Another year over

Since my last post we have moved a whole mile!

We stayed close to Leighton Buzzard as it was a convenient place for Tony to come an collect us for our Christmas visit to Peterborough. It has the added bonus of shops and boaters facilities. We, like the rest of the country, have seen some rather wild weather.We have had great amounts of wind and rain, at the worst the brook that runs beside the canal burst it's banks but luckily the canal is on a slight embankment where we are moored so it was the field on the opposite bank of the brook that flooded. Water levels in the canal were up about ten inches and did overflow onto the towpath in places.

We had a very nice couple of days with Mandy, Tony and the grandkids. All the usual Christmas festivities were enjoyed with good food, good drink and good company.

We now have to do a quick run, for this time of year, to get through Marsworth Locks by Sunday at the latest. The weather today has been more of the same but from tomorrow there is supposed to be some improvement.

2012 has been a fairly good year, apart from the weather, no major crisis apart from our alternator problems  although we now seem to have a problem with our fridge/freezer. It's chilling but not enough, oh dear!

Happy New Year to everyone, hope it's good one!


In 2012 we travelled 876.9 miles, 675 locks,  55 swing bridges, 23 lift bridges and 31 tunnels

In 2011 we travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels

During 2010 we travelled 740.3 miles, 642 locks, 53 swing bridges, 4 lift bridges and 25 tunnels

Since Ray retired we have travelled 2078.6 miles, 1761 locks, 111 swing bridges, 61 lift bridges and 71 tunnels

Update - Now at Leighton Buzzard

We stayed a few days at Fenny Stratford. Saturday night saw the canal frozen again and we had snow,not a lot but some. We did a bit of Christmas shopping,a bit of bargain shopping and of course some grocery shopping. Our best bargain was an LED striplight from IKEA, list price £30 reduced to £4.90 because the 12v/240v transformer was missing. That's the bit we chop off and throw away because we run on 12 v!!

On Monday the canal had mostly thawed and in mid afternoon Phil on Hyperion came past. Phil is our coal and diesel supplier when we are down near Watford, he doesn't often come as far north as Milton Keynes. When he came back on Tuesday we topped up with diesel and had a couple of bags of coal from him too.

On Wednesday night the canal froze again but as another boat had come north and the ice didn't seem very thick we decided to make a move on Thursday. Bad move!! Even where the ice had been broken by the other boat it was hard going and they had only come about a mile. Once we reached virgin ice it was virtually impossible to make progress,after about another 500 yards we gave up and moored. It had taken us an hour and a half to travel less than one and a half miles and one lock.

Friday was exceptionally windy so even though the ice had thawed we didn't move. Saturday dawned sunny and mild, we made our way past Stoke Hammond,up through Soulbury Three Locks and onward to reach Leighton Buzzard. We are moored near Tesco at the moment, but it isn't cat friendly so we won't stay here very long.

This weeks journey's 7.5 miles, 6 locks and 1 swing bridge

So far this year we have travelled 875.9 miles, 675 locks,  55 swing bridges, 23 lift bridges and 31 tunnels

In 2011 we travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels

During 2010 we travelled 740.3 miles, 642 locks, 53 swing bridges, 4 lift bridges and 25 tunnels

Since Ray retired we have travelled 2077.6 miles, 1761 locks, 111 swing bridges, 61 lift bridges and 71 tunnels

The Milton Keynes icebreaker

Today was our first real taste of winter, we woke up to a frozen canal and a very heavy frost. the ice wasn't thick enough to stop us travelling so we decide to head for Fenny Stratford. We crunched our way slowly along the long straight at Cosgrove and across the aqueduct. The ice was breaking up ahead of us and we were pushing huge sheets of it up on top of the unbroken ice. Even though it was less than a centimetre thick it was very solid. Once we were through the bridge by the Galleon the ice disappeared for a while, the canal is a bit more sheltered there.

We continued to encounter patches of ice for the next hour or so but once we reached Great Linford the ice had virtually disappeared. It was a cold day but we fortified ourselves with cups of coffee laced with Baileys and we had my homemade Lentil and Bacon Soup to look forward to when we moored. It took us about four hours to reached the 14 day moorings at Fenny Stratford and managed to get moored right on the end.

We are planning to stop here for a few days, we want to visit IKEA and do some Christmas shopping as well, plus our normal shop of course.

Today's journey 10.2 miles

So far this year we have travelled 868.4 miles, 669 locks,  54 swing bridges, 23 lift bridges and 31 tunnels

In 2011 we travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels

During 2010 we travelled 740.3 miles, 642 locks, 53 swing bridges, 4 lift bridges and 25 tunnels

Since Ray retired we have travelled 2070.1 miles, 1755 locks, 110 swing bridges, 61 lift bridges and 71 tunnels