That Aylesbury Duck!

Aylesbury Basin to Broughton, Aylesbury Arm GU Canal, 1.5 miles, 3 locks

I am so pleased to have left Aylesbury for one main reason…… the first comment I got when I told enquirers where we are… “Ah, Aylesbury, seen the duck then? Hehe”

The joke wore quite thin with me in the end, realizing that we had spent far too many days there for too many people to ask us where we were. So I went looking for this famous duck with camera in hand, determined to find this quiet white bird whos name had been giving me earhol’ grief all week from my family and friends. Anyway, Aylesbury ducks are nice saute (can’t put the accent on the end ‘e’!) with apple slices, or served with a green peppercorn sauce, and according to this farm site can be purchased for £21.93 a kg.. WOW!

No wonder I couldn’t find any

I did find this handsome fella and a few more of his friends just the other side of the last bridge before the visitor moorings there. There were about 5 or 6 of the very pretty male ducks, and 3 or 4 females who had a more conventional duck look about them.

Mandarin ducks they are…… from Asia, wintering in Japan! I wondered if they had been on a world cruise that had gone wrong, or maybe Japan these days, is not only getting overcrowded with humans, but with ducks too! Ha, obviously escapees from some local breeding house. Still they looked happy enough in the cool weather, and I am sure were enjoying their freedom

Enough of ducks, this is suppose to be a blog of our travels! OK then, we travelled from the basin through three locks and tied up. End of travel log, because I have something else to tell you.

Bang, bang… oh no people with guns in the field opposite the towpath, it was dusk…. errrrr at £21.93 a kg I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear the guns. I could hear ducks and geese calling out in a Buckinghamshire accent (you know, all ducks and geese have accents), was it the Aylesbury they were after for Sunday lunch or perhaps a goose! Well suddenly the boat roof was splattered with shot, ah ha, would that elusive Aylesbury Duck quickly follow and land slap on our roof?! Put the oven on Vic!! :D

Not on your life…… umm I wonder what it tastes like anyway :P