canal basin.

We are planning to visit more folk clubs and sessions as we travel. The first is likely to be on Sun 3^rd April in the Vaults Bar at Stony Stratford, then possibly Thu 14^th at the Black Horse in Leicester, or Sun 17^th in the afternoon at the Kings Lock Tea Rooms.

Our visit to Stowe

We had a day out to visit the National Trust gardens at Stowe, near Buckingham.  It was the first time we had been there, and we chose a lovely sunny day in February. We had a good walk around the grounds. The photos tell the story.  

  

The lake and house (now a school)

The “worthies” monument and Shell bridge

Snowdrops and ice

The house through the trees

The Temple of Victory

The Grecian Valley

Two of the many monuments

The Gothic Temple

The Palladian Bridge

Outings from Aylesbury November and December

The first thing we did when we arrived in Aylesbury in October was to go to Suffolk to spend some time with Maggie and Clive and collect our car which had been parked there under covers for 7 months.

We decided to take the train this time, and it involved several changes.  As was Sunday, the local buses were not running so we took a taxi to the station, then a train to Marylebone, two tube trains to Liverpool Street, then two trains to Saxmundham, changing at Ipswich. We have a lovely ride through the Chilterns with the autumn colours at their best. Very exciting for us boaties.  Maggie and Clive met us at the station, and we stayed two nights with them.

 Children on a train journey

The next day the car started first time, and we had a pleasant pub lunch at a country hostelry and a bit of sightseeing, including seeing Framlingham Castle from a viewpoint on a road we have never been down before.

 Clive, Maggie, Hazel

Framlingham Castle

In the evening we went to see the starling murmuration at Minsmere.  Hazel and Clive decided not to bother at it was forecast foggy, but Maggie at James went birdwatching in the gloom. Trying to see starlings in the fog was a challenge, and sometimes we could hear them just out of sight in the murky half-light. At one point they all landed just in front of us and we could hear their excited twittering in the reeds.  I am pleased to say there were a few other people out doing the same thing, so we are not completely isolated with our eccentric ideas. The evening was far more memorable than watching telly.

  

Minsmere fog

Starling murmuration

A few days later, our good friends Nick and Jan were over from Australia, and we met up at Basildon Park, along with Sue, whom we haven’t seen for decades. It was great to catch up.  We looked round the house, and explored the grounds, where we found an intriguing “Hazel Hideout”.  We also found a poem which is useful for anyone with a log burning fire.

Hazel Hideout

Logs poem

Hazel, Sue, Nick, Jan at Basildon Park

Other outings included visits to the Tring reservoirs and the canal near Marsworth. There is plenty to see and do in the area.

  

Marsworth reservoir in November

Startops End reservoir

Canalside cottage at Marsworth

Moss on the stones at the canal edge

2016 outings in due course

Aylesbury: life in the canal basin

Here we are moored once again for the winter in the Aylesbury Canal Society basin. We arrived at the end of October and for a few days we had a temporary mooring in front of the club house. Now we are stern on to the quayside, with a purpose built ramp for ease of access (Thank you Ray).  This means that Hugo can get off when he wants, and there are a few bushes around for him.

 

Temporary mooring position

Final winter mooring position

The arrow points to us

It also means that we are near an electricity point, so we have plugged in. No running of the engine to charge the batteries, and our immersion heater gives us plenty of hot water.  We have run a hose across the bows of the three adjacent boats to connect the nearest water tap to our filling point, and we need to fill the tank about once a week.

Our Squirrel stove is on continually, and this warms the boat quite sufficiently for most weather.  We have a small electric convector heater which we switch on occasionally in the bedroom in the bows when we feel a draught.  Coal is delivered to the canal basin on Wednesdays, and, as long we remember to order it, this is reliable.  There is an assortment of wheelbarrows to use to bring the heavy bags to the boat. There is also somewhere to leave the bags until we need them.  We can also order gas the same way. We find we are using less gas, because we always have a kettle on the Squirrel stove, so we don’t have to boil water from cold.

Diesel this year is 52p per litre. This is frustratingly cheap, as we are not using any! We filled up the tank at the beginning of November, and won’t need any more until after we set off and we reach some good value boatyards in mid April near Weedon on our way north.

There are washing machines and driers as part of the facilities for moorers so we are not using our own washing machine. We want to keep the water clear in the marina.

We don’t have a boat on our port side, and we can look out across the water to the sterns and bows of other boats on pontoons facing us. We have a ringside seat on Mondays when boats go in and out of the dry dock, being towed up the ramp on a winch. Sometimes they move from there to the wet dock, where they get beautifully painted by a couple called Andy and Sue.

 

A boat lining up for the dry dock

Recently we saw a kingfisher using the tiller of one of the boats opposite as a fishing point. He was there for an hour. There are lots of small fish which tend to hide under the boats. The next day there was ice on the surface so presumably he went to find somewhere else.

Ice on the water

 

Frozen moorings

We also had a good view of an incident on the road, when a horse box caught fire.  Fortunately the horses were led to a nearby field, and no-one was hurt.  The fire brigade were prompt in their actions, but road surface was ruined and had to be repaired.  See http://www.mix96.co.uk/news/local/1799035/horsebox-fire-closes-road-in-aylesbury/

The horse-box fire

There are about a dozen occupied boats here so there is always someone to talk to. The ages range from a week old baby with the couple on the next boat to a lady of 101 on a boat with her 97 year old husband.

There is a licenced bar, which we open informally on Friday evenings, and they stock some decent cider after some gentle hinting.  The first lot was a 35 pint bag-in-a-box which somehow got punctured and had a leak. The cardboard box became soggy, so we put the bag in a bucket, and took the cider from there. The bag still leaked, so there was cider both outside and inside the bag.  We managed to get about twenty pints out before the cider started to taste peculiar.  We now use 3 litre cider boxes which are probably slightly more expensive, but they are more manageable.  We both take a turn in running the bar.

The clubhouse

We have our car, which we stored in Suffolk for the summer, at James’ sister’s house. It is very handy while we are staying in one place.  We don’t need it when we are cruising.  It has only let us down once, when we left the internal light on for two days.  We borrowed a battery charger and it was fine.

 

Sunrise over the moorings

We are here until the end of March.  We plan to leave on Easter Monday, heading north for the Huddersfield Canal.  We hope to be back at the end of October for our third winter.  We have registered with doctors and dentists within walking distance.

Lot’s more to say, particularly about the church here in Aylesbury, and the folk music scene locally, and a few outings and visits we have made.  These will follow in due course.

Leighton Buzzard to Aylesbury

Mon 26^th October

Leighton Buzzard to Slapton

We moved up to the visitor moorings and did some shopping in Homebase, Aldi and Tesco.  The length of stay here is 2 hours – not enough to go up into the High Street.  The ducks are well fed here, and there are always lots of them.

Leighton Buzzard ducks

Autumn glory

We moved through the bridge to the water tap, where the willows could do with a severe cut back.

Dense willow

One the way out of Leighton Buzzard towards Grove Lock, there are some old coal wharves, one of which still has rails on.

Old coal wharf

Approaching Grove Lock

The next lock is Church Lock, where we were hoping to moor for a short while, to visit Pendle level crossing where the train robbers boarded the train. However, there are only about six spaces here, and they always seem to be occupied.

  

Waiting for Church Lock

Berry profusion

We moved on to Slapton, near bridge 118, where the second train robbery site is located.

Train robbery map

Moored near Slapton

  

Train Robbers Bridge

Bridego Bridge

It seems that Bridego Bridge was renamed Train Robbers Bridge, and then renamed again as Mentmore Bridge. Someone probably knows the reason why. 

We found a damson tree laden with ripe damsons. So James took our landing net and a boat hook and we had stewed damsons for supper. There is something very satisfactory about acquiring free food!

Damsons

2 locks, 3 miles

Tue 27^th October

Slapton to Marsworth

As we set off this morning, we passed a Leighton Buzzard hire boat who were preparing to cast off. We said we would wait at Slapton lock for them.  We shared Slapton, Horton, and the two Ivinghoe Locks with them, and then they stopped for lunch.

Sharing Horton Lock with Sapphire

We were then left to complete the remaining five locks on our own.  We saw our first red kite for a while.  We had one low pound to contend with.

Seabrook Bottom Lock 34

Seabrook Middle Lock 35

Lock 38 Marsworth

We moored in the sunshine on rings between bridges 129 and 130, where the sun was shining, so Hazel put out some washing. James pruned back a very low overhanging tree.

9 locks, 4 miles, 1 swing bridge

Wed 28^th October

Marsworth to Puttenham

We found the remains of a mouse this morning. Hugo had been active in the night.

A lot of boats seem to have a statue of Buddha on the roof. We guess that this is because they are easily available in shops and garden centres as an ornament. It does not necessarily mean that the boat owners are Buddhists.

A highly decorated boat near Marsworth

At Marsworth Junction we paused to fill the water tank and empty cassettes. We discovered that there were some new homes completed since our last visit earlier this year. They were very close to the mooring rings, and had large wooden doors, bolted on the outside, which we thought might be a fire hazard. They were also cheaply built and not in keeping with the old wharf.  Sadly, a missed opportunity for some decent canalside properties.

Ugly homes at Marsworth Junction

Wharf Crane

From here it was a few yards to the entrance of the Aylesbury Arm, the final part of this year’s cruise.

Approaching lock 1, Aylesbury Arm

 Lock 4 – Black Jacks

The locks on the Aylesbury Arm do not have the usual plank attached to the gates to enable you to cross from one side to the other when one gate is open. Instead you have to walk round, or use a boat hook to push or pull the gates.  James found a piece of wood by one lock, and lifted it to find a small bank vole running around.

Narrow locks once more (lock 5)

Moored above lock 12 at Puttenham

We found a mooring above lock 12, backing on to the colossal new dairy. The bank was quite high, and we had to step up from the boat to the shore.  Perhaps the pound was low.

Hugo caught a mouse within half an hour, bringing today’s team tally to three.

11 locks, 3 miles, 3 mice

Thu 29^th October

Puttenham to Aylesbury

We set off early as it was forecast wet later. We sent a text to Bryan at the canal basin with our revised arrival time.

There were a lot of leaves in the water, and more continually falling from the trees as we went along.  We saw some great wildlife on this final day. Two kingfishers, a green woodpecker, several herons, and five snipe.  There was a pair of snipe here last year, so this was presumably the same two with their new family.

Friendly Reeds

Autumn leaves

Autumn light

When we arrived at the basin, Bryan was there raising the lift bridge for us. It was good to see him.  We found a temporary mooring, against two other boats. We were told there would a reshuffle at the weekend when there was a changeover in the dry dock.

Bryan and his cat

3 locks, 2 miles, 1 lift bridge

Fri 30^th October

Aylesbury

There was some work due to take place on some of the locks in the Aylesbury Arm, starting on Monday. As we set off to catch a bus into town, we discovered that a work barge was about to be craned in at Circusfield Basin.  This had needed some more boat shuffling to make space for it.

Work barge for fixing locks

Preparing to crane in

Hoisted

No boating today. We probably won’t be boating again until after Easter 2016. Hence this blog will be on an occasional basis until then.