Sorry it's all in one lump, but I didn't have time to write and post it as we went along, as you can appreciate when you see the timings! :-)
Tuesday 20th May Northolt to Bulls Bridge 4 miles, 0 locks After doing a 12 hour shift at work, I started to get the boat ready. Dad was driving down from Hull, and was due to arrive at around 8pm. I asked him to call me when he reached the McDonald's on Target roundabout (where he stopped for tea), but he called once he'd finished rather than when he was waiting for his order so I had to rush to get the boat to the wharf to load up! We reached Bull Bridge at 21:47, and after a shop at Tesco's got back to the boat at 22:30. Wednesday 21th May Bulls Bridge to Bushes Lock 27 miles, 40 locks We left Bulls Bridge at 07:10 and I made best speed North (well sort of West-North-West to start with) along the canal. Dad was still in bed, but he did get up before the lock at Cowley. The first bit to Rickmansworth always seems to take some time, but we finally passed at 12:30 doing the lock in 4 minutes. We hadn't shared a lock all the way up, and were only delayed by boats coming down. Dad wanted to watch Apprentice, but I wasn't bothered so single handed through the two Gas locks where I managed to miss the boat (quite literally), so had to call Dad out to drive the boat into the other lock. I would not had done it if I had been alone, and while I don't always take a rope ashore, I could see the boat might have been drifting away while I closed the gate, and would have run back on without shutting the gate first. It was dark, and I decided to moor just above Bushes Lock (one short of Northchurch Top Lock) at 22:13. Thursday 22nd May Bushes Lock to Yardley Wharf 35 miles, 29 locks We left at 7:20, even Dad was up by the time I had Northchurch lock ready. Summit pound was done in 52 minutes top lock to top lock, and then headed back downwards at 09:15. We did the main bulk of the Marsworth flight (all the ones before the junction) in just over 45 minutes, but had a delay on the bottom one as someone had just started emptying the lock as I arrived on my bike, so had to wait for them to get in, up and out. We continued down to Seabrook Top Lock where a boat was getting the lock ready. It was only when Dad went passed another boat moored nearly 200 yards from the lock did we realise he was also waiting to go into the lock. Obviously he didn't set off until the other boat finally got into the lock, and so we had a really long wait. We wasted nearly 15 minutes there alone, but were held up over the next few locks. When one boat finally pulled in I just reached the next lock as they were closing the gates. After asking if they would wait they looked like they didn't want to, so I asked them to get through quickly instead at which they took that they were going slowly and took umbridge. They then decided to pull in below the lock to "have breakfast", so we left them to it. There was a day boat in front of these two, and after going down the canal caught up with them and asked if they would wait for us. They weren't in a hurry, and were probably going to stop anyway. They didn't wait in the lock, but did set the paddles to fill it by the time we arrived which was good. I was however expecting to see them in the next lock (only a short distance away), or maybe having it filling but they had stopped. Had we had known I would have sent Dad down to get the lock ready while I finished off this one, but ho-hum. This was the only traffic we had trouble with, and apart from a slow boat over a couple of miles around Milton Keynes (why don't they let faster boats past?) we finally arrived at a bit of piling with our name on it just before Yardley Wharf at 21:30. We also stopped at David King's for a chat on the way past. He's now stopped volunteering for the national rally, and isn't coming to the Wolverhampton one this year, which is a shame. However I think we'll stop by when we are going up to Braunston for the Jam 'Ole Run this October and have a longer chat. Friday 23rd May 2008 Yardley Wharf to Crick 24 miles, 21 locks. I wasn't sure when the locks at Watford closed, so wanted to be there early. We left at 07:21, reached Stoke Bruerne flight at 08:25 and said hello to Barry on one of the Hillingdon Narrowboats Association boats as we went past. We left the top lock at 09:26, did 3.87 mph through the tunnel even with passing a couple of boats, and after a clear run on the long pound, we finally arrived at the bottom of the Buckby flight. A boat was in the second lock, and we shared the rest of the flight to the top, which we reached at 15:16. In the meantime I had found that the Watford locks were open late (8pm IIRC), but reached the bottom at 16:00. After a 15 minute wait it then took 40 minutes from bottom to top. A 3.5 mph Crick tunnel later we found a spot to moor right next to the tunnel. Dad went up on the bike to find a better place, and he made a spot by moving a Seaotter up a little, and so we were less than half a mile from the rally entrance. Saturday 24th May 2008 Crick 0 miles, 0 locks This was going to be the last day of dry weather, and so we had a good look around the rally site. Looked at the Russell Newbury running on used engine oil – apparently the engine sounds a little different (softer), and the exhaust smells a little different also, but no other problems as yet. Dad bought a magnetic plate for sticking the satellite dish to, and we both bought some push fit f-type connectors which make moving satellite meters in and out of circuit much easier. When we got back to the boat we found it had an adventure without us. During the latter part of the day as our neighbours were just returning a bough on the over hanging tree broke, narrowly missing them, and landing on the roof of Shoestring. No damage was done, and by the time we arrived they already cleared it away. There were a lot of branch bits on the roof however. Sunday 25th May 2008 Crick to Home Farm Footbridge near Watford Gap (not the services!). 2 miles 0 locks It was raining nearly all day, but got lighter after lunch. Dad went around the show, but I decided to stay on the boat. Once he was back we left, but we were too late to get through the Watford locks, so I stopped short away from the motorway noise. It was really windy, and though the trees cut it down abit it was still blowing really strongly across the canal, which made mooring a bit tricky. Monday 26th May 2008 Home Farm Footbridge to Cosgrove 25 miles, 22 locks Left at 7:30 this morning to get in the queue for Watford Locks – unfortunately before I could get off someone else passed! We waited until 08:00 for the locks to open, and entered 5 minutes later, but didn't leave until 8:57. Went down the Buckby flight in company, and while it was windy it hadn't started raining yet. Soon after we were out of the bottom of the flight it started spitting, but with the wind it wasn't much fun. It never really stopped trying to rain, but only later did it start to come down in any major sort of way. The wind had been playing havoc with the vegetation, and a few branches and a couple of trees had come down. One moved right in front of me, half of it had already falling in the canal, but didn't get very far leaning on a nearby tree. Later we found out that the Crick show had been cancelled today because of the winds blowing tents and marques away! Just before the Blisworth tunnel it stopped raining, and I suspect the 32 minutes in the tunnel was dry outside also – not so in the tunnel! At least it was dry down the Stoke locks, which we shared with another boat. We had a good run all the way to Cosgrove, with occasional showers, and we stopped early at 18:35 for a change, just before the aqueduct. Tuesday 27th May 2008 Cosgrove to Bulborne 28 miles, 24 locks Dad complained about the early start yesterday, so we had a lay in this morning. We didn't leave until 10:30, and after what seemed like an age finally reached Fenny Stratford at 13:32. After emptying the loo we continued on our way, passing Arun on their way out of the Soulbury 3. After waiting for a dredger to get up the top lock, and then ourselves – only 1 ground paddle was working, and the gate paddles were mostly useless since the grills they put on them these days were choc-a-block with rubbish. The Apprentice was on tonight, and so Dad wanted to stop in time. The problem was we were now behind schedule from our late start this morning. We stopped after the first Marsworth Lock (at lock 40), but the mooring wasn't very good and the TV signal was even worse. I decided to continue up the flight after tea (it was supposed to be Sweet and Sour chicken, but I didn't have any sauce or rice, so ended up with a chicken sandwich!). Some locks were ready, but I biked up and set all the locks, and I mostly single handed the boat up the flight while Dad watched TV. We reached Bulborne at 22:55. Wednesday 28th May 2008 Bulborne to Cowley 27 miles, 45 locks It was going to be a long day today, so an earlish start at 07:20 got us onto a good start and reached Cow Roast at 08:03. We whipped through the first locks, but at Berkhampstead we got behind two slow boats. In fact one boat was waiting in the next lock for the one just going down No 54 Ravens Lane Lock. We followed them all the way to Hemel where they decided to pull in. They were in no hurry and they knew we were, but still they trundled on, surprised someone might actually help someone else as I helped them through. I suspect they would stay on their boat if they were waiting themselves. Once free we had a good run - even if most locks were still full - all the way to Cowley. We were both completely knackered before we reached Ricky, but we had to continue on as I had to go to work the next day and wanted to be close, if not on my mooring by the night. A good flow down the river sections helped, reaching 5.5 mph while following a couple of canoe's down the River Colne at Springwell. It's a shame the river bits are so short! We stopped on the lock moorings at Widewater lock, while it filled (slowly) we had tea. It was going to be too late if we continued onto Northolt even though it was in the same pound, so I stopped just below the lock, and aimed to get up early the next day. Thursday 29th May 2008 Cowley to Northolt 7 miles, 0 locks Started at 06:45, and had a good run down to the A40 bridge just near where I moor. Here is the only place I can turn with out another 30 or so mins run, and so in front of an Asian chap sat under the morning rush hour meditating and praying I squeezed the boat around, and reversed up to the wharf to unload Dads stuff. Back to my mooring for 09:05, and then a good run into work as it was half term. It's now Sunday, and I'm still recovering for all that effort, but it was good fun, and good practice for the Jam 'Ole Run in October. I've also offered to help Martin with his hotel pair up Tardebigge on Tuesday – I must be mad! Cheers, Mike -- Michael Askin http://shoestring_DOT_zapto_DOT_org/ ------------------------------------ Yahoo! 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