G U Canal...

Passing through the Milton Keynes suburb of Great Linford we pulled over and took a walk through the adjacent park...

And what an excellent walk it was.....

Tree lined paths....

And there still stands some......






Elm houses built in the 1600,s by Sir William Pritchard to house 6 unmarried poor people of the Parish...
There wage at the time was 7.5 pence per week....

The Elm houses feature an unusual....

Dutch style gable ends.... and in the garden these carved Totem type poles....

The surrounding stone walls on one corner......

Had a large rounded 3 piece stone......

And next door stood the.....

 

St Andrews church.... 1000yrs history..... The oldest unchanged part is the 12th century tower.....

Surrounding 3 sides of the church is the ....

Graveyard....
Church grave yards make real interesting viewing and we like to take time, quiet  time, just wandering and reading headstones. Learning of family members  all buried together or close by and dying only  a few years apart and it seemed at a lot younger age than todays life expectancy.....

There are graves for the rich with the extravagant headstones  and graves for the poor... Seems
were are all the same once were 6 foot under....

A bit of wilderness and tranquility........

Nearby a.....

Small pond hidden from view from the houses.....

Left the quite surrounds to pass......

Over the Grafton Street Aqueduct...... 4 lanes of traffic below....


A modern construction..

 

 Built 1991.....

 

What you don't need to meet at a bridge hole is...

A wide beam NB... No passing here......

Then around the next bend.....







The Long Train Running......








Just cruised along at not much more than tick over....
Enjoying the sun and sights.....

I said to Leonie......

 
"You Gotta Start Taking It Easy".......

A little farther on and there it was....

An Awesome MK1 Escort 2 door...... at a panel & paint shop... those guys have good taste.....

Passed under this....

Gothic style bridge.....1800... no one seems to have an explanation on why it's here in this style....

Well fancy that. Another.....





Aqueduct.. this time over water.... the Ouse River....

Named the....

Great Ouse Aqueduct it has the cast iron trough still holding water... built 1811...

Easy cruising and moored up in the country......

Caught a look at....

The sun.....

Going down... after it done  a bloody good days work.....

On Our Own......

Back on our own, two handed, well actually that's four hands or two lots of two and heading North still on the Grand Union canal.
Plans are, and they're pretty loose, is to head for the Macclesfield canal then have a look in Manchester and if times on our side traverse the Leeds and Liverpool and look at parking up in November..
The weather is still very warm but the temperature lowers with the odd shower of rain.

We left Cowroast and parked up was...

The new wide beam... Still Rockin....

There wasn't much chance to stop and say hello because the sky had blackened and George was closing down the side covers....

A very short time later it came down pretty steady...

I chucked on the wet weather gear and bared it for a while but as I could see it getting heavier I made a decision...

Hit the reverse thrust as we passed under the bridge and used it for shelter....

Keeping and eye on....

The way we  came... hopefully not another NB coming... there wasn't....

We moored for the night and the rain eased...

Next morning fine and hot again....
Entering the first of the Marsworth locks (7)......We teamed up with...

The hotel boat Takara.... Dean & Chris have been doing trips for 8 years now and we breezed through the flight with Leonie & Chris setting the locks.....

Of their paying guests one lady was on her 39th holiday on a hotel boat, many times on this boat.
She was pretty handy swinging a windlass too...
They were heading down the Aylesbury arm so we said "See Yaa"  and continued alone....

The combine harvesters have been doing long hours, can hear them well after dark and the fields have......

Hundreds of bales of straw to be carted for storage...

The sunny spell means the camping grounds are full and the three...

Igloo accommodation huts were  full too....

At one lock the bottom paddle mechanism was extremely hard to wind and the tapered  shaft the windlass goes on was very worn. Leonie was struggling to get winding but as usual was putting in a huge effort when," Kappow", her windlass slipped off the shaft and the momentum of trying to wind caused her to lung forward and "Headbutt" the gate paddle mechanism on the lock beam.
I'm watching from steering the boat and my first thought were, head injury..
I climbed up to run over and luckily her sunglasses had worn the impact, paint was etched into one lens, and no blackeye or cuts....
"Give it here"  I say..
And she did...
Placing the windlass on the worn shaft and adding a couple of necessary swear words I give it the big heave....

And it...




Flys off again and smacks me right on the shin bone...
Adding the necessary swear words.......

Cleaned up and with a dressing held together with....

The compulsory asking tape worked a treat to stop the blood flow...
But when it came to remove the tape... See the hairs....
So that's why those cyclists people shave there legs... I thought they were all femine......

At Grove lock...

The pub puts on a nice display...

Now Iv'e been told by experts that if you hang a CD disc in the front of your car it will deflect the coppers radar... Na fair go....

So I think we've seen the....

Worlds speediest and unlaw abiding Narrow Boat....take that Ol, Bill.....
Also how do you get off the boat onto a RH towpath....

We arrived at Leighton lock and it was....

Happy hour for nearby Wyvern NB Hire Co.... 19 boats in from hirers and 19 out and this is the first lock they meet. We were 8th in line and it was amusing watching the first timers..
A staff member was on hand to tell them, not do it for them, and when he told a teenager what he'd done wrong the spoilt little brat packed a right sad and stormed off down the tow path...
He had to return because the rest of the family were on the boat and no doubt dad had the house keys... where ever that was.....

Another day and we caught up with....

Del and Al... NB Derwent 6... Leonie and Al catching up on latest travels...they are headed for Cambridge via the rivers.....

A slow hire boat ahead was slowing progress...

Awaiting  to exit the second of the Soulbury 3 locks......

Moored up near to Milton Keynes and made it inside as another heavy shower hit....

 

Last Days...

27th July........

Fellow NZers Bruce & Nat, who join the narrowboat two weeks earlier in Bedwyn on the K&A canal were counting down the days until they caught the big bird home, Malaysian Airlines and could hardly wait, to get back to the work routine......

Our plan was to head North on the Grand Union canal and Nat & Bruce were only too keen to help with locks, there are plenty of them, and then catch a train to Heathrow from somewhere close to the canal...

Heading out of Paddington Basin for the final time....




Leonie takes the tiller.......

And.....

Nat had a turn at driving as well......

We moored for the night at Bulls Bridge, done the Tesco thing in the morning then headed North...

It's about 14 miles out of London until the first lock....

 

Being Cowley lock... The "A" team were raring to go......

Then onto.....

Denham Deep lock..... waiting for the lock to empty......

To get a free feed one only has to....

Pick Blackberries.... Nat picked the low ones.......

There are some "Free Loaders" living on the canal and.......

This Bird is no exception.....

Looking to firm up those shoulder muscles......

Nat opens a gate paddle........

Between locks.....

Leonie and Nat walked the talk......

The Gand Union canal cuts through the picturesque Grove Park area....
To gain permission to do so the G.U. company had to.....

Build this fancy bridge to please the Earl of Essex who's land it was....

Farther on the canal passes under....

The M25... not as ornamental....

At Berkhamsted the....

Rising Sun pub is always easy on the eye....

And it sits next to the.....

Rising Sun lock..... Bruce works the Last Lock of their canal adventure.......

So the NB trip was all but over for Nat & Bruce.  Bedwyn on the Kennet & Avon canal to Reading, joined the Thames, 50 miles of awesome hot weather and untold sights, past Big Ben, under the Tower Bridge, through Limehouse Basin to Paddington then up to Berkhamsted.

So just as they arrived by the towpath....

They left by the tow path.... 6.45am short walk to the station.... Heathrow.... home.....
Thanks for the good times and a lot of fun.....

Overall Leonie was the card playing Champion.... Nat was the Champion of the wine......
I'm unbeatable on the dishes and Bruce is the Lockmaster........

(it was only 10 pounds more to get a cab from the station to Heathrow direct, which they did,  no having to go into London and change trains... a good deal...)....

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY..........

Early start Thursday morning, 24th July, as we are all off to the World Match Play champs in the Winter Gardens building in Blackpool.
We Left NB FireflyNZ  moored in Paddington Basin and caught the Oxford Tube ,bus, from Marble Arch at 7.05am to Thornhill  park and ride where Spencer picked us up and delivered us to the Racing Ford Focus for our trip up North.

After many days of hot temperatures Oxford was a lowly 8 -10 degrees early on.....

 We had to open bags to get some warm gear to put on...

Three hours driving and the temperature had got,n back in the mid twenties up Blackpool way...

Settled in the B&B it was time to sample the onsite bar and try....

Our tee shirts that Bruce had designed and had printed in Aussie.... By The Club of Odd Volumes....

 

 Then it was off down town, 12 minute walk, to the venue.

Before we entered the Ball room where the darts are held there was a chance...

To loosen up the fingers on a couple of 6 strings which would make glass holding more better.....

Nat, & Leonie tried the same but.....

 

6 stings was way out of their league....

Inside the venue and it was starting to "Pump"... that's young persons talk for "Getting Freak.n Noisy"......

So we went to our table and....

 

Got our message boards done... Plaques and marker pens supplied in quantity....

All over the world any crowd gathering, concerts etc, and especially sports events it's now all "Dumbed down". Like bag searches, restrictions on alcohol purchased, only 2 drinks a person and they're low volume alcohol,  plastic everything so no weapons of destruction can be fabricated, no cameras etc,etc,.
Well at the darts I wouldn't go as far as saying they encourage one to drink but it's real beer in like 2 litre jugs, there's a full range of alcoholic drinks and buy what you need.
The atmosphere with the "Walk on Music" and flashing lights  as the players enter and also when 180's are scored is electric and for 35 quid for 4 hours entertainment is gotta be great value..
Compare that with a football game. 80 quid for ninety minutes to watch overpaid, 300,000 quid a week, Soft Cock sports men lay down at the slightest opportunity and throw a "Howly" cause someone's taken their Cuddly.....

Most people wore the 180 hats as hats, mine.....

 

 

Helped to hold my arms on.....

Leonie and Nat, went over to where the players enter the stage... A railed off walkway......

 

Their signs were seen around the world... even by those intended....




They wanted to touch MVG, world No,1..... and because they missed the Bay City Rollers tour in NZ, pregnant,  they still had that, I wanna be a  "Groupie" thing......

An early game saw....




"The Wizard" from Aussie, Simon Whitlock against James the "Machine" Wade....
Wade won the first 4 games but ended up losing, well you can't play against a "Spell", 16 -10.....

Our seats were awesome close to centre stage but there's big screens so it's easy to follow the action...

When a player scores a max, that is 180 scored, no not three chicks in one night, up go....

 

The crowd with the 180 signs etc, accompanied by the music...song and dance.....

Some people put in great effort on their costumes....

This Dude......

 

 

 

 Would "Take the Cake".......

Another game and....

 

MVG, Michael Van Gerwen plays Dave Chisneall.... close but the world No,1 was too good... 16-12...

Took twice as many steps to walk the same route home with next days play, Friday, to look forward too....
Decided to check out the Blackpool scene so Fri, morn, sun blazing again, we headed off...
Walking along the concrete beach from the centre pier toward the other pier down by the roller coaster...

For water so close to the Arctic I was surprised how warm it was...... Although....

 

Nats, first splash seemed too much.....

 

 Time to walk on.....

 

 Stay inline and we won't lose anyone......

Then out of the blue Nat, got......

A wave that soaked her "Crutch"... A quick talk and a unanimous corporate decision was made....
(a) leave the shorts on... would save her from being as popular as MVG...
(b) the salt water would kill any germs anyway........

Looking toward the roller coaster end...

 

 

It was good thinking that I wore my "Saltwater Crocs" eh?...

Looking Toward.......

 

Where we had come from.... totally unsuitable footware.....

Then Nat, started....

The old "Splashing" game.... you just gotta stand and take it cos, you'll never win against her....

 

Finally made the big ride.....
Bruce is some what a "Roller Coaster Affishiado" so to add another scalp  to his world of rollercoasters ridden  list...

Him and Nat rode it.....He did comment that over 200 foot climb to the point of no return is a bit of a "Heart Pumper"....

OHH and the.....

 

 Corners are good two......

Trammed back to central boulevard and was walking the "board walk" when out of the blue Nat, decides  to.....

Change the colour of her hair.... with some help from a seagull..... she asked Bruce about the colour but it wasn't a "hit" with every one......

 

Friday evening came around and we were back at the venue. Our seats were not on the floor in front of the players but on the balcony that surrounds 3 walls of the hall.

Once again the....

 

Coded messages were ready....

And the purchasing of....

 

More beer was done....

Then on came the greatest player of all time.....

 

"Phil the Power Taylor".... 16 times world champ...... plus a zillion other titles world wide....
He "Creamed" his opponent Wes Newton .. 16 -8...

Gary Anderson played 2 times world champ, Adrian "Jackpot" Lewis... Anderson won.. 16 - 8....

Did you know why Lewis stage name is Jackpot?... well when he was a teenager he played darts in a tournament in Vegas and stuck a "Jackpot" on a pokie machine... $200,0000... about, but was too young to be able to claim the prize... Gutted??...

Anyway the night was  awesome and the 2 days were everything we'd hoped for in having a great time.....

A couple of shots from the balcony seating....

 

Even at a distance it's good viewing....

Bout the only thing they don't do is put it up in Braille......

Phil Taylor went onto win the final, Sunday,  against MVG....18-9... too good....

Drove back to Oxford on Saturday via Llangollan so Bruce and Nat, could walk the Aqueduct. Also called into Chester and walked the Roman wall....
So much to do... so little time... 
Had some Beers and food in Oxford with Spence and Karen, caught the bus and was back onboard FireflyNZ  at 1.45am Sunday....