In my continuing narrowboat adventures for autumn 2018 I finally exit Milton Keynes and out into the countryside through Soulbury and down towards Leighton Buzzard and Linslade, where I stop to restock my food supplies at a very handy mooring next to a supermarket, then go on to the countryside again, almost not getting a mooring due to low water levels.
After a few days at different places in Milton Keynes, it was time for me to move on but the weather had different ideas and a tree across the canal put paid to movement for an evening. Eventually I was able to get going again and back out into the countryside, ending up near Stoke Hammond.
Part of my autumn cruise south on the Grand Union canal, in this video I go from a very busy Cosgrove into Milton Keynes which I find to be very green and unlike any other built-up town or city I’ve been through by canal before.
At the start of September 2018 I joined Jo and Michael of “Minimal List” as well as London Boat Girl, Lorna, and we went on a rather exciting and interesting voyage up the tidal river Thames from Limehouse lock to Teddington. This is the video of that day.
My autumn jaunt along the Grand Union canal continues as I take the boat from Stoke Bruerne (where I can’t get a decent 4G mobile signal) towards Cosgrove but I end up mooring in the lovely countryside. En route there’s an awful lot of pretty countryside to stare at.
In this video I take my narrowboat on the Grand Union canal from near Gayton Junction to Stoke Bruerne, via Blisworth – and Blisworth tunnel – all 3,075 yards of it. Weirdly, as I went through, there was a bit of an unsettling ghostly apparition…
Another little jaunt along the Grand Union canal in the narrowboat saw me departing from Weedon after a pleasant couple of days, and heading towards Gayton Junction. I stopped about a mile before Gayton though so as to stop in the countryside.
In the second of my Autumn cruising videos for 2018, I leave Norton Junction on a blustery morning and turn 90 degrees right, to head south down the Grand Union canal on my narrowboat. The first thing to deal with is the Buckby lock flight of seven locks, then it’s just a couple of miles to a mooring at Weedon Bec.
You might not believe it – but I’m going off cruising. Yes, in my own boat. Before the winter maintenance shutdown begins in November, I’ve got two months to chug around the canals so I’ve decided to head south, down the Grand Union towards London.
Last winter, I was disappointed during winter to find white grungy muck dribbling down the flue inside the boat onto the top of the stove. This was down to a badly fitting and broken chimney. Rather than buy an off the shelf replacement which might also not have fitted well, I opted to get a custom-made replacement.