TRIP REPORTS

SPRING 2007 — SOUTHWARDS FROM BIRMINGHAM

Part 5 - From Cosgrove to Berkhamsted

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We continue the story after a couple of days' lay-over at Cosgrove.

First thing in the morning we found the corpse of a baby rabbit on the cabin floor. It was very cold, and when we started at 9:41 jackets & fleeces were necessary. And yet in the ten minutes it took us to get to the facilities point the clouds had cleared and been replaced by warm sunshine. We took on water and got rid of rubbish. There are recycling bins here for bottles & paper. They'd been full a couple of days before but were now empty. Wendy did a clothes-wash as we went along. We stopped at Wolverton station for Wendy to do a small shop - no more than that because of all the steps from the towpath up to the road, but she did find a free-range guinea-fowl for dinner that evening.

Milton Keynes was very full of moored boats, anglers and trees across the cut which made for a very slow journey. Approaching Fenny lock we saw Rodney in his garden and exchanged greetings. We shared Fenny and Stoke Hammond locks with Apperley, an Ownerships boat with a crew of two who were fairly inexperienced but very pleasant. We stopped at 18:00 immediately above Stoke Hammond lock, but Apperley went on for another half-mile or so, as we discovered next morning. It was a lovely evening. The cats were slightly astonished by the sound of cockerels. They brought back no rabbits this time.

It was a pleasant morning with glorious birdsong. Somebody had laid out a dead mouse on the towpath, neatly parallel to the boat. A rebuke for our ingratitude? We set off at 8:36. The three locks at Soulbury were in our favour, and a downhill boat appeared as we were ascending the top one. The chap who was lock-wheeling for it kindly re-hooked our bow-fender that had become detached on one side. We met some helpful down-hill boats at Leighton Lock. We stopped at Leighton Buzzard at. Fortunately there was room for us on the 14-day moorings immediately before the bridge. I found a full-strength 3G Internet connection, and also discovered that a museum commitment for the next day was cancelled, so we decided to stay here overnight. Wendy did a mammoth shop and took advantage of the launderette to wash the bedding, which takes for ever in our drier. I finished up-dating the IWA London Region and Canalway Cavalcade web sites.

Wendy did a bit more shopping. The rubbish point at Leighton Buzzard is now a Biffa Bin on the visitor moorings south of the bridge - full to overflowing on this occasion. We set off at 12:46. Up Grove lock on our own, then we shared Church lock with a day-boat from Pitstone Wharf which then stopped for tea (was it something we said?). From Slapton we were joined by another 2-handed boat until they stopped near Pitstone and we went on. We stopped at Marsworth at 17:36. We found a free space on the visitor moorings immediately before the former Ship Stores and went for an excellent meal in the Red Lion, and a gossip there with some other boaters.

A lazy start at 10:56. Our first stop was almost immediately at Marsworth BW depôt because we'd seen the previous night that the rubbish bines by the bridge were full, so we stopped here to get rid of rubbish and take on water. The facilities point here, like at Cosgrove & Soulbury, now has a bottle bank. Continue We shared the locks with ex-GUCCCo Gemini, who were very efficient partners. The people live in the tollhouse by Bulbourne top lock. We saw no white violets up the flight this year. Has the recent dry & sunny weather meant they're over already? We stopped near Bulbourne bridge at 12:51. We hadn't made up our minds whether to have a short stop at the pub at Bulbourne & then go on to Berkhamsted, or whether to stay here overnight. But as soon we moored, along came old friends Mike & Lynda Ede on Harpoon, so we decided to stay. Lunchtime drinks were taken on Harpoon, and later Mike & Lynda came to us for dinner and a very pleasant evening's chat.

We didn't manage the early start we'd hoped for, although Harpoon did. It was 10:40 by the time we got going. We shared quite a few downhill locks with Wyvern hire-boat Sovereign until they got stuck aground somewhere behind us, just above Bushes lock. A following boat gave them a snatch off then joined us in the lock. At Waitrose in Berkhamsted we stopped briefly to buy milk & a newspaper. We were joined again by Sovereign in King's Road lock. We tied up at 16:30 at Castle Wharf, Berkhamsted, outboard of our friends Lindy & Brian's boat Berkhamsted on their garden mooring, and plugged in to their shore electricity supply. We decided to eat our separate dinners together on their balcony. Because of death-dates of what was in the fridge, Wendy served fish goujons & chips wrapped in newspaper. Had an amazing argument about the Archers.

I worked on the computer all day on Monday (mainly Cavalcade stuff) before heading off to London for an evening meeting of Cavalcade Committee. Lindy was having a bad time with a computer breakdown, and was also recovering slowly from an eye operation. There was a bleeping on Brian & Lindy's boat Berkhamsted, so Wendy disconnected us from their supply point just in case.

On Tuesday I had a morning meeting at the Museum which went on longer than I'd expected. Then I worked at the flat in the afternoon and travelled back after the rush-hour. That was a pity as Brian came home early and we could have had dinner together. Meanwhile Brian found the cause of the bleeping, which was that Berkhamsted's shore-line wasn't plugged in properly, so it wasn't our fault! Wendy indulged in a lot of contortions to top up all our batteries, which left her with a creaky back for a couple of days.