On the Grand Union - Leighton Buzzard to Braunston

We made our way from Marsden Junction to Leighton Buzzard or another overnight stop. It was going to be a couple of days but after dinner the evening was so nice we decided to head off cruising with the intention of mooring out in the countryside. We passed through the Soulbury Locks, finishing the bottom lock with a crowd looking on at the Three Locks Inn.

View from the top lock down the flight

The Three Locks Inn

We stopped in the moorings just after the last lock.

Milton Keynes was an opportunity for Rachael and I to walk across to the large retail centre. It's a large shopping complex so plenty to see and do. Just an overnight stop, we woke up to a day of high winds, it would have been easy to just stay in bed but we were up and off, keen to get to the midlands. We kept going while the rain held off and it turned into a long day passing through Stoke Brune, the Blisworth Tunnel at 3076 yds and even Blisworth with a canal festival in full swing. The festival kept me busy dodging boats and moving along a small corridor between moored boats.

The Cruise Boat

The Off Licence

Work Boats

With no hope of mooring there we continued out into the countryside, the wind still howling but we stayed dry! The next morning the wind had died down and the sun was out but it seemed that everybody had decided to move and we arrived at the bottom of the Buckby Flight of locks to a be the seventh boat in the queue.

It took quite a while to get into the lock and no other boats had turned up so we were doing the flight of double locks solo and following the other boats up which meant emptying every lock first. As soon as we cruised into the bottom lock the heavens opened and we were soaked before we left the lock. The rain continued until the second last lock so we weren't the only ones to get soaked. The moorings just before the Braunston Tunnel seemed a good place to finish day. It was time to have a hot shower and get changed.

Down the Aylesbury Arm.

We reached Marsworth Junction just after lunch so rather than stopping we turned onto the Aylesbury Arm. The Arm has a total of sixteen narrow locks spread along approx six miles, finishing at a basin in Aylesbury. An indication of how important this canal was to to Aylesbury, the price of coal was halved upon its opening in 1814.

First job was to set the top locks, a set of two in a staircase. It didn't take long to move into some beautiful countryside although, at the start, the locks were coming thick and fast. Wiltstone was only approx one and half miles but when we arrived we had already knocked over eight locks, half the number on the Arm. By the time we had finished the rain was setting in so just enough time to moor up and close up before the heavens opened. Just an aside; Wiltstone is a place of note for having the last recorded witch hunt in 1751.

We were keen to get to Aylesbury so no exploring in the morning we just set off hoping to make Aylesbury by lunch time. All was going well although the reeds were beginning to close in onus and the canal was starting to look more like a drain. The canal had been rather shallow for a while and Serafina was working hard right up until just passed Bridge 10 where we stopped moving forward. We had no luck trying to go forward and for a while we weren't moving back. We were having difficulty with forward gear and after and inspection and a few checks we gave River Canal Rescue a call. An hour later the technician was with us, had diagnosed the problem and sorted it. We gave the canal another go but got stuck again. We gave it away at that stage and reversed back the 300 metres to the winding hole, turned around and moored just off the winding hole for the night. We walked to the bus stop (1.5 miles) and took the bus into Aylesbury.

A view from the winding hole before the reeds close in to a single track of water about two metres wide.

The problem with the boat turned out to be the gearbox overfilled with oil. Apparently the oil was thinning and overheating and so not giving us any drive. A few shots of our walking tour of Aylesbury, mainly around the market square:

Corn Exchange

Clocktower

Fountain

A bronze life size tribute to David Bowie who released two of his albums here in the early '70's.

Back to the boat and it was overnight at our mooring before heading back up the locks to the junction. There seemed to be plenty of water on the canal although obviously it badly needs dredging. I contacted CRT and let them know! Serafina has a 24" draft which means that after Bridge 10 we were lying in less than that, mainly silt.

Locking up with the water overflowing the front gate:

The last lock, moving into the bottom chamber of the staircase lock.

Serafina performed perfectly once we had a bit of water underneath us. A chat to our mechanic is in order when we return!

Touring Away from Serafina - Another Travel Log

With Serafina tucked away safely (we hope) in Apsley Marina and the local site seeing on the list completed we headed north for Liverpool with a lunch stop at Stow on the Wold in the Cotswolds. Stow on the Wold was only suppose to be a short stop for a cuppa and a walk around but it was hard to get our visitors back to the car, they were rather taken with this lovely old village.

Beatles Museum - Albert Dock, the Sergeant Pepper costumes. The museum told the story of the Beatles from start to finish with a little post-Beatles history too.

Strawberry Fields from the Magical Mystery Bus Tour. This was just one of the many stops made on this two hour tour. Rachael and I had taken this tour before but with our friends in tow we opted to do it for a second time, we enjoyed immensely; again!








From Liverpool it was off to Edinburgh, Scotland with a stop off in Gretna Green, just across the Scottish border. Once our visitors had been fleeced in the souvenir shops we went on to Edinburgh. An early afternoon arrival, just enough time to check-in and get the car parked for a three day stay. We were heading off on a two day bus tour first thing in the morning so there was just time to take our visitors up to Edinburgh Castle. We put them on a tour while we went and had a coffee in the cafe, we had had numerous visits to the castle before. Afterwards, it was off for a stroll down the Royal Mile towards the hotel.

Early Start in the morning to catch the tour, our wives are both keen Outlander fans so it was around the movie shooting sites. Just a few of the places we visited below.

Blackness castle (external) near Edinburgh, built 15th century.

Blackness Castle (internal), you had to watch your step it was very rocky.

Doune Castle (External), rebuilt in its current form in the 14th century. A very popular TV castle, used in Outlander and as Winterfell in Game of Thrones

Doune Castle (internal), rebuilt in its current form in the late 14th century by Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany.












Fort Augustus - Moorings on the Caledonian Canal













Fort Augustus lock flight, plenty of room in the locks for everybody! They all seemed to be operated from a central control room at the swing bridge.

Standing stones at Balnuaran of Clavea

Bronze Age cairns or burial pits, also at Bulnuaran. Used approx 4000 years ago to inter important tribe members. (Bodies have been removed)

An hour and a half stop at Culloden Field where the Scots were rorted by the English army leading to years of hardship under English rule.

The Clan Fraser marker stone. These stones were spread throughout Culloden to mark where the clan members fell.

Midhope Castle, a 16th century tower house, was the final stop on our tour before heading to our hotel.
















A late afternoon arrival back in Edinburgh so there was little time for anything but a walk down the Royal Mile to our hotel. The next day we were off early for some more site seeing before a late afternoon trip across to Falkirk, our next stop. Some of our stop off points around Falkirk:



The Kelpies on the Union Canal at Falkirk are a monument to horse powered heritage across Scotland. The monument has a canal lock set in the centre of it.

Falkirk Wheel  (opened 2002)also on the Union Canal, consists of two tubs being rotated through 180 degrees to move boats up to and down from the Forth and Clyde Canal. The Wheel replaced a lock flight which closed in 1930.

A monument to Robert the Bruce, king of Scotland 1274 - 1329 at Bannockburn where The Bruce's army defeated the English in 1314, ultimately confirming Scottish independence.



















We were heading back south now to Lanark, the last stop on our trip.

The view of the River Clyde from our hotel in New Lanark, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The hotel is situated in part of the mill built by Robert Owen in the early 19th Century. Owen believed in providing a lifestyle for his workers and their families so work days were reduced to 13 hours and there was a minimum age before children could work in the textile mill, they would go to the school provided. Owen also provided housing and recreation facilities for the families.



Back to Apsley and Serafina where we had left her with the 12v refrigerator running and no land hookup. First time we had relied totally on the solar to keep things running. We came back to a cold fridge and fully charged batteries.

Overnight in Apsley before we headed north again, we were heading for Berkhamsted to drop our friends at the railway station.

Heading out of Berkhamsted

Retracing our Steps North

Heading off from a not so clean Little Venice. The water aerator had broken down and it was the only thing stopping the weed from moving into the basin. It only took overnight and the basin looked like this.

We took on water as we exited the basin, I don't think they see many boats tie up the water point. It was a slow fill with the water pressure very average and there was a constant stream of people bringing there containers down to be filled, noone wanting to lose their mooring spot I can assume, at least until 'change over day'. Change over day was explained to me as the day that everybody shuffles around to other moorings within London to 'pretend' they are continuous cruisers.

Our friends moved their boat from their booked mooring in Paddington Basin after four days, they moved across to the free moorings when one became available, you really have to be right on the spot to get one. The interesting part was they were there when another boat pulled up beside them. They mentioned to the owner that they were leaving in the morning and it would be best if they were on the outside, to which he replied, I'm tying up here, do what you want with the boat I'm off, after which he left! I said to my mate that setting it adrift was probably what the owner meant, my mate didn't think so. Anyway, we were off after helping them move the boat so they could get their boat out.

Good luck to CRT, there's a lot more boats here than there was three years ago. Gauging by the front page of the boater newspaper 'The Towpath', around 86% in the last four years, eventually something will have to give!

Our stops on the way back were similar to on the way down. We did vary a couple of spots, this mooring near Cassiobury Park at Watford for example. We had a BBQ lunch followed by a walk in the forest, a lovely quiet spot for an overnight mooring.

Now traveling with our Australian guests onboard, we were working to a schedule. I had booked a rental car to be picked up in Apsley in a few days time and Serafina was booked into the Apsley Marina for 11 days while we did some more local site seeing before heading north.

Sill in the Greater London area, we spent a day at Warner Brothers London Studios at Harry Potter World. There were now several avid Harry Potter fans in the group, Rachael and I were here three years ago and thought it was great then but it has grown in that time. Just a few of the props used in the films below, all life-size...can I say that about a goblin or a hippogriff?

A Hippogriff

Aragog

Teller at Gringott's Bank

Fire breathing dragon loose in the bank

Diagon Alley























We also spent a day out at Bletchley Park where the WWII code breakers worked, it was a top secret base then. Rachael and I had been here before as well, it's only a short trip from the canal at Fenny Stratford on the Grand Union Canal but we used the rental car. Nothing much had changed, enjoyable nonetheless. If you would like to have a look at our blog about Bletchley Park the link is here.

Two more enjoyable days in Greater London, tomorrow we head north, first stop Liverpool.

London Calling

This post is not a cruising blog, more a tourist blog. We had a week in London and this is a taste of the some of the places we hit over that time.

With our Australian friends in tow it was off to the London tourist traps. It's been quite a few years since we were last at Madame Tussaud's and things have changed, now you get to mingle with all the wax figures. Here's a few of the many pics we took.

It was off to the theatre at the West End to see Mousetrap.

The next day it was off to the London Museum. A couple of the highlights of the visit were the Rosetta Stone, the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics.

And, a dedicated room, built in the shape of the Greek acropolis to display the controversial Elgin Marbles. Just one of the many panels here.

A visit to the London Museum wouldn't be complete without a pic of an sarcophagus.

Rather than show you a pic of us with a Beefeater at the Tower of London there's nothing like a good old chopping block. This was housed in the White Tower and guaranteed to have been used to remove several heads.

After a great week, including some great dining out, we started to retrace our steps northwards.

Cruising Into London

Rachael's birthday! It has been three years since we did this trip last and the changes we have noticed so far are firstly the distinct lack of moving boats and scondly the greatly increased number of moored boats in 14 day moorings. The boat all prepped, we headed off down the Paddington Arm to our mooring in Little Venice, a four hour cruise...normally! I don't know when boats were able to go all the way down this arm at 3 to 4mph last! The arm is not too bad to start off with but the last few miles are painful as you move past so many moored boats, most on 14 day moorings. Just to make things a little more tiresome, the last few miles the canal was covered in weed. The prop required clearing regularly, not down the weed hatch thankfully, just a good burst of reverse.

Some of the sights we saw along the way and on the way back. This garden (below) had a pictorial list of English Monarchs in chronological order.

 Lots of moored boats!

The big red doubledecker!

Spiderman looking after the neighbourhood.

Cutting a course for the boat behind.

Under Abbey Road...for Beatles fans.

The view of Little Venice Basin from the bridge at the Paddington Arm entrance. The weed was pretty bad.

Serafina on the mooring. I thought for our £10/night CRaT may have installed an electric and water post, no such luck! The Rembrandt Gardens moorings in Little Venice, less than ten minutes walk from Paddington Tube Station, are well shaded so over the week I had to make a few dashes back to the boat to run the engine to charge the batteries.

Our first night, a get together with friends for Rachael's birthday. Plenty of room for tables and chairs beside the boat!

The mooring worked out well apart from the regular afternoon pot smokers that gathered at the dead end along the path, several times staying until the early hours. That stopped after the weekend so they may have got the move-on!