I'm sat in the middle of Hemel at the moment having a break from the locks (super Vodafone 3G performance here incidentally) and in the absence of trip reports which I usually can't be bothered to do thought I'd share some random thoughts on the journey from Braunston...
The towpath after Braunston Tunnel is shockingly bad in places. It seemed to deviate away from the canal behind some trees at one point. How does anyone get a rope past that lot? Someone must have to do this occasionally..? Actually maintenance overall seems pretty poor in this part of the country compared to further north. For example I've lost track of the number of locks saying leave empty because of leaks or something similar. Wide locks are easier much to single hand going up than going down as the offside gate rarely if ever opens as you enter the lock. I'm even getting the hang of using ropes though my hands are pretty raw after 60-something locks. I may have to concede and nip over to B&Q for some gloves before I head off again. What I don't get is that I've always been told to first open the paddle on the same side as the boat when going uphill. That just pushes it over to the far side. Am I missing something? Where is everyone? I did 29 locks yesterday - a summer Sunday - and shared in one, after which they stopped and went to Tesco :-( Today I've seen five boats on the move in 6 hours. I did pass two boat names I recognised as being owned by members of this parish earlier today (Debbi/Julian) but no-one was around to say hello to on either. I hate those anti-vandal padlocks in Berkhamsted. The northern version is much easier to use and I've done hundreds of them more without problems. This version cost me a BW key into the cut when I encountered a slightly sticking padlock - fortunately I was at the last lock with them fitted or I'd still be there, as needless to say there's nowhere to buy one. Good job I'd taken the precaution of removing it from my main keyring last night. Unfortunately I didn't have a suitable cork or string on board to make the inevitable accident less frustrating. In 30-something years of boating I've never seen anyone fly-fishing on a canal but I did last night at the top of Berkhamsted. Very odd. No idea if he caught anything though as I was still on the move. Right, back to it - no sleep til Paddington! Well, maybe a bit ;-) Steve NB Bream
