Tuesday 13 October 2015

We pulled pins at 9ish and set off from Ivinghoe leaving behind some amazing skies – not sunny but dramatic nonetheless.  The photos tell the story when I can upload them!

We got through the first lock and noticed that the level of water was really low – you could see the bottom of the moored boats – they had all grounded and looking at the sides you could see the water level had dropped at least 2’ so as we got to the next lock I went to the front of the boat and Steve just got the nose as near to the bank so I could jump off and he could keep the boat in the middle of the canal.  As we were filling the lock a guy from the CRT came to see us and said that they were going to pump some water down to the problem part of the canal so could we get to the next lock and stop.  We had to wait about 45 minutes then were on our way again.  It seems crazy that some of the locks are overflowing and then there is a stretch where the water level has drastically dropped – not sure whether some had left a paddle open somewhere?

We carried on climbing up this lovely part of the countryside.  A lot of it looks different to how we remember it.  As we arrived at the top of the Marsworth flight I could see two boats in the lock but they weren’t moving so we moored and went to investigate.

There was a whole film crew, loads of people and tons of equipment – they were filming “Call the Midwife” so they reversed out of the lock and let us go through – it was great, all these young men wanted to help as they had never operated a lock before.  Even the director was surprised at how hard the gate was to open!  Once through we decided to stop here for the night as there was a mooring and it is a nice spot just at Bulbourne Junction.  The film crew and barges then all moved up the canal at about 4.30pm and we thought they had gone home but when we went for a walk they were still filming so we stood and watched for a while.

They still had their floodlights lit at 10.30pm so a long day for them.  It’s pretty cold out too!

This was 8.00am in the morning - amazing skies!

First weathervane of the day!

And the second.

You can see the bottoms of the boats the water level is so low.

and this is the bank on the other side.

Through the swing bridge - we haven't had to do one of these for a while.

And another one!

Do you think they wish they had a garden!

Steve going to find out what is going on...

Reversing out of the lock for us.

We will have to watch Call the Midwife next year - this is apparently episode 7 and will be aired around Easter next year!

Does my bum look big in this!  First photo taken of me in ages and this is the result.....

Leaving the Film Crew behind.