According to the local pub we are moored in the Danger Canal. (Cue scary music.)

We are now in Fenny Stratford at the low point of this section of the Grand Union Canal. There was supposed to be one long level pound here, but the surveyors got it a bit wrong so there is a lock that changes the water level by about a foot in the middle of it. The Red Lion pub is sitting right by the lock so the customers can sit on the balance beam of the lock gates when they are not in use – or sometimes when they are. Just to complicate matters, there is also a swing bridge in the middle of the lock.

In spite of the gongoozlers, the sun was coming out as we went through the lock, there were friendly boaters to help Paula moor while I shut the swing bridge (helped by the pub customers) and there was a lumberyard nearby. Paula is now busy with carpentry.

Last year the bed was not quite long enough for Paula’s taste, so she asked for the closet to be shortened to allow for a bigger mattress. However, now the closet is too small, so she is making that run in a different direction to get more hanging space.

Coming down here today we passed the first boat we’ve seen with a name from Game of Thrones.

We’ve seen lots of Lord of the Rings names, but GoT is more recent and not quite the canal boat demographic. Give it another twenty years though, and the cut will be full of Daeneryses, Tyrions, Aryas, and Grey Worms.

The old courthouse in Fenny Stratford has a battle swan in chains on it.

This is part of the coat of arms of the County of Buckingham, and is either because Buckingham used to breed swans for the king to eat, or because in the 11th or 12th century large chunks of Buckingham were owned by a guy called Sweyn. Yes, it’s probably the second one, because in history the stupid answer is usually the correct one.

I’m not sure what happened to the neck feathers on this swan. Perhaps the golden crown and chain was surgically removed.

I liked the roof garden on this boat…

… and the stern garden on this one.

Can you spot the garden gnome?