The start of the drop to Aylesbury

Marsworth Junction to Buckland Lock, Aylesbury Arm GU Canal, 2.5 miles 11 locks

A quick walk this morning with Lucy flexing my muscles ready for a busy day.  I was excited… Vic was going to let me do ALL the locks today. Would I remember how to wind up a paddle!  And would Vic remember that to turn right you have to put the tiller to the left!

It has been a long time since Vic has let me do any locks,  he much prefers to do them himself leaving me to the tiller. Anyway it’s about time Vic got a bit of tiller practice… umm

Well Vic made the corner OK from Marsworth Junction, and neatly put NP into the first of the paired staircase locks.  Great start, but I found the paddle to empty the water from the top lock into the bottom very heavy indeed, and I wondered if I had made a stupid mistake to ask if I could do the locks today.  Surely the not often used Aylesbury Canal Arm would not be THIS bad all the way down

I needn’t have worried, it was quite light work, and very enjoyable as I went from one lock to the next on foot.  And with names such as Black Jack Lock and Gudgeon Stream Lock it was sheer delight. Also to do some narrow locks after having been so long on the wide Grand Union Canal locks was a very pleasant change.

It was quite shallow in places, but luckily NP has a shallow draft, something we are going to need when the weather gets warmer and we try the drains and byways on the fenlands in the summer.  I was amazed at the size of the fish, the water was quite clear.  I decided that when we moored I would have a go at getting myself a good sized fish!

Well there were plenty of fishermen on the banks, and not one of them was unhappy about our passing by.  A very friendly lot indeed which does make a change, sometimes the fishermen can be quite miserable with boats passing.  I was chatting with one guy who was fishing just below a lock I was working through, and telling him that I was being allowed to do the locks today for the first time for months, he had a wry smile, then as Vic left that lock and passed him his comment was “That’s the way to train ‘em mate”

Here is Gudgeon Stream Lock, we stopped for a cuppa and a bite to eat.  Not for too long though because the signs on most of the locks tell us to empty them after use and leave the bottom paddles open.  The reason given was that the lock walls were leaking!!  I wondered just how big the holes were, so drunk my tea sharpish worrying that all the water would drain out of the pound!

Moored at Buckland Lock.  There was a nice gap in the trees for the satellite to find our dish over the valley, but not only that, there was a nice hard edge to moor to at this point too.  The fishing rod came out shortly afterwards…. but all those lovely fish I saw earlier did not follow us down.

So 11 locks for me today, and I really enjoyed it.  Took 2 hours and 15 minutes, not bad for a rooky!