Spring Cruise: Day 3

We had a lovely evening last night with Catherine, Nigel, Grace and Matthew, sitting out on the towpath in the sunshine, with plenty of layers on as it got chilly.  We had barbecue food but not cooked on a barbecue as we don’t have one.  We haven’t seen them in person since September, so there was a lot to catch up on.

Another sunny morning today, but there was a tedious and very cold wind along with it.  We set off about 8.30 and soon reached Leighton Lock, which has had new bottom gates.

We were surprised to find that Wyvern Shipping had twenty boats in — we understood many hire fleets to be fully booked.  It will be interesting to see how many there are when we pass again later in the week.  At Grove Lock the wind was pretty strong, and at Church Lock we caught up with a little boat out of Cook’s Wharf, which we shared the next few locks with.

We stopped for lunch between the Ivinghoe and Seabrook Locks.

Setting off again, two boats were just coming down Seabrook Bottom Lock, but the next two were full.  I went and swung the bridge just beyond the top lock.  We shared the two bottom Marsworth Locks with a Wyvern boat, then tied up on the rings beyond Bridge 129.  We went for a walk up through the village of Marsworth, past the church, and had an ice cream from the tea shop.

We walked round the reservoirs, the Marsworth and Startops End ones looking pretty full, but the Stringford one pretty empty.  They do appear to be doing some work there though, so maybe that’s why.

We have no tv signal at all, but we do have internet, so Line of Duty tonight will be via the Firestick and iPlayer.

10 miles, 12 locks.  (26 miles, 18 locks)

London-bound: Day 3

At breakfast this morning, I noticed out of the corner of my eye some slices of brad floating past the boat -- followed by a large fish coming up and taking huge bits out of them.

We set off at 8.30 in bright sunshine, with the prospect of a lovely day ahead.  Just before Leighton Lock we were overtaken by an odd little boat, which appears to be a caravan as well.  You could see the wheel arches.  We ended up going up the lock together.  We stopped at the Tesco moorings at Leighton Buzzard, firstly so Adrian could go and get some fresh salad stuff, but mostly because we had arranged for a family visit.  My second cousin, Catherine, husband, Nigel, and kids Grace and Matthew joined us.  Once they were on board we set off, and by the time a boat had come down Grove Lock another boat came along so we could share.

We did the next few locks with the same boat, a couple who moor in Aylesbury, and who'd been up to the Steve Hudson open day.

Matthew and Grace were wearing their new life jackets, bought because the family has just bought a share in a boat (and have their first week on board starting next weekend) -- which we were keen to hear all about.

At Slapton Lock, two boats came down, we went up, and two more were waiting at the top.  We stopped shortly afterwards for lunch, with chairs on the towpath.  Catherine had brought a fantastic toffee cake and sauce for dessert.  As we ate, we watched almost a dozen gliders in the distance, and a red kite circled overhead.

Setting off again we had a widebeam ahead of us, while we teamed up with a little day boat.  At the Ivinghoe locks, Adrian went up to the second lock to help the widebeam, so the lock would be ready quicker for us.  At the Seabrook locks, someone for one of the boats always went ahead to set the next lock.

We lost our lock partner at the top Seabrook lock, because we caught up with the Hudson and the little plastic caravan boat who'd been sharing locks -- and could also fit in the day boat.

The swing bridge at Pitstone was much easier than it has been in the past, in fact it swung really very easily.  At the bottom Marsworth lock a boat was just coming down, and then we crossed in the pound above with one of the wide trip boats.  The steerer thanked Adrian for knowing what he was doing -- apparently most helmsmen he encounters are pathetic!  The other trip boat was waiting above the upper lock, and most of its passengers seemed to be on the lock side: we seemed to have a huge audience.

I walked ahead to see if there was a mooring beyond the next bridge.  We like it here because there are mooring rings and it feels as though you're out in the country.  It's been so busy with boats today that i feared I might be pacing out gaps between boats to see if we could squeeze in; in fact there were only a couple of boats here, so we had the choice of hundreds of yards of mooring.

It was gone 5pm by the time we moored up, so the trip had taken quite a long time because of all the boats around.  We had a cup of tea, then our visitors went and retrieved the car they'd left in Marsworth earlier.

It's been a great day -- fantastic weather, one of my favourite stretches of the Grand Union, with the addition of good company.  What more could you want from a day?

10 miles, 12 locks.  (28 miles, 18 locks)

Spring cruise - Day 6

It's been a beautifully sunny day today, by far the best weather of the trip so far.  We had a quiet night in Berkhamsted; the trains are very close, but you stop noticing them after a while.  Among the ones that went past yesterday evening was a bright yellow train, a converted InterCity 125, which uses high tech equipment to check the track.

This morning we set off just after 8.30, straight into the two Gas Locks -- both of which had both bottom gates open.  A bit further along we saw our first ducklings.

There was wildlife of a different sort by the lower Dudswell Lock, a field of llamas (or are they alpacas, I'm never sure what the difference is).

The lock itself is very pretty, and a butterfly came and posed for me.

As all the locks have to be left empty along this stretch, we'd made good progress and we also started meeting boats coming down.  Once we'd gone up Cowroast Lock onto the summit, we pulled onto the water point.  We started a wash load while the tank filled, and I re-opened the lock for an approaching boat, as the water point is on the lock landing.

We crossed the summit, and the Tring Cutting looked entirely different in the sunshine compared with the rain of Monday.  At the approach to Bulbourne Junction it seemed like a tight fit between narrowboats on the offside and a massive widebeam boat on the visitor moorings.

We were making good time, so I suggested a trip down the Wendover Arm.  So we turned left under the junction bridge.  A couple from a boat which had just moored up were standing on the bridge, and complimented me on my turn!

We last did the Wendover Arm when we went to London about two and a half years ago.  It's very narrow in places, then there's the interruption of a big flour factory, then it's back out into the countryside.  The whole thing is currently only a mile and a half long.

We turned at the current terminus, and moored up in the sunshine for lunch.  The detour had taken about 45 minutes and is well worth it, particularly on a lovely day like today.

We could easily have stayed where we were, but after lunch decided to head back.  The return journey to the junction took only half an hour.  We met one boat, fortunately on one of the slightly wider sections.  Just before the junction, I got off to set the top Marsworth lock, while Adrian brought the boat round.

We had a very rapid decent of the locks.  We met a widebeam coming up at the third one, then a volunteer lock keeper helped us by setting a couple as we appraoched, and then we met a day boat coming up the bottom lock.  We did all seven locks in an hour.  There were lots of gongoozlers around, including children who wanted to help push the gates.  One retired couple marveled at the boat entering a lock through just one gate:  "It must have been designed like that," the man said to his wife.  You can see the appeal of a visit here: not only is there the canal and the locks, there's also the huge reservoirs, and an ice cream parlour near the bottom.

Today illustrates how slowly we've been taking things.  We've done today what took two days going the other way, and we were still moored up near the junction by 2.45!

10 miles, 14 locks.  (50 miles, 46 locks)

Spring cruise - Day 3

There was some rain in the night, but it was dry this morning -- no sign of the heavy rain forecast.  It was rather breezy at times, though.

We had a cooked breakfast, and set of at just after 9am, with Leighton Lock just around the corner.  Wyvern Shipping had 15 boats moored up, which means they've got at least that number out at the moment.  At Grove Lock we liked the pub's hanging baskets and brackets.

As we walked on to Church lock, a man on the towpath said we shouldn't go up as the pound above was 2 feet down, and all the boats were aground.  He was rather uncomplimentary about a couple of boaters who were waiting to come down.  We tied up and went to have a look.  The pound was in fact about 6 inches down, and the guy's boat was aground - but only, I suspect, because he was moored on a corner.  The boats above were trying to decide what to do, and in the mean time had one top paddle open;  combined with the leakage from the bottom gates, this mean water was flowing straight through the lock.  I suggested they either needed to shut the paddle and wait, or fill the lock properly and go down.  They eventually decided on the latter option.  We came up, and while the pound (which is two miles long) was a bit low, we had no real problems.

At Slapton Lock, the lock was set in favour of a boat who was on the water point above, so he quickly disconnected his hose and came down.  When we'd gone up, we moved onto the water point and had an early lunch while the tank filled.

We walked the rest of the way to Marsworth, as the locks are all only about half a mile apart at the most.  Some have attractive double arched bridges, and many have nice cottages alongside.

We struggled the open the swing bridge just before Pitstone Wharf.  It seemed to be stuck somehow.  Fortunately, there was a family there, so we all jumped up and down on the bridge, and eventually go it moving.

Next comes the imposing railway bridge, carrying Virgin and London Midland trains.  Shortly after this, we had our only rain of the day, and even that wasn't much more than drizzle.

There were boats coming down at the final two locks of the day, and we moored up just past Bridge 129, a little short of Marsworth Junction.  It was only about 3.15pm, but with the long walk, the locks, and the wind, we felt we'd done a good day's work.

9 miles, 12 locks.  (28 miles, 18 locks)

May Cruise - Day 3

Last night, after dinner on board, we braved the elements and walked the hundred yards or so to The Globe, where we had a drink and dessert.  Last time we passed, it was closed for refurbishment; now it's very smart -- probably more of a restaurant than a pub -- but still comfortable and welcoming.  It was also pretty busy, given it was a wet Thursday.

This morning we were off by 8.30, and shared Leighton Lock with a family who were reluctantly returning their Wyvern hire boat after a ten day trip to Market Harborough and back.  At Wyvern, there were about thirty hire boats in, which struck us as rather a lot.

At Grove Lock, we shared the lock with Muchgigglin, which had moored below the lock.  It's a boat we used to see a lot when we had our share in Debdale and were based at Stockton Top.  We got on very well with Tone and Julie, who, it turns out, live not far from us, and also had a share boat at one stage.

We got into a rhythm of sharing locks with them, and chatting as we did so.  It made for a very pleasant and speedy passage through Slapton, Horton, Ivinghoe and Seabrook locks.  The weather, though, didn't show much improvement on yesterday.  In fact, the wind was at times very strong, and made boating a challenge.

At the swing bridge at Pitstone, a single hander had somehow opened the bridge, and left it.  Julie managed to get across onto it from the boat, and closed it.  We helped the single hander up the final two locks, so we could continue sharing.  Coming down were three little boats all sharing one lock.

At our final lock of the day, the sun finally made an appearance.

We stopped at the water point at Marsworth Junction, ans began having lunch while the tank filled.  When it was full, we winded in the junction and began retracing our steps.  We travelled just a couple of hundred yards, and moored on rings just before Bridge 129.

In the afternoon, we walked back to the junction and up the Marsworth flight, along the start of the Wendover Arm, and back through the reservoirs.  Last time we were here, the reservoirs were verging on empty; today things look much more healthy.  There was also quite a lot of wildlife, with a duck I'm struggling to identify, and a clutch of more everyday ducklings.

As we walked, the wind was ridiculously strong at times.  But with the sun out it's been quite warm, and we've even got the side hatch open.

10 miles, 12 locks.  (29 miles, 18 locks)