Cold cruising

6 locks, and 2 miles . Now moored at Abbots Langley 

As we set off this morning going through the first lock I was accosted by a guy who told me not to leave the lock gates open when we left. It appears that he was a member of the Watford fishing club and they had just spent £20,000 restocking the pound above lock 77 which is members only and they didn't want fish going through the lock into the lower pound  which is open to day ticket holders. Couldn't have them catching the prize fish now could we (chuckle!). I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, didn't they tell the fish not to go into the lock!

The other bit of news that he imparted was that the club had sold the nearby Rousebarn lake which I have fished many times as a member of that self same club. Apparently it was to be turned into a marina along with some of the old water cress beds which adjoin the lake. In the next breath he was complaining about the amount of boats, especially commercial boats, on the canal which had interfered with a recent fishing competition leaving no places for the fisherman to fish. He gave me the impression that he thought the canals were for fisherman not boats. Yer right!

We have now moved up to Abbots Langley just above bridge 162. We are sandwiched between the A41, M25 and the main trunk railway line but its not too noisy. After mooring up we went for a walk up into the village of Abbots Langley where my grandparents on Dads side of the family used to live. The place hasn't changed much where they lived but the village has grown.

Going back to yesterdays blog, I should explain that the picture of a new white coloured building with railway lines going into it is in fact an unloading shed for London Concrete. They bring the various aggregates in by rail using a new set of sidings and the pictured building. Once the wagon is inside the building it is unloaded into a deep pit and a conveyor belt then carries the aggregate into storage bays in another part of the plant. It is good to see another company using alternative transport other than road transport.

The other thing I forgot to mention yesterday was that there was a market in full swing in St Albans but with a big difference. All the stall holders were from Holland and France selling cheese, salami's, bratwurst, soap, hand crafted toys and very fresh vegetables from Brittany. Probably the freshest vegetables we have seen since we arrived in the UK 13 months ago.

 825 locks, 1137.5 miles, 33 Tunnels, 39 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006