Pixie seats

 

After the shock of seeing how much a loaf of bread was in the local market we walked Hamish in the park where Carolyn used all of the fitness equipment in the canal fields park. Needless to say I didn't bother.

When we passed through here a few weeks ago on our way to London they were just starting to cut down the trees that were near the railway line.  This is how they left the stumps. You just cant beat a Pixie seat ,mind you there must some very large Pixies around here. Very good we do like it.

Being close to a Wetherspoons it would be rude not to go in and have a pint and something to eat. On the wall was this picture of the canal where it passes through Berkhamstead and passes the station it was taken in 1910. It hasn't changed very much and still looks similar today.

Its the one by itself on the next to back row that Carolyn wants for Christmas. Its only £12,500 . Dream on sweetheart we are just window shopping.

We watched this guy from our side hatch and he was certainly very agile as he climbed through the tree and slowly removed all the side branches before then taking the trunk down in sections. We were most impressed with the guys as they even removed any branches that fell in the canal.

I took this picture right opposite our mooring in busy Berkhamstead . I wonder how many locals realise that they have resident Kingfishers in their town.

Tomorrow and we are off on our travels again when we will climb up to Cowroast and then on to Tring summit. We did talk about going up the Wendover arm for a couple of days which is one of our favourite places. Sounds like a plan to me.

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£12 for a loaf of bread !!!

 

Ok so its not an ordinary loaf of bread , but £12 ? . Its actually a Rye, Raison and Caraway loaf and it was on a market stall in Berkhamstead. Carolyn did ask the stallholder what was so special about it ,only to be told that it was “Organic”.    Wow!! ,must be worth 12 quid then . We know of a lot of boaters that will not stop here to do a shop. Wonder why ?

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Signs

 

At 09.10 we pull pins and leave our mooring at Hemel Hempstead and head up through Boxmoor lock and on our way to the expensive but lovely town of Berkhamstead.

Passing through Winkwell swing bridge and you had better get it right Carolyn

Because if you don't it will cost us 50 pence.

Well done Carolyn and no fine for us…. I was just wondering is there a horse somewhere with only one shoe.

Just before Berkhamstead we passed George and Carol on WB Still Rockin and said a quick hello before moving on to the water point and filling up our tank before reaching Berko.

I think it could be a Pike or a Perch …. Carolyn said that I am an idiot and didn't understand the sign .   It must have been a Large Carp then.

I wonder if there really is a ledge ,or is it that they don't want a boat moored outside their house (which is on the towpath side)

Always read the small print. Which is… House ,Great and Welcome.

After a good cruise we arrived in the Port of Berkhamstead and picked up a mooring above the lock opposite Canal fields Park. We will have one or two days here as it is a town that we both enjoy visiting although its a bit upmarket being a popular town for people that commute to London.

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Lazy Gits

 

After a wet night at Kings Langley we pulled pins at 08.50 and soon got to the new build by Linden homes at Nash mills Wharf. With prices starting at £295,000 for a two bedroom flat I don't think we will bother.

Now this is something that really pisses us off annoys us . Both the locks at Nash Mills had been left with the top gates open and all paddles up .The rules are simple, Close all gates and drop all paddles unless otherwise instructed. There is no need at all for this, they are just lazy no good gits and obviously not true boaters.

With rain starting again and not wishing to get wet we picked up this mooring just below Boxmoor lock at Hemel Hempstead. With the mooring being close to the town Carolyn soon had her backpack on and was off to explore the shops. The report that came back was that its a good town for shopping with a very good diversity of shops.

Its 3 weeks since we last filled with Diesel from Phil and Mary on their fuel boat Hyperion, so as they were passing we thought we would top up with diesel and get 6 bags of coal, as always we try and support the coal boats as much as we can and if possible use them instead of marina’s. In the 3 weeks since we filled up we have covered 62 miles into London and back plus run the engine to charge the batteries when not travelling. The engine has run for 76 hours and we have used 75 litres of diesel which works out at about a litre an hour (Beta 43 engine). The diesel from Hyperion is 67 pence a litre so not a bad price.

We will have another day here before continuing on our cruise North along The Grand Union Canal.

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Boaters Gold

 

Another early start as we wanted to push on and get a few miles in today . There are a lot of locks on this section and with them being so close together Carolyn usually ends up walking between them with Hamish.

On our way down to London contractors were just setting up to fell this tree at Cassiobury top lock.. We felt sure that by the time we came back this way it would all be gone. But how lucky are we there is some left. Known as Boaters Gold amongst us Liveaboards we just cant pass with out picking some up.

So after pulling in below the lock we get a good haul on the roof, which once cut up should give us some free heat for a week or two. I would have put more on the roof but we already have 8 bags of coal and with coalboat Hyperion on his way South we plan to get some more coal. The problem is that the more weight that goes on the roof the more unstable the boat gets .It becomes a bit like a pendulum and once the boat starts to rock it just keeps going from side to side for ages. Mind you we have seen boats with two or three times as much on their roof as we have on ours. Also its always in the back of your mind if the boat could tip over with all that weight on the top ,although I have never heard of that happening to another boat.

We have seen a few of these very small birds lately . They are a lot smaller than a Duck and originally we thought they were baby Ducks. They seem to be very shy and are not happy having their photo taken. I'm still not sure what they are , but could it be a Little Grebe ? Anyone know for sure.

Pushing on and after going under the M25 and with the rain starting to fall we pass the site old Ovaltine factory at Kings Langley. Its now a rather expensive looking development of apartments.

With the rain getting harder we decided to pick up the closest available mooring which had good TV and Internet signal. They give rain and showers for the next few days ,But with the forecasters changing their minds every few hours we will decide in the morning what to do next when no doubt the forecast will change again.

 

                                                                                                         Happy Days