The day began dull and cool - and largely remained that way all through, although it warmed slightly around lunch time.
We began by coming up through Brick Lock with its distinctive plaque in honour of Sir George Ducketts, co-founder of the navigation. At least the notice on this lock to leave it empty gives an explanation. still did not stop the preceding boat from leaving it full with the top gates open!
Shortly after we moored up in Roydon with the promise of a shop. Otherwise, there were expected to be few opportunities today. So close to London (rail line is obviously commutable) yet so isolated. Harlow New Town is adjacent to the river but the main shopping is some distance away.
It was a scant ten minute walk to Roydon village where there was a typical village convenience shop, also providing a Post Office service. We only wanted a few items as we plan on a bigger shop tomorrow in Bishops Stortford.
On the way back we took a brief look at the village church but it was not open. However, we did envy the modern addition to the medieval church in order to provide meeting and office spaces.
One of the features of the locks on the Lee and Stort Navigation is that they do not have any means of crossing over at the top. This means that there is a lot more walking to do! However, seeing these hand rails abandoned above the next lock made us wonder if perhaps some time in the past the gates were of a different design.
Alongside Hunsdon Mill Lock is Hunsdon Mead, one of many nature reserves in the Lea and Stort valleys. This one is kept as a tradition hay meadow using, so the information board says, the Lammas System. The grass and flowers are allowed to grow during the spring and the hay is not cut until July. Just inside the gate there were indeed some clumps of cowslips.
Parndon Mill must have been an extensive operation in its day - the house alongside suggests quite a wealthy owner. There is a small art gallery in part of the building.
The towpath bridge just above the lock, which two years ago was quite attractive, is sadly now looking a little tired. As so often happens, less thought is given to the longer term maintenance than to creating the item in the first place. The glass panels have gathered algae growth and the metalwork is rusting badly in places.
We stopped to use the services alongside the marina entrance opposite Harlow Town station. Allowing the water tank to fill slowly meant that we could also have out lunch break here as well!
Time to set off but a full length narrow boat had come out from the marina and was right across the river. Mike went to see if it would be possible to pass and discovered three men, boaters from the marina, trying to remove a quite large tree trunk. Apparently it had come into the marina somehow and was annoying the boats (or their owners at least) and quite an obstacle. The boat had towed it as far as the lift bridge across the entrance and they were attempting to use the powered lift bridge to get the trunk out of the water.
Mike found himself on the wrong side of the bridge so had to see what was happening. In fact they had attached a rope to the bridge in a way that was not going to have much success so Mike set to and created a sling to provide a lift and slew technique which eventually raised the offending item out of the water. We left with them about to tackle it with a chain saw!
The river now becomes a very pleasant rural stretch with locks every 20 - 30 minutes. At least we established a rhythm making them relatively straightforward. After a while we passed another boat coming down so at least the locks were now set for us.
The cottage alongside Sheering Mill Lock also has the GD plaque. The date here is 1799 whilst that at Brick Lock was 1830 - quite a difference as we presumed that he must have been quite well know before the earlier one was added.
Sawbridgeworth, according to the information board at the lock, developed on the basis of a large maltings business. We are not sure what happened but the extensive buildings have now been converted to a multitude of small workshops and studios. (Google yields the following quote about Bishops Stortford: By the turn of the 20th century the whole of Hertfordshire’s malting industry had declined markedly after the London breweries began to acquire their own maltings in Norfolk.)
It was perhaps a mistake but we spurned the visitor mooring above the lock as they were rather overlooked by trees (no TV signal!) so we carried on. However, the railway line is close in places and the banks were typical for a river. We tried several places to come alongside - in the end we found a spot with just enough depth to moor, even though we again needed the gangplank.
9.6 miles - 10 locks
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