Too many locks needing filling,
At times it was very windy coming in the locks.
I shared one (and only one) lock with a manic red lead painted Springer which came as fast as a racing car into the lock. No wonder ……….. the boat did not have a reverse gear.
I also shared two locks with a small ‘plastic’ boat which I was really concerned that I might crush it!
And once I was in a queue of four boats which is the first time on the trip!
However, I did have the pleasure of ten locks with Rhannon and her crew.
Despite all these ‘things’ it was a happy day and the rain almost kept away.
Hallmark again managed 15 locks through some very contrasting scenery
I decided not to start until after 8.00am and got away by ten past..
But no one else seemed to be on the canal.
I saw my first moving boat at 9.15, which is quite amazing.
On many parts of today’s trip there were loads more factories near the canal and some of them were incredibly noisy.
Lots of grinding and banging.
The worse seem to be around Kings Langley.
But today’s journey on the Grand Union still had lots of rural touches. The route bypasses Watford and you journey through Cassiobury Park which is nothing but stunning. Wide open parkland suddenly become narrow twisting canal which is more river like.
You could tell you were getting near to London.
The A41 crossed the canal on a skew arched bridge near the foot of Hunton Bridge locks Hallmark chugged at 4 mph under the M25 while cars and lorries zoomed by at 70 mph and above.
Then to make it very clear we were in Boris’s kingdom a high bridge carried the Metropolitan Line high above.
Meanwhile Chiltern Railways and Virgin Trains roared by.
The number of residential boats alos increased the nearer we got to London.
A couple of other snippets to remember.............
First, as Hallmark can out of Home Park lock there was a slight delay whie British Waterways completed removing a tree that had come down overnight.
And secondly, when leaving North Gove lock I had my first incident in days. The lock had emptied in the canal. I climbed down the ladder into the lock chamber to get aboard Hallmark and it was moving away at some speed without me and the gap was at least a 18 inches and growing. It looked for a moment that Hallmark was off on its own. A bit shaken I made the big slippery step on to Hallmark’s wide gunnels.
The day ended in a great place. I moored just below Batchworth lock, which is not far from the centre of Rickmansworth.
It is the place of Three Rivers. The River Colne is on one side making its long journey into the Thames at Staines. There is also the River Chess adding its water to the Grand Union
Batchworth Lock is busy. There is an excellent canal centre with displays about the local canal history and a trip boat going south to Stocker’s lock. There was also Roger, a recently restored wooden working boat.
It is a different sort of busy when the canal was in its hayday.
The canal served the Samuel Salter brewery and the town gas work. Various canal carrying companies stabled horses here too.
I ended the day at The White Bear. Good food and great beer.
A real boaters pub that was full of great people from the residential moorings up canal from the lock.
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