Campbells all over the place

20th & 21st April

Although we'd found space on the 48 hr moorings at Campbell Park without any bother, the towpath opposite and for some distance in either direction was full of boats, many of whom were about the last time we were here last summer. It looks like this length is badly in need of both a moorings warden and a zealous towpath patrol officer. The irony is that BW's SE office is in Milton Keynes.

We got away in good time, and were on the water point at Fenny Stratford by 9.45. When we got to Stoke Hammond lock, it was full, and a boat had just appeared in the other direction, so I opened up for her, and helped lock down, as it was single handed. Virtue was rewarded by the appearance of a Wyvern boat going our way, so we were able to share both Stoke Hammond and the Soulbury Three with Crystal.

On we went along the Jackdaw Pound, planning to moor by the Globe Inn for the night, just short of Leighton Buzzard. Just a bit before we got there, however, we came across Fair Fa', the boat of our friends from the IWA National, Sheila and Pat Campbell. We tied by them, and had a quick chat before getting a belated lunch.

A leisurely afternoon followed, at the end of which we were invited onto Fair Fa' for a pre dinner drink. As a result, our dinner was actually quite late, but it was well worth it to have the opportunity to catch up with Pat and Sheila.

This morning we were away just a little bit later, getting to the shopping mooring at Leighton Buzzard by half nine. This is one of the most convenient places to shop, as the Tesco is right beside the towpath, and there's a set of two hour moorings for the convenience of the shopping boats.

There's also an Aldi and a Homebase, as well as a range of smaller shops in the town. A little while ago, Elanor had gone out of her way to get us some replacement bow saw blades, eventually finding then in Wickes. They are excellent blades, but they exposed a fault in our el cheapo bow saw, in that the frame is actually a bit short, so that the blade cannot be tensioned properly. Accordingly, we went in to Homebase today and got a much better saw, with a good range of adjustment. The old saw will probably be presented to London WRG at Cavalcade, with appropriate warning, as they will be in a much better position to source blades to fit.

After putting the stuff away, we went on, grabbing a coffee en route. There were no other boats going our way, so progress was quite slow, as locking a single boat up a wide lock requires a degree of patience if it's not to be chucked about by the flow of water filling the lock.

Finally we needed a break, so stopped for lunch above Horton Lock. As we were nearly finished, we heard and felt a boat locking up behind us. It proved to be another Wyvern, on its own, so we scrambled back into boating mode and set off behind them.

Sharing up the first Ivinghoe Lock, it turned out to be the lead boat of three being used by Incite as a team building exercise. We shared with them up the remainder of the locks we had to do today, as they were aiming for Marsworth as well. We were both admiring of and entertained by Davinia, who was able skilfully to instruct her group of novices, chat to us and keep tabs on everything else around her.

Mooring at Marsworth was frantic – there's very little short term mooring, most of the visitor mooring being 14 day, which has the effect of encouraging the bridge hoppers. We were lucky to find a space just by the White Lion, as we've just been joined by Nev and John Campbell for dinner tonight – it's a case of one set of Campbells after another.