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

Grove Lock to Stoke Hammond (cruise retrospective)

We slept late. Yesterday had been unusually enervating for some reason. But no matter. We're in no hurry. Except for the slight pressure to leave before Jules leaves.

Late yesterday afternoon, two Jules Fuels boats came down Grove Lock and moored outside the pub (see photo above). They travel together, tied together for the main part, and we didn't want them to get ahead of us and slow our progress. So we were glad to set off towards Linslade and Leighton Buzzard.

The weather was cold, bitterly so at times, with a persistent gusty winds and some nasty, albeit briefish downpours of icy rain. I ended up wearing the same layers of clothing as I'd worn when travelling from Debdale to Yelvertoft in the snow of March 2013. Crazy weather!

Shortly after leaving Grove Lock, we moored at Leighton Buzzard Tesco to do a bit of shopping. Later, as we prepared to cast off, the Jules boats arrived, and moored behind us. What a good job we hadn't dillied at Grove Lock. Or dallied, for that matter!

It was raining, windy and chilly, and we were only one hour away from what we'd normally call lunchtime. There's a two-hour limit to the Tesco moorings, so we moved on just a quarter of a mile or so, past the Wyverne Boats yard, and moored again. We decided that it'd be best for us to eat early and spend the rest of the afternoon in uninterrupted travel. Fingers crossed that Jules would be shopping for long enough for us to have lunch!

We arrived at Leighton Lock less than an hour later, to see NB Suchar Daval pulling away from the bottom gates. She hadn't passed us recently, so she must have only just moved from their overnight mooring, probably having already driven their car on the next leapfrog, and cycled back. We waved as we passed them tying up again, below the lock, perhaps for watering.

photo - chalicecruises.blogspot.co.uk

We passed NB Naughty Lass round about here, too, but Robbie was not to be seen. 

Soulbury Three Locks next, where we found no less than four vollies, who saw us down the flight. I stood at the middle lock, and watched with interest as the bottom paddles were raised, and water flooded into the middle pound.

I came down this flight two years ago, with Jess, and we watched frozen with horror as the water rose in the pound until it overflowed the walls and and ran across towards the doors of The Three Locks pub. It was only the combination of Jess dropping the paddles while I fled down to open the top paddles of the bottom lock that averted disaster.

Today, I watched the start of the same flood. But today, there were vollies waiting at the bottom lock, and when the water started to overflow the gates, they calmly opened the paddles, and there was not even the threat of a flood. I suggested to the nearest vollie that it might be a good idea for CRT to put notices up to warn boaters of the danger, and instruct them in how to avoid it. How on earth would a canal newbie, a hirer from nearby Wyverne, perhaps, know?

photo - geograph.org.uk

We pressed on to Stoke Hammond Lock, where we'd now decided we would moor and escape the cold wind and rain. We met NB Achenar moored just above the lock. They've been out cruising for some weeks now, but like to travel slowly, often staying at one mooring for several days. We hooted as we drifted past them, and Phil came out to chat while we waited for a pair of boats to come up the locks. Determined to do just one more lock, we descended, and moored for the night a few hundred yards further down.

It was cold. Silly-wooly-hat cold.

photo - www.sierratradingpost.com

Tring Reservoir to Grove Lock (cruise retrospective)

I forgot to tell you yesterday about the strange sign we saw on the towing-path. From CRT, addressed to anglers. I missed taking a photo, but it looked very much like this.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that there's another couple of arrows, one either side of this, some tens of metres away. But there were none, I swear, and Grace will vouch for it. So I can imagine that anglers really aren't too bothered about the restriction being imposed by this!

Cruising today was purely functional. If we weren't quite so keen to get back to the marina and get our inverter replaced, then we would have stayed where we were this morning. The day has been really cold, with quite a strong wind, and if there were not the urgency, the reservoir would have been an excellent place to be.

Before we left this morning, we got chatting with the couple on board NB Suchar Daval, moored nearby.

It's not unusual for boaters to have their car with them as they cruise. And bikes, too. And what they do, and what this couple were doing, is to leapfrog the boat and the car. Today, the two of them drove their car from the reservoir car park to Leighton Buzzard, and parked it there. Then they got their bikes out of the boot and cycled back up the towing-path to their boat. Tomorrow, they'll take the boat to Leighton Buzzard, and drive the car on another step. They passed us on their way back when we were at Seabrook Lock. They'd driven to Leighton Buzzard and cycled back that far - about six miles - in the time it took us to navigate five locks and two miles.

It was a dull day, and the countryside through which we passed just didn't have the zing that a late April ought to give it, so we were glad when we exited Grove Lock and moored up for the night. There's a good pub back at the lock, and I've booked a table.

(3 hours later) The Grove Lock Inn is excellent! A very good Sunday Lunch is available until 7:00pm. It's highly recommended.

NB Suchar Daval went down the lock while we were eating, on their way to Leighton Buzzard. We were glad to be where we were.

It's been a week!

I'm just not getting the time to post to the blog at the moment. When we're on the cut, I spend much more of my time doing specifically boaty things. Time seems to run differently from when we're in the marina!

Last Monday was positively warm as we moved on down through Milton Keynes. It's really a very pleasant town from the canal.

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.

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.

Marsworth Bottom Lock

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.

I was quite glad to get to Marsworth Top Lock!

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.