Goodbye Arrow.

 

 The Power of the Dog - Rudyard Kipling

There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day; 
And when we are certain of sorrow in store, 
Why do we always arrange for more? 
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware 
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear. 

Buy a pup and your money will buy 
Love unflinching that cannot lie
Perfect passion and worship fed 
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head. 
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear. 

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits, 
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs 
To lethal chambers or loaded guns, 
Then you will find - it's your own affair, -
But ... you've given your heart to a dog to tear. 

When the body that lived at your single will, 
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!), 
When the spirit that answered your every mood 
Is gone - wherever it goes - for good, 
You will discover how much you care, 
And will give your heart to a dog to tear!  

We've sorrow enough in the natural way, 
When it comes to burying Christian clay. 
Our loves are not given, but only lent, 
At compound interest of cent per cent, 
Though it is not always the case, I believe, 
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve; 
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong, 
A short-time loan is as bad as a long - 
 So why in - Heaven (before we are there) 
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?  

Aylesbury Arm

Clear. I can see all the way down to the bottom of the canal here at Puttenham,

It's pretty unusual to see the bottom of the rudder and the end of the skeg it sits on. I think this means there's been very little traffic here recently.

Aylesbury

Down to Aylesbury.
The Aylesbury arm is a quiet backwater but I think it's worth a visit. The arm is only 6 miles long but there are 16 locks to negotiate. Moorings are a bit sparse and some sections of the canal are only just wide enough for a single narrowboat. I used to go to school in Aylesbury, crossing the canal every day, so taking the boat to Aylesbury was on my wish list

Here's the replacement for the bridge I used to cross

There are actually plenty of visitor moorings once you get the centre of Aylesbury, and also at Circus Fields, the Aylesbury Canal Society's basin just outside the centre, so you could quite easliy spend two weeks in the centre of Aylesbury.
Today, I refitted the restored Cratch board. I've changed to colour and adjusted the position of the horn so it faces forward rather than down.

Oops. Cratch Crush.

Oops! Novice driver's encounter with a tree. The cratch board took the brunt of the impact.

Thanks to the design of the board it sits on the edge of the well deck with locating pins but it's not bolted down. Instead of resisting the tree, the board was able to move up and back. The glass popped out as the board flexed but didn't break.

Rain All Day

The last leg of this trip was from Braunston to Gayton. On the way I received a call from Gayton Marina to let me know the scheduled lift-out and blacking has been delayed a couple of days because the boats currently being blacked are delayed a couple of days due to the weather. It's been raining all day so I'm not surprised. Moored at Gayton 16 miles, 4½ furlongs and 13 locks

A Night at the Marina

For a change, I moored Syncopation in Braunston Marina overnight because they have electric hookup available. Still raining. Here's a picture of one of the port holes with spider web-patterned condensation:

Moored at Braunston Marina. 8 miles, 2 furlongs and 6 locks

Napton Pill Box

I watched Dunkirk last night and saw thos pillbox today. We were going to fight the Germans across Britain from structures like this in 1940.

Moored at Napton top lock 12 miles, 6¾ furlongs of narrow canals; 7 narrow locks.

On the Way to Gayton

Rain nearly all day but luckily most of today's cruise was lock free so I was able to shelter under an umbrella. In the evening I fitted an engine hours counter to replace the one built into the tachometer. The original has gone the way of most of the ones in the Beta control panel. Damp causes the LCD display to fail. Mine is very occasionally visible, like a lunar eclipse. I've run the mechanical replacement on a 12v supply for a few months at home to get it to the 1800 hours the engine has run for. Now it's connected. I just need to make a hole of the correct size and mount it permanently next to the tacho. Moored above Napton top lock. 12 miles, 6¾ furlongs and 7 locks