Voyages of Gabriel: Grove Lock to Water Eaton

Wed 8^th Jun Grove Lock to The Globe Inn

Today was forecast to be fine, but there was a strong wind. We set off before Spirit, as we both needed the facilities, and didn’t want to queue.

We passed a boatyard where a narrowboat with a stern mounted paddle wheel was up on hard standing.

Paddle wheeled canal boat

When we arrived at the water point, there was a boat already filling up, so we moored up on the bollards just before and waited for them to finish. Soon another boat joined the queue near us. Half an hour later, when the first boat indicated that they were moving off, we cast off to take their place, but found a hire boat had arrived from the other direction and got there first! Apparently, they had been waiting just as long beyond the bridge. They took half an hour, and then it was our turn. One of our cassettes seems to have problems with the aperture mechanism, but thankfully we managed to remove the cassette and empty it. We will try to sort that out another time.

Waiting for water

Spirit came past, and decided to use the water point later at Three Locks. They found a mooring by Tesco, where there seemed to be a lot of boats already moored. We tied alongside when we finally arrived there, and we went shopping. Sue Ryder charity shop, Wilko, Poundstretcher, Superdrug, Waitrose, Aldi and Tesco. It took a while to stow everything away.

Full moorings at Tesco

We had a sandwich on board, and then set off, followed ten minutes later by Spirit. We were surprised to see a shelduck among the usual mallards by Tesco.

Shelduck

We were looking out for Ken on Ayup, but the boat was absent. Likewise, we haven’t seen Out ‘ n About yet.

As we were working through Leighton Lock, dark clouds gathered, and as we left the lock, the rain started.

Leighton Lock

Stormy weather brewing

It was quite heavy, so when we saw some moorings available by the Globe Inn, we gratefully tied up on rings.

Heavy rain

When the sun came out, we considered moving on, but decided to stay for the night. Soon after that it really rained hard.

Raining hard

Roger and Jo brought a delicious home-made lasagne to share with us this evening, and Hazel made a salad. Roger also contributed some French onion soup. We all joined in with the Canal Ministries Zoom. Some of the team are already in place at Water Eaton. We had to organise ourselves like a bus to see and be seen.

Zoom

Wildlife highlights: A shelduck among the mallards in Leighton Buzzard. Also, the sound of a deer barking in the evening near the Globe Inn. More families of mallards and swans.

Swan family

Cygnet

1 lock, 2 miles. Dep 0955, arr LB 1155. Dep 1505 arr Leighton Lock 1525. Dep 1535, arr 1600 Globe Inn.

Thu 9^th Jun Globe Inn to Water Eaton

Moored at the Globe

We had breakfast on Gabriel with Roger and Jo, before setting off. Avocado and bacon on toast followed by almond croissants.

Bridge 110 at Old Linslade

On one of the sharp bends, we encountered two Jules Fuels boats, so we slowed to a stop to give them room. Spirit needed fuel, so we waited for a while, and then moved slowly on.

Fuel boat Bideford stopping to refuel Spirit

We saw an elephant by the side of the canal, and then we passed Ichthus, a boat that used to belong to BCF friends Malcolm and Muriel Wild

Elephant

Ichthus

Mandarin duck

Mandarin duckling

We arrived at the top of Three Locks. There was a boat coming up, and by the time they cleared the top lock, Spirit had arrived, so we went in and started our journey down. There were lots of volunteers around, so the locks were all set for us.

The first of three

Working well together

We made use of the rubbish bins and glass recycling, just one lock down. There were two boats coming up in the final lock. Hazel steered Gabriel to the right, so they could come through between Gabriel and Spirit.

The changeover

The third of three

As we emerged from the bottom lock, there was a wide beam waiting to come up, blocking our access to the water point, so we went past the wide beam to allow him to access the lock, and then the wind took Spirit across to the other side. We finally managed to get Spirit onto the water point, with Gabriel alongside. The pressure was good, and it didn’t take long to top up both boats.

By the water point

Roger was on a long phone call, so we set off slowly, saying to Jo that they might catch us up as we might see someone we know, and have a chat. Just round the corner, we came across Tudor and Flo on Out ‘n About, so our prediction came true. Spirit went past, and we had a chat before moving on.

Out ‘n About

Stoke Hammond Lock was our last one. We left first and soon arrived at Water Eaton, where we moored nose on to Springwater, as instructed. Spirit was a long time coming and we wondered if they had had a problem, but it turned out that Roger had had another important phone call, and had stopped to switch off the engine for a while.

Stoke Hammond Lock

We said hello to other team members – Andy and Sue (Springwater), John and Jan Halford (Jubilee), Paul and Sue (Ten Thousand Reasons).

We then caught a bus to Leighton Buzzard, where we had a coffee in a café before catching another bus to Aylesbury.

We had various errands to complete, including collecting four wine glasses, as we had forgotten to bring any. James had a shower to save water on our boat, and we returned by car to Water Eaton.

We went for a curry with Roger and Jo.

Curry House leaflet

When we returned to the boat, we discovered that we had some wine glasses after all; we had both forgotten where we kept them, in plain sight! We had looked in all the cupboards, but not on the wall. We laugh at our absent-mindedness.