On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 8:53 PM, Phil Rushton <[email protected]> wrote: > Was there tree cover immediately before the embankment? 5 mph sounds > a bit optimistic. Maybe your GPS was catching up on false readings? > Mine once recorded 9 mph after a going through a wooded cutting ;-)
Nope, it was really that deep. You really notice the difference when you get a good depth under you - I should have measured it, but must have been getting on for five foot deep, and really deep at the edges as well. That section is an embankment (and clear of trees), and I guess in relatively recent history been redone as the edges were in a modern concrete type finish. It just came as such a surprise after a slow shallow stretch! I can also sometimes manage 5 mph in the deeper piled sections of the lower GU, and Paddington Arm, but was reduced to 3.2mph from Cosgrove to just before Stoke Bruerne flight, much of the Milton Keynes pound was done between 3.5 to occasionally 4 mph (apart from having to slow right down for the many moored boats - oh, the temptation as I saw boats still there from last summer :-) It was nice getting off the main line of the GU, as there were far fewer moored boats. You could go continuously for miles at a time before having to slow down for a moored boat (though still on the throttle all the time adjusting speed to stop breaking wash). Cheers, Mike -- Michael Askin http://shoestring_DOT_zapto_DOT_org/
