Home Counties Cruise: Day 21

Yesterday there were a couple of signs that we were getting closer to home: our first sight of the West Coast Mainline, and passing a Wyvern Shipping hire boat out of Leighton Buzzard.  Today we really feel as though the end is in sight, as we're back on waters we've done in this direction.

Last night we decided to eat out in Berkhamsted.  We had a voucher for Cafe Rouge, so went there.  It was fine, in unremarkable.  This morning we set off at 8am; the water level in the pound had dropped by a good six inches or so, and the stern was well stuck on the mud, so took a bit of shoving to get away from the side.  There were seven more locks up to the Tring Summit.  Between the two Dudswell Locks, the pound was very short of water, and the CRT lenghsman and his trainee were about to run water down.  It meant we had a wait of twenty minutes or so at Cowroast Lock while water was sent down the hill.  We used the time to start a load of washing.

Cowroast Lock is one of the many in this area which have signs asking that they are left empty; but it seems some people arriving from the north have failed to notice the raised paddle, because there's now another sign on the balance beam.

Having gone up Cowroast Lock we were on the Tring Summit.  We've climbed just over 374 feet since coming off the Thames at Brentford on Monday.  The weather celebrated by starting to drizzle, then there was proper rain for a little while, but it didn't last long.  At the other end of the summit pound, we began dropping down the other side of the Chilterns.  Adrian worked the seven locks of the Marsworth Flight.  The first and second locks were empty, so he had to fill them, then we met a couple of boats coming up so the locks were full or just needed topping up.  The bottom lock was empty.  Even so, we completed the flight in around an hour; these always seem like fast locks.  They're also very pretty, with glimpses of views across the reservoirs.

We stopped for lunch opposite the junction of the Aylesbury Arm, right next to the junction finger post which pointed out that it's 39 and a quarter miles to Brentford.

Work on the development at the junction has advanced since August, with the frames of houses now up along the waterside.

We set off again, and did the two locks below the junction, crossing with a boat in the middle pound.  Adrian realised he'd never done the Pitstone Swing Bridge, so got off to swing it.  A Wyvern boat was coming the other way, so they went through too.

We then did the three Seabrook Locks.  At the middle one, there's one of the Northern Engine pump houses, which Adrian always thinks would make a good conversion into a house.  There's no road access, of course, which could be why it hasn't been done already.

We stopped at 3pm below the bottom Seabrook Lock -- having dropped almost 77 feet from the summit.  It's just a couple of hundred yards from where we stopped, almost in desperation, three years ago; they've installed a nice bit of piling since then, so mooring is much easier.

9 miles, 19 locks.  (254 miles, 197 locks)

Autumn Cruise - Day 4

Last night we had more visitors to Briar Rose:  Russell, whom I've known for more than ten years, since we were both in local commercial radio together, and who's recently moved to the area because he's working for Anglia tv, came to see us with his partner, James.  It's ages since we've seen each other, so there was plenty to catch up on.

Today was much calmer than the forecast suggested, although the wind has increased during the day.  It was lovely and sunny but rather chilly as we made our way through Milton Keynes.  Everyone seemed relieved that the wind had dropped, as we saw more moving boats in the first hour than we had the whole of yesterday.  Soon we arrived at Fenny Stratford Lock, our first uphill lock since Saturday.  A boat was coming the other way and had already swung the bridge, and opened the gate for us.

Many of the locks on this stretch once had narrow locks alongside, in order to save water -- it's a pity they're no longer there.  Stoke Hammond is one such lock, and the position of the narrow lock can clearly been seen.  At the lock, there were bags of tomatoes for 50p, which turned out to be very juicy and tasty.

We'd passed plenty of boats going the other way, so the Soulbury three locks were in our favour.  It was too early for the pub to be busy, but with tables right up to the lock side I can imagine that there'd be dozens of gongoozlers on a weekend afternoon.  A pair of boats were coming down the top lock, so we all had to pass in the top pound.

This is a lovely canal, much prettier than we'd been expecting, and it still looked good when the sun suddenly disappeared and was replaced by rain.  It was quite heavy at times; but as one passing boater said, it was better than yesterday's wind.  Leighton Lock was done in the rain, then we arrived at Leighton Buzzard.  We moored beyond the bridge and had lunch, by which time the sun had returned, so we walked into the town which is very attractive with lots of interesting-looking buildings.  We found a decent hardware shop, where we bought a new cable for the satellite dish, in case it was the old cable rather than incompetence responsible for our failure to get a signal so far.  (We have got a signal tonight, but whether it's down to the cable is anyone's guess.)

We set off again intending to do just a couple of locks, then moor somewhere.  Church Lock gets its name from the little chapel alongside (according to the Pearson guide, once the smallest chapel in Buckinghamshire).  It's now a house, so I hope the owners didn't mind me taking a photo over the wall.

We ended up going much further than anticipated, more by accident than design.  All the decent bits of towpath edge had boats on them, then above Horton Lock we couldn't get near the side because it was too shallow.  However, it hardly mattered because it was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and the views across towards the Chilterns are stunning.  The Whipsnade chalk lion was clearly visible.

We ended up coming up the two Ivinghoe Locks, and mooring just beyond Bridge 123, below the Seabrook Locks.  It's quite breezy again, but it's a pleasant spot with a nice view of Ivinghoe Church in the distance.

17 miles, 12 locks.  (63 miles, 36 locks)