Bodge

 

We pulled pins from Cowroast at 09.30 with a cold wind and a very overcast sky and after filling with water and dumping waste we passed this lovely pair of FMC boats and headed across Tring summit towards the Marsworth flight of locks.

Passing the Bulbourne workshops on Tring summit. Where all the new lock gates are still all hand made out of Oak.

Coming down the Marsworth flight and every lock is against us (empty when we get to it) . Repairs have been done to some of the locks , but as you can see only half a job has been done (Bodge). Maybe its meant as a temporary fix that usually turns into a permanent fix.

With the temperature at 6 deg C and a wind that made it feel a lot colder it was plenty of layers of clothes to try and keep the cold out.

 

This will be interesting. The building of houses on the old British Waterways site at Marsworth is nearing completion. They have so far taken away the refuge disposal point and put bins further down the canal, so now and that leaves just the Elsan and water point. I wonder how long it will be before the new residents start kicking off and moaning about the boats stopping and emptying their toilets next to their lovely new homes.

OOPS !!! Looks like they forgot to cut out for the windows.

We picked up this hitchhiker on the way to Pitstone and then after three and a half hours and only passing one other moving boat we finally arrive at our destination. Although its very cold  it has to be one of the best times of the year to be travelling on the system. We will have a night here and then move on again in the morning .

                                                                 Happy Days

A Rockin and a rollin

 

With the real cold winter weather now well and truly with us we are running the stove a lot hotter and that means more fuel is required. That's ok when there is plenty of free fire wood , but at the moment we are really struggling to find any. So we stocked up with coal when we had a visit from Jules on her coal boat. If we just burn coal we are using 2 bags a week with the stove running 24/7. That's keeping the inside of the boat with an average temperature of 23 deg C in the front and dropping to about 19 deg C at the back of the boat in the bedroom. We now have 16 bags of Homefire oval coals on the roof. There are a couple of issues with it being on the roof, the first is how easy it is to steal and at over £12 a bag you can see how burglar bill would be tempted and there is no real way of making it more secure. The other thing that happens with all that weight on the roof is that once the boat starts to rock from side to side the weight of the coal acts like a pendulum and we just keep A rockin and a rollin.

This is one for my ex work colleagues at SWW…I hope your pump stations are being kept in better condition than this one. The picture actually makes it look better than it really is. I can still vaguely remember operating similar stations in the distant past…

With all that heat coming from the stove it makes sense to cook on it. With a casserole on the top and Potatoes wrapped in silver foil in the ash pan its a great and cheap way to cook dinner on a cold winters day.

                                                                            Happy Days.

Ice

 

We woke up to the coldest temperature of the Winter so far with the mercury down to minus 2.3 deg C and the canal was frozen all the way across.

It was only thin cat ice and by mid morning it had all gone. With daily temperatures starting to drop and the wind-chill making it feel like near zero we will stay here at Cowroast for an extra day or two. With the temperature inside Inca averaging 23 deg C and with good TV and Internet we are as snug as a bug in a rug.

                                                                                        Happy Days

Miserable Anglers again

 

After what seemed like weeks, although it wasn't even a week it was time to leave Berkhamsted. Carolyn probably would have stayed longer as she really enjoyed the Town with its diversity of shops. Being within 30 minutes of London on the train it is a very up market town with property prices to match. Half a million wouldn't buy you very much in Berkhamsted ,so i don't think we will retire from boating to this town although we both like the place.

On Saturday we did a shop in Waitrose and on the end of an aisle this guy set up a small stall selling curved nail files. We thought we recognised him from TV and we soon discovered that it was Tom Pellereaou the winner of The Apprentice in 2011 with Alan Sugar. He won £250,000 worth of investment money from Sir Alan. I must admit i was surprised to see him selling to members of the public like that in Waitrose. I suppose it could of been worse, he could have been in Tesco.

On Sunday morning we pulled pins and headed straight for the water point . We had gone over a week and were starting to get low. On the way to the water point there were several anglers in what looked like a fishing match. As we got to the water point there was one angler fishing on the first bollard and one on the last. As we pulled in on tick over we could see that they were not happy as they both gave us dirty looks. Carolyn said “hello” to the first angler and he responded by saying  ”I suppose you want water” in a very stern voice and then looked away. I should have revved the engine and worked the Bow thruster to really mess up their fishing , but i didn't. I don't know why they are so miserable and they seem to be worse the further you go South. I have said before how i was once told they are so miserable because they have ugly nagging wives at home and they go fishing to get away from them. But i don't believe that , I just think they are a bit ignorant .

After filling with water we dropped down through the lock and then into the winding (turning) hole .

Going around….

There we go and no bow thruster ….I must be getting good at this turning lark…. Just as Carolyn is getting good at taking photos. It was then back up through the lock and going back pass all those lovely anglers. And were they pleased to see us !!!!  NOT

We bought a chocolate Advent calendar at the beginning of the month to share. We have now opened 8 windows and i have only had one chocolate… How does that work ???.

We are now back at Cowroast for a couple of days. I have a bit of work to do on the electrics and re-wiring the TV and recorder box.I have also decided to take out the satellite box as we never use it, especially since buying our small Log periodic aerial. It has never let us down and we still get a good picture even in the most remote areas of the canal network.

                                                               Happy Days

Speeding boats again.

 

After arriving at Berkhamsted we picked up this mooring on the park side of the canal. There were a couple of spare moorings on the towpath side ,but the mud was so bad we opted for the off side. I am not sure if we are allowed to moor here or not as there are no signs to tell you not to and there are boats moored on this side further up.

Here we go again, an idiot boater speeding through the moorings at Berkhamsted.

And the result of the idiot speeder is that the boat moored opposite us has had its mooring pins pulled out.

Wouldn't it be great if they installed these on all visitor moorings.

We both enjoy visiting and spending time in Berkhamsted so we will probably spend a few days here before winding below the lock and then heading back North. With plenty of shops and our favourite pub wetherspoons just over the canal we will be ok here.

                                                                  Happy Days