Bishop's Stortford

Canal Today : River Stort

The day began bright and sunny but by the middle of the day it became much greyer and cooler day although there were still a few brighter spells with the sun bravely trying to break through.

Two boats we had spoken with yesterday that moored not far ahead of us overnight were long gone by the time we were ready to set off!

Today was a shopping day but it was still a couple of hours run to the end of the navigation in the centre of Bishop's Stortford, with four locks to do.

Tednambury Lock

Hallingbury Mill

The first lock is called Tednambury but across the field the former mill is called Hallingbury - down a short arm from a junction a short distance above the lock.

Junction Bridge

Just after passing under Bridge 44 Mike thought he could see an owl of some other raptor perched some distance away, close to the edge of the water. "That's a big one", he thought, "I wonder what it is, it looks big enough to be a European Eagle Owl, but surely not out here?" Well, dear reader, as you can see by the time we passed it, it was obviously too big to be true!

The final stretch of the river into Bishop's Stortford used to have a reputation of not being very interesting - we were even told this a couple of years ago before we came this way for the first time. In fact, it remains pleasantly rural until a very short distance before the end. The last lock is about a mile from the final winding point.

A canalware painter was moored at the edge of town - not sure what the butty is used for!

We passed under the unusual footbridge - pedestrians can take a short cut by steps whilst cyclists have a circuitous route to take.

We found one of the few mooring spaces in town and set off to the shops. We recalled this as being a pleasant place to shop and indeed it was still so. This time there were several market stalls along the high street.

We especially sought out a bakery at the far end and fortunately it was as good as last time, with a good selection of interesting and varied loaves. The only problem was that we had also seen a market stall with more variations to tempt us! We picked out a couple from the shop who assured us that they would keep well, more so as they specially wrapped them for us.

We (or at least Mike!) were tempted by an Olde Fashioned Sweet Shop . . . (least said about this the better, perhaps but their selection is simply amazing both for grown up as well as the not so grown ups!)

The amount we amassed in Sainsbury was as much as we could carry so we had to return to the boat and make a second trip, especially to the fruit and veg stall but also that with the bread and cakes - the cheese and roast pepper foccacio loaf was just right for lunch.

We were adjacent to the services so Mike completed that whilst Christine continued to stow away the morning's harvest. It was then up to the winding hole a 100m away, turn around and back the way we came.

At the first lock a young lass asked to help - she is a keen yachtsperson (about to go out to Sydney to take a professional skippering course!) but had no experience with canals. She was delighted to help out - she even walked to the next lock and helped out there.

By coincidence, at the third lock a couple of ladies were waiting for their boat - they had walked ahead from Sawbridgeworth - and were also keen to help out.

By the time we reached the last lock it seemed strange to have to do it on our own!

As a river navigation, at times there are some tight meanderings - on stretches where the landscape is open it is more obvious to see.

We moored finally at the edge of Sawbridgeworth as we plan to go to the church here in the mkorning and we also have to sort out a suitable place to meet up with Alice later in the day.

8.2 miles - 8 locks