Mike Stevens' UK Inland Waterways Pages

TRIP REPORTS : THE YEARS BETWEEN BOATS

ON THE GRAND JUNCTION

October Half-Term 1985

We'd been "between boats" for some time and had deliberately done our hiring in parts of the country we'd not boated in before. By now we were getting withdrawal symptoms from missing our old territory, the Grand Junction. So we decided to hire a boat from our friends Mike & Lindy Foster at Bridgewater Boats in Berkhamsted for a short break during the October Half Term. The boat was Tumblebrutus and the "short break" ended up as a full week.

The domestic battery was dead when we woke up, but Mike F thought it simply hadn't been charged properly yesterday and we'd had a late night. We did some more shopping, then we were off at 10:13.

Our first stop was at the Grand Junction Arms, Bulbourne, which had a new landlord since our last visit and was more adaptable about feeding vegetarians. Then we went on to moor for the night before Ivinghoe locks at 18:23. The banks there were in poor condition and it was really difficult to find a deep enough mooring before dark.

The domestic battery was dead again. At Leighton Buzzard we took on water, 'phoned base & arranged to meet Roger with a new battery at Soulbury. We saw pheasant, heron, owls, plenty of toadflax and some still-unripe cuckoo-pint berries. Most of the leaves were still green. As we approached the top of Soulbury locks, Roger was waiting for us with the battery., which he fitted very quickly. Then we went to the Three Locks for a beer. Roger couldn't join us as they had a boat going out that day.

O frabjous day! The electrics were working when we got up. We started at 07:54. It was foggy at first, then sunny for most of the day. We took on water before Stoke Bruerne locks then went up the flight to moor near the museum. When there are fewer gongoozlers, they simply have more chance to swarm. We had lunch at The Boat, then winded at the winding hole and headed back to the Barley Mow, Cosgrove, mooring at 17:45. It was lovely to see this stretch of countryside again. There were enormous numbers of heron.

This was an odd autumn (or do we say that every year?), with so many tiny greenery-yallery crab apples (We'd only seen one tree with ripe coral-coloured ones) and blackberries looking better than they did in late August. The birdsong was rather good. The nasturtiums that Lindy put on the cabin table (with a super chocolate cake and a bowl of nuts) on Friday were still going strong, perhaps because of the bright, chilly days.

Ian made early coffee before we started at 08:00. We took on water at a slow tap below Cosgrove lock, then Ian served breakfast on the move. Wendy got off at Linford Church to stretch her legs, and we grounded when coming alongside to drop her. It needed both shafts to get us off. We stopped at The Plough, Simpson, for a bit of shopping in the village & an excellent lunch in the pub.

In the afternoon we met our first cowboys of the trip, on Wyvern hire-boat Supreme. Fortunately Fenny was the only lock we shared with them. We stopped at 17:30 just before The Globe, Linslade, and just before sunset because we knew there wouldn't be any better mooring until well after dark.

We made a slow, leisurely start at 08:01 because Wendy insisted on everyone else starting first because she wanted a shower. We took on water at Leighton Buzzard then continued to the Ship Stores, Marsworth, for lunch at the Red Lion, then a conference . We decided not to finish the cruise next day as planned : the weather was too good to waste, and the boat wasn't booked to anyone else for the rest of the week. We had a much slower run than usual up the Marsworth flight because we were following the Yates family on Barnham & Angel carrying coal and actually delivering to (at least) one of the lock cottages.

Bulbourne BW depôt

Ian left at Tring to go to a drama rehearsal in London, intending to rejoin us next day. We moored at 17:45 below Cowroast lock. It was much colder than previous evenings and a great relief to moor and close all doors. I went to see if the Cowroast Inn was as plastic a roadhouse as it used to be. It was. (It still is.) Wendy couldn't bear the thought of turning the gas fire off, so stayed on board.

A misty morning at Dudswell locks

It was very frosty & foggy, which prevented an early start. Each blade of grass was outlined with glitter and the fog was so solid that one actually saw patterns of sunlight and tree-shadows not through it but on it. When we set off at 07:39 it was slippery underfoot and we had to navigate by memory rather than by seeing anything much ahead of us, so we made slow progress. At Castle Wharf, Berkhamsted we stopped for shopping, knee-deep in grandchildren (not ours). We found Roger rusticating (yokelising?) a garage. We were still running late as we set off, sharing a few locks with another Bridgewater Boat, Griddlebone.

At Fishery lock Ian arrived (by train) before us and had the lock ready. We continued in warm sunshine. I left at Home Park Mill lock to go to a commitment in London and the others went on to moor before Hunton Bridge locks at 16:26. They had a leisurely dinner, but an attempted game of Scrabble was scuppered by the water 'otter dying at the beginning of washing up. They couldn't find the gas spanner, so Ian went to borrow one from another boat person he found in the pub. After changing the bottle, Ian had to go back to the pub to return the spanner. Eventually the Scrabble did happen, and Ian won.

Cassiobury Park locks
The former Felis Catus

Wendy got up early and disturbed the peace by having a shower. I rejoined around 08:30 and Ian cooked breakfast. We set off at 09:19 and stopped before Cassio Bridge lock, where we saw our old boat Felis Catus (now renamed Feles Catus by, we assumed, somebody who preferred the classical to the vet's form of Latin) in use as a house-boat just above the lock.

We winded and set off back, reaching Berkhamsted at 18:22 and departing for home.