Last Chance.

It didn’t take ‘Chance’ and ‘Waterlily’ long to get to the locks at Braunston this morning, as we were moored fairly close last night, but first we needed to negotiate the Braunston tunnel. This is ‘Waterlily’ entering the tunnel’s eastern portal.  At just over 2000 yards it’s only two thirds the length of the Blisworth tunnel which we did yesterday.  However, today we had to pass two boats coming in the opposite direction (busy!)

Having started at 8:30 this morning we were heading down the flight of 6 locks at just after 9 o’ clock.  nb ‘Waterlily’ leaving one of them (can’t think which one!)

We took this picture as it shows “The Admiral Nelson” pub, which we’ve decided to visit this evening as it’s our last chance for us to have a meal with Pauline and Neil before we head in different directions tomorrow.

We had to take a photo of the crooked cottage – and it’s a lot more crooked than it looks in this shot.

It been very warm again today, and despite the busy tunnel this morning and a few boats coming up through the flight, when we got to Braunston at 10:30’sh it was surprisingly empty and we were able to chose wherever we wanted to moor.

This is how Braunston looked at 2 o’clock this afternoon! We had to take a photo as we can’t really believe it’s so empty.

Getting settled so early today has meant we’ve been able to get a few jobs done (James has polished one side of ‘Chance’! and Doug has got the washing dry).  We’ve had a mooch around the chandleries and taken a walk into the village.

This evening we’re looking forward to our meal with Pauline and Neil and, in general, it’s been a lovely relaxing day.

Thunder and lightning (very,very frightening!)

The words of Bohemian Rhapsody were ringing in our ears as we journeyed northwards from Stoke Bruerne today.

Before setting off at 8 o’ clock this morning the rain showers had already started.

As we left Stoke Bruerne we entered  the south portal of the 3076 yard long Blisworth Tunnel and, despite the recent dry spell , water was still pouring down from the roof  of the tunnel in a number of places.  Anyway it was great fun as always, and we didn’t meet anything coming the other way so it was an easy run through.

Safely out of the tunnel and it seemed that we’d arrived in some sort of different world.

Passing through Blisworth, the Mill is a handsome building and was once used as a depot for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company – now it’s apartments.

Between Bugbrooke and Gayton Junction we had a marvellous thunder storm.  At 11 o’ clock this morning it almost turned to night time – very black, very ominous and then lightning followed by huge claps of thunder.  The rain showers were torrential and James was steering in shorts and t shirt with an umbrella up and it was great fun.

Storms over, the sun came out at lunchtime and we briefly stopped at Weedon Bec for provisions.  Some of the buildings in the village date from the early 1700’s.

After 14 miles of lockless pound (300 feet above sea level) we arrived at the flight of 7 locks at Buckby.  At the fifth lock in the flight we waited under the London mainline railway bridge for the lock to clear.  More rumbling but it wasn’t thunder this time.

Between the first and second locks is the little shop which is now the “home” of the Buckby Can – the painted water carriers used traditionally by the original boating families on their working boats.

Top lock at Buckby and ‘Chance’ and ‘Waterlily’ (who we travelled with again today) sit quietly waiting for the last drop of water to fill the lock.  With 7 hours travelling, 17 miles and 7 locks under our belts we started to think about mooring up.

We are now moored near Norton Junction ready for the Braunston Tunnel and Locks tomorrow. A cooler, but another great day, behind us.

More ‘chance’ get togethers.

We left Cosgrove this morning at 10 o’ clock with the temperature threatening to be very intense today. 

Just off our mooring, and approaching Cosgrove Lock, we passed four very well restored working boats.  Is there a collective noun for a group of working boats?

Just out of Cosgrove, bridge no 65 is stunning in it’s design albeit now a little weathered with the stonework flaking badly.

Every now and then there’s something a bit unusual floating about.

After yesterday’s long lockless journey of about 10 miles from Fenny Stratford to Cosgrove we now had another 6 miles of open canal wending its way through the beautiful Northamptonshire  countryside.  The open vistas, with many fields in the throws of hay making, are magnificent.

The spill weirs along this stretch, built in the 1930’s, are tremendous structures in their own right and still in almost perfect condition.

We soon arrived at the flight of seven locks which raised us the 56 feet to the lovely setting of Stoke Bruerne.  We travelled up the flight with Liz and Roger on nb ‘Meander’.  Liz, who was being given a driving lesson by Roger further down the canal, was soon bringing ‘Meander’ in and out of the locks (all by herself) side by side with ‘Chance’.

We found a mooring (believe it or not) right next to Pauline and Neil on ‘Waterlily’.  Sorry guys, we aren’t stalking you!

With Neil and Pauline, and our new acquaintances Liz and Roger, we had a welcome drink at the Boat Inn.  We got talking to another boating couple, Ray and Natalie, who were visiting by car this time and the eight of us had a good time replenishing todays lost fluids.  Liz, Pauline, Natalie, Neil, James, Doug and Roger cooling down after a sizzling day on the cut.  (Ray behind the camera)

Later on in the evening, with Neil and Pauline, we enjoyed a takeaway Indian meal from the Spice of Bruerne.  Bang goes yet another proposed “dry day”! 

Our evening ended with a sudden shower of rain which had us all scuttling to our boats. By that time we were all fairly ready for bed.  A great end to another lovely day.

BBQ and extra crew.

Yesterday evening we had our planned towpath BBQ with Del and Al, which started with Pimms and nibbles for which we were joined briefly by Richard from nb ‘Stardust’, who’s moored just 100 yards from us.

Al, Del, Richard and James getting the evening started.

After a tremendous BBQ (cooked so expertly by Del – bless him) we were joined by Pauline and Neil from nb ‘Waterlily’ after they’d returned from their pub meal at the The Globe, a few hundred yards up the cut.

It had been cool all day today, and when the sun went down it got even cooler – so cool in fact that Pauline and Neil had to take to a blanket!  Even the hundreds of candles we lit and the fairy lights in the trees above us (donated by Doug and fixed up by Del – bless him) didn’t improve the temperature.  However, we all had the most splendid time, being envied by the hoards of people walking the towpath up to the pub. With the occasional unwanted sausage being thrown to passing dogs even the animals had a great time!

This morning we said a sad farewell to two splendid people, Del and Al.  It was enormous fun over the last couple of days guys – thanks so much and see you again soon!

We were joined this morning by one of Doug’s school friends Julia, her husband Mark and son Jack for a trip along to Fenny Stratford.  Travelling with nb ‘Waterlily’, we started from our moorings along the wonderfully named Jackdaw Pound with Jack at the tiller.  He got to grips with the steering straight away and made a great job of it for most of the journey.

We got to the three Soulbury Locks where Jack and his parents had a go at lock operation. Strangely, the bottom lock needs to be filling before the middle lock is emptied otherwise The Three Locks pub gets flooded when the pound overflows!  That’s according to the volunteer lock keeper.

A nice old tub.

Pimms and nibbles in the lock – Mark and Julia seem to be enjoying their trip while Neil on ‘Waterlily’ is concentrating on something important.

We moored up at Fenny Stratford for lunch – Jack’s a growing lad and needs to be first in the queue!  After lunch Jack and his mum and dad left us to continue our journey alone.  We had a super time with you all, thanks for coming and we’ll have to do it again sometime.

Continuing on, we passed through Milton Keynes which feels very rural for much of the time.

Not finding a reasonable mooring beforehand, we found ourselves at Cosgrove, having first negotiated the Ouse Aqueduct with its scary drop to the river below. 

We’ve got good moorings this evening just before the lock at Cosgrove.  We got settled at about 7 o’ clock after a long, and happy, day’s cruising.

A hot journey from friends to friends.

Our unplanned, but very enjoyable, meeting with Jill and Graham on nb' ‘Matilda Rose’ on Thursday turned into an impromptu meal with them on the towpath in the shade of the hedge.

Doug prepared our share of the food with the help of Mutley who’d wandered the few yards along the canal to us, and was very happy to be one of the lads for while.

With contributions from both sides, we had a lovely meal and relaxed in the cool of the evening, having a jolly good time with Graham and Jill.  It was great to meet up again guys!

We took off Friday morning with farewells to Jill and Graham, Mutley and Baxter and made our way, in very hot weather again,  towards Leighton Buzzard.  We soon realised that we left our camera in the pocket of one of Jill and Graham’s chairs, which had been neatly stored back in their top boxes.  Luckily, their son was visiting them and Graham used his car to get it back to us.  The full story was a bit more chaotic (due to James’ stupidity!) but eventually Graham managed to locate us at Slapton Lock.  Hence there are no photos of the journey until this point. 

We travelled some of the way with working boat ‘Towcester’.  Watching Jules operate and steer this huge and heavy boat was wonderful and at every opportunity she had she was cleaning and polishing.

‘Towcester’ had to stop for deliveries to be made so we carried on alone, stopping in Leighton Buzzard at the shopping moorings.  James did a bit of boat cleaning (inspired by Jules) while Doug got some shopping.  The sun was scorching and we were very pleased to nearly be at our destination.

Rounding the bend in the canal after getting through Leighton Lock we spotted our resting place for the day – nb ‘Derwent6’ with Del and Al on board were waiting for us!  We’d planned to meet up after Del met us at Hemel Hempstead on his bike ride the other day.

They had, very kindly, saved a bottle of Champagne from Al’s birthday party year, which we couldn’t attend and it wasn’t long before we’d cracked it open and were belatedly toasting Al’s health.

Later, walking to “The Globe” for a meal we met Valerie and Richard on nb ‘Stardust’ who is a blog reader and who we’d first met in Paddington Basin.  Nice to see you both again.

In the pub, which was heaving with customers, we had a job to find a table but Doug persuaded a very nice young couple to move tables (in the middle of their dessert).  They did so with great pleasure, declining the offer of a drink for their kindness (they are in the background as we choose from our menus).  James chose from the ‘Golden Years’ menu which was designed for those over a certain age! and which was half the price of the main meals (which were still very reasonably priced).

We pinched one of Del’s photos to show how well the evening went:-

We all went back to ‘Chance’ for cheese and biscuits and some of Del and Al’s very nice port. As is normal, the evening ended this morning at 1:30’sh and, as is normal, we enjoyed their company very much.  We’ve  decided to stay put for today, at Del and Al’s suggestion, and to join them for a BBQ this evening.

Meeting mates at Marsworth

We had a walk into Berkhamsted town centre this morning before getting underway at 11 o’ clock.

Found this lovely back street as we walked into town.

Just an update on the lock conditions reported yesterday – the brickwork in some locks is in poor condition.

Getting onto the Tring Summit we noticed the water level was down about a foot. This made progress quite slow on a few stretches with little water under the boat.  The cause of these low levels must be due to the sudden increase in boat traffic due to the IWA festival at Cassiobury Park.

Big thick bridges on the Tring summit.

The temperature are so high that even the trees are wilting!

Some very nice original canal buildings at Bulbourne.

Waiting for the top lock of the Marsworth Flight at Bulbourne Junction.   The Wendover Arm comes in under the bridge on the left.

We’ve travelled 38 miles since we got off the R. Thames at Brentford on Monday.

Some lovely canal scenes to be had along this stretch as we arrive in Marsworth where we find friends Jill and Graham on nb ‘Matilda Rose moored up just past this lovely cottage.

We just had to moor up for the evening to have a bit of a get to together with Jill and Graham.  Mutley, one of their two Tibetan Terriers, soon made himself at home on ‘Chance’!

Jill and Graham with Mutley and Baxter.  James really should keep his shirt done up until he’s lost some weight (and it won’t be starting tonight!)

The get together started about five minutes after getting the ropes tight with a superb offering by Graham of the last of his special brew.  More to follow!

Graham taking the drinks orders on Matilda Rose!

Tonight tonight we are all having an impromptu meal together.