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)

London-bound: Day 2

We had more very familiar waters to travel today -- the long plod through Milton Keynes.  The good thing was that it wasn't raining.  At Lionhearts Cruising Club, a man on a very smart looking boat called over that he read the blog and the boat tests, so hello to him.  Then at Campbell Park, a bow I recognised came into view, moored up just before Bridge 82.  It was Dolce Far Niente, and a quick toot of the horn brough Stephen and Jayne out, and an invitation to stop.  I could see there were quite a few boats through the bridge, so rather than going on and looking for somewhere to stop, moored up alongside Dolce, the two boats nose to tail.

We must have spent the best part of a couple of hours with Stephen and Jayne, and it was great to see the, and catch up on their news and plans.

Setting off again, we had lunch on the move, as it started to rain.  At times it was pretty heavy, nd breezy with it.  By Fenny Stratford Lock it was looking much brighter, and the sun came out for a while.  By Stoke Hammond Lovk it was raining again.

We arrived at the bottom of the Soulbury Three Locks in pouring rain, and a lock keeper came and told us he was running water down, and we'd have to wait half an hour or so.  It wasn't a surprise, as the pound was very short of water -- a good 18 inches down at least.  Before we'd set off, the sun was out and the temperature had shot up.  Also, it turned out that the Canadian lady on the widebeam ahead of us was Bettie Boo from the Canal World Forum.

When we were given the go ahead to go up the locks, we followed the widebeam.  There were also boats coming down, and we crossed with pairs of boats in each pound.

At the top more boats were arriving to go down, so we could leave the gate open.  We carried on to a spot we like just through Bridge 109.  The piling was free, so we moored up, now in bright sunshine.  It really can't make up its mind today, because the black clouds overhead now suggest we might get more showers.

15 miles, 5 locks.  (18 miles, 6 locks)

London-bound: Day 1

Adrian particularly has been working all hours recently, so with the conclusion of the project he's been working on we've managed to grab an extra week on board -- which we're using as a preliminary to our September cruise.

But today was actually quite busy before we set off.  Adrian was at the end of a two week stint in London, and was working until lunchtime.  He then got a train to Milton Keynes, and a taxi to the marina.

I had a boat test to do, so it was an early morning drive to Caen Hill Marina.  Ian was a last minute substitute photographer today, and fortunately we both arrived ahead of schedule.  Fortunate because at that time the sky had bits of blue showing and the sun was strong enough to make shadows.  We set off to do the external shots of the boat as soon as we could, and it was just as well because not long after we were back at the marina there was a downpour.

During our short trip, we passed two CRT guys near a bridge.  One was in a small boat with a chainsaw, cutting back the offside vegetation.  However, when he got off, the boat drifted out into the middle of the cut, and neither he nor the other guy could reach it.  Eventually, the offside chap threw the oar over the canal to his mate, and as we passed, I shoved the little boat towards him.  He was last seen pulling it in with the oar.

The boat test was done by lunchtime, and I set off onwhat should have been a two hour journey to the marina.  It took three hours (although Ian's journey home was far worse).  Having unloaded the car, we set off straight away, and did the familiar run down to Cosgrove lock, across the aqueduct, and on to Wolverton.  It was surprisingly sunny, and still very warm.  We did a trip to Tesco to stock up with food, and will stay here tonight.  Tomorrow looks as though we might get wet.

3 miles, 1 lock.

Paddington visit

I was in London today but not at work, so I arranged to see the crew of Autumn Myst, moored in Paddington Basin.

On the way, I had a look at the new bridge, which is now in place.  I hadn't realised the new bridge was nearer the end of the arm than the old one.

It's made of fingers which each have a weight on the end, and it opens like a fan.

I found Bob on the towpath chatting to some of the neighbours, but June had had to go home with Jimmy the dog.  Later we were joined by Graham from Autumn Years; Carolann had also taken the opportunity to pop home.  I ended up staying much longer than I'd expected.  Bob made a lovely salad lunch, and the conversation flowed.  All in all, a very nice day.

Ashby Canal

It took an hour this morning to drive from our marina, up the M1 and the A5 to Hinckley, then to just outside the town, to Bridge 22 on the Ashby Canal, where we were meeting the owners of the boat we were testing.  There are decent moorings here, and good car parking too, plus a winding hole just beyond the bridge.  The sun was out, then in, then out again.

Wiiiide!

I came up to the boat this afternoon, as I have a boat test first thing tomorrow morning.  It was a lovely warm sunny day, and the marina was absolutely alive with swallows darting about and swooping over the water.  They're also quite keen on perching on the boats, and seem to have a knack of sitting on the handrails and making a mess down the side of the boat!  I got a cloth and cleaned off the worst from the pontoon side of the boat.

After a bite to eat, I walked down the towpath to Cosgrove, because I'd ascertained that Carol and George on Still Rockin' were still moored there.

It was great to see them and have a look at their vast new boat.  It really is very wide!  Sitting in the saloon, you could almost forget you were on a boat, there's so much room.  But perhaps the best thing was to see how excited they were about this new adventure.  Molly the dog was also great fun, doing a tug of war, and chasing balls around.

Ecofan refurbishment

Last week I cut down a cardboard box to about the right size, found some padding material, and posted our Ecofan off to Calfire for some checks.  This past winter it's taken longer and longer to start spinning, and less and less time to stop again.  The deal is that they take a look, email back with information on what's wrong and a price, and then you decide whether you want them to fix it or not.

I think it was Thursday that I got it in the post, second class, for just under a fiver.  On Monday, while I was sleeping between night shifts, an email arrived saying there was something wrong with the motor, and it would cost just over £23 to fix, including return postage.  Yesterday, I phoned and paid.

And today, the fan arrived back, in much more professional packing than I'd managed.

Apparently it's been tested and works -- starting to spin in 1'45", and spinning well in 4'.  I'm hoping it'll be several months before we get the opportunity to test it ourselves.  Assuming it really is fixed, that's what I call good service.