Balancing on the back of a boat

What a change in the weather! The day started fine, if rather breezy, so we made a reasonably early start from our mooring at the end of the Wendover Arm. By the time we tied up in Berkhamsted we'd had quite a lot of rain. some of it pretty torrential.

A heron guarded one of the outfalls from the Tringford Pumping Station on the Wendover Arm.

At the junction with the GU main line stands Bulbourne Dry Dock, on the (not quite dry)floor of which I lay on my back in the early 1980s blacking myself and the baseplate of Savoy Hill. Now the dry dock seems to be operated by Bates's Boatyard of the Aylesbury Arm.

We watered up just past the Grand Junction Arms (good pressure) and continued along the Tring summit pound. This boat has found a use for a redundant balance beam.

At Dudswell Lock 48 we were helped through by a posse of CRT staff who were gathering in readiness for repairing a top gate tomorrow. The heel post had broken.

We were treated to a visit by Ally, Josiah and Micah this afternoon. Ally had heard good things about the Natural History Museum offshoot in Tring, so she drove us all there to see the amazing collection of stuffed animals. On her way home she dropped us off at our car in Bulbourne; we drove to Berkhamsted and the boat. This evening we went to the Verandah Indian Restaurant and enjoyed their "gourmet night" deal.

The ends of two arms

A few days ago we reached the end of the Aylesbury Arm and explored this pleasant town.

I like to get to the very end of navigations; not many make such a good self-captioning photo.

Aylesbury claims at least two famous people. David Bowie's first gig was here ...

… and there's a similar story about Ronnie Barker.

There's lots of nice old stuff. This is the courtyard of the King's Head, an old coaching inn.

From Aylesbury we returned to the main line and climbed the Marsworth locks to Bulbourne, where we tied up by the Grand Junction Arms. I retrieved the car from Campbell Park by way of cycle and train, then we drove to Shenfield for a family gathering to celebrate my mother's 90th birthday. Here are my parents with their great grandchildren Micah, Josiah and Angus.

We got back to the boat this afternoon: we winded, returned to Bulbourne Junction and travelled along the Wendover Arm to the current end of navigation at Little Tring.

Phew! I'm up-to-date! Tomorrow the plan is go back to Bulbourne and continue to Berkhamsted.

Navigating along the Wendover Arm

Several of my last posts have been about the (currently) unnavigable part of the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal. Now, with photos this time, here's a record of our first cruise along the navigable part in July this year.

When you turn off the main line onto the arm you are immediately in another world. The canal is narrow; the trees crowd in; and there's a sense of mystery. You don't know what's around the corner.

Well, in 20 minutes, this is: Heygates Flour Mill.

This comes as something of a shock after the trees and the isolation.

It's always good to see industry still going, especially in such a deliciously canalside location. Look at those bags of flour just asking to be loaded onto a boat.

Almost reluctantly we carried on past the factory ...

... and its grain silos ...

... straight into fields of wheat which one hopes will keep those silos topped up.

I remember several years ago walking along here and looking at this new brick bridge over a dry concrete-lined canal.

It's worth reading the right hand plaque for the history of the Little Tring Bridge:

"This award winning bridge was rebuilt to reinstate the original canal bridge demolished in 1973 despite many protests that the canal would one day be re-opened. It was opened on May 27th 2001 ..."

Five minutes later we'd arrived at the current head of navigation.

Another plaque reveals that

"This length of canal was restored in 2004 by the legacy of Tim Wilkinson, author of Hold On a Minute", a Number One with a great love of the cuts."

One last photo provides evidence of the red kite we saw overhead. We were to see many more of these birds of prey on our camping holiday in the area three weeks later.

I'm glad we did this little excursion off the main line, and I'm looking forward to being able to cruise, one day, all the way to Wendover.

Wendover Arm - the dry section

Before coming to the dry section of the Wendover Arm I'll backtrack a little to this house: the end-of-garden mooring ready for the re-opening of the canal.

Turning round, and looking "downstream", towards the main line, the canal looks like this.

There is water under there somewhere!

And then we come to the definite end of the wet part.

The other side of the bund shows evidence of bank strengthening, and the orange plastic mesh gives a foretaste of what is to come.

This is obviously where efforts have been concentrated.

Onto the uprights of the footbridge have been fixed plaques naming people who have supported the Wendover Arm Trust's work (no photo of the plaques - sorry!)

This is as far as I got before cycling back to Wendover for the car so I could pick Jan up from Aston Clinton. I think this is the outlet from a pumping station.

I'd like to think that the winding hole at the end of the navigable section was just round the corner, but I don't know if I was that close. A good reason to return another day.

Some bridges over the Wendover Arm

Continuing along the unnavigable part of the Wendover Arm here are some fine (and not so fine) bridges.

Bridge 10 near Halton in brick and iron is not unattractive.

It's a shame that some of the decoration seems to have been broken off.

Bridge 9 in Halton will need raising to make this bit navigable.

On the other side of the bridge is an interesting row of cottages. It looks like thatch has been replaced with tiles.

Another fine iron bridge bears the Rothschild monogram. (Sorry - photo not good enough to pick it out. There wasn't much light here among the trees.)

Bridge 7 has seen better days. Tie rods now hold it together, but there are large patches of dodgy-looking brickwork.

Skipping on past bridges 6 and 5B we come to the ten-year-old bridge 5A carrying the A41 past Aston Clinton.

Another most navigable-looking part of the unnavigable section.

Coming up: the dry section and restoration works.

The wides and the narrows of the Wendover Arm

On my walk along the unnavigable end of the Wendover Arm I was surprised to come across what started off looking like a winding hole, but then the water just got wider.

There are useful interpretation boards along the arm, and handy seats. Unfortunately I didn't photograph any of the boards, and I can't now remember the reason for the Wides here.

Further east, and the canal narrows for a couple of hundred feet. In an attempt to prevent leakage into the Rothschilds' dining room concrete walls were built in the channel.

I can't work out why the tops of the walls are below the water level. Has the water really risen here?

Coming up: a few more bridges.

The Wendover end of the Wendover Arm

At Bulbourne Junction on the Grand Union Canal the Wendover Arm joins the main line. This is the end which most boaters see - some even turn into it and cruise the mile and a half currently navigable. We did this last month.

But the other end of the arm is well worth exploring too, even though it has to be by foot or bike.

As Sue of No Problem correctly identified, yesterday's photo was of the very start of the arm, where a stream emerges from under a road and pours into the canal.

After a few yards a sign welcomes you to the Wendover Arm and gives four instructions for "safety and enjoyment of others": No horses/motorbikes; cyclists take due care; keep your litter; no dog fouling on path.

The towpath is in excellent condition here, and stays like it for most of the way. For a canal which was abandoned in 1904 it still looks like a canal. Indeed, with a little weed clearance and some dredging, it's easy to envisage boats coming here again.

Oh, and a bit of tree removal from the winding hole would help.

But look at this: it even has the ducks!

Unfortunately the water is only a few inches deep. Could a kayak could get through?

Some of the bridges are too low for navigation. This footbridge is no more than two feet above the water.

Coming up: Tixall is not the only Wide.

Camping in the wind

We've gone camping for four nights in Buckinghamshire. As the campsite was going to be fully booked this weekend we were put in the sheep field. We have a fantastic view of the vale of Aylesbury but we are in a very exposed, elevated, position. It would be quite good if the wind dies down a little overnight - it's rather disturbing when the side of the tent buckles inward under the pressure of the wind!

We walked most of the Wendover Arm of the GU today. It must be one of the closest to restoration of any derelict canals. Almost the entire line is intact, and most of it is in water. I'll do a fuller post about this when I can upload some photos.

In the meantime we'll be boating again from tomorrow: the intention is to pootle up to Stoke Bruerne and back to MK.

Wending our way along the Wendover Arm; a fishy story; and more bloggers

As we had time in hand I decided we'd "do" the Wendover Arm, or that part of it which has been restored so far. As soon as we turned left at Bulbourne Junction it was as if we were in a completely different part of the country. The canal was narrow and shallow, especially as the Tring Summit, to which it connects, is still about a foot down. As I steered along, at low speed, a large fish swam alongside for a few seconds. There was a section reminiscent of the Ashby Canal (only not as deep) where gardens backed onto it. And then came a surprise: Heygates Flour Mill (formerly Tring Flour Mill), still operating. This was soon passed, and we were in open farmland. At the end was a large winding hole, but we went as far as we could before reversing and winding. Above us soared a large bird of prey: a boater told us it was a red kite. And nearing the start of the arm that same large fish swam alongside. I found a really good website about the Wendover Arm here.

Turning left out of the Wendover Arm brought us immediately to the top of the Marsworth Locks. We had to wait for two boats whose crews had set the lock, and then we were in. We shared with nb Sunset. It turned out that the skipper was none other than the national chairman of the IWA, Les Etheridge, on his way back from the festival like us. I was in full lock wheeling mode and hardly got a chance to talk to him, but Jan did, and was very diplomatic when asked - before she knew who he was - what she thought of the festival!

After a couple of rain showers, and after a lot more locks, we came to Linslade where we visited Tesco and Aldi.

Continuing towards the Three Locks I saw a boat I instantly recognised: Derwent 6, with Del and Al sitting in the front. We pulled in and joined them for drinks on their boat, before they came over to Jubilee to join us for the meal which Jan had just started cooking. It was excellent to see them again - the last time was years ago on the thawing Leicester Section.

In order to save a bit more time tomorrow we moved on in the last little bit of daylight, tying up just before the Three Locks.