Fantastic cruising days

A lucky snap of the resident kingfisher at Cowroast 

… before we left on Tuesday morning.

The sun was doing its best to make its presence felt as we cruised toward the first lock of the day

Someone has put in some effort with the spring flowers here

Our original intention was to make short daily cruises over the 60 lock-miles to Harefield Marina and our first overnight was to be here below Northchurch Lock but we couldn’t get into the side properly because there’s a wide ledge here.  We had lunch and walked down to Berkhamsted to see what the situation was there and because the day had brightened and I was managing well with my splinted hand steering, we decided to carry on.

C&RT certainly need to sort out the mooring situation by Waitrose at Berko, I’m sure that most of the boats moored have been there longer than 14-days.  Some of them have winter roving licences which I thought were not supposed to be moored on visitor mooring sites.  We’d seen a couple of spaces down the next lock so we carried on.

You can’t beat a goose down bed for comfort!

Walking back to Still Rockin’ after a good meal at The Boat.

Wednesday morning was warm and bright and we were ready to move off after I’d shopped for a few supplies.

I love the look of this area, it’s all about the canal.

A carpet of tiny chickweed round the capston at Ravens Lane Lock, the first of the day.

A very pretty wooden boat above Top Side Lock

… and far reaching views at Bottom Side Lock

Sewer Lock lived up to its name … they must have just had a delivery … it stank!! We had to wait ages too for the lock to fill as the bottom gates leak so badly, in the end I went to help with pushing the gates open, but the one thing in its favour, it did empty quickly!

The swans were enjoying the sunshine too

The top gates of lock 59 at Winkwell leaked so much I thought we’d never make an exit at all! There’s certainly no shortage of water on the Grand Union!

What a beautiful packet boat moored above lock 60, I think it was called The Lady Edwina.  

Moored up for 48-hours opposite the Three Horseshoes pub where we had our dinner (I know, real gadabouts us, dining out two nights running!)

Now this is what you call a dedicated gardener behind our mooring.  The water she is standing in is the River Bulbourne!

Two wonderful cruising days and one day off today, we’re ready for the off again tomorrow.