Starting at 8 o’ clock this morning, we had a hard day of it – with 26 locks over 11 miles in 7 1/2 hours we’ve certainly had easier days. Virtually all the locks were against us this time , in part because C&RT have put notices on many locks asking for them to be left empty.
Anyway, we shouldn’t moan, we had a lovely warm sunny day again and as we left Berkhamsted the park looked very nice in the early morning light.
As we left the “Port of Berkhamsted” we passed a genuine Canadian totem pole where an old timber yard once stood.
Further into our journey we thought we might have strayed from our path – these locks gates could stand proud in a rain forest!
We were threatened with a torrential downpour a few times today but we escaped on every occasion. (by the way, the boat’s not really on a tilt, it’s just James again!)
One for the “unusual / interesting craft” collection.
A view of the M25 which few people see.
We shared locks with two boats today – nb ‘Tilly’ and (this one) nb ‘Golden Dolphin’ – both with their very pleasant owners and both of which made lock operation a bit easier for us.
A very newly painted bridge 163 – you couldn’t miss this in the dark!
We finished our journey, as we started it, on our own. This is our last lock of the day, Iron Bridge Lock, in the lovely wooded location of Cassiobury Park, Watford where we decided (at 4 o’ clock this afternoon) to moor up for the night, tired but satisfied.
We had our two week holiday from Uxbridge boat centre (home mooring) to Berkhamsted and back last year but we took it easy and did it in about 4 days each way. Then realised when moored on the Friday of the first week that to wind we would need to do another 8 locks up and 8 down to where we started. As the lock wheeler I was not impressed :)
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