Actually this was last week, when we were working up the Stoke Bruerne locks, a friendly fella stopped me by name, but he was disguised in hat, scarf and dark glasses so had me at a disadvantage until he introduced himself as Paul from Waterways Routes, the creator of the digital canal map that we swear by. We had a bit of a chat and showed him our set up and promised to get in touch for our 6 monthly update.
We had plans to meet up with friends at Buckby so didn’t hang around. It’s gentle scenery along this section, nothing dramatic or too harsh
Until you get to Bridge 21…. when you never know who going to be watching you. we think it’s Tim and Prue who are gongoozling.
A couple of gongoozlers
Not all the bridges are shrouded in undergrowth and mystery. Back in 2017 when we first cruised this way, the A45 Flore to Daventry bypass was being built, which required a new and significant bridge to accommodate both canal and railway. It’s nice to see it completed now.
Flore Bypass
Our friends met us outside Whilton marina,
whilton matina, bottom of
And then helped us up the Buckby flight of locks. True friends indeed. They had never been on a narrowboat before and were amazed at the engineering involved.
We had a bit of a chuckle when we explained we were the filling of a superhighway sandwich, HighSpeed trains on our left, us in the middle and the M1 motorway on our right.
the canals were here first, even if our power source had changed.
Waving goodbye to Buckinghamshire, we crossed over the River Ouse on the Iron Trunk Aqueduct into Northamptonshire.
The original route of the Grand Union canal was built descending and climbing the valley using 8 locks, but this was both time consuming and a water management nightmare. Much better to iron out the issues and in 1811, the embankment and aqueduct were opened. It is the oldest broad iron trough aqueduct on our canal system. Not quite as dramatic as the Pontcysyllte, but impressive never the less
looking down onto the Ouse
Weather wise, we were enjoying some lovely sunny days, Dramatic sunsets,
Rainbows when during the showers fell
And astronomic excitements when we were able to see the Venus and Jupiter conjunction
but it was still too cold to be standing on the helm for long. Unless of course you had to work up the 7 locks of the Stoke Bruerne flight.
Arriving at Stoke Bruerne
It was such a lovely day and although we stretched some muscles that hadn’t seen much action for a while, we felt like spring was in the air… until it rained the next day. Not to worry we’ll be dry in the tunnel.
the Blisworth Tunnel
Ha not a chance…. we’re used to “spurters” in the sides of locks and drippy tunnels, but the amount of water gushing into Blisworth was quite scary.
Made worse by the fact that we could hear it before we could see it. We both had nightmare visions of some Hollywood style tidal wave rushing towards us.
One very cold shower
Luckily -obviously, we made it out alive, and settled for a more tranquil night in the village.
Blisworth
Some tunnel facts • 3,075 yards (2,812 m) long • the longest wide, freely navigable tunnel in Europe (it’s wide enough for two narrowboats to pass in opposite directions) • the third-longest navigable canal tunnel in the UK, after Standedge Tunnel and Dudley Tunnel • the ninth-longest canal tunnel in the world • about 143 feet (43m) below ground level • roughly 18 miles (29km) from the northern end of the Grand Junction Canal at Braunston
Rounding the corner into Wolverton, you can’t help but be aware of the proximity of the railway, both as the high speed intercities thunder past on the right, but also on the left is one of the most amazing canal side murals you’re likely to see.
the Bill Billings mural
Wolverton itself, was one of the first innovative new rail towns, when in 1838, the London and Birmingham Railway Co chose the location to build a station here, Wolverton being roughly half way between the two cities. Back in the day, the station wasn’t just a ticket office and coffee kiosk, but as train travel wasn’t quite HS2, there were sumptuous facilities on site. Reading rooms and rest houses that passengers could disembark to use whilst the train was being serviced. And all that servicing required a workforce, so a whole community built up around the station. The company, now known as the London and Northwestern (LNWR) built the Wolverton Works, to build and maintain the system. It still houses the world’s oldest and longest continuously open standard gauge railway works, and it played a significant role in maintaining many military vehicles during WWII.
Nowadays the fast trains stop in Milton Keynes, and Wolverton is just a local stop. But it still remains home to the Royal train, as Queen Victoria set the trend housing her royal carriage here.
In the 1980’s, as part of the MK developement project, local artist Bill Billings was commissioned to create a mural along the Electrolux wall, celebrating local achievements. It was completed in 1986
The mural is said to be the longest in the country, its 160m long
there’s not much information about the mural online, but I can only imagine that this area of Northampton had a wealth of creativity industry and mechanical engineering skills, with an enthusiastic community to support it.
The mural suffered badly from vandalism and weather, so in 2011 a major restoration project began and we’re happy to report it still looks good today.
We didn’t stay overnight in Wolverton this time, but we were able to moor near the flats whilst I did the shopping.
The footbridge is supervised by 2 imposing sculptures also showcasing the towns heritage and progress, the railwayman is holding a Bloomer steam locomotive, which were built here at the Wolverton railway works in the 1850’s. ( nicknamed Bloomers – because they showed more of their wheels than earlier locomotives likened to the women who were wearing trousers showing more leg – as advised by American suffragette, Mrs Amelia Bloomer)
Mike Heron’s sculture with man holding the bloomer
And reaching ahead showcasing the evolution of the bicycle
It was time to move on from central Milton Keynes, so we took our time visiting some of the places we had been in 2017/18. Our first stop was for lunch at the Camphill cafe, just 5 minutes off the towpath. It’s always a pleasure to support ventures like this, where people with learning disabilities are supported and valued. Not only does the cafe serve great lunches, but there are several well run workshops on the site. Of course I was fascinated by the weaving shed and treated myself to a bag made from the fabric they had made. We also bought some very tasty bread and a jar of their honey.
It seems like MK likes to encourage its artists, and we took some time walking the Gyosei Art trail.
Just some of the art along the towpath from the gyosei trail
Whilst we were feeling so creative, we had the opportunity to meet up with a friend of mine who lives close enough to join us on board for a knit and natter
no excuse needed to knit and natter
And I proudly showed off my latest completed project, This Icelandic sweater is a gift for someone else, but you can bet I’ll be making something similar for me and Eric.
We moored in almost the same place as we had experienced our first real winter on the canal, in March 2018 when “The Beast from the East” stopped us in our tracks
spot the difference
Hoping we’ve had had our quota of being frozen in already this year, and i suspect Jules feels the same.
For many people Milton Keynes means concrete cows and roundabouts. But we’ve seen them before in 2018-when we got frozen in during the beast from the east, now for us, it’s about 15 miles of cruising around 2 sides of a square from Fenny Stratford through to Cosgrove. Ironically, its where we thought we would be for Christmas but getting frozen in at Leighton Buzzard put paid to that plan. And we were still struggling with ice at the beginning of February. Milton Keynes means ice to us.
But at least we had reached Campbell Park, closest to MK central. Milton Keynes was a Roman settlement, which in the 1967 became the biggest and last of the New Towns planned specifically to house the London overflow. Sadly for the older people of Buckinghamshire continued development has seen the surrounding villages swallowed up and when MK was granted city status in 2022, it covered more than 120 square miles. There are many who don’t like Milton Keynes but we suspect that a lot of those people have never actually visited the area and believe its urban sprawl focused on cars. We would disagree, there are 215 miles of dedicated footpaths. no one lives more than half a mile from access to the 5000 acres of parkland.
Campbell Park snowdrops
Admittedly some of the housing estates are the worst 1960s construction imaginable and there’s a general atmosphere of squalor and neglect, but there are just as many very attractive areas. Although we’re not sure how this property got planning permission in the middle of the shopping centre.
Its a lovely walk from the canal up to the centre, through Campbell park, theres a lot of impressive art work
the Light Pyramid, Chain Reaction and Onwards and Upwards
But we liked the lawn mowers the most
and no park is complete without flowers
Although the Milton Keynes Rose is a commemorative art installation, not a floral display, marking the serious and not so
We can never resist trying to see a place from the highest elevation so we took the lift up to the 14th floor of the Hotel la Tour to look down over Campbell park. Eric said it was too early in the day for cocktails….
Looking forward to some warmer days and being able to cruise a bit more now.
We said goodbye to 2022 quietly just above Leighton Lock, still feeling a bit washed out after our brush with covid. It would have been a nice place to stay, except we couldn’t get any tv reception. But when the New Year dawns with crisp clear blue sky, we couldn’t resist the desire to cruise.
January 1st 2023
But it was still cold, so we only clocked 2 miles and moored up just beyond the Soulbury 3 Locks.
Soulbury 3 locks
We’ve enjoyed nice meals there in the past but we try to avoid eating out on a bank holiday so gave it a miss this time, and found us a rural beauty spot instead.
Stoke Hammond
We mooched on slowly until we got to civilization at Fenny Stratford. We’d planned to spend a few days with family in Suffolk and this was a good place to arrange car hire. I went ahead first by train so I could see some friends as well, the train took me through Ely…. now theres a thought for another summers cruise….We’ve been aboard Firecrest since January 2017, thats 6 years, and still plenty of water left to explore.
Ely from the train
But for now we were back in Suffolk, where the Vikings arrived in their Long boats,
Frosty River Deben
And the fishermen still go out in little wooden boats
Aldeburgh
And we take the family out for breakfast at the farm cafe
Happy families
this is almost as far East in the country that you can get
Looking towards Thorpness
And looking north you can see where all the icy winds come whistling down to freeze the country… and the canals
Freezing Fenny
Oh no, another 10 days frozen in, we eventually managed to break free and move on.
But if the rest of the year is like January, we arent going to get very far. Its taken us a whole month to move 9 miles.
After enjoying the magic of snow and ice for over 2 weeks Eric went down with a stinking cold, two days later so did I… except it wasn’t a just a cold. After 2 years of escaping the dreaded Covid, it finally caught us. Being fully vaccinated, were leading pretty much our normal lifestyle, and to be honest we were surprised that we hadnt already had it. We’d had the odd snuffle, but each time I tested it came back negative. But there was something about the pounding headache accompanying this cold that prompted me to reveal the double line.
Hum. Not what we wanted to see
As luck would have it, knowing a thaw in the ice was imminent and we might be moving on, I had walked up to M&S and done a big Christmas food shop. I’d splashed out on some of their part cooked range and plenty of little nibbly bits, all with good use by dates. The only thing I’d forgotten to get was brussel sprouts, but it was only the 20th so there was plenty of time….
But it wasn’t to be. Covid knocked us for 6, the temperatures went up and the rain came down, the debris thrown onto the ice held on for as long as possible, whilst we retired under the duvet feeling sorry for ourselves.
It might have been a game for the kids, but theres going to be a lot of rubbish in the cut to foul our prop
And we can’t even say there was anything worth watching on tv this year. Our biggest worry was that we had just come through 2 weeks of water rationing. Using the local launderette and enjoying a swim and a shower at the leisure centre, making sure our tank lasted longer than our period of being frozen in. But even now, if we had felt well enough to move, morally, we felt it our duty not to go outside and share our germs, so yet again we were grateful that Firecrest had been built with a large water tank as we eeked out our supply to last another week. Fortunately fuel hadn’t been an issue during the freeze. Juel’s had delivered just as the ice was forming and then they also got stuck. But they were going past us a week after Eric succumbed so he masked up, unlocked the fuel cap and retreated back inside whilst they topped up the diesel. (£1.32l)
Juels fuels
And once the awful headache had passed I was able to get on with knitting my Christmas gnome.
Meet Gnova the gnome
Christmas Day was very subdued, Santa Claus hadn’t been able to do his usual stuff but we still managed an orange and a chocolate to start the day
And Id found something suitable for us to drink with lunch
We finally felt fit enough to make it to the water point on 27th. That was exactly 28 days since we last filled up. We reckon we could have managed another day or two, but my temperament was sorely frayed at not being able to have a proper wash. Good job we didn’t have much of a sense of smell
We’re now looking forward to a new year. Taking things easy cause we still feel washed out.
Dreaming of a White Christmas
Moving closer to town was a good move because as the temperatures dropped , the ice got thicker and we became well and truly stuck fast. Ironically when the ice is thinner it feels worse, because as it moves we hear the cracking, creaking and groaning as it moves against the hull. We try to smash the ice that’s close around the boat to give us a bit of wriggle room to float freely in but we were fighting a loosing battle.
We’ll not get through that
We could tell it was getting colder because the hoar frost was looking so pretty.
Hard to tell, Hoar Frost or Snow
And then we woke up to snow.
That’s a lovely sight to wake up to
Of course I wanted to go out to play instantly, but it was barely a few inches deep, if that.
Not quite deep enough for a snowman
the rough ground made it difficult to build a snowman so I gave up and walked into town instead
Leighton buzzard
Leighton Buzzard is a pretty town, with a good market on Tuesdays and Saturdays and at this time of year the salvation army band are playing carols as well.
But of course its always nice to come back to a snug warm boat
Amanda came for a visit as she lives reasonably close
Ladies that lunch
An ideal opportunity to go for a pub lunch at The Grove and a catch up
The forecast is set to warm up drastically, so its unlikely that we’ll get our white Christmas, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s still too much ice in the canal for us to break free
We meandered towards the outskirts of Leighton Buzzard wearing teeshirts during November’s unseasonal warmth of 18°, stopping along the way to enjoy the sheer beauty of our surroundings.
Below Seabrook Middle Lock
Shortly after we came across a long section with piles of earthworks, with bulldozers and reversing bleeps dominating the views. We called out to a local person to ask what was going on…. building a film set that will be in use for two years and then the countryside will be restored, but he was relinquishing his permanent mooring to find something more peaceful. We didn’t catch the name of this impending epic, but he had our sympathy.
Just above Ivinghoe Bottom Lock
We descended Grove Lock, and settled in for a 14 day stay.
On the Armco below Grove lock
And enjoyed the wonderful sunsets
until we awoke to find ourselves frozen in
Beautiful, but cold
There was still the occasional boat able to break through the ice to make progress. Luckily one of those were those amazing couple who run the Jules Fuels boats so we topped up with diesel. What a relief that was knowing that the forecast was only due to get colder.
There’s potential to get through that without too much damage
We also decided to take advantage of the channel that had been opened in the ice to get us a little closer to the centre of Leighton Buzzard. Another shrewd move.
I’m sitting here frozen in, telling myself to get on with sharing another blog post before I forget where we have been. Family and friends have played a significant part in our gentle autumnal cruising, as we took advantage of several close train stations for visiting. We left Apsley mill with the leaves still green back in October.
Cruising through Hemel Hempstead
During the next 10 weeks we have travelled all of 20 miles north through 40 locks, through rain, shine, wind, snow and ice. We spent an enjoyable two weeks in Berkhamsted
The Boat, Ravens Lane, Berkhamsted
A lovely little town that has embraced the canal running through it, where commercial sheep dip was first created.
And has some real history to explore with its 11th Century castle ruins
Berkhampsted castle, and improvised cricket pitch
And its quirky but genuine Canadian Kwakiutl totem pole, given to the people of Berkhamsted as a thankyou for the kindness shown by John Alsford, a local business man who owned the timber yard where it stands (now a residential area)
The totem pole,
And for the days when it rains so hard you’re glad you already live on a boat there’s the wonderful art deco Rex cinema, which has the comfiest seats I’ve ever enjoyed in a cinema as well as the best toilet graffiti
Things to see in the Ladies,
I went to see “Mrs Harris Goes to Paris,” a real feel good movie, And I took a trip to London to meet up with Amanda at the British Museum to look at the Egyptian artefacts
Me and Amanda outside the British Museum
We could easily have stayed put in “Berko”, we met friends, made new friends and thoroughly enjoyed our visit.
Me, Helen and Amanda
But it was time to move on and we found ourselves a wood to walk through. Even though it was now mid November there was still a lot of green to be seen in Ashridge Woods (easily reached from Dudswell mooring)
Almost Autumn in Ashridge
And it wasn’t just the leaves that were the wrong colour, when we got to CowRoast lock the water wasn’t just crystal clear, it had a blueish tinge to it, almost like an aquarium so clear that we could actually see the lock paddle mechanisms below the water level.
Makes a change from muddy Brown
We had reached the top of the Tring Summit and we would now be descending along our route. But we planted our pins at Tring Resevoirs and settled down for another 14 day stay. (Our header photo) Lots of lovely walks around the area, and a reasonable bus service into Tring.
Tring resevoirs
Knowing that Eric was in a nice place, (good internet, and plenty of solar) I jumped ship and caught the train up to the Lakes to have a week with mum, I also went to see my dentist, but didn’t confess to eating jam and scones or drinking creamy hot chocolate.
Threlkeld village hall cafe, The place to go just outside Keswick
And I think whilst I was in the Lakes, winter arrived
