White Chickens and Hedge Laying around Solbury

Globe Inn (Br 111) to Water Eaton, Grand Union Canal, 5 miles 4 locks

A very rude awakening this morning just before 8am, when a barge full of stones hit the front of No Problem.  Contractors are working on the towpath between Milton Keynes and Leighton Buzzard putting in a ‘tarmac’ type path for the whole stretch.  It must be costing an absolute fortune! I think it is horrible, and I can’t see that it will be good enough for wheelchairs.  So far we have seen just one cyclist along it…. such is the popularity of this towpath between the two towns.  Anyway, Milton Keynes itself is criss crossed with hundreds of walkways and bike ways, in fact, one runs right along side the towpath!

So we moved No Problem out of their way, moored a bit further up and then I went off to collect that post from Linslade. The ‘nice lady’ was still insisting that she does not need to hold mail for me, and that I should have gone in there to arrange with her before hand…..

Post Restante..

“If you're travelling but want to stay in touch, you can take your letterbox with you. People can address mail to you and send it to any UK Post Office™ or some main Post Office branches in large towns abroad. You can use the service for up to three months in any one UK town for any letters”

However one piece of mail seems to have gone missing…… .  She was not keen on forwarding it to another Post Office further up the canal either.  I think I will have to have more words with Royal Mail.

But a delightful day today…. I didn’t have my coat on all day such was the warmth of the sun.  It was very windy though.  You know,  No Problem has a very shallow draft which is super handy for mooring in those places others can’t, but when the wind is up, she blows about like a plastic duck in a bath!.  Difficult it was, even got totally blown to the side of the canal, and it took three people to try to shove off the front to get going again!

What is it with white chickens hung upside down on a narrowboat?  Surely someone out there knows.  The first one I saw was a few days ago, and it was a REAL chicken, dead of course hung upside down on someone's tiller.. yuk!  Then today I saw a plastic one hung upside down again on another narrowboat.  Could this be some good luck charm thingy?  Or could it be to keep the devil away?  I did put a search into google, but all I could find was upside down cake, as a pudding to white chicken roast dinner!!

Hedge Laying….. superb today, there was a lot of areas along the newly built towpath where some lovely new hedges has been given the treatment.  Here a photo…..

Chas and Ann on NB Moore 2 Life set up their new sky satellite system this afternoon, which reminded me, I did promise to do a page on how to set one up, where to buy etc etc, but I have yet to do it, so that will be coming soon, just to let you know.

The weather is going to be lovely over the weekend, and we are both looking forward to meeting Colin and his family again at Linford, just through Milton Keynes…. fishing I think will be on the agenda.  Hope Colin remembers to bring the wiggly things with him