We woke up to another misty morning. Across the canal, in an old orchard, a woodpecker could be heard hard at work – the drumming noise a cross between an adenoidal snore and a creaking door.
After our first fix of coffee, and a hasty breakfast, we set off North through Slapton lock, the weather slowly transforming from an overcast grey to bright sunshine with scudding clouds. At Leighton we stopped at the canalside Tesco’s for supplies, and then headed on past Wyvern Shipping, where the hire boats were still moored 3 deep – some of them go out on Friday, but we understand that most of them leave on Saturday afternoon.At Soulbury, Three Locks, the pub has had a revamp – one of the side ponds has been covered over with decking, with huge parasols over the seating areas, which were flapping wildly in the strong wind. There is also an outside bar, with three pumps – two of Fosters and one of 1664 – clear who the target market is there then.
At Stoke Hammond we were pleased to see that Allan Jones, of Keeping Up – who we know through the Canal World Forum - was on board doing some work on the boat, so we breasted up, and stood on the gunwales, drinking coffee and eating cakes, while putting the world to rights. Afterwards, we carried on, through Fenny Stratford and on though the many winding, lockless miles around Milton Keynes until we arrived at Cosgrove lock. Since we passed a completely sleepless night there a few years ago I refuse to moor there. Cosgrove is home to a huge population of Canada Geese, which cruise up and down the canal in large flotillas all night, arguing loudly with each other – it’s a bit like a running street battle going on outside.
So, we carried on to Thrupp Wharf, and moored up shortly before sunset, under pink and purple clouds.
Distance: 24.5 miles. Locks: 10 Total distance: 32.7 miles. Total locks: 25
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