It was sunny but pretty chilly this morning. When I took Macc for a walk down to Canal Fields, the low sun was making long shadows.
We got under way at about 8.30, with Adrian walking round the corner to Bushes Lock. The water level above was about 6 inches down, but not too bad. It’s then not that far to Northchurch Lock.
As we rose in the lock, a CRT man arrived to have a look at the water levels. They were a little bit down above the lock too, but not seriously so. He decided the levels were acceptable; if they hadn’t been, I guess he’d have gone into the little pump house next to the lock and turned the pump on, which brings water up from an underground aquifer. At the bottom of the two Dudswell Locks, the house alongside had eggs for sale, so we bought some. You can even pay by card online.
The top lock has new gates, and we noticed that they’re trying a new approach to the non-slip surface across the top. They used to put a bit of roofing felt or similar, but water got underneath and rotted the balance beams away, so now there are these studs.
Cowroast Lock was the last one of the day. The rubbish point is alongside, so once the boat got high enough we got rid of the food waste and the recycling. This lock also brought us up onto the Tring Smmit; it’s downhill from here (for a bit, anyway). Since coming off the Thames at Brentford we have climbed just over 380ft.
One of the cottages by the lock is for sale, with a guide price of £765,000. The extensive moorings above the lock turned out to be very busy. We were a bit too long for the first space we tried, but got in a little further along. Fortunately, the boat behind was a widebeam so we could tuck our stern inside his bow, and there was at least an inch between our fender and the boat ahead! We hadn’t been here long when the widebeam set off, so things would have been a lot easier if we’d arrived a bit later.
This afternoon I took Macc for a walk, and found a circular route. We went up to the next bridge and onto the lane, which took us over the railway line. Then there’s a public byway across fields, where he could go off the lead.
There’s then a path which has a footbridge over the railway line, and we returned via the towpath. It was about half an hour’s walk, which is fine for him now but would have been far too much when we were last here in June.
The afternoon’s other excitement was the news that The Water Road has been shortlisted in the Independent Podcast Awards. They say they nearly 550 entries and have narrowed it down to 150 across 28 categories. I’m in the Travel and Adventure category, where I’m up against podcasts covering things including skiing and days out on the bus.
2 miles, 5 locks. (131 miles, 91 locks)