Milton Keynes to Weedon - Cruising Up the GU for the Last Time!

Campbell Park may never look the same again

It struck me on Sunday that two weeks yesterday Quaintrelle will swing briefly through the air on the end of a crane, then drop on the back of a lorry and head to France.  Gulp.  I don’t know if I’m ready…….  But before I get my knickers in a twist and come over all emotional, how’s the last week been??

We were becoming institutionalised and enjoying our mooring at Campbell Park, so much so that we couldn’t be bothered to move on and stayed until Saturday 12^th.  We might have stayed longer, but we needed water…….  Wednesday was spent doing boat jobs and getting started on our Christmas shopping and on Thursday we spent the day at the cinema.  Having gone to the 12.30 showing of Arrival, which we really enjoyed, fab film, we left the cinema and noticed that there was a 16.50 showing of Girl on a Train which we hadn’t seen and wanted to.  So we toddled off to M&S for some food shopping, grabbed a bite to eat at a fast food noodle place and headed back to the cinema in time for the picture starting.  We had indulged in a large bag of PicknMix for the first film but felt a second would be too much, much to Mike’s disappointment.  Having read the book, we expected to be disappointed as films are rarely as good but we did enjoy it.  Not as good as Arrival, but most enjoyable and I thought Anna Freil was a great alcoholic!

Friday dawned bright so we set off southwards to Fenny Stratford to get water, dump our rubbish (which was sitting in a bag on the front deck and had provided a midnight feast for some little furry friends), wind (turn) and come back up again.  NB Betty had moored up behind us whilst we were at the cinema on Thursday and we managed a quick chat before we headed off and I suppose telling them we were off to France in a couple of weeks is when it started to sink in.  “You must be really excited??!” they said.  “Yes.  I think so.” I said feeling more unsure than excited, to be honest.  They were keen to hear of our plans as they’ve been thinking about going over to France, so I hope we do meet them over there at some point.

At Fenny the fast water tap had us filled up in no time and we continued on to the winding hole turned and came back down the lock.  We moored up with just enough time to get the other side of the boat’s blacking touched up before it got dark.  

Rather than wind right above the lock, it was such a nice afternoon we cruised to Water Eaton to wind

This time of year often presents looking glass conditions on the canal - lovely.

As it was forecast for rain most of the day on Saturday, we decided to stay put and get on with some more tasks, a major one for me was to sit (and hopefully pass) my CEVNI test.  The CEVNI is like a highway code for European Waterways; signs, light signals, sound signals on land and other craft, so that even if you don’t speak the language you will understand instructions and what other vessels are doing.  Mike did his online a couple of months ago whilst I was in the throes of swotting for my VHF Radio course, but once I’d passed that, I had no excuse.  So Saturday was the day.  I’d been having fly study sessions with the book, but it wasn’t really sinking in, but I sat and went through it all again, then got bored so went online and did a couple of practice tests I found.  Then I did the formal practice online with the school we registered with, passed both parts, so with sweaty palms and raised heartbeat I logged in to do the exam for real.  It’s multiple choice and timed and you get two shots at it, so really I needn’t have worried – there is just enough time to flick open the book (if you’ve marked the pages well enough!) if there’s one you’re not sure of.  I got 13/15 for the first section and 15/15 for the second – woooohooooo!!!!  So from that respect, we’re all set to go……

On Sunday, we left Milton Keynes for the last time, stopping en route at Bridge 86 to walk 15 minutes to the Waitrose at Oakridge, or Oakville or some other name beginning with Oak… It’s a new small town within the boundaries of Milton Keynes, full of new houses and streets with a shopping centre in the middle.  Back on board we continued our journey for the day, passing through Campbell Park for the last time, which even if we do ever come this way again, may not look the same!  On one of our forays to MK Centre, there was a large stand showing plans for the development planned for Campbell Park; houses, shops and restaurants and a marina.  We were gutted.  The thing we like about it is that there’s nothing there, it’s a park and a well-used, well-laid out, well-kept park for that matter.  I hope it doesn’t go ahead, but suspect it will.  Anyway, I started to feel a bit maudlin and emotional as we passed through and felt that way most of the way up to Cosgrove in the winter sun, passing a few other winter boaters on the way.  All was quiet at Cosgrove and I did a quick 20 minute run, getting back in the almost dark, whilst Mike emptied the rubbish.  It’s very different boating after the clocks have gone back.  In the summer, we’ll boat on sometimes til 7/8pm but if not, usually stop around 6ish.  We then do some jobs and before we know it it’s time to start cooking dinner, hoping to eat around 7.30/8pm.  Now we’re moored up by 3.30/4pm and it’s dark, so my stomach is looking for its dinner by 6 o’clock……  We don’t get up any earlier either to make use of the daylight.  I think we’re getting worse!!!  I struggle to get my arse out of bed anytime before 9am…..

There were about 30 of these guys racing from Giffard Park to Leighton Buzzard - 15 miles!  Too much like hard work....

More mirrors on the outskirts of MK

Cosgrove

Monday morning was overcast and drizzly, but before we headed out of Cosgrove (for the last time….), Mike touched up some paint work and I went to post a letter.  I’m glad I did, because I found the Horse Tunnel that goes under the canal, which I thought was brilliant.  We’ve passed through Cosgrove many, many times, but only stopped twice recently, so hadn’t really explored the village, so I’m glad I had seen this.

The canal is at the top of the steps and the houses you see are on the opposite side.

The tunnel leading to the other side of the village and the Barley Mow pub

Although it was a bit damp, it was very mild so not altogether an unpleasant cruise up to Stoke Bruerne, where we stopped for water at the bottom of the flight and made use of the time sitting to have some lunch.  Jules Fuels were there so we took on some diesel (for the last time…..) hoping that as we lingered, someone else would appear to share the locks with.  They didn’t and we headed off up on our own.  There was quite a bit of traffic coming down however which made it easy for us as all the locks were set in our favour and gates were left open for us a couple of times to.  The top lock was our last UK lock.    Then Mike remembered that it had also been our first lock when we set off in June 2014 – very fitting.

Right time and place to get some fuel

Approaching what had been our first and is now our last UK lock

The best Indian Restaurant on the UK Canals - Spice of Bruerne - red brick building.

Whilst cruising we chatted a lot about what we still need to do for France and what will need packed up and how we’ll stop stuff shifting about on the boat when she’s mid-air.  My next task is to make the Blue Board – further details can be found at CEVNI.

For the first time, we didn’t go to the Spice of Bruerne for a curry  - and it would have been our last time……. (see the theme here??)…. as we had food we needed to use up. 

This morning we were up a bit sharper, 8.50am, and enjoyed breakfast outside on an extremely mild morning for November.  Mike touched up a bit more of the paintwork and I got us ready to set off, not looking forward to our first obstacle of the day, The Blisworth Tunnel.  It was with great joy that I thought, “This is the last time…….”  As we entered the tunnel, we were surrounded by mist and I couldn’t see where we were going so had to take it steady.  It was really spooky and I was imagining all sorts of ghost boats following me, but about a quarter of the way through it cleared and we could see the pin prick of light at the end of the tunnel.  We managed to pick up speed in the new section in the middle which is nice and wide, so were through in 27 minutes again and enjoying our morning coffee as we progressed northwards to Weedon.

The entrance to Blisworth Tunnel at Stoke Bruerne

Where did this mist come from???

Always glad to reach the new section in the middle as it's nice and wide - and see the end of the tunnel!

Lime glistening on the walls of the old section

No, not last night's supermoon, it was too cloudy to see it where we were.  End of the tunnel getting closer..

Popping out into daylight and still water at Blisworth, 27 minutes later.

And Weedon is where we are now and where we’ll be until a week on Sunday when we’ll head south for seven miles to Gayton – and the crane – gulp!!  So this may well be my last entry written on UK soil!!!  Unless I can find something interesting to write about Weedon Boatyard for next week...........   Yikes!!!!!

Aylesbury, Au Revoirs and a Grand Cruise

Setting off down the Aylesbury Arm

(Discovering I can backdate blog entries is not good, but I have been very busy…..)

The Aylesbury arm is lovely, very rural and some great views and at the end of the navigation, a lovely new basin awaits you with plenty of services; three water points, bins, toilets and showers – AND a Waitrose in the basin itself!  This was an ideal spot from where to hire a car to take mum to Luton on Wednesday and we would head to Caterham to pick up things from Kitty Cate and bid her fare well.

This lovely new development was under construction the last time we were here

The lovely new basin in Aylesbury with the Waterside Theatre in the background, which was so pretty lit up at night.

Entrance to the basin with services along the right hand side of the picture

Can't get much closer to Waitrose than this!!

After a few days of intense boating, it was nice to have a day off, but sad to say goodbye to mum and Kitty Cate.  I cried again when we left the car but not when we left mum at Luton, as we would be seeing her again in a couple of weeks.  However, the next morning, having taken a bag of stuff to the charity shop, picked up our free coffees from Waitrose, I found myself missing mum as we headed back up the arm to Marsworth.

Very narrow bridge holes on the Aylesbury Arm

After a quiet night at Marsworth, we set off sharply with quite a long day ahead of us, as we hoped to get to the Globe pub on the far side of Leighton Buzzard.  I was looking forward to this section as the last time I had been confined downstairs with a terrible cold and hadn’t seen much of it and I wasn’t disappointed – it’s a really pretty section of the GU.  Luck wasn’t on our side and we found ourselves going solo most of the day.  As we headed into the first lock at Marsworth, a chap just pulling off in the opposite direction said the pound below had emptied itself overnight (self-emptying pounds?? Really??), so just take care, though the levels looked okay now.  They were and we had no problem at all.  At Great Seabrook Lock we were just in time to see a boat leaving the lock in the same direction as us, and the lady now at the lock was waiting for her son to bring their widebeam round to come up, so we pulled over and put the coffee on.  The strange thing was, the boat that was travelling the same way as us had passed us at Marsworth just as I got up, so it had been a good hour at least ahead….  When we finally caught up with them at Church lock, we discovered that they had been in time to find the pound at Marsworth empty and had had to run water through to continue which had taken quite some time.  The chap said it served them right for setting off so early and I laughed and said I was about to say the same!!

As we headed through Leighton and Linslade, lots of the hire boats from the Wyvern hire company were heading off – well, it was Friday afternoon after all.  So when we got Leighton Lock we found ourselves joining up with a family setting off, with the chap from Wyvern showing them what to do and what not to do.  As we descended the lock, he asked if I would mind driving out together with them through the open gates, which I was happy to do.  However, when Mike pushed his gate back, it wouldn’t go all the way, so shouted and said we’d need to come out one at a time.  The guy shouted back, “No, it’s fine, it’s always like that, we’ll get the two through together.”  We weren’t so sure, but he was local and experienced so we trusted his judgement and I gingerly edged forward alongside the hire boat.  Things were getting tight and eventually there was a ping and twang and I hit reverse, but too late – we lost a fender and hanger.  Mike was furious, but all the bloke from the hire company said was, “Oh.  You must be wider than other narrowboats.”  Er no, we’re not.  We headed out first and left the hirers getting the rest of their briefing, regretting that we hadn’t just let them come through on their own and waited for NB Lilly Pad to go down together but hey ho, you live and learn.  We had been going to eat at the Globe as we’d had a nice meal there a couple of years ago, but we had food we needed to use up, so I went for a run, Mike cooked dinner and it was all quiet on the Western front – very quiet as there’s no tv signal there.

Next morning we set off, wanting to get to Milton Keynes so we could have a couple of nights there as we had some shopping to do.  There were a few boats on the move, but no one to pair down with at Soulsbury Three Locks, until we were sitting in the second lock and looked back to see a boat arrive at the top.  We said we’d wait for them so we could do the last two together, but as they got the lock set and in, a hire boat arrived, so they said they’d come down with them, as they’d be able to help them.  So having waited for about half an hour, we continued on down the next two locks on our own.  Through our last downhill lock at Fenny Stratford, we continued on for a couple of hours til we reached Campbell Park, where the visitor moorings were packed full of widebeams!!  There were two of them on the park side and three on the towpath side, with a few narrowboats tagged on to the end.  We’ve never seen it so busy!  We reversed back around the corner and moored up next to another narrow boat and later on, another two arrived, so we weren’t short of company.

There are lovely views behind the morning fog

Definitely into Autumn

Our mooring at Cambell Park, hiding away from the widebeams

We built the bikes up, discovering I had a puncture, so fixed that and headed up to the town centre.  It’s an uphill cycle of about a mile which we both hate, but John Lewis is at the end, which we both like.

The following day, we were off on the bikes again, this time slightly further afield to Argos, where we were to collect four balloon fenders we’d ordered for France.  They arrived in a huge box, fully inflated, so we had to squat on the pavement and use our bike tools to deflate the big, blue sausages, which were then tied to our bikes for the cycle home.

On Monday 10^th October we set off northwards again.  We needed water and to dump rubbish but someone had just pulled onto the waterpoint at Gifford Park, so we continued on to Cosgrove.  Monday must be water day in that area.  Someone had just pulled onto the water point below the lock, but that was fine as there was a boat in the lock going up and they had seen us coming and waited for us to share – wooohoooo!!!  There was someone on the water point above the lock too, but we decided to pull in and drop off our rubbish and see how long they were going to be as we could have lunch while we waited.  As we pulled in, Mike looked for our hanging fender to pop over the edge of the boat – it wasn’t there.  We looked on the front deck, but it wasn’t there either.  I had seen it the previous night at Campbell Park as I noticed that due to the angle of piling we were on, it wasn’t doing anything and was just hanging loose, but I left it in case we got pushed in at the back end by a passing boat.  That was the last we saw of it.  Clearly someone had passed us in the night and helped themselves to it.  The most annoying thing about having boat stuff pinched off your boat is that it can only have been another boater that has taken it, and yet we’re all part of the boating community so it’s like stealing from your neighbour.  The girl on the water point had just started to fill and would be some time as she was empty and with a large tank, so we chatted for a few minutes with her and then decided to carry on up to Stoke Bruerne, where we were headed for and there are several water points at the bottom of the locks.

Nice mural coming out of Milton Keynes

We have seen a lot more widebeams on the cut this year as floating homes become more popular

 

The pretty bridge at Cosgrove - you've seen it before, but it's pretty, so here it is again

In all the times we've done this stretch, I think this is the first time we've ever seen this overflow pipe from the River Tone in action

As we approached Stoke Bruerne a boat was just disappearing into the lock.  They must have seen us, but continued up anyway so we guessed there must have been another boat in there with them.  As we pulled in for water, a chap also filling said, that two hotel boats had just gone up, so the locks would be against us if no one else came down.  Our tank was nearly full when there was some action at the bottom lock – a CRT craft was coming down, so we cast off and headed into the open lock once they were through.  The rest of the locks were against us, but with our new way of doing locks single-handedly, we were up the flight of seven locks in no time.  There was plenty of space to moor and we just got the ropes secure as the heavens opened and one of the heaviest showers of the season yet dropped on us.  Once the rain had stopped we got ourselves ready and went out for a curry at the best curry house on the cut; Spice of Bruerne – delicious!!!

Swan family at Stoke Bruerne

Heading through sunny Blisworth after the darkness of the tunnel

Our final days cruising for a while took us up to Weedon.  It was a beautiful day and I thought again how much I’d enjoyed the Grand Union and heading back to Weedon now kind of feels like going home.  We moored up at Weedon, but didn’t have a lot of time to catch up as we were picking up a hire car to go up to Leeds – well, we were doing Pip and Mick of NB Lillyanne’s trick and had hired a van for half the price of a car for the day!  Mike had an appointment on the Wednesday to get discharged from the chest clinic so had booked a hotel in the centre as the appointment was early.  The hotel overlooked the river and was an old brewery, so had beams in the room – very nice.  And a nice big bath!  The appointment on Wednesday went to time and we were heading out of Leeds by 9.40am, stopping for breakfast at a service station en route.

Back at Weedon we had a couple of days to get the boat ship-shape before handing her over to friends of a friend for a week’s hire on the Saturday.  Such a frenzy of cleaning, painting and tidying – she looked great.  We were looking forward to Fish and Chip Friday with Jim, Jack and Steve at the yard, but were gutted to see the Fish and Chip shop was shut for a holiday!  We had to make to with chips from the Chinese and rolls from Tesco to make chip butties instead.  The season's string of animal rescues continued in Weedon when I popped up to Tesco for some food.  Coming back there was a little brown mouse on the pavement, completely freaked out at being near such a busy road, with huge lorries thundering by.  It ran between my feet, then ran again and tried to dig through the brick wall into someone's garden.  "Aw - wee mouse!" I said, put my bag down and scooped him up in my hands - as light as a feather.  He gave me a wee nip (I like to think of gratitude) and popped him over the wall and into the safety of the garden.  He hadn't broken the skin of my hand, which surprised me, I thought he would've bitten harder........  I hope he found his way home - though the owners of the house in the garden probably hope he didn't.......

On Saturday Wayne and Liz arrived just before 11am and we gave them a tour of the boat and went over everything with them and then set them on their way.  They were heading for Oxford, hoping to get close enough to have a day in Oxford, even if they had to bus it from slightly further out.

Jim gave Mike and I a lift to Long Buckby station where we took the train back up to Scotland to spend a few days at mums.  I would also be sitting my Short Range Certificate VHF Radio exam, for which I had been swotting furiously for the last few weeks, which is my excuse for being so lax with the blog!  It’s not entirely down to laziness you know!