Mid Warks YC to Hockley Heath Wharf

We had to leave the wonderful hospitality of MWYC at 0900 in the morning. This was the arranged time even though it was raining we had to leave. We said a grateful goodbye and The Best Mate took the tiller with Suepercrew and navigated to Kingswood Junction

where I waited under an oak tree and met them with a bike. 

We moored up in the space vacated by 118 year old M .58 ft out and 57 foot in! We had a cup of tea. 

The sky brightened up and we decided to ascend Lapworth Locks.

The rain started again after the first lock, lock 21. A Bottom paddle is broken and has been since April. Apparently they have no stop planks and cannot drain the pound because of moorings. 

By lock 17 the sun broke through and we had the company of two CRT Vlockies, Roger and Judy.

They stayed with us until lock 6 where we stopped for lunch.

The rain had started again and we did not get going for quite a while after the meal on board.

In sunshine, The Best Mate and Suepercrew continued through the two lift bridges to a mooring at Hocley Heath. I cycled back to the car and drove to the Wharf to meet them.

8 miles,  19 locks, 2 lift bridges, 5.1/2 hours

25 May 2025 Napton to Saltisford Junction

We pulled off our overnight mooeing at about 7.00 and were turning onto the Warwick and Birmingham secrion of the Grand Union Canal by 8 am. This was not without slapping the side and thumping the towpath at Wigrams Turn! We worked down Calcutt Locks and Stockton flight before lunch at The Two Boats beckoned. This pub has one of the best selections of real ale on the canal and I was ready for a pint of London Pride. Our  crew gave the buffalo burger and home made chilli 5 stars!

After lunch The Best Mate and Suepercrew left to return home and we continued through Leamington Spa amd Warwick to a mooring just past Saltisford Junction. 

We marvelled at the large number of planted coir rills that have sprouted along thus stretch of canal. It was modernised in 1932 with concrete pile and capping to 7ft depth and 4ft 6 " dredge. Water voles are not known for their ability to bore through concrete but someone has decided that they need to be prepared with welcomong coir roll hotels. I asked CRT at Crick who pays for this folly. I was assured that it is funded from donations from  well meaning companies with money to dissipate from their social responsibility budgets. Maybe I am wrong and this wull attract voles from the near by rivers Leam and Avon.

 

The planting in the rolls will eventually produce a reed bed like this. 

Reed beds require managing. Having re3ed ingress the canal to this extent, and on a bend too is, in my opinion, not safe.

The remaining crew returned home by the 1942 train.

17.1/2 miles, 14 locks , 9 hours

  

Birdingbury Wharf Bridge No 21 to The Wharf Inn, Fenny Compton

I am back on the right side of the stoppages at Napton Locks.

This morning I set off for the Wharf in the car and then got a bus to The Boat Inn, Stockton via Southam. Getting there I had crossed the County border into Warwickshire and my Oxfordshire bus pass, valid on this bus from Banbury was not valid in Warwickshire because I was "twirley". I paid out the £2.70. The plan was to get a breakfast in Southam at the No19 Cafe where I have breakfasted between buses before. But today I was greeted by the sign that informed me "Closed on Mondays"! I was expecting to get a 1000 calories inside me to fuel a day in the boat precluding the need to stop to make a meal. So I went in the Co-op and bought some refreshments: BLT sandwich, pukka pie and scotch eggs. Handing my Co-op card I was told "you are in Warwickshire, those cards are not valid we have our own!" They took my Co-op credit card ok.

The target for the day was The Wharf at Fenny Compton. I had convinced myself that I had done this single-handed before. I am not so sure now.  All went well as I approached Calcutt Locks as there was another boat, NB Albert, just ahead and I could join them to aid me up the locks. However, there was no water in the pound between the Bottom Lock and Middle Lock. Not even enough to get over the cill. So a crew member was dispatched to let some down from the next pound. Boats do move better on water!

Just after the flight I was hailed by a BCF member who had an AWCC Burgee for me. He had been asked to take it to Banbury but never got there so in seeing SONFLOWER in his windows shouted out. Just in time as they are moving to Wales next Saturday!

So to Napton Junction and a sharp turn onto home waters: the South Oxford Canal. At Napton a CRT employee was adjusting water levels at the bottom lock. He stopped what he was doing and emptied it to let me through and then told me that there were boats coming down who had been trapped behind a butty that they had just released from the notoriously narrow Lock 9. It had been stuck since 3.30pm on Sunday. Progress was slowed some more by a LNBP boat nb Lancelot which was moored in a very short pound with a central bridge between the third and fourth Lock. The crew had to abandon shop as they could not progress to the Braunston Base with the butty stuck in the lock. It was not a very good place to moor as two boats are unable to pass with ease with the bridge narrows and a boat on the lock landing. We managed, just.

The rest of the flight was slow and steady though I was pleased to have two of the locks set for me by oncoming boats and pleased not to have to shut the top lock top gate as a boat was coming in. I was not so pleased to stub a toe on the roof gangplank rack while getting to the ladder of Lock 15.

I cleared Top Lock at Marston Doles at 1520h. With the loss of the hour on Sunday, I would not have enough daylight to get to Fenny Compton but I pressed on. I did consider a mooring at Brige 131, close to the main A423, but there was no suitable piling here so I pressed on, the last two miles in darkness. The sunset was spectacularly beautiful but I would have valued it to be an hour later today!

I arrived at 1810 and moored by torch light outside The Wharf Inn. I am still "Sober for October"! I limped to the car which I was very glad to get into.

                                         14 miles, 12 locks,  7h 40minutes

Long Itchington to Birdingbury Wharf

Not far today: Grabbed a half day to boat up Stockton Locks.

The bottom lock was set for us but the next was not. How does that happen? The next four were slightly against us in that leakage had filled them a little bit. Then we met a pair of hire boats and swapped locks with them. It took ages to convince one of the crew that we only needed one gate left open. There were boats in the next lock too and also in top lock so we had quite an easy time of it.

We stopped for a bottle of gas at Kate Boats and then moored just past Birdingbury Bridge.

CRT have prepared Winter Moorings here. I wondered why. There are 400 yards of empty moorings on Stockton Long Term Mooring site!

The Best Mate enjoyed the tiller work, even though she hates driving a car, and I enjoyed the footwork and paddle work. It is really good to be boating.
                                        
                                            1.1/2miles, 10 locks, 3 hours

The Moorings at Myton to Long Ichington

We needed to move off the pub moorings. Well you can't stay for ever and as I am "sober for October" there was no point in staying any longer so we thought we would move to a suitable 14 day mooring nearby.

While preparing the boat to leave my sister (on nonagenarian mother care duties) called to say Mum was wobbly so she would stay a little longer and get her to the doctor this evening. My decision maker was alert to the possibility that we could now go a bit further and make some progress toward the goal of getting south of Napton locks before the winter stoppages.

The Best Mate agreed with this cunning plan and willingly took the tiller while I returned once more to the car and drove it to Radford Bottom Lock via a Sainsbury's local for a couple of baguettes for lunch.

All went very well with my sister updating me on plans and with great assistance from two retired RAF/civil airline pilots (Concorde and Airbus) who lock wheeled and shared locks from Wood lock to Bascote top Staircase Lock. We had good fun with them but the continual walking and winding, pushing and pulling does take a toll and the Best Mate was almost rigidly fixed to the tiller for four hours.

We also met new BCF members who were working in the opposite direction after the Staircase.

The last leg:200 yards from the mooring spot

So the boat is now near the Two Boats pub. And we are home and hoping that tests tomorrow show Mum is not too bad.

Another thing we had forgotten in assessing whether we could go further today was that I was supposed to be at a management company leaseholders' meeting at lunchtime (I am Company Secretary): oops! Apologies were given by phone but I needed to do it in person on return!

What a busy life we lead! And tomorrow we say "goodbye" to Jo, a very good friend who was taken to heaven far too early for us.

                                                                              7.1miles, 10 locks   5 hours

Budbrooke Junction to The Moorings at Myton

I took my son and family to the boat today. We had a plan. Just a short cruise, a long lunch and some geocaching. But it depended on me getting the car to the lunch pub, "Pub of the Year" winner The Moorings at Myton.   Not an early start but soon were down through Cape Locks. The two grandsons were not able to turn the paddle gear but were well able to open and close the gates. The females of the party stayed on the boat. As the boat full of crew glided away for the bottom lock I started to go back to move the car. I felt in my pocket: NO KEYS! So hollering and shouting I ran after the boat. Fortunately, the Best Mate had gone beliw to light the gas and found the gas was out and empty so they hove to to change the gas bottle. Otherwise, I would have been running for miles. There were no moored boats to slow them down.

Well with gas  bottle changed and keys in picket we parted again in opposite directions.

Parked at the pub, I dawdled down the tow-path toward Sonflower and she was dawdling toward me. I had a nice chat with a chao admiring an old Victorian building which he said was due to come down. He thought it should be preserved. I told him to make an offer! One never knows what scheme or purpose it might be suited for: no good just dreaming and wondering. I once knew a man who said he would buy a castle to turn it into a conference centre after some Cistercian monks had left it. Where there's a scheme there's a schemer! And he was going to do it all on borrowed money.

Sonflower arrived at teh spot where we were admiring the view but my son was not with it. He was buried under a hedge near Leamington Aqueduct trying to find a geocache in the roots of a tree. We hovered in a bridge narrows for him to arrive: "Sorry to be so long: wrong tree!" he said.

A little way further on another geocache was sought under Bridge 44 and then we moored outside "The Moorings" and took up our table for six for a very pleasant lunch. The Ubu Golden Ale looked lovely but it is still October so I'm sober! The Kent Air Ambulance is benefiting.

                                                                                  2 lock, 2.75miles, 2 hours

Hatton Flight

Today, with Alex as crew, and with the BEST MATE On nonagenarian mother-in-law duties we returned to the Top Lock LT moorings and took SONFLOWER down.

Getting there meant a car journey and a two mile walk up the locks from the layby. On the walk up we saw a CRT volunteer lock keeper and pointed out to him that the pound between locks 29 and 30 was about two feet lower than usual. He was not at that time letting water down but assisting a boat going up. He said he would have a look.

 We set off and filled and emptied two locks before the volunteer popped his head over a gate beam and told me that he had let some water down and we would be fine now. He was on his own today. There were two other volunteers in the "Welcome Centre" but I could not see anyone for them to welcome at this point of the day.

At the start of the steep flight where the locks are close together and dead in line I noticed that the tower of the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick is straight ahead.  You have to zoom in quite a bit to see it so I have done it for you:

I wondered whether the engineer had deliberately made it a focal point. The church has been there since 1128. We had done about 10 locks with Alex on the bank and me on the tiller when we came across nb Lilly May who was moored in a very short pound between Lock 37 and 36. The crew said that they were having a half time cuppa. They declined to join us in lock 36. Alex and I changed roles. We waited at the next lock for them. There was a boat coming up the next lock so we had nowhere to go anyway. By now they had taken on board more crew including two tiny children, one toddling and one babe in arms. I looked the other way when the toddler was toddling along the top beams of the gates and helping with paddle gear and gate opening! Alex was boating at age 3.1/2 but never without a life jacket.

They shared locks with us for five locks and then moored on a longer pound between Lock 31 and Lock 30 that has a length of armco in the centre. We continued down alone but had the assistance of two boats that came up.

We moored just short of Budbrooke Junction.

                                                         2. 1/4 miles, 21 locks, 4 hours

Shrewley to Hatton

As we were at a meeting in Hatton Yard CRT offices this afternoon we asked another member of the meeting to drop us at Shrewley Post Office so that we could move SONFLOWER nearer Hatton Top Lock. We are very grateful for the lift.

We were on 48 hour moorings and had come to the end of our concessionary 7 day overstay period.

The plan was to move to 14 day moorings.

But in nearing Hatton top lock we found that there are no 14day moorings between St John's Bridge 55 and the waterpoint at the top lock. What to do?

It was now after half past four and a minimum of four hours can be anticipated for the passage through the 21 lock flight. Not an option!

There was a gap of 12 ring spaces (approx 10m apart) on the tow-path designated "Long Term Moorings, permit holders only", then two small boats and a gap of 3 rings, approximately 90ft, then a single boat before the water point.

We put SONFLOWER in the 90ft gap.

At Hatton Top Long Term Moorings

So another email to CRT Enforcement has been sent. I hope that they agree that I had no choice.

I have arranged crew for Saturday Morning to make passage down the flight. The Best Mate has volunteered to take on the nonagenarian care duties.

Shrewley Tunnel SW Portal 48 hour mooring to Hatton Top L T Mooring, 1.5miles, 0.5 hour

Car Park to Car park: Galleon Bridge to Blisworth Tunnel North Portal

Having returned to Banbury for our WWC Commissioning at Cropredy yesterday we returned to the boat on the quasi 48hr mooring at Galleon Bridge in case it was not a 14 day one!

First a conversation with Tom, a angler who would have liked to be boating to Birmingham to get near a sister who he was in contact with after 40 years but his gearbox had broken down. He just needed to tell his story!

Then we joined nb Dire Straits in Cosgrove lock. In their honour Alex played "Money for Nothing!" and other tracks from Brothers in Arms while in the lock. Here we unloaded the folding bike and I peddled back the way we had come to get the car from the Ouse Valley Country Park car park and drive to Blisworth. The Best Mate and Alex cruised the lock free pound while I drove, aided by the satnav "Sheila", toward the Tunnel Hill Riding Stables. Just past here I found a small but neatly hidden car park and a path down to the North Portal of the Blisworth tunnel. I walked down and checked out the spot and was pleased to find rings and a piled landing stage with no signed mooring restriction. An orange ball bounced past me into the canal and a lady with a beagle followed close behind. As she fished for the ball she dropped her extending dog lead in the canal. "No problem" I said and returned to the car for a magnet to fish for the lead and a pole to help retrieve the ball. Unfortunately no amount of magnetic fishing could latch onto the steel clip which was the only bit of steel on the lead and reel. I returned up to the car to give her a piece of rope that I keep in the car for coralling loose horses and she used that as a lead to get her beagle and ball back to the car. I felt such a failure!

I then rode over the Tunnel Hill and down into Stoke Bruerne to meet SONFLOWER and crew at the services below the locks. We worked up the locks just ahead of FMC Motty Boat "Owl" (1928), with a 1951 Kelvin Engine, and her Butty boat "Hampton"(1912). Their advance party of a female crew member with two life jacketed dogs helped us through and reset the lock in their favour. We stopped for lunch in the long pound between Locks 15 and 14 and they passed, chugfully.

After the last two locks the flight we continued to enter the wet and dark  Blisworth Tunnel and came out to our mooring. I tried to find the lead with the sea searcher: no luck again. Here Alex celebrates as the Best Mate sizes up the climb to the car park. As we left, it started to rain.

Galleon Bridge No 68 to North Portal Blisworth tunnel:
9 miles, 5 furlongs and 8 locks, 1 tunnel              7 hours

Dog in a lock! and other excitement: Ivinghoe to Old Wolverton

We set off in time to get a bite of lunch at The Grove Lock. I am not sure whether the pub is known for its dog friendliness but a dog owner was on his way there with his dog extending lead while we were descending the lock. Suddenly behind us was a whippet on a string on the cill, water cascading through the leaking closed gate and perturbing him somewhat. Gently backing the boats toward him spooked him more and he jumped into the water: the most dangerous thing for him to do with two narrowboats backing and props sucking in water to the swim. We feathered the props and gradually drifted in, getting him back on the cill. A crew member of the Wyvern hire boat bravely whisked him up and handed him back to a very pleased owner. They were seen in the garden together enjoying the sunshine and a beer.

I have never shared a lock with a dog before and don't really want to again.

The afternoon was slightly uneventful after that and we enjoyed the fun at Soulbury Three Locks amongst six Wyvern boats going down and two coming up. It was just the place to observe that the seriously good training of the crews that we witnessed earlier in the day at Leighton lock really did not permeate to every member of the crew. We advised and helped as necessary but did not want to be too intrusive in the proceedings. Suggesting that the crew member opened the paddle to let the water out rather than just standing there looking pretty is hard to do tactfully though! Two of eh helmsmen just did not seem to be interested in the lock operation at all, staring into space instead of paying attention to the water and positioning of their craft.

Dinner was taken outside the Three Locks Pub and we stayed on for their Friday evening offering of Beatles, Hollies and Stones covers (live music). Our musician called it "guitar karaoke" as the two guitarists, one tele, one strat, played and sang along to drums and bass from a box!

We set off in the morning at a gentile time of 8am. At Stoke Hammond lock a hire crew were moored on the lock mooring but were not, at this time, ready to descend. A lady crew member said that she would like to watch us do the lock as we "looked professional". Her children were buzzing around the whole time too. We told her we all have started in hire boats and made a load of mistakes! But this time it went as it should and we parted wishing them a lovely holiday and assuring them that Milton Keynes was not such a bad place from the canal side! We  stopped for breakfast just before Fenny Stratford and then worked through the lock with the one foot fall and silly swing bridge in the middle. Here I disembarked the bicycle and left the tiller in my son's hands to steer her around Milton Keynes while I went to Bletchley Station and took a train to Cheddington to cycle back to where our car was parked. I then drove to The Galleon at Old Wolverton and waited for the boat to arrive with a beer and nachos.

We rendezvoused as planned and finished the boating day with a meal in The (All New) Galleon Inn.

Ivinghoe Bridge 123 to Galleon Bridge No 68   23.3/4 miles, 12 locks 1 Swingbridge  

Past Marsworth Junction

 We decided to move the boat to allow the Tring Anglers to teach their novices to fish safely and considerately without disturbing the occupants of boats moored nearby and the boats using the flight. Hopefully by doing that we gave them enough room to keep clear of the lock landings.


Our first task was to refresh the water tank because the water had started to taste metallic. We did this very quietly and carefully so as not to disturb this local fisher.


This we did successfully. The skies darkened and our tummies rumbled so we moved the boat away from the water point to the opposite side of the canal and hid it behind the grass on the towpath.

We retired to the Anglers Retreat for lunch al fresco. As we finished our meal the rain started to fall in a serious style so we decided to leave SONFLOWER exactly where she was. No use getting wet again.

The hum of Contractor's strimmers was heard through the Yard Bridge so we might be able to see her again soon. Alternatively we might have hay on the gunwhales again.

                                                                          1/2 mile; 1 lock                 1 hour

Bulbourne to Marsworth

Sounds like nowhere at all doesn't it?

We had arrived at the boat in the evening. We went to the Grand Junction Arms and found that they do not cook on Sunday evenings so supper was dry roasted peanuts, cashews and hand cooked crisps accompanied by Local Ale. We retired to bed early and decided to get up early.

HIPPY PAPY BTHUTH BTHUTH BTHUTHDY

In the morning it was raining! But with only the morning available to move to the next place before lunch with friends 45 miles away we had to do it. All except one of the five locks we worked were against us and one had a bottom gate left open as well.

On exiting Lock 40 we noticed a mooring space which is conveniently near the CRT Startop car park where we had left the car the night before (Pay and Display £3.00 for 24 hours). SO we pulled in and started to hammer home the mooring pins. Then I noticed the sign on the bank asking us not to moor there (between Lock 39 and Lock 40) for a Beginners Event by Tring Anglers.

Wet to the skin and running out of morning we were not going to move to the next 14 day mooring, about half a mile and two locks further on.

So there we are.

                                                                        1 mile, 5 locks, 2 very wet hours

Cowroast to Bulbourne

What a beautiful day! As we walked from Cowroast Lock toward SONFLOWER on her mooring nb Enigma was slowly progressing toward the lock where a pair were coming down."We'll be four minutes" I called, hoping they would wait. With the Best Mate with me we set off from opposite the Esso Garage on Tring Road (I must tell Nick because he still calls it the Texaco Garage) as they were ascending and we had to wait for another pair of boats to descend before we could work up, on our own. Nb Enigma was waiting for the water point as we passed her so waiting for us would not have inconvenienced the but would have delayed the pair of boats by four minutes.

I had a nice chat with the crew of a canoe that was about to be launched into the top level too. 

We cruised the Tring top level very sedately enjoying the sunshine and warmth of the June day. The cutting is overshadowed for quite a distance but sunglasses were essential today. There was a huge number of teenagers with huge backpacks and OS maps walking the tow path in groups of six. Obviously out for their Duke of Edinburgh Award Gold expedition. It brought back memories of walking the Surrey Hills and woods around Abinger on my Boy Scout First Class two day Hike, the equivalent in 1964!

There were a few boats on the move today and plenty of anglers enjoying the warmth too. But no sight of the kingfishers who nest in the cutting, I expect the hiking activity pushed them on to the river to fish for lunch.

The canoe had got ahead and cruised quicker and was tied against a water filled CRT hopper opposite the CRT Bulbourne yard. Why towpath side? Your guess is as good as mine. We found a mooring just passed Bridge 136 that was exactly the right size for us. The bank is steep here but the rings are conveniently spaced for our length and corresponded exactly to our mooring points fore, aft and centre.

Here is Sonflower on the mooring with a view of the lovely and delightfully restored FMC working boat nb Holland in the background.

We went to the Grand Junction pub for a delightful lunch. This independent pub has its own vegetable garden to supply its kitchens and sources local produce to support its home cooked menu.  A very enjoyable meal with local Tring Brewery Ridgeway Ale.

After this all we had to do was walk back to Cowroast to retrieve the car. An uneventful but enjoyed walk with numerous cyclists and more of the back packing hikers, one of whom was heard to mutter that she would not finish the hike! On over hearing this I could not stop myself encouragingly saying "Of course you can!" "Thank you", she politely responded. I hope she did.

At Cowroast Lock we were fortunate to meet up with the man from the lock cottage. No longer a lock keeper but an independent gardener who works 8 acres and still finds time for the most beautifully kept English country cottage garden. So much colour and four hives of bees, one with a newly arrived swarm of bees establishing itself. We had an interesting discussion n the causes of the decline in bees, which he put down to the increase in digital communication activity confusing the bees navigation systems. A real possibility.

           3 miles, 1 lock: 2 hours boating, 2 hours walking and 2 hours eating and chatting

On my own

Hemel Hempstead to Cowroast

An early start today.. I pulled away from the mooring near Old Fishery Lane Bridge just before 6.30 am and I was on my own. The Best Mate has had some problems which are under investigation and slowing her down. I had no available other mate. The 14 day rule loomed and so I had to do it alone.

I decided on Berkhamsted as being the next place. It has good connection to Hemel Hempstead via the very useful 500 Aylesbury to Watford bus. This is upgraded to having 240v sockets and WiFI if needed!

So lock by lock I progressed, enjoying the peace of the canal as we passed through the green and pleasant corridor provided by Boxmoor and the valley of the River Bulbourne. Only the roar of the West Coast main line intermittently interrupted the chorus of bird song. I had no hearing aids with me today so their best notes were probably lost on me.

I was forced to stop at the aptly named Sewer Lock, opposite the Sewage Works outfall, to clear a rope and numerous plastic bags that had wrapped round the propeller. Usually prop fouling in SONFLOWER is cleared by reversing the drive and spinning it off. Not this one. I was unable to remove it with my boat hook so had to open the weed hatch (for the first time ever) to cut it free. The rope was a knotted blue loop as some people use to moor on the "wrong type of piling" that is common in the Grand Union Canal.

As I entered the lock after my half hour's labour of love down the hatch I was caught up by a member of the crew from one of two boats that were following me. She told me they were stopping for breakfast and I was hopeful that the other boat would be continuing. No such luck, they were staying together. So on I went, lock by lock, on my own.

Excitement came at Berkhamsted Top Lock 53 where a white wide beam was coming out as I waited on the lock landing to enter. I asked the crew to leave only one gate open to make it easier for me and the crew obliged. The steerer then plowed straight into Sonflower bow on and lodged the boat between the boat and the bank. I rushed back to release the centre rope from the bollard and the wide beam proceeded to push SONFLOWER back toward Hemel Hempstead with nobody aboard. The steerer told me that he couldn't ease up on power or the engine would die and he had no reverse. I held on to the centre rope and followed the boats down the canal until they parted and the wide beam managed to turn away and I got SONFLOWER back to the bank to board her and enter the lock. They continued their way to become a danger to any craft they meet. Why not maintain their craft in good working order! No damage to SONFLOWER but I ended up with a piece of ply and a chunk of fibreglass filler on my bow deck.

It must have been wide beam moving day. At Gas Works Lock No 1 (Northchurch Lock No 51) the young female crew of WB Jaylee from Milton Keynes  decided to close the gate I had opened and fill the lock as I was coming out of Gas Works Lock No 2. I was left in the middle of the 200m long pound floating with my arms crossed until the gates opened. I shouted to the crew: "Leave one gate open, please: the one I opened!" They were clueless and descended the steps on both sides to get back on board! The master of the craft was more aware and told them to go back up and close the gates after I had entered and then to walk to the next lock after the boat. (A friendly boater who was crossing the lock to his own boat opened the other gate for them as I left the last lock with one gate open). Even when I climbed the ladder, windlass in hand they could not understand the failure in ettiquette that had taken place. I thanked them for their help.

At Bushes Lock No 50 I must have been tired. I failed to tie SONFLOWER or take a rope with me when I went to open the gate as the lock looked empty. The gate would not budge so I opened the paddle and washed SONLOWER away from the lock without me aboard! I shut the paddle immediately bit she was out of reach. I ran down the towpath to a moored boat hoping to find a boat hook. I borrowed a broom from their bow deck and managed to hook a fender, pull her back to with in the bridge and get on board. A panic moment. I tied her up again, did the job properly and when she was in the lock and safe I returned the broom. As I left the lock I was pleased to meet up with friends from nb AMY EM. They were moored at Cowroast and were walking into Berkhamsted, just to show themselves that they could. They were going to get a bus back. They told me there were quite a few boats moored at Northchurch Top Lock, my target for the day.

As informed there were four boats there, two breasted up, and taking up all the rings and the right type of piling.  I continued cruising, with an exciting glimpse of a kingfisher on the way, to a mooring opposite the Tring Road Texaco Garage, just below Cowroast Lock No 46. Favourably the right type of piling and I just couldn't manage another lock on my own.

                                                        6miles, 16 locks, 1 swing bridge; 9 hrs and 30 mins

Nick says that this cruise should have taken 6 1/2 hrs so I am quite a slow coach on my own

(NO) New Technology

Uxbridge to Hemel Hemsted

We have just had two very pleasant days of boating from Mill Road Bridge No 187 (aka Gas Works Bridge 187 and Cowley Mill Road Bridge 187) to Old Fishery Lane Bridge no 148

Regular readers know that I was frustrated with the 3 dongle to connect with the internet.   I have invested in a 4G mobile wireless router from Maplin. I read the instructions fully and tried it out in the lounge at home. It works a treat with my little tablet, Sony Experia and Samsung phones. The instructions said to charge for at least four hours so I put it on charge overnight.

I left it on charge when we left to go to the boat in the morning so have had two days of internet free cruising!

                                                                                    18miles, 27 locks, 14 hours

Bletchley to Leighton Buzzard

4 April 2016
We drove to Leighton Buzzard and had a dickens of a job finding somewhere to park near Tesco. Only 3 hours allowed in Tesco, 1.1/2 in Aldi, 2 hours in Waitrose, 2hours on street parking so we ended up in a multi story at £6.50 for over 5 hours. "Still cheaper than a £70 fine" my First Mate for the day philosophically mused.

Then a 70 bus to Bletchley Bus Station and a longer than necessary walk to the boat via Bletchley Centre and following directions to the canal from a postman.

The boat was ok and so we put the kettle on and prepared her to depart. It was sunny when we left at 11.45am but showers followed occasionally through our uneventful cruise to Stoke Hammond lock. Here my First Mate for the day, Stuart, helmed the boat and I worked the lock. Stuart has experience of SONFLOWER from the past having cruised on her with his wife on several occasions.

We saw quite a bit of wild life. A pair of mandarin ducks were probably the highlight but a heron stood firm on the bank as we passed and we watched a wheeling buzzard for a time getting ever higher and higher. A moorhen guarded her three chicks in a reed bed and ducks chased each other around the skies.

We moored below Soulbury Three Locks and went to the Three Locks pub for a very nice lunch. The ale was very nicely conditioned and enjoyed by us both.

John a cheery CRT Volunteer prepared and helped us through the locks. He skillfully used the off side gate paddles to keep us against the near wall so we only used one gate but were not unduly slowed by only using the ground paddles on one side which is my usual careful modus operandae. Here Stuart helms the boat in the Soulbury Bottom Lock while John closes the gate behind him.

Having risen the 20 feet at Soulbury we cruised on to Leighton Lock. This is just before the Wyvern Shipping Company hire base and training on lock working was in full swing and there was a party of schoolboys fishing for carp at the lock entrance. When I say fishing for carp, their gear and bait indicated that this was their intention but the location was definitely not where I would expect any self respecting carp to be at that time of day! Their gear was good and new and I had the feeling that they were in their first outing. They littered the place with wrappers from Tesco barbequed chicken which I picked up, put in their carrier bag and gave to them to take home.    

Sonflower waited for the hire boat pair to come out and then we worked through, The enthusiasm of the next crew to open the paddles to fill the lock was calmed by my shout "Hey, that's my boat in there! Not until we are ready!" Sometimes there can be too much help on hand!

We thanked Wyvern Shipping for their help and negotiated their base where boats were moored four abreast leaving little room to negotiate the floating tree trunk that happened to be in the remaining passage. As we left the base we heard the first chiffchaff of the Spring singing in the tree tops over their car park.

We then looked for a mooring as the sky darkened again. Long term moorings abounded until the 2hour linted shopping mooring at Tesco: thence through  Bridge 114 and past the services to the Leighton Linslade Visitor moorings. These are signed "14 days per Year"! Where did CRT get the authority to make that sort of a declaration? I bet the hire boats are moored there waiting for turn around day more than that each year. We moored between a narrowboat and a wide beam, closed up the boat and went to retrieve the car as the rain started in anger.

8 miles, ½ furlongs and 5 locks  in a day mooring at 5.30pm.

Hatton to Long Itchington

Here we are leaving Hatton Flight behind us. It is Wednesday Morning. We went to Kate Boats in Warwick and enquired what moorings were like around there. We parked the car in a cul de sac opposite and walked to Bridge 51 where SONFLOWER was waiting for us. We then went back throughtthe two Cape Locks and stopped for water at the water point above the locks.



It seemed to take ages to fill but gave us the opportunity to talk to the boaters n=moored mearby. They were from Long Itchington but had broken theior coupling. They s=asked us of we could take a couple of bags of rubbish with us as they had no way of getting it to a refuse station. They were waiting for srares I think. They looked as thoughtthey had been waiting a long time.

When full we left the locks and our next stop was Kate Boats for a pump out.

There are no moorings nearby and Fran took the tiller and navigated the boat toward Tesco at Bridge 46. I drove the car round and waited for her to arrive. We moored on rings at Emscote Bridge No 46 at 1215. Got in the car, with two banners to dispatch to BCF members for the IWA National Festival stand, and got in the car.

2miles, 2 locks 2 hours


THURSDAY

1130, stopped playing Boccia and washed the cups up after a meet of the Oasis Boccia Club.

1159 arrived at The Cuttle Inn, parked and entered the bar. Ordered drinks
1210 Ordered two Prawn Baguettes: plenty of time until the bus to Warwick leaves at 1250. Scheduled arrival at Tesco will be 1332 (according to traveline)

1235 Ordered the baguettes "to go".
1245 left the pub with baguettes foil wrapped and chips in plastic takeway containers.
1250 stood at bus stop and ate chips.
1259 Bus arrives, chips consumed.
1315 Bus arrives in Leamington where we change and wait for a X17 to Warwick.
1347 Bus arrives (approx 35 minutes late), They should run every 15 minutes
1359 Arrive Emscott Bridge No 46.
1405 We slip the mooring. The Best Mate serves the Baguettes, No complaints there. They were lovely. Nick's planner estimates the cruise to be 6 hours. ETA 8pm! This is the starting time of a meeting I have arranged in Banbury! I check the wash: not breaking. I increase the engine revs a little more.
1509 we arrive at Radford Bottom Lock to see a boat closing the top gate and leaving. We hope he waits at the next lock. He does! And we are then in the company of a little Sea Otter named Waterloo Sunrise he can't be Waterloo sunset, although the first line "Thank you for the days," is in musical notation on the side too, because there was already a Waterloo Sunset in the Sea Otter Club.
1815 We are moored at Cuttle Bridge No 25.

In plenty of time to get back to Banbury to continue our busy lives.

It was a lovely time on the boat.



8 miles, 10locks 4 hours

Birmingham to Hatton

I took a friend (Owl) who hasn't been boating before to Birmingham by train. A quick stop in the city centre to collect bacon, eggs, bread, milk and mushrooms and we arrived at Cambrian Wharf. We turned the boat and headed out of the Venice of the North.

I gave Owl the tiller as we left Gas street Basin and he gradually learned the lefty and righty bit about how a boat turns. It is all "flat" to the top of Lapworth Flight on the selected route home so we had a good chance that he would get the hang of it before he had to use it in real boaty situations like passing in a very small pound while turning to enter a lock on a bend. "Left a bit now back to the middle and a little bit further right to stop the turn and then back to the middle etc etc" we weaved all the way to King's Norton Junction.

Emerging from Brandwood Tunnel.

Traffic was light and we made good progress with "breakfast" on the Stratford Canal past Yardley and thence on to Wedges Bakery at Bridge 20.A must stop place. Back on the boat we had scotch eggs and cake (a custard slice for me and bread and butter pudding for Owl)

We stopped at The wharf Inn next. We enjoyed the Slaters Ale but the fish and chips left us disappointed. We noticed a chippy three or four doors further up the road and thought we would have been better off going there.

We stopped overnight above the Lapworth Top Lock. as the sun set.

Today started at 0130. "Can you hear that noise?" Owl said. I can't hear a thing after taking my hearing aids out for the night. "The toilet is oveflowing onto the bathroom floor" Owl continued. The flush had been left on and indeed the tank was full. I pumped out a bit of water but then we went back to bed, using facilities available on the towpath. I didn't get back to sleep quickly with canal maps and pump out facilities between Lapworth and Banbury going around my head. I heard birds sing (loudly) before I got to sleep again. The alarm woke me at 7am. I got the reserve portapotti out of the top box and pumped out the oveflowed water from the bilge. Then we started on the locks.



Half way down the flight we met a man bow hauling his boat through the locks. He was on his way to Staffordshire without an engine. I mentioned that the last long distance engineless voyager I had encountered was a woman who was pole-ing her shell to Staffordshire. "When?" he asked. " about 5 years ago", I said. He confirmed this to be his wife!

We entered the last lock at about 1130 and and were on our way on the level again. We moored at Hatton Top Lock at 2 pm.

Visit to the Centre

I have just been to the Centre of Milton Keynes.

Not terribly interesting I hear you say people go to the centre of cities all the time. Yes, but this was with a purpose other than shopping!

I joined other interesting stakeholders to examine and work on the 357 responses that Canal and River Trust received in their recent SE MOORINGS CONSULTATION. 357 responses is quite a lot. C&RT told us that approx 8000 boats visit the SE waterways each year so that is a good proportion. In respect to "for or against" C&RT reported a 50-50 result!

There was a great deal of boating experience and opinion in the room this afternoon to examine proposals for Oxford, Banbury, Foxton and Thrupp. Another workshop is being held on Thursday to look at four locations on the GU south. Hopefully a sensible boating solution will be implemented to solve the "problem" of increasing boat numbers.

All agreed that the essence of visitor moorings management is enforcement of the rules, not new rules for the sake of it.

Happy New Year

Ok, so it's late! I am sorry for that but it is sincere.

I haven't posted for a long while. The boat has not moved and nothing much has been happening. But we have been boating. Well two of SONFLOWER's crew have. We finished off the last year with a little exercise on the wide locks from Bascote Staircase to Fosse Locks. With the walk there and the walk back about a 5.5mile walk to move some of the blubber that one of the crew has built up over the Christmas period and to blow away the cobwebs and stiffness from sitting at a computer for the other. It all helped friends who need to move on. Sadly we are not available for Hatton http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifFlight on Bank Holiday Monday. Here they are cruising into the distance away from Fosse Bottom Lock.
More of our "lockwheeling" exploits here.

We set ourselves a challenge to count how many different species of bird we could see during the day without really trying.

Here they are: dunnock, robin, blue tit, coal tit, great tit, blackbird, mistle thrush, house sparrow, mallard, coot, moorhen, kestrel, buzzard, common gull, black headed gull, lesser black backed gull, fieldfare, redwing, wren, rook, crow, jay. We live in the midst of the wonderful diversity of a wonderful creation.