Idiots

 

We left Rickmansworth at 09.10 after doing a full shop at Tesco. With being able to moor outside we always make sure we fill up with as many heavy items as possible,including the odd bottle of Red Wine .The plan now is to get up to Leighton Buzzard in the next few days as Carolyn wants to spend some time there as it is a town she enjoys visiting.

Every time we pass this boat I always think that with a good gust of wind the brolly would fly off taking the boat with it.

I’ve taken so many pictures of this ,but just can’t pass it without taking another. I’m sure there’s not another one like it anywhere else and why the Guy did it God only knows.

From Ricky we had a long day and a good cruise up to Hemel Hempstead where we spent the following day moored up so that Carolyn could go off exploring the shops local area. The following day we pulled pins at 08.25 and headed up the lock towards Berkhamsted. We were moored just below this lock under the shadow of the old Kodak building. Which was the EMEA headquarters of Kodak Eastman which was built in the 1960s.
Kodak vacated the building in 2005 and it was bought by Dandara, a property development company and developed in to flats.

This is the lock at Winkwell and would you believe it ,these bloody idiot Anglers decided to have a fishing match on the lock landing. In total there were about 12 of them and for some reason they saw fit to peg out the landing. What made things even more difficult is that this is a river section and you can see the flow coming in from the left below the lock. At this point her Ladyship tells me to keep calm and don’t make a fuss and cause trouble (Oh! how I wanted to)… With the lock full I somehow had to get Carolyn off to empty the lock and then open the gates. There was no way they were going to move so I just put our stern in to allow her to jump off. Needless to say I used far more revs than I needed to and totally messed up their fishing. With Carolyn off and preparing the lock I just hovered in front of the lock in the middle of where they were fishing stirring up as much crap from the bottom as I could. If looks could kill !!! both from me and them…

After a couple more locks we came across this mess. How someone managed to cause this to happen is beyond me. It’s not even like they have been pulled out in the same direction.

After another good days cruise we found this mooring in the park pound at Berkhamsted. With no moorings below town lock and this being the last available mooring we had no choice to stop here as it was getting late. All was OK until 3am when I fell out of bed because the pound had dropped and Inca was hard aground and keeling over. After a quick shop in Waitrose the following morning and Carolyn getting an amazing hair cut we pulled pins and headed up the locks towards Cowroast.

With Cowroast lock now open after a stoppage for repairs to the gates we used the services before heading off across Tring summit.

After dropping down the Marsworth flight and seeing no Spaceships ( Rich Narrowboat Oakapple ) We passed this pub which has yet again changed it’s name. When we first came through here 3 years ago it was called The White Lion ,then it was The white Lio and then The Whit Li ,but now it’s called The Whit I …..Wonder what it will be called when we pass through here next year ?.

After a night below the Marsworth flight we start the decent down in to Leighton Buzzard and encounter a few very leaky locks on the way.

Another good days cruise and we picked up this mooring opposite the flats and outside of Jewson’s yard. No sooner are we moored and her Ladyship is off to explore the town. We will now have a few days here before heading off towards Fenny Stratford and Milton Keynes where no doubt the old credit card will take a bit of a bashing again!!

                                                                                                                 Happy Days