Globe Inn to Fenny Stratford.

The oldest parts of the Inn were originally the farmhouse and stables, when the canal was built it was converted in to an inn to serve the boaters and licenced in 1830. The inn has a lovely atmosphere and we can imagine that during the summer months it gets really busy. We enjoyed a nice meal and a bottle of wine before walking back to our boat, for an evening in front of the TV, which included I’m a celebrity get me out of here. Although I am not a huge fan of Robert Kilroy-Silk I was a little surprised that he was the first to go. Both Keith and I were hoping it would be David Van Day, because he is getting on our nerves. The man is a sandwich short of a picnic. I certainly hope he is voted off soon, because I consider he is spoiling the program.
The day began with no wind and with the sun trying to come out, so having done a few jobs onboard we headed off at 9.30am.

Near bridge 111 close to the Globe Inn, over £2 ½ million disappeared in 20 minutes during the Great Train Robbery, on the evening of August 7th 1963. The train carrying the bank notes was taking the bank notes to be destroyed, but the robbers had other ideas and as they say the rest is history.
The railway is never faraway or the B488. There are some stunning views across the valley as we followed the River Ouzel closely. With all the rain we have had lately, some of the meadows still show signs of being water logged. We approached the Soulbury Three Locks (20’3”) and N.B Autumn Glory was coming up, we had first met them way back in 2001, which seems like a life time ago now. The wind was now beginning to get up as we made our way to Stoke Hammond Lock (6’11”). Below the lock there is a double arched bridge; it shows where the locks were once doubled. As we approached Fenny Stratford a Kingfisher was sitting in a bush watching as we past it by.One of these days I am going to get a close up of a Kingfisher LOL. This time of the year is such a great time for seeing them, as there are no leaves on the trees and bushes to hide them. We came up through Fenny Stratford Lock and Swing Bridge, and then moored up for the rest of the day.

Friday 28th November.

We had a bright chilly day which was spent doing boat jobs. We took a walk to Wickes and Halfords on Watling Road, not far from the canal, you can also find a 24 hour Tesco there. We needed to buy some more distilled water for the batteries from Halfords and a hot water cylinder jacket from Wickes, which we wanted to use to try and insulate the generator to cut down the noise inside the boat when it is running. Normally when we have the generator running we have to close the doors into the saloon, but the hope was that with a cylinder jacket over the front of the generator it would cut the noise down, meaning we could leave the door open. Having found everything we were looking for, we also went to Pollards Ironmongers in Fenny Stratford, it is an Aladdin’s cave for bits and bobs. Once again we managed to get everything we wanted, so it was back to the boat to start on the jobs in hand. It turned out that the time had sped by so quickly that the light was fading, so Keith only had the opportunity to fix up a socket, the rest would wait for the weekend. Whilst Keith was working on the socket, Alan from N.B Wol (Mooring Warden) came and paid us a visit. He has been the mooring warden at Fenny Stratford for several years and was telling me of all the bodies he has found on his stretch of the canal over the years. It was enough to put you off mooring there LOL. It is clear he never has a dull moment and really does love the job and meeting lots of boaters. The temperature was dropping rapidly so we both decided it was time to stop chatting and to retire to our boats for the evening. Keith would have to venture out with Paddy at 6pm for his evening walk. We ran the generator with the cylinder jacket over it, just to see if it would make any difference. It certainly cut the noise down a bit and therefore we were very hopeful that when it was fitted properly it would work a treat.
We sat and watched the TV nice and snug in front of the fire, with a heavy fog now drawing a veil over the canal. ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’ was on at 9pm. Martina Navratilova did a fantastic job on the bush tucker challenge, which was jumping across Mini’s suspended in the air. She had to retrieve tags from each car; each tag was a meal for camp. Martina got all ten tags and was never fazed when a mini would plummet into the lake behind her.
Are Keith and I the only ones who cannot stand David Van Day?
He is really getting right up my nose. Now I know that the program is edited to within an inch of its life, but that man never stopped going on about his birthday. We both laughed when his birthday cake blew up, served him right. He is such a rude person and I find very sexist; I only hope he does not win. Having watched that, it was then off to bed, in a nice warm back cabin.

Saturday 29th November.

We were awake early, but snuggled back down as it was cold, we both went back to sleep only to be then woken again by knocking on the side of the cabin. Bleary eyed Keith got out of bed to find a gentleman standing on the towpath with money in his hand for coal which he wanted delivered to a house on the offside. Keith explained we were still in bed, so the gentleman handed over the money, gave us instructions as to where the coal should go and left. With that we got up as it was 9am, which was a lie-in for us. After breakfast I took Paddy for his walk, whilst Keith prepared to do some electrical jobs in the engine room. The electrical jobs took till after lunch, we then started packing the cylinder jacket around the generator, before replacing the shelving. It was now time to test the generator for noise, so with the press of the switch the generator roared into life. Oh peace, what joy. The noise from the beast had been cut right down, so we should now be able to leave the saloon door open when it is running.
Having done the boat jobs for the day, we delivered coal to the house opposite and were then flagged down by a boat wanting coal, kindling and firelighters. The boater and his son were complaining about how much the local marina was charging for coal, and said that they would sooner buy their coal from the boats. It has been a very grey day and cold through out. We will be spending another evening snug inside watching what the usual Saturday night feast of TV.

Sunday 30th November.

For the last day of November, it turned out to be a total washout weather wise. It has not stopped raining all day long, so the only times we ventured off of the boat, were to take Paddy for his walk. The rest of the day has been spent cutting up t-shirts for Keith's rag rug and I did some more to my second boatwoman’s shawl. Working Boat Banstead came past us during the afternoon, with her steerer hunkered down against the heavy rain. We had seen earlier in the year that Banstead was up for sale, so are wondering if she is now under new ownership?
November looks to be ending wet. The forecast for the beginning of December is not much better. We have our Christmas tree and decorations out of hibernation so we may put them up tomorrow; a lot depends on whether we stay in Fenny Stratford for another day or so. We wish you a peaceful and safe week no matter where you are or what you are doing.

Cosgrove 14 day moorings.

Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th November.

Cosgrove 14 day moorings.

Saturday morning began with Marmite climbing over us both and meowing, she was making sure we knew it was time to get up and feed her. That cat is the most vocal cat I have ever met. Siamese cats I know are very vocal, but Marmite would out do most of them in the meowing stakes. It usually ends in a wrestling match with Keith, with yes of course Keith winning. Having crawled out of bed, which was not far from the truth as my sciatica is playing up at the moment. It is from an old lower back problem, which developed when having my first born. Every now and again it rears its ugly head and leaves me walking like an old woman, which is not a pretty sight. Still it does not stop me working the boat or delivering coal. I just keep taking the tablets ha ha ha.So having got up, folded up the bed into its cupboard, I got the fire stoked up, which sent huge plumes of smoke bellowing from the chimney. I could have sent smoke signals to the cowboys off of it LOL. Keith laid up breakfast, which as with most mornings, it consisted of cereal and a cup of tea. Paddy then got his walk, whilst Marmite continued to protest that she needed feeding, despite the fact that she had dried food still in her bowl. On our return from our walk the boat became silent as Marmite tucked into her duck meat breakfast (No we did not kill a duck to feed her, it was provided by Whiskers pouches). Whilst we did the usual morning chores onboard, Gary on working boat Ascot headed up the cut to do more diesel and coal deliveries. I was going to get stuck in to chopping some kindling, but the chopper was so blunt, you could have ridden to London on it. Keith got his sharpening stone out and put a new edge on it. We then both got down to the task of chopping the wood for our own use. We have bagged kindling onboard which is to sell to other boaters, but I prefer to chop my own for our fires. On Gary’s return to moor up alongside his butty Beverley, Keith and I took a walk down to introduce ourselves. We wanted to reassure him that we were not here to take his regular customers. Gary sells diesel and coal to boaters from Cosgrove to Leighton Buzzard.We spent well over an hour nattering to Gary about working boats and everything to do with the canals. His working boat Ascot appears in the photograph showing the women trainees sitting on Ascots roof, they worked the boats during the war years.You may have seen the photograph in ‘Troubled Waters’ by Margaret Cornish, it has also appeared in magazines and is in the Stoke Bruerne Museum. Gary has owned the pair for 8 years now, and has collected some of her history in that time from magazines. Whilst chatting we got to meet Oliver his black cat, which he rescued as a kitten. Oliver is now 11 years old, but still has a lot of fight in him apparently. As always when chatting to other boaters the time flies by, so we said our goodbye’s and headed back to the boat, it was soon time for lunch, which consisted of egg’s and mushrooms on toast with a coffee to wash it down. The afternoon was not quite as nice as the morning had been, in fact it turned really chilly, so we sat and watched the afternoon movie on BBC2 before settling in for the evening. The evening’s TV was actually darn good. We watched the X-Factor, Leona Lewis was the guest performer. She is an amazing singer and is conquering the world with her wonderful talent. She gave an outstanding performance. It was time for Daniel to leave the show after he and Rachel were left in the bottom two. We actually thought it was a tough decision on who should go this week. Unlike last week, when the country it seems was up in arms over Laura leaving. What astounds me is the fact that with the country in the state it is in at the moment, the government were discussing the X-factor, even a petition was set up by the angry public to bring back Laura. At the end of the day, if they did not vote, then they cannot expect that person to stay. It is no good moaning about it later. I wonder how many of those who signed the online petition actually voted for Laura? Someone needs to get a life. After that we were well and truly entertained by ‘We are amused’ for Prince Charles 60th Birthday. It was really very funny. All of the comedians were excellent. I think this was the first time we had seen Robin Williams in stand up, he was brilliant. So having enjoyed a great evening’s entertainment on ITV we then headed off to bed. Marmite and Paddy had gone to bed much earlier and were both curled up asleep.

Sunday 16th November.

It began with Marmite playing with the pegs on our short washing line in the engine room. She pats the pegs with her paw to make them rattle, knowing full well it will get our attention, she then jumped onto Keith with a thud, then walking across me meowing loudly. We can practically set our clock by her these days. So with no further a do we got out of bed to a pretty drab but mild morning. Whilst I took Paddy out for his walk, Keith did grilled bacon and poached eggs on toast for breakfast, with a cup of tea. My sciatica is still playing up so I have upped the tablet’s, to see if that will calm things down. It is actually better if I am moving around, rather than sitting for any length of time. It is the joys of getting older. Marmite and Paddy got their breakfast, they then settled down in the back cabin for a morning snooze, having slept all night. Oh to be a dog or a cat, they have the ideal life, well these two do.
The rest of the day was spent taking things easy. We then sat and watched the new series of I’m a celebrity get me out of here. What a great selection of people in the outback this year. I already have my favourites to go far in the competition and yes I also have those I dislike. But not going to say yet, I want to see how things go. Already it looks like it is going to be fun, with lots of personality clashes. Keith and I love the idea of the Home and Away camps, with one having more home comforts than the other; this is bound to cause friction for the ones in the Away camp. It is one of those reality shows that once you begin to watch it, you cannot leave it a lone. I am full of admiration for George Takei (71) and Esther Rantzen (68) for taking up the challenge, good on them both.