Houseboats everywhere

Continuing our journey down to London we've arrived in "House-boat Land" and there are certainly some weird and wonderful ones about.

This one's a rescue pod from an oil rig

These are true houseboats without engines

This one thinks it's Noah's Ark

and this one must be pretty certain we're not in for any seriously windy weather in the near future

or maybe he's going to use it as a sail?

This one had to win the award for being totally wacky. The car is welded into the body of the boat!  Why?????

Sunny Sunday

Only 3 locks today, well it is Sunday!

We moored above Apsley Lock where there's a large Sainsbury's and walked down to the next lock and The Paper Mill pub. We'd considered having our Sunday roast in The Fishery pub back where we'd moored last night but the service was so poor when we popped in for a pint last evening that we decided to try this one instead. It had been recommended to us by one of the boats we'd shared locks with yesterday and they weren't wrong.

We sat outside in the sun and had a really excellent roast beef dinner.

We were just about to cast off and continue our journey when a man from one of the other moored boats knocked on wanting Roger to fix his electrics for him.  It always seems to happen on a Sunday but as jobs are few and far between he couldn't really refuse.

Bye for now, enjoy the sunshine while it lasts

Sun, sun and more sun

It's been yet another glorious sunny day again and I'm starting to run out of sunscreen.

Setting off early (10am which is early for us) we dropped down through 3 locks and moored at Berkhamsted to go to the canalside Waitrose and have lunch before continuing our cruise through another 10 locks. We shared 2 locks with a live-aboard boat whose skipper bemoaned the fact that it was a hard life, especially in the winter when he had to move his boat for water. He didn't like sharing locks and decided to moor up for a while so we carried on alone. The locks on this stretch are quite heavy and most have to be left empty as the lock walls leak which meant that almost every one needed filling before we could go through. If they carry on like this I'll have muscles on my muscles.......

We teamed up with another boat for a few locks and then were caught up by the live-aboard boat but even when the other boat pulled in for the day they didn't want to share the locks. By this time they were also zig zagging across the canal and always had cans in hand when they finally did make it to the lock. Such a shame and such a waste of water.

We're really enjoying the Grand Union Canal so far. It's much nicer than we expected and there are some fantastic water-side properties. I particularly liked this one

with it's own dry dock/boat house

and giant orangutan in the sun room

We called it a day after 13 locks and moored opposite a field of these pretty Belted Galloway cattle, highly prized for their marbled meat......pity my freezer is so tiny!

Back on the move again

We enjoyed our short stay in Aylesbury. The moorings were noisy during the day due to the building site adjacent to the basin, but that'll soon be finished and then it will be a good, quiet, safe place to stay. If you wanted to leave your boat for any length of time the Aylesbury Canal Society offer free visitor moorings in Circus Field Basin which is about half a mile out of town.

We hired a car and went to meet our new grandson. He's gorgeous but slept the whole time we were there. By the time we get to see him again he'll have grown a bit and hopefully be more interesting.

Yesterday we returned up the 16 locks out of the Aylesbury Arm and are now back on the Grand Union. It's been a glorious sunny day again and we shared the first 7 locks with a young couple who were on the last day of their holiday.

We'd just got to the top of the second lock when we saw this bat clinging to the wall.

I've never seen one so close during the day before and it was trying to get behind the pub sign. It was really cute but scared the volunteer lockie when it finally decided to fly off in search of a better roost.

11 locks after setting off we moored in Northchurch and went walkabout. It's a residential/commuter village with 2 churches and a pub but no shops. It does however have the poshest allotments I've ever seen. All the plots were immaculate and full of produce. This old guy was very busy and made me smile with his hankie on his head to keep the sun off.

Let's hope this lovely weather stays for a few more days.

Bye for now

Aylesbury

We carried on into Aylesbury today. The canal is very overgrown in places and we didn't see another moving boat all day, which is a shame as it's a really pretty canal with lots of fruit trees in the hedgerows almost ready for harvesting. There are sloes, damsons, apples and LOTS of blackberry bushes.

The canal ends at a new basin with good pontoon moorings. It's overlooked by Waitrose and a Travelodge

and the Waterside Theatre which is a really beautiful modern building

The moorings are only a five minute walk away from the town centre which has every major chain shop you could wish for plus a large number of good charity shops and an even larger number of pubs. It's a shame it's a no-alcohol day as some of them looked really inviting. We're resisting the temptation though, as since we went teetotal for the Dry January appeal we now only drink at weekends - except when we're on holiday of course!

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

The Birthday Boy

Look who's 10 today

He had a rough start in life but has lived with us for the past 7 years and is a wonderful boat dog - except that he still HATES all other dogs with a passion. He's been to see a doggy shrink and we've all been to training/socialising classes but no matter what we do he still just wants to fight them. It doesn't matter if they're a miniature Yorkie or a Rottweiler he'd take them all on if he got the chance.  It's a shame really as it means he misses out playing with the other boat dogs that we meet.

Happy Birthday Chico!