Back to the two of us for the remainder of this trip back to Packet Boat. It is familiar territory and quite heavily locked. Late in the afternoon, Christine was setting a lock and met a hire boat on its way back to Wyvern Shipping, just north of Leighton Buzzard. They had been to Brentford and back in 6 days! So we know what our challenge is . . .
It was still wet when we set off and plenty more leaves had been blown down overnight. The towpath was almost ankle deep by now!
As we cruised towards Leighton Buzzard we passed through the Three Locks at Soulbury - where are the volunteer lock keepers when you could do with them? No doubt it is is not a prime day for Wyvern boats - the volunteers are concentrated on those days when the most number of new hirers are passing through. In fact we saw just one boat coming the opposite direction all morning.
Along the way we also saw several place where winter boats seem to be gathering - it is not always easy to see what is the attraction of specific places but no doubt those who need to know, do know!
We arrived at the Shopping Stop in Leighton Buzzard. Christine wanted to try out the Aldi store first and we collected quite a lot of what we wanted but there were several items on our list which the limited range of the discounters do not cover. We made a quick foray into Homebase - we are planning to improve the catches on our under-bunk storage cupboard doors which do not always stay shut. However, they did not have the ones we had in mind so that will have to wait until later. Tesco, nearest to the canal provided the remainder of our shopping list apart from a newspaper.
The services are on a separate mooring a few hundred metres ahead just under the main road bridge that divides Leighton from Linslade. Whilst Mike carried out the usual filling and emptying, Christine walked into town to pick up a newspaper from Waitrose.
We were now somewhat behind our expected schedule so we had lunch on the go. This was not helped by the fact that we were now entering a section where the locks come singly, typically ten minutes apart.
By the time we arrived at Slapton Lock, the light was already beginning to fail.
Mike was keen to see if he could spot the Dunstable Lion as he missed it on the way up earlier in the year. he did indeed see it but now it seems almost to blend into its background. We recall that not long ago it stood out much more clearly. perhaps it needs a little TLC.
We were following a couple of boats but we managed to keep up with them despite having to turn each lock. Above Ivinghoe Top Lock we opted to call it a day - we might have been able to go through another lock but here there looked as if we had a good line for the tv - last night we failed completely but our mooring spot was dictated by car logistics and not our evening entertainment! The straight piece of bank which Mike selected turned out to be a bit shallow and we moored a little out from the bank. Still, the canal is very wide at this point so there is no chance of being an obstruction.
10.9 miles - 11 Locks
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