A fairly gentle day today although we had an extra hour in the morning as the clocks changed last night. As we said yesterday, there was no service as such at Marsworth Church, we did find out much later, after Mike had walked up from the canal in the gathering gloom, that instead they have Messy Church for an hour and a half. We did not feel sufficiently guilty to give it a try!
After we moored last night, this giant loomed up and moored ever so close behind us.
At the first bridge is one of the several thatched and timber frame cottages in the village. This one looks as if it has been very extensively extended and modernised over the years.
Mike took the boat down to the junction for the service facilities.
The former maintenance yard, left derelict for some years, is finally being re-developed. The office building has been retained and is well on the way to being a comfortable home with an amazing view of the junction with the Aylesbury Arm.
As we were filling with water, another boat asked if we were going up through the locks. We said that we would be perhaps ten minutes to fill, so it was a bit of a surprise that we found them waiting for us at the first of the Marsworth locks.
A very pleasant trio - the chap whose boat it was moors liveaboard at Packet Boat Marina - just a few spaces further along from this year's slot that we have been allocated! The couple are new to boating, they tried it for ten days earlier in the year and now also are tempted to liveaboard. He was a former motorbike racer (just below the Grand Prix level we think we understood, but since we are no expert in that sport, who knows!)
In any event, they made good company through the flight and we were also helped by a volunteer lock keeper who set most of the locks for us.
We had not noticed before a name plate on one of the mid-flight lock cottages - Waterman's Cottage. (There is always something new to spot however many times we pass the same way)
At the top of the flight we turned right onto the Wendover Arm. at that stage the plan was to go to the end, turn around and come back to go down just below the end of the summit pound at Cowroast.
It is rather shallow along this arm but there are few moored boats and even fewer moving! The banks and the vegetation have, however, been well cut back recently.
Part way along we passed the Heygates flour mill. there has been a mill on this site for some time, originally powered by wind. At that time, two millers could produce half a ton of flour in the time that two people today can produce 12 tons!
Later research (especially http://gerald-massey.org.uk/Canal/index.htm) indicates that the grey building on the left was once the site of Bushells Boatyard whilst the original windmill stood where the silos on the right are now located.
The main water supply to the summit comes from the only one of the three pumping stations along the arm still surviving. It lifts water from the nearby Tringford Reservoir.
At the end of the arm we moored and decided to take a walk along the path of the arm towards Wendover. As the towpath was blocked at the end, we took advice - it so happened that nb Valerie was moored close by (http://boatlife.blogspot.co.uk/). Les was cutting up the ash wood that he reported collecting along the Tring Summit a couple of days ago. he was familiar with the area and pointed out the direction of the footpath to continue along the towpath.
It was interesting to see the work that has been done to restore this canal. The reason for abandoning the middle section long ago was that it leaked so badly that, rather than being a feeder to supply the main line, it took water away! before the closure, a stop lock was added so that boats could still pass through.
The restoration trust are working from the Wendover side of the dry section, letting water in as they go. Their equipment is brought along the canal bed from the Little Tring Farm end where the present terminus is.
They are creating a high quality lining to avoid the leakage problems of their predecessors. A century ago, a pipeline was laid underneath the canal bed also to supply water to the summit. In order to prevent problems in the future if the pipeline should collapse, they are laying a concrete cap over it which can be seen in the foreground.
The method of construction can be seen at the end of the present work - from their website it seems that the framework used to create the earth sides is quite a new technique.
We reached the start of the flooded section. The water here is rather stagnant as it is isolated from the main section which ends in a sump that is part of the system to transfer the flow of water down to the reservoir.
We continued until just after the modern bypass road bridge. In order to maintain sufficient headroom for boats the alignment of the canal was moved a short distance and so this part is in good condition.
Just after we turned around we called to visit Drayton Beauchamp Church, dating back in part to 15th Century. Alas it was locked but the outside and the churchyard were interesting to look at. This church was where the famous Richard Hooker has his first post as a priest. He only stayed a year before moving on to greater things!
Most of the gravestones are comparatively recent but we did find one that had a long list of children who died before their parents.
The road bridge at Little Tring was one of the major obstacles to restoration. In the 1970's, the local authority demolished the old bridge and replaced it with an embankment across the dried out canal bed in order to save costs. Fortunately, money was raised by the Wendover Arm Trust which enabled the bridge to be reinstated.
By now it was time for a late lunch. By the time we had finished we decided to stay put for the night! Well, almost. It was now rather windy and blowing straight into the rear doors of the boat. So we turned around and moved a very short distance to a point where it may be possible to have a tv signal!
2.8 miles - 7 locks
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