Pigeons Pals and Train Robbers

Pat and I subscribe to several other blogs and we try to keep up with them all, at least once a week. But  I have been somewhat deflated recently, after reading in more than one blog, that kingfishers had been sighted in various parts of the country as a matter of course.

After nearly 1,000 miles this year, and despite a collective heightened gaze, we had not seen one, and then bugger me, in the space of three days, we saw two, albeit though the second one was more of a blue flash, than a major sighting.

Spot the Kingfisher. ..... It's on the end of the green boat's tiller arm

Pat has always been a bit of a bird fancier. Back in the garden in WGC she would spend a fortune on bird food. My contribution to the study of all things “avian” is the observation that wherever you go in the world (and we have been around a bit) pigeons look the same, be it Madrid, Melbourne or Machu Pichu. One almost got me Sunday coming under a railway bridge just north of Milton Keynes. With so many of them living in the rafters under bridges it was inevitable that  one of us would be “dumped on” sooner or later, and that one missed me by about an inch. We have noticed a lot of seagulls about as well over the last few days, and it is glorious to look up and see red kites soaring above the boat these days, a sight which is becoming increasingly familiar. Blimey this blog is turning into “Autumn Watch”. Let’s move on.

The Indian Summer we have been enjoying has meant that we have cruised for much longer each day, than we had planned and we find ourselves a couple of days ahead of our planned schedule. On Sunday  we covered 15 miles, which is quite a journey, at 2.3 mph, which took us from Milton Keynes to Stoke Bruerne. And on Monday we did 11 miles, though admittedly most of it was lock free.

With hundreds of boats travelling around the network it is quite surprising how often you see the same ones. We pass the time with many of them and some have become pals. On Sunday morning we passed “Free Spirit” at Campbell Park in Milton Keynes, home of Ian and Eileen, who we know from our time on the Erewash, while moored at Kingfisher Narrowboats, where our boat was built. Shame they were out. Then a few miles on, NB “Chance” pootled by. The boys follow our blog, and we follow theirs, but that had been our first encounter with them on the system. And then, finally, we were chatting to each other how we had not seen “Jandai” on the system. This had been the boat built before us at Kingfisher, and we had got to know Jan and Dai, the owners well, and were shocked when we got the news while in New Zealand, that Dai had passed away after a tragic heart attack on the tow path. Jan had sold “Jandai”, and blow me down, a couple of hours after talking about it, around the corner it chugged, near Marsworth. If you are reading this Jan, be assured that the boat looks good and the current custodians Roger and Anne, are experienced boaters, who are enjoying her immensely.

"I've got the coke but where's the ship's rum Grandpop?"

The Grand Union is familiar territory for us, but it looks very different since we were here last. The trees are now ablaze in reds, yellows and browns, which makes the landscape look completely different to what this area looked like at the end of June.

We had a couple of nights in Leighton Buzzard last week and caught a train and a bus into London to see our daughter off at Heathrow as she returned with her family to New Zealand after her four-week stay. Just north of LB is Linslade and “The Globe”, which is quite a well-known waterside pub. About 100 metres from the pub (and the canal) is the main railway line into Euston and it was at this very spot in 1963 that the Great Train Robbery took place. I remember it well. It was August and I was camping with the Boy’s Brigade in Wales.

We cruise by the site of 1963's Great Train Robbery site at Linslade in Bedfordshire

There are still a lot of hire boats about round here. We love going through locks with these boats, especially if they have a big crew. Generally they are wildly enthusiastic, so I let them get on with it, and Pat supervises, discretely. I always insist they go into a lock first though. Just in case!

Both of us weighed ourselves at the weekend for the first time in ages. I was rather surprised that the ravages of beer festivals and pub lunches would have sent my weight spiralling but it’s much the same as it was at the beginning of the season in March. I have decided though, to lose at least half a stone, so watch this space. I will not comment on Pat’s weight. It would not be gentlemanly to do so, but she keeps fit on lock duty, so has no weight issues.

So this weekend we will be in Leamington Spa and Warwick. We are hoping to meet up with two pals we cruised the Kennet & Avon with last year while in Leamington. They have a daughter living there and are combining a visit to her with our arrival and it will be great to see them again.

On Sunday we have our old pal Vic joining us to help us up through the marathon Hatton flight and on to the North Stratford canal, which is littered with locks at this end. Vic was last on board when we tackled the Tardebigge flight in driving rain and wind, so the Hatton flight should be a breeze for him. So, I would imagine our next blog will be from Birmingham, where we will take a rest for a few days.

I’ll leave you with this thought. What was the greatest thing before sliced bread? Answers please  in a bottle you can drop in any canal.

Toodaloo

Beers, Boris and Brompton Bikes

Hello again and greetings from Roger, Pat and especially Boris, our new permanent ship mate. Boris moved on board  last week and has taken up residence behind the fire in the corner.

Yes, he or she is a spider, and quite a big bugger, if you’ll pardon my French! Every time Pat shows him the door he returns and no matter how many times I have destroyed his web by walking through it, he comes back for more. Other spiders seem to come and go on the boat, but Boris hovers in the middle of the galley, oblivious to our comings and goings.

Our new first mate. Boris the Spider

We are moored at Apsley, which is just south of Hemel Hempstead. It’s a rejuvenated area, being for many years the home of John Dickinson Paper Mill where they made “Basildon Bond” paper. It is now the usual mix of supermarkets, pubs, and very picturesque marina set around a flight of three locks.

We are here for two reasons. The first is it only a short bus ride from Hemel Hempstead to St Albans, where it was beer festival week. The St Albans Beer Festival is the biggest of its kind in the south, outside the annual London bash at Earls Court, featuring over 400 different beers and ciders. All my pals were there, and I volunteered to work on the door Wednesday and Thursday and most of Saturday. Before I found my sea legs I used to be the Festival’s Site Manager.  It was very, very busy and the festival sold out of beer just before closing on the Saturday night. Naturally I helped and consumed a liberal amount of alcohol and a number of brews that were new to me.

At the St Albans Beer Fest with my best chum John

One of the 10,000 guests that came through the door was wearing a Brompton shirt, which is the make of my trusty fold-up bike. I fell into conversation with the gentleman, who just happened to be the factory manager at Brompton’s factory  in London, and he has offered me a conducted tour of the factory when we are down next in November and some assorted goodies.

The second reason we were in Apsley was to accommodate my Leisure pals from John Lewis, who arrived from Brent Cross, John Lewis Watford, Cambridge and Waitrose on Sunday.

Phil, Claire (in my hat), Capt.Tracy, Jim and Sally

I never much think of work these days but for several years we were a very close team working together on a number of projects big and small, so it was good to see them all and find out what they had been up to in my absence. Most of them had never been on a narrowboat before, so it was quite funny, seeing how they responded to life on the canal. We were very lucky with the weather – we did a circular trip - and they all had a great day. We even saw a dinosaur on our travels.

A bit of wildlife I wasn't expecting to see around Kings Langley

My loverly Leisure Ladies from John Lewis

My day off from the beer festival saw another two guests arrive for the day on Friday and Sue and Brenda also enjoyed good weather and really got into it. Brenda was walking across lock gates very comfortably within a very short time, and they both got to grips with working the locks, of which there are no shortage on this section of the Grand Union.

Sue and Brenda get stuck in on lock duty

Tomorrow (Monday) we will overnight in Berkhamstead and I would imagine we will be In Leighton Buzzard a couple of days later.

Back in Herts....again

Our sojourn into our great metropolis has finally come to an end and has been marked by a noticeable change in the weather with a drop in temperatures that most of the country has also experienced. Pat is now lighting our stove most evenings as the nights draw in

So it looks like its goodbye to T-shirts and shorts and hello again to hats, jeans and waterproof jackets. I have not felt the need for gloves yet, but seen a few boaters sporting them. I noticed David Beckham on TV earlier this week modelling black and grey Belstaff motorcycle wear during London Fashion Week, I reckon I could give him a run for his money in my grey autumnal wardrobe, tailored by “George” at Asda.

Just in case I forget my name

After a couple of weeks mooring around Uxbridge and Cowley we have moved back into Hertfordshire again and are currently moored opposite Tesco at Batchworth, which is really Rickmansworth. We have moored here a couple of times and it’s a good, safe mooring, with most of the facilities we need just a few minutes away, so we plan on staying here until after the weekend.

Last week we had a very special visitor on board as our granddaughter joined us, all the way from New Zealand. Livi was joined by her parents Erica and James, who are over to attend James’ sister’s wedding. So last week we hired a car for the week and spent a fair bit of time with them. Our mooring was only 10 minutes from the M40, so their base in Little Marlow was less than A 30 minute drive. 

Grandad entertains Livi. Everyone else looks bemused

Then on Saturday we had Sid and Mave on board for the day. Sid and I were good mates at John Lewis. We both drove the same motorcycle for a while, and he loves engines. By trade he is an electrician, so I was keen to probe him about volts, amps and if the purchase of a battery management system would be a sensible purchase.

Sid & Mave join us for an autumnal day's cruising

Pat and I generally share the cooking, but neither of us likes to cook on a Sunday and we normally find a Wetherspoons for lunch. However, at Cowley Lock there is the Tollhouse Tea Room who were advertising lunch for £5.99. We went several weeks ago when we were going the other way, and it was good value, so we gave it another go last weekend. It was very good, especially if you like your veggies. Good quality and well cooked. If you are cruising in the area, check it out. You will not be disappointed.

After nearly 900 miles and 700 locks this year, The Cat’s Whiskers has picked up a fair bit of battle damage and I have carrying out some remedial painting over the past few days. The rubbing strakes on both sides are now black again and I hope, weather permitting to be to go over the gunnels with a roller with the special Epifanes paint, containing plastic, before Sunday when our next guests arrive.

Is it a waste of time? I don't think so

Then it’s a short hop to Cassiobury Park in Watford for a day or two (one of Pat’s favourite moorings) and then the short hop through Hunton Bridge to Apsley, near Hemel Hempstead, for a few days, to take advantage of the St Albans Beer Fest and to accommodate our last big assembly of guests, next Sunday, before we make the dash north (though not sure you can dash in a narrowboat).

Toodaloo Chums

A Capital Experience

Over the last week the Cat has been purring through London, down the Lea, through Walthamstow, Hackney, or should that be ‘ackney, and then we took the Hertford Union to cut off a chunk of East London. This was very pleasant piece of waterway, and hugged Victoria Park along much of its length. It gave us another view of the Olympic stadium, and we took the picture below at Ponders End Lock, just south of Enfield.

Our last view of the Olympic Stadium from the junction of the Hertford Union cut

A "Cheeky" request at Ponders End Lock

From the Hertford Union, it was a quick right turn back on the Regents Canal. The bit through East London is fast being gentrified, but there is still the remnants of the old East End, complete with the usual graffiti – and a sort of “shabby chic” emerging, with many of the boating communities in this area adopting an “alternative” lifestyle.

A fairly typical sight in some parts the waterways in East London

But once you get to Islington things change somewhat. Your passage through theMaida Vale  tunnel reveals the most expensive canal-side moorings in the country at “Little Venice”, a term coined by Byron or Keats I believe. Before that though, you have the honeypot that is the Camden Lock flight, with its famous market, hundreds of gongoozling tourists, London Zoo and the mansions of Regents Park.

A lot of canal communities, town and marinas hold waterways festivals during the summer months so we often collide with these but when we moored below City Lock last Saturday night, I had no idea that we had landed right in the middle of the Angel Canal Festival and the following morning, before our guests arrived for the day, we had to shuffle TCW around, as boats jockeyed for position  and were moved around the basin just ahead of us.

The Angel Canal Festival gets underway as we leave City Lock

The Tubridy/Dean clan arrived on time and they got the “Full Monty”. The sun shone and they saw the bits of the canal the tourists flock to see in central London. Locks, tunnels, Regents Park, Camden Lock and the regenerated Kings Cross all drifted by. And we chucked in Little Venice. We even got a mooring in Paddington Basin without too much fuss this time. It was a bit cramped having seven bodies on the boat for lunch, but at most times, two of them were walking alongside the boat, so it was not that noticeable.

Lorraine, Cara and Alana. 

John at Camden Lock

Going through St Pancras Lock with Lorraine and Anne

Both brothers on lock duty, John's brother, and good friends of TCW, Paul

Paddington Basin at night

Our last guests arrived on Wednesday. Roy and Geraldine are very old friends and it was Roy’s birthday. He hasn’t been too well of late and I think they both enjoyed the experience, though Roy and I have been boating for years. Geraldine, who is self-employed, maintained this was her holiday for 2013. It was a nice hot day, and though the scenery on the Paddington arm is not up to much, once we turned right at Bulls Bridge, back onto the main Grand Union, it was much more interesting.

Roy puckers up to blow his birthday candle out

They left us at Uxbridge, where we will be, here or hereabouts, for the next week or so.  Our daughter and her family arrived from New Zealand for a family wedding this morning, so it was easy to get to Heathrow from Uxbridge, about 15 minutes by bus to say hello.

We are hiring a car for a week from Saturday, so we can spend some time with them, so our blog will be very different next week.

Finally I was looking back over some old blogs last night and noticed that I had not had a good rant recently.

So excuse me while I adopt my “Grumpy Old Man” persona (Pat says I do not have to adopt it - it comes as standard)

Why do a particular group of cyclists who use the canal tow paths have to dress as if they are Bradley Wiggins and ride like him too?

I, like a lot of boaters, use a bike, but I am careful to be respectful to pedestrians, and peddle at a speed where, if I have to stop suddenly, I can do it safely. But for this particular group, it’s heads down, and full speed ahead. You know I would like to talk to one of them about their style of riding, but even if I hurl abuse at them they can’t hear. They are going too fast and I would never be able to catch them on my little fold-up machine.

I know our boating governing body, the Canal & River Trust, have an ongoing campaign to educate cyclists, with the “two ring” warning message. I think I would rather swap the “educate” for “castrate”. “Enough”, I hear you say, and quite right. Anyway, I feel better for that.

Toodaloo folks

Messing About On The River

Well the last Bank Holiday of the year has been and gone and after a weekend of torrential rain in Hertfordshire it was nice just to stretch out in the cratch cover on Bank Holiday Monday and contemplate the week ahead.

It was a shame the fine weather we had been enjoying all work broke then. Saturday’s guests Dorothy and Steve had travelled all the way from Suffolk to see us and brought a ukulele-playing friend, clutching not one, but two ukes, so we had a good old session, and  Mike, who was another close work colleague, came down as well. Unfortunately it bucketed down all afternoon and most of the evening,  flooding the towpath in several places.

Back on the cut again. Taken around Stanstead Abbots on the Lea 

Bank Holiday Sunday and Monday were Music Festival days in Hertford and most of the pubs had some sort of music on. Barbara and Martin from Welwyn Garden, who we know from way back when our children went to the same primary school, came over and we went out for a good old scoff. Martin is also a John Lewis Partner, so I am now up to date with all the comings and goings and gossip from the branch (and we got to talk about steam locos too!)

But, as I said, there I was, sitting in the cratch cover, overlooking the towpath, peppered with walkers, cyclists and dogs on and off their leads, and suddenly in the distance I could hear a familiar tune that I hadn’t heard in years. I couldn’t recognise it at first, as it kept fading in and out, and then I heard the words “so take off your coat, and hop in a boat,” it was “Messing About On The River”, by Josh McCrae, and you have to be a certain age to remember it and I hadn’t heard it in years.

I've heard of mobile discos, but not floating ones! Love the settee.

Now we have done a lot of miles this year, so I had enjoyed our stay in Hertford, but hearing again, “so I’ll leave you right now, to cast off your bow”, put me in the correct frame of mind to prepare for our travels again, and I went back into the boat to find our Nicholson’s Guide to the Waterways, Number 1, to start planning our route back through London.

So on Tuesday we were up early, filled up with water, emptied the loos, and welcomed on board my sister Carol, her husband Rob, and two of their pals Sheilah and John, and we cruised down through Ware, Stanstead Abbots to Broxbourne where they departed. This part of the Lea is really delightful and very quiet, though the lock gates are very heavy.

Part of our crew from Hertford to Broxbourne, John & brother-in-law Rob

The other halves took it a bit easier. Sister Carol and her pal Shelagh who took most of these photos

Rob, John and Pat on lock duty. I'm watching the paintwork

From Broxbourne it is only a couple of hours to Waltham Cross and the Olympic White Water Centre where the canoeing and kayaking events were held last summer. Unlike the Olympic park further down the Lea, this facility was indeed open for business, though a good chunk of it is under re-construction, and we moored literally a few metres away from the entrance, off the towpath.

White water rafting at the Olympic Centre at Waltham Cross

I am very familiar with this bit of the Olympic legacy. When it was first opened, a good year prior to the games, I organised a day for several John Lewis branches to experience the rapids ahead of the general public. It still looked exciting when we walked around the course and made up a bit for us not being able to get into the main park from the waterway when we came up a few weeks ago.

We remain on the Lea now all the way through East London. We are still just in Hertfordshire and tomorrow we will become Eastenders as we go through Enfield, Walthamstow, Tottenham, Clapton and Hackney. We have an appointment with pals on Sunday in Islington, but more of that next time.

“If you take my advice, there is nothing so nice, as Messing About On The River”

Toodaloo chums. 

Barbecues, Bikes and a bit of Concussion

Hello folks. Here in the heart of Hertfordshire I am glad to report that after ten days on our mooring the sun continues to beat down on our solar panels, we are now on first name terms with most of the wildlife that splashes past, and the back of the boat has developed a fine sheen of spiders web covering the rails and tiller bar which sparkles in the sunshine. So, as you can see, our state of nirvana, is more or less complete.

That does not mean that we have been idle. Far from it. The comings and goings continue apace and we have now a slick catering package which can be rolled out at a moment’s notice, helped by our proximity to three supermarkets within five minutes of our mooring. So this week’s blog is dominated by our guest list. I think I missed photographing one or two of them, so apologies if you are reading this and do not appear. Even our tenants Liz and Simon, came down for a visit over the weekend.

Our old neighbour Christine, and our tenants in WGC Simon, Liz and family

Wendy & "Singing" Jim  (The new fold-up Dahon is in background)

Cousins Janet & Roy

Heather & Barrie

Anne & John 

Visitors to the boat will know I have a beloved Brompton fold-up bike, that is used for milk and paper runs most mornings. When we bought it we also secured a “Dahon” fold-up bike, an American make, which I really liked but didn’t fold down as small as the Brompton. I couldn’t bear to have it doing nothing in our garage in Welwyn Garden and I have now brought it on board. It is a super bike – very comfortable and very expensive and have put the Brompton in a cupboard to give the invertor some company.

This has been possible as Pat hired a car at the weekend. We had on board, our old neighbour Christine up from Kent, and used the car to visit old pals, do runs back to the house, and to pay a visit on Sunday afternoon to St Albans to celebrate my best pal John’s daughter’s birthday, at their annual barbecue. Cara’s birthday bashes are an essential part of our summer and this one was stood out for the “sack”, “egg throwing” and “wheelbarrow” races that somehow started after we had all had a few drinks. We think of John, Lorraine and their clan as our adopted family and it was good to see them all again. We hope to entertain them on board TCW when we are in central London in a couple of weeks.

The Tubridy-Deane clan with birthday girl Cara at the front

Beauty & The Beast

We have used the time in between welcoming guests to go back and forth to the house, mainly to do some running repairs to the garage and its roof. We only have one cat left now and within a few minutes of arriving Molly had found us and spent most of the afternoon either curled up on our laps or round our necks. I know that Pat would love to have her on board, but she is very old now, and I really think she is best in an environment she knows, even though she does not socialise with the family very much.

Molly gets a special cuddle in our garage in Welwyn Garden City

Considering the shape of TCW and my height, I have never bashed my head on the hatch or getting in and out of the cratch cover at the front of the boat. A number of our guests have, but on Saturday night that all changed. I thought the hatch was back and it was not, and I ended up with a bit of concussion, feeling sick, giddy and nauseous. Poor old Pat had to put up with me stomping round the boat into the wee small hours, feeling very sorry for myself.

We now have just a few days left here in Hertford and will be off next Tuesday morning. I have done an estimation of where we are likely to be on any given day between now and the 1^st November, when we should arrive at our winter mooring at Mercia Marina in Willington, Derbyshire, so if you fancy an autumn cruise, let us know.

Just worked out that so far this season we have done 825 miles and 679 locks. Whew.....

Toodaloo 'til next week

Heart of Herts

It's good to back

Well we are back home, or at least the closest we’re able to get to our home in Welwyn Garden City, which is about four miles away from here. We are moored in Hertford on Folly Island and this will be our home for the next couple of weeks until after the Bank Holiday weekend.

We are very comfortable here and know the town well. Our family and pals are close, we have a great mooring, water and loos are 100 metres down the cut and opposite is the bus station that can connect us to Welwyn Garden, St Albans and Watford. Chuck in the Waitrose next door that I helped open and worked in around 1981, and we have it very much sorted. It’s not the most exciting canal town, but it has everything we need close by.

The lock at Sawbridgeworth and the very attractive Lawrence Mooring complex in background
which has its own private marina

The distinctive gazebos that line the river in Ware, a couple of miles from Hertford

Since I put the word out that we were back in Herts, our diary has filled up fast so it is very much a social whirl over the next few days.  We also saw some old boating pals of ours, Ian and Irene, on “Free Spirit”, yesterday, who we last said goodbye to on the Trent in April. We bumped into them at Harlow lock last Saturday and they came up to Hertford for a nose around before returning into London. I expect we will see them again in the late autumn when we return to the Midlands.

So not a lot to report really. Doing a bit of maintenance and a bit of painting, a bit of cleaning and a bit of drinking, though not necessarily in that order. We did finally get to sweep the chimney on Wednesday. It was  something we had been putting off for weeks. Surprisingly, there was not as much soot up there as we had thought.

Preparing to start on the chimney. How does it go "Chim Chimany....."

Pat prepares the bottom end.

Our son Kevin, came over to the boat on Sunday afternoon, just after we moored. It is the first time he has been on the boat, despite several invitations, and it was a seminal moment. It was good to see him look so relaxed. He has started a new job and we look forward to seeing him again in October, in Birmingham, where he thinks he will be working, when we pass through, but  I think, and hope, he’ll pop down again before we go.

We have also had my sister Carol and her husband Rob on board, and their two pals on Tuesday. They made a flying visit and we have planned that when we leave our mooring and head back down the Lee in a couple of weeks, they will join us for a bit of a cruise.

My sister Carol with her husband Rob, and their pals John and Sheila

We have never stopped anywhere, longer than four or five days, so being on a 14-day mooring is a bit of a novelty for us. It’s meant we can make doctors and dentists appointments and I can go to a CAMRA branch meeting next Tuesday, for the first time in three years.

And that’s it. More friends tonight, an old neighbour for the weekend, plus a birthday barbecue in St Albans Sunday. Hardly time for strum. Hey Ho.