Rediscovery Cruise: Day 20

 We set off as usual at 8.30; I walked up to the lock and Adrian brought the boat.

At the second lock, Adrian heard a splashing in the water and saw a little robin struggling.  I managed to fish him out using the broom, and took him to the hedge where he hopped off onto a branch.  He was clearly wet and tired, but hopefully he’ll have dried out and recovered his composure.

I walked between all the first five locks.  They all have to be left empty, which means they’re likely to be in your favour when you’re going up hill. It’s quite a pretty stretch of canal, and we completed the first five locks in an hour and a half.

By the time we got to the first of the locks in Berkhamstead we had caught up with the pair of boats we saw yesterday.  This meant we had to turn the locks each time, so the next five took two hours.  Berkhamstead is always an attractive town.

There were then five locks left up to the summit, and these also needed turning.  These five took a little over two hours.  There were lots more boats than we’ve seen before moored on the summit.  After the first section, it moves into a cutting which isn’t anywhere near as deep as those on the Shropshire, but it’s still quite impressive.

On the approach to Bulbourne Junction, there was a gondola moored outside the pub.  The former workshops opposite, which have been used as artists studios recently, are now being converted into houses.

At Bulbourne Junction we turned left onto the Wendover Arm.

The arm is narrow, twisty, and shallow.  Because it’s a feeder for the summit, there’s also a bit of a flow on it.  At times it felt as if we were hardly moving forward at all.  It’s rural, apart from the intrusion of the Heygates flour mill.

We turned at the current end of navigation, and moored up on the only straight bit of moorings.  We are one of only three boats down the arm.  This afternoon, we’ve had a visit from Adrian’s former colleague, Thelma, and her new puppy, Ronnie.  He’s a black and Tan Jack Russell, eleven weeks old, and incredibly cute.

10 miles, 15 locks.  (272 miles, 168 locks)

Autumn Cruise - Day 5

We knew we didn't have far to go today, so we had a relaxed start to the day.  Even so, we were away by 8.45, on a lovely autumnal morning -- blue skies, bright sunshine, but a nip in the air.

Yesterday afternoon, we had to keep going up locks because there was no-where to moor.  Typically, this morning we found that if we'd gone up one more (or two, even) there were great mooring places.  Above the three Seabrook Locks is a swing bridge.  A single-hander was waiting the other side, and asked if he could sneak through while we had the bridge open.  He was even happier to see that the gates of the lock had swung open ready for him.

We passed busy little basins at Pitstone Wharf and Cooks Wharf, then negotiated a long line of fishermen.  There was even a fisherman on the landing at the next lock.  At the two Marsworth Locks before the junction, there was a little day boat from Grebe Cruises at Pitstone Wharf.  The young couple were being helped by a woman from a private boat, which was waiting for them in the next lock up.  They needed a hand because they had absolutley no idea what to do, and hadn't been given any instructions beyond a diagram.  Once they were through, Adrian turned the lock so we could go up.  The next lock also needed turning, but a family of swans took the opportunity of an easy ride down.

At Marsworth Junction we stopped on the services and filled the water tank to the brim.  I love junctions, but this one isn't the most attractive.  The BW office is closed and the area is due to be redeveloped, which has caused some controversy.  I hope they build something suitable here.

Once we'd filled the tank, we moved over to the other side of the canal and moored on the visitor spaces.  We did a circular walke taking in the village, where we admired the church and the older houses, and the start of the Aylesbury Arm, which begins with a narrow staircase lock.  Even though we're ahead of schedule, we haven't been able to find enough time to do the Aylesbury Arm -- the tide times on the Thames dicate which day we need to do that part of the journey.  However, I'm sure we'll be back down this way before long.

After an early lunch, we headed up the remaining seven Marsworth locks.  This section of canal is incredibly twisty.  We had to turn the first five locks, which I worked, then when Adrian had taken over the lock work we met a single hander comingi down with two boats breasted up.  Even with Adrian's help the lock seemed to take ages, not helped by him getting a bit stuck on the way out of the lock because of the multitude of fenders he had out.

For a lover of juntions, today was a good day, as Bulbourne Junction is immediately after the top lock.  The Wendover Arm leaves the main line to the right, next to an impressive junction house.  A widebeam trip boat came towards us as we left the lock, so our turn into the arm gave them something to photograph.

The Wendover Arm is very shallow, so it was slow going.  It's also surprisingly industrial, with a huge flour mill.

But it's soon out into the countryside, narrow and twisty, before you get to the current limit of navigation, a large winding hole.  We turned and moored up -- we're on a bend  because there isn't much that's not on a bend.  This evening, we plan to take up a recommendation of Neil from Herbie, who commented the other day about the food at the Angler's Retreat in Marsworth.  We'll take the footpaths round the reservoirs to get to the pub, which is just a mile away.

5 miles, 12 locks.  (68 miles, 48 locks)