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| Sunset over our mooring at Marsworth (third boat on right hand side) |
It was yet
another gorgeous looking day on Wednesday, but it was really rather windy. As we needed water, we had to cruise up to
Marsworth regardless of the weather. We
set out after breakfast and found we had to do the locks together rather than
one of us going ahead to get them set.
This was because the arm is exposed and the wind whips across the fields
making it troublesome to keep the boat in a safe position outside locks without
tying up to a bollard.
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| The first lock of the day |
To avoid
any hassles with the wind we did all the locks together and as they are very
quick to set on the arm it didn’t really lose us much time.
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| Hanging back in a more sheltered spot waiting for a lock to be set |
I
mentioned in the last entry that we have to remove the chimney before going
through the bridge holes when going upstream.
This picture clearly show that we wouldn’t get the chimney through
undamaged without removing it. To be
fair, Karen came rushing down from the lock to remind me to remove the chimney,
just in time as it happened.
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| Just as well the chimney had been removed |
The last
two locks form a staircase and as we went up, we realised that this would be
the last staircase we would be doing in the UK until we bring the boat back
from France.
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| Entering the bottom lock of the staircase at Marsworth |
As we came
out of the staircase we turned left onto the Grand Union and pulled up at the
service point. Karen went off for a run
whilst I took on water.
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| Buddy on guard at the water point as usual |
Karen saw
a Brimstone on her run in a sheltered spot down at the current end of the
Wendover arm. There were no boats at the
end so we may venture up there once more before heading north to start our new
adventure.
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| No boats moored at the end of the Wendover arm |
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| Moored by the Red Lion bridge |
During the
afternoon we heard that a boater friend of ours had died from cancer. He was a lovely guy and so sad that he went
at only 52.
On Thursday
morning I dropped Karen at Hemel Hempstead station as she was catching a train
to Edinburgh. She is staying with her
daughter Jo for a few days. It may feel
that we are seeing a lot of people at the moment, but we want to catch up with folk
before we disappear. On the way to the
station we both admitted that we are beginning to feel a little stir crazy as
we have been in the same area for so long.
We really need to get back to moving every few days.
After
dropping Karen off I carried on down the A41 to have a look around Hampstead
and take Buddy for a walk on the Heath.
What a place Hampstead is – a different world altogether, so much
opulence demonstrated in the housing and the shops. Anyway, we enjoyed our walk and even found a
few VR boxes including the largest wall box I have ever come across, nearly as
tall as me!
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| Man sized wall box |
In the evening
Kevin & Matilde came around for an hour or so. They are a lovely young French couple that we
met recently and are living near Wendover for a few months. We spent half the time speaking English as
they want to improve and half the time in French. It’s a shame we didn’t meet a while ago as it’s
an ideal way to reinforce our sterile French learning.
Over the next
couple of weeks, we need to get the car up to Northampton where we will leave
it at the boatyard where we are being craned out. We will then be free to move the boat as and
when we like without having to worry about the car. At least we will be able to get back on the
move every day or so and thus get rid of our stir craziness.
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