Circus Field Basin is a very nice place to moor, and everyone we met at the Aylesbury Canal Society was very friendly. Macc also loved running about in The Dell, a grassy corner of the site with a little bridge he could launch himself off. When we came to leave this morning we had trouble locating anyone to let us out; the bridge needs to be lifted and the gates opened. That meant it was 9.30 before we pulled forward and made the tricky Z-shaped route to the exit. At least it was sunny and with very little wind. With the tree still blocking the way to Aylesbury basin, we turned left. That mile and two locks (which we have done before) will have to remain on KV’s to do list. The first lock of the day, Broughton Lock, is not far away.
Beyond the lock the way Aylesbury is sprawling is clear to see, with big new housing estates going up.
The almost two miles between Broughton Lock and Red House Lock are very slow going, with shallow water and lots of reeds. They take about an hour.
There were some big black clouds about and I could see it raining in the distance. By the time we got to Red House Lock it had started, and at times it came down in stair rods.
The stretch between this lock and the next one isn’t very long, but it’s even more painfully slow than the previous bit. As I approached the lock I had seen a duck fly down and land in the lock. Adrian, who was there at the gates, hadn’t noticed — but went to check if the duck was still there once I was in the lock. She was, and she had a couple of ducklings with her. Fortunately these locks are a bit wider than the average narrow lock and she started off down the side of the boat. I pushed the stern over to let her out, but a couple of times she turned back, perhaps not liking me there. The bow was against that wall though, so she had no choice but to come past me, and Adrian also opened that gate again so she could see a way out.
There’s another shallow half mile to the bottom Puttenham Lock, and just below it s Bates Boat Yard, which specialises in wooden boats. It has to be said that most of the wooden boats there look as though they’ll take a lot of work to get watertight again.
The cottage by that lock reminds me of the ones on the Shroppie. They have the same bay window and roof shape.
This next pound was the shallowest of the lot, and that’s saying something. In addition, there were some really heavy downpours. Then as we approached the last lock of the day, Wilstone or Gudgeon Stream Lock, the sun came out and made the roof of the boat steam. We moored above the lock in the sunniest spot, which is at the opposite end of the moorings from when we were here two days ago. The other boat that was here then has gone. After lunch I took Macc for a walk, starting off by going down by the bridge over the lock and over a little wooden bridge across the canal feeder from Wilstone Reservoir.
The path goes along the side of a barley field with great views of the Chilterns.
Rather than taking the usual path back to the village we carried on, following the feeder.
After negotiating a field of sheep and then a short stretch on a busy road, we came to the reservoir itself.
We took a different way back into Wilstone, finishing by crossing the rec to the canal. Since we got back it’s been sunny at times but there have also been some more downpours.
4 miles, 6 locks. (64 miles, 59 locks)