Dreamboat Cruise: Blisworth.........I Hate Tunnels

This photo shouldn't be here........sorry. If I delete it I may lose all the rest!!

Whilst travelling through Islington Tunnel (about a mile long) the front of my boat suddenly kicked to the left and in correcting it I lost quite a lot of paint off the side of my boat and the folded down pram hood was damaged. I was told it was the ghost of Islington tunnel and it happens quite frequently!

So you can imagine I was not looking forward to Blisworth Tunnel which is 3 times as long.

But we still have a while to go before reaching it. My last entry was from Linslade

Sunset on the Grand Union

Before departing from Linslade Ron and I had to spend about half an hour freeing his boat from the bottom of the canal, she was stuck fast. Towing from any angle did not work but did get her bow away from the bank. I then had to place my boat between her and the bank to act as a wedge whilst Ron pushed her stern out. Quite a challenge.

The next challenge was Tesco's just around the corner. Another handy site just on the towpath in Leighton Buzzard.

A little gem of a cottage

We then had a fairly quiet day. Ron had arranged to meet his daughter and 3 grandchildren at Soulbury Three Locks which has a convenient pub and car park

Soulbury Bottom Lock.

Each bridge has 2 arches showing where the locks were once twinned to speed up the volume of traffic on the Grand Union.These double arches were a common sight until we reached Stoke Bruerne. With the decline of the canals the second locks were closed.

To speed things up a bit, we tied the boats together to go through the 3 locks. I worked the locks whilst Ron skillfully took the boats through

We moored up at a lovely quiet location and had a delightful afternoon with Ron's family. The grandchildren kept us very busy and were a good excuse to take the next day off.

So a useful day for cleaning the boat and chilling out.

We worked out a system of going through the 'down' locks stopping the boats just beyond the gates and then we could both get off and close the gates behind us. Simples!

A beautifully restored teak wood cruiser

The owner was having problems with bees that were boring into the mahogany on the decks

Fenny Stratford Lock

They get everywhere!

Fenny Stratford has been important since Roman times being on the crossing of Watling Street and the River Ouzel

This lock was built in1802 as it had been difficult to maintain water levels to the north due to water leakage. The fall on the lock is only 30cm. The smallest on the GU.

There is a swing bridge over the centre of the lock.

We moored up at Simpson, which would give us a fresh start the following day to negotiate our way around Milton Keynes.