Back to reality and leaving Bishop's Stortford

It was a long trip back to Gisborne, via Sydney and Auckland, but we arrived home on Friday 5 November.  Since then we've been unpacking, retrieving our belongings from under the house, tidying up the garden from the winter and getting our phone and internet back - it took Telecom five days before we were back on line!

Sandra's returned to work as a 'casual' midwife, and Barry is working on getting the blog up to date as well as numerous other projects.

No news to report on selling Northern Pride as yet, for details of the specification on the New and Used Boat Company site, click here.

Hopefully we'll soon catch up on and publish the last six weeks or so of our time in England ...

Tuesday 21 September

The day began bright and sunny, though being moored in Bishop's Stortford Basin it was difficult to tell as the boat was under so many trees.  We had a more comprehensive stroll around the town before setting off, gaining some local knowledge initially from the Information Centre.  It's a lovely little town ...

 

 

 

 

St Michael's Church in Bishop's Stortford

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The graveyard with the Boar's Head pub and the interior of St Michael's Church

Lovely carved pews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty of black and white buildings around the town

 The Black Lion pub on Bridge Street

One of our aims was to visit the remains of Waytemore Castle and Motte so we headed that way but found the gate locked.  As luck would have it a council worker drove by just as we were walking away and let us in, giving us strict instructions to re-attach the padlock when we were finished.  While we were up in the motte though another council worker came by and called us to come back down saying that the other one shouldn't have let us in as previously someone had fallen down the hill and injured themselves so they didn't want the responsibility! 

You can access the motte by requesting a key from the Information Centre, but of course you then have to return it to them as well.  The stupid part is that the hedge around the motte has many gaps in it where anyone can walk in and climb up, so basically it doesn't matter if the grounds are a hazard and someone goes through hedge and then falls down, that's their responsibility, but if council have let them in then the fear is that someone will sue them - what a shame that Britain follows America in such circumstances, suing for compensation at the drop of a hat!

  The remaining motte from the original Waytemore Castle allegedly built by the Normans and destroyed after 1545 

  The limit of navigation on the Stort

The winding hole with the end of the canal to the right 

Unusual footbridge crossing the canal - probably one of the UK's many "millennium bridges"

We departed from Bishop's Stortford just after midday, travelling for two and a half hours to the affluent town of Sawbridgeworth (or 'Sawbo' as current residents affectionately call it!) where we stopped for lunch and another walk about. 

 

 

 

An inventive way of recycling an old boat

 

 

 

  Another shot of Little Hallingbury Mill at Tednambury 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom's back on lock duty, while Sandra manages the helm

Around the time of the Norman Conquest, Sawbridgeworth's rich farming land was as fully developed for cultivation as possible and became the richest village community in the country.  It's reportedly now the 'best kept town in the country' and unsurprisingly boasts amongst their residents Posh and Becks.

Much of the town centre is a conservation area, with many of the buildings dating from the Tudor, Stuart and Georgian periods that are now mixed sensitively with modern buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We passed the 'active' bowling club on the way into the village of Sawbridgeworth

Tom and Sandra checking out Christine's cakes in search of custard doughnuts!

A selection of some of the varied architecture around Sawbridgeworth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we'd had our fill of the town we set off again and soon came upon glimpses of the mansion Beckingham Palace peeking above the tree tops.  Of course they spend most of their time in Los Angeles now, and apparently are considering remaining there indefinitely - maybe they rent it out for an extortionate sum?

Blissfully the locks were all in our favour again  which saves so much time, and of course having three people on board makes a difference too so we managed to go a fair distance despite also mooching around the towns today.

 A fine day for cruising the river

A glimpse of Posh and Becks' little bungalow 'Beckingham Palace', just outside Sawbridgeworth 

 Approaching Harlow Lock and the A1184 bridge

Tom managed to get a bit of reading in between locks

 Looking spookily similar to a certain Harry Potter character

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very rural stretch of canal passing Harlow but not actually touching the town 

What a great spot for fishing - though I suspect it was a bit smelly in the boat with all the rubbish that had been thrown into it

We moored for the night near to Harlow, having managed to negotiate around eight miles and ten locks.

To the end of the Stort

... and almost the end of our time here in UK for 2010.  We took the car back to Enterprise Northampton this morning - what a fabulous service they provide, well recommended.  They collected us from the boat last week and today took us to the train station.  Driving on the roads in England amongst the madness and mayhem wasn't the best of experiences though, give us the slow pace of the canals, and the camaraderie of the boaters and walkers any day!

Gosh, we're now ridiculously behind with the blog, there's always an unbelievable amount of things to do in the transition from one life to another - here's some more of our journey along the Lee and Stort ...

Monday 20 September
We left Roydon mid-morning heading to Bishops Stortford, at the end of the river Stort, where there's a supermarket for some much needed supplies after leaving the boys alone for a couple of days!  All was quiet on the river, with hardly any boats or walkers about; a most peaceful idyll.  It was certainly a different feeling to when I was last on board at Tottenham Hale! 

We won't be able to stay long on this stretch as we have to be back close to the centre of London by Friday 24 September, as all four of our children will be gathering together for one amazing night on board Northern Pride on Saturday - it'll be a tight squeeze with six people on a 2+2 berth narrowboat! 

  First lock of the day at Roydon and Sandra was straight back into action after her time off 

  There appears to be a great range of services available at the lock cottage 

Not sure why Roydon Lock have a life ring from Enfield?

 The old mill at Parndon Lock ...

... makes a very attractive scene with boats moored nearby 

During the day we had a phone call from Barry's friend Freddie, who lives in Sheffield, to say that he's coming to London for a work meeting on Thursday and so he hopes to be able to get a train to the boat that evening, and stay till Friday evening.  Freddie's always very flexible so we're sure it'll be possible to find a way to meet up. 

We managed 15 locks and 11 miles of travelling today.  Although it sounds a lot, the locks along here are quite easy to work, and because it's a river we were informed we need to keep the gates open when we leave each time, whether ascending or descending, and fortuitously most of them were in our favour today which cuts down the workload considerably. 

 Tom did his fair share of locks - this being Burnt Mill Lock with automatic bottom gates

There's plentiful wildlife around here too, so the day was filled with sights of different ducks, dazzling dragonflies and the occasional Kingfisher diving in and out of sight - awesome (it's not the best shot - sadly it's a bit blurry, but they're so challenging to photograph!)

 

 

Amazing large stone sculptures along the side of the lock 

 We came to a standstill with BW workers setting up a debris controller around a burnt out boat

Not much of this cruiser was left which left the owner with serious burns according to the news

 Sandra and Tom maintain control while Barry calls takes the shots

 A tranquil day out for some elderly/disabled folk

Lovely canal side property

 No trouble for Tom to negotiate the lock gates, confident and casual just like his dad ...

... no fear either way

The unusual shaped Little Hallingbury Mill near Tednambury Lock - built around 1874 as a flour mill, it was used until 1952 and restored in 1967

 

 

 

 

The impressive Twyford Lock seems to dwarf poor little Northern Pride

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Another of the day's locks - such a beautiful setting

We arrived at Bishop's Stortford around 1800hrs, tied up and walked a short distance to the large Sainsbury's to stock up on groceries.  Barry and Tom dropped me off there (why do I get all the boring jobs?!), while they had a quick walk around the town before coming back to help carry the bags.

  The ancient Boars Head Pub, Bishop Stortford

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 St Michael's Church and some high street shops 

An old building in the town, now the frontage for a chartered accountant

Back on board, we had dinner and then taught Tom how to play a Walsh family card game called 'Predictions', ready for the coming weekend so that he'd know how to play and wouldn't too disadvantaged - he soon picked up the rules and thrashed us both, lol! 

The moorings in Bishop's Stortford around the Wharf area are well-maintained with modern apartment blocks overlooking the river, but it wasn't the quietist of places to be and was very noisy at night time.  It wasn't enough to keep us awake too late, though Tom did insist on another round of cards before retiring ...