Milepost 52 to above Slapton Lock 30
Reluctant at first Tilly was allowed an hours shore leave whilst we had breakfast. I wonder if when we speed up our cruising again whether we’ll get complaints at not being allowed out in the mornings.
As the covers were rolled up it started to spit, we went back inside to sit it out, no point in getting damp if you don’t need to. A delay of half an hour and the world was dry again.
Seabrook Bottom Lock has the first of a series of Lock Cottages that are always pleasing to the eye. Their white walls and dates proudly stamped above their front doors, they always have to have their photos taken.
Ivinghoe Top Lock the cottage faces away from the lock a touch shy hiding behind trees. Here we met a single hander moving the old trip boat from the Aylesbury Arm down to be a new trip boat in London. It was fairly recently sold and has been somewhere for work. The onboard facilities looked really quite basic, Mick wondered if the chap moving it was staying onboard, no comfortable cushions on the seats to sleep on.
I slowly pootled Oleanna down to the second Ivinghoe Lock so that Mick could finish closing up behind me and walk down. As I rounded the bend I could see that the top gates of the lock were sat open enough to get Oleanna into the lock, I now remembered that this pair of gates would rather settle slightly open. As Mick arrived he closed up the towpath gate then started to walk round. I nearly suggested he gave a paddle a couple of clicks round to help hold the gates closed, it would have been a good idea as they both wanted to swing back open. I talked nicely to them as Mick wound a paddle up slightly to help encourage them into closing.
The gates also need a few kind words on leaving, saving Mick having to walk round. In normal times, Mick catches the bottom gates with a boat hook and encourages them to stay closed as Oleanna leaves a lock, but these are not normal times and I’m not going to adopt Mick’s methods.
A pootle to Horton Lock. Here there are pens and huts for young cows to grow in confinement, not right. A young chap was being given instructions with a strimmer to trim all the nettles alongside the farm moorings, he had his work cut out!
Another cottage. The owners have done work to the garden, a sunken seating area overlooking a tennis court! Rather nice.
All the way we tried to spy the Whipsnade Lion on the distant hills. Definitely in need of some tlc, it’s quite mangy now.
Some armco attracted us into the side. Mooring away from ants nests takes some time, then avoiding crab apples falling on the roof is the next concern, but we managed to find a suitable length to tie up on for lunch. It was soon decided that lunch would actually turn into the rest of the day and Tilly was allowed another four hours.
After lunch I wanted to see how I fared on a short walk. Since leaving Aylesbury I’ve only walked the length of Oleanna. The pain killers are doing a great job with my knee, no need for the walking pole inside. I was starting to feel a touch of a fraud, was this just down to my inactivity?
Tilly accompanied me for good measure and I took the pole too. First we walked back the way we’d come. On turning round the noise of an engine was getting closer, a cruiser coming along at quite a lick. No slowing down to pass Oleanna and the wake of about a foot ricochet back and forth for a good five minutes, they may as well have been an Uber boat on the Thames!
A similar distance the other way until Tilly found the pole to be of more interest than the walking. We have a new game it seems. My knee did pretty well, but it’s now starting to ache for much of the day. Time to sit down and knit, this pair will be finished way ahead of time!
4 locks, 1.9 miles, 3 cottages, 100 yards of nettles, 2 outsides, 8 lengths of the boat, 1 pole game.
