Having left cars at Croxley, John
drove Rob, Chris and Andy to
Marsworth before driving
to a convenient station near the end
of the first day's journey.
The boats were very well presented with
side cloths tied and top planks lowered
in the middle on both boats. Pat
had been cleaning the cabins during
the week and had re-hung the crochet
and horse brasses. We had just loaded
our luggage and provisions on board
when Colin turned up, having
walked from Tring Station.
we filled up the water cans and set
off up the Marsworth flight.
John met us approaching the
top of the flight, having caught a train
back to Tring. We stopped
at Cowroast to help
someone who had what appeared to be
lead piping wrapped round their propeller.
It turned out to be a plastic pipe fender.
We had our lunch before resuming our
journey. Definitely not the traditional
method of dining on a working boat but
we happy to make the most of the nice
weather. We weren't the only ones enjoying
the sunshine. The beer gardens of canal-side
pubs in Berkhamsted
were bursting at the seams. The one
undesired effect this had was that the
Three Horseshoes at Winkwell,
where we stopped for the night, had
run out of food by the evening. John
and Colin left for home, leaving
Rob, Chris and Andy
to spend the night aboard.
The following morning we woke up to
rain. We were joined by Graham,
who crossed the swing bridge to park
his car, only to find that he was on
the wrong side as we went through. He
soon caught up with us at the lock,
which was open, ready for us to go straight
in. We continued through Boxmoor
and into the new development that used
to be Apsley Mills,
this time eating lunch in the traditional
way - on the move. There was still evidence
of the paper industry at Nash
Mills. Then we came upon more
new houses at Kings Langley,
built on the site of the Ovaltine
works. Then it was under the M25,
through Hunton Bridge
into Grove and Cassiobury
Parks. We were greeted on the
home straight by Fabian at
Croxley, again the
site of a former paper mill, where we
moored up just above Common
Moor Lock.
We all had a stint at steering. We all
made mistakes, especially those of us
who had never used a wheel to change
gear before. we singled out, breasted
up, entered locks and negotiated bridge
holes on awkward bends. Some times it
went like clockwork, sometimes it was
ugly, but at the end of the trip, thanks
to expert tips and instruction from
Rob our skipper, we came away
somewhat better at it than before. We
had an excellent time and we got the
boats back on schedule to get to Little
Venice next weekend. My thanks
go to all who took part.
As I finish this report I have heard
of a breach at Cowley.
I hope BW can fix it in time for the
Dave Davies, Roger Hutchinson
and John Bull to take the pair
on the last leg into London.
Andy Belton
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