On to Watford Locks

 Some lovely mooring places on the GU. Many have either rings or bring a paper clip an hook on to the piling.

Its not far to Stoke Bruerne.  The last lock before the village itself.  Nice pub on the  right and the lock is there too.

 On the left is a second lock by the looks of it that was used to weight boats.

The weighing machine.  

The museum is on the right of the lock.

Earlier before the lock there was plenty of mooring space.  Up here there is very little to start with but if you travel far enough there is usually a space.

Walked back down to the locks to have a look at the sights and get a pint.

The other pub. The Boat Inn. Inside it is quite ancient.

Back to the mooring and off to brave the tunnel.

Its still half a mile or so with boats moored all the way.

Boats are moored up right to the mouth of the tunnel.  Longest so far this trip at over 3000 yards. There is a blacksmith in the building on the right selling all sorts of ironwork.

 I assume that this is a profile of the tunnel inside.

Out the other side.  Soaking wet. Each air-shaft throws out the remains of the water that has come down over the last weeks.

This is Blisworth and the original home of nb Mozart.

Bit further on and a rather nice looking boat belonging to the St John Ambulance people.

Moored up for the night

To the woods to the wood etc

Along here the East Coast Main Line is on one side and the M1 on the other.

Most of the time you don't see either. Its just the constant rubble in the background.

Rather nice home with couple of old boats outside.

Probably the original paint job.

Several lovely villages attached to the canal.

After all the woods its nice to have a rural scene.

Another old boat but this one is Lincoln

Got them both in view now.  Main Line to the left and M1 to the right.

Its Whilton Lock tonight and a visit to the marina but no wide-beams to look at.

Above the lock and loads of work going on to the towpath. Bit congested here with two boats coming up and two going down.  Met a pair of boats coming out of every one of the locks.

The New Inn.  A lovely point for watching the lock.  Sadly no beer as it closed last Sunday.

Back into the woods.

The first of the Watford locks.

Three boats going up as soon as the three have come to the bottom.  Gets a bit hectic before staircase.

Looking down the flight.

Thats it for today.  Last lock and its time to find a mooring.

North to Watford

 We moored up outside the very large Tesco for a couple of days.  A really quiet mooring with only one disturbance of a speeding car on the first night. The white bridge on the right is the access point to the Paddington Arm.

 

There are several small moorings of to the side.  All of them seem to be empty.

Ahh. Shopping trolley in canal. Civilisation.

After half an hour or so got caught up by a cyclist.  Minutes before this pic was taken a Moorhen came racing down the towpath to meet the cyclist.  It seems that he gets bread from a bakery and two or three times a day he comes down and spreads bread on the waters and the birds are all waiting for him.

 This is a floating classroom.  Pity that there isn't at least one on every canal.  Nearly did a floating computer centre myself years ago.

Building going on all over the place and more industrial buildings that could be next for conversion.

Lots of new building.  Still very clean and not very welcoming.

 Plenty of boats moored up. Many of them look as though they have been there for years on what doesn't look like official moorings. I was a bit surprised at the number of iffy boats with an up to date license. Still quite a few there though.

Another arm going nowhere.

Lots of the lock buildings so far don't seem to be very well used.  There are also the lockies cottages that are empty and looking very sad.

One of the few official bits of graffiti.

Another of the stern wheel driven boats.

This is Black Jacks lock and on the left Black Jack Mill.  Which came first for Black Jack?

Pretty scene.

The River Colne enters the canal at this point with a large marina just after the bridge.

Not sure who this is supposed to be  :-)

Moored for the night next to the Aquadrome.  A series of lakes that I think are made up of the clay pits left by London Brick company.

The Little Union Canal complete with tunnel and lock to help explain the workings of the canal for children.

No flooding here though as the canal is empty.  

Back to loads of boats.  We have been told that all the 'hippies' have been moved out of the olympic area  and shunted up here.

Cassio lock and the trees hang over the lock and make it difficult to use the bollards on one side.

Last lock of the day we had to wait while the local Coal and Oil boat comes down.  We had been slowed down by some pratt ahead leaving the lock gates open and all sluices, both ground and gates, up.

Not sure if its me being a grumpy old man but its not only hire boats that go speeding past.  Most of these are owner occupied.

The mooring for tonight.  We have reached the outskirts of Watford.