We had an enormous thunder storm yesterday evening, but I gather from Facebook friends that most of the country had it a lot earlier than we did. The rain was torrential and was bouncing in the windows and finding it's way through the mushrooms to the extent that I had to put towels down on the floor to catch the drops!
We had followed a boat coming out of the Northampton Arm right the way through to the Buckby Locks and we were pulling our hair out as they were going SO slowly past moored boats (and there were a lot of them) that we were having to go into reverse and out of gear to avoid catching them up. Our tickover isn't particularly fast but there's was snail pace. I was wishing all kinds of plagues to descend on them and their children unto the 7th generation but when we got to the locks and chatted they were lovely and said we should have overtaken them. They even bought me an ice cream as it was incredibly hot (this was before the rain).
I am now the proud owner of a Buckby Water Can which I intend to paint for the boat. Watch this space!
At Leighton Buzzard there were the remains of several old wharves and this one still had some of the rails in place. Funnily enough we'd been plotting to put rails in to make the cyclists swerve into the canals - they have been a real nuisance at times on this canal and these fitted the purpose admirably!
We have been very impressed by the lack of graffiti along this canal and this wonderful mural at Wolverton, celebrating it's railway history hadn't got a single scribble on it that we could see. It really makes a difference to ones perception of a place. We pulled in here for a quick visit to Tesco - couldn't believe the number of steps I had to take the trolley up and down to get over the bridge and down to the shop.
We thought this was a rather pretty little bridge - it's made of sandstone though so a lot of the detail has been eroded over the years, but still very attractive.
some of the pictures just won't upload today - they are coming up with a cross on them, which is a shame as there is a lovely shot of a sign that says "Caution, Elderly Ducks Crossing" we have no idea why it's there but it made us laugh. Mind you lots of things seem to make us laugh, not at all sure I ought to admit to that, but they have to catch us first!
Other ones that won't come through are an aqueduct - not quite Pontcylsyllte but over the Ouse this time. Quite modest but still a very narrow edge to the side of the canal. Another one I rather liked is a shot of all the gongoozlers at the top lock at Stoke Bruerne. Turning the tables somewhat, they weren't at all sure about me taking a photo of them. I rather enjoyed the reaction! Rebel that I am.
This is the lock later in the day when everyone had gone home and there were no boats coming through. There's an odd little narrow lock there that has no apparently access to water and we weren't sure what it had ever been for - if anyone knows can they leave a comment for me please (thinking of Sue here).
The entrance to Blisworth tunnel didn't come out but this is specially for Darren as this is the entrance to the Northampton Arm and the last time we were there we said goodbye to him and Nuggy B, not realising that although we'd see him again, poor old Nuggy would be set ablaze and lost forever.
As I said we are now at Braunston and here we rejoin the Oxford Canal and come full circle on this trip. It's been a great summer and a wonderful experience. Now we're planning next year once we get through all the stuff left to do in 2013.
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