Yesterday evening, a couple of police officers came round to take our details and basic information about what we’d seen as we came through Broughton Lock. They said they were investigating a homicide. Later, there was a police news release about a murder inquiry having been started. A bit later, all the police tape was removed from around the basin and the police who’d been stopping people using the towpath all disappeared.
This morning, I checked the CRT stoppage notices and rang the police to see if the canal was open. They said they didn’t really know, but there was nothing on the log to say it was still shut. So after breakfast we crossed the basin to the service point to fill up with water, and started a wash load. We then set off, up the first two locks. But at Bridge 16 we could see police in hi-viz, and some more tape. The towpath was shut. As officer came to tell us we wouldn’t be allowed through the lock as forensic work was going on. We tied up as best we could; subsequently they put some police tape right across the bridge hole.
During the morning, CRT put out a statement saying one of their staff had died yesterday. Then I had a call from a detective wanting to come and take formal statements from us. We told her where we were, and she arrived a little while later. Giving the statements took around two hours in all; at first it seems that you don’t really know much of use (after all, we hadn’t seen the actual incident) but after a while you realise that everyone knows different things, and together they all add up to something significant. As the DC was leaving, we asked her to try to find out when the canal would be open again.
At around 3pm, we decided we’d rather not wait any longer, so would reverse to the winding hole at Circus Fields Basin, and return to Aylesbury Basin for the night. The reverse was about a quarter of a mile, but happened relatively straightforwardly. As we worked our way back, the DC phoned to say the canal would not be open today, and might not even be open tomorrow.
We slotted back into the same space in the basin, and then as I was seriously short on steps today, I went off for a walk. Aylesbury has very little to recommend it. The area around the church has some nice old buildings, but most of the town is of an unattractive vintage, and some of the buildings are spectacularly ugly.
Just outside the basin, by the theatre, is a statue of Ronnie Barker, who made one of his first performances here.
3 miles, 4 locks. (36 miles, 38 locks)
2 comments:
A very sad day. I wondered if it was an enforcement officer as I’ve looked at this job but didn’t think it was appropriate for the job to be lone working when on towpaths possibly in the middle of nowhere. Hope you are both ok
Very thoughtfull blog
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