bigmartyn.blogspot.com
BigMartyn's Blog: Good progress
http://bigmartyn.blogspot.com/2008/10/good-progress.html
Friday, 31 October 2008. Cliveden to Magna Carta Island, 12.75 miles, 5 locks. Grey today but dry. The forecast was for rain, but now it seems to have changed its mind. I had considered spending the day here and going to have a look at Cliveden House—or more specifically the gardens, which are apparently magnificent—but if the weather's going to be kind then I don't want to waste it. Through Bray and past the famous Bray film studios, and then past the Oakley Court Hotel. Which has an RAF memorial on the...
bigmartyn.blogspot.com
BigMartyn's Blog: August 2008
http://bigmartyn.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html
Sunday, 31 August 2008. Staircase in the rain. Norton Junction to Crick, 5 miles, 6 locks, 1 tunnel. Something we'd noticed in the half-hour. I accidently found that if I just turned the handle all the way over to the screw-on hose side, the other side shut off. It really could do with a little sign to that effect- I'm sure everyone has fun and games with that tap. Tunnel over, we were in Crick. Crick is another 'canal' village, like Stoke Bruerne, and there were lots of boats about. We eventuall...So it...
bigmartyn.blogspot.com
BigMartyn's Blog: October 2008
http://bigmartyn.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html
Friday, 31 October 2008. Cliveden to Magna Carta Island, 12.75 miles, 5 locks. Grey today but dry. The forecast was for rain, but now it seems to have changed its mind. I had considered spending the day here and going to have a look at Cliveden House—or more specifically the gardens, which are apparently magnificent—but if the weather's going to be kind then I don't want to waste it. Through Bray and past the famous Bray film studios, and then past the Oakley Court Hotel. Which has an RAF memorial on the...
bigmartyn.blogspot.com
BigMartyn's Blog: September 2008
http://bigmartyn.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html
Tuesday, 30 September 2008. Boating in the rain. Fazeley Junction to Atherstone, 9 miles, 6 locks. Monday, 29 September 2008. Fazeley Junction, 0 miles, 0 locks. It is from Belgium and is the kind that would have been found in café's before the arrival of the Juke Box. The captain tells me that he's 80 and that he owns several organs, but after his wife died he decided to live on the boat and the little Belgian organ is there to keep him company. Podcast. I notice that I've got two new One Life Left.
bigmartyn.blogspot.com
BigMartyn's Blog: It ends
http://bigmartyn.blogspot.com/2008/11/it-ends.html
Thursday, 6 November 2008. Kensal Green to Battlebridge Basin, 5 miles, 4 locks. So is was it then. The day when surely I must finally get 'home'. The sky was grey, but in a good way and was saying that it was giving me a chance if I was prepared to take it. Not wishing to rush into anything, I went to Sainsbury's for breakfast. It's not quite up to Bull's Bridge Tesco standards, but it's okay. Just after the tunnel there's a little basin, then a tiny tunnel under a building. Creeping out from the mo...
bigmartyn.blogspot.com
BigMartyn's Blog: A wash out
http://bigmartyn.blogspot.com/2008/11/wash-out.html
Saturday, 1 November 2008. Magna Carta Island to Laleham, 4.5 mile, 2 locks. After lunch I notice that the rain has stopped and the sky looks like it might brighten up. The weather's been so variable recently that it's hard to tell what is going on, so I wonder whether I should take a chance and set off, but not doing so is driving me insane so I get togged up and go. Subscribe To BigMartyn's Blog. View my complete profile. This Is What The Perseid Meteor Shower Looked Like Around the World. So close and...
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BigMartyn's Blog: Bulls Bridge Tesco Again
http://bigmartyn.blogspot.com/2008/11/bulls-bridge-tesco-again.html
Tuesday, 4 November 2008. Bulls Bridge Tesco Again. Brentford to Bull's Bridge, 5 miles, 10 locks. John has got the back deck up and lurking beneath is the largest engine I've ever seen. It's ludicrously large, but then it is 4.7 litres! Amy's skipper's name is Duncan and as promised he's waiting at the first lock. I thought there were 12 locks from Brentford to Bulls Bridge, but he points out that two of them are Thames Lock and the Brentford Gauging Locks. Subscribe To BigMartyn's Blog. Grandma Briefs ...
bigmartyn.blogspot.com
BigMartyn's Blog: November 2008
http://bigmartyn.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html
Thursday, 6 November 2008. Kensal Green to Battlebridge Basin, 5 miles, 4 locks. So is was it then. The day when surely I must finally get 'home'. The sky was grey, but in a good way and was saying that it was giving me a chance if I was prepared to take it. Not wishing to rush into anything, I went to Sainsbury's for breakfast. It's not quite up to Bull's Bridge Tesco standards, but it's okay. Just after the tunnel there's a little basin, then a tiny tunnel under a building. Creeping out from the mo...
bigmartyn.blogspot.com
BigMartyn's Blog: An unpleasant surprise
http://bigmartyn.blogspot.com/2008/11/unpleasant-surprise.html
Sunday, 2 November 2008. Laleham to Teddington, 12.75 miles, 4 locks. A look out of the window and the sky is grey, however there's a brighter patch over there and maybe the forecast for rain is wrong. Whatever it's going to do, it's too good to waste and after a celebratory breakfast of mushrooms, bacon and scrambled egg, I top up the engine's water (again) and set off. I guess all there's left to do now is wait to hear from the Brentford lock keeper. Subscribe To BigMartyn's Blog. From the keyboard of ...
bigmartyn.blogspot.com
BigMartyn's Blog: So close and yet so far
http://bigmartyn.blogspot.com/2008/11/so-close-and-yet-so-far.html
Wednesday, 5 November 2008. So close and yet so far. Bull's Bridge to Kensal Green, 11 miles, 0 locks. Once the traffic noise stopped last night I must have slept soundly because it's after 9:30 when I wake up, meaning I've been in bed for 12 hours! The weather looks grey and miserable and liable to rain, and as I walk to Tesco for breakfast I can feel the moisture in the air. And I realised with a jolt that it's November 5th and everyone would be setting off fireworks. I had to go to Sainsbury's as ...