TAKING IT EASY

Moved off from hunton bridge on thursday in lovely sunshine and cruised down to croxley near watford. Friday was market day in watford so we caught a bus into town to stock up the freezer and while there we saw our first ducklings of the year on the town pond, forgot my camera hence no picture. Today (sat) we are off to see sue`s Bedford rugby team play at bedford so a lift from my son to the station and a train to Bedford was all it took for Sue to carry on her loyal support.
After 6/7 weeks on board now i am finding it more and more relaxing no work no timetable no stress and Sue finds it just the same, the only bugbear is selling her bungalow.
Our next stop WHEN we decide to move on will be Rickmansworth aiming finally to arrive at Brentford intime for the rugby final at Twickenham.

HEADING SOUTH

At the moment we are just getting ready to go back on board after attending a friends 50th birthday. We will be heading south to london and also want to go to brentford as this will be close to twickenham for the rugby final in april. Cumberland basin will be our mooring for a visit to the london sights as this is just a stones throw from the west end of london.
In a previous post i mentioned storage and have since forgotten to show this as promised. In the pics i have installed in the large deep kitchen cupboards some sliding baskets i removed from sue`s fitted wardrobes. these make it easier to get things from far back in the cupboard easily. Also i have fitted a rail on the inside of another door to store saucepan lids and a large frying pan. With space at a premium on board every little helps.

WEEKEND AT MARSWORTH

Arrived at Bulbourne bridge 133 on friday evening and stopped to take on water before moving through the bridge to spend the night just past the Grand Jct. Arms pub. We were expecting friends on the saturday and 2 of the grandchildren on sunday. Jordan & Jack are pictured above getting to grips with the tiller. On the saturday we started moving up the closely spaced 7 locks as we had arranged to meet our friends Wanda & Paddy along this stretch. After the first three we stopped for a cuppa and waited for them to arrive. As always visitors like a cruise so we all set off through the next 4 locks and moored at Marsworth near to the White Lion pub at bridge 133. On sunday afternoon the grandchildren arrived so off again turning at the entrance to the Aylesbury arm and back through the same 7 locks with our young but very keen crew. We are now back in the same spot as Friday evening where we will decide our next move.
Coming from Cow Roast to Bulbourne we encountered ice. Mostly it was not a problem as someone had earlier cut a path but a long part was cut by us. Stopped at tring cutting to walk into tring and stock up on supplies for the w`end. Going up through the 7 locks at Marsworth at one point the ice would not allow accurate steering and we had to reverse and re align our approach to the lock. It appears that on some bends the ice was thicker probably due to them being more exposed.

WINKWELL TOWARDS MARSWORTH

Left Winkwell for a longer trip this time as we have a couple of weeks to fill before we have to be back. Going south is a no-no as boxmore lock is having new gates, so north again at a more lesurely pace. We have stopped at Berkhampstead to walk around the town and take on supplies. The intention is to head upto marsworth stopping as and when we want and it seems we will be having friends and family visits over the w`end so that will be nice especially the grandchildren.
Approaching B`hampstead this morning we found ice after 3 locks but only for about 50 yards, also a fox floating and it was obvious by how clean and dry the part of him above water was he had not been in there long. A much more relaxed 2nd cruise so far will let you know how it progresses.