Our Journey down the Grand Union Canal Continues

Our mooring at Leighton Buzzard was uneventful but getting there was a little challenging, the top lock, top gates at Soulbury gave us some trouble, they wouldn't open! That issue negotiated, and all moored up the ladies enjoyed the 'largish' High Street shopping of Leighton Buzzard. It was a great time to get plenty of bottles of water with the supermarket so close.

Heading off to Marsworth Junction and on the way we saw this prolifically photographed and very ingenious use of a car shell.

As we came into Marsworth it was starting to be obvious that there were a lot of 14 day moorers with big spaces between boats and very few moorings available. We ended up in a nice spot right near a tea house and next to one of the two large reservoirs here. Marsworth is the summit of the Grand Union and the reservoirs feed the locks.

It was quite windy as we moored and as soon as I jumped off the boat to moor the wind grabbed the boat and pushed the bow across to the other side of the canal. With very little of the centre rope left I managed to haul Serafina back in with some help from a few other boaters.

Just an overnight stop before another short cruise and half a dozen locks to reposition the boat at Bulbourne so we could meet up with visitors and have some dinner at the local pub, The Junction Arms.. We booked for 7pm and arrived on time to find a note on the door that they were closing at 6:30pm, nice job! Last time we will call in there!

Nothing much at Bulbourne so it was another ten locks and we managed to moor in Berkhamsted with a little difficulty, they were quite shallow. Looking around Berkhamsted they have a lovely High Street with plenty of old buildings. We made our way across to the ruin of the Royal Berkhamsted Castle to have a look around. The original castle was built on this site in the 11th century, by the 16th cenury most of the stone had been plundered from the site. It was occupied by among others Thomas Becket.

Just one shot from the main street, the cold court house built circa 16th Century.

A couple of days at Berkhamsted and we continued on through another eleven locks to try and moor several times before finding a spot deep enough to get into the side. Turned out to be a handy mooring with a B & Q (hardware) nearby to pick up a few items. Kevin and I took off after dinner for a drink at a couple of pubs. The Fishery Inn was ten minutes back up the canal, it was a bit trendy for us so one drink and we headed around to The Steam Coach (pictured). This pub had a great beer garden at the back!

Another nine locks and we moored in the small village of Hunton Bridge, once again it took a bit to get into the side to tie up. Up to the pub again and this old phone box was on the way and just like Australia this one didn't have a phone but a new use as a book swap. Although, I get the feeling paper based books are heading the same way as the landline telephone.

The King's Lodge was built around 1660 and was originally a hunting lodge for Charles II, it looked great inside particularly the fireplace where there was an old royal crest above the mantle.

Two more overnight moorings at Rickmansworth where once again there lines and lines of boats and Uxbridge was the same then finally mooring at Bull's Bridge on the 24 hour moorings. The Paddington Arm leaves the Grand Union Canal from here and heads down to Paddington Basin and Little Venice where we have a mooring booked for a week, five minutes walk from the London Paddington Underground.

Preparation was made so as not to have to move off our booked mooring in Little Venice. There is lots of sightseeing to be done so there wont be much time to do these houskeeping jobs. We had a pump out at Bridgewater Basin Marina, London prices here £20 for a pump out and fuel 89p/lt (domestic). A water point at Bull's Bridge so once at the Paddington Arm we were ready to go.

Warm Cruising Days on the Grand Union Canal

We continue our journey south on the Grand Union Canal. The sun has finally made a sustained appearance and we're making the most of it. Serafina has been getting some attention after the long English winter as we deal with the perennial rust spots as they appear as well as adding updates where we can.

Time for a break at Stoke Breune, the tow path has changed sides so time to paint the starboard gunwale. This gunwale needed some extra attention, the non-slip surface needed renewing. This meant laying two strips of tape the length of the gunwale, painting between them and sprinkling kiln-dried sand on the wet paint. 

Painting between the lines

Sprinkling the fine kiln-dried sand

Once the paint was dry, several more coats of black semi-gloss paint were applied over several days and walla! no more grey speckles and a nice new non slip surface.

A few days break and another task checked-off Rachael's 'Kelvin's To-Do List' we set off again heading for Cosgrove, another small village but with a lovely pub on the other side of the canal. Access to the pub was not via bridge as usual but via the horse tunnel used in horse drawn days for access to the blacksmith and stables behind The Barley Mow where we stopped for a pint or two in this 200+ year old pub.

The Barley Mow (from their website)

Only an overnight stop and a water tank fill and rubbish stop for both boats on a chilly summer morning before heading off.

Heading for Wolverton there was only the Cosgrove Lock to complete and a crossing of the Iron Trunk Aquaduct built in 1811 consisting of two cast iron troughs spanning 31m (total), 4.6m wide amd nearly 2m deep with a single brick pier in the centre crossing the River Great Ouse 18m below. An engineering marvel in it's day.

Wolverton is a stark change to what we have been used to with the moorings in the middle of high rise flats.

This was only a shopping stop with large Tesco and Lidl supermarkets only a short walk from the moorings then it was onward passing the large mural just outside Wolverton celebrating the railways to finish the day in Milton Keynes.

Milton Keynes is a fully planned city and the cruising was different here again. As we got closer to Milton Keynes we seemed to be in the centre of acres of parklands. The moorings too were in the middle of a park, the canal lined with poplars and large pieces of art scattered around. The next day we headed into town, the shopping centre was a good twenty minute walk from our mooring, through the parkland trails and ending in this large artwork.

To finish off this section of the journey we left our Milton Keynes mooring for a rather easy day of just a few hours cruising and one lock to complete. An early arrival in Fenny Stratford meant another opportunity for maintenance, this time to do a repair to the rust affected hinges on the side hatch. Rachael has also prepared the stern deck metal front and sides ready for painting. Fenny Stratford has a train station close-by too, our friends took the chance to shoot home for a few days.