Sat 12th July - Leighton Buzzard to Wolverton

Collected much beloved friend Shay from Acton Centralk station, and made the journey up to LB together. We were briefly tempted by the pleasures of the Leighton Buzzard Carnival, but Shay was only up for the day, and wanted a boat trip with access to as train back to London at the end, so we pressed on. Always a difficult balance for me - stay & explore, or get the distance covered. I am keen to see places and make the most of them, but also it seems a shame for the summer to be used this close to home.

I made sure Shay sat out on the front deck before we hit MK, and of course she loved it - it's an essential pleasure, I think, memorable from the first time I was ever on a boat. Otherwise we passed the day in lots of chat and a bit of fruit cider - I always find the bit around MK a bit tedious - all very nice, but not very interesting... we made it most of the way to Wolverton, so had time for a pint in the New Inn before the short walk to the station. I pulled up behind several other boats just before the bridge there, and found myself grounded on gravel. An odd night, as the boat didn't rock about gently as I moved around.

(40l diesel at Willowbridge)

Thurs 10th July - Slapton to Leighton Buzzard

much sunnier day, but only a short run up to Leighton Buzzard to get a train back to London. Just pulling out of the mooring in the morning, I spotted the boat next door - attached to an intriguing looking workshop boat (welding boat pic)- was selling pots & braziers made from gas bottles. It wasn't easy to tie up again until I'd worked through the lock, so I walked back and bought one - a neat way of having a fire canalside or at home, and always good to support people making a living whilst living on the canal.



On the way into LB there's a couple of brick wharves, one of which has narrow gauge railway track on it. It remember finding this first years ago when I cycled up the Grand Union, and have always meant to find out whether it's a local transhipment thing, or part of the original network of lines that the current steam railway there forms part of.



No trip to the Wheatsheaf this time (it was 11am, after all) but had a quick & fruitful pillage of the charity shops. ;-)

Weds 9th July - Berkamstead to Slapton

I left Berkhamstead in a period of lesser rain, let's say, and plodded on. A section of lots of locks, done with sun & company last time, so a bit dull in the rain on my own. I had a decent waterproof for my upper half but was stuck in shorts & deck shoes otherwise - once they were wet, I stayed wet until I finally moored up for the night at Slapton at 8.30 (I thought I may as well move on than cut the day short), lit the stove dried off and into dry clothes. What to bring on such a trip is a bit suck it and see, so obvious wateroproof boots & trousers, and also something easy to keep misc deck kit (guide book, camera, wallet etc) accessible and yet protected. The guide book ended up pretty much sodden on several days, and on drying out is a bit stuck together in places.

I found time for a late trip to the Carpenters Arms and got to meet the locals - nice pub, short walk from the canal but not nearly as far as I'd been told.

In Berkhamstead library, as the eBay treo I got for the trip is proving to be worth less than the postage I paid for it. Carrying on despite the rain; no curry out last night due to a mobile being locked out of a house and the house outside of it, but night pint (or two) in the Crystal Palace with Ledgie, long-time boating resident of B, who has a few stories to tell.

Boat etc going well - quite a few locks have been shared over the past couple of days (stories there for another day), but I've got into the habit of turning off the endine when working trhough alone, as I pull it in & out by hand anyway. This is nice & pecaeful, but I do wonder if the engine going on & off all the time (there's lots of locks round here) is doing it much good - the temperature guage is showing it's not reaching optimum a lot of the time.

I may as well just bung my phone number up here due to lack of nightly email - 0774 0625 073. Use it wisely, ideally to say 'I'm coming to visit'. ;-)

Moored up in Cassiobury Park, just after bridge 167 & Iron Bridge Lock.
Lovely be be travelling properly on the canals again, despite a lot of
showers, some of them pretty heavy. Now drying out by the stove, which I
didn't expect to be running. I should be somewhere near Berkhamstead
tomorrow night - will try to moor nearer a pub next time!

A test post by email from my phone... now have working gas - hot water and
cooker - which is a great relief. Now I finally get to install the nice
kitchen worktop. Still lots of jobs to do, but there'll be plenty of
evenings to get them done in...

(diesel & oil filters changed)

After a weekend of Morris dancers at the Dent Folk Festival, they were really the last thing I expected at green drinks in Brentford on Tuesday night - and yet there they were, closely followed by Jim & Mary of Heebeejeebee. I still fail to understand why a melodeon player should sneer at a piano accordion player (me), but I guess you have to take your pride where you can. ;-)

Meanwhile back at the boat, Tortoise has a nice new instrument panel made out of a plastic junction box tucked under the starboard gunwhale (hence anything pointy being at the sides rather than front). A great improvement, as it was a good opportunity to rewire most of the engine electrics too. Relays for split charging & fridge (on same circuit, fridge only runs when boat is) are yet to be wired, but at least I've found a nice little slot for mounting such things, under the back door step.

They're having a bit of a swap around at High Line, so my mooring was moved from the top end, near the station, to fairly close to the boatyard end. I['m now outside Benbulben, where I was moored for a few months before my 2006 trip. Travelling that 1/2 mile was pretty epic - this time of year the length of the Slough Arm where the moorings area gets pretty clocked with weed, although it's fine beyond each bridge. It's been suggested this is due to the amount of extra organic matter that goes out in sink waste from the boats, but whatever, it's a pain.

In an 'I'm blogging this' momemnt, one well known Iver boat got so clagged on the prop that they ended up being towed by another well known Iver boat blogger. 'This will end up on the internet, I know' is the reported comment - hence names witheld to protect the guilty...

Quick note on schedule - hopefully setting off in a week's time (8th), assuming I've got a few jobs on the boat done (new instrument panel, currently sitting prefabricated on my sofa, for a start), an also the sound system (which won't be on the boat, fear not). I'll be off the cut from around the 24th July to the 4th Aug, due to other commitments, then back more or less solidly until the end of the month. I don't intend to be back by then, but will work my way back in long weekends through the autumn

It's difficult to say exactly where I'll be when, as that's the idea, to see how things go - but if you do weant to come along, chose some dates and be prepared to be a little flexible over location, but I'll do my best to be near a station or accessible point by arrangement. Some bits follow train routes anyway, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

the grand plan

(click map for bigger version)



Map above stolen wholesale* from Jim Shead's excellent site, which I suggest you go straight over to, as the original version is clickable and goes straight to a guide for each individual canal. Yellow is the intended route up, orange the way home (dots are possibilities, depending on how the time goes). It's moderately ambitious for a dawdleathon, but I'll see how the time goes.

Speaking of useful websites, also look at Canalplan - looks a bt daunting, but just put in a start & end point (say 'Iver' to 'Llangollen', hit 'plan journey' (if asked to set your options, just press 'continue') and it'll give you an itemised list of the route blow by blow. More fun is then pressing 'virtual journey', which gives you a slideshow of the route. I hardly need to bother going in reality. ;-)

* with retrospective permission - with thanks.