Saturday 22nd September, 2018

This morning we got Daisy back at around 9.15am and caught a taxi back into Milton Keynes to pick up our hire car.
We headed directly to Woburn Abbey, which was built in 1145.  The Abbey was dissolved by Henry V111 in 1538 and was granted to Sir John Russell in 1547 and is still in the hands of the Russell Family.  It is still the home of Andrew & Louise Russell, the Duke and Duchess of Bedford and their 2 children.
By the time we got to Woburn Abbey it was starting to rain, and the first thing was saw were deer roaming freely on the property. There are 9 different species of deer.  They looked magnificent and were not perturbed by the cars entering.

On the driveway right in front of the house, there is a statue of a horse.  The horse was named Mrs Moss, who had 15 foals, 12 of whom were notable winners, including the Japan Cup.








We had morning tea in the Duchess' Tea Rooms before our tour of the house.

 

The house itself was absolutely magnificent, as would be expected of a Stately Home, belonging to one of England's oldest and wealthiest families.
                                                                                                                                                                  Like most of the Palaces and Stately Homes, Woburn Abbey has Blue, Green and Yellow Drawing Rooms

The Grand Stair case


The Racing Room









The State Saloon

                                           

The State Dining Room

The Holland Library











There are State Apartments, which were kept for visiting royalty and the rest of the time they were shuttered and the furniture put under chamois covers, to keep them in excellent condition.  There is a suite of rooms that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert used on their visit in 1841.

 

The silverware, gold plate and beautiful china are all kept in the Crypt.  There is also a most unusual indoor Grotto which is lined with shells and is lit by candles.

The family still owns property in Bedford and Russell Squares in London.
We spent a good hour and a half walking around this house.  Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside the house, so I have included some from the Guide Book.

After leaving Woburn Abbey we drove to Drinkstone Park, near Bury St Edmonds, using country back roads.
We were welcomed warmly at Drinkstone Park by Michael and Christine and bought up to date on the renovations since our last visit,  before being served tea and scones with jam and cream :)
We decided that we would go to the Gardeners Pub in Tostock for dinner, as we had fond memories of the pub and its owner from our previous visit.  It hasn't changed :)

 

Friday 21st September, 2018

We didn't hurry this morning, as we knew we were ahead of time !!!
The weather during last night had been rainy and the wind was very bad, but this morning seemed to be more pleasant.
We knew we only had about 4 locks to go through, and, as things they are much easier than those we had already been through.
At about midday we got almost to bridge 86, and were signalled by others to moor, as there was a tree down a couple of hundred meters ahead.   We moored  on the opposite side of the canal to the towpath, behind another narrowboat, which was a live on board.  As we had to reverse in to the mooring, the lady from the live on board helped, as the wind had come up again.  Within 3 minutes, a bossy old lady from one of the houses, came out and told us that we had moored on a Private Mooring (which wasn't true) and that we needed to move !! We explained that there was a tree down and we would only be there for as little time as possible.  As it happens, the lady in the house near the canal came out and told us to ignore her, as she was the local busy body, who nobody liked, and that we were actually moored on a 14 day mooring.  We were told that it could be sometime before the tree was moved as the Canal and River Trust don't move that quickly !!!

John walked across the bridge to check out the fallen tree and was told that Wyvern had already been notified.
After about 2 hours, and no sign of anything happening, John decided to phone Wyvern, as there were at least 7 of their boats being held up,

 all of us due to have the boats back by 9am the following morning.  At that stage Wyvern, had been told that the Canal and River Trust were on their way.
Another hour passed, and we could hear chainsaws, so John went to check it out again, but it was the local council, who cleaned up the tree off the path, and left the tree over the canal as it wasn't their problem.

Another call to Wyvern to let them know what had been happening, so at that point, the Owner of Wyvern, James, decided he would come and fix things.  So with an electric chainsaw, and the help of some staff as well as John and others from the boats, they were able to clear away the left hand side of the canal, and they then guided us all through.
We were told that there was another tree down further up the canal, and they there would be staff to guide us through again.  Wyvern staff were also positioned at all the remaining locks to speed up the process.
We thought we may have had time to get to the the Globe Hotel, which is only about 1/2 hr from the Wyvern Marina,  but it got too dark,

and by this time is was about 7.20pm, so we moored in a nice quiet spot for our last night on the Daisy, had ham, cheese, tomato and avocado melts for dinner,  accompanied by Preseco and followed by Magnums.

Thursday 20th September, 2018

We left our mooring 8.45am and headed towards Baxter's Boating Fitting Yard, in the hope of finally getting a pump out !!!  The man at Baxter's was very helpful and also showed us the Dry Dock.

This sign is near Baxter's Boating :)

 After about 45 mins we were on our way again.  By about 10.45am the rain had set in, but at least it wasn't windy.  John was keep nice and dry by the wet weather gear provided by Wyvern.

We stopped at Wolverton and John walked to the Tesco for a few supplies, including pizza for dinner.

The rain stopped during the afternoon, but unfortunately the wind came back !!!





There are some lovely properties along this part of the canal

 We continued on for another couple of hours and stopped at Willen Park on the outskirts of Milton Keynes, just near Bridge 80a.


We stopped quite early today knowing we would be on time to get the boat back on Saturday, as we were way in front of where we needed to be.



 If you look under the bridge in the photo, you can see them working on the start of the Milton Keynes to Bedford Canal extension, at a cost of 40 million pounds.

Wednesday 19th September, 2018

Today when we left Stowe Hill it was a cold windy day, which made everything that little bit harder !!!!! We stopped at the Marina to see if we could get a pump out, but they were busy for the next 1/2 hrs and advised us togo towards Gayton Marina about 1 hr further down the canal.  We stopped and John walked to see where the marina was, and as it was quite a way down another part of the canal, and there was another one just a few minutes further on.  The wind was blowing so hard, that we were finding it difficult to turn the boat into the marina, when a man sang out the they were closed for the day !!! The wind was so bad that we couldn't get the front of the boat to come away from the bank, so John used the old fashioned barge pole, that is provided with all the narrowboats, to get us underway.  It was a little stressful. We the went through the Blisworth Tunnel and continued on the the Stoke Breune locks, where we  went down the first of the locks with a couple, who decided not to go any further, as it was so windy.  We then waited for a few minutes, to see if another boat would come along (as it is recommended that where possible narrowboats should go through 2 at a time - they say to save water !!).  A young couple, also on a Wyvern boat came along and did the remaining locks with us.  They were quite happy, as it helped them to pick up a bit of time, as they were due back at Wyvern by 9am Friday morning !!! and they still had a long way to go..... wonder if they made it !!  We continued for about another hour and stopped just past Bridge 58 for the night.
No photos today - weather was horrible !! This is our sitting area on the boat - very comfy :)

Tuesday 18th September, 2018

We left Braunston this morning, and were in the Braunston Tunnel quite quickly.  We stopped a the top of the Bucky Locks, where we met Mick again, while we were taking on water.   (It was Mick who had helped us last Thursday, by running ahead at Stock Bruene Locks.) The Buckby Locks is a flight of 7 locks, and we did it all by ourselves :)

 John says these are the heaviest locks that we have come across.  It took us about 2 1/2 to make our way through all  7 locks.

 Some of the canal side properties at really beautiful, and would be a great place to live.

 The scenery was quite different to that up up around Braunston.  The woods were thick and the trees almost joined over the canal.

This statue almost makes you think that someone is sitting watching you when you first see it :)

There are all sort of canal boats moored along the canals, not all in great condition !

The person that lived (we presume) on this purple boat, was actually dressed like Willy Wonker, complete with purple top hat and a walking stick.  Unfortunately, I missed the photo opportunity :(

We cruised down past Weedon Bec and stopped for the night at Stowe Hill, Bridge Hill.  As we had eaten on board for the last couple of nights we decided to go to the Narrow Boat Pub for dinner.  John was hurting, as the locks had been so heavy, nothing that 3 pints of local beer at the pub followed by a scotch by on the boat didn't fix !!!! He was snoring in the chair in between sips of the scotch !!!

Monday 17th September, 2018

Today was a lovely easy day for us.  We cruised about 2 1/2 hrs further up the canal to Hilton Wharf just past bridge 74 and turned around in a winding spot and headed back to Braunston for the night.

Barby Wood Farm

The canal boats don't bother the cows at all !!

 Washing day on the Canal - the weather is starting to get a little windy !!

















Scenes along the canal

                               
                                   Morning Tea - life very stressful !!!