Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 12:24:14 +0100 From: Bruce Peckett Reply-To: Canals To: Canals Subject: Cavalcade trip report part 2 Now it was time for some serious boating - Uxbridge to Cosgrove being the requirement and three days the timescale Picking up Jane from work at just past 6:00am on Friday morning, we thrashed the Landy down to Uxbridge as quickly as possible (still avoiding motorways though - with a realistic cruising speed of around 60 mph the Landy is no fun on them) chucking our gear into the cabin as quick as we could and getting away by just after 9:00am The target for today was Winkwell 27 locks and 17 or 18 miles. By normal Badger standards a fairly modest days boating but with only my family on board, the spread out nature of the locks and the heat it was never going to be fast. The kids are getting really useful around locks now as they are growing up and even young Mark was managing to lift paddles and open gates. However, closing some of the gates proved beyond even their combined efforts and one or two even defeated Jane and Carl so I had to engage in a fair amount of hopping on and off the boat (discovering a disconcerting weak spot in the top of our wooden cabin in the process which will have to be attended to asap). There were surprisingly few boats on the move and most locks we worked on our own. At Iron Bridge lock we discovered one of the top paddles was not functioning so I phoned Freefone Canals to report it. The nice lady on the other end of the 'phone was completley unable to identify "Lock 77, Grand Union Canal" on her computer which is a worrying situation which I shall be bringing to the attention of the relevant authorities. I was somewhat amused when she offered a range of possible locations which included the Northampton Arm as on the several occasions we have 'phoned Freefone Canals to report problems on the arm they've never once found that on the database! At Nash Mills top lock there is a tap, in the usual BW locking box, just beside the cottage wall. As the water can contents were a bit stale and manky I dumped it into the cut and went to refill it. To my annoyance the key just span around in the lock and it wouldn't open. Whilst Badger is eqipped with mod-cons such as hot and cold running water, the can is very handy for the steerer in hot weather providing a source of cool water to splash on face, neck and wrists and somewhere to stash a can of beer or bottle of pop to keep it cool. Oh well, I'd have to do without until the next opportunity. Somehow, I forgot to refill it just up the cut at Apsley but as the day was wearing on now and beginning to cool down it didn't really matter. We met up briefly with NB Teasel in Hemel Hempstead sharing one lock and a brief "hello" before they stopped for the night and we pressed on despite a brief temptation to stop short and convene a mini-GIG. However, stop an hour short today and we'd have an hour more to do tomorrow We tied up for the night just below Winkwell bottom lock. It had taken us over 11 hours from Uxbridge, rather slow boating in our book but no blame on the the crew. Having to turn around every lock in territory where it was rarely practical to send a wheeler ahead (Glen once cycled *all* the way from Leighton Buzzard to Cowley Peachy only getting on the boats over the Tring Summit!) and with the kids often struggling with the heavy GU gear and gates I felt we'd put up a jolly good show. Dinner being already ready we were soon scoffing a tasty stew (staple fare on Badger - meat, veg, stock, pot, place on cooker, eat when tied up. Ideal boating fodder) after which Jane and I planned on repairing to the Three Horseshoes for a drink. Never happened 'cos Jane promptly fell asleep and I barely managed a can of beer before doing likewise! Up at 5:50am next morning and away by just gone six. Target today being Hammond Three (known, incorrectly, to BW and the world at large as Soulbury Three Locks). It looked like being another lovely day with not a cloud in the sky and the sun giving off some noticeable warmth even though it was only an hour or so after dawn Various offspring began to emerge ... Claire was first on watch before I'd even managed to single hand the first lock. Mark soon followed with Carl finally putting in an appearance at least an hour later than his younger siblings. We cracked on up towards the Tring summit with the canal and the temperature climbing steadily as the day wore on. Through the summit cutting it was almost magical with the sun sparkling through the trees, everything in full bloom and even a glimpse of a kingfisher darting in and out of the foliage We arrived at the top of Maffers to find another boat about to go down (magic! makes life much easier to share the locks) and just as we were entering the lock Glen, Steve and Mandy arrived having walked up from Startops End. With so many crew we made very short work of Maffers indeed - so much so that the lass on the other boat couldn't find anything to do and had to be reassured that nobody minded in the least! At the bottom of the main part of the flight Glen and the Morley's took off to go and fetch the Landrover back from Uxbridge and drop it off at Cosgrove. We pressed on down into the fields on our own again, the other boat having stopped for lunch (an almost unheard of occurence on Badger where lunch is a sandwich on the move most days). With remarkably few boats about, the towpaths mostly closed due to F&M restrictions (no moored boats and no anglers to slow you down) and a good road at virtually every lock we made cracking progress and tied up at the top of Hammond Three just before 6 in the evening. 35 locks and 22 miles in about 11 and a half hours ... the 'B' Crew coming up to, if not exceeding, the standard of the 'A' Crew today! The evening meal of grilled chops (very tasty) was followed by a visit to the pub for parents and an early night for the kids. The pub we found excessively noisy and the beer (draught Bass) nothing special so didn't stop long returning to the boat for a nightcap. No need for a really early start on Sunday, never the less we were underway by 6:45 am once again with my starting off on my own and the kids rapidly emerging as soon as they realised we were off. Down through Hammond Three then Talbots (erroneously called Stoke Hammond Lock in guide books etc.), met up with a Canadian couple at Fenny Lock and then the long haul through Milton Keynes. Stopping at Giffard Park to empty rubbish and loo and fill the water tank we then toddled round to the Black Horse for a luxury lunch stop. Good food, mediocre beer - draught Bass again chilled to within an inch of its life and served with far too much head. It got better as it warmed up a bit but once it's been dealt a death blow like that it's never going to be a good pint. Having satisfied hunger and thirst we set off on the last lap through Wolverton and over the Great Ouse to Cosgrove. Stopping briefly on the trip boat wharf (knowing that the tripper was up the cut for several hours yet) to unload the kit into the Landy we then moored up in the village ready for the 'A' Crew to complete the last leg of the trip next weekend. On the way home we popped in to the Navigation (a much improved pub in recent time) to catch up with Steve Miles and finally get a brief look at the new trip boat "Elizabeth of Glamis" (named after HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, with Royal permission, Her Majesty having re- opened the Stratford Canal from the fore-end of Linda which the new boat replaced at the beginning of this year). Very impressed with the layout and quality of the new boat. And then home, bath and bed! Badger's next major outing is probably going to be all the way back to Milton Keynes for the National Festival. There's a lot of urgent remedial work needed on the wooden cabin which is suffering from rot, delamination and disintegration in various places and desperately needs repainting again so it's likely to be work parties rather than boat trips between now and August TTFN -- Regards Bruce Email: brucep@ukwaterways.net Web: http://www.ukwaterways.net/ ---