Legs Eleven

We were up at the crack of dawn with mist still on the water, but we had some progress to make today so we went into the empty lock ahead of us..

We had eleven locks and eleven miles to do today so it was good we were woken up by our alarm clock on the gunwale..

It was a clear blue sky and it made it like a picture postcard as we cruised on up to Batchworth.

It is always slow going through this bit with all the moored boats but at least you can be nosey as you go past.

We stopped at the lock for a bit and got rid of our rubbish taking in the only model of the canals on the system.

They were getting it ready for the Rickmansworth canal festival over the weekend.

We stopped here for Mr Tesco and a cupboard top up.

We carried on past the festival site at idle as there were a lot of boats already moored for it.. We got to Copper Mill lock where we paired up with another boat with four crew and also in a bit more of a hurry than us.. We got past this tricky cross stream section as we followed them all the way to Uxbridge..

You still can't believe you're going into London along this section because it is so rural with lakes either side of you..
We went through Denham Deep Lock with its eleven feet drop with no problems and slowly made our way to Uxbridge.

The things some people do to keep the licence fee as low as possible, this guy has put a boat in a boat..

We got there, it seemed, very quickly and the boat in front of us pulled over and moored up. We turned into Denham Marina and took advantage of their fifteen pounds pumpout..

We then looked for a mooring as the sun had got to us a bit and we had done enough for the day..  We found a nice sunny spot near The Dolphin Inn Pub and close to the town..

Al then needed to post a letter so walked down to the bridge and found a post box.. It was still lovely and warm for the time of year so a nice salad was on the cards out in the cratch. We were too tired to go into town tonight but we will explore it one day..

Crew Depart

It was a nice morning and we felt we needed to move but David had decided to go back home today, as we were so close to the tube station here at Croxley.. We missed breakfast and to be honest, we didn't want any after that big pizza yesterday.. So, we waited till lunch where we all had a sandwich.. David packed up his things and we all walked up to the station to see him off..

We have had a lovely time with him and I know it has been a good time for him to chill out a bit..

When we lose crew it always seems so quiet again back on Derwent6.. The weather still looked too dodgy as one minute it was lovely sunshine, the next we had thunder and lightening, and we could see the forecast looked good for tomorrow, so we stayed put today.. We had things we wanted to do and it gave us a chance to do them.   With nothing on the telly it will be a early night and a early start tomorrow.. 

Small progress, but great news!

We had to get up early this morning (well some of us) as Al had to meet her Dad at Kings Hospital in London for another scan and check ups.. David was still flat out in bed.. Al left at 8.45am and got the tube into London while Del got Derwent6 ready to go.. The plan was to travel a few locks with David to Croxley where we could pick Al back up..
We ended up leaving at 11.00am after David had made us both a cup of tea..

We soon got through the first lock and as we went round the next bend we spotted Les and Jacquie on n.b Valerie. It was so nice to see them and they were so close, Al would be disappointed not to see them.. It was great to see them both still very positive and so happy. Les looked so well and had put on a bit of weight and muscle. We stopped for about 20 minutes and then said our goodbyes we will see them later in the year hopefully..

We went up to the next lock where we got water and David did us both a bit of breakfast.

We then carried on to the next lock where we managed to find a mooring next to the alleyway to Croxley tube station.

Del and David chilled in the afternoon sunshine waiting for Al to come back..

It was good news! Al's Dad was showing good progress and as long as the results of the scan are good (which we get on our Thursday phone call), will now be under the hands of a different team and will only need to be checked every 12 weeks, a great relief..
We were near a lot of shops and David fancied a pizza so him and Al walked up to get them..  Well what a bargain they got. A massive ten inch deep pan pizza for £6.00. We sat back on Derwent6 and were stuffed when we finished..

Working off the Pork by the horns

We decided to have a very chilled day today.. So we had a bit of a lay in, well Del took all the leaves off Derwent6 and cleaned up the engine room while Al and David snoozed in their beds.. They surfaced around 11.00am and we sorted ourselves out to watch the Grand Prix with some lunch.. That finished at 3.00pm and we followed the last of the football season. Al had planned a lovely dinner for us and we had a lovely bit of Roast Pork which was given to us by Al's dad Alf. We had the works with roast pots and Yorkshires, loads of veggies and gravy. Mmmmmm she had also made a fudge cake which we had with cream for desert.. Double Mmmmmm.

We felt like falling asleep again after all that lot, so we pushed ourselves out the door for a walk into Watford.. We found a pub called The Horns which plays live music every night and what a gold mine it was..

On this night they had a band playing but if you turned up with an instrument then you could take the place of one of the band members and play..

It was a brilliant night we had Rock, Reggie, Punk, Rap and Pop... and we've got to say everyone was fantastic..

As it was Sunday night it finished at 10.30pm and we were back at Derwent6 by 11.00pm..

Joined by Spider-man

We have enjoyed our stay at Cassiobury Park and Al was making the most of it by getting the tube down to Kent to see her Mum and Dad.. She left on Friday morning and squeezed in a doctors appointment herself.. She came back from Otford and met David up at Victoria. He came back on the tube to Derwent6 with Al to stay with us a few days.. We soon had the beers out and a few nibbles and candles in the very pleasant evening..

The following morning we were up and out again.

This time we jumped on the tube and went to the heart of London's West End where we had planned to meet Terry (Del's Step mum) and Ron.

We had a good catch up after their holiday, looking at their photos and they had got us a lovely holiday present of Disney oven gloves and T towel, a nice surprise!

We chatted for most of the afternoon and came out of Café Rouge at 5.00pm so we dodged the showers.. We then decided to go to the cinema as we had good reviews about the Amazing Spiderman 2.

We were going to go to the Odeon on Leicester Square, but at £16.00 each we decided to get back on the tube to Finchley Road and go to Vue at £12.00 each.. It was a good job we had our travel cards at only £8.00 for the day.. We got our tickets for the cinema and then went over to the nearest bar for a drink.. We then walked to Sainsbury's and got our sweets and drink for the film and then sat down.. It was very good and we all enjoyed it..

We jumped on the late tube back to Derwent6 and were protected by Spiderman himself..

We got back at 1.00am and crawled back into bed..

Taking it easy to Cassiobury

The first thing when we woke up was how was Al's ankle.. and the answer was that it felt fine, Wow! the RICE technique worked then, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation... The swelling had gone down and only some slight pain felt.. So we set off again at 8.30am and tried it out at Kings Langley lock..

It passed the test so we carried on under the dreaded M25 motorway on to Grove Park, one of Del's favourite parts of the Grand Union..

Here we passed the guy with the new type of Cratch cover which brings a whole new meaning to recycling.. Yes that is a car bolted on the front of his boat..

When we got to Grove Park the sun came out and it was just so pretty..

We had done eight locks when we got through Cassiobury Locks and didn't want to push our luck, so we moored up..

We had moored here before and always wanted to explore the area, its a nice river section here and the water is quite clear and fast flowing and the wildlife is good and its lovely to hear the birds singing..
So once moored it was time to get Al's shopping fix.. We took a walk through the park and headed for Watford town centre and the Intu Shopping Centre.

We had a good look around before we stopped for a coffee and then sussed out the train station and tube station, always handy to know..

We then took a nice steady walk back through the park again back to Derwent6..

9 miles, 17 Locks, Phew!

We had that itchy feet thing and wanted to move today but when we looked out of the porthole it was raining.. We checked the weather and it looked good for 9.00am so we sorted ourselves out and pulled the pins..

We were on our own through the first four locks and we even had two of them in our favour, it had been so quiet. We got to Winkwell locks and it got busy.

We caught up with a single hander and we had two boats following us who were travelling together right behind us at every lock. It made it a bit easier going with another boat through the locks and we kept in front of the other two boats till another boat set off in front of us and shared the lock with our single hander.. We were on our own again..
We went through the swing bridge and one of the boats in front of us pulled over for diesel and we re-joined our single hander again, we think he liked us..

We made the decision to make good progress today as the weather was holding and soon got to Hemel Hempstead. At one of the locks we must have frightened a geese as it had left an egg unattended on the lock landings.

Things here are still covered in graffiti but we have never had any trouble and want to keep it that way, so we pressed on. We got to Aspley where we stopped for water and while filling we got the locks ready for the two boats behind us.. Al walked over to Sainsbury's and picked up some cheap beers for a top up..

We were getting tired, hungry, and dehydrated and it told because at the next lock,

Al was getting back on Derwent6 when she sprained her ankle going down the steps and ended up a heap on the grass.. Del rushed over and made sure the windlass was alright, not really! He picked Al up and got her to walk on it to get things moving again.. It helped but it was going to hurt later..

This had made our minds up to stop on a mooring we like at Kings Langley and managed to squeeze into a spot between two boats..

After a chat with the neighbours we set up telly and Al got dinner on. Mmmmm food, beer, and a doze.. that's more like it!

Busy with People, Where are the boats?

Busy with people but not busy with boats here.. Its strange that it seems so quiet on the cut with boat movement. We have quite enjoyed our stay here not having to worry about food of if we want something, it is only a few metres away..
We have really relaxed into the joy of having Derwent6 moored in a town again. Al has been making the most of it by going to the Market and picking up a bargain, Del after all the rain has been doing the brasses (again) and in the evenings we have been listening to live music at the local pub. Last night we partied again and saw a band called Devestation.

They were very good but we felt not as good as The Measures was saw last night.. We recommend The Goat pub for that party come night club atmosphere and we have really enjoyed both nights..

Pubbing all day

We had a lay in this morning and decided to walk over to The Crown Pub which is a Wetherspoons for a late lunch where we picked up a curry for £4.99 each.. We also took the opportunity to do some updates.
In the evening we made our way over to The Goat pub where some live music was going on.. We got a few more beers in before The Measures came on at 9.00pm. Well it was worth waiting for, they were brilliant, playing a real mix of music.

They had everyone on their feet from the first track and the night just got better. The only problem was the beer prices went up by a pound but it still felt worth it, we had a great night.

Might have to go back for a bit more of that......a great night, getting back to Derwent6 at 12.30am...

Catch up

We have stayed at Berkhamsted for a few days and made the most of it.. The water levels go up and down a bit between the locks, and we are on pins, but has been a nice mooring.. So what have we done?.. Well Del's priority was to see the football and with a selection of pubs here he has seen all the games. Al's priority was to go to her Mum and Dads and we are right next to the train station so that works, we are also very close to the supermarket Waitrose and the town centre so that works for both of us.. yes we are spoilt really, and we all like being spoilt!!!
We have had some showery days here but it has been nice in the sunshine. A rainy day was forecast for Thursday, and the tube strike was over, so Al made her way down to Kent for the day. She only stayed with her Mum and Dad for a few hours but they had a good catch up.. Del had done the brasses (which is why it rained)  and we ended up lighting the fire again yesterday. We are just enjoying life at the moment!!