Blisworth to Milton Keynes

Mon 19^th Sep  Blisworth

We had no TV signal, so we watched the state funeral of the Queen online. At least we had a good internet signal.

The whole event was very moving, and full of symbolism and tradition. The coverage lasted all day from about 9.30am until after 5pm.

The Queen's coffin was moved from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey, for the main funeral service. Then another procession through London to Hyde Park Corner. Then a new hearse took the coffin to Windsor, where there was a further procession up the long ride to the castle, and another service in St Georges Chapel.

We wondered where and when all those taking part had been able to have a refreshment break.

Watching online on a laptop

We had planned to go through the tunnel to Stoke Bruerne, but we thought that the moorings might be taken up at that hour, so we delayed until the morning.

No boating today.

Tue 20^th Sep Yardley Gobion

It was very damp this morning. We left Blisworth and cruised through the tunnel, which, for a change, was not very wet. We met no other boats, and we could see right through from one end to the other, unlike Braunston Tunnel which has kinks. It took 26 minutes.

Leaving Blisworth

Blisworth Tunnel

Leaving the tunnel

We found a mooring close to our usual spot, and we went for breakfast at the Boat Inn. The food was good, and so was the welcome.

Boat Inn

We visited Kathryn briefly on the way back to the boat, and then waited 45 minutes for a boat to share locks with. Then, like buses, three came along at once, all hire boats from Wyvern in Leighton Buzzard. We shared with one called Ivory. Two pleasant couples on board. We had help initially from a CRT volunteer, but he went back up after the second lock. By now it was hot and sunny.

Stoke Bruerne Top Lock

We met two sets of boats that were coming up, and had no problems. At the bottom, we filled up with water, and emptied a cassette. Ivory continued without pausing.

A JCB was moving one straw bale at a time

We managed to leave again before the other two Wyvern hire boats came down, and we cruised past Grafton Regis, where there are high hedges of apple trees, and a lot of shade.

One of the overflow weirs

We passed Ivory, moored up for lunch. We noticed that the fuel price at Yardley Gobion was good, although we didn’t need any. We moored soon after, near Bridge 62, where there are open views. Ivory came past again.

Diesel price at Yardley Gobion

Moored beyond Bridge 62

We had a brief shower later, and were thankful that we had brought in our mats from outside.

7 locks, 7 miles. Dep 0840, arr 0925 Stoke Bruerne. Dep 1130, arr 1250, Bottom Lock. Dep 1315, arr 1425 Bridge 62.

Wed 21^st Sep  Yardley Gobion to Great Linford.

This morning we had no dew at all, and no wind. Dry and still, like a good cider.

We departed after several boats had been past, going the other way. We cruised through familiar territory (0ur 12^th time in this direction, plus 14 times in the other direction). We didn’t even take a photo of Solomons Bridge in Cosgrove.

We paused briefly at the facilities in Cosgrove to empty a cassette, and then we moved on to the lock bollards.  A boat was coming up, very cautiously, hanging onto ropes. By the time they had reached the top, another Wyvern Shipping hire boat, Maple, had appeared, but they weren’t concentrating, and they started to head down the Buckingham Arm, which leads nowhere except for some moorings. When they realised, they reversed back and came into the lock with us.

Sharing Cosgrove Lock with Maple

After the lock, we went first, going slowly along the straight mile across the aqueduct, past many moored boats. We saw Robin and Laura, from Miss Matty, whom we have met at Cavalcade and Rickmansworth festivals. They moor here. We also saw a boat with a pentacle in the window. That usually means there is a witch on board.

Miss Matty

Pentacle

We finally arrived at the Iron Trunk aqueduct, where a heron was boldly standing on the edge of the trough.

Cosgrove Aqueduct

Fearless Heron

Just after this, a Braunston hire boat had been coming fast towards us, and they slammed into reverse, put the tiller in the wrong direction, and ended up sideways across the cut. All very entertaining.

Hire boat across the cut

As we left, they were just entering the aqueduct, and the Wyvern boat behind us was also entering from the other end. We didn’t wait to see what happened. Opposite the Galleon, we saw Out & About, but there was no sign of Tudor and Flo.

Out & About

Aerial lifts at Wolverton

Historic Railway Bridge

The train mural

Burnt out boat

We managed to continue through Wolverton without stopping for Tesco, then through New Bradwell, where a boat called Hilda was coming towards us quite fast. As they passed us, they over steered, and had to go into reverse to avoid collision with a moored cruiser. A lot of black smoke was involved.

Hilda taking panic measures

At Stanton Low Park, where we sometimes moor, we saw fuel boats Beverley and Ascot, looking very dilapidated, and moored just where we had seen them earlier in the year.

Beverley and Ascot

We didn’t stop there this time, though, as we fancied trying out the Black Horse pub, which has good mooring bollards outside. We had trouble getting into the side, so we were a little way from the edge. We put some washing out to dry, and James hunted for the entrance to the pub, as it looked closed. He found a way in, and asked them to open the door onto the canalside deck, where we had lunch. The food was very nice, but a bit overpriced.

Arriving at the Black Horse

Out from the side

The nearby road was noisy, as was the pubs extractor fan, so we moved on to the visitor mooring at Great Linford.

Moored at Great Linford

James went for a walk around this manorial village, which has almshouses, a medieval church, and some ponds that are being restructured. Here are a few photos:

Pyracanthas have a lot of berries this year

The back of the almshouses

St Andrews church

Almshouses

Information Plaque

Lots of squirrels collecting nuts

Incomplete information sculpture

Almshouses

Manor House

Estate Office

Aerial View

Not such a wild animal

This car had its wheels missing!

We had a Canal Ministries Zoom meeting in the evening.

1 lock, 7 miles. Dep 1020, arr 1305 Black Horse. Dep 1425, arr 1435 Great Linford.

Next: continuing our cruise around Milton Keynes, a visit to Ikea and then on to Leighton Buzzard.

Braunston to Blisworth

Thu 15^th Sep  Braunston to Norton Junction

We decided not to hike up the hill to the butchers and the shop, as we had enough provisions. Several boats went past before we set off, so we were fairly sure of being able to share the locks with another boat.

As we were about to leave, Noggin went past, so we followed on behind. Sure enough, we were able to share Lock 1 with Noggin. However, a boat had just gone up on his own, which was silly as there is still a water shortage. There was a CRT volunteer at the lock, who should have ensured each lock was being shared.

Approaching the locks at Braunston

Sharing Lock 1 with Noggin

The single boat waited at lock 2, so Noggin shared with him, leaving us by ourselves. Another two boats came up through Lock 1 behind us, so we shared with a hire boat. Presumably, that pattern remained until there were no more boats to come up.

Sharing lock 3 with a hire boat

The rest of the flight was straightforward for us, although a single boat came down, followed by two boats who wanted to share with each other, followed by another single boat.

At the top, there were nine boats waiting to come down. Apparently there had been a problem with Lock 4 this morning, and this was the backlog. All the more reason for every lock to be fully occupied!

Top Lock

Lock queue

We plugged in our tunnel light and went through Braunston Tunnel. We met one boat, who had two tunnel lights blazing ahead of him, so it dazzled oncoming boats like us. We asked him to point the lights at the ceiling, like most people do.

Braunston Tunnel

Leaving the tunnel

We moved on to our intended mooring, just before Bridge 10. We were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Moored near Norton Junction

Evening sky

Sunset

6 locks, 4 miles, 1 tunnel.

Fri 16^th Sep  Norton Junction to Nether Heyford

Open views from our mooring near Norton Junction

Red Kite

We were hoping to share locks with someone today. We left our mooring and went through Bridge 10 past Norton Junction and the Leicester section, heading for Buckby Locks.

Norton Junction

Signpost

As we approached the top lock, we saw that there was a boat already in there, waiting to share. We joined them, and James went to empty a cassette. He found a notice to say that the elsan was out of order, but he had received an email yesterday to say that it had been sorted out. It seemed OK, so he emptied the cassette anyway.

We shared the locks with Who’d a Thought It, a pleasant couple named Ian and Trish. Many of the locks needed to be filled, and when we came to lock 11, we found there was a queue, as the lock had a paddle out of action, and took ages to empty.

Locking down with Who’d a Thought It

Lock queue

Nearly there

Bottom Lock

We moored below the lock and went to the café for lunch. We also bought some deck paint in the marina. We moved on as the moorings here are noisy from the M1.

Moored for the café

Whilton Marina

There are some lovely canal sections here, spoilt by the noisy road which is only a few yards away through the bushes at one point.

Old bridge

New bridge

We didn’t stop at Weedon, but were interested to see that the houses we had seen under construction earlier were now occupied.

New houses now occupied

Same estate in June

The railway disappears into a tunnel at Stowehill, near the Narrow Boat pub, which we have never visited.

Railway tunnel

Narrow Boat

Diesel price at Rugby Boats

We moored at Nether Heyford, where the canal edge is an iron girder, resembling a piece of old railway track. Thankfully, someone has managed to put in some bits of heavy duty string to tie to. We had another lovely sunset.

Moored at Nether Heyford

Sunset at Nether Heyford

Art (guess what this is)

7 locks, 6 miles. Dep 1000 arr 1305 Whilton. Dep 1440 arr 1635 Nether Heyford.

Sat 17^th Sep  Nether Heyford to Blisworth

We walked across a field and down the road to Nether Heyford, where there is a One Stop. The butchers nearby also have a reasonable selection of fresh vegetables.

Back to the boat, and we set off. Sadly, it looked as though the Bridge 32 diesel and coal stop had closed down.

Heyford Fields Marina

The turnover bridge near Gayton Junction

We paused for the facilities at Gayton Junction, but we didn’t need water, so we moved on quickly. We moored in Blisworth, and took the last space.

Gayton Junction

Moored in Blisworth

0 locks,  miles. Dep 1020, arr 1245

Sun 18^th Sep  Blisworth

We visited Blisworth Baptist Church, where we were privileged to witness the induction of the new pastor. The service was two hours long, so we were anxious about the reservation we had made at the Royal Oak for lunch, but it all worked out.

Blisworth Baptist Church

Interior, with ornate organ

Induction of new pastor

At the Royal Oak, we had a Sunday roast, and discovered that there was to be an open mic event today at 5pm. James returned to take part, and sang Autumn song, Gossip Calypso, Low Bridge, Dorset Juggernaut and Long Way Down.  Many of the people were there for drinks and meals, rather than the music, so we were singing to just a few faithful people near us. There were three other acts. Mac and Woods were good. She played an air synthesizer.

Mac and Woods at the open mic

No boating today

Next: following the royal events as the nation says farewell to Her Majesty. Then moving down through Stoke Bruerne towards Milton Keynes.