Last Seen
Braunston Marina to Paddington Basin: August 28, 2012 - September 8, 2012 99.75 miles 90 locks 2 tunnels
Braunston Marina, Northamptonshire
Little Blue's base.
Bridge 24, Weedon Bec, August 28, 2012
Approximately 9.25 miles from Braunston Turn. This section included 13 locks in total: the Braunston Flight consisting of 6 and Buckby Lock Flight consisting of 7. The Braunston Flight is closely followed by the Braunston Tunnel which is 2042 yards. Quite an exhausting day.
Cruising hours: 7
Miles: 9.25
Locks: 13
Cumulative hours: 7
Cumulative miles: 9.25
Cumulative locks: 13
Stoke Bruerne, August 29, 2012
Approximately 12 miles from Weedon Bec. This section has only 1 lock (luxury!) and that's lock 14 at Stoke Bruerne. The big test on this section is the Blisworth Tunnel which is 3057 yards long - the third longest canal tunnel open to navigation in Britain. If you happen to go through the tunnel, be sure to wear a waterproof jacket and hat as freezing water poors through some sections just to add to the fun. Once through, you feel a sense of achievement - at least I did! Stoke Bruerne is a canal village and home to the Canal Museum.
Cruising hours: 5
Miles: 12
Locks: 1
Cumulative hours: 12
Cumulative miles: 21.25
Cumulative locks: 14
Fenny Stratford, August 30, 2012
Approximately 17 miles from Stoke Bruerne. This section has 7 locks and features the Great Ouse Aqueduct - an iron trough standing on stone pillars - just north of Old Wolverton. The section through Milton Keynes seems to go on forever, twisting it's way south to Fenny Stratford.
Cruising hours: 7
Miles: 17
Locks: 7
Cumulative hours: 19
Cumulative miles: 38.25
Cumulative locks: 21
Bridge 110, Old Linslade, August 31, 2012
Stratford Fenny isn't too far from Leighton Buzzard so before leaving I caught the train to there as I needed a laundrette - few and far between on the canal - and to do some food shopping. When I got to Leighton Buzzard I discovered Tesco has a wharf and I could have tied up outside the store - which is useful.
5 miles 5 locks, including Soulbury Three Locks. Ferry Stratford lock is different - it has a swing bridge going across it. You open the bridge before entering the lock.
Cruising hours: 3
Miles: 5
Locks: 5
Cumulative hours: 22
Cumulative miles: 43.25
Cumulative locks: 26
Cheddington, Buckinghamshire, September 1, 2012
8 miles from Old Linsdale and 10 locks to negotiate. I stopped at the first lock - Leighton Lock - to fill up my water tank. Cruising hours means the hours Little Blue's engine is running. I can't remember why it was running for 8 hours on this leg. Must have been difficult locks!
On my return journey I realised Leighton Lock doesn't have a water point. I'm not sure now where I filled my water tank!
Cruising hours: 8
Miles: 8
Locks: 10
Cumulative hours: 30
Cumulative miles: 51.25
Cumulative locks: 36
Northchurch, Berkhamsted, September 2, 2012
7 miles and 12 locks made up the journey to Northchurch from my previous stop Cheddington. It was good going to do that in 5 hours. I'm writing this retrospectively and can't remember why I made such good time on this leg and not so good on the previous leg. I had company on some of the locks, in terms of another boat, which means more man power to negotiate them and as a result less time is spent passing through them. The tenth lock on this leg is Cowroast Lock, which I think is a great name, providing you're not vegetarian!
Cruising hours: 5
Miles: 7
Locks: 12
Cumulative hours: 35
Cumulative miles: 58.25
Cumulative miles: 48
Fisheries Lock, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, September 3,4, 2012
4.5 miles and 15 locks to get from Northchurch to Fisheries Lock Boxmoor. I struck lucky on this leg. A Canal & Rivers Trust workboat, with manpower specifically to do the locks, was travelling from Northchurch to Hemel Hempstead at the same time, so I doubled up with them through the locks until they went aground, which was when I thought my luck had run out. Fortunately, another boat came along that I'd met earlier on my journey and I continued down to Fisheries lock with them. A good day.
Cruising hours: 6
Miles: 4.5
Locks: 15
Cumulative hours: 41
Cumulative miles: 62.75
Cumulative locks: 63
Batchworth Lock, Rickmansworth, September 5, 2012
10 miles and 18 locks. That's my record. Must be downhill all the way! Again I was doubled up with other boats for many of the locks. I remember being so exhausted by the Batchworth I couldn't go further. It was just a question of finding somewhere ok to tie up. It was only later that I realised I'd gone through 18 locks which explained the exhaustion. Some nice countryside in parts of this leg.
Cruising hours: 8
Miles: 10
Locks: 18
Cumulative hours: 49
Cumulative miles: 72.75
Cumulative locks: 81
Denham Marina, Uxbridge, September 6,7, 2012
6.5 miles and 8 locks. Large sections of the route are characterised by constant streams of boats tied up along the towpath, which isn't a problem but it does mean you should restrict your speed. With that in mind I made reasonable time to Denham Marina where I booked in for a couple of night's stay before continuing on to Paddington. As I mentioned before, laundrettes are few and far between on the cut (canal). Fortunately, while chatting with a man on another boat, I found out they'll do your laundry for you at Cowley Lock - drop off and collect next day. I did that and collected on Saturday morning en route to Paddington. Great service.
Cruising hours: 4
Miles: 6.5
Locks: 8
Cumulative hours: 53
Cumulative miles: 79.25
Cumulative locks: 89
Paddington Basin, September 8, 2012
The last leg of the journey to Paddington. 19 miles and just 1 lock - Cowley - where I picked up my washing. This is the only leg of the journey when I had crew. My friend Peter joined me at Uxbridge, Dave from the towpath at Hayes and Ian at Alperton. This made it a bit of a social occasion en route and in Maida Vale when we arrived and tied up in Paddington Basin.
I seem to have lost 1.5 miles somewhere (easily done!). Little Blue doesn't have a mileometer, just a meter recording total cruising hours and a rev counter, therefore the miles travelled each day are approximated from the Nicholson Waterways Guide: Grand Union Oxford & the South East.
Cruising hours: 8
Miles: 19
Locks: 1
Cumulative hours: 61
Cumulative miles: 98.25
Cumulative locks: 90