One man went to mow (and nearly lost his mower in the lock)

We walked in to Hemel Hempstead this morning, that is, Jan walked and I cycled via Aldi. Not knowing HH at all, I searched for "High Street" on Google Maps … and found myself in a ghost town. Few shops and fewer people. There must be more than this! Jan had found a hairdresser's in Marlowes - that's the name of the road - so I cycled there and found the shops and people.

Back on board I set off while Jan was walking back (it's all right: we agreed on this!) to the water point by Nash Mills Lock 68. When I got there I realised that the water point was actually lockside, so I entered the lock and started filling up. As I was coiling up the hose when the tank was full, I was surprised by a man calling out to me. He asked if I would be much longer. A cruiser had materialised on the lock landing; how long had it been there?

We shared the next couple of locks, but at the next one we waited, and waited … and no sign of him. We gave up and went down the lock, emerging just as the widest possible wide beam was moving onto the lock landing. This made exiting the lock interesting as space was limited.

I didn't take many photos today, but here's the M25 bridge …

… and here's a man mowing the lock landing by his cottage at Cassiobury Park. As we were working through the lock he tried to lift the mower across the top gates but the handle parted company with the business end. It very nearly went in the lock. The man refused my offer of help to carry it, but I did at least help him reaffix the handle.

We tied up here, just below Cassiobury Park Bottom Lock, and had a barbecue. Just as we were finishing there was a very brief shower of rain, nothing much, but it was good timing.

Cowley Lock tomorrow - six hours away. Oh yes, I bought A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking in a charity shop today. I'm already a fifth of the way through it - I should have read it years ago!