It was all going so well......

.....and then it went Pete Tong.

My overnight at Marsworth was ok, the chap with the smelly noisy engine switched off about 7pm. and I had a TV signal so I watched a film at 9pm. but I had decided to move on today, it wasn’t worth staying there and I wanted to be at Leighton Buzzard by Thursday or Friday latest.

When I looked out this morning it was very windy with intermittent rain showers and I um’d and ah’d for about an hour before deciding to press on.

The last of the Marsworth locks (38&37) were quite exposed and I wondered if I had made the correct decision whilst struggling to get the boat away from the bank at the first one.

One of the two Marsworth locks, not sure which one! 

Once through them the wind dropped a bit as it was slightly less open.

Passing Dunstable and District Boat club I was already thinking ahead to the swing bridge which I knew was just after the next railway bridge.

I soon reached the bridge just as a goods train was thundering over it.

And then onto the swingbridge, not an easy one for the single hander this one, moorings provided on the towpath side, great for crewed boats, but little room on the offside for single handers to get the bow in and climb off to operate the bridge. This is my third passing of this bridge and on the two previous occasions luck was with me and someone opened and closed it for me, and this time was the same J a passing dog walker shouted he would do it, deep joy, thanks passed to him and I was on my way to the next lock.

Leaving the dog walker to close the swing bridge

Lock 36, was no problem, I was soon through that one as well.

Lock 36 ahead

Bottom gates lock 36 (I'll be back, read on !)

Approaching lock 35 there was a boat moored quite close to the landing but not on it so plenty of room to get the boat in and tied up, then stroll up to the lock.

And then this Pete Tong fella arrived, I looked at the left ground paddle and it was padlocked shut, blast, I looked then at the right paddle, also padlocked, eh? I looked at the gates, yes them as well, padlocked shut!

Returning to my boat I looked at the winter stoppages map and found to my dismay that I had forgotten the next lock along was closed from 23^rd January to 10^th February, so this one was closed to prevent a build up of boats and too much water being sent down to the lock under repair, damn it, stupid man!

When I planned the route down south for Christmas I was obviously interested in any stoppages that affected me and I made sure I was through them before the stoppage, I also noted the stoppages for the return but none were a real problem, that was until I had a specific date to get to Leighton Buzzard which only cropped up fairly recently, with the destination and date in mind I completely forgot to re-look at the stoppages.

So having looked on Google maps I decided the best thing to do was to reverse back up to and through the last lock and moor up between it and the swing bridge, giving me better access to Pitstone village for supplies, winding (turning) is not an option unless I reversed some considerable distance and that is not happening! So I reversed back, going backwards up through the lock was interesting and done with much care and observations as to what was happening, but it was actually uneventful, just a bit slower especially getting in to the lock backwards, all good fun really.

So here I am.

That's lock 36 again in the distance

Swingbridge again in the distance

And here I must stay until the 10^th unless they finish early! Luckily I have water, diesel, gas, coal, Wi-Fi, TV, radio (unusual) and I’ve been told a local shop 5 minutes away, but 10 days! what will I find to do, oh yes, relax and get a bit bored.

Totals today : 2.5 miles : 3 locks (plus 1 backwards) : 1 moveable bridge (assisted)