Amazing Weather But Shallow Waters

Approaching Hemel Hempstead I met another couple travelling on their own so we teamed up of a few locks. But things did not go smoothly so when I spotted a vegetarian cafe in Apsley I decided to moor up. It was a very good excuse to part company!

The basin in Apsley has been developed into a very pleasant area, much to my surprise!

Sorry this is in the wrong place but I won't risk deleting it!!!

Woody's Vegetarian Cafe just beyond the footbridge where I spent a couple of hours over a relaxed lunch

The interior of Woody's 

Residential Basin 

The view of the canal from the Cafe 

It was the construction of the trunk canal (later to be called the Grand Union Canal) between London and the Midlands through the valley in 1798 that began its industrial rise at the start of the 19th century. The canal gave an easy way of transporting the raw and manufactured products to and from the mills.

Frogmore Mill, Apsley, Hertfordshire. The only surviving member of a number of nineteenth century paper mills located in the town. It is now a museum, The Paper Trail.

John Dickinson, the inventor of a new method of continuous papermaking, purchased an existing mill in the area in 1809. There is record of paper making already taking place nearby at this time. His business expanded throughout the Victorian age coming to occupy large parts of the flat land in the valley bottom. Streets of mill workers' terraced houses grew up adjacent to the mills. Housing for managers was built on the old Manor Farm, higher up the hill towards Felden, in the grounds of the Manor Estate, today known as Shendish Manor Hotel. Production peaked during the Second World War. The site was however not ideal for large scale papermaking in the 20th century and later became a warehouse and distribution centre for products made elsewhere. The last John Dickinson warehouse closed in 1999. There is a National Paper Museum called the Paper Trail in some remaining mill buildings. 

Here it is again!

And again! Not where I wanted it to go

Lock 66 by the Paper Mill

Just before the lock moored at a layby for Tesco's was a boat we had met on the K&A at Sulhampstead Swing Bridge.

Leaning out of the side hatch was Ron so I called across to say hello but thought no more of it. I  entered the lock he joined me to help. We talked about where we had met previously and compared our journeys since. Ron had been up the Thames and around London but in a slightly different sequence but the chances of meeting up again were really remote.

I had arranged for my boat to be surveyed so that its safety certificate could be issued. This was required as it is now 3 years old and my licence due for renewal. I did not have far to go that day and arranged with Ron to meet up later.

We have been travelling together ever since, we are a team that works really well. He has a boat that is 90 years old and was used as a barge on the Thames. She is a heavy old girl, 72 foot long and full of character, weighing in at approaching 40 tons.

Anyway, the surveyor happily gave me my safety certificate and also recommended a guy in Cowroast Marina who could fix my tiller which was damaged entering a lock a week previously.
So Ron and I moved on to Cowroast and moored there until Monday morning when I could have the work done on the boat.

We passed through Berkhampstead on the way. I had planned to stop there following a recommendation but the canal was right next to the railway and there were no quiet moorings. 

We were having problems with water depths as we neared the summit of the Grand Union at Tring. Sometimes we needed to juggle with the locks to refill the pounds between locks which had emptied due to passing traffic. Then with levels sufficiently restored we could set off, usually very early to try to avoid the very high daytime temperatures.


Blogger playing up again. Trying to put photo of Port of Berkhampstead in here with the caption

'Delusions of grandeur, I'm afraid'



Cow Roast is on the site of a Romano-British settlement close to the route of Akeman Street. Archeological finds suggest it was occupied as late as the 5th Century, although the byway through the Chiltern Hills would have been an important conduit throughout the Roman occupation. Subsequently it was known as a drovers' route with the area around the present day Cow Roast providing grazing. So the name is thought to be derived from Cow Rest

With some brute force applied to fix my tiller, Ron and I cruised on northwards, passing the Wendover Arm and the Aylesbury Arm (due to re-open next month after a canal bank collapse).
After a very long, hot day we stopped just before Linslade in a relatively cool, shaded spot.

Tara had not been very well for the last few days and the usual way to correct the problem did not seem to be working. Combined with the heat, she was not a happy puppy. So I took her to the vets in Leighton Buzzard and after a lengthy investigation, including blood tests, vaccinations and a host of medicines she is now showing signs of recovery.

Is it significant when you are asked if your dog is insured when you visit a new vet or am I being a sync again? Fortunately she is insured!