APRIL 14th--20th

We stayed on the mooring at Cow Roast for another night, it's good not to keep on moving!
Opposite where we were moored, there was a large warehouse type building, with a modern wharf.
The Pearson's Canal Guide tells us it's a Buffer Depot, a semi-secret government establishment
used for the storage of supplies pending a national emergency.
I hope they don't think we're spies, especially in view of the fact that we've stayed two nights!
The guide suggests that the Civil Service has more faith in the Grand Union's capacity
for commercial trade than British Waterways, looking at the well-piled wharf!
A raft came by. It was called the Coventry Dragon, and there was a cox at the front
beating a drum and shouting to keep them all in time.


COVENTRY DRAGON PASSING BY!

We hung the washing out like gipsies, and enjoyed the day.

On Thursday. we were off again, down to Berkhampstead.
The weather was fine but cool, and it was a long day.
We did fifteen locks, at least Trevor did, and he cycled all the way.

We also had a swing bridge to do at Winkwell.
This is where one has to turn the bridge through 90 degrees to allow the boat to pass.
This means that the traffic on the road has to stop.
One needs to choose the right moment to do it, it's quite a responsibility.
We have a BW key which is put into the electric mechanism
and that brings down a barrier on both sides of the canal to stop the traffic.
Then the bridge turns, and the boat passes through.
I was steering and waved my thanks in a regal manner to the waiting vehicles
as I passed through at all of three miles an hour!



WINKWELL SWING BRIDGE

Trev was pretty tired by the end of it all, and it was getting late.
We tried to moor in several places but the bottom was too shallow,
and we couldn't get in to the bank. There weren't many nice places to moor.
The railway, which has followed us nearly all the way from Stoke Bruerne,
and is a very busy line, is very close here. There is also a busy main road.
But at last we did find a spot to moor, close to both the railway and the road!
Despite the noise, we managed to sleep as well as usual!

We can neither of us understand why we sleep so much!
I sleep at least ten hours a day, and Trev usually has at least eight.
We're not complaining!
When we first left the guest house, Trev was up every morning just after six o'clock,
trying to find someone to whom he could serve breakfast!
But he seems to have got out of the habit at last.

We were a little apprehensive about travelling through the school holidays,
wondering if there would be problems with bored schoolchildren.
In fact we've only had one incident, and that was hardly a problem.
When we were moored at Cow Roast, three boys came by and whilst two engaged our attention,
the third went on to the front of the boat.
However, we weren't teachers for over thirty years for nothing,
and are pretty good at counting up to three,
so when we could only see two of them, we thought something was up!

On Friday morning we were up at the crack of ten o'clock as usual,
and had just pulled ourselves together when a boat came by.
We quickly cast off, so that we could go through the locks with them.
They're all double width locks on the Grand Union,
and it's a great help to go through the locks with someone.
It was unfortunate that yesterday no one was around to share with.
The boat was owned by a young couple who were out for a week's holiday.
They had a mooring at Apsley, a little further down, and had chosen to live on a boat
because they couldn't afford a house or flat, but were really enjoying the life,
especially being able to up sticks and take their home with them on holiday.

We moored up in Hemel Hempstead and visited Sainsbury's.
Whilst we were there, who should come by but Anne and John from Phantom, again!
This time they had granddaughters in tow.
They told us they were moored in a marina just a little further on.
We stopped to have a look at the marina as we went by.
It was new and very pleasant, and this was also where the people moored
with whom we had come through the locks.
There was a great Italian restaurant there, but, as it was only lunchtime,
we couldn't find an excuse to eat! But we had a latte each, to make up for the disappointment.
However, we did see Anne & John again......
May be they're really from the Civil Service, watching us because we moored for two nights
opposite the "Buffer Depot"!

We continued down through the locks and were lucky enough to go through with a family on a boat.
The boat belonged to a young couple, and they had the in-laws with them
from N. Ireland for a holiday.
They had bikes and went ahead to set the next lock so we whizzed through.
I got our bike off the boat to help, only to find it had a puncture in the front tyre.
We've been talking for a while about buying a puncture repair kit,
what a pity we didn't do it!



A CONTENTED MAN AND HIS BOAT!

We found a much better mooring tonight, in a pretty spot,
far enough away from the road for it to be a distant hum, and no railway within earshot.
The weather has been glorious today, the best of the year so far, really warm.
When we moored, we got out the chairs and sat on the bank, glass in hand
and enjoyed the heat of the sun.
We were very close to a golf course with a smart hotel,
and in the evening there was some sort of event on, a wedding we thought,
and there were fireworks. We had a grandstand view!

In the morning Trev walked in to Watford, the nearest town, for the papers.
Saturday is the only day I read the papers!
I have The Daily Telegraph...... It pains Trev to buy it--he has the Indy every day.
But as I keep telling him I don't read the news, I enjoy all of the supplements,
and I particularly like the general knowledge crossword.
Last week, when our friends the postmen were visiting,
we managed to finish it between us. So I sent it in.
Well, this week, large as life, in black & white, there was my name as a prizewinner!
Yes, little me! You want to know what I won, don't you?
Well, if my name had come out first, I would have won £200 and a Whitaker's Almanac.
As it is I didn't come out first, I was a 'runner up' and I won a pocket sized Whitaker's Almanac.
But I was thrilled, and, as my friend Malc would say, it was most encouraging!

We stayed at the mooring for two nights.
I'm trying to get Trev in to training to stop from time to time!
He just loves ploughing on, and is at his happiest at the tiller,
meandering along at about 3 m.p.h.

The heavens opened on Saturday night and the rain came down in torrents.
It continued unabated until Sunday afternoon, when it gave every impression of stopping,
and so of course, Trev wanted to set off.
I drew the short straw and set off to ready the locks.
It started to rain a little, but I'm a game girl, and don't worry
about my make up or coiffure, and so carried on regardless.
We went through the first one, and I walked on to set the second one,
when someone pulled the plug in the sky and down it all came again.
So we did the next lock and moored up for the night.

In the morning it was SO different. the sun was out and it was a beautiful morning.
We went on southwards, and enjoyed the lovely day.
Sadly, the weather deteriorated, and it got quite cool.
We passed some strange boats, or apologies for boats.



But one we particularly enjoyed seeing was "Liberty Belle"!
It was a houseboat moored near Rickmansworth.

We moored up by a pub called The Horse & Barge.
Trev got the bike off the boat to see if he could repair the puncture,
and, as he was doing it, a man came by and started to talk to us.
He asked about our boat painter, and asked if it was Sheila Bassett.
We were quite taken aback, as it WAS painted by Sheila!
He was a boat painter himself and recognised her work.
He said she is one of the best on the canal, so we were pretty chuffed.
He also had a puncture repair kit which he lent us, and invited us for coffee tomorrow morning!
His boat is moored on the opposite side of the canal to us, in Harefield Marina.

In the evening we went for a meal at the Horse and Barge,
but it was not at all memorable, and the least said about it the better!

So on Tuesday morning we duly presented ourselves for coffee with Nick and Shirley on Dragonfly.
They were good company and came back for a coffee with us,
and a tour of inspection of Liberty Belle.
It was 12.30 before we set off, through the last of the countryside north of London.
It was very pleasant until Cowley Peachey Junction, where the Slough Arm goes off.
We resisted the lure of Slough, and soldiered on through a very urban landscape.

We've been surprised how few boats we've seen on this trip.
As most of it has been in the Easter holidays, we expected it to be busy,
but it's been fairly quiet. The greatest number of boats
have been those permanently moored along the banks.
However, just after Cowley Peachey Junction, two boats came towards us,
and we realised it was friends from Warwick and Stockton.
They'd been down to London to see the daughter of one of the couples
run in the London Marathon and were on their way back.
We had a hurried chat in the middle of the canal, and then we were off again.
These friends recommended us to moor at Tesco's at Bull's Bridge, and that is where we are right now.
Right outside a twenty-four hour Tesco in Hayes, Middlesex.
Not exactly the rural idyll, but I don't suppose we shall be back in to real countryside for a while now.

Next Page

Previous Page

Home Page

Click here to return to the Summer 2004 Page