Monday 22nd May
I was due to change the oil and filter
today and was up early, but by the time I had a light breakfast, written
various email in reply to friends and read up on associated blogs that I read
mostly daily, it was 11 am. What did I say about this being a time waster?
Probably better to get going early and do this later, rather than in the
morning.
Anyway, because I had an oil spill over
the engine, the job took two hours, which is about an hour longer than usual. I
let go after a snack lunch and got to Black Horse Bridge, but still in Milton
Keynes. I realised how much I hate this pound, without any locks or other features.
On the way I thought I would write up some notes on The Plough at Simpson, but
after mooring up and walking down to the pub, it was closed! Maybe it stays closed on Mondays. No wonder
there were so few boats moored up outside. I just Googled it and it states
"Closed
on Monday."
Herons in trees is quite a rare sight.
This must have been one of the hottest
days of the year so far. I was down to T shirt and black jeans and they were
too hot – no complaints though.
Moving on, I eventually moored up outside
a pub close to Black Horse Bridge that I had never been to before. There were
very convenient bollards outside, inviting custom. Although the Nicholson Guide
quoted that this was The Proud Perch, it has reverted to The Black Horse; it
remains to be seen what it is like.
While I was moored up, two guys were shafting
a small cabin cruiser through the nearby bridge and pulled in in front of me. It
turned out that they had just bought the boat, but had run out of petrol, so
one of them told me. Someone was bringing fuel for them by car, but in the
meantime they still tried to start the outboard, which did start and then
immediately died. Start it did eventually and kept running whilst the petrol
messenger walked alongside to catch them up.
Two other guys were fishing with magnets
later under the bridge and I later asked the older of the two if they found
anything interesting. Apparently they found a 9mm Beretta, which was handed in
and later found about 30 meat cleaving tools in one place. They were also
handed in, but why were they thrown in the canal in the first place?
I went into The Black Horse about 6pm for
a pint and was very surprised at the layout of the bars. There were several and
on different levels, because the pub was built on a bank at the side of the
canal. Most of the tables were set for meals with flowers and cutlery, so more
restaurant than pub, but they had three real ales on tap. Rather than go into
detail of the pub, there is a very good description and photographs here:- http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/29/29363/Black_Horse/Great_Linford
I looked at the menu, as I always do and
it was very attractive, so I ordered the crispy sticky duck on a bed of grated
carrot and mooli with sweet chilli sauce and hoisin, after which I had
delicious homemade profiteroles, very attractively served it all was too. The
beer was £4.05 a pint, which was dear enough, but not £6.15 as mentioned in the
#BITE review.
Tuesday 23rd May
I moved on towards Stoke Bruerne, again
with the skin tank tap almost closed. The temperature rose to the normal 75°C when the engine thermostat opens, climbing further to 80°C, where it seemed to
stay for a further hour or more. As I increased the speed, so it climbed
further to 90° and then 100°. As I approached the Stoke Locks and went up with
another boat, the temp dropped to 80°C, as it was on tickover for most of that
time. It looks as though minimal throughput to the skin tank is the answer, but
getting that setting just right can only be done by long term trial and error.
The boat going up the Stoke Locks with me
was nb Morgan. The husband had only bought the boat in December and had been in
China for 3 months, where he married a Chinese girl. She was left in charge of
the boat through the locks and obviously had not done it before. He was
instructing her every move in the locks from the lockside and it was up to me
to decide which side of the lock to enter, depending on which side the stern
had settled, usually with the rest of
the boat diagonally across the lock. We managed very well with him doing the
gates and paddles and then walking up to set the next one, while I stopped and
closed up after us.
Reaching the top pound, Mike Partridge
spotted me and suggested that I moor in front of nb Sculptor, which is part of
the museum moorings and authorised by Kathryn Dodington, who has taken over David
Blagrove’s role in this respect, so I was privileged to be in pole position and
could stay for two days at least.
A privileged mooring.
Kathryn came on board for a chat and we
both went to the Indian restaurant for a very good meal later, as always.
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