Home again

A familiar trip today through the tunnel, down the locks and lunch at the Boat House. 

Weedon to (nearly) Braunston

Onwards again on another hot and sunny mooring to visit the chandleries at Whilton before ascending Buckby locks with a very experienced timeshare boat crew.

After lunch we stopped in the tree lined cutting leading into Braunston Tunnel to escape the worst of the afternoon’s heat and catch up with a little painting.

On to Weedon

After a night below the top lock we set off in the morning through the picture perfect village, well before the customary crowds had arrived. 
I hadn’t spotted the unusual weather vane on the boatyard next to the services at Gayton Junction before.

The afternoon grew hotter, and we found a shady mooring in Weedon within easy reach of the Indian Restaurant for a take-away.

Cosgrove to Stoke Bruerne

The aqueduct from above:

Unusually we shared the lock flight with two day boats on what became a hot and sunny afternoon.  Dinner in the garden at the Navigation – where the odd mixture of loud background music seemed almost designed to move customers on quickly as soon as they have eaten.

To Cosgrove

We moored for the night after the Iron Trunk Aqueduct, which is much more impressive from below than above.

Two direct hits

We moved from Linslade to Milton Keynes today, stopping to avoid a soaking.  Little to note except that for the second day in a row I have destroyed an ant’s nest in mooring up.  Yesterday they came swarming out of the ground after I drove in a mooring pin; today they had colonised the space behind the sheet piling that I put a mooring clip into. 

Hard aground

Sunday morning saw us, and several other boats, hard aground in the pound above Marsworth’s bottom lock.  The water had gone down a foot or two overnight, perhaps because the gates leak badly, and the top gates always swing open for some reason.  This appears to be a daily occurrence.  We were soon afloat after some water had been let down the flight and on our way. 

Paired with another boat, we made faster progress on the way back down and moored for a late lunch at the Grove Lock, after the shower that was about to hit in this picture.

Cowroast and back

Torrential rain started almost as soon as we set off from our mooring up the last few locks to the summit.
Fortunately the sun came out to show the long summit pound off at its leafy best. 


After lunch at the Cowroast Inn we retraced our steps. The White Lion is boarded up and for sale, but the Anglers Retreat was still open for dinner.

Marsworth Reservoirs

This stretch, with widely spaced locks on the way to Marsworth, has some great views of the ridge of the Chilterns.

Kingfisher

From last night's mooring just above Stoke Hammond Lock.  If you have the smartphone eNature app then you can report sightings like these to be added to the C&RT database, and also see what others have reported in specific locations.

Home alone?

Somewhere between Milton Keynes and Stoke Hammond.