With the M25 London Orbital well behind us now, the suburban scenes have now been replaced by fields of horses, cows and sheep and the odd tractor. Oh, and not to forget the abundance of ripe blackberries ready for picking, great for Rachael's apple and blackberry crumble. Mmmm!
We cruised off Wednesday morning after a good nights sleep, the trains not having too much affect on our sleep pattern. Rachael had the washing machine on as soon as had started the engine and switched over to the Travel Power. Five minutes later and we were on the water point filling the water tank. It was suppose to be a short cruise today, two hours tops, we were heading to Cowroast for an overnight stay and a chance to get some work done on the boat. Saw someone making good use of an old English icon as a greenhouse, it was filled with tomatoes. Perhaps Rachael's Uncle Jimmy could use one of these for his tomatoes!
Of course it didn't quite work out that way, off the water point and up to the first lock and the pound was empty! Fortunately it was CRT who had emptied it to look at a damaged lock (Lock 54), they had just started refilling it after an inspection and were going to empty it again later in the day.
Nearly an hour later and we were cruising on the now full pound!
My Canal Companion tells me this is a genuine totem pole imported from Canada by the owner of a timber yard that was previously on this site.
The rest of the trip to Cowroast was uneventful, it was an eight lock day! Not too long after we arrived the weather closed in an we didn't get any outside work done on the boat.
Thursday started off a little 'iffy' with light rain falling but we now have the luxury of waiting the rain out or not cruising at all with a more relaxed schedule. Eleven o'clock we cruised across the Tring Summit on a short no lock cruise, with the sun peeking through. By lunchtime we were moored across from the Grand Junction Arms Inn in Bulbourne. After lunch it was overalls on, deck boards off and time to clean up the bilge, in particular the automatic switch for the bilge pump which was no longer working. A good scrub with an old toothbrush in hot water and the switch was like new!
Yesterday (Friday) was a busy day, eighteen locks and a swing bridge. On arrival at our first lock (Lock 45) another boat turned up to share the lock work with an older couple aboard. I must admit that after Ray hauled his boat out of the lock using his centre rope, both Rachael and I thought there was no way we were going to get eighteen locks done today; how wrong we were! Ray and Rosemary on nb Maddy Rose had been doing this for years, knew the Grand Union like the back of their hands and proceeded to get us organised. Both in there 70's, that didn't stop them pulling their weight. It turned out to be a great day with some great company!
The swing bridge saw our only incident for the day. Ray had gone ahead to open it, Rosemary was on their boat just ahead of us. We were right there as the bridge opened only to be met by a wide beam who decided he must have the right of way; not sure how he thought that. All boats quickly went into reverse and Ray told the wide beam operator exactly how things would go; the wide beam pulled over and let us through before proceeding.
By 2:15 we were doing the last lock (Grove Lock) together.
Another 45 minutes and we were moored up in Leighton Buzzard and a well earned rest. Not for too long though, Rachael had us out the door an hour later and ten minutes more and we were food shopping at Aldi first then a follow up at Tesco both right near the canal!
Today (Saturday) we spent the morning taking in the the sights and sounds of Leighton Buzzard. Saturday in Leighton Buzzard is market day, lots of things to taste and try. We found a nice cafe for some lunch before heading back to the boat for more maintenance, this time repairing, sanding and re-painting the rectangle window frames. Thanks to Rachael's cousin Stephen for sourcing the replacement corner pieces.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hi there, thanks for comment we'll have a read of your comment and get right back to you with a reply.