Busy busy.

After a good first afternoon/evening/night at my mooring without any problems yesterday saw water level problems, every time a boat used the lock behind me the level dropped and my boat began listing, so much so that the first time it happened I walked back to the lock to check they had dropped the paddles properly, but found no fault, looking at the other boats either side of me I seemed to be suffering the most so I checked the depth alongside my boat and found I had moored on a fairly shallow section extending about a third of the boat length, so after it happening repeatedly I went out and moved forward, it didn’t cure it completely but it did lessen the effect.

I cast off this morning about 9, I had a longish day planned and first stop was to fill the water tank. The water tap here is in a strange position behind a petrol station on the non towpath side just past the Old Mill pub, they have built a Greggs outlet recently, it wasn’t there last time I passed through, handy though, and probably too much for a lot of boaters to resist while filling the tank, but as I had not long had breakfast I declined the temptation.

The water point, and the grey Greggs outlet with outdoor seating

Having managed to dry my last load of washing I was able to fill the machine again and set that going while filling the water tank.

The it was onwards to Berkhamstead and the short pound between locks 55 and 54 was extremely low, I was happy to see two boats departing lock 54 as I left lock 55 which meant we both left the gates open and passed each other in the low pound negating the need to get to the lock landing. Leaving lock 54 a boat was approaching so I left the gate open for them as well, things were going better than my last cruise.

I thought it was time for another picture of the totem pole.

Through lock 53 where a very patient grandmother was explaining to her grandson in detail what was happening as I worked my way through, poor lad looked perished sitting in his pushchair, he needed a hat!, it was chilly, but he still looked happy as well.

Then it was a stop on the now 4 hour shopping moorings outside Waitrose, it was quiet on the moorings today but I think a lot of boaters may not be happy with this during the summer when it will be packed, it is a great idea for just nipping in the shops but I’m not sure it’s really necessary, anyway I made good use of them and visited Waitrose to restock some items and reduce my bank balance. I also took the opportunity to have a sandwich and a cuppa before setting off again.

The big gap is the shopping moorings, I am just heading off again.

Onwards again through the next three locks which were uneventful but all badly leaking, passing this boat which caught my eye.

Not very clear in the picture but the top half is all painted wood.

 And then in to the second of the Northchurch locks which has quite an interesting entrance and a change of towpath sides, it all adds to the fun.

The two alcoves just beyond the bridge on either side are the steps leading up to the lock, so it's a quick hop off as you pass the alcove run up the steps center line in hand and pass it over the the lock gates as the boat glides in and before you run out of rope, it makes it look like you know what you're doing when it goes well, but sometimes it just looks like a novice getting it wrong and panicking :-)

I had a slight delay here as something lodged itself between the bottom gates preventing them from closing (they are a very bad fit anyway!), so I had to stop trying to fill the lock and empty it again to allow me to re-open the bottom gates and clear the large lump of wood preventing closure, once that was done I locked through and moved off again, most of the locks between where I set off and through Berkhamstead seem to leak badly, there is a stoppage soon (17^th 18^th May) to do some repair work to the worst two but they all need some TLC.

I was intending to go to further today but I ended up mooring up just before Cowroast lock (46), a nice gap in the moorings with a nice piled edge (easy use of mooring chains, I am so lazy sometimes!) was too tempting and it was 3:15 and not getting any warmer.

Having moored up I walked up to the Elsan point and emptied the WC cassette before returning to the boat to empty the washing machine.

So as the title suggests, it’s been a busy busy day, productive and fairly long by my standards, and my head seemed back in sync with cruising.

Totals today: 4 miles : 9 locks

Tonights mooring: