Short Break at Half Term - Fourth Day

(posted by Alan)


Stantonbury, Milton Keynes to Globe Inn, Leighton Buzzard

A strange sort of day, probably best summarised by "it rained!".

Cath sleeps well on the boat, using it to recharge her batteries after what has been a fairly demanding time work and family-wise.  So quite often the "home" routine is reversed and it is me who gets up to attend to the morning chores, which basically are....

1) See if fire is still alight, and attempt to rescue it if it is.
2) Get gettle on to start coffee making process,
3) Take Charlie out for at least basic toileting essentials.

Sounds easy, but all involves stumbling through the cabin where David is trying to sleep, (with head to coffee end, and feet to stove and dog end...).  As Charlie wants to quickly re-introduce himself to all on board, it can get a bit lively.

Anyway, we had moored in a spot I never have before, strangely remote, given it was broadly "Milton Keynes", and I quickly found I could deviate from tow-path across a field, with a massive lake to one side, but a ruined stone building ahead.  This proved to be a former parish church of Stantonbury, but stood now completely alone surrounded by fields.  Next time I must take my camera!

Once back at the boat, the more the rest of the family started to stir, the more it rained!  So we decided we were in no great hurry to get going.  However, it really showed no sign of letting up, so eventually I donned reasonably weatherproof gear, got ready, and set off.

It really was a day when nobody else much was moving, but a boat had passed in our direction maybe 20 minutes before we set off.  I was a little surprised to catch it well before Fenny lock, but we did, and followed at their pace.  After that they suggested we went ahead, which allowed us to have locks part prepared before they caught up, and we slipped quickly through Stoke Hammond, (greeted unexpectedly by Allan from "Keeping Up"), and then "Three Locks", where the other boat planned to stop.  In practice so did we, as Cath got hit by a very sudden migraine, literally whilst walking between the top two locks.  (How different is a deserted "Three Locks" on a Saturday in February, to mid-summer, when you would have to be asking sightseers to move, in order to be able to operate the locks at all...)

We moored for a while, whilst Cath rested - an unexpected bonus being that the rain largely stopped whilst we were tied up.  Eventually I started up again, and pottered down the "Jackdaw Pound", still one of my favourite bits of this canal.  By then the sun was out, but I really was enjoying it largely on my own, with just the occasional dog walker for passing company.

We so much enjoyed a visit to the Globe Inn only a month or so ago, that we thought we would go again. By 6pm Cath felt better, if a bit wobbly, and decided that eating out would be better than trying to cook. When we did eventually get to the Globe, we were told "Sorry, no! - we are at full capacity!", but eventually negotiated ourselves into a corner seat, not otherwise booked for dining.  Another good meal, although the next time I'll not ask the barman to recommend his selection from around five different ales.  Sorry, but the "Abbott" was not what it should have been, and the one I subsequently switched to was a very much better bet.  I'd recommend it now, but other than remembering it was from a fairly obscure brewery, and that it's name began with "Old", exactly what it was has already slipped my mind.

Throughout our stay in the well crowded pub, Charlie, although well behaved, at times acting like an absolute "tart",  not just enjoying the attentions of strangers, but at times positively relishing it.  Everybody seems to love Charlie, in a way we had not anticipated when he first arrived from the "rescue", and he certainly turns many heads.

I'm not sure if there are any pictures for today - it really did rain rather too much for photography.

Stantonbury, Milton Keynes to Globe Inn, Leighton Buzzard
Miles: 14.5, Locks:5
Total Miles: 57.7, Total Locks:36