MERRY CHRISTMAS  from Yardley Gobion

No not this year - a few years back!

Living close to Gayton Marina and Blisworth Arm, I received the following message through our local Neighbourhood Watch and thought it might help to post it.

Since we've been back home the new Campbell Wharf Marina near the city centre in Milton Keynes has been coming on a pace.  Our monthly walking group held its annual Christmas Dinner at The Barge Woolstone in Milton Keynes on Tuesday. As is customary for our group we had a walk in the morning and it included a section in Campbell Park.



From the park it was possible to see the progress being made with jetties being installed. I see from their web site video that yesterday they installed the footbridge across the Grand Union.

The walk around Campbell Park and beyond (about 7 miles) was very pleasant with the recent rains abating and very little wind.

Storage on narrowboats, irrespective of their length, is always valuable. Our double bed, which is 4 ft wide and therefore technically a "small double", sat on a fixed base. Originally the storage under the bed consisted of a box stretching across half the bed and accessible via two drop down flaps, and two modest drawers strategically positioned  at the end of the bed (where there is a small alcove adjacent to the Alde heating and one of our two wardrobes).

The bed base on Albert was originally constructed from wooden slats. Soon after purchasing Albert I discovered that half the area under the bed base was unused and the space wasted. Getting access to this area was simple - I just cut the slats in half and lifted them out position whenever I needed access. Thus was born Albert's deep storage.

However, the physical effort to gain access was considerable because it required lifting and removing the heavy mattress. Over the years this deep storage has become invaluable, particularly for bedding and duvets, but the effort involved became a chore. Recently, with the change from summer to autumn boating, and the need to accommodate some extra bedding for our grandchildren, we accessed the deep storage on several occasions and it became irksome, so I began to contemplate improving access to the whole of the under bed area.

My concept was for a lifting solid base using gas struts that would allow for easy access to both sides of the bed. I chose 18 mm thick plywood sheeting for the base and used the cutting service at B & Q to get it accurately cut to the bed aperture. The next stage was to provide suitable ventilation via a series 48 x 70 mm holes cut by hole-saw. It took most of an afternoon to carry this out tedious task but I was pleased with the result.


To provide lift (and support) I chose two locking gas struts hinges from SGS. The weight to be lifted is required for specifying the struts. In this case the mattress weight was not easy to obtain. We purchased our mattress in 2016 from John Lewis but strangely the don't regularly provide mattress weights. It took some phone calls and a couple of days before I eventually got hold of a furniture specialist who provided the data. Our mattress weighs in at 24 kg and the base 18 kg.

Fitting the hinges required some physical effort because of the size and weight of the board and aligning the hinges was not simple but I achieved it using the instructions from SGS. Once in place the hinges worked well, so now we can get to deep storage without great effort.

We travelled back to Albert on the evening of Thursday 1st November so we could get an early start on the Friday. The aim was to return Albert to Kingfisher Marina over the weekend. It was interesting negotiating the towpath in the dark but it was clear that in the intervening four nights the empty moorings had filled up a bit. We immediately set the stove and turned on the Alde and tried to get the boat warm. The morning was clear and very crisp with a good layer of frost on the roof.

As I opened up the hatches on Friday to sort our the exhaust stack, chimney etc. I was greeted by an unusual sight. A professional photographer was taking advantage of the light to photograph a young ballet dancer in a variety of poses around Ravens Lane Lock. Wearing her leotard she was obviously having to brave the cold. Her mother was carrying a blanket that she used between shots and she had a trolley bag with her clothes in! I presume that the shots were to be used for her portfolio - quite a bizarre moment.

Moved off after an early breakfast and picked up water in the town. Maggie visited Waitrose for supplies as I waited for the tank to fill. By mid morning we were working our way out of Berkamsted into Northchurch where were at one of the locks we met another boat going in our our direction. We were able to share the locks for the first time since Brentford. The other boat was going to Cowroast for a few days before taking part in the floating Christmas Markets later in the month.


The trip across the Tring summit was quiet with no other boats moving and just a couple of walkers. At Bulborne we started to see some boat movement and going down the Marsworth flight we passed boats going in the other direction.

The clocks had changed to GMT so dusk came very early but we managed to reach the last two locks on the flight just before dark. Unfortunately, the pound between the two last locks was well down. I was on the boat and Maggie was on the bank operating the locks. She warned me of the levels so to try I crept into the pound slowly but ran aground about half-way between the locks. We let some water down and after about 10 minutes we had enough to get afloat again and gingerly enter the lock.

We moored up just below the flight. It is a quiet location away from the train-line.

The next day, Saturday 3rd November, we were again up early and took Albert back across "The Fields" to Leighton Buzzard. A series of Wyvern Shipping hire boats were out for some late autumn cruising and passed us going South. There were also a number of live-aboards moving their boats.

We reached the Three Locks at Soulbury and moored up just below the lower lock. We hadn't managed to moor there for some time, because this is usually a popular mooring. That night had an early meal at the Three Locks Inn. It was delicious. The inn is part of the small chain that include 185 Watling Street in Towcester which we can also recommend.

On the Sunday morning, 4th November we dropped down our last significant lock at Stoke Hammond where we met a crew coming up (very handy) and then cruised through Milton Keynes to home.

Since we passed through MK a month ago the contractors working on the new marina and other developments at Campbell Park had made significant progress.



So in our month away from Yardley Gobion it appears we have travelled about 170 miles and passed through 176 locks.

We woke at Hunton Bridge on Saturday October 28th to some cold clear weather. Today our aim was to reach Berkhamsted where we we planned to leave Albert for a few days so we could return home by train for some childcare duties in Northants.

As we got near Rickmansworth the weather began to improve and later in the day going through Watford it was really a quite pleasant autumn afternoon.


We stopped off for supplies at Tesco in Rickmansworth and then pressed on through Batchworth Lock. We found it hard to resist (but did) the smell off bacon butties emanating from the cafe @ lock 81. Instead we decided we just had to have lunch on the move again and eat our customary fare of soup and sandwiches as we approached Common Moor Lock.

The trip through Cassiobury Park was as delightful as ever with walkers out in force. We pressed on with light fading and moored up just passed Hunton Bridge Locks. Givwen out troubles here on the way south we didn't want to risk mooring up below the "leaky locks". 

We left Brentford basin early on Thursday October 25th because we didn't want to impede our neighbours on the inside (we were breasted-up) and we were keen to make good progress north because we were due back home the weekend. Now we new we were going to make Northamptonshire but we did was to be somewhere convenient to leave Albert for a few days.


The weather was cold an bright and a lot better for locking than on our way down when we had driving rain. A CRT maintenance boat left Brentford just ahead of us and we met it in the first lock (Clitheroe) and we faced the prospect of following it up the Hanwell flight filling each lock. However, just as we reached Hanwell Bottom Lock we found the CRT boat stopped with rubbish around their prop so they followed us up the flight. Volunteers from CRT we supposed to be on duty to help with the locks but they weren't answering their phone; so we went up alone. It was a decent run and the pounds were well filled so we had no problems. Eventually a single volunteer did appear just as we crossed Three Bridges (I usually point out at this point that there are actually only two bridges despite its name - one road and one canal and the railway at the "bottom" doesn't have a bridge). The volunteer set the Norwood Locks, which are the top two in the flight for us.


Once clear of the Hanwell flight it was a clear run with good weather through to Cowley Peachey. Lunch was on the move again (sandwiches and soup). We stopped at High Line Yachting mid-afternoon for a gas bottle since one ran out in Brentford.

On October 24th, the Wednesday day of the half-term week, we left the non-tidal Thames and went back to the Grand Union at Brentford. Passage was booked for 3 o'clock at high tide so we had a leisurely cruise down to Teddington Lock where we had lunch.


Once again the weather was kind with clear blue skies and lots of sun. Unlike the passage upriver this was at a full-moon with spring tide. The difference was marked with the tide taking the water level over the banks near Richmond.

As we left the lock with another narrow boat that was going down to their moorings at Chelsea Harbour, a gaggle of boats coming up on the tide from Brentford arrived. This included the former GUCC working-boat Dover that was featured some time back in a TV series.

Just a little downstream is the obelisk marking the border between the Port of London Authority and the old Thames Conservancy.  I've reported about the monument before (2008) - but from the bank.





We had a warm welcome from the CRT lock keeper at the Thames Lock but by then the light was beginning to fade. We made it up through the automated Gauging Lock which had its own clean air initiative.

In the evening we visited the excellent The Weir which is nearby and had a farewell early dinner with the family. A very enjoyable meal to end the day and our Thames Cruise. It was back to Grand Union locking in the morning.