map geekery

While on our trip on the Leighton Buzzard Light railway, I spotted a map showing the original scope of the line:



Looking closer, yes, there's the short section of rail on a wharf by the canal that's long made me curious:



It looks like this little bit of line was separate to the currently running stretch, could well have been a separate company, even. The remains of industry fascinate me, especially when largely forgotten; it would be great to try to search out other remains of this second line, but for the mean time I can only look at maps online:



The route of the standard gauge brach is clearly visible; by it's very nature, 'light' railway was pretty much emphemeral and made less of an impact on the land.

Edited to add - Carrie's sent me a picture of the wharf itself, looking pretty much ready for a few trucks to be rolled in:

the best pub in the world

I've a few posts yet to make, when I have time; one is actually quite exciting, at least to me. But this time I want to write about a pub - I see Carrie's beaten me to it, but my picture is ever so slightly different (but only just) ;-)



Back in my wayward musician days we played in Leighton Buzzard a few times, and I've been up from London to see friends play at least once. We approached the Wheatsheaf with trepidation (well, I did) - had they decorated? become a gastropub? Worse still, repaired - or even tuned - the piano?

Thankfully not - they even still have the same old 'Dynamix' PA speakers on the wall (we used them once, after they told us they had their own PA - we used mine next time). The piano is as random as ever (and I didn't get thrown out for attempting 'Dingle Regatta' on it), the jukebox as good as ever (although Freebird seemed ever so short), and the company was perfect. We tend to approach pool as a game of chance rather than skill, which at least means we get out money's worth.

It's a kind of bikery local, really, still with lots of live music. It's more of a walk from the canal than some might prefer (top of high st, turn left into North St), but for a lazy wet Saturday afternoon, I doubt you'll find better.

Lovely boats

Spotted on the way out of Milton Keynes - I like the conservatory section especially. Here's the second one close up - not fussed about the tug deck setup, but the spare bits of steel on the cloths made my day. ;-)

Farewell to all that

I'm writing this back on the home moorings on the Slough arm, after a run down from Kings Langley, and a day from Cowroast to Kings Langley last week.

In a fit of optimism earlier in the year, I thought I'd have time for a gentle meander up to the midlands and back over the summer in the odd long weekend. Work had other ideas, and even I have limited energy... hence the quick run back. A boat should be a gentle pleasure, not a contractual obligation to be moved every two weeks, and I look forward to when I have more time, for the boat, as well as hopefully more iminently, myself and those I hold close. Plenty of pictures & stuff to come, but an interchange from yesterday:

(annoying woman with windlass from boat waiting to go up)
'Are you on your own?'
(me, pulling boat out of lock by the centre rope)
silence, and a meaningful look
(annoying woman with windlass from boat waiting to go up)
'Are you on your own?'
(me, pulling boat out of lock by the centre rope)
'how's that relevant now?'
(annoying woman with windlass from boat waiting to go up)
'because if you had someone else on the boat they could drive it out for you'
(me, pulling boat out of lock by the centre rope)
silence, and a meaningful look

Although I'd cite this as just how bloody stupid some people are, it can be more charitably used to illustrate what a unique science single handed boating is, only really known to those who have tried it. It's like so many things - it's rare for people to see things from the other side, see the other person's point of view. We can but aspire.

Public Service Announcement

It's on as I type, but it's worth saying that Radio 4 are currently repeating Cabin Pressure, a classic, perfectly formed four-hander sitcom. I hope the rumours of a third series are true - Roger Allam as the disgraced ex-captain who actually sounds like a captain, and Benedict Cumberbatch ('Sherlock' to you) as the actual captain, Stephanie Cole as the boss as John Finnemore writing & playing the brilliantly dim cabin boy.

log

Sun - Cosgrove to Globe, Linslade. Mon night - back at Cowroast.

Engine starting - loose bleed screw on fuel filter (also changed). Overheating on Mon - clump of junk at t-piece just before filter, cleared now.

NB Smithy

I don't think I've ever been that good at names and details, which may be a good thing, as I may not be getting worse with age, and may have always been this bad.

Anyway, in July 2008 I bought a brazier made from a gas bottle from a guy who was turning a wee 26' boat into a floating workshop; at that poiont very much a work in progress. Just above the Globe I passed him again; no-one was around, but he's done up the boat nicely, and has lots of nice things to buy (most of which probably not much use on a boat, but there you go). The tiny boat - I think that was called Jasper - is now simply 'Smithy', and despite racking my brain I can't remember his name at all. There's no contact info on the side of the boat, either, so I just left him a note. Anyway, mobile welding, custom jobs, all that; see the nice man on Smithy (and accompanying longer liveaboard).

Slow Progress

There's an old saying that goes along the lines of it you want to give god a laugh, tell him your plans... personally I think if she did exist she'd be too busy swigging gin with her girlfriend to care. Anyway... the main features of July & August this year will be work, rather than boating, although I'm hoping that I do actually get a bit of a trip, slow as it goes.

Plans for occasional gentle wanders up the GU have turned into grabbing time away from work when I can. We managed a couple of lovely days Cowroast-Leighton with Neil, Kath & Peter on Herbie blogged here so I don't have to... any references to jetskis are due to using doing locks on one gate, and the smaller boat doing all the acrobatics that generally involves. All made all the more exciting by the string pull to the left I get from the prop in reverse; that's the best excuse I've come up with so far, anyway. Also made my first trip up the Wendover Arm, which was very sweet, a back lane to the GU's A road mood.

We also managed a quick visit to Braunston; very pleasant (and doable by public transport as a day trip, thankfully). It may be heresy (ignore the deity stuff, this is the real deal) - but old working boats are all very nice, but I don't find myself quite as excited about them as some. But I'm happy that their owners love them. ;-)

Then today, a quick contractual obligation run from Leighton up to Fenny Stratford. I did try to do this yesterday but there was a conspiracy against me on Sunday to not run any trains from anywhere in west London, which I wasn't overjoyed about.

I do have a picture & a story to go with it, but that will have to wait until I'm not struggling with a poor internet connection in a fading hotel in Worcestershire...

Cowroast

I must have written before - but I don't recall doing so - about cycling canals before having a boat. Here and there in the nineties if I had a few days off and nothing better to do, I'd stick a tent & sleeping bag on the back of my bike, and cycle a canal [towpath]. The first one was Brentford to Birmingham, of course, a neat three days; subsequently I did Wolverhampton to Llangollen, and Reading to Bath, and possibly more. They were lovely trips - I remember friendly boaters (and less than friendly fishermen), and a self-imposed rule of stopping at the next pub if it started raining. Some of the towpaths were barely impassable, due to edge corrosion or just good old plain mud, and I relaise now I wasn't really helping the situation by cycling on them in that stte. I'd generally find a bit of waste ground to camp on, once on a bit of waste ground on the off side fo a lock, that kind of thing.

Anyway, on that first trip, somewhere near Leighton Buzzard, I spotted a boat in Fullers Brewery colours called 'The Griffin', and took a picture. That subsequently got enlarged, framed and given to my local pub, the Griffin. I may have said enough about this particular brewery, but give me a small pub that stocks bottles of Fullers beer (at room temperature, not chilled to tastelessness) and I'm unlikely to complain. Anyway, that picture's still there (just to the right before you get to the loos, if you're passing), and a little better composed than the ones below...



Tortoise is at Cowroast, moored just a little down from Griffin's home mooring, and indeed Griffin is in residence. I realise I rarely name other boats I mention (for good or bad reasons), but not much point in hiding this one:



I've no idea what connection, if at all, the boat has with the brewery - some, I guess, as it's mentioned as being at the opening of the Paper Mill in Apsley in a report on the net. For me it's a reminder of my early canal trips, as much as the namesake of the pub at the end of the road...

Follow up to my last post

i think you'd have to be really, really uninterested in the world around you to not know what happened last weekend. The Rachel Corrie, sailing from Ireland a few days later was similarly hijacked in international waters; the first thing the Israelis do is block mobile and satellite transmissions, we're still waiting for news of those on that ship.

Boater Sharyn Lock, whilst not on the convoy this time has been able to blog on, and is well worth a read, her most recent post includes links to recent press articles. I'll add to those links (all recommended) Swedish author Henning Mankell's moving account of his experiences - like all people involved, all personal possessions (including any way of recording what happened) were removed and not returned - stolen by any other name.

Time and again Israel openly commit atrocities, flouts international law, suppresses media coverage (and gives us their smug spokesman instead) - and the rest of the world at best tut, and continue to support, fund, trade with and side with, Israel. It's about time this changed.

This post was going to be about canals, and escapism. Escaping from the events of the mediterranean, west Cumbria (where I grew up - good article on how so much more dignified the locals have been than the media here) and the forthcoming world cup (and associated nationalism). It's a priviledge to have that, to be able to watch young birds learning to feed and forget the world, but it's still out there. I wonder if fewer of us ignored it permanently, it might be in a better state.