Abandoned !

 

We were awoken early from our mooring at Kings Langley by voices outside. Looking out of our cratch we saw six men boarding the boat moored in front of us. After quickly getting dressed I went out only to discover that the boat had been seized by The Canal and River Trust. I spoke to one of the guys taking the boat and he explained that the boat had been abandoned and the licence fee for the boat had not been paid.

They left this letter which was posted on a post believe it or not next to where the boat was moored. Maybe someone knows the owner .

The last time we were here some six months ago they were putting down a new surface on the towpath . I'm pleased to say that the work has now been completed ,but not so pleased to see that it has now become a racetrack for speeding cyclist.

After pulling pins at 09.10 we soon cruised under the M25 and where it starts to feel you are getting close to London , But we still have 15 hours of cruising and and 19 locks before we get to Little Venice and our reserved mooring at Rembrandt Gardens..

Passing The Grove Golf course and they seemed to have some sort of competition going on called the British Masters

We then passed the mill at the grove which was a water powered Corn mill that has now been converted to residential use .A wheel and pump can be found in the grounds of the Grove Golf Course. It used to pump water to the Manor House from the canal and is now left in a bush near Grove Mill. I find it a bit strange that it is left in a bush !!!.

We saw our first Red Kite just below Milton Keynes and it seems that every time we head this way we see more and more of them . At one time confined to Wales, a reintroduction scheme has brought them back to many parts of England and Scotland. Central Wales, central England - especially the Chilterns, central Scotland - at Argaty, and along the Galloway Kite Trail are the best areas to find them.

After a night at Croxley we dropped down Common moor lock only to be greeted with this mess on the Towpath. I would have thought that it had been left by boaters . Such a shame as it gives us all a very bad name.

I always enjoy passing long lines of moored boats and I’m not bothered about slowing down to tickover’ after all it’s a journey not a race on the canals, it’s just good to have a good look at other peoples boats and be a bit nosey sometimes. 

Just a short cruise today and we were lucky to pick up a good mooring at Rickmansworth where we will spend a couple of days before we push on into London.

                                                                                                         Happy Days