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.