April 2016
Over the last month we have
made our way north from Uxbridge; stopping at places that we have not visited
before and also at places where we have such nice memories of previous visits.
We have been down a couple
of arms that we had promised ourselves that we would get around to exploring
and met up with so many lovely people – some of whom we have met before and
known for quite a while and some who we have met for the very first time.
At present we are moored up
in Rugby but that will not be for too long as
we will need to be underway again.
The fishermen (should that
read fisherpeople, although we have only seen men with their rods in hand) have
been extremely pleasant and very happy – perhaps a sign of the improvement in
the weather – a bit of sun on your back will do that to you.
The cyclists have improved
in their manners and slowing down – maybe that has something to do with my
refusal to jump out of their way quickly and they then have to slow right down
– but still we are getting more co-operation with them in sharing the towpath.
The walkers are all back out
again in their usual gear and setup – it appears that there must be some code
of dress and code of necessary equipment than one must have and carry and be
seen with.
Lastly the boaters are all
starting to emerge from the winter hibernation that occurs for those who
inhabit marinas and/or land-based abodes.
The likelihood of meeting a
boat at a bridge during Febraury or March is almost non-existant, but come April-time
and you need to be checking through the bridge-hole each and everytime.
Sharing of double-locks is
now back in vogue or at least there are enough boats around for it to happen;
and the chance to leave a gate or gates open for approaching boats is now more
likely than before.
Yes we are emerging into the
cruising season and April is just like a hire-boat change-over day; one day
they are not there, the next they have appeared from the hedge-rows en-masse.
We called in at Berkhampstead for a couple of days – mooring spots galore – and spring rain to
match – but we had always told ourselves that we should try and see a local
football match – that we did – on a cold Tuesday night we saw the South
Midlands Premier League battle between 4th placed Hertford Town and
5th placed Berkhampstead.
Diane did the honours at the
gate and managed to get my OAP discount – a smirk on her face as she was
pleased to indicate to the gate man that I was now old .
The match was a very
competitive match with the home side coming out on top 2-1.
Diane had a stroke of luck
with an earlier find of £10 at a lock prior to us mooring up and for her
trouble it paid our way into the match.
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| Gee - they almost look like real teams - Hertford on the left and Berko on the right |
Previous travels have taken
us through Cowroast without mooring up, so this lovely open area had us for a
night – and such a nice quiet place to stop – we really should have made it two
nights at least, but our need to carry on overtook the desire to stay.
Sometimes when something
special happens, it is as though there is such a thing as fate, and so with our
decision to just spend the one night at Cowroast, the cruise the following
morning – very early start at about 6:30 – we encountered more Kingfishers in
one 3 mile stretch along the Tring summit level than we had seen in total in all
of our travels – 10 of the bright blue thunderbolts were darting in and out and
there were 2 pairs flitting around together.
What a great way to start
the day.
The Aylesbury Arm had
beckoned to us for a fair while now and we were not about to just cruise past
for another time, so it was back onto some narrow locks for a few days as Diane
steered the boat into the top lock.
Apart from a mile stretch
where the canal bottom was encroaching on the water surface and we had some
slow going, the journey was wonderful; beautiful scenery and a lovely basin at
the end with pontoon moorings for 48 hours and 7-day moorings just before.
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Coming into the Aylesbury basin - the 7-day moorings on the left and the pontoons
with 48hr moorings at the end on the right |
A Waitrose supermarket right
there meant that Diane would get her free coffee each day.
The township is very
pleasant to wander around and enjoy; be sure to visit The Kings Head and see
the story of the history of the pub.
Our pontoon mooring had
access to water right there as well as bins for rubbish; across the way the new
sanitary station was opened for use just a day or so after we had to leave.
A stop at Wilstone on the
way back for Sunday lunch at The Half Moon was good advise acted upon – but you
do need to book.
An overnight stop at Slapton
did not give us any reason to want to do it again – the pub was closed when we
ventured into the village mid-afternoon and some drainage of the pound
overnight left us leaning quite a lot and a bit more heaving in the morning
allowed us to get off the now shallow side.
One place that we have
always stopped at previously was the The Grove Lock public house at Grove Lock
was cancelled in preference to an overnight stop to check out The Globe Inn,
which was a little further on past Leighton Buzzard and Leighton Lock.
The pub was lovely and we
would be glad to stop again – but for those who need TV coverage, then you may
be disappointed; we were not so critical on this count.
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| Early mornings in spring are simply magical... |
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| ...a bit of mist and a bit of sun and a clear sky |
After good days, of which we
had had so many since appearing north of the M25 it is reasonable to expect
that somewhere along the way there might be a bad one about to happen – but not
in this case.
We were pleasantly cruising
along; slow past the moored boats; and who do we find but Gary off nb Inca, so
we quickly moored up behind and the kettle was on; chatting away for an hour or
more until Carolyn returned with Hamish after their walk.
The day was already very
sunny and warm but these guys brightened it up even more – can’t wait to catch
up with you two again and soon.
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| Who's a bit of a cheeky boy there Gary? |
All good things must end and
so we were off again and onto the next lock to where Gary had followed us to show off his skills
on operating the lock – sorry mate, but you will need a bit more practice!
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Sorry Gary, "feet too close together; elbow not at the right angle and your thumbs,
whatever were you thinking" - Craig Revel-Horwood |
Along further we encountered
Soulbury Locks – WARNING!!! – if you are at these locks early in the morning
you will find at least one of the pounds almost dry – as we did – we had been
through this before, but it wasn’t long before we were on our way again and
then moored up at Fenny Stratford.
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This little fellow was interested in us filling the water tank at the bottom
of the Solubury-3 |
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| This heron hung around for a while as well... |
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| ...before getting bored |
A shopping trip to IKEA was
on the agenda of the social secretary and as her bag man I was summoned along –
to do what? – carry the bags of course!
There was a further reason
for stopping here – Diane had her prescriptions sent to the friendly Boots
store here and we collected these the following day.
The journey around Milton
Keynes can be done one of two ways – quickly, like an endurance course and get
it done and out of the way; or slowly and enjoy it – we chose the latter and
stopped at Giffard Park where we had a lovely couple of days – the pub was
showing all of the football, the Guinness was lovely, we even had a relatively
nice Chinese as well.
We did our touristy walking
and found the Medieval Vollage of Great Linford; had a very nice lunch and a
pint in the pub there (The Nags Head) and, of course, the football was on.
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Indalo Man - all the way from Mojacar - spotted on a house whilst we were
taking a walk |
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| The old manor house - still around and occupied |
We pushed on the following
day and made it to Yardley Gobian – again we had never moored there – it is now
marked with a great big – DO IT AGAIN – in the Nicholsons – so lovely and quiet
– just so peaceful.
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| Not misty, but a beautiful spring sunrise |
From there it was through
familiar locks again – Stoke Bruerne for one night and then a further night
just to the north of Blisworth and then a night just short of Weedon Bec and a
chance to visit the renovated pub The Narrow Boat – nice enough but they are
looking to attract a more up-market clientele – we sadly missed the boat on
that count; but there were lovely views over the canal and countryside past
there – and it was just plain nice sitting in the sun with a Guinness in hand.
We paired up with a
single-hander to do the Buckby flight; the boats were tied together and Diane
took over steering for the last two locks which were quite tricky and she
failed to leave any paint on the lock gates or lock walls – another expert
display of her helmsmanship (or maybe helmswomanship).
We moored just short of the
tunnel and had an early start the following day – managing to do the tunnel and
the six locks and be moored up in Braunston within 2 hours – with a little help
from a hire boat crew who seemed to be in shock at how efficiently a boat
(or rather boats) could move through the locks – just part of their training.
A gathering of boaters was
a-coming, well it really had to be – Maffi was already there; Sue and Vic (nb
No Problem) were there;we had no sooner moored up when Cathy and Martin (nb
Moriarty) appeared; the following day Sue and Andy (nb Festina Lente) moored up
and lastly but very importantly for us, Bev and Roly (nb Klara) were there in
person as well.
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Just another boaters meeting - not once did we mention batteries or toilets
From left - Maffie, me, Martin, Cathy, Diane, Sue, Andy, Sue and Vic
photo courtesy of Andy Gicquel (nb Festina Lente) |
Over the time that we were
there we shared drinks, meals, laughs and plenty of good-hearted boating
chatter.
The quote goes something
like “there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half
so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”, but there is really is
nothing so wonderfull lovely as catching up with friends and fellow boaters.
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On board Ferndale with cuppas all round - Diane suffers from short arms and
is too close to the camera |
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| Andy has a bigger one |
But all good things must come to an intermission – we
needed to carry on a bit further northwards to Rugby and everyone else –
including Maffi – had other places that they needed to be or had things that
needed to be done.
Diane had a doctors appointment in Watford and we
thought that getting a train down would be the most efficient way – until we
saw the cost of hiring a car (from Enterprise) for the weekend –actually cheaper
(ignoring fuel costs) so we did that.
In addition, I had had a chat with Steve Vaughan
(Willow Wren Training) about a VHF Radio Licence course – “yes” he said – “next
Saturday” – the day after our Watford trip –
“oh and here is the book that you need to read before then”
The Watford trip went
well.
The training course went well, if you completely
ignore the worry and angst that I had all week trying to understand it all – by
the end of the day it was over and I have a new licence; now to buy a radio and
get onto the Thames again.
On the subject of hire cars: in my last blog I
recalled some of the problems that we had experienced when hiring from Europcar
(in Spain)
– I will still advise anyone against hiring from them (based on our experience).
We received a phone call from the people here in
England to advise that they had not been able to get any evidence from the
Spanish people from Europcar and they would be refunding all of the additional
charges made against us – this has now happened – there was profuse apologies,
but nothing, absolutely nothing, will make up for their manners; lack of
service and understanding, and complete apathy as to our problem with their
company.
The credit card is healthier, but then again it should
not have been anything other than that – if you get the impression that I do
not like them, then you would be correct.
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| Happiness is ... Guinness and twisties ... and a full refund |
One last thing – If you are looking for a boat to buy
and live-aboard; even if not planning on living on it all of the time, then get
yourself along to see this one – it is well worth your while and you will be
assured that Vic and Sue have done a great job on this boat and it runs and
works as well as they will advise you about.
Someone should buy it and buy it bloody quickly!! Check it out at Apollo Duck
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| nb No Problem in full flight across The Wash |
95 Miles, 117 Locks, 4 Tunnels, 3 Swing Bridges
YTD: 195 Miles (314 km) , 156 Locks, 4 Tunnels, 3 Swing Bridges
Total: 3990 Miles (6421 km), 2855 Locks, 114 Tunnels, 45 Lift Bridges,
170 Swing Bridges
