Author: Mary

After the disappointment of finding the Carpenters Arms pub closed last night we decided to make our destination today the Red Lion pub in Marsworth. The weather was kind to us, but the locks were not! Most of them were full and needed emptying and the gates were such hard work. The few people we met in the opposite direction just depressed us more by telling us there were stiffer doors to come and we would be hard pushed to open them alone. Luckily as we were going up and they were coming down we had the advantage of Richard being able to nudge the doors gently open when my pulling power was just not enough. I made a rookie error, not noticing that the upper lock doors were open as I was opening the paddles on the lower doors. Will try not to do that again as it is an awful waste of precious water. There seems to be a lot of water in the form of muddy tow paths and at one point R had to jump quite a big hole under a bridge – luckily his stride is much bigger than mine and I was safely helming at the time. Arriving at Marsworth in time for a late lunch was a delight especially as the rain had held off all morning so for once we were not sodden. After a walk round the delightful village we arrived back at the boat and awaited the arrival of our secondhand ‘fold up’ bikes which James was due to deliver and then fix snags, such as our tiller, which has been annoying me being a couple of inches too long – the risk of pinching my fingers has been of serious concern! And the toggle which you pull to open up below our bed where all the storage is – R has been using a pair of pliers. Such simple things which can be incredibly irritating. I was delighted to see the bikes were made by a company called ‘Bickerton’, whose son I had the pleasure of knowing many years ago. Indeed I remember at a lunch just after R and I had got engaged and done the ‘wedding list’ thing, that I remarked our dinner service was by Royal Doulton. ‘Really’ said our friend. ‘Our toilets made by Royal Doulton’. What a put down!!

So now the rain is gently pattering outside and we are so warm inside that R has retreated to the far end of the boat. A gin and a film is on the cards before we tackle the Aylesbury Arm tomorrow.

At last, I am up to date with my Blog entries although I still need to add some pictures! We haven’t travelled far today at all. I think we have gone through one lock and are moored up near a pub called The Carpenters Arms. However R is really disappointed because he has just found them online and they are permanently closed! So he’s going to have to settle for a glass of red wine and I, my delicious Blood Orange Beefeater gin with ice. A very thoughtful present from a friend before we set off! We’re moored here because we are waiting for James. I don’t think I have mentioned him yet, but he works for Alex, who we have our boat from. Alex is in another part of the country so we have yet to meet. Meanwhile James showed us on board, taught us all we know and has left us to our own devices up until now. However there are one or two snags to get sorted and he also has some foldable bikes for us so that we can venture further afield if we want to. We thought he was coming to see us yesterday, which would have beenvery convenient for him as we were in Leighton Buzzard. Then we thought he was coming today so we have moored up by an easily accessible road. However it is now dark and late so no doubt we will hear from him tomorrow. Nothing is that urgent that it can’t wait!

The toll on R’s back from doing all the locks has become evident as he has been groaning away and happy to swallow anti-inflammatries, so it must be bad. So I decided it was my turn to stop being such a wimp and get going on moving those lock gates. My first lock was after the Globe Pub but before mooring up in Leighton Buzzard proper, outside of Tesco’s where they have shoppers mooring. It wasn’t too bad an experience except I just don’t know where people find the energy to open the gates on their own. Brute force is needed. Luckily there were a couple of nice young lads who helped me! We called in at a marina to buy a canal map for Guildford, hoping that we will be able to get near to home for a while. All depends on the Thames water flow. I jumped off the boat and grabbed the mid robe to pull the boat in and move it along from a red cone saying “don’t park here”. However the rope was caught and my lassooing skills are not great so by the time I had tried to free the rope from the obstacle on top of the boat, a very irate man came and berated me for stopping at the red cone. In fairness to him he did then sort my rope out and explained that the redcone indicated an outflow into the canal that could rock a boat considerably and dump water onto the engine compartment thus flooding the engine. Another lesson learned! So on to Tesco, where we moored up and R started talking to a fisherman right next to our boat. Infact he originally talked to us because he wanted R to rescue his ‘float’ that had caught in a tree on the opposite bank. R thought he said ‘coat’ and just couldn’t understand what he was on about. As he was trying to reverse the boat at the time into this tight space that we had overshot, it wasn’t the best time to distract him! However R and the fisherman got on famously. We even made him a cup of tea and I left the two of them to it as I went off to the laundrette to pick up all the lovely clean washing. Amazing how a laundrette becomes such a welcome sight!

My second lock was fairly eventful. We needed to moor up in a place where there was internet as we had booked to have a video call with some friends but the edges of the bank were not suitable for mooring. They were too stony so we had to plough on. The weather was becoming a bit inclement and we knew there was a lock coming up. Just as we arrived at it thunder, lightening, hail and rain all intermingled. I got a proper soaking and it was quite hairy walking across the lock gates to open and shut the paddles. However I feel if I could manage a lock in those conditions, hopefully subsequent ones will appear easier! Eventually, after yet another lock, but by then the weather had considerably improved, we found a mooring with internet and settled down for a nice warm bath, a gin and tonic and a good natter with friends. We managed to stay awake until 9.30pm, an improvement on the night before!

Well, what an eventful day today turned out to be. It started well enough, with us stopping to fill up with water just before the first of the three locks. As we were doing this so two boats left the lock and we decided it would be a good idea to quickly finish filling the water tank and get into the lock before either someone else did or another boat wanted to come down and therefore started to fill the lock with water.

I started to move the boat towards the lock and then realised that Richard needed to get off it to open the lock gates because unfortunately they had not been left open by the boats coming out. I don’t think they saw us as they probably thought we were just moored alongside. As R edged towards the middle of the boat along the outer edge he found that the ledge he was holding onto disappeared (where we have a side opening) and so he slipped into the water. Managing to swim to the side of the lock he then did not have the energy to actually get out as he was wearing heavy boots and warm clothing. Thankfully for us there was a boat very close by and two strapping men heaved R our of the canal. Meanwhile I tried unsuccessfully to rescue his favourite Aussie hat (now lost and gone forever) and then ran him a bath. We had to secure the boat to the side before he could strip off his sodden clothing and get warmed up. Not liking to think what is in canal water, i dosed him up with neat whisky followed by whisky, cider apple vinegar and hot water. Sounds disgusting but i am hoping it will have helped clean his stomach. Next we sanitized all the clothes as best we could and continued our journey to Leighton Buzzard which was only a short distance away (after of course, going up the three locks) and mooring outside a pub called The Globe. We found a laundrette and then found a really lovely cafe called The Pantry to fortify ourselves with a hearty lunch. We also had to find a phone shop to see if the sim card could be removed from R’s phone and we are still drying it out in rice, hoping that it will work once all the moisture is removed! The highlight was finding a Millets store – I really didnt think they existed anymore and buying R a really good raincoat, which he has since exclaimed over as being super waterproof and light! Supper in the evening was at The Globe where the staff gave us a very warm welcome but I have to say I don’t think I choose well from the menu. Or perhaps we were just tired from the days events because we were in bed by 8.30pm and slept through till nearly 8am! What did we learn from this escapade? More haste less speed and the importance of having a sabbath. I think we were both just over tired and that’s when accidents are more likely to happen. Getting the measure of living more slowly is quite an art.

Leaving Milton Keynes behind us we continued on our journey to Fenny Stratford where they have a swing bridge over the lock which complicates things slightly. The swing bridge must be moved to allow the boat into the lock as it straddles it and then must be returned to its original position so that people can safely cross the canal. We parked the boat just before the lock as it was midday and i had read that the lock side put, the Red Lion, had a great array of beers. I was slightly surprised that R only had a guiness and the landlady decided a lime and soda wasn’t worth paying for, so that was on the house. It was an unusual pub in that it was decorated with sayings and wittisms on the walls and it was obviously loved by the locals because it was very busy for a Monday lunchtime. The lock also was unusual in that the water difference is only a foot! It hardly seems worth all the effort! We had to call in at Willowbridge Marina – we have some metal stakes on board for mooring purposes and you really need 4 of them. R thinks he may have left 2 behind somewhere as we could only find one bent one on the boat! So armed now with 4 once again we are reassured that we have alternative options for keeping the boat moored safely.

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The afternoon light was so beautiful as we cruised along the canal, and the fact that it looked more like a river because of its width, I decided to take some video footage. I was explaining how relaxing it is but how also you need to be alert for boats suddenly appearing or locks and low and behold we turned a corner and a lock was surprisingly there, right in front of us! I think i hadn’t quite read the map right because the locks are all marked! I find them a bit spooky when unexpected because you cannot see further than the imposing lock gates which are dark and heavy. I don’t know that all lock gates are so intimidating. I do vaguely remember some advice from a seasoned boater who suggested that when we first went on the canals we stuck to the waterways with single locks. However that was also when we thought we were going to head north rather than South. I don’t think we have so much option if we want to come South and the Oxford canal is not a viable option at present. It transpired that that lock was at Stoke Hammond with a further three locks close together a short distance ahead. We decided to moor up and tackle the three locks in the morning.

The morning was beautiful and sunny which we were grateful for because the plan of the day was to take our friends on the boat from where we are moored, up to the next winding hole, which is about an hour’s journey. We then had a pub in mind for lunch but it was fully booked, unsurprisingly given the weather and the fact that it is halfterm. So we made wraps and ate them at a distance from each other on the boat! Luckily this boat has a sofa, then a longish galley kitchen and then a dinnette so it is relatively simple to keep 6ft from each other when necessary. We turned the boat and headed back to our original mooring next to the previous winding circle, where we turned the boat againb before our friends jumped off and returned to their car. Luckily for us, they turned to wave and saw R’s hat floating in the water. It had blown off suddenly. Using the boat’s pole they managed to rescue the hat and we continued on our journey.

As I mentioned previously, I really am quite impressed seeing MK from the water’s edge and some of the canalside buildings are attractive to look at. As we travelled along I noticed that we were passing close by to the Peace Pagoda, a six minute walk from bridge 81 in Willen Park. It was erected in 1980 by the nuns and monks of Nipponzan Myohoji and is surrounded by a thousand specially planted cherry and cedar trees that enshrine the memory of victims of all war. It stands in the specific hope that the earth will be spared from nucleur annihilation. It was worth the walk in the pouring rain to see this pagoda and sobering to think what it stands for.

Our drenching continued as we advanced further on our journey, stopping just after bridge 85 in a place called Woolstone.

Visiting Wolverton took me back in time as it was probably our nearest town when we lived in Deanshanger. It seemed busy enough and I was intrigued to see a large queue of people, even in the rain, waiting patiently outside Tesco. It became evident however that the queue was not to go into Tesco – there was a small outside market selling bread, vegetables, teas and coffees etc, under Tesco’s covered walkway. It obviously has a loyal following, which is good to see.

Leaving Wolverton behind we deliberately went and moored up by a winding hole at bridge 77. A winding hole is where you can turn a narrowboat around. There is quite an art to doing this and I am very grateful that R knows what he is doing. All I have to do is follow instructions. Not that we want to turn around today but tomorrow is a different story.

Our great excitement today is meeting up with friends who we first got to know when I was expecting our first child, nearly 33 years ago. As they live relatively close to the canal they very kindly said they would collect us for the night (they are in a low risk area so allowed to do so), give us food and lodging, get a load of washing sorted (they even have a drying room so we didnt need a tumble dryer – i had images of all my socks shrinking!) and we could have as long a bath as we wanted! We had such a happy evening. Old friends can be like old slippers. You just continue on from where you last left off. Topped the evening off by watching ‘Yesterday’, which gave us some light hearted entertainment. We even had the luxury of an extra hour in an extremely comfy bed!

Yet another flight of locks to negotiate, known as the Stoke locks. We decided to get going pretty early and I was hopeful that we might have a companion on the journey to ease the workload but this was not the case. Nor were the locks ready to just enter in – all of them had to be emptied first which increases the length of time it takes to complete the task! Just before the final lock there seemed to be enough space for us to rest up and have a coffee. Before long a knock on the window engaged us in conversation with a chap who was about to enter the lock from the opposite direction. He was in no hurry so was happy to wait for us to take a break and stopped to chat. It transpired he bought a narrowboat at the beginning of the year and tried to persuade his wife to join him in a life on the canals. It seems that she preferred to stay with the conventional life, her job and collecting her pension. Her husband meanwhile had seen too many of his friends die or get ill in recent months so could no longer see the point of living life saving up for a rainy day that may never come. In his late fifties, he has opted to live a simple life on his boat with far fewer overheads, until he is not fit enough to cruise the waters. As Covid hit in March, he had little option than to stay in the same area for a few months but he appeared content and happy with his lot. Infact he had become quite fond of Milton Keynes! I can just imagine what some of you must be thinking – isn’t Milton Keynes that new town that looks an eyesore and is characterless with its little boxes of houses all in neat rows! How wrong I think you are. We started our married life just outside MK in a village over 30 years ago. Even then I thought they had landscaped it well (and I took full advantage of the shopping village, finding reasons to visit John Lewis on a weekly if not bi-weekly basis!) and now, passing through on the canal, there is lots of greenery and plenty of trees. Although individual gardens are nothing to speak of, there is plenty of open space to walk and we saw many folk enjoying family time in different parks and woodland. But I am getting ahead of myself because this is Friday and we only get as far as Wolverton where we stop the night near a pub called The Galleon. We didn’t need to eat there but we enjoyed a variety of beverages including a delicious raspberry gin and it had a friendly atmosphere. Again, the thought crossed our mind that if we can give the pubs some business then so much the better for them.

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Our day started with a trip to the local computer shop where a very patient man explained how we could use our powerbank once he showed us where the recharging socket was and furnished us with the necessary lead! We are such dinosaurs when it comes to most things linked to computers and phones but being on a narrowboat without fixed internet we are learning fast. Even taking photos on my phone is a challenge as I have never really seen the need before. Years ago when we got married R said the photographer was limited to taking very few pictures in a very short space of time because he wanted us to remember the day in our minds rather than through the camera lens. We’ve never got into the habit of taking photos and it hasn’t been much of an issue because whereever we go it seems someone is always ready with a camera. Now it’s just the two of us we haven’t got that luxury. I must say trying to helm and taked a photo at the same time is a recipe for disaster. It doesn’t take long for the boat to steer itself off course!

One of the challenges of life aboard is keeping everything charged up so that when the engine is turned off the phone doesn’t run out of battery or the laptop. Since we only have internet via mobile hotspotting this means both need to be charged in order to use our laptops/chromebooks. We take so much for granted when we can just flick a switch or turn on a water tap. And as for using the onboard potty facilities – a pub lockdown would not just be sad for the lack of real ale!

Setting off late morning, we meandered along the GUC past a place with the delightful name of Bugbrooke and enjoying beautiful autumnal scenery. Our final destination of the day, with no locks to hinder our progress, was the Blisworth tunnel. Not aptly named as there was nothing blissful about it! It is the third longest presently navigable tunnel in Britain so we knew that it would take about an hour to pass through. Going into the dark, dank tunnel, seeing nothing ahead save for the shadows cast by the one headlight on the boat. And then realising that a light far in the distance is actually a boat coming the other way so we are going to have to keep to our side of the tunnel to avoid a collision. In so doing, R managed to knock our chimney over (rookie error – we should have lain it flat before we started the day!) and fearing it would plop into the canal he suggested that I crawl along the top of the boat, in the pitch black, avoiding the photo-voltaic cells (PV’s) and reclaim it before the canal did. Not sure if I thought this a particularly good idea, especially as you are supposed to keep as much of you as possible in the boat whilst going through a tunnel! However, ever the dutiful wife I did as I was told and was mighty relieved when said chimney was safely stored and I was back in the boat rather than on top! Apart from the odd soaking when we passed under the airvents the remainder of the journey proved uneventful although R was pretty peeved off to be hassled from behind by a boat that seemed in more of a hurry than us and kept firmly to our tail. We spied the chap later in the pub at 1730hrs so we think he was just thirsty! The Boat Inn was another delightful watering hole which we visited before suppper aboard, having walked around the charming village of Stoke Bruerne at sunset. SB is popular with boaters because it is the home of the canal museum and normally well frequented as such. However Covid has meant the museum is currently closed and visitors are minimalised. It was our duty then to make sure we gave the pub some assistance!

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Prior to potty duty we fortified ourselves with coffee and a muffin at the marina coffee shop, and also as a chance to escape the morning rain. Trying to access the internet proved a problem both for us and a young man sitting socially distanced from us in the cafe. So we fell to talking and he told us that he had just spent all his savings on a narrowboat hull, which would need total renovation. Although he had some of the skills needed, he was feeling daunted by the task ahead of him. We offered a positive slant to his adventure and to encourage him as we thought it very enterprising and hope he succeeds, finding fulfilment in his creativity.

We didn’t get far along the canal before I asked to stop very near to a small shopping outlet called Heart of the Shires. Leaving R to his accordian practice I walked less than 5 minutes whereupon I came across said outlet with the most amazing and satisfying kitchen shop! We didn’t have a bread knife (sale £5); eggcups (little tin ones at £1.50 each); a birdie that sits on a pan edge letting the steam escape, as well as doubling as a spoon rest; canisters for tea and coffee made from recycled plastic at £3.50 each and some metal hooks for hanging coats etc in the cabin to dry them out. Arrived back at the boat very chuffed to have found so many useful items for making life aboard a little more organised! We travelled further along the canal, stopping the night at a place called Weedon where a local recommended The Narrowboat put for a meal. Although the food was OK we were more impressed by the ambiance and how Covid secure we felt with the staff doing a very good job under their difficult circumstances. Walking a mile or so back along the towpath in the pitch dark was no mean feat as it felt especially slippery under foot!