A walk on the common

We decided not to move today.... We had a fried breakfast and walked along to Waitrose and got a paper and chilled out for the best part of the morning. In the afternoon we went for a walk.

Here you can do the Grand Union Hemel to Berkhamsted circular walk which takes you over to Berkhamsted common and back along the canal. It was such a lovely day as we walked through the ferns but we were getting bitten by the Horse flies. When we got back Al made Chicken fajitas which we ate sitting in the cratch till sunset. It was still lovely and warm up till 10.30pm.

Berkhamsted Shopping

We woke up this morning to the sound of rain on the roof and quickly had to put the glass back in the portholes to replace the fly screens we had in. That got us up and as the clouds moved out the way it felt a good time for us to move. We left at around 9.00am and made our way down to the marina, which didn't open till 9.30am. We then had to wait for the tanker lorry to fill the diesel tanks, but it did mean we got fresh diesel. We had a pumpout while we waited as it is a 'do it yourself' one you use with a token. We had to pay 81p a litre which is the most we have paid for a while but it was with any split.After maneuvering back out on to the cut we filled with water, so we were ready to go.

We did seven locks before we thought it was time to stop and we managed to get to Berkhamsted. After mooring up Al went into Waitrose and Del went for a walk around the town and to check out the local pubs. We couldn't get a TV signal here so we would be watching the football in a pub tonight.After a quick shower we set off to The Boat Inn and had a few pints outside in the sunshine before getting a place, with a basket of chips, in front of the telly for the football. Afterwards we came back through the town on a lovely hot summer evening, loads of people were out and it had a good atmosphere. We got back to Derwent6 at about 10.45pm and crashed out...

Football and Birthday Weekend

Saturday 26th June

We left early from Derwent6 and got the train from Tring station and arrived at Terry & Len's (Del's Stepmum and Dad) in Birchington on sea, Kent, at around 1.30pm. We were greeted by a new family member to the house, "Bibby" a kitten only just over six weeks old. She is so cute!

The afternoon was spent watching the football and playing with the cat.

In the evening we were met by Bernie and Sarah, Karen and Rob and Kerry and Sam. We all went out for a meal at the Minnis restaurant with some great views of the beach and we were able to eat while we watched the sunset.

Sunday 27th June

We stayed the night at Terry and Len's and prepared ourselves for the big day when England were playing Germany. A big BBQ had been prepared and banners put up all round the garden. The weather had just been the best this year with hot temperatures of 30 degrees so we went for a walk and a paddle on the beach.. We then all watched the Grand Prix and then the Football...a big disappointment as we all know, but we didn't let it spoil our day. The BBQ went long into the evening as we waited for it to be cool enough before we went to bed.

Monday 28th June

We got up early as it was Terry's Birthday (21 again). We watched her open all her cards and presents before we were taken down to the station for our return journey back to Derwent6. We managed to get some good connections and it only took us two and a half hours door to boat. When we opened the door on Derwent6 it was so hot inside, so all the windows came out to get some air flowing. We watched the football and had something to eat (a few leftovers from the BBQ.....thanks Tel) and then chilled in the cool area of the cratch. In the evening we had a walk along the towpath as it got a bit cooler.

Just lovely hot weather!

One of those cleaning days today! We got up early (while it was still cool) and Del waxed Derwent6 while Al cleaned out the wardrobes (a task on it's own). We had to change the stuff over from Winter to Summer, so all the thick clothing got pushed to the back. We then took a short walk to get rid of our rubbish and then walked to the garage and grabbed an ice cream to walk back with. With the football on in the afternoon the day just seemed to fly by. It has been so hot here today that we couldn't touch the sides of Derwent6. We could have done with some Solar Panels on the roof...maybe one day! It was a lovely evening, but still sticky, we did see this Red Kite flying above us, but he was a bit quick for the camera....

Down to Cowroast

Another lovely day and as our water was getting down to two on the gauge, we decided to move. We took it very slow as we came out of the Wendover Arm as it was still very shallow and narrow, but we were a bit lighter than when we came in which made it a bit easier. We were kicking up mud all the way! When we got out onto the Grand Union and we could really move, well push the throttle up to 1200rpm. We stopped for water at Bulbourne which was quite a fast tap, but we still had time to have some lunch while we waited. We managed to get moored over at Cowroast, even though it is quite busy here. We arrived just in time to sit a watch the Italians go out of the World Cup. Shame! We did have a visitor jump on and she made herself at home on Derwent6. Al in the end had to usher her off. We also had two fish fighting on the surface of the water, or spawning? We had never seen that before!

Come on England!

After a warm night we were up quite early. We did some cleaning and polishing while it was cool enough but it soon warmed up. We then decided to go for a walk which took us down to the reservoir and along to the Farm Shop. We had some tea and a cake in the cafe, and read the newspapers supplied. We then continued our walk around the rest of the reservoir and out into the countryside. We got back just in time to see the England game... Great job well done ! It's funny how you forget the bad times and always remember the good....

It has been quite busy down the end of the Wendover Arm today with loads of boats coming down and winding. We sat and watched who our opponents will be in the football in the evening.

Arm in Arm

We had a morning cleaning Derwent6 before it got too hot to do anything. After sorting out the bikes we set off up the Wendover Arm and soon got to the gliding fields at RAF Halton. We sat and watched the gliders for about a hour with a bit of lunch. We then moved on up the Arm till we got to the basin. This will be a fantastic cruise when it is finally finished. We were going to go into Wendover but went the wrong way and ended up going to Aylesbury. After another five miles we got to the town centre. It is a nice town with a good atmosphere, it was market day and everyone was out enjoying themselves. We then found the Aylesbury Arm for our return journey. There appeared to be plenty of moorings in the basin. We carried on our way until we found the track back to Tring. When we got back we had our showers and then lit BBQ and watched the football. This guy did fly overhead to see what the scores were and also to see what we had on the Barbie..

Tring a ling a ling

We pottered about this morning before we decided to head off into the small town of Tring. It is a short 30 minute walk across the fields. When we got there we were pleasantly surprised to see so many shops, so we got our letters posted at the Post Office and bought some bits and pieces. We then went to the small Natural History museum which is free and a sister to the large one in London. Well, we were the only ones in there and we had it all to ourselves. It is much better than the London one because you feel you have more time to look at all the different species. You can also rummage through draws to look at Bugs, Moths, and Spiders including looking at different kinds of eggs.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in there before heading back via M & S for some food shopping.

When we got back we had a BBQ in the beautiful weather we had been having. We are all on our own now in the basin and we are just loving the peace and quiet. In the evening we went round the lakes to make the most of the longest day of the year. This was taken at 9.30pm......Romantic!