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!

The return journey - not such plain sailing!

Barry left Gisborne this morning, for the first time since we came back to NZ in November - it's difficult for many to imagine, but leaving this small town on the 'edge of the world' is actually quite a big thing!  It's a good three hours to the closest 'large' (I use that term loosely) town of Napier or Whakatane, and either south or north west involves winding, single lane roads, through gorges.  Directly north takes you around the spectacular scenery of the 'East Cape' of the North Island, and is about five hours to Whakatane (pronounced Fakatani in English dialect, not wok-a-tain as it looks!). 

Barry headed through the Waioeka (why-oh-eeek-ah) Gorge, then west to Hamilton on the other side of the North Island.  This is where our largest 'tertiary' hospital is, for June to have some tests and possibly stay in for a night or two.  Barry was then driving south to Wellington, to spend some time with Tom, his son.

I'm having a treat this weekend and going up country, not quite as far as the Gorge, to a place called Haurata Country Retreat with some girl friends from work - to walk and breath the fresh country air, drink a little vino and soak in the hot tub - bliss!

The public transport system isn't so wonderful in NZ as it is in UK, we generally either have to drive or fly to get around.  Of course there's bound to be times when the UK system grinds to a halt, or just slows us down somewhat, but it's still an amazing system ...

There's a lot more photos than words in the following blog, the journey obviously made a positive impression on Barry that day - maybe it's the acute awareness we had of our time on Northern Pride coming to a close that made us appreciate the surroundings even more.

Monday 11 October

Our return train was booked for mid-morning, but to get into Brighton we needed to be up in plenty of time - hence we arose before 0700hrs, to say farewell for now to Kim and Joe who were off to work, and then we left the house just after 0800hrs to get the bus into Brighton.  At that time of the day of course there was heaps of traffic and at times it felt as though it would've been a faster journey by narrowboat which is saying something!

Arriving at the Railway Station in plenty of time to buy a coffee from a stall outside the station (from a kiwi funnily enough, they do know how to make good coffee I have to say!), our train to Victoria was delayed by about an hour as the incoming one from Victoria had been cancelled.  Once it was announced that the train was ready to be boarded there was a rush to get through the ticket barrier and onto the train which then departed within about five minutes, before the next scheduled one - we had to get the correct time as we'd got cheap tickets - luckily we made it onto the right train and breathed a sigh of relief - short lived though!

 Brighton Railway Station

We departed at Clapham Junction for the link to Hemel Hempstead, having gone through Victoria.  Once on the train, that we'd had to wait 45 minutes for as we'd just missed the previous one because we were late, it was announced that we had to change and go to Victoria to get to Hemel Hempstead!  It was so frustrating and a journey that took us less than two hours on the way there, ended up taking us more than twice that on the return journey having to get another train back to Victoria, then the tube to Euston, then finally the connecting train to Hemel Hempstead.  Ah well, it wasn't as if we had to be anywhere at a certain time, the boat was there waiting patiently for us. 

After a quick lunch we set off for Berkhamsted and a supermarket for supplies, only just over 3 miles away but with eleven locks to negotiate!

That's the first lock of the day done, only ten left!

Winkwell Swing Bridge at Bourne End, beside the Three Horseshoes Pub dating back to 1535 and allegedly hosting two ghosts

 Sandra on lock duty - we shared locks today with the man we'd previously met, who moves boats around and does them up (sorry, forgotten your name!) 

 A tranquil scene after a frustrating morning - it puts it all into perspective 

 Snugly fitting into the lock side-by-side

 Trying to manoeuvre into the lock with just one gate open 

 Made it, no problem!

 Berkhamsted on a sunny autumn day - such bright colours, nature can truly take your breath away at times 

 Picture postcard perfection ...

  Embracing the canal - though the lock could do with a coat or two of paint!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Northern Pride is swamped in the lock by the longer boat

 

 

 

 

 

 Bits and bobs abound on this house

 Still travelling together

 A modern day Blacksmiths

 Barry must've been travelling on the wrong boat?

 A great mixture of old and new ...

 

 

 

 ... and another new bridge traverses the canal

 

 

 

 What a handsome heron - contemplating life

 Not a bad way to live

 So many different types of trees here 

 

 

 Berkhamsted - an eclectic mixture of shapes and sizes of buildings 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barry went for a bike ride around the area once we'd moored up, and discovered the ruins of Berkhamsted Castle.  And so begins a history lesson ...

It seems that the story of this castle also begins with Duke William of Normandy, who we'd recently encountered defeating of Harold at the battle of Hastings on 14^th October 1066.  Following this, William marched with his army through southern England, pillaging as he went (and possibly a spot of raping the local wenches I suspect!), crossing the Thames at Wallingford to reach Berkhamsted.  He was met here by the likes of Archbishop Ealdred, the Bishops of Worcester and Hereford, Earls Eadwin and Morcar, and the 'chief men of London' (they sound very important!), who swore allegiance to him and offered him the crown, so off he went to London to be crowned king on Christmas Day, 1066. 

While Barry was off sightseeing, I did the boring part and made a trip to the local supermarket to buy some much needed provisions. 

Tomorrow we meet up with Ellie and Mick from Australia, who'd been in touch through the blog and were over on holiday checking out the canals in readiness for their much longed for dream of living on a narrowboat for a year or more - check out their blog and progress on "Narrowboat Dreaming".