Hemel Hempstead

Another sunny day, warm but not quite as hot as the past few days. Rather pleasant for cruising! before setting off, Mike went shopping - aiming for the adjacent Waitrose supermarket, he walked up to the main street to see what it is like. Although there are one or two older buildings, much of the development along the valley is relatively recent and unremarkable.

Quaker Meeting House

The Guift of John Sayer Esq 1684

Former Town Hall

After picking up the few food items on his list, Mike headed back to the boat via the towpath and learning from an information panel the the River Bulbourne here is a 'chalk stream' meaning that in places the surface dries out in summer - certainly at the moment it is no more than a muddy patch and it is hard to see how it once was an important watercress growing place.

Francis Egerton of Berkhampsted 1736-1803 The Canal Duke

We set off to face a long succession of locks with generally short pounds in between, perhaps half a mile at the most.

Lock Emptying Procedure

It did not help that since we were here last, a policy of leaving most locks empty with a bottom paddle open has been introduced. Clearly, many of the bottom gates leak badly and have not had much maintenance to the seal for some time - at least relative to the wear. We did hear a tale that until recently 'a man' was employed to empty all the locks at night but he has now died and is not being replaced. As a result, in periods of light traffic, many boats waste a lockful of water at each turn. no doubt someone has calculated that this loss is less than the overnight leakage - pity that water is not costed so that a cost-efficiency calculation could sensibly be done in order to determine whether saving that person's wages is beneficial overall. As it is, cost reduction is the aim.



Converted Canal Building



Many of the locks had taverns and stables associated with them and most survive today as local pubs.

Lock 58 and Rising Sun Pub

Between the towns, the canal is quite rural.

Winkwell Swing Bridge was being inspected by May Gurney contractors. Christine had an interesting chat with the engineer as she opened the bridge (mechanically operated) and waited for the boat to come through. It seems that it has not had much done to it for some while and will need a planned maintenance closure during the winter.

Winkwell Swing Bridge

As we were stopping for lunch just below the Winkwell locks, we saw a couple with windlass. Initially we supposed that they must be a boat coming up but it turned out that they are exercising a Waterways Ministry, sponsored mainly, as far as we could make out, by the Salvation Army. He, a retired banker, is happier than doing this than crossing swords with Fred the Shred, or his successors.

The afternoon continued much the same as the morning. Whilst it is not easy to write up the experience as something exciting, the scenery is pleasant and the operation of the locks quite demanding so that time passes very quickly.

A modern footbridge crosses the canal just below Lock 67 and the former Apsley Mill (now converted to offices)

Hemel Hempstead  - Apsley Footbridge

Nash Mills Housing Development

The once huge Nash Paper Mills have now been completely demolished and the site is rapidly being covered by housing. There is a possibility that they are retaining some of the former wharf arms to provide waterside spaces as part of the development. What we supposed to be an old building was covered in polythene and so we could not see what was inside.

Nash Mills Bottom Lock 69

The last lock of the day proved one of the hardest - it was leaking so badly that even with both gate and ground paddles open, Christine could not shift it and Mike struggled. Must be time to moor - alto finding a spot away from the noise of urban life, motorways and railway lines was not easy - and a tv signal would be pot luck!

6.2 miles - 17 locks