Mike Stevens' UK Inland Waterways Pages

TRIP REPORTS : THE FELIS CATUS YEARS

SPRING & SUMMER 1980

Part 1 : Easter on the Grand Junction

Click on a picture to see a bigger version with a caption

	The boat's new livery

Wendy, Roger & I were on board for final spring-clean & provisioning. At the end of the day Roger went home and the two of us stayed on the boat to start the move our of London for the summer. In those days we rented a mooring for the winter only, and this finished at Easter.

It was cool but sunny as we set off at 10:18. We stopped for beer at The Black Horse, Greenford, then carried on, lunching off soup & sandwiches on the move.

At Bull's Bridge junction we joined the Grand Junction main line, to stop again past Packet Boat Lane at Cowley Peachey to visit our friends George & Susan Forrest, who lived on a house-boat there, to exchange a glass of scotch for various help & advice on things to do with the engine & electrics.

We used the sani station facilities at Cowley lock and went on to an evening mooring above Uxbridge lock at 19:11. Wendy cooked supper.

We started at 07:46, again in good weather. We locked through with various boats, including ex-GUCCC nb Phobos (seen here at Springwell lock) . for quite a while. She was now in private hands - we'd met her as a hotel-boat a couple of years before. Wendy did breakfast & I did lunch, both on the move.

The birds here can shout above the railway noise! I was rather somnolent, stuck in a good book. Wendy cooked breakfast before a 10:31 start, delayed by the need to fish for a dropped windlass. Moorhens were wearing particularly bright yellow legs in the height of the mating season. We stopped at Castle wharf, Berkhamsted to see our friends Mike & Lindy Foster (proprietors of Bridgewater Boats). After some time with them, Wendy took to her bed with tonsillitis, much comforted by Lindy's offers of hot-water bottles and loan of several books.

We made a slow start because of a disturbed night with Wendy's burnt hands, which were starting to get better but still had no efficient grip. We started at 07:46 with me having to work all the locks. We locked down Church & Grove with a single-handed boat Ty Twt from Fenny Stratford, then I cooked breakfast on the move. We saw a brace of pheasant on the towpath in beautiful spring plumage. At Leighton Buzzard we stopped to use the sani station facilities. I only had about 10 minutes to play with Bodger (the Staffordshire Bull Terrier from Ty Twt) before Roger arrived and we shopped, then had lunch at The Golden Bell (ABC). On the move again in mid afternoon, we were sharing locks with High Line hire-boat Avebury until we moored at 18:17 before Fenny Stratford lock. Wendy prepared dinner, but her hands still couldn't stand heat, so I did the actual cooking after Roger & I came back from the Red Lion, where we'd had some beer and 'phoned Chris & Ian to arrange a rendezvous.

We set off at 08:02, back the way we'd come, and Roger cooked breakfast on the move.

At Old Linslade Wharf there were some firemen practising pumping water (why?). Their yellow oilskin trousers are the same colour as the moorhens' legs, which made us speculate about the mating habits of firefighters.

At Wyvern Shipping, Linslade, we took on diesel & water, then stopped at Leighton Buzzard wharf, where Ian joined us . We did a few repairs before setting off again. I did lunch on the move.

On our way up Ivinghoe locks I took a series of photos to illustrate the use of fully-equipped Grand Junction locks, with side ponds and double top-gate-paddles. This was for my then evening class course in waterways history. What I didn't realise was that a few years later there would be no locks left on the GJC with side-ponds and full sets of paddles. In Peter's Two (the two locks below Marsworth village) Wendy had a slight coming-together with the butty of a pair of community boats from Hillingdon. We moored overnight at the Ship Stores, Marsworth at 16:47. We seemed to have a fresh-water leak somewhere, either in the domestic system or the ballast tanks we'd put into the forepeak to trim the bows down a bit.

Roger checked for fresh water leaks before we started and came up with a different theory : a combination of grease-gland delinquency before Leighton together with over-filling the water tank because we were playing with Bodger. We set off at 08:34 and at Bulbourne junction decided to explore the Wendover Arm. Breakfast was produced on the move by Roger (fruit-juice & good advice about black pudding) and Wendy (hot food including the results of the advice). Ian washed up. At Tringford stop lock, the current head of navigation of the Arm, Ian, Wendy & I walked round the reservoirs, which are bird sanctuaries, while Roger did some bilge reforms.

There was no room to wind, so I backed the boat down to the feeder (with Roger on the bow with a shaft) to wind there. Back at Bulbourne junction we re-joined the main line, took on water and went to what was then called The Lock & Quay, Bulbourne (later to revert to its original name of The Grand Junction Arms) for lunch. Then we continued south to Berkhamsted, arriving at 17:17. I helped the last of the hire fleet on their familiarisation run. Roger left after dinner. Ian & I went with Mike Foster to The Rising Sun (which now had Ind Coop bitter on hand-pump), then Mike F came on board to look at some slides.

We had a late breakfast, then went shopping. Mike F couldn't let us have any gas. We didn't set off until 16:15. Cowroast Marina also didn't have any gas. We followed a kingfisher along the cutting. We stopped again at The Lock & Quay (Bulbourne) at 19:27 and Wendy cooked.

Marsworth locks (above & below)	Starting at 08:25, we winded at Bulbourne junction then went back and tied up by Tring station bridge, where Wendy cooked breakfast which we ate outside in the sunshine. There were lots of seasonal white violets, robins etc. Dave & his girl-friend Christine (not to be confused with the other Christine) joined by train, we winded again and set off back northwards. This time we followed a pair of kingfishers along the cutting before taking on water at Bulbourne. Marsworth locks were against us, so Wendy & Chris worked ahead. There were even more horses than usual in the fields, one very dignified & noble one deciding to be comic and roll.
	Ivinghoe top	Near Slapton

As so often before and since, we moored at the Ship Stores, Marsworth and all but Wendy went for beer at The Red Lion. Wendy decided to fill the stern-tube greaser, but because of a shortage of proper grease used a cocktail of Duckham's and Vaseline!

That afternoon the locks were with us. Autrant (a small hire-fleet based at Slapton, which has been gone for some years) also couldn't help with gas. We used the sani station at Leighton Buzzard and finally managed to buy some gas at Wyvern Shipping, Linslade, where John Griffin said that a stoppage at Target Turn was expected to last another 2 weeks.

We went on to moor at 18:35 at The Globe Inn, Linslade, where we'd bought the boat a couple of years before. Wendy cooked.

We made a sunny start at 08:22. The swans at the bend just north of the Globe were sitting already. Christine steered for the first time. We stopped below Soulbury locks for Ian to serve breakfast., then continued to Stoke Hammond bridge where we stopped to 'phone Dave's parents & arranged to meet them at Fenny at 15:00. We arrived at Fenny at lunchtime and I served roast lamb with all the trimmings for lunch on deck.

This was to be a fairly eventful day. Wendy woke with the unwontedly soft-hearted notion of letting sleeping dogs lie; a Bad Thing. We didn't start until 08:45, and used the sani station above Fenny Stratford lock, Wendy's hands could now stand some heat, so she washed her hair. The weather was sunny.

Continuing southwards, we locked up Soulbury Three with Autrant hire-boat Mary Mary. Coming out of the top lock abreast, we both jammed in the bridge-hole and were stuck there for nearly two hours. A couple of BW lengthsmen came to help, chipping away at the concrete of the new bridge'ole, which they reckoned had been built too narrow. This proved ineffective, as Felis Catus simply expanded into the space available. Finally one of the BW men decided to ram Mary Mary head on with another Autrant boat, Silver Eagle, which did the trick. After this we felt the need to stop for a beer at The Globe Inn, Linslade. Lunch (which was also breakfast) was taken on the move.

Just above Leighton lock we damaged one of the protective "badges" that John Wooley had put on the corners of the stern, when we hit a projecting piece of metal. At Leighton Buzzard we had a long, exhausting and unsuccessful search for stern-gland grease, and eventually settled for Shell grease which proved to look and feel like Virol, and about which Wendy had reservations. We decided to moor at 17:15 above Church lock as we were all tired. The bilge-pump had died, so we mprovised with the small spare pump & a bucket. Wendy filled the greaser. We ate dinner and then went to bed early in preparation for a necessarily long day tomorrow.

20 minutes' work with the small bilge-pump were needed to empty the bilge. Wendy's thoughts about Virol were vindicated! We set off at 06:59, spotting lots of herons around. Wendy did bits of breakfast preparation between locks and we actually ate breakfast in Ivinghoe bottom lock while filling a dry pound.

From then on we had a good run to Marsworth, thanks to generosity of Mary Mary who invited us to leap-frog them in a queue. It was pleasantly summery through the Marsworth flight. We stopped at lunchtime at The Lock & Quay, Bulbourne, and Ian and I went to the pub while Wendy pumped the bilges. We had lunch on the move while following a kingfisher through Tring cutting, where we saw lots of speedwell. We arrived at Berkhamsted, surprisingly early, at 15:33, and dealt with launderette & shopping. I took out the bilge-pump for repair. We had a barbecue with the Fosters, then Ian caught the last train home

I wired- and plumbed-in the spare bilge pump, as with an old wooden boat we daren't leave it unattended without a bilge-pump on a float switch. Then we went off home.