Last Monday was positively warm as we moved on down through Milton Keynes. It's really a very pleasant town from the canal.
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Stoke Hammond Lock |
On Tuesday morning, moved off just behind NB Frogmore, and shared locks with them Soulbury Three Locks and Leighton, after which they moored for lunch and we continued to Leighton Buzzard Tesco for shopping and lunch. Frogmore arrived there just as we took off again. But now we met up with NB Labyrinth, sharing Grove Lock and Church Lock with them before we both moored. Like a lot of the canal recently, it was rather shallow here, and an awful sound came from the bowthruster as Grace tried to move the bow off shallows. It had me thinking the propellor was trying to mince bricks, but fortunately no harm was done.
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| NB Labyrinth |
The couple on Labyrinth were staying here to explore for a day or so, so we moved on alone. Slapton Locks, Horton and the two Ivinghoe Locks, nothing new for us, and all very pleasant and without incident. We moored at bottom of Seabrook Locks and I did a reccy for better moorings further down. There were, so we moved on to just below Marsworth Locks, where we found Frogmore already tied. We stayed for night, hoping to share the Marsworth Flight with them the next day.
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| Marsworth Bottom Lock |
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| NB Frogmore |
I was getting very annoyed by this time. I'd apparently left my cheap camera at the house the other week, so had nothing to use while I was locking. My other cameras - my phone and a decent Fuji camera - were too precious for me to risk whilst at work. But it was costing me some good photos, and that's annoying!
Frogmore had already left when we started up the nine Marsworth Locks. We stopped for services at the Marsworth Junction (with Aylesbury arm), and were amazed at the new housing which had sprung up since we were last there, replacing the grotty old BW buildings. The services are so much better, too.
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| I was quite glad to get to Marsworth Top Lock! |
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| Wendover Arm |
The Marsworth Flight had felt like a bit of a long haul, and i was glad to get to the top. Passing through the junction with the Wendover Arm, we decided to add this t our return journey. It sounds very pleasant.
It had started to rain on our way up. Now, it was rather heavier, so we stopped just before Bridge 136 for lunch, and until the morning. The concrete edge against which we moored had a ridge protruding foot or so below waterline mooring, and I had to resort to tying fenders onto the ends of the normal fenders to keep us from continually bumping against it.
It rained all night.
