Heading out of London

10th & 11th May

The main task for yesterday morning was a trip to central London for Bruce and Michael, so that Michael could get a train for Newark from Kings Cross. I went along to sort out his ticket, and to bring back the Oyster card he was using. This meant a relaxed start, then a warm walk to Uxbridge tube. In less than an hour we were immersed in tourist hordes under Kings Cross, and I saw Michael onto a train ultimately bound for Leeds, but calling at Newark on the way.

I queued briefly in the Underground Ticket Hall to check on the cash left on my Oyster – after four tube trips (one the long one from Uxbridge) and a bus ride, I still had £9.60 left of the £15 I'd put on it. Truly, using an Oyster card is the way to get round London these days.

Back at the boat in time for lunch, we set off for an afternoon's boating for a change. It's noticeable that people are much more reluctant to slow down passing moorings down here on the southern GU. I'm not one of those sad souls who spends his time lurking in the side hatches bawling "SLOW DOWN!" at every passing boat, but it's come to something when our best mooring pin, the one that's an inch in diameter, comes out of the ground slightly bent after one night's duty.

We'd originally planned to go just a short way uphill to above Denham Deep Lock, but it was such a nice day, we carried on to our next planned stop at Rickmansworth Aquadrome, getting there at around five.

This morning was a classic early summer morning – calm, warm and with a slight mist curling up from the surface of the water. We'd woken early, so made the most of it, and were boating by 7.30.

It was a superb morning, getting steadily warmer as the day went on. At Lot Mead Lock at around 8.30, I was joined in my lock operations by a magnificent ginger tom. He was clearly disgusted that his staff hadn't yet surfaced, and spent the whole time the lock was filling standing on the balance beam beside me to be stroked.

When we left the lock, he gave us a look of disgust, as should say "Another broken reed" and stalked off into the undergrowth by the offside.

At the lower Cassio Lock, we had a short wait whilst a couple of BW guys tried to clear an obstruction from behind the offside lower gate. In the end they gave up long enough to let us lock through. It's Ricky Canal Festival next weekend, so they'll be keen to have all the locks as functional as possible.

I commented on them being about on a Sunday morning, but seemingly they now work shifts seven days per week, on a basis of 'contracted overtime': that is, they do the overtime, but don't get paid extra for it.

Further on in Cassio Park we saw a grass snake swimming along, making its elegant S-bends through the water.

By 12 we were approaching King's Langley. For the last half hour, a rattley vibration, which has been coming and going a bit over the last few weeks, seemed to get worse and worse, until, as I approached North Grove Lock, there was a clonk from under my feet and the noise and vibration stopped. The engine continued to run OK, so I waited until we were in the lock to lift the engine boards.

It immediately became apparent that the idler pulley on the TravelPower belt had disappeared. The belt was still running OK, so I left it be. We were stopping just above the lock in any event.

After lunch, and having allowed the engine to cool down a bit, I had a good look. The pulley had come clean off, and rolled to the stern of the engine bilge, out of the way.

Fishing it out, it was apparent why we'd had all this vibe – the bearing was an interesting oval shape. I knew from previous conversations with Beta Marine reps at the shows that they'd had so much trouble with this idler - it's the second one we've had, the first having seized solid after around 1500 hours – that they don't bother fitting it any more. It's supposed to improve the wrap of the belt around the alternator pulley, but the polyvee belt is so effective anyway, it's not really necessary.

I retensioned the belt so that it won't slip under load, and we'll see how the TravelPower performs in the future.

Tomorrow we're going to plod on up the cut, probably finishing near the Three Horseshoes at Winkwell for the night.

Highly efficient (and enjoyable) boating

22nd & 23rd April

With a good bit of boating to do, we set off at eight, despite getting to bed fairly late the night before. No regrets, we'd had a great evening with John and Nev, but it did mean we missed our usual bedtime. We were on our own for the first few locks, but then a familiar boat was seen rising in the lock behind; yes, it was Davinia in Supreme again, with a different selection of crew.

We waited for them in the next lock, and after that things zoomed on once more. Our passage through Tring cutting was enlivened by the closest sight ever of a kingfisher – it stayed sitting on a branch over the water whilst we went past near enough to touch it. We hung around a bit at the top of Cowroast, whilst Supreme watered, then down we all went, with the enthusiastic crew charging ahead to work the locks. I don't know what motivational techniques Incite use, but by Jove they work.

On arrival at Berkhamsted, the Incite boats went onto the new water point, whilst we found a space in the very busy moorings near Waitrose. It was just in time for a late lunch. When I turned off the engine, I found that the tacho showed 5399.5 hours, a bit of a hint to do the 5400 hours oil change.

That gave me something to do for the first part of the afternoon, after which we had a cup of tea and went round Waitrose, not so much because we were short of stuff, having done the big shop at Leighton Buzzard, but because it was a chance to get some different bits and pieces.

All in all, what with a very fine end to the day and everything, it had been a magic day's boating.

Today the weather wasn't so good, in fact it was persisting down, but not cold, and there was little wind. Yesterday we'd chatted to Dave and Ann on Verulam, who had kindly given way to the Incite flotilla above a lock yesterday, then arrived at Berko a bit later. They'd expressed interest in sharing with us today, so when we went onto the water point at around a quarter to nine, they started getting ready to move and went into the next lock as we were finishing filling the tank.

We had another excellent day's boating. Sheila got the bike out and lockwheeled ahead, I steered and Dave and Ann worked Verulam alongside us. It was one of those sessions where everything comes together. By lunch we were at the water point and lock at Apsley/Hemel Hempstead, where Verulam filled her tank and we made ourselves some sandwiches. Ann also nipped into Sainsbury's (which is right by the canal here) to get some essential supplies for Dave that can't be got elsewhere (well, that's what they said – the stuff came in a box about the size of 6 75cl bottles, and clinked).

Pressing on, we got to King's Langley by three. The mooring here is a bit pot luck. There's some above King's Langley lock, but it's right next to an overnight freight depot, complete with Tannoy system. Between King's Langley and the next lock, Home Park, the towpath side is mostly shallow. Below Home Park, there's a good bit of Armco piling with decent depth, but you are almost under the M25.

As luck would have it, we found one useable length between the locks, so Verulam moored on that (they're 70 foot long and have dogs) and we tied outside them. Fortunately, the canal is very wide here.

The weather is once more fine – as I write, Sheila is sat out on the bow doing her crochet. Tomorrow, we go on down to Rickmansworth, where we'll probably stay for a couple of days by the Aquadrome.