Then we passed Baxter's Boatfitting Services, and the "new" marina alongside, famous for being stanked off with boats inside, after a disagreement between BW and the owners. We thought that we would get a pumpout at Cosgrove Marina. Except that, after stopping at the water point just before the Old Buckingham Arm, and having a good look and long chat with the owner of a converted working boat; and especially looking at his engine room, then, in a great hold-up due to someone coming up through the lock not really knowing what he was upto, and consequently everyone milling about in a log-jam of boats, we completely missed catching sight of anything that remotely looked like a marina! An overnight stop was made at Old Wolverton, just out of sight of the Windmill, going to sleep with the hardly reassuring news that some boys in a tent only 50yards away, had had to escape, after some yobs set it on fire!
Increasing play in the Sorrel's tiller had been causing worry for some time - where was the lost motion coming from, and when would the rudder fall off? Eventually a boatyard on the GU was found willing to help - Milton Keynes Marina.
If at the top, you don't succeed, ................................then try another way at the bottom!
All the others yards we had seen had reckoned they were "too busy" (playing with their empty hire-boats, no doubt!) to be able to do anything, or "their engineer was on holiday" in the middle of the holiday season?! The MK yard were very good, even if their diesel was the dearest we had seen! They hauled Sorrel out and, with the aid of a powerful jack, a brilliant magnetically mounted drill, a big bolt and some welding gear, the play was removed, and the rudder post and rudder firmly re-united once again. The opportunity was taken at the same time, to replace the worn anodes. A very friendly and resourceful boatyard. A stop was made at the Tesco at Leighton Buzzard - but we had to then move on a few hundred yards afterwards, as the shopping mooring is for two hours only. We also reconnoitred the whereabouts of the local doctor's surgery, as Jean was feeling poorly. A visit to them next morning intrigued them - it seemed to have been the first time that they had had a patient "off the boats", even if she was only a "holidaying" one! It doesn't pay to follow the details of maps like the Geo ones too closely - lots of info is fast out-of-date! At our next stop, at Marsworth, I went walking to look for the post office shown on the map, only to be told by a resident that there hasn't been one there for 10 years! The map was only bought last year! We have found that post offices in particular have disappeared everywhere wholesale, and it seems that maps cannot keep up. All very useless when you come across places where you need real cash, not plastic or cheques, and banks just don't occur along canals. I used the phone box, only to run out of cash, listening to canned music and a recorded voice re-assuring me that someone would answer soon, and that "they" valued my call! Of course "they" did, they were getting a rake-off from the time that I was kept waiting running through their automated menus! I never did get through to do what I wanted. Its very easy on a long cruise, to run out of the hard form of money and its difficult stuffing plastic or cheques into rural phone boxes. The delay in getting through to people on long distance calls can be very heavy on the cash, especially if it is a company that you are calling! Redirecting mail to be Post Restante somewhere, also is fraught. Details of the Tidal Thames were redirected for me to picked up at the main PO at Oxford, only for them to disappear for ever! The Oxford PO staff where very helpful and kind, but no mail!
Bulbourne Depot.
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