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for information about our boat of those days, Felis Catus
We resume the story with the boat at Buckby top
lock.
WEEK-ENDING
FRIDAY 4th MAY |
Mike, Wendy, Roger, Chris
At Buckby top |
We travelled from London in the evening.
SATURDAY 5thMAY |
Mike, Wendy, Roger, Chris
Buckby to Stoke
Bruerne |
Weltonfield
|
We scrapped plans to head for Watford locks, since
a stoppage was over-running. Nor could we pass through Braunston Tunnel, as
that was also closed. We started at 09:30 and went a short way up the Old Grand
Union Canal to Weltonfield boatyard to use their loo-point, then came back and
stopped at Buckby Wharf where Wendy cooked breakfast. Later we had lunch on the
move and moored for the night before Stoke Bruerne museum at 17:44. Some of us
went for a beer at The Boat while Roger cooked dinner. It had been a day
of sunny spells & showers. |
DAY'S RUN : 17.2 miles, 7 locks in 6 hrs 36
min
SUNDAY 6th MAY |
Mike, Wendy, Roger, Chris
Stoke Bruerne to Old
Wolverton & back |
|
The weather was dry as we started at 08:19, and
stayed that way for most of the day. We stopped below Stoke bottom lock for
breakfast stop then went on to use Cosgrove loo-point. The Galleon at
Old Wolverton had only a few uninspired sandwiches on offer, so we lunched on
board. After lunch we winded and went back to Stoke Bruerne, where we moored at
18:08 and enjoyed beer & skittles at The Boat. |
Stoke Bruerne
|
DAY'S RUN : 15.3 miles, 16 locks in 7 hrs 23
min
MONDAY 7th MAY - BANK HOLIDAY |
Mike, Wendy, Roger, Chris
|
The weather was mainly dry again. We stopped past
Blisworth tunnel for breakfast. At Gayton junction we turned onto the
Northampton Arm with the thought of leaving the boat in Northampton until our
next trip. When we reached the bottom of the arm, before lock 17, it was clear
that there was nowhere worth mooring without going off BW water, so we went
back up the Arm and left the boat at Blisworth village at 19:11.
Piling
|
Rothersthorpe locks
|
Rothersthorpe
|
DAY'S RUN : 14.3 miles, 32 locks in 7 hrs 15
min
LONG WEEKEND TOTALS : 46.8 miles, 55 locks in 21 hrs 14 min over 3
days' boating
FRIDAY 18th MAY |
Mike, Wendy, Roger, Chris
Blisworth to Stoke
Bruerne |
We arrived at the boat in the evening to find a broken
window & other evidence of a failed attempt to burgle the boat. There
was a slight airlock in the fuel line. We set off at 19:28, moored at Stoke
Bruerne at 20:23 and had an excellent dinner at The Boat.
DAY'S RUN : 2.8 miles, no locks in 55 mins
SATURDAY 19th MAY |
Mike, Wendy, Roger, Chris
Stoke Bruerne to Fenny
Stratford |
Stantonbury
|
The weather was hot & sunny all day. We
started at 07:36 and were first in the queue when the locks were un-padlocked.
Wendy cooked breakfast which we stopped to eat at Grafton Regis. We used
Cosgrove sani station then went on to the Black Horse, Linford, where we
had some beer in the pub, then lunch on deck. We moored at 18:02 before Fenny
Stratford lock Roger & I had a pint Guinness at the Red Lion before
Roger cooked dinner. |
DAY'S RUN : 18.1 miles, 8 locks in 6 hrs 22
min
SUNDAY 20th MAY |
Mike, Wendy, Roger, Chris
Fenny Stratford to
Linslade |
The weather was grey & wet as we started at 08:49.
We used the sani station above Fenny Stratford lock then went on to just
before bridge 99, where Chris cooked breakfast. After that we continued to a
beer stop at The Globe, then on to Wyvern Shipping, Linslade, where we
arrived at 16:10, left the boat and asked them to mend the broken window while
we were back at work.
The
Three Locks
|
The Three Locks
|
Felis under
way
|
DAY'S RUN : 7.3 miles, 6 locks in 2 hrs 58
min
WEEKEND TOTAL : 28.2 miles, 14 locks in 10 hrs 15 min over 2-and-a-bit
days' boating.
MAY HALF TERM CRUISE
FRIDAY 25th MAY |
Roger, Chris, cat Lucky
Linslade to Leighton
Buzzard |
Roger, Chris & Lucky arrived from work to find
that Wyvern had cut a Perspex replacement window. They set off at 20:10, tied
up at Leighton Buzzard wharf at 20:15 and went for dinner at the Cross
Keys . DAY'S RUN .5 miles, no locks in 5 mins
SATURDAY 26th MAY |
Mike, Wendy, Roger, Chris, at Lucky
Leighton
Buzzard to Marsworth |
Heron
|
Wendy & I arrived in nasty wet weather. We
set off at 10:08 and used the sani station. Above Church lock Wendy cooked
brunch then we lazed and hoped the weather would improve. |
Rope-marks
|
We set off again and Roger got tea above Seabrook
lock 35. We went on to moor at the Ship Stores, Marsworth at 18:2. Chris cooked
dinner while Wendy & I went to the Red Lion. DAY'S RUN
: 7.7 miles, 11 locks in 3 hrs 55 min
SUNDAY 27th MAY |
Mike, Wendy, Roger, Chris
Marsworth to Aylesbury
& back |
Roger
|
We decided the weather was going to be OK so we'd
go to Aylesbury. We set off at 10:11 and turned into the Aylesbury Arm.
Roger cooked brunch on the move. |
Chris
|
We reached Aylesbury basin at 14:07, used the sani
station & watered. There was a good selection of real boats here, including
one belonging to Bob Bush, who sold us an Aylesbury & Wendover Arm
guide.
We set off back, stopping above Buckland lock, where
Chris made tea. We went back to the main line and moored below before
Startopsend lock at 18:56. While I cooked, the rest of the crew fitted the new
window. We went for beer to the White Lion (London bitter). The weather
had been basically dry but showery at times, without the previous day's wind.
DAY'S RUN : 12.9 miles, 32 locks in 7 hrs 28 min
MONDAY 28th MAY – BANK
HOLIDAY |
Mike, Wendy, Roger, Chris
Marsworth to
Berkhamsted & back |
DAY'S RUN : 14.1 miles, 30 locks in 8 hrs 34
min
TUESDAY 29th MAY |
Mike, Wendy, Roger, Chris
Marsworth to
Linslade |
Paddle gear
|
Tuesday brought dry, windy conditions. We set
off at 08:16 and suffered an intermittent engine problem which seemed to be
something to do with fuel. Below Seabrook locks we stopped while Chris cooked
breakfast. We used the facilities at Leighton Buzzard sani station and
continued to Wyvern Shipping, who diagnosed our engine problem as mucky
injectors & cured it. We went on to the The Globe, Linslade, where
we left the boat at 17:23 and travelled home. |
DAY'S RUN : 8.8 miles, 12 locks in 5 hrs 2
min
CRUISE TOTALS : 44.1 miles, 85 locks in 25 hrs 4 min over 4-and-a-bit
days' boating.
MORE WEEK-ENDING
SATURDAY 9th JUNE |
Mike, Wendy
At Linslade |
We came up late from London and Wendy cooked dinner on
board.
SUNDAY 10th JUNE |
Mike, Wendy
Linslade out & back |
Soulbury locks
|
We started at 10:58 in fine warm weather. We
went north to Willowbridge where we winded. We stopped above Stoke Hammond lock
and Wendy cooked lunch. We went on to use the facilities at Leighton Buzzard
sani station, winded again and came back to leave the boat where we'd started,
at The Globe at 18:42. DAY'S RUN : 11.7 miles, 10 locks in 5
hrs 53 min |
SUNDAY 24th JUNE |
Mike, Wendy, Peter, Ann
Linslade to Great
Linford |
|
It was wet & cold for the first part of the
day. Peter was a colleague, and Ann his girl-friend. They'd done some
boating with us the previous year. We left The Globe at 11:28, stopped
for lunch below Stoke Hammond lock then continued to use the sani station
before Fenny Stratford lock. We had planned to leave the boat there, but the
rain stopped, so we went on. The engine seemed not to be giving full power and
the throttle felt very springy. We left the boat at the Black Horse,
Linford at 19:03. |
Great
Linford
|
DAY'S RUN : 13.7 miles, 5 locks in 5 hrs 17
min
SUNDAY 1st JULY |
Mike, Wendy, Trevor, Mona, Bob, dog William
Great
Linford out & back |
William
|
We came up by car with Trevor (a colleague
who'd been on a hire-boat trip with us a couple of years before) Mona & Bob
(Trevor's Mum & stepfather) and Trevor's poodle, William.
I started by putting new fibre washers on the
air-bleed screws on the fuel filter and tightened the retaining bolts on
the throttle cable mounting. |
We set off at 11:10 in dry, cool & cloudy
conditions to start with, clearing up later to nice sunny ones. We stopped
at the Navigation, Castlethorpe for a pint in the pub, then lunch
aboard, cooked by Wendy.
We next tied up at Stoke Bruerne bottom lock and
walked part-way up the locks, then winded and set off back, having tea on the
move. We ended up back at the Black Horse, Linford at 20:18.
DAY'S RUN : 20.4 miles, 2 locks in 6 hrs 13 min
SUNDAY 15th JULY |
Mike, Wendy, Ian
Great Linford to
Linslade |
|
We came up from home on Sunday morning and set off
boating at 09:53. We made a straight run to The Globe, Linslade,
stopping only to use the Fenny Stratford sani station. We moored at 16:00 and
went home. DAY'S RUN : 13.7 miles, 5 locks in 5 hrs 15
min |
Granny gear
|
SATURDAY 22nd JULY |
Mike, Wendy, Bernard & Ceres Dandridge
Linslade local |
Raising the boat
|
Wendy & I arrived from London to find the boat
sitting on the bottom. This was not good news at any time, but worse this
weekend as our friends Bernard & Ceres were coming for the weekend. We
managed to hire a pump which got the boat up in two hours, during which time
Wendy had dashed off to meet Bernard & Ceres from the train. The electrics
were predictably dead. The engine turned over but wouldn't start. |
We set off at 16:45 bow-hauling the boat to Wyvern
to sort out what's what. We arrived there at 17:30, took on water and put the
batteries on trickle charge overnight. Bernard & Ceres went home.
DAY'S RUN : 0.6 miles, 1 lock in 45 min
SUNDAY 23rd JULY |
Mike, Wendy
Linslade to Grove Church &
Leighton Buzzard |
|
Once the batteries were re- charged, the engine
started OK & everything else seemed to be working. No substantial
damage had been done, except the need for a lot of drying out and cleaning. We
set off at 12:40 for a run, winded above Church lock and came back to moor at
Leighton Buzzard at 15:43. DAY'S RUN : 5.5 miles, 4 locks in 3 hrs
3 min |
 |
MONDAY 24th JULY |
Mike, Wendy
at Leighton Buzzard |
We spent the day cleaning, repairing, & using the
launderette.
TUESDAY 25th JULY |
Mike, Wendy
Leighton Buzzard to
Linslade |
We set off at 10:45 to take the boat back to The
Globe, where we arrived at 11:30, packed up and went home. |
