Maiden Voyage: Whilton to Uxbridge

[tempest]

DAY 1 - Saturday 24/11/07

 

I'm a bit late writing this, as I had company for the first two days of the trip, and it would have been a tad rude to spend evenings on the computer

 

So,the epic journey begins!

 

Saturday morning was spent getting the boat ready, after the initial jumping up and down in excitement and photo-shoots, of course! We took on some diesel, decided the water tank was full enough, turned on the water and gas, sorted out the inverter, checked the weed hatch, and generally thought "ready as we'll ever be". The engine coughed a couple of times before actually starting up, which gave me a heart attack, but was whirring away happily enough after that.

 

Highlights:

1. Crashing into a bridge and scraping up the rubbing streak on one side beautifully. The boat definitely looks used now, and we decided to wear the scars with pride

2. Freezing rain and wind in your face while you're trying to steer is not a good thing. Especially if you happen to wear glasses.

3. Had a couple of practice runs at mooring up out of the way of witnesses. Took a long time, but have worked out an effective way of mooring single handed. Victory!

4. The kettle short-circuits the 240V system. No idea why, everything else is working OK. So now we are boiling water for tea in the huge stew pot.

5. Battled with the fire most of the afternoon. Coal wouldn't take, despite the lady at the chandlery who assured us that we would hardly even need kindling (thank goodness we stocked up on it anyway) to get it going. Finally, in desperation, we dragged in a helpful gent from the boat moored up next to us that night, who practically had to build a pyre in the little Boatman stove to get the coal burning. Warmth! We were happy bunnies.

6. Moored up at Bugbrooke for the night. We have no idea where it actually is, but it had a great pub with excellent food, so no further information was required.

 

We were absolutely knackered by the end of the day, though as it turns out, we had only moved 6 miles! The initial schedule should have seen us in Stoke Bruerne by the end of day 1, and Milton Keynes at the end of day 2. I might just have to take 2 weeks off work

 

DAY 2 - Sunday 25/11/07

A delightful wake-up call from a swan tapping at the windows this morning! We fed him some Jammy Dodgers, though the dog got a bit jealous and tried to fight the swan for the crumbs. I'm sure the hissing and barking at 7am endeared us to our neighbours.

 

We set off nice and early (good-bye Bugbrooke!) intending to make the most of daylight since we had such a slow start yesterday. Sadly, it was not to be. The engine decided to die in a rather spectacular fashion by cutting out while the boat was in the curve of the canal heading for a bridge hole, and moving at a fair clip. Steering now impossible, slowing down likewise, we braced for impact. I am happy to report the bridge is still standing, though my poor boat is really looking rough now. And we lost the chimney pot in the crash. To add to the misery, we were on the wrong side of the canal, next to a farm/field with very crumbly ground not really conducive to mooring. Towpath on opposite side of canal. Kelly took a rope in hand, gave the boat a bit of a push, and raced over the bridge to pull her in on the other side. Rope-hauled her away from the bridge and moored up. Reasonably cheerful at this point because we were still in one piece, and figured provisions would last until somebody showed up to rescue us. Managed to forage for some firewood as well while we were waiting.

 

One phonecall to River Canal Rescue later, and help was on the way! Really can't praise RCR highly enough - it was Sunday morning, we were relatively in the middle of nowhere (Grand Union Canal between bridges 42 and 43 with fields on either side as far as the eye could see), and they showed up promptly, fixed our troubled engine and set us back on course - all within 4h of the breakdown! AND had the grace not to laugh at us (too much) . Apparently the engine service at Whilton Marina was a bit dodgy, and they neglected to change one of the diesel filters, which was completely clogged. He checked the rest of the engine as well, and also replaced the fan belt which was a little loose. I heart RCR!

 

As an interesting sidenote, a mooring warden came across us while we were waiting for RCR, and warned us about not displaying a licence (but accepted the explanation that I have only owned the boat for 24h and paperwork was in the mail) AND about not overstaying on the mooring. The latter, frankly, we found dead funny given the situation, but considering the number of boats in various states of disrepair we had seen on this stretch of canal, I get his point. Some of them were half sunk, others seemed to be used as storage sheds and looked as if no-one had set foot on them in years.

 

So, onwards towards Stoke. Next obstacle (cue scary music) - the Blisworth tunnel! All bloody 3000-odd yards of it. I have a question for all you boaty people out there - how the hell do you know if there is a boat already in the tunnel heading in the opposite direction? The darn thing is only 1 boat wide for a start, and there was no sign of human life at the entrance so no-one to ask! We entered very cautiously at tickover, sounded the horn, turned all the lights on, and then hoped for the best. At first I couldn't even tell if the boat was moving, then finally had to focus on the sides of the tunnel where I could see the walls going past, rather than on the front of the boat. It is seriously disorienting. Dark, freezing cold, the exit is a distant spot of light which really does not seem to be getting any bigger even though you are sure you've been in this bloody tunnel for a couple of days now, and what if the engine dies again at this point you are really stuffed as the phone obviously is not working and you would freeze to death if you tried to swim out, and now you are really on the verge of a panic attack and then finally you can see trees on the other side and exhale. Never ever am I going through a tunnel again! If Kelly had not been with me, I would have been a gibbering remnant of a human being by the end of it.

 

Just as we thought the worst was behind us, we came into view of Stoke Bruerne top lock. That is the biggest f-off lock I have ever seen! We moored up, put on our big-girl pants, and ambled over to investigate (lock keys at the ready). OK, scary stuff, we don't like this boating lark anymore. Boat for sale, people, any takers? It must drop down at least 5 metres!! OK, maybe 3. To top it all off, it is sandwiched between a lovely pub on one side and a canal museum on the other. At 3pm on a Sunday. Nothing like making a total fool of yourself in front of dozens of witnesses. Here goes. We set the lock, opened up the gates (both of course, since I am such a crap steerer and the rubbing strakes were looking decidedly worn by now). Kelly was running around the gates making sure everything was OK while the lock was emptying, while I was hanging onto the tiller for dear life and shuffling back and forth - help, too close to the cill, good grief don't get the bow caught on the gate, oh my god there is the cill again, are we there yet?? All the while fending off hecklers standing a safe distance away from this impending disaster. Actually managed to get through the lock with no mishaps, and the second one as well just to make sure the technique was cemented in, before mooring up in the lock pond between second and third lock.

 

For extra fun, discovered the gas boiler was not working. We had hot water yesterday, but apparently not today. Isolator valve on, gas cooker working OK, what is going on? Oh well, lukewarm shower it is.

 

As Kelly and I were chatting waiting for her sister to pick her up and take her back home, who should call but our knight in shining armour! Stan the Lightning Man, as he is henceforth to be known, called to check how we were doing. But was he calling from his comfortable home in Chiswick, ready to laugh at our misadventures? Not so! Our hero was calling from Stoke top lock, having driven all that way secretely to meet us, bearing provisions and a pair of oars (in case of another engine breakdown )! That really was incredibly thoughtful . We treated him to another fantastic pub dinner (is it just me or does food taste better after a physically exhausting day?), and had an altogether great evening. AND our hero fixed the boiler! Apparently there was another valve needed turning. Well, I am a girl after all, can't cope with too much technical stuff all at once!

[tempest]

Day 3 - Monday 26/11/07 - Stoke Bruerne to Milton Keynes

 

My first solo day. Not counting the dog, obviously, as he has been ignoring all my attempts to teach him to jump for shore with the centre rope between his teeth. He's also been looking at me like I'm a loony in the process, so we are not on speaking terms at the moment. Until dinner time.

 

This is me speaking after 2 days of solo cruising, but I have to say locking alone (up or down) is not nearly as difficult or as scary as I imagined. It takes a bloody long time, especially for me as I'm still crap at manouvering, but I have a system going now which seems to be getting me through. Probably completely unorthodox, but whatever works

 

The rest of Stoke Bruerne flight was not too bad. Set off at 8:30am after getting all the ropes sorted out, and made it through the next 3 locks slowly but without problems. I like a lock flight - can save a lot of effort by setting up 2 locks ahead, so as exit one I can get straight into the next one instead of mooring up in between. A boat showed up behind me (they were really good, and much faster than me, but had 2 people on board which I call an unfair advantage ) and ofered to share the next 2 locks, which I gratefully accepted as it meant just standing on the boat hanging onto the tiller and pretending I knew what I was doing instead of yanking on ropes and gates. Thanks very much, Steve and Heather on "Mabel" - lovely couple, very friendly and helpful to an utter novice.

 

Attempted to stop for water after the Stoke flight, and discovered that my water hose lacks an attachment to connect it to the tap. Bad planning, that, should have inspected it more closely before leaving Whilton. On the list now for the next boatyardy place I manage to stop at. Still struggling with the fire, and decided to try switching from coal to logs for a while, though what we foraged yesterday is fast running out. Solid fuel goes on the list as well. And toilet pump out, as it seems Whilton neglected to do that as well, which does gross me out more than a little.

 

Missed the Yardley Gobion boat services as there was a boat already moored up at the diesel station, and my fabulous manouvering skills would likely have caused damage to anyone I tried to moor up against, so decided to keep going. Through Cosgrove lock, over Great Ouse aquaduct (weird, looking down on cars from such a height) and onwards to Milton Keynes. It's a real shame I couldn't get more time off, I keep wanting to stop at places along the way. We cruised past some great walking paths (Dino kept trying to jump off), a couple of churches, Linford village...we'll have to come back this way in summer and do more exploring.

 

Moored up on a lovely stretch of towpath just after bridge 81 around 4pm and called it a day. Or rather, the boat did. I still had to walk the dog, forage for wood as I was really running low (found a nice big log, yay!), chop up the said wood with a blunt axe (now I know why most boats I've seen have a man on board), build up a fire, clean the floors, have a shower, make dinner, wash dishes...no wonder I'm knackered.

 

Big news - Dino stayed dry! Though it did involve a lot of yelling "no", "stay", "don't you dare jump you little monkey".

[Tim Lewis]

Not sure where you are getting your information from but unless you have (or meet) a wide beam boat you can easily pass two boats in Blisworth tunnel.

 

Tim

[tempest]

TUESDAY 27/11/07

Milton Keynes to Soulbury

 

Day filled with excitement! My first stop was going to be Milton Keynes Marina, to stock up on water and fuel, and pump out the toilet. Or not, as I watched the marina entrance pass me by. Was I really supposed to make a ninety degree turn to get into the marina? And how on earth am I supposed to know where within the marina the pumping station is located? Oh, this was going to be very interesting. Figured may as well stop and at least get some solid fuel so moored up a little way past it, but the marina entrance is well camouflaged if you are coming on foot as opposed to on the boat. Well, actually, it's well camouflaged either way. And after all that effort, there was a big sign on the door saying the marina is closed on Mondays!

 

Back to the boat, check the map. Boatyard at Willowbridge has fuel/pumpout/water and is only 10 bridges further ahead. Great, we have a new plan! Just to show I learn from experience, thought it would be best to moor up just before Willowbridge, walk ahead, and check out how to actually bring the boat in. Which would all have been fine, if there had been some sort of warning of how bloody shallow the canal is on the towpath side!! Yup, I ran aground. A good 1.5m from the bank. This was shaping up to be a real character-building day. Tried the boat pole - no luck. The bow of the boat was swinging out across the canal, and the poor thing was leaning rather precariously towards the right. With me automatically throwing all my weight to the left and then realising 60kg compared to 13 tonnes was like a pee in the ocean really. Called Willowbridge, and they were extremely helpful. Could probably hear the tears in my voice. 2 guys came out and refloated the boat (though it took a while, which made me feel a bit better - would have been really embarrassing if one shove had done it). Steve stayed on the boat and showed me how to manouver her in against the pumpout station. Steve has basically been my hero today . Stocked up on logs and kindling, got some Taybrite coal, water, pumped out, and pushed off again.

 

Almost forgot, through Fenny Stratford lock in between MK and Willowbridge, which has a swing bridge in the middle of it - point please? Was very pretty though . And I met a very sweet 4 year old boy who helped me work the lock

 

Next was the Stoke Hammond lock, going uphill. Fenny was also uphill, but only 16" so hardly counts. Maybe Stoke translates into huge, becase this thing rivaled Stoke Bruerne locks. Going up seems to take much longer than going down, takes forever for a big lock to fill.

 

The Soulbury flight was quite an obstacle. All three locks were already empty, and the ponds in between very small and difficult to moor up in (cement path on one side, very curved other side). There were no other boats coming, so I opened up all 3 sets of bottom gates thinking I could do as at Bruerne and go directly from one lock to the other. Well, a gentleman on his way to the pub saw me opening the gates at the top lock aand started yelling at me for letting the water out. I explained the lock was already empty, I was just opening the gates, which brought on more yelling and complaining that if I didn't have a boat I should not be touching the locks. I explained that I did indeed have a boat, she was in front of the bottom lock. More yelling, followed by some unintelligible muttering, and then he walked off into the pub. OK, that was weird. I realise going up causes a loss of water from the second pond, but that would happen anyway, whether I did the locks one by one or all at once, wouldn't it? I was clearly doing something wrong, but he didn't bother to explain, so I had to keep going and hope for the best. Came through OK, though those lock gates arer bloody heavy! Took an hour and a half to do the three locks (told you I was slow!). It was 3:30pm by this stage, and another gentleman walking back from the pub advised me it would be better to moor up just after the Soulbury locks where he and 3 other boats were moored, as any further towards Leighton Buzzard was not very safe for "a young lady all on her own". Advice taken and much appreciated . Though Dino was a bit miffed at being dismissed so lightly in his role of savage guard dog.

 

Final word for tonight - Taybrite coal is far better than Pureheat!! Even my radiators are warm, and I was really not convinced by the backboiler previously.

 

PS Edited to add - have just been on the phone to a friend, whinging about MK marina being closed on Mondays, when he casually pointed out that today is Tuesday. Followed by some comments about blondes which do not bear repeating. OK, so I'm a bit slow on occasions, but I lost track of time all on my own with only a dog for company...

 

WEDNESDAY 28/11/07

Soulbury to Marsworth

 

Exhausted! Came through 10 (giant heavy) locks today, for a total of 44 miles and 23 locks so far. 26 miles and 53 (sob!) locks to go. The fire has been behaving itself all day, and for the first time I am sitting here tonight in short sleeves with windows open .

 

Dino nearly hitched a ride on another boat! He escaped from the cabin while I was operating a lock without me seeing him, and I only spotted him as I was cruising away and he was barking after me - from a (moored) boat on the opposite side of the canal! Little monkey. Had to stop, go back and show him how to cross a lock gate. He's been behaving since then.

 

Not much else to report. Stan is trying to find his way to the boat so he can take me out for dinner (good friends are the nicest thing in the world!), so I've had the world's longest shower (that is, the longest I allow myself on the boat, meaning just over 5min) to try to make myself look socially acceptable. A scrub brush will be the only way to get the dirt out from under my fingernails I'm afraid

Edited November 29, 2007 by tempest

[charles123]

Lovely report enjoyed reading it, keep them coming

 

Charles

[tempest]

THURSDAY 29/11/07

Marsworth to Cowroast

 

Hats off to Stan for finding my boat last night, moored up in what must be the most inaccessible spot I could have found - he battled London traffic AND miles of muddy unmarked unlit towpaths. We had a lovely dinner in the Duke of Wellington in Marsworth, and he also brought me a new waterhose since we discovered mine has a leak .

 

Did another 10 locks today and moored up just under Cowroast lock. If I'm going to make it to Uxbridge by Monday evening (have to go back to work Tuesday) I have to be passing through 10-11 locks per day, which I am finding physically completely exhausting. I'll see how I feel tomorrow, but at the moment I'm inclined to throw the schedule away, enjoy the scenery, get as far as I can, and use the following weekend (or two) to bring her down the rest of the way.

 

Had some help at Marsworth top lock - 5 kids (somewhere between 4-6yo) showed up with their minder and LOVED opening and closing the gates. They were peeking in through the boat windows, asking if I really lived inside, and why was I not in a house, and how could I have a kitchen inside a boat! With bananas in a fruit basket! They all want to live on a boat now

 

I continue to be amazed by all the friendly faces - everybody I've passed, whether on boats or along the towpath, has smiled or waved, and the people I meet at locks have all been lovely and helpful. I definitely need to get out of the city!

[Chris J W]

Don't miss the chance to pop into The Cow Roast Inn over the bridge. Excellent pub with great food. Plenty of free prawn crackers, which make excellent firelighters, too!

[tempest]

I should have checked this thread earlier, just had my dinner! Maybe it's just me, but I've always felt weird about going into a pub on my own. I'm really very shy...

 

With regards to the Blisworth tunnel, having shared a few locks over the last couple of days, I can see how it does allow 2 boats to pass. However, with my uninitiated I've-only-been-on-a-boat-for-24h eyes at the time, it seemed completely impossible and I truly feared a collision.

 

This has been an awesome experience so far, and though I'm petrified half the time, I'm completely loving it! It is absolutely the best way to see England.

 

Happy boating!

 

x Dalya

[mareco]

Hey you are brilliant, what a star! Loved reading this.

 

Take care

 

Mary

[Ray]

Couldn't agree more.

 

I keep checking for the next installment but seems like she's not moved from Cowroast in the last two weeks.

 

Wonder if Chris J W has kidnapped her.

[Chris J W]

Couldn't agree more.

 

I keep checking for the next installment but seems like she's not moved from Cowroast in the last two weeks.

 

Wonder if Chris J W has kidnapped her.

 

Not Guilty!!!

 

Can't even remember seeing a boat of that name go by!

 

Could have been iced-up for the past few days, mind.

[andy the hammer]

Great reading, in March next year I will be in the same situation with our boat taking to the water,has anybody else got any interesting first trip stories to tell just to make me feel better on that first trip?

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Chris-B]

We moor in Uxbridge and no sight of it yet

 

Blimey the welcoming cup of tea is nearly stewed