Mov'n on Down...

28/05/2014..

Still moving down the Grand Union toward London.. There are a lot of double locks but you just get moving and do them, get in the groove, and if your lucky enough to team with another NB going the same way it makes for even more enjoyable boating.
Struck a few showery days but that only makes fine days so much better..


You get a lot of  lookers on at locks and you can see people, especially kids, wondering what it's like to do that..

So more than once we've offered watchers the opportunity for a ride.

Glad to accept this time was..

Young Ryan, on school holiday, watching with his mum... Helped steer through two locks...
The smile got bigger and bigger...

After passing the Bulbourne  junction...

We passed this iron work  shop doing garden furniture, sculptures..

Moored up for the night just above Cow Roast lock.
The next morning the rain had returned..

As we moved off to do the lock, first of the day, a hire boat approached from behind and then fifty meters short of the lock over took us, well me and the NB as Leonie was already setting the lock..

Struggling to pull up but eventually halting with only a small crash...

 

The gates are open and in they go...

It was great to team up with another NB and especially when they're good people. Doing six days, three each way, this lot were from Barrow on Furness. We stayed together two days working 34 locks until they turned to get back to hire base on time.

If your are getting wet on the outside...

 

Balance it up by getting wet on the inside... Dave at the helm and Christine on bar duties.. it was 5pm somewhere in the world....

It's a tidy stretch along Berkhamsted with some nice homes and canal side pubs...

 

 

Neil uses his Power to shut the lock gate...

 

The Three Horseshoes pub... Winkwell...

Pub at Apsley....

 

A nice residential mooring marina...

The next morning the....

 

 

 

 Sun was bouncing off those leaves... We pressed on...

 

It's recommended to...

 

 

Take the RH bridge hole....

 

As we left one lock...

 

 

 

Les and Jaq on NB Valerie pulled in to wait..

We pulled over for an afternoon escape from locking to venture to a nearby pub garden bar...
Later.... when we resumed our travel the Hire boat was...

Stuck by the stern where we moored... A tow from NB FireflyNZ  soon had the Poms going forward..

The No,1 locking team...

 

Anita and Leonie walking between locks....

Was a couple of Excellent days and nights with Neil, Dave, Christine and Anita... Thanks guys hope we will catch up again one day...

Turned a corner in a very rural setting and...

There was a golf course...
I yelled out to the players "My mates the best golfer in the World, he's on an 16 handicap"..
They didn't even wanna know his name...

Then around the next bend....

 

A picture setting .... Grove Park area....

 

 

If you need more accommodation on the NB....

Just add another room...

 

Canal side shopping...

 

 

 

 

Moor up at Tesco and wheel the trolley to the NB..


You heard of King Kong??...

 

Younger brother... Ping Pong...

Down Copper Mill lock way...

Cool house... well probably a Hot house... An artist on the patio...

 

 Just some shots that activate My Brain..  Mmmmm...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An early Transformer.....

 

Symmetry.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elementary.....

 

 

 

 

 

Cemetery....

 

With the mild winter there's an abundance of  wildlife...

 

 

Ducks in all colours.....

Next port of call, Paddington London...

Unusually Nice.....

With time on our side a corporate decision was made to halt progress and take a half mile walk away from the cut to visit the village of Yardley Gobion...

There is tasteful  new housing projects going ahead but what caught the eye was the diversity of old house designs all within a three quarter mile stretch of the village...



What you would expect....

Houses with the Thatch top....


One from....

Wisteria Lane...

 

 On the outside...

Contemporary  Family home...The "S,es" on the wall  attach to the steel rods that run to the other side of the building to stop the walls from falling out...

 

 Standing alone and in peace...

The old church built 1864...



Looking up...

 

The under side of a thatch porch...



Always pleases the eye....

Espalier trees.....

 

Now a family home....

 

The sign on the wall... The Old Hall... probably the place of old time dance and the start of many a village relationship...

Bit of a crossbreed....

Thatch and slate.... still nice...

 

Interesting....

 

Detail with the brick ends protruding on the gable face....


This was one of the earliest....

 

"Boarding Houses"....


You just gotta have ......

 

A Front Door....

If the village has "Class" and this one does...
Then it's got a....

 

Kombi... Camper... Lowered suspension...  and look at the security pole in the ground... Stop Thief.....

 

A house with a......

Early example of a "Bay Window"...

Then there's the....





Castle look......

A village worth a look....

Back to the canal and bridges come and go very regularly but this one...

 

At Cosgrove is of a unique  Gothic style... 1800,s....

And these....

Abutments are part of it as well....

Crossed over the....

 

Great Ouse Aqueduct... A square cast iron trough on stone pillars built in 1811.. Done away with 9 locks that were once used to get there....

And finally this weeks.....

Piece Of Shit... Yep passed the guy that lives on it  pushing that bike on the tow path earlier and he stunk like a "Polecat".... Another disgrace to the canal system....

Down the Grand Union.......

 Heading down the Grand Union canal with London being the immediate destination.
I imagined the trip would be very "passing through housing estate or passing  through Rough areas" but have been pleasantly surprised how rural and picturesque it is and so far pretty well rubbish free...

After a week of Hot weather the rain has returned and steering and locking in wet weather gear is the go..

Here's a  no real story but some random shots from recently...

First time through the Crick tunnel we never met an oncoming NB.
Second time through we passed three...

Passing the third NB...

And was pleased not to have "Hit" either... not much room though...

A 70 foot hire boat winded, Turned, in front of us but his bow was against the bank on one side and his stern was touching the other. Lightly jammed the NB  was, even though the crew were on the bank trying to pull it free.

Answer to the problem...

Get a "Blond Steerer" in a "Plastic", cruiser to use her bow to push the NB bow then chuck  a rope   to pull in reverse the stern free... A good tugger  she was.. it worked...

Came across the Canal and River Trust equivalent of a...

 

Drive through  car NB wash...

Whilst moored in the sun we were passed by another...

 

Kiwi couple in NB Pukeko...  that's the NZ bird that plays "chicken" with cars on NZ roads and mostly loses..


When we moved we pulled up alongside for a chat...

Proud to show the "Silver Fern" as well as fly the NZ flag....

The hot weather brings....

Music to the "Cut".....

But must be balanced with....

 

The right amount of "Liquid" to ward off "Dehydration"....

The canal side pubs like The...

 

 

Navigation at Stoke Bruerne  were doing a good trade with canal side diners....

At the top lock....

Stoke Bruerne... a nice setting and a restored corn mill on the left houses the National Waterways Museum...

Was it Water....

 

 

Or Rope running over the lock gates??.....

A mild winter is good for breeding, Apparently......

 

The farmer will be really pleased with the Canadian Geese... 2 bloody days old and already eating  as much grass as any sheep...

Passed through....

Blisworth ....

Here the old....

 

Mill building has been converted to waterside apartments...

 

Not to far on after a wooded section the....

Entrance to the Blisworth Tunnel appears... 3057 yds, long... 3rd longest on the system....opened 1805...
Originally excavation failed with collapses so boats were unloaded either side and the goods were pulled over the hill by horse drawn trams and reloaded on the other side... that lasted 5 years..

The familiar sound, to us, of motocross bikes caught the ear so...

 

We hauled on the anchors and walked to a nearby, other side of the hedge, Motox track...
A typical pit scene....spitting out dust / dirt and talking of near "offs"...

It turned out to be the "Dodford Turn" club track...

It was only a practice day with a couple of organised races later on...

Well organised but was surprised to see....

All classes, all ages, on the track at the same time.... there's a huge speed difference between a 450cc & a 125cc....

The Soulbury flight of 3 locks...

Were manned by a zillion volunteers so it was as easy as riding an armchair to lift up the 20 foot 3 inches to the next level....


It appeared from the port side, surfed along in the wake of the NB, in line with where we were standing then turned to starboard and headed for the canal bank about 10 meters away.
The camera was handy but it happened so fast and was a touch unbelievable that  a good  photo was "Impossible"....
But it was a....

SNAKE in the water... visible in the center  of the water area....
Not seen one  of them before.... was it a water snake or a grass snake crossing to greener pastures?....

High on the hills in the distance the...

Whipsnade White Lion stood proud... cut in 1933... there's a wildlife park close by....


With the hot weather the holiday makers will be looking to...

Hire these Igloo huts on a canal side farm stay....

The Great weather brings out....

The best of "Steerers"....