Heavy rain in the night meant that the towpath was very wet and muddy as we set off on our final week of cruising. We can only imagine what wet paths were like in the days of horse drawn boats. There were some nice autumn colours around, as well as a fearless heron, who stayed put as we passed.
We arrived at Fenny Stratford Lock, which has a rise of just a few inches, and a swingbridge over the top, which I won't go on about this time. We filled our water tank, which took some time as the pressure was low, but not like the trickle we had found at Peartree Bridge. We also emptied bins and cassettes.
James helped a lady with the swingbridge, as there is a foot catch which is not mentioned in the instructions on the notice board.
After Stoke Hammond Lock, we met Martin and Julie on Ruby Louise, the boat we had shared with on the Buckby and Stoke Bruerne Locks a few days ago. They had been to Aylesbury and back. Will we meet again? I hope so.
There were three volunteer lock keepers (like buses!) on the Three Locks flight, so we made good progress. James gave out “How do locks work” to one of them.
The Globe Inn looked very picturesque as we passed, and we paused for shopping at Tesco and Aldi. We seldom pass here without stopping! Out and About was moored up, but no sign of Tudor and Flo.
We moved on, looking for a mooring where our washing would dry. We found a place in the sunshine just before Tiddenfoot Park.
6 locks, 10 miles, 1 swing bridge. Dep 0850 arr Tesco 1355. Dep 1505 arr 1520
Wed 16th October Leighton Buzzard to Marsworth
There were some lovely red autumn colours as we arrived at Grove Lock, where we remember the old lock cottage being converted into a pub.
There were no moving boats around as we headed south through Church, Slapton and Horton Locks on our own. At Ivinghoe Locks we met a small sailing boat. They seemed unsure of things, not getting back on the boat at the lock when it was easy, but fiddling around further down the canal instead. Several of the locks have double arched bridges, where there was a plan to have a second lock built.
At one point James was taking a picture of a cormorant on a wire, when two kingfishers appeared, and James had the camera ready.
Our final wide lock was at Marsworth, and we moored up on the rings soon after, where we still had some sunshine before some trees make it darker.
We went for a muddy walk down the towpath to the Red Lion for a meal. This pub is very unspoilt, and has a quaint way of operating, with separate payments for the bar and the kitchen. The pictures on the walls are completely random, with a picture of the Thames next to a map of scotch whiskies. The ornaments on the shelves look like a bric-a-brac stall. The meal was good, and they had a decent Weston’s cider. The lady chef lives on a narrowboat called Princess Bess.
11 locks, 7 miles, 1 swing bridge. Dep 1120 arr 1555.
Thu 16th October Marsworth to Buckland Lock
This was another lovely sunny day. We didn’t need to stop for facilities, except for a bag of ash which James left in the bin as we passed.
We turned into the Aylesbury Arm and descended the staircase pair of locks, continuing further down until it started to rain at Wilstone, so we moored up.
Eventually the rain stopped, and we started off again to do a further three locks, before stopping by the Arla dairy.
11 locks, 3 miles. Dep 1000 arr Wilstone 1150. Dep 1400 arr 1520 Dairy.
Fri 17th October Buckland Lock to Aylesbury Canal Society
We had heavy rain in the night with thunder and lightning. A lot of leaves fell on our boat in the wind. Although the dairy was very close to us, there was no disturbance from lorries or machinery. By the morning we had bright sunshine as we faced the final three locks of the year.
There is one very reedy section where the reeds touch the boat on both sides, reminiscent of some of the waterways on the fens.
We had phoned Andrew the moorings manager, but he was off site. Bryan was also unavailable, so we had to operate the lift bridge ourselves. There is nowhere for anyone to get off from the stern, so Hazel got off by the bridge from the bows and then James reversed back for some distance to make a wider sweep into the basin.
We then reversed onto the fuel pontoon, where we filled the diesel tank, and offloaded flowerpots and coal bags. We sat out a small shower before making the final move across to our usual mooring for the winter.
We went to the bar in the evening where we caught up with lots of people and discussed the years cruising, house building, boat painting, pumpouts and cassettes. We tried to avoid the B word, as Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal will be voted on tomorrow, and the subject is very divisive.
3 locks, 3 miles, 1 lift bridge. Dep 1010 arr 1150.
Totals for 2019:
413 locks, 843 miles, 10 lift or swing bridges, 6 tunnels, 371 cruising hours.
No plans for blogging during the winter. We are off to Australia for a while. Next year’s boating plans are not made yet.
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