It's Windy at Slapton... we are sheltering

Jan 7th - Leighton Buzzard to Slapton Lock, Grand Union Canal, 3.5 miles 3 locks
Today - Moored Slapton

WOW what a 24 hours that was. Not only is the mode of transport of a high sided vehicle precarious in the high winds, but so is a narrowboat!!

I didn’t really want to leave Leighton Buzzard in the high wind, but the warden had been along and knocked the door. Yes we had been hogging the 2 hour mooring outside Tesco for more than 48 hours, and yes we shouldn’t have been there, but we were waiting for Chas and Ann on NB Moore 2 Life to offload their sofa to another boater who was to collect it the following day. The warden was very helpful, and let us stay… well there were only two boats including us on the 2 hour mooring, it was dark…. there was enough room for another 6 boats to moor up for the 24 hour Tesco, but as we had only seen one boat pass all day, I doubt there would be anyone wanting to shop that late!

So onward then in the wind, first stop the huge fallen tree about a mile or so out of LB…. yep plenty of wood left there. Out came the chainsaw, and we stashed as much as we could on the roof, still leaving plenty for other boaters..

Onward then…… we still have to get through Ivinghoe locks by Sunday night before they close for maintenance. Grove Lock came first with the wind driving from the side, it was extremely difficult. Having cleared the lock for Vic to close the gates the wind had me on the side before he could get back on…… it was just impossible to get out, so Vic opened the gates again so I could reverse back in, pick him up and ‘bomb’ out, leaving both gates open. Well on this occasion tough, because there was no way we could close them and not get caught with the wind!

Trying to slow down passing boats was almost impossible…….. did manage to a bit, but still got shouted at for going too fast! Perhaps they would have preferred a broadside heavy bump!

Stopped for water after Slapton Lock, we had had enough, the wind was just too much, so while we filled with water I walked under the bridge and round the corner to see if there was anywhere to moor with some sort of shelter from the wind. Sure enough there was a good towpath hedge acting as a windbreak, so we decided to moor there for the night…… blimey a rough one it was too. Even trying to moor the boat was hard….. Vic managed to hold onto the front while I fought with the back trying to pull it into the side to tie up…. Took us a good 5 minutes to get NP secure……. Chas and Ann and Moore 2 Life were having terrible trouble in front of us trying to get their boat in….. Just Annie on towpath fighting with the centre rope, while M2L was flirting with the opposite side of the canal. But as soon as we had NP under control went along to help…… and it wasn’t long before both boats were secure.

Today we decided not to move in the wind….. well we only have a mile or so to go to get through Ivinghoe so we decided to have a little go at the flooring….. Hey it’s looking good already!

We have just done a couple of rows….. it’s not that easy, just as I thought, the ‘just clicks together’ instructions are not exactly truthful… you do have to use a hammer to click them in, but if you can’t swing the hammer because of walls, it makes it interesting to say the least… So here is the first bit done… Got some spots on the camera I think….. but this gives you an idea of what we are doing

The wind has dropped for now.. so we will get through Ivinghoe in the morning, might do a bit more of the floor later tomorrow too