Cowroast to Rickmansworth

Wed 5th April   Cowroast to Berkhamsted

Cowroast Marina mooring

Jobs before we left our mooring:

Disconnect the electric cable.  We left £5 on the meter for the next boat.

Take down the hood

Prevent Hugo from running off to explore

Return the magic fob to the marina office.

Then a short manoeuvre to leave the marina, turning left with a hope to use the facilities at the top lock.  There we found four Wilderness boats moored up, using one hose which they passed from one boat to another. Meanwhile other crew members were emptying rubbish and loos, and even going to the nearby garage to fill an empty petrol can.

A lockful of Wilderness boats

We waited midstream, as there was nowhere to tie up, until they had all finished. As all four moved into the lock, we took their place, and filled our water tank. The pressure was very good.  We also emptied two cassettes, and disposed of our rubbish.

By the time we had completed our tasks there was a wide beam boat waiting.

At the first lock James had a good conversation about Boaters Christian Fellowship, as he was wearing the shirt. The couple were from Newport Pagnell Baptist Church.

Cowroast Lock

The wildlife highlight of the day was a mink that ran across the towpath at Northchurch Lock.

Northchurch Lock and 1943 pump house

The flowers were lovely, in particular a dense clump of cowslips.

Cowslips

Gas locks in Berkhamsted

Because the Wilderness boats were going down the locks in front of us, all the locks were against us. Arriving in Berkhamsted, we discovered that the mooring arrangements had changed. The length that used to be designated as 24 hours had been reduced to 4 hours. You were only allowed to overnight there if you arrived after 9pm and left before 7am.  Nobody does that so the moorings remained empty in the evening. These were the only moorings with rings, so the remaining moorings, which are 14 days, required us to hammer in mooring pins, which we did, despite the soft ground. Fortunately there were very few boats going past (just one – the widebeam) so we didn’t have them pulled out.

Mooring regulations in Berkhamsted

Empty mooring space

The trains were very noisy and frequent. Hugo was out and back like a yo-yo as he wanted to explore, but thought the trains were coming for him.

We found a post box, and visited Waitrose for some items, and took away a bargain price hot roast chicken which we had for supper.

7 locks, 3 miles

Thu 6th April   Berkhamsted to Hemel Hempstead

Morning sunshine

We left fairly early this morning as we wanted to reach Hemel in time to visit the paper mill museum.  There was dew on the seats at the stern, but we soon dried them off by putting the boards on the roof in the sun.

The guides say that some of the locks need a watermate key.  This used to be the case, the plan being to stop the idle young things of Berkhamsted from having fun by emptying the canal.  Nowadays the teenagers are more occupied on their mobile devices and thankfully don’t seem to be interested in causing havoc, so the vandal locks are no longer in use.

The railway was never far away but we did spot one or two places to moor that were shielded from it by buildings or trees, noted in the guide for future reference.

We met Pasadena coming the other way. He told us that four small boats in a lock were ahead of us. He also suggested we didn’t moor at Boxmoor as they have had trouble with youngsters there.

We spied our season’s first orange-tip butterflies

Winkwell Swing Bridge was interesting.  After we had put down the barriers across the road, and started to swing the bridge, a car arrived from the north and stopped just before the barrier.  Other cars arrived from both directions, and when we were through and raised the barriers again, a car from the south raced across the bridge, coming face to face with the one that had arrived earlier from the north. The bridge is too narrow for cars to pass. We left them to it and carried on to the next lock.

Winkwell Swing Bridge

We saw David Lee on Interlock at the boatyard at Winkwell. I think we signed him up to BCF a few years ago.

Interlock

We moored just before Lock 65, and had a quick lunch before turning up at the Frogmore Paper Mill.

Paper Mill sign

We had seen this advertised as open "without appointment" from 11am to 4pm. What wasn’t mentioned was that you need to be part of a tour, and we had just missed one. The next one was in just over an hour.  We went to Sainsbury’s for a coffee, and returned at the appointed time, passing an unusual sculpture as we went.

Sculpture in Hemel

It was interesting to see some paper being made by hand, and then to see the same principles being applied by machine. They claim to have the oldest paper making machines in the world.

Paper making machine

They also do some printing, and our guide showed us a wooden case of letters, explaining that the capital letters were held separately from the normal letters, and the capitals would be kept in a case which rested on top of the case for the smaller letters, hence the expression “upper case” and “lower case” letters.

A case of letters

There was also an exhibition of paper artwork, including some almost life size papier mache figures.  Also an old Dennis fire engine dating from 1938.

Papier mache Vincent Van Gogh

Dennis fire engine 1938

Fire engine cab

We decided to stay where we were and not to move on further.

Moored in Hemel

12 locks, 5 miles, 1 swing bridge

Fri 7th April   Hemel Hempstead to The Grove

Sunny morning in Hemel Hempstead

We went down though the first lock, and Hazel went off to Sainsbury’s while James dealt with the water, rubbish and cassettes. He also washed the port side of the boat. He was careful not to fall in this time. Two years ago the water came up to just above the waist.

He had started taking the boat into the next lock by the time Hazel returned with the shopping.

We passed further evidence of paper mills at Apsley, and then the unusual double-arched bridge. When we first passed through this area in 1999, the paper mills were much in evidence, with large canopies overhanging the canal to enable the boats to load and unload in the dry.

Paper Mill

Double arched bridge

Further down, we came across a red boat with no name, and Huffler, a boat we have seen on a few occasions. Tony and Margaret were in charge. They had just started out and were going down the locks in front of us. 

Huffler

When we arrived at Kings Langley Lock, another two boats had pulled out in front of them, one of which was Lady Clare and the other was Warren with the pumpout boat, a pleasant character we have met a few times. The lock is a bit slow, so we now had a lock queue.

Lock queue

Warren

At Hunton Bridge Locks, the pound between the two locks was very low. Apparently the four Wilderness boats had managed to get through, but Warren thought it was too shallow for his deep draughted boat, so he had had to run some water down into the pound.

We were only going a short distance further, and we stopped after Lady Capel’s Lock, right by The Grove Bridge.  This is a very ornate, white painted structure which leads to The Grove, a hotel and spa which was once a stately home owned by the Earl of Essex.

Grove Bridge

Dandelion

Dandelion clock

Moored at the Grove

Hugo was very happy with the choice of mooring.

11 locks, 5 miles.

Sat 8th April   The Grove to Rickmansworth (Stockers Lock)

Misty sunrise

Misty moisty mooring

A misty start, followed by a very hot day. We started early and enjoyed beautiful sunshine.  We came across some mandarin ducks as we approached Cassiobury Park. We soon passed Huffler and the Wilderness boats all moored up.

Wilderness boats

Huffler

We then reached Iron Bridge Lock. Does anyone know why this lock is so called? The present bridge is made of brick.

There were lots of people out and about enjoying a sunny Saturday. Runners, dog walkers, cyclists.

At Common Moor Lock we met three boats full of youngsters learning how to operate locks and boats. These were from Hillingdon Narrowboats Association, and in the last boat we found Loraine, whom we had met at Chesham Folk Club. She will be at Cavalcade, so we will catch up there.

Lot Mead lock looked fairly newly refurbished, but the safety catch on the gate paddles of the upper gate on the towpath side was not catching properly. It could cause injury – report sent to C&RT.

Two unusual boats followed:

Strange boat of the day with built in car

Farnworth – Leeds and Liverpool “Short Boat”

As we approached Rickmansworth we heard and then saw our first parakeets flying overhead, and soon after, there were red crested pochards in the water. We don’t often see those.

Red Crested Pochard

We moored up just before Stockers Lock, so that we could visit Mill End Baptist Church in the morning.

There was some boat activity in the afternoon, with Warren on The Pumpout Boat coming up in the lock with Tafelberg, with Paul and his “kids”. We know Paul from many years ago when he used to live on his boat in Penton Hook Marina, and venture onto the Wey for Byfleet Boat Club events. He also used to play bass for the worship band at a lively local church.  The last time we saw him was at the Rickmansworth Festival two years ago, playing mandolin with the band at the “Lock Jam”. It was good to see him again.

Paul with Tafelberg

Then the Wilderness boats came past.  Apparently they are heading for Willowtree Marina on Tuesday, when we are also booked in for the night.

Four boats in a lock

7 locks, 5 miles.

Tomorrow – Mill End Baptist Church, then continuing south down the Grand Union, and to Little Venice next week. Two nights at Willowtree Marina where we hire a car to go to a funeral in Old Woking (friends from Cobham days).