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.