After Sabine left me, my single-handing started in earnest. First of all it started with a day off as it rained most of the day. In the afternoon as the rain cleared, I cycled up to the Ashridge Estate. A hill that was quite challenging for a flatlander from London. But I was rewarded with the most amazing bluebell carpets.
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| Ashridge Estate. The canal is somewhere behind the white building centre-left. |
So the next day I pushed on. I was aiming to catch up with the Idle Women tour again in Stoke Bruerne on the weekend. The first feature of the day was the Marsworth locks, six in a row. I was lucky to be able to share the locks with a local boater, who also had a few tips for me. Mid-lock flight we were also joined by two lock volunteers, who did everything for us. Just sit back, relax and occasionally potter on to the next lock. Amazing!
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| First time on this trip sharing a lock |
I did another 8 locks on the day and all of these sadly on my own. It was very pretty though as the canal winds through a very quiet rural area with the Chilterns as a backdrop. With nobody else in sight, I could practice my single-handed lock operation without making a complete fool of myself. I have now mastered how to pull the boat out of the lock and close the gate behind me without having to tie up the boat again, which saves a lot of time. We'll see if I can perform this in front of an audience too without getting entangled.
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| All alone in the middle of nowhere |
The strong wind was quite a problem in the locks and especially as I was trying to moor up. On the first two attempts I got grounded on the very shallow bank. Finally I managed to pull the boat into the bank against the wind next to a field full of cows, but then needed an extra hand to hold the boat to the bank while I got all the mooring gear out. Tying the boat to a hedge by the towpath only resulted in me almost destroying the hedge. In the end a kind gentleman on a hire boat came to the rescue. I am not sure what I would have done on my own. An exhausting day.
The next day was another complete write off as it rained heavily all day. A months' rainfall in one day. Even the cows in the field looked miserable. I staid inside as I was in the middle of nowhere anyway.
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| Even the cows looked unhappy |
Thursday started with some sunshine. So I pushed on in order to make it to Stoke in time. It was another day of nine locks mostly on my own. Where is everyone, seriously?? I encountered two lovely elderly men from Algeria sitting on a bench near a lock. They asked very politely if they could watch as they have never seen a lock in operation and I let them do all the pushing of the gates. That was a nice change. At Soulbury Three Locks toward the end of the day I had a gaggle of three volunteer lock keepers descend on me. That was much appreciated as they set and opened the locks ahead, so no waiting anywhere. Some people don't like the volunteers, but I think they are brilliant! Shortly after it started to rain again, so I moored up just outside the beginning of Milton Keynes (Fenny Stratford).
The next day - you guessed it - pouring rain again and cold. This time I couldn't wait it out though, as otherwise Stoke on Saturday wouldn't happen. It bucketed down all morning as I went all around Milton Keynes. The canal winds around the centre of MK in a 3/4 circle, yet you hardly ever see any of it. I perfected the technique of holding up my big umbrella while steering, as otherwise I would have been soaked completely. Fortunately there were no locks at all. When I stopped for lunch and warming up around 2pm, the rain instantly stopped. Ah well. So I stopped for the night shortly after at Cosgrove and had a lovely walk around the aquaeduct and the village in the evening sunshine.
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| Aquaeduct at Cosgrove crossing the river Ouse |
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| The "ornamental bridge" in Cosgrove unique on the Grand Union |
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| An interesting back garden in Cosgrove |
Saturday again saw mixed weather of warm sunshine and sharp showers, which meant jacket on and off about 20 times. It was a lovely winding rural route up to the bottom lock of Stoke Bruerne. Stoke has a lock flight of seven locks, then the canalside village, and directly after a 3km long tunnel. As there was a festival on on the weekend, I was not sure to find a mooring space in the village itself, so moored in the middle of the lock flight. That was a good decision as the village was extremely busy. I'll cover my days at Stoke Bruerne in the next post.
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| These wildflowers are getting a bit too big! |
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| Newfound friends forever (feeding porridge oats) |
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