The Aylesbury Arm

Enough of babies and dogs.........time to go cruising again.

The first day's cruise after our holiday was a bit of a shock!  13'C and absolutely peeing down; definitely not the Canal de Midi

We plodded slowly down the Grand Union stopping off in Leighton Buzzard for a couple of days to stock up the cupboards in Aldi and Tesco and also so that I could get my hair cut. I've had some really dodgy cuts since we were here last November, so as soon as we arrived I made an appointment at the same salon I used last year and was very happy with them again.

Have you seen the moon over the past couple of nights? The skies have been really clear round here and last night we had a perfect view of it.

We've decided to do a detour down the Aylesbury Arm so that we can pick up a hire car from Aylesbury and go and meet our new grandson. The furthest south we've been so far on the Grand Union was Slapton Lock so we're now on new territory.

A new housing development is being built right beside the sanitary station near the junction. The rubbish point has already been moved and I've no doubt that the Elsan and water points will be moved in the near future as the people who buy these VERY expensive properties won't want boats mooring right outside their patio doors.

These are the "cheaper" properties right beside the staircase locks at the junction. It was strange being back on single width locks.

While we were filling with water we got talking to another boater who told us we were wasting our time going down the Aylesbury Arm as "there's nothing there". Well so far we're really enjoying it. The locks are easy to operate and it's a very pretty canal, if a bit overgrown in places.

The only criticism I have is that there's a distinct lack of decent mooring places. The towpaths are very overgrown

and despite the amount of water coming down the canal it's very shallow in places. It needs a good dredging.

The only pound we came across that had a good towpath and pilings was so shallow that I couldn't get anywhere near the side. There's a cottage beside the lock and to avoid it being flooded you have to leave the lock empty with the bottom paddle open. This drains the pound rapidly, in fact the level dropped 6 inches while I was trying to get into the side.

We've finally managed to get moored for the night between locks 12 & 13 and will carry on again tomorrow.

Bye for now