A fortunate morning, the Wendover Arm, and witches close to Aylesbury

Barry and I are both away this weekend, on separate things.  I'm off for another three days on my 'Diploma in Holistic Life Coaching' course in Auckland, and Barry is off to play in a 'Veterans' (over 50s) representative badminton match in Waihi, in the Bay of Plenty.  On my return drive from Auckland, I'll be catching up with him at a friend's house in a little settlement called 'Bowentown' and we'll have a couple of nights there and with a bit of luck some walks along the beautiful beach.  There may then be a couple of New Zealand scenes on the next blog, just maybe ...

Wednesday 13 October

After our chilly night, the priority this morning was to fill up with diesel.  Barry walked along to Cowroast Marina to check if they had supplies, it would have meant reversing a little but he can handle that.  As we were about to untie and try out some smart manoeuvres, Archimedes came by with Jay and Tom!  Fortuitous indeed, we were very thankful to see you guys!  They're such nice blokes, always chatty and happy, it's a pleasure to hand over our money to them.

Once filled up, we were about to set off when Mike came along, the friendly gentleman who'd emailed to say we could moor up alongside him if we needed to, and after a chat across the canal he invited us aboard his delightful boat so we moved over on Northern Pride and tied up.

 

 

 

 

 

Mike on his boat 'Albion Mills' 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was such a beautiful boat, obviously very pampered by its owner, with some very authentic, neat touches all around.  He informed us that every xmas he and his family spend the day on board, and we could just picture the happy atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boatman's cabin behind the engine room holding his beloved 'Gardner'

Goodbye and thank you to Mike - what a lovely man!

We eventually set off for the Wendover Arm, with just one stop lock towards the end of the navigable part of the short canal, though the locks not currently functional.  It was very shallow and narrow which we weren't used to anymore, the last time we'd been on a narrow canal was on the Oxford back in July.  We moored up briefly after turning at the end, had a spot of lunch, then set off towards Aylesbury, our next destination. 

Crossing the three mile summit from Cowroast to Marston Lock passes through this long wooded cutting

Under the bridge connecting Tring to the railway station 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Peaceful and pretty countryside

 Wrapped up warmly against the elements ...

 ... passing through some narrow bridges

This bloke was confident it wasn't going to rain as he was painting the roof of his boat 

 Lots of boats moored up, possibly for the winterUnder 'Upper Icknield Way Bridge' to the old British Waterways workshops where they used to make the traditional wooden lock gates ...

... now housing an ironwork sculptures gallery    A very pleasant journey ...

 ... with picture postcard scenes

The entrance to the Wendover Arm to the left under the bridge 

The Grand Union carries on ahead through the lock

  

Past Tring Mill which produces 76,000 tons of flour annually and employs 80 people, delivering flour throughout southern England

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tringford pumping station which pumps water from the reservoirs further down the hill, lifting approx four million gallons of water daily to the summit feeding it down the Wendover arm to the Grand Union

 

Little Tring Bridge No3 rebuilt by the Wendover Arm Trust in 2001 and opened by actor David Suchet (Inspector Poirot) - just beyond is the limit of navigation

  Plenty of room to turn at the end of the Arm

 

 

 

 

An old stop lock which must have had something to do with water supply from the Tringford Pumping Station

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Bulbourne Junction to continue down the Grand Union

 

 

 

Bulbourne dry dock services and DIY hire beside Marsworth 45 Top Lock

Seven locks later and we turned again onto the narrow canal to Aylesbury, with a staircase of two locks to commence the journey, the only ones on the Grand Union.  There were then 16 locks over about six miles to Aylesbury.  It's reputed to be one of the most peaceful canals in the country, and it was idyllic despite the grey day.  It felt strange to work the 7ft wide locks again - they're so much quicker to fill and empty, of course it helped that we were about the only narrowboat on that part of the cut!

After getting through eight locks dusk was falling and we had no choice but to moor up for the night.  Barry set off to explore on his bike again, and discovered that we were very close to the last place where a witch hunt occurred in Wilstone Village.

Sandra trying desperately to hold the gates closed and not fall in!

Through the top lock

Seven locks down to the Aylesbury Arm Junction - this would have been the lock keepers cottage for the Marsworth flight 

Probably doesn't look much different to 150 years ago!!

 

 

Marsworth Reservoir for feeding the Grand Union Canal 

 

 

 

Marsworth Lock No 39

Lower Icknield Way Bridge constructed with two arches when the canal was built to accommodate another set of parallel locks which never eventuated

   Ed Boden marine engineer - a beautiful working boat 

Marsworth Junction with the locks ahead entering the Aylesbury Arm and the now disused BW yard used for making concrete pilings - apparently this area will become a new housing development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marsworth Locks 1 & 2 are a staircase lock (the bottom gate of one lock is also the top gate of the lower lock) - similar to the Bingley Five and Three Rise locks, and Bratch locks

 

Now why are the lock gates hinged on the far side?

  What an amazing setting ...

... and from the other direction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No shortage of water coming over the gates

 

 

Looking back over the Grand Union towards Marsworth Church 

  Very peaceful cruising 

... and these will be our last taste of narrow locks for the remainder of our trip

 

Barry took a bike ride through Wilstone Village where in 1751 a dastardly act took place according to local legend at Dinah's pond in Watery Lane. Even today many old villagers would not stroll down there at midnight! An accused Witch was subject to a trial by ducking, the last to take place in the county, having been outlawed for 16 years. The unfortunate woman Ruth Osborne drowned and the inquest was held at the Half Moon Pub. The main perpetrator was tried at Hertford and condemned to hang in chains on Wilstone Green (The Witches Tale) 

 

 

 

  Moorings for the night by Wilstone Village - note the top gate hinged on the correct side on this lock 

Looking west along the canal - tomorrow's journey

That evening there was an amazing autumnal sunset with an orange orb in sky, but sadly it was blocked by trees in the foreground so we didn't manage any photos.  Happily, as our diesel tank was now full, we were able to enjoy a peaceful, cosy and warm night in, blogging and reading.

A Thai lunch at Cow Roast

The good news is that Barry's mum's ultrasound examination didn't identify any previously suggested abnormalities requiring surgery, the bad news of course was that they'd had to travel all the way to the other side of the North Island to confirm that!  The wonders of modern technology, it does make me very suspicious of any potential diagnoses in the future ...

Meanwhile, I had a wonderful weekend at the Haurata, though the weather wasn't too kind to us drizzling non-stop Saturday and Sunday, though thankfully Friday was mostly fine.

We could see why the rugged terrain was where Te Kooti Rikirangi, a much feared Maori in the late 19th century, hid from Colonial troops for four years following some of the bloodiest massacres in the Land Wars of New Zealand. 

It was certainly very hilly country, hence it was disappointing to be so overcast for the weekend, significantly reducing our views apart from on the Friday.

 

Looking over the hills towards Gisborne in the distance

A detour on a rainy Saturday to one of the many waterfalls along the 'Green Walk' - the more adventurous can climb a wooden 'ladder' to the top of the waterfall (I declined!)

Meanwhile, we've around two weeks left of the 2010 blog to publish ...

Tuesday 12 October

We had six locks to work to get to our lunchtime destination of Cowroast today. Elly and Mick from Australia were meeting us there, or somewhere along the journey, depending on timings.  They were holidaying in England and checking out the canals and a few boats, as they're planning on buying a narrowboat and living on it for a year or so in the not too distant future.

Moving through Berkhamsted - Gas 2 Lock with Gas 1 Lock further up 

Bushes Lock 

Looking through Bridge 139 towards Northchurch Lock 

Northchurch Lock with the vital electric pump house

 

 

 

Prior to the pump house's development, there were often queues of boats in summer at the 3-mile summit level of Cowroast, waiting for an adequate water supply before they could continue their descent. 

It's hard to imagine that every time a boat crosses the summit level it draws off 200,000 gallons of water - amazing!

Nowadays water is drawn from a deep bore hole in the surrounding chalk beds, deep within the Chiltern Hills, and pumped up to Cowroast Lock and the summit of the Grand Union Canal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking through the window of the pump house

Just as we left Northchurch Lock, we spotted Elly and Mick walking along the towpath towards us and welcomed them on board.  Mick helped me with the locks, while Barry and Elly remained on board, and we all chatted about their future plans and our experiences.  It turned out that we'd all been on narrowboat holidays in April 2007 which had subsequently led to our fascination with the canals!

Mick, Sandra and Elly

Dudswell Lock 48

 It's good to have a helping hand

Dudswell Lock 47 

 

 

 

Looking like they belong on the canals 

 

 

 

We moored up just above Cowroast Lock, though it was a struggle to find a spot with many boats seemingly settling in for the winter.  We'd had an email from a lovely man called Mike who had a permanent mooring there and said we could moor alongside him if we needed to, so we did have a back-up plan.

Cowroast Lock - Elly's in charge 

 

 

 

Not much room to moor up

 

 

 

 

 

Cowroast Marina

 

 

 

We crossed the canal to 'The Cow Roast' pub, a very cosy establishment disguised as an English Country pub but with the now all too common twist of a Thai restaurant!  So it was noodles or rice for lunch rather than good old steak and kidney pie and chips.

 

Some glorious autumnal colours

After lunch we went back to the boat for a cup of tea and a muffin, then our new found friends were off to continue their busy itinerary, this time to look at a show home.

We decided to stay put, with the nights drawing in there wouldn't be much more travelling time and we were in no rush.  Sadly, as well as getting darker earlier, it was also getting cooler and we didn't discover until too late that our diesel was low again so we had no heating!