Marsworth Reservoir

And the next day started chilly with several sprinklings of rain and a gusty, gutsy wind. After my half-hearted attempt at removing the bird-poo from the boat using bucketsful of canal water, Grace gave the job a three-quarters-hearted go with hot, soapy water. It now requires a wholehearted attack with a hose, sponges, soap and chammy leathers. That can wait until we get back to the marina.

The boat bearing the injured crew left long before us the next morning. It was gone 11 o'clock when we set off past Bulbourne and on to Marsworth Top Lock. Imagine the surprise of all four of us when along came Daisy, the couple we'd shared the same flight with on our way up. What a coincidence! They'd travelled at quite a pace, about eight hours a day, and been down to St Pancras Marina. The weather was getting warm and sunny as we descended together, swapping tales of our travels, and we enjoyed a fast descent, aided by three very willing vollies.

We moored next to each other below lock 46, right next to Marsworth Reservoir. The weather was now really beautiful, though there was a very strong wind which made mooring rather problematic.

After a quick sarnie lunch, Grace and I went for a walk around the Marsworth and Tringford reservoirs. It was very windy, but quite stunning!

The footpath took us onto the Wendover Arm of the GU. We did a reccy of the end of the navigation. Though the canal originally extended beyond this point to Wendover, it suffered the fate of many canals decades ago and got filled in. Time was, anyone wanting to take their boat to the very end of this stretch had to turn at a winding-hole about half a mile from the end and reverse the rest of their bendy way, since there was no place to turn at the end. Now there's a good-sized winding hole at the top, and a few decent moorings.

We walked the length of the arm back to its junction with the GU at Marsworth Top Lock.

At the junction, we turned left back down the path to Kantara. This is a beautiful walk to do, highly recommended.

The sunset was phenomenal.

And on we go...

Fenny Stratford to Soulbury Three Locks, to Linslade Tesco, to bridge 109, to Slapton Wharf, and then to Marsworth Bottom Lock on Tuesday. Progressing slower than usual, and loving it. Drama free, stressless, cold but getting warmer. Then came the drama.

Okay, it was only a minor drama. We set off alone up the Marsworth Flight on the foggy Wednesday morning,

and got stuck almost immediately. Literally stuck! The pound above our first (bottom) lock was very low, and Kantara grounded as Grace tried to ease her out of the lock. There's only one thing to do in this situation. Unless there's a vollie around, then you let them do it for you! I opened a top gate of the next lock, Grace took Kantara back into her lock, and I closed the gates in front of her to protect her from the coming deluge. Then it was a matter of opening one paddle in the bottom gate of the lock above us and watching the ensuing flood, waiting for the water to rise enough for Kantara to pass through and into the second lock. Fortunately, the pound above the second lock is a longish one, and draining that much water out of it didn't make too big an impact upon it. It's always a danger!

Drama over, we carried on up the flight. At the next lock we met NB Daisy from Wyvern Shipping Co., out for ten days on a trip down into London, and we shared locks up the rest of the flight. It was easy going, and the weather was really good by now. Enjoying the locking too much, I neglected to take any photos. There were a couple of vollies around who might have taken the load off for long enough for me to take a few snaps, and they did indeed promise us three times that they would prepare the next lock for us. They did the top lock.

It was well past lunch time, and we were very thirsty and hungry, so we paused below Bridge 135 for refreshments, continuing afterwards, now without Daisy, down through Cowroast, Dudswell and Northchurch locks to moor for the night just above Bushes Lock.