Stupidity at Stoke Bruerne

Giffard Park turned out to be a much better mooring than we had expected it to be. It was very peaceful, and the towing-path was little used. There was open parkland opposite us, and quiet housing next to us on our side. It was clean and tidy. We've marked it as a favourite on our map.

It was flipping cold that night. 11° C in the cabin when we woke up. Thank goodness for the stove! It was milder when we left Giffard Park, but got progressively colder as the day got older. With no locks until the one at Cosgrove, I had time to enjoy the serene beauty of the canal; wide, peaceful, lined on one side by full leaf and early flower, and farmland on the other. Duck mothers were out with their ducklings, moorhens with their chicks, and herons on the lookout for feathery breakfasts. Have vegans ever noticed that a lot of birds are not vegan? Many other animals, too. Hmmm. It's sort of letting the side down, isn't it?

At Cosgrove Lock there was a goose nest, cordoned off by some thoughtful soul to keep idiots away. Mum was sitting, and raised one wing as I approached, to reveal several goslings nestled there in a yellow huddle, on display to be adored by enchanted onlookers.

We had intended to moor at Yardley Gobion for the night, and to visit the ancient church and its village, but we couldn't remember if there's any decent mooring there, so we played safe and stopped a couple of miles before, where mooring was good. It was a lovely, remote spot. We thought that perhaps we'd stop off at Gobion if we could when we moved on the next day.

It wasn't as cold the next morning as it had been the day before. It was all of 12° in the boat. We donned multiple layers of clothing against the chill and ambled up to Stoke Bruerne. We didn't stop at Yardley Gobion. We didn't want to delay our arrival at Stoke Bruerne and risk not finding a mooring there. We'll visit the village by car another time.

The five locks at Stoke Bruerne were easy going. There was no other boat to share with, and no vollies in sight. There were several very interested gongoozlers, however, and a lot of conversation most of the way up.

But my enjoyment of the day was very nearly ruined by an couple of elderly tandemists. While I was filling one of the locks, the pair of them crossed the top gates carrying their old (and therefore heavy) tandem bike. They were hindered by the paddle mechanisms and, ironically, the handrail. The top of the gate was too narrow for them to wheel it across, so they manhandled it across, slowly and very precariously. If I'd seen them start I'd have stood in their way and insisted they cycled on to the nearest bridge, but they were half-way across when I saw them. I was too alarmed to think to take photos apart from this one, snapped as they stepped down. It could so easily have resulted in a fatal accident.

Shaken but not stirred, we carried on to tie up below lock 15, next to the Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve, then hurried up to the wharf for some much-needed lunch. The wharf was unsurprisingly full of Bank Holiday visitors, and The Boat Inn was packed, so we had to wait forty minutes for our food. But it was well worth the wait!

 

We're loving this!

Moving off from our Stoke Bruerne mooring on another beautifully clear and sunny morning, we stopped for a slow water refill. The slowness was fortuitous, however, for it gave time for another boat to arrive at the top lock, and we descended the flight with them smoothly and easily, with two crews working the locks together. The all-male crew were moving a hire-fleet boat down to Uxbridge. I didn't quite understand why.

After a short stop at the services at the bottom, we sailed on just another couple of miles to a really picturesque countryside spot where tiny lambs bleated plaintively and geese honked boisterously, and we all basked together under a warm sun.

Sheep and geese both provided us with a lot of entertainment throughout our stay there.

Friday's best boat names were Tiny Tardis (I had a peek inside. It was just as small as you'd expect. I think something was wrong with their time/space regulator) and Nunc est bibendum - "Now is the time to drink". Since this is writ large on both sides of the boat, you have to think that the crew might be permanently drunk, but the skipper did seem to be fully in command of his craft.

It was another lazy day for me,  Cosgrove being the only lock. This is a route we've taken several times now, but we still enjoy it enormously. What did disappoint us was the discovery that GDad's has closed down. GDad's Collectables was such a fabulous emporium, and we were sure to pay it yet another visit on our return journey. That was not to be.

However, a poke around the internet resulted in finding this piece of good news...

...so we live in hope!

Just beyond an unusual scene of 14 swans a-grazing (in a field of some or other young crop), we moored at Bridge 75, northwest of Milton Keynes. The grassland either side of the canal has been developed since we last moored here, and is now a huge and pleasant park, crisscrossed with paths passing play areas for kids and benches for the less energetic.

There was frost overnight, and we woke to the sight of white-sprinkled fields. A couple of hours later, the temperature had risen, and we chugged off down through Milton Keynes. I think the town gets an unfair bad press. It's actually a really nice place as seen from the boat. It has some very attractive houses, a lot of open space and parkland, and playgrounds for all ages. The canal's treated with respect, valued, an important part of the pulse of the town. I like Milton Keynes.

We had a brief stop at New Bradwell for a visit to the Co-Op, and lunch, and finished for the day at
Fenny Stratford, right above the 11" rise lock.

Despite the chilly breeze, we investigated the village, looking for the Tesco where we could buy things we'd not been able to get from the Co-Op. Fenny Stratford is a very strange, dead-feeling place. It has no identity of its own, and has actually been absorbed by Bletchley. It's run-down and sad. It was Saturday, but most shops were closed. Many of those permanently. There were very few people about. The railway looked unused. We were glad to get back to the boat.

From our two meetings with local gentlemen, we discovered that we were moored opposite Kantara's former mooring with her previous owners. Each of them told how Bob had had enormous problems with several successive domestic generators, and this explained perfectly the issues we had with the last one he fitted before selling Kantara to us. If only we'd known then...

It wouldn't have stopped us buying her, believe me! It  would have saved us lots of pounds.

Sitting on the well-deck minding my own business that evening, I was accosted by a very belligerent pair of really quite attractive dogs. After the owner had persuaded them to desist and go away, he apologised and I asked him what breed they were. "Malayan Terriers," he said, "but I call them Malayan terrorists!"

I can't find that breed anywhere on the web.

Cosgrove to Stoke Bruerne (cruise retrospective)

It was warmer today. It must have been. I only wore five layers of clothing. But the sun was out, the sky was blue, and all was well in our world. Up the shallow Cosgrove Lock, and a stop above for services while Grace nipped into a nearby shop for bread and milk.

Today's journey was very rural. The canal is wide and river-like. There were few boats on the move. Tiny ducklings and coot chicks peeped around their paddling parents. Little lambs and their dams white-dotted the fields, and the fresh, sweet smell of rape filled the air. It was perfect. Even when I had to add that sixth layer!

Thrupp Wharf, Yardley Gobion, Grafton Regis - getting the Regis bit from Henry VIII who owned a manor house there. Six miles of peaceful countryside canal. That's about two hours, remember!

Not knowing what delays we might encounter as we climbed the five locks into Stoke Bruerne, we had lunch at the visitor moorings below the bottom lock. One of the delays might well have been NB Primrose, whom we knew to be ahead of us. We'd passed Foxglove not long before, but they had turned, and were now on their way back to the Wyverne base. But there they were, the Americans, busying themselves with filling their water tank and discarding rubbish at the service point close to the lock. They weren't going to slow our ascent, then. Up we went!

A vollie we met three locks up told Grace that the Primrose crew had seen the flight of locks, asked a lot of questions about it, then decided it was too much work for them. So they'd winded and were ready to follow Foxglove back to Leighton Buzzard. It was a shame, we thought. If we'd been there at the time, they could have come up with us. It would have been much easier for them that way.

Dense, dark blue clouds started to threaten us as we did the locks, and it started to rain as we moored below the second lock down. Excellent timing. And a lovely place to moor for the night. We were only a short walk from The Navigation Inn, and the rain had stopped in time for us to go and enjoy a good meal there later. 

Three photos from our windows

A short stop at Stoke Bruerne

It was good to spend Saturday at Stoke Bruerne. We didn't do much. Housework, computer stuff, looking at canal maps and being a little concerned that it might be difficult to find moorings in London. There are conflicting reports about this, some saying it's always problematic, others saying that it's not a problem this early in the year. We'll just have to wait and see. When Pru and Tim did that trip on the TV, they had to drive on into the night before they could moor at one point. It'd be nice to avoid that!

NB Kristie were moored in the wharf. Their starter motor had broken down, and they wouldn't be able to get it replaced/repaired until Monday. But if you have to break down, Stoke Bruerne's a good place to do it! We saw them that evening, enjoying a meal at The Navigation when we ate there. 

We had a peek inside "Topiary" a shop situated just off the wharf. It's a strange one. Sells gifts, expensive handbags, glassware, ceramics, luxury chocolate. Little or nothing would be of interest to boaters. Their only custom must be weekend visitors, of whom there are many in clement weather. Nonetheless, their goods are rather exclusive. 

The Stoke Bruerne Whippet Walking Society was out in strength. We'd seen them on previous visits. 36 whippets and fewer people strolling through the village and the wharf as far as the tunnel and back. A strange sight.

Sunday morning was overcast, but not so cold as we set off down the Stoke Bruerne Locks. An elderly gent in NB Moondust was going our way, so we shared the locks with him. He was having some problems with his boat, so I did the locks and he stayed at the helm. It was a bit of a slow descent, but we were in no hurry. He stopped at the bottom of the flight for a rest, and we carried on towards Cosgrove Lock, then the outskirts of Milton Keynes.

We moored by Bridge 75, a lovely spot we've used before, up to the north of the town.