Catching up is hard to do!

We managed to do very little apart from blobbing for several days in Berkhamsted – ably assisted by the weather which cooperated fully with making sure staying onboard was a cinch.

While we were blobbing, Salvi had his 65th birthday party back in NZ ...

I think the room they were in was meant to look like they were in Italy, and considering that a large number of Italians immigrated to Nelson my hunch is this is a clubroom of some sort. No doubt Ann will tell me.

David went for a couple of walks – usually with the aim of searching for somewhere else to moor. Not, mind you, because there was anything amiss with the mooring we had – 14 days, within 2 minutes’ walk of Waitrose, across the canal from the playground that was frequented even in inclement weather by lots of kids and parents, plus ducks, coots, moorhens, Canada geese … Our mooring’s only downside was the muddy towpath – the first time for ages that I have requested a shoes off policy onboard. That of course meant we ended up with stacks of pairs of shoes and boots up on the back deck …

I was staunch in my resolve to stay moored where we were – why would I want to move to somewhere less convenient?

I frequented Waitrose several times, and even on the last morning I thought about heading there for a final visit. However, don’t tell Julia, but the fridge and freezer were both filled to the brim, and there was also some stuff out on the bench. So I forebore to shop yet again…

We did venture over to explore the remains of Berkhamsted Castle which is quite amazing. While not much of its original structures remains, it was clearly historically significant. I am afraid I get bamboozled by the kings/queens/dukes/earls of English history – I know I could keep them straight in my head if I put my mind to it, but somehow, as soon as I see a roman numeral after a king’s name, or Smith, Duke of Peckham, who thenceforth is referred to by either moniker, my mind just goes blank. A bit like when David and Tim or Ed talk about amps, volts, batteries and ohms – I know I could understand it, but really I can’t be arsed.

Anyway, back to Berkhamsted Castle – the construction was clearly a huge undertaking, and it was obviously built as a fortified castle – two moats, battlements, a tower built on a hill within the moated area.

Interp ...

More interp ...

David on one of the approach mounds

Looking across the inner moat

 

A model of the castle as it once was - complete with a no touching notice ...

Now the ground within it is a beautifully mown grassy area, and when we were there in the sunshine, numerous kids and parents were there playing soccer, while other more somber people (inc us) were wandering around looking at the remains of walls and reading the noticeboards (interp, as it’s known in DOC).

 

A panoramic shot from inside the walls

The walls were made of flint and some kind of mortar.

 

Across the outer moat wall and a new road are the castle's neighbours. Imagine looking out your windows to the remains of the castle - pretty amazing that these are cheek by jowl.

I did say to David as we were walking around the outer moat wall that at least the castle's inhabitants hadn't had far to go to get to the station ...

We walked back via the railway station and found the Berkhamsted Fish and Chip shop. We tend not to eat English fish and chips as it invariably has the skin left on and I find that ick. So we got a cone of chips. Some of the best chips I’ve had in ages!

The enjoyment of them was rather marred by hearing the news that Jeffrey Epstein had died, apparently suicide – we came back to the boat and watched news on US live feed. Skepticism and disbelief that he could have suicided pervaded the coverage. And anger that he had escaped justice and his victims had not been able to face him.

One of the reasons for staying put in Berkhamsted was to be ready to receive the latest visitation of the boat dog – yep, she was escorted down to us from Bury by her human team on Sunday. She seemed happy to return – and why wouldn’t she be? Treats, cuddles, all day attendance – and when you have all day attendance, there are far more opportunities for receiving of treats. Well, it stands to reason, doesn’t it? If humans are with you 24/7 then their opportunities for using opposable thumbs to retrieve treats from tricky packs are significantly increased over those of humans who are out working all day to purchase said treats. So it behoves dogs to have non-working human grandparents. And Kai has discovered that she does.

 

While we were caring for the boat dog, Tim was checking out where his Aunty Ginny had a pee behind one of the columns back in 1964 ...

A stop off on the drive south from Rome, I think

 

The villa that Tim and Dana stayed in with friends down in the south of Italy.

 

Happy as a pig in muck when BBQing, that son of ours ...

And the boat dog was happy too:

Burrowed into the pillows

 

Sharing the space ...

Her first successful foray actually under the bedding. At David's instigation of course.

On the Monday, Liz and Barry appeared a couple of hours earlier than we had expected – they had an epic journey from central London and had thoroughly enjoyed catching up with friends and family in Paddington, St Pancras and at London Canal Museum.

We felt so slobby and blobby in relation to their hectic schedule!

As they had been SO busy and we had not, I asked them to come to us for dinner – pumpkin soup, followed by Thai Chicken Noodle Salad. Liz brought dessert – a yummy crumble made from apples they'd scrumped and blackberries they'd gathered, with custard and cream. There was wine (mostly consumed by me and David), and dinner was preceded by nibbles.

We agreed that we would set off by about 9.30 on Tuesday, while David beetled off to Birmingham by train to collect his new specs from Rushtom in Lozells.

That meant that Barry was on solo lock duty for the day and he managed magnificently. Liz leapt on and off their boat closing gates, scooting forward to open paddles. While I seemed to manage only getting in and out of the locks and keeping control of the boat dog …

To reduce Barry’s load, we suggested that he only open one gate on entry and exit from each lock. Entering, Liz went in first, scooted over to the other side and I followed her in; on exiting, I headed out first and Liz followed having scooched the boat over to the side I had left from. She is really very good at it! And it did reduce Barry’s workload a fair bit as it meant less opening and closing gates and walking around the lock to get to them.

I think this is the first or second lock when leaving Berkhamsted. Liz and I are in the wrong positions, as she prefers to be on the port side - from that one on, I think we did it right!

 

Barry on his own - jersey already off!

We worked from Berkhamsted to Marsworth Top Locks using that method and in the main Barry was on his own. However, he did have help from some very junior volunteer lockies coming down from Bulborne. And then the CRT variety appeared on the scene to assist us for a few of them.

 

Aged between 3 and 5, I think, these kids were very keen to assist in opening and closing gates.

The volunteer team - very efficient!

We had planned to get through Lock 36 and to meet David there – he was expected to get a cab from Cheddington Station and then walk along the towpath. However, he had got hooked/focused on Uber and of course, they do not operate out in English villages … So instead of searching for local alternatives, he decided to walk. Not a short walk as it transpired … However, a G&T was made for him on arrival.

But instead of meeting him at Lock 36, we moored up just after Lock 37, about a mile away from Lock 36. So a longer walk than expected… Liz and Barry had decided they needed a pumpout and expected to be able to get the business done at Pitstone Wharf Marina. Hence the earlier mooring spot.

In the morning, I checked out the website and found only a facebook page that contained the info that said marina is only open Fri – Sun; so very little use on a Wednesday, innit then?

The nearest pumpout appeared to be at Grove Lock Marina where David and I had our previous one done on the outward journey. So on we tootled on Wednesday morning, in the intermittent rain (light and heavy), wind and cloud – no sun. We were all dressed for the weather, to a greater or lesser extent.

·      Liz: natural fibre waterproof hat with wide brim and plenty of protection (fished out of the canal at some point in the past); bright yellow waterproof coat that extends well down the thighs

·      Barry: waterproofs – jacket and trousers, gloves that needed wringing out at regular intervals

·      David: Julia’s old red jacket that used to be waterproof but is no longer; jeans, goretex boots, no hat

·      Me: lime green waterproof jacket; hi-viz yellow waterproof pants, goretex boots, waterproof Oz shepherd’s hat

David cycled between locks and had them ready for us. 

 

Look closely - he is drenched! There is a dry patch on his jeans behind his knee. Shortly after this, he asked for his protective glasses (the ones from Screwfix) as the foliage was a bit low and whippy!

And at the end of a particularly long pound (at Church Lock) he was not at all worried that we’d kept him waiting in the pouring rain. He’d got into an interesting conversation with an assistant director on the show Endeavour who was working on the filming an episode of that show there.

The last pound to Grove Lock Marina was particularly low (about 2 feet lower than the others) - an enigma? Well, it was until we got to the Marina where the guy told us someone had come through at about 10pm the previous evening and left 4 paddles open at one lock. Dammit! We worked out it was the guy we had helped at the first lock of the day (#36 …) who told me he had boated from Northampton the previous day – probably his brain had stopped functioning effectively in terms of following process by the time he got to Grove Lock!

It was persisting down as we completed pumpouts and we decided we would moor as soon as we could – that proved to be one boat forward of the lower lock moorings for us and then one boat further on from us for Liz and Barry.  Both David and I had stepped the gaps out while waiting in the lock - for each boat, it was a tight fit, but in both cases we were definitely going to make it happen!

None of us cared that the road and rail were not that far away, and the goretex boots were full of water ...

And, by the way, I am still not caught up - we are currently at Hillmorton and lots and lots has happened since Grove Lock!