Back up to Berko

12th & 13th May

Yesterday we woke very early, after an early night the evening before. Since it was shaping to be another very hot day, we went over to summer cruising technique, that is, get the boating done before it gets too hot.

We set off at seven in bright sun but with a pleasantly cool breeze. Just after nine, we arrived at the Apsley Sainsbury's mooring, and followed up the shopping with a visit to the water point above the lock. Tank refilled and wash load on the way, we plugged steadily on to Winkwell, Bruce steering and Sheila lock wheeling on the bike.

There were a few boaters about, some of them with odd habits – lots of them seemed to need both gates open to get a single narrowboat out of a broad lock, and one of them, Elidir, perpetrated the most blatant piece of lock stealing we've seen for quite a while.

As Sheila approached from below, she could see a bottom gate standing open. The lock wheeler from Elidir appeared and started to close it. Sheila rang her bell and waved the windlass over her head, but to no avail.

When she got there, the woman had already drawn a top ground paddle. She said "Sorry, I didn't see you there" and wound the gate paddle on that side as well, although the lock had barely started filling, and it would have taken little time to turn the lock back and let Sanity into it. (For those not familiar with waterways etiquette, turning a lock round in the face of an approaching boat is one of the ultimate crimes, as it wastes a lockfull of water that could have been used by that boat).

Despite this, we continued to make good time, and got to Winkwell just on lunchtime. After lunch we did some well earned dozing in the sun – well, I did, so I'm told. Sheila is working hard to finish the porthole doilies for the Braidbar show boat, so kept going through the heat and haze, she says.

A bit later, when it was a shade cooler, I got her to cut my hair, taking it down to half an inch all over, in view of the prevailing weather conditions. It will now, no doubt, cool down.

Winkwell proved a pleasant mooring, though the Three Horseshoes pub on the opposite side had some sort of entertainment going on, with loads of people noisily enjoying the fine evening out on their canal side terrace.

Today, we had a lie in, and didn't start boating until 7.45. The breeze was distinctly cooler, but it was still sunny, and the boating continued to be idyllic, although hard work. It was my turn to bike, and work the locks. Along this stretch are a number of locks whose sidewalls leak so badly that you have to leave them empty no matter which direction you're going in.

This is handy when working uphill, but is a good example of the way in which BW's lack of cash for maintenance leads to increased problems in day to day running. It's fine at this end of the season, when there's plenty of water coming down the rivers which feed this stretch of the canal, but if we have a dry one and the Gade and Bulbourne start running low, throwing away all those lockfulls of water will make no sense at all.

By Bourne End Locks we heard our first cuckoo of the year. They are said to be getting rarer, so it's even more pleasure than usual to hear the familiar two tone call. Either he was a very active bird, or he had a rival, as we could hear the call all the way up to Bottom Side Lock.

Berkhamsted was busy as ever. We managed to find a first mooring under the footbridge that links the main part of the town to the park by the railway, but as this wasn't ideal, I carried on on the bike and found a better spot much further on. It's another good example of the bike earning its keep – just a moment to pedal a bit further on, but it would have been a tedious little trek on foot at the end of the day's boating.

Whilst we were sitting on the bow eating lunch, the Incite boats turned up. We had a cheerful shouted conversation with Davinia, so hopefully we are set up for an early start and assisted passage all the way back to Leighton Buzzard tomorrow.

Later in the day, John and Nev arrived on Waimaru. She looks very smart – John's had some minor mods done to her, and is now very pleased with the arrangements in the engine room.

We're eating with them tonight, a pleasure to be greatly anticipated; I just hope it doesn't make tomorrow's early start too painful. Truly it can be said, this second adolescence is much more fun than the first time around!

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.