Rickmansworth to Winkwell

Mon 20th May

We had planned a kind of no-hurry morning. But at 6.30am we were woken by TUNK TUNK-TUNK TUNK TUNK TUNK-TUNK TUNK TUNK-TUNK as a precious historic traditional working boat left the festival site “quietly”, waking everyone up in the process.

We went back to sleep, of course, and emerged at a more civilised hour. James took down the BCF banner and the bunting, and then we went off to Tesco to stock up with a few things.

When we returned to the boat, our neighbour on our outside was on board, and just about to go ashore, so we timed it well. We shuffled the two boats, and started a farewell cruise along the line of moored boats.

Demons, Buddhas and horns

Paul on Tafelberg

We headed for Batchworth Lock, which was already occupied by one boat, with one gate open, waiting for another boat to join them. We didn’t need water, so we went straight in, and James managed to empty two cassettes before we left.

Leaving Batchworth Lock

The boat we were sharing with was Sprig o’ Willow, who we shared with just before the festival. Polly had her partner Mike with her this time, and he was not used to locks (He comes from Norfolk, he said). He did very well.

At Common Moor Lock there was another boat at the lock, so Sprig o’ Willow shared with them. A boat came down after they had gone up, and Hazel took Gabriel in. A boat appeared behind, so James went round the lock to open the other gate. Then we realised there were two boats travelling together, so he had to close the gate again. When we arrived at Casio Bridge Lock, Sprig o’ Willow was waiting for us again, as the other boat had gone into Bridgewater Basin.

Sharing Cassio Bridge Lock with Sprig o’ Willow

The Colleen Bawn. We once saw this boat with Timothy Spall steering.

We also shared Iron Bridge Lock, and then we found a mooring, and they went on. They were trying to get to Crick show this weekend, a tall order.

Interlock was moored in front of us, but they moved off after lunch.

James was cleaning the boat, and had an interesting chat with a passing couple about the Christian fish symbol.

We had an afternoon nap after a busy weekend. Well, we’re entitled to – we’re pensioners!

Moored in Cassiobury Park

5 locks, 4 miles. Dep 1130, arr 1410.

Tue 21^st May

James woke very early – 5.15am with lovely birdsong all around. There was mist on the water, and we had a sunny morning.

Mist and reflections

Sunny morning at Cassiobury Park

As we set off, we noticed a boat coming up through Iron Bridge Lock. We cruised fairly slowly to the Cassiobury Park Locks, hoping there was only one boat and not two travelling together, so that we could share the locks. We had planned to eight locks today.

A lady came past on a bike, clutching a windlass, and asking if they could share with us. Yes, of course! Excellent! It was Helen and Chris on a boat called Trikimiki, which they keep on the River Wey at Catteshall Lock, where we were on Easter Saturday. They were a very pleasant couple and we formed an efficient team and were soon ticking the locks off the list.

Grove Mill looked good in the sunshine, and it seemed they were doing some work on the mill stream as it was dammed off. We passed under the ornate Grove Bridge, and spotted Trinity moored up just beyond. No sign of Henry and Lin.

Grove Mill

Grove Bridge

Trinity

Sharing with Trikmiki

At Hunton Bridge we spotted a wide beam boat going in front of us. We caught up with them at North Grove Lock. It was a Waterways Experiences boat with an excited crew of special needs youngsters. They do a brilliant job making boating available to everyone. However, they were going very slowly and at the locks it was a training exercise, so it took a long time. Thankfully they moored up for lunch and let us pass.

Under the M25 Bridge where work has been taking place

Smart underside

Scaffolding

We had planned to moor at Kings Langley, but we decided that. As the weather was so good, and our teamwork with Chris and Helen was so efficient, we decided to move on an extra three locks to Apsley, where we were anticipating a visit from Ed Boden, our engineer.

Red Kite

We passed Interlock at Nash Mills and had a wave from Dave.

At Nash Mills Lock James spotted a large broken plastic bucket-style planter floating in the lock. He managed to fish it out and put it on the lockside before we emptied the lock. A man came up to him in a threatening manner, saying “Are you going to pick that up?” as though James had dumped it. We do pick up litter quite often and take it somewhere suitable, and we pick things out of the canal when possible and appropriate. This guy thought James was being irresponsible. It turned out that he lived next to the lock and was always finding rubbish there on the grass. James took the planter and another item that was there, and we dumped them later at the facilities.

We were thankful to find a mooring outside Sainsbury’s where we knew Ed could get close to us with his van tomorrow. Trikimiki went on, as they have friends to visit by Fisheries Lock.

Moored outside Sainsbury’s

We walked over the footbridge and trundled a cassette and the rubbish up to the facilities block, before visiting Sainsbury’s for some shopping. We couldn’t resist a special offer of a large latté in the café for just £1 as part of their 150 years celebrations.

James tightened up the packing round the propshaft as we had noticed some water accumulating in the bilges. He also had a go at cleaning our new stove glass which had become discoloured after lighting the fire two or three times. 

Poppy and Mike went past on Sprig o' Willow. They have decided to go to Crick using public transport now, as they have realised that they won't get there in time by boat.

We went for a stroll up the London Road to find the hairdresser where Hazel has an appointment tomorrow. We went as far as Frogmore Paper Mills, and returned via the towpath. We found an amazing colony of caterpillars covering some bushes.

Caterpillar colony

We noticed that a paddle was up on one of the top gates at Apsley Lock, but as we didn’t have a windlass, and the top gates were partly open anyway, we left it as it was.

Moored by Sainsbury’s

11 locks, 5 miles. Dep 1040, arr 1345

Wed 22^nd May

Full English

We started the day with a cooked breakfast at Sainsbury’s. followed by a visit to Carphone Warehouse to buy a phone for James. They had the new Sony Xperia 10, at a special holiday weekend price “must end Tuesday”. Because there were no staff available, and there was noisy music destroying thought capacity, we returned to the boat and looked up the details online, finding the price £20 cheaper from - - Carphone Warehouse!  We returned to the shop where we discovered they didn’t have any in stock, but they could order one for delivery the next day. We returned to the boat again, and ordered one to be delivered to the store in Berkhamsted.

We noticed a lock queue building up, and CRT guys working at the lock. Boats started moving through after an hour or so, but when we eventually went through ourselves, we noticed that the paddle that we thought had been left open last night was now taped up and out of action. We guessed that whoever was last through had been unable to close the paddle due to a fault.

We were waiting for Ed Boden to appear to look at our bow thruster. Meanwhile James cleared everything out of the bows, took up the mats, and swept the area, before attempting to undo the eight bolts holding down the panel. They were all very stiff, so he applied some WD40 and dug out the dirt that had accumulated in the hex sockets. By the time Ed arrived they were removeable with Allen keys.

After taking apart what he could, Ed announced that the hub needed replacing, and the boat needed to be out of the water to get this done.

Attending to the bow thruster

Meanwhile Hazel had discovered that there are recycling bins at Sainsbury’s. Worth noting for the future. She had also gone off to her hairdressers.

Several boats we knew went past, including Ray on Stronghold. By the time we were ready to go, there were no other boats to share with, so we went up the lock on our own, and topped up with water. James disposed of our ash, thinking we may have had the last coal fire, although in that case we’ll have a coal bag on our roof for the summer.

Apsley Lock with a taped paddle gear

While we were at the water point, two men came past, supporting a fragile old lady between them, and we raised the hose so they could go underneath. They took her to the first boat and helped her on board.  As the two guys returned, it transpired that none of them knew each other. One guy had found the lady on the ground after a fall, and the other guy had helped him get her back to her boat, which is called Bateleur.  One of them said he would send his wife to later to see if she was OK.

Bateleur

We continued our journey up through the rest of Hemel Hempstead, passing Boxmoor, where a festival is to be held this weekend, with trading boats and live music. We saw Laura and Robin at the café there. We have spoken to them in passing several times at Cavalcade and Rickmansworth.

Cricket – it must be summer

Fisheries, Boxmoor Top, and Winkwell Locks followed, plus Winkwell Swingbridge, where James waited for twenty cars to rush past before closing the barriers and opening the bridge.

Boxmoor Top Lock

We moored up on rings just beyond Stronghold, and made some phone calls about dry docks, slipways and cranes before joining Ray for a drink at the pub.

Moored beyond Stronghold

Jack and Sandra came to collect us later and take us to a Harvester for a meal. It was great to see them, and catch up what is happening at our church in Aylesbury.

Jack and Sandra

6 locks, 2 miles. Dep 1400, arr 1630

Next: To Berko to collect James’ new phone, then Bulbourne for our wedding anniversary on Friday, then Marsworth for Sunday, when we Stephanie is collecting us for the church service in Aylesbury.

Rickmansworth Festival

Sat 18th May

It was Hazel’s birthday, and she had two cards – one from James and the other from Maggie and Clive.

Festival plaque

We had a leisurely start this morning, giving us time to make sure we had everything with us that we needed for our gig. We loaded our shopping trolley with our computer tablets and stands and set off up the towpath with our instruments. We arrived just as the first act was starting, and we had time to check our tuning and get our tablets set up and running.

On stage

We sang seven songs, including the Man who calmed the sea, I saw the light, and Pilgrim. Sadly, there were very few people around to hear us, although there were a few passers-by, and Eric (Cherie) came to support us, as did Dave and Cath (Interlock). Wills had planned to come, but he was late and missed our performance. Thankfully Hazel’s voice held up, although she wasn’t feeling well and had a rest back on the boat later.

Gabriel in concert

James joined a 20-minute drumming workshop, using upturned buckets as drums. Good fun, but heavy on the wrists if you’re not used to it. Meanwhile, Wills had tried to phone, but there was no chance of hearing it while drumming!

James went to find Wills and his friend Glen, and they had a drink at the lockside café, before going to the main stage for some music and a drink.

Main stage

Meanwhile, back on the boat, Hazel had a visit from David and Liz Allsop from Broughton Church in Aylesbury. It was good of them to seek us out. Sadly James missed them.

James returned to collect Hazel and some chairs, and returned to joins Wills by the main stage. Glen had gone home.  We had a Thai meal from a stall before making our way back through the site looking at other stalls.

No boating today

Sun 19^th May

There used to be a Christian worship service on the Batchworth Lock stage, and we led the worship on one occasion. The last time we were here there was a choir, and we thought it was going to be the basis for a service, but they were singing songs from the shows. So there is no service happening which is a great shame.

The boats behind us had a reshuffle to allow one of them to leave in the morning. While they were diagonally across the channel, a trip boat came past and despite being asked to wait, made no attempt to stop, pushing them back as they passed.

Chaos on the water

We had decided that we would stay by the boat today and invite people on board. We were taking part in a scheme to allow accompanied youngsters on board to have a look. We had a large orange balloon on the roof, and the kids had passports to be stamped at each venue.

Orange balloon

We put literature out on a table with chairs alongside, and James sat there for an hour with no interaction apart from “Good Morning”. He came away and sat on the boat, and immediately people started to take the literature. He still had conversations with people once they were looking interested. Several new testaments went, as well as “How do Locks Work?” and a booklet called Evolution – fact or fiction?”

We had several visitors on board, starting with Mary and Jim Sibley, friends of ours since before we got married. Then there were several young kids with parents, as well as some Swedish people, two Christian ladies, and a couple who used to be in CCCF (Camping and Caravanning Christian Fellowship). We had a good discussion with them about accommodating change in the church – music styles, pews etc.

Traditional boats

We were planning to go and see the Lock Jam, but no-one could tell us when it was. We thought we would go at about 6.30pm, but then discovered that we had missed it. For future reference is starts at around 4.30-5.00pm, and lasts for about an hour. Many of the working boats congregate in the lock area, and cause wall to wall boats so nothing can go through. A band plays on the Lock Stage, and people turn out in outrageous outfits and dance about and it is a lot of fun. It is said to be a re-enactment of some protest years ago when the boaters jammed the lock as a demonstration.

Lock Jam (photo from the internet)

Wills arrived, having visited the festival again and bought a very colourful jacket. He came on board for a cuppa, and then he and James wandered back towards the lock, visiting on board Tranquil Rose, a wide beam hotel boat built in 1973. It was very impressive.

We chatted to some of the stall holders, and met Steve from Gentle Breeze, heading home on his bike. Wills left to catch a train, and James returned to join Hazel on Gabriel to recover from a busy weekend.

After the event

No boating today

Next – north up the Grand Union through Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted towards Marsworth, with various arrangements to meet people on the way.

Uxbridge to Rickmansworth

Wed 15th May

Our mooring had been very peaceful, with no traffic noise, Canada geese, or noisy people.

Moored below the lock at Cowley

We had a song practice today, to finalise the songs we plan to sing at the Rickmansworth Festival. The slot is only thirty minutes, so we had to whittle down the selection.

Interlock (BCF) went past with Dave and Cath. James helped them through the lock, as there were no volunteers today. They gave us ice creams on a hot day on the Caen Hill flight two years ago. We boaters look after each other!

Dave and Cath on Interlock

We had decided to get rid of our pallet on the roof, as it was falling apart and looked unsightly. She offered the wood to a passing boater who was pleased to add it to his pile on his roof. His name was Ed and his boat is called Sabai Sabai.

There was a person in the boat opposite who was calling out all sorts of obscenities and delivering a tirade of abuse for a full twenty minutes. We concluded that he must have mental problems as none of us had met him before.

Tranquil Rose went past so we said “hello” to skipper James. He is also going to be at The Rickmansworth Festival.

James on Tranquil Rose

This evening we had a meal at the Malt Shovel – very pleasant.

No boating today

Thu 16^th May

The man on the boat opposite was shouting again in the night on two occasions and then again in the morning. He appeared to be shouting at someone, although there was no-one there.

We managed to fix a date with Ed Boden for him to attend to our non-working bow thruster.

We set off into Cowley Lock, and James worked out that this is the 16^th time we have used this lock. WE then cruised slowly past long lines of moored boats to the next lock at Uxbridge.

Heading into Cowley Lock

Cormorants in formation

WWII defences in Uxbridge

Sabai Sabai with our wood on the roof

For Uxbridge Lock and Denham Deep Lock we were on our own but several people to chat to. When we reached Widewater Lock we discovered a lock queue. Interlock were in front of us, and Sprig 0 Willow was in front of them. The hold up was a working tug, which was pushing one boat and pulling another, and they couldn’t all fit in the lock together. The tug pushed one boat in and came out again. They manhandled that boat up the lock and onto the bollards at the top. Then they emptied the lock again and took the tug and the boat behind it up through the lock to reconnect the rig at the top.

The lock queue at Widewater Lock, hanging onto moored boats

We had the same again at Black Jack’s Lock, but we had planned to moor above this lock so that we could top up with water at Coppermill Lock in the morning, before the festival.

Black Jack’s Lock

Sharing with Sprig o’ Willow

Moored above Black Jack’s Lock

The river Colne flows off the canal near here, over a rectangular weir. James spotted a path on the map, which followed the Troy Cut, and came back along another flooded gravel pit further up, so he went for a walk to explore.

The weir

Inviting path

Being watched

Hawthorn

The gravel pits

Water art

There were swifts around, and at one point there was a hobby flying low over the lake. There was also a fine looking pochard. The evening sky had amazing patterns.

Pochard

Swifts

Mackerel Sky

5 locks, 5 miles. Dep 1005, arr 1405

Fri 17^th May

Today we had all the locks to ourselves. The first one was Coppermill Lock, where the river Colne joins the canal for a short while, causing flows from the right. Today the flows were light, so we had no problem.  We stopped at the water tap just below to fill up before the festival.

The Coy Carp pub and Coppermill Lock

As we were ascending the lock, two boats appeared below, one of which was towing the other, which appeared to be burnt out. A lady came to the lock to help, and it was Chrissie from nb Kinver, a member of BCF. She has a boat-moving business. Apparently, there were two wide-beams coming after her, so we had left just in time.

We passed this very damaged boat and guessed

it may have been hit by a falling tree.

We have never seen rhubarb in flower before

Springwell Lock

We arrived at the Festival and found our mooring: 22B. We were the second boat from the bank out of three. We put up our BCF banner and some bunting but couldn’t possibly compete with Stronghold and Chedoona, who had both been at Cavalcade, and were moored behind us.

Moored at Rickmansworth Festival

Chedoona and Stronghold

We went to find the waterspace tent and met Paul from Tafelberg, and helped him carry bundles of programmes from Batchworth Lock back to the tent.

Meal on board tonight. Eating from stalls over the next two days. Hazel is starting a cold, which is bad timing for our 30-minute gig tomorrow.

3 locks, 3 miles. Dep 1045, arr 1250.

Next: Rickmansworth Festival. We are due to perform on the Batchworth Lock stage at 1140, for thirty minutes, plus ten minutes changeover time. Then next week we head north again, with appointments to have our bow thruster looked at, a dinner appointment with friends, a financial affairs appointment, and a lift from a friend to our church in Aylesbury on Sunday.