But there are nine locks!
As always the best laid plans can always be improved upon.
Hallmark ended beyond Hemel Hempstead and we went through 15 locks. Not bad for under five and a half hours at the tiller!
Berkhamsted (Berko as working boatmen called it) is well worth visiting,
There are quality shops of every description and some wonderful old buildings. And right near the canal is Waitrose with a café too.
See also my other blog with an entry about histric buildings in the town.
http://davidjfutcher.blogspot.com/2010/08/old-town-with-historic-buildings.html
When the canal first came to the town at the end of the 18th century it generated a whole raft of industry which led to there being coal wharves, timber yards, grain mills. It became known as the Port of Berkhamsted.
The river Belbourne continues to run alongside the canal all the way through the town. In fact you have to cross it to get to the shops.
Today seemed to be a real steady procession of locks.
Some great names. One named after the pub alongside - The Rising Sun and some strange ones Top Side and Bottom Side and then Sewer Lock!
The locks also seem to come in threes. A whole set of them did - Berkhamsted 3, Winkwell 3, Boxmoor 3 and finally Apsley 3.
Soon into the journey you see a genuine totem pole from Canada. It stood in the timber yard that was formally on the site before it was redeveloped for housing.
The locks are interrupted at one point by a swing bridge which has to be closed back to allow Hallmark to continue. This bridge is right next to the Three Horseshoes where drinkers sit in the sun and watch boats go by and watch time pass.
There was also plenty of other activity on the canal today. Hallmark was passed by a pair of hotel boats - one towing the other while the guests sat back and drunk wine in the bow!
We also saw lots of dredging and bank rebuilding. Great to see our licence fees being used!
There is also a small aqueduct when the canal cross the River Bulbourne.
You pass a place known as Two Waters. Named this because this is where the Bulbourne joins the Gade.
Just below Bridge 151 where the bright orange of a B&Q store hits once stood the Roses Lime wharf. This was used regularly by boats until 1981 which brought casks of imported lime juice from the London Docks.
I decided not to stop at Hemel Hempstead and look at the post war ‘new town’ Instead I pushed on that one bit more…...
However, sticking out like a soar thumb is a tower block of offices that dominate the skyline.
Soon I was at Apsley. A small place just below Hemel famous for the manufacture of paper.
The Grand Union played an important part in this bringing in coal and taking away the finished paper products. By all accounts the working boatmen used to cover the 35 miles and 23 locks to Paddington in eight hours. I certainly will not be attempting this sort of speed on the way home!
By 16.35 Hallmark was all safely moored up in a wooded section of the canal below Bridge 154 and very near Apsley Marina
I have a quick tidy up and wash and change of clothes and set off up the canal bank to explore!
There is a winding hole and pleasant moorings inside a large basin between blocks of apartments. In fact it is an enormous development of canalside homes on both sides of the Grand Union. The is a SPAR shop and a couple of café/restaurants
I arrive for my cuppa and apple strudel which is amazing and before you can say ‘narrowboat’ the heavans opened and there is torrential rain. Now that is what I call lucky! Woody's is so good I stay for a wonderful mezzo dip.
Finally a photo of Hallmark's mooring at the end of day 18
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