From Buckingham to Beds.

Another sunny start to the day. I must say that this is getting a bit monotonous as the start of a blog! We were off and soon at the Fenny Stratford Lock. It has a swing bridge in the middle but as there was a boat in the lock when we arrived and one waiting as we left we didn't have to deal with it. Mind you the lock is quite quick as it there is only a foot difference in levels. I read that it was supposed to help relieve some of the water pressure on the long pound to Cosgrove. It seems the working boatmen were known for just barging through it, literally. I don't that would be tolerated these days.

Fenny Stratford Lock with the swing bridge in the middle and the very nice canal cottages to the left.

There is a nice pound to Stoke Hammond lock. We came across a very slow boat here. My tick over was much faster than his and he waved me through. There was a queue at the locks to come down. six boats waiting so there was no point in waiting for him there and we were soon on our way. We were soon on the three Soulbury locks. We stopped to take on water and allow the slow boat to catch up to go up with us. Despite this the lock keepers had swung the lock and had it waiting for us and they still hadn't showed up. We were just about to leave the second lock when they arrived at the bottom. We certainly weren't rushing either.

The pub, now called the 'Three Locks' (used to be the 'Grand Union') from the middle of three locks.

Helen enjoying the sunshine.

A boat arrived at the top lock as we were leaving so that saved the gate being closed. The next pound is called Jackdaw Pound for some reason at 264ft. It winds about with good views across the valley of the River Ouzel. There aren't any real villages to go by the canal but just as the accompanying railway enters a tunnel there is the Globe Inn that looks very nice and it is noted for our return. There seemed to be plenty of mooring spots on this stretch for the trip north too.

Nice views with an undulating countryside from the canal.

The Globe Inn near Old Linslade.

Before arriving at Leighton Buzzard we had Leighton Lock to pass. I was surprised to see that there were three hire boats tied up at Wyvern Shipping as there seemed to be hundreds of them on the move! We stopped at the 'Shopping Moorings' that are right outside Tesco and Aldi and did a big shop to stock up on everything. We were then going to move off a bridge or two, but after letting go and heading ever south we saw that visitor moorings started not much further down. We quickly pulled in and tied up for the day. We sat and read etc and waited for the cool of evening before going off to explore the town. We have now spotted all the shops we want and will make a second sortie in the morning to get the last bits. There was a call at 'The Swan', a Weatherspoons for a cooling drink. I had a Tring Brewery 'Colley Dog' and Adnams 'Broadside' and Helen had a rhubarb flavour cider from there cider festival. By then it was too late for us to bother to cook so stopped at a kebab shop that had been recommended to us and availed ourselves. We got one between us and there is some left over. Neither of us can remember the last time we had a kebab but we did enjoy it.

Leighton Lock House.