We walked in to Berkhamsted this morning, accessing the high street via the Waitrose car park. One of the first things I saw was a display of waterways books in the window of the Oxfam charity shop.
Among the books were The Archaeology of Canals by P J G Ransome; Tales from the Old Inland Waterways by Euan Corrie; How they were Built - Canals; The Complete Book of Canal & River Navigations by Edward W Paget-Tomlinson; Hidden Nature - a Voyage of Discovery by Alys Fowler; Waterways of Northamptonshire; British Canals, Our Canal Population by George Smith; The Great Towpath Walk from London to York by Brian Bearshaw; A Tour of the Grand Junction Canal in 1819 by John Hassell; Water Byways; Priestley's Navigable Rivers and Canals and a selection of Pearson's Canal Companions.
I have two or three of these titles already but I didn't add to my collection.
We moved on down three locks and then stopped for lunch. Under way again we passed through many locks with instructions to leave them empty with the bottom paddles up. The reason given was that the lock chamber leaks. Is there really so much surplus water that CRT can afford whole lockfuls being run to waste behind ascending boats? We had to fill nearly every lock we encountered with these notices. Now, I don't know enough about such things, but can the locks not be sealed against leakage by repointing the brickwork? Presumably not, as these locks have been like it for years. It makes a mockery of CRT's "save water" campaign.
Rant over, every boater passing this boat's back end must photograph it.
Neither boat seems to have conventional tiller-and-rudder steering. Is the VW Touran's engine still in place, and does it power the boat? Does anyone know?
At Winkwell, before coming across the boats above, we saw fellow BCF-er Henry and his boat
Trinity in the dry dock where he was blacking and painting. He came over to chat for a bit - it was good to see him.
The reason for this torrent of water from the bottom gates of this lock was clear when it emptied.
This looks like wear from boats nudging the gates open. Not good.
We tied up by Apsley Marina and had tea on board. Tomorrow morning we intend to have a look round Hemel Hempstead.
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