I am Linda and along with my husband Richard and our dog Muffin we enjoy our summers on the UK's canal system

Tuesday 26 July 2016

Bridge 110 (Grand Union) – Monday 25th July

We needed to get to Leighton Buzzard by 10ish so that Jim could catch a train home.  Men being men had to leave at 8.15 to do 2 miles and 1 lock – needless to say I showered while we were underway.

We got a mooring outside Tesco, had a cup of coffee, messed around and then walked to the station.  We were still 20 minutes early!  We left Jim waiting for the Birmingham train.  He was then going to change onto the Cheltenham train where Penny was going to meet him as Amy, my niece, lives there and it was an excuse to have lunch with her.

Richard and I walked back down to Mary H and I went to Tesco.  I had a good stock up – wine and tonic water seemed to be the order of the day!

Les and Jaq in happier days
We then walked back along the canal to meet up with some remarkable people – Jaq and Les, fellow bloggers, from NB Valerie.  We had tried to catch up last year but it didn’t work out so I was determined to see them this time.  If you read their blog you will see that Les has terminal cancer and, to be perfectly honest, I knew I wouldn’t see him again.  Theirs is a wonderful love story but sadly they have only been together a few years.  Les’s profile on their blog says “After living aboard alone for 7 years, I went to America and fell in love!” Les is an amazing man and is determined to stay on his boat for as long as he can.  Jaq is remarkable too coping with everything and yet still smiling and cheery.  It was a lovely get   but it was obvious that Les was in great pain and I could see that he was tired.  We took our leave and wandered back to the boat.  I felt so sad and downhearted but then I thought about how up-beat Les and Jaq had been and felt that I should to be more up-beat for them.

We decided to move on and headed up to Leighton Lock and then up into a big loop to get away from the railway where we moored for the night.


I was really surprised to see so many cherries at the top of this tree.  Usually the birds have eaten them all before now.

3.47 miles
2 locks

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