Mon 24th July
Stoke Bruerne to Yardley Gobion
We departed after the rain had stopped, and we
shared locks with Duchess Lorikeet. There were two boats in front of us,
and two more behind us, and we met some coming up the locks as well. There were
some volunteers around and that helped. Gave a CM leaflet to a guy from BBC
Radio Northants, who was on a boat going up.
We used the facilities at the bottom, and while
we were at the water point, Sharon appeared, walking her dog. She and Ray used
to be moored in Aylesbury on Vanguard. They now moor opposite at the
foot of the Stoke Bruerne locks.
We had some distance to cover, so we moved on
through Grafton Regis and Yardley Gobion, mooring finally near Isworth Farm.
|
Approaching the locks at Stoke Bruerne |
|
Plenty of boats both ways |
|
Sharing Stoke Bruerne Locks with a hire boat |
|
Sharon |
|
Moored at Yardley Gobion |
7 locks, 4 miles. Dep 1155, arr 1430 Bottom
Lock services. Dep 1450, arr 1605.
Tue 25th July
Yardley Gobion to Fenny Stratford
Cosgrove Festival had just ended, and it
explained the busy locks yesterday. Cosgrove Lock was on our own, followed by
the slow cruise past moored boats and over the aqueduct over the Great Ouse. We
stopped for sandwich on the bollards by the Black Horse, despite an annoying ledge
preventing us getting in properly to the side. We paused to empty a cassette at
Giffard Park, and continued our cruise to the Plough at Simpson near Bridge 91.
We had never been in before, and were pleasantly surprised. They had a decently good pie, and a concrete
cow in the garden, to show we are in Milton Keynes. We had hoped to moor here,
but there was so much noise from the A5 that we decided to move on. It wasn’t
far to Fenny Stratford Lock, where we found a family of swans trapped in the
lock. They were pleased to be released. We wondered how long they had been
there. We took the first available mooring, as it was late. It wasn’t until the
next morning that we discovered that we were immediately behind Chris and Sue
on A Narrow Escape!
|
One boat is not enough to store everything |
|
Full of stuff |
|
Solomon's Bridge |
|
Church and warehouse at Cosgrove |
|
Cosgrove Lock |
|
Great Ouse from the aqueduct |
|
Old Milton Keynes bridges are now footpaths |
|
Moored for the Plough |
|
Concrete cow |
|
Under the noisy A5 |
|
BCF boat Interlock - no sign of Dave |
|
Fenny Stratford |
|
Moored at Fenny Stratford behind friends |
2 locks, 13 miles, 1 swing bridge. Dep 0905,arr
1150 Black Horse. Dep 1215, arr 1440 The Plough at Simpson. Dep 1915, arr 2010.
Wed 26th July
Fenny Stratford to Slapton
As we cast off and left, we discovered that we
had moored behind Chris and Sue on Narrow Escape, and Widgeon was
in front of them (Leslie and Alan). James saw an egret in a tree just after this.
The first lock of the day was Stoke Hammond
Lock, which we did on our own. By the time we were ready to leave, another boat
had arrived behind us, so we said we would wait for them at Three Locks. The
next section had a fishing competition, so we took it slowly. At Three Locks
there were volunteers, and we could have gone straight in, but we waited for
the other boat, which was Hawkweed, hired by two Germans for 5 weeks. They also
shared Leighton Lock, and told them they could moor alongside us by Tesco if
there was no other space. It was busy, so this is what they did.
While Hazel went to Tesco, James did a sprint
to Morrisons to see if they had our hedgehog mugs. They didn’t.
We left the shopping moorings, and there
followed a remarkable bit of boat spotting. A Narrow Escape –
Chris and Sue from ACS
Widgeon - Leslie and Alan from ACS
Stargazer - Steve who we met in April in Aylesbury town
basin.
Out ‘n About – No sign of Tudor or Flo.
Ayup – No sign of Ken, whom we first met in
Middlewich
Trinity – owned by our CM friends Henry and Lin. Now
on semi-permanent loan.
A modified cruiser, combining two boats in one.
Moorings near the lake had been reserved for a
festival. Other moorings were full until we came to Slapton, just before Bridge
118. Meanwhile, we had negotiated two more locks by ourselves. Rain started
soon after we had moored.
|
Does this sign achieve anything? |
|
Sharing Three Locks with Hawkweed |
|
Middle Lock at Soulbury was Gabriel's 5000th lock |
|
The Globe Inn |
|
Widgeon from ACS |
|
A Narrow Escape - ACS |
|
Trinity - ex Canal Ministries |
|
Two boats in one |
|
A beautifully maintained pair |
|
Out 'n About |
|
Ayup |
|
Grove Lock by ourselves |
7 locks, 10 miles. Dep 0925, arr 1305 Leighton
Buzzard. 1510, arr 1635.
Thu 27th July
Slapton to Marsworth
We shared locks with Katrina from
Calcutt. The lady was struggling to open the paddles, so James lent her a
longer windlass.
We often see cormorants, but near Seabrook
Locks we spotted one on a telegraph wire, drying its wings.
We stopped in Marsworth, and a guy called Jim Bill Bailey was asking where the cafe was. We told him he had passed it further back, so we invited him on board for a cuppa. He was doing a sponsored walk from Brentford to Birmingham.
We had a pleasant evening in sunshine, with lovely views. We heard deer in the night.
|
Leaving our mooring by Bridge 118 |
|
Sharing locks with Katrina |
|
Munchkin land film set |
|
Seabrook Locks |
|
Lock gates made in Stanley Ferry near Wakefield |
|
Boat adrift across the canal |
|
Bill Bailey pausing for a cuppa on his long walk |
|
Sunshine and views from our mooring in Marsworth |
9 locks, 4 miles, 1 swing bridge. Dep 0910, arr
1305.
Fri 28th July
Marsworth to Aylesbury
We allowed half an hour to get to top of the
locks via the sanitary station, where we emptied two cassettes. The rubbish
area was so full that we didn’t add to it.
Our helpers for the day, Will and Ann, arrived
promptly at 9am, and we started our journey down to Aylesbury. Just as we had
set the top lock, a CRT person came up from below the locks and asked us to
wait for ten minutes while he ran some water down, as there was a low pound
between locks 3 and 4. We were soon on our way again.
As we approached Lock 5, we noticed a boat
going down in front of us entering Lock
6. It turned out to be Dermot, and he was on his own, so we lent him Will for a
while. Then James helped him through a lock where we were having trouble with a
swan family who wanted to go down in front of the boat in the lock. At one
point they changed their minds and rushed back to the stern, so we had to hold
the boat against the wall to avoid crushing them. It was only when the bottom gate
was opened that they came again from the far end of the lock and escaped in
front of us.
Dermot was having trouble with his engine
dying, and eventually he said we should go ahead. We left him with a few locks
still to do, and Hazel promised to buy him a drink if he made it to the bar
that evening.
We continued with Gabriel without further
incident, snipping protruding brambles as we went. The reedy section after Red
House Lock was noticeably more dense than when we had left in May.
Our mooring was ready for us as we entered the
canal basin, and we saw Bryan, Nick, Andrew, and a few others. We had lunch on
board, and our car started at the first attempt. James drove Will and Ann back
to Marsworth to collect their car.
Later, from our apartment, we saw Dermot going
past, and we went to the bar in the evening and bought him a drink as promised.
He had suffered from a dirty fuel filter. The Provis Wharf contingent were
there – Tony and Maria, John and Ruzenka, and Eric.
|
Marsworth Junction |
|
Going down the staircase |
|
Hazel with a windlass |
|
Following Dermot |
|
Rubbish on the prop |
|
Silly bird-brained swans |
|
Ann and Will at Redhouse Lock |
|
Through the reedy section |
|
Offside vegetation needs attention |
|
The last lock |
|
Into Circus Field Basin |
14 locks, 6 miles, 1 lift bridge.
This is the last blog for a while. We have
Sandra Kibble’s funeral in Tamworth next week, and a BCF social in September.
Our church is moving to new premises soon, and we also want to visit Oliver in
his new home, as well as Greg and Jessy, Amanda, Maggie and Clive . Lots to do,
plumbing and electrics to attend to on the boat, appointments to be made.