More locks than miles …

We started Monday morning in the north of Milton Keynes and continued our cruise south, given all the moored boats, for which the correct thing to do is slow down to “tick over” ( it appears not everyone does), it seemed to take us ages to leave the suburbs of Milton Keynes.

We met our first wide beam boat, coming the other way, thankfully at a wide open straight, so no problems there! 

On Tuesday, we cruised 9 miles and did 9 locks, the last couple of locks with another boat, who’s crew had just had a scare when their dog had fallen off the front of the boat, just as they were entering a lock, the problem was worsened by the fact the dog was still attached to the boat by its lead, and one of its humans was on the bank unable to help, the human driving the boat managed to drag the dog back on to the boat. They had then reversed out of the lock to calm down, and that is how we found them, so we helped them through the next couple of locks. After mooring up near each other, the human introduced us to Charlie, the dog, who appeared not to be fazed by the incident.

We also saw a terrapin in the canal, the boat disturbed a floating clump of reeds and the terrapin, swam away.

On Wednesday, we decided that we still had loads of time to get to the booked London moorings, so went down the Aylesbury arm of the Grand Union Canal (another there and back trip) 6 miles and 16 locks each way. The Aylesbury arm is a narrow canal with single locks, so no wide beam boats for a couple of days.  

After the first couple of locks, each lock was overtopping (too much water above the locks, running in when the lock is emptying – see photo), and the tow paths were flooded. So we called the CRT to report the issue. Rog threw Nic her wellies as it was wading time between locks!

Further down the Aylesbury arm, we came to a stretch of canal that was only just wide enough for one narrowboat, with reeds on both sides (see photo) thankfully we did not meet another boat coming the other way.

After mooring, we were approached by a kayaker with a soggy fledging pigeon under his jacket,  which he had just rescued from the canal, but didn’t know what to do with,  so he left in on the tow path near our boat and asked us to keep an eye on it (??), as there was lots of dog walkers on the tow path, Rog moved the pigeon to the top of our boat. 

Thursday morning, thankfully the pigeon had gone, leaving only what pigeons do best ! We continued our cruise to Aylesbury. Had a lovely walk around Aylesbury, an interesting town architecturally (when you can avoid the high street shops). Another U turn in the 57ft boat, which is getting easier, then after filling with water and using services we retraced our steps back towards the Grand Union Canal main line. 

Friday morning saw us complete the last 5 locks to exit the Aylesbury arm, and then start up the next set of Grand Union Locks. Once again we had company from another boat on the double locks for a set of 7. Lots of chat and helping one another, plus the additional help of CRT volunteers, some of whom were re-painting numbers onto the lock gates, so we had to be careful not to end up with a number on our backsides as we opened them up! That night we moored in Berkhamsted, when Rog spotted a section of piling  (metal piling along the side of the canal which is easier to attach metal clips to, to secure ropes to the bank)  just long enough for the boat, and helpfully in a position where the west coast mainline was entering a tunnel, making the noise a lot more bearable!

Saturday morning, we walked into Berkhamsted, down the high street then across the railway line to the castle, a motte & bailey castle, a royal palace from 1066 and is still part of the Duchy of Cornwall’s estate. Back to the boat doing 4 miles and 11 locks towards Hemel Hempstead. 

On Sunday morning,  having  just cast off, a passing runner told us that a there was a boat stuck across the canal, just below the next lock, so Nic secured the boat again and whilst Roger headed forward to investigate. One of the wide beam boats, we have been leap frogging since Braunston locks, was in the next lock, and her crew were attempting to deal with the loose boat, so Rog helped out securing the boat again.  So setting off again we did a mile and 4 locks to the local Aldi to do some shopping. The boaters we were sharing locks with obviously don’t do Aldi, they were all telling us about the local Waitrose, Sainsburys or Marks and Spencer.  

We met the widest wide beam boat we’ve seen, thankfully she was sitting in one of the locks, completely filling a 14ft wide lock, an ex British Waterways Board (now CRT) built in 1952 as a working boat on the Leeds Liverpool Canal, then used as a day trip boat in Uxbridge, before being bought by her current owner. 

After another 7 locks and crossing under the M25 , we moored for the evening. 

	This Week	Total
Locks	82	532
Miles Cruised (approx.)	47	678