Whitsun–day 2

28th May 2016

Graham was up and at-em at 8:30 this morning whilst Brenda was still not out of bed. She knew she had about half an hour before we reached the junction with the main line and Marsworth top lock. It was here that our turn out of the arm was made more difficult by the prescence of Gungadin, a boat moored immediately outside Bates’ dry dock alongside Marsworth top Lock. We could not get round to face the lock and so we reversed back into the arm and Graham then took the bow rope and then the centre rope in order to pull Jannock round. We entered the top lock just as a pair of boats were coming up through the next lock down. The volunteer lockie assisting them then swapped his allegence to us. Keith was our flight attendant for all of the Marsworth locks and we managed a terrififc run down to the bottom in less than one hour.

The new houses at Marsworth are nice, We’re pleased to see modern design houses on the bank of the canal rather than some pseudo old properties as happens in so many other canalside developments. We turned into the Aylesbury Arm and we could not believe our luck, all of the first six locks were in our favour but then we got to lock 7. As we entered we could see that the pound below was almost out of water. Luckily, the addition of another lock full was sufficient to allow Brenda to keep Jannock afloat in the middle of the cut all the way into lock 8.

At lock 12, where the collapse happened the year before last, closing the arm for a long time, it was nice to see they had included the date in the new brickwork.

We continued on down the arm, with little to bother us until we arrived at Broughton Lock where our friend Terry was waiting for a trip down into Aylesbury basin. They live close to Broughton lock and he could get a local bus home after the trip.  Once we were in the lock a heron came and stood on the top gate as the lock emptied. It was obvious that grabbing fish and/or crayfish that got stranded on the cill as the lock emptied was a constat source of food for this bird. Down past Circus Fields, the new home to Aylesbury canal society and down the last two locks to the basin where we found Terry’s wife Iris waiting for us to arrive. We reversed into the bankside mooring outside the Travelodge and enjoyed a cup of tea in their company. When they left, we moved Jannock sideways onto one of the mooring pontoons behind the security gate for the night.

After a quick trip into town to get some provisions for our guests tomorrow, we then went to the Kashmir Gardens Indian restaraunt for an excellent evening meal. On the way back Brenda sat down next to the statue of Ronnie Barker that is outside Waterside theatre – apparently Ronnie first performed on stage at a theatre (long gone) in Aylesbury.

Graham