An unexpected bill (not BOAT*, luckily!)

Wednesday 12^th July; Tiddenfoot Water Park to Leighton Buzzard

Last night I spotted a small bald patch on Meg’s belly, which we feared might be fox mange which she had a few years ago and is very nasty if not treated quickly.  The first vet I tried – less than half a mile from the mooring – wouldn’t give us an appointment today as it wasn’t ‘bad enough’ so we tried another in Leighton Buzzard town centre – yes they would see us, but the first appointment was not until 5 pm.  So we took her for a lovely walk in Tiddenfoot park.

Our mooring from footbridge no 115

There are various paths through the woods, all popular with dog walkers, but it was quiet this morning till we reached the bird hide and met an elderly gentleman with his elderly dog.

Bigger than a goose

The line of pylons that crosses our mooring strides across the park too.

In the middle of the park is a large lake, which once was worked as a sandpit.  Dave went on the web later in the day and found the park’s website which had photos of the fish that had been caught – mostly the normal fish like carp and bream which it would have been stocked with once it had flooded, but also a non-native catfish four or five feet long which must have been released surreptitiously from an aquarium many years ago!  I hope there was only the one, it eats other fish and we don't want them breeding - Dave thought it might have been 40lb.

Then we pulled pins and cruised under the main road bridge to the winding hole below Grove lock, before coming back to the same spot for coffee and the cheese scones I had baked yesterday.

Easy to wind when the winding hole is a channel!

After lunch I took Meg for a brief walk along the canal before we set off again.  A little way towards the lock are some railway lines, alongside what may have been a wharf – something to do with the sand quarrying, probably.

We trundled off early in the afternoon to get closer to Leighton Buzzard for Meg’s vet appointment in town.  It was rather rainy, so we stopped just past the footbridge as we didn’t want to get soaked, nor risk not being able to get a decent mooring closer to the road bridge.  We started walking to town in plenty of time, which was just as well as we bore right instead of left when we neared the town centre.  With the help of a charming local who was on his way to the station - he was going to the Who gig at the O2 arena, lucky thing! – we were still there early.  By now her skin was inflamed and sore and we came away with medication for fox mange (caused by mites picked up from grass where an infected animal has been) and a bill for over £100.  We got a bit wet walking back, but at least we were tucked up inside before it turned really heavy.

Considering the minimal engine hours today, the couple of hours of inverter use during the day, and the lack of sun this afternoon, the batteries were showing a healthy level of charge – we are so glad to have a solar panel at last!

It was a wet evening

1½ miles, and a stonking bill

*BOAT, for those non-boaters who may read this, stands for Bring Out Another Thousand – bills on boats tend to be large!