B----r they blew it

7 locks, and 8 miles. Now moored at Lock 4 on the Stort Navigation.

UNBELIEVABLE!!!! The mighty All Blacks, the hot favourites, have been ousted by the French. Sacre bleu! Enough said.

Today we did a run up to Bishop Stortford to the river head waters where we stopped for short while to pick up supplies. The town is under going a major rebuild with a mall and apartment buildings being built around the city basin. We had been told by many people not to stay over night and from what we saw we were convinced with local youths using the BW facilities as a meeting place. Especially when a couple of them took an unhealthy interest in the value of the boat.

End of the line - Bishop Stortford on The Stort Navigation

As we are on a bit of a time schedule we headed back down river to our present mooring which is rural  but a bit noisy as we are under the flight path into Stanstead airport. At least there is a noise curfew so the planes don't go all night.

I had my usual fishing session which up until now has been totally hopeless having not caught a single fish on the river Lea or Stort. This afternoon my duck was broken with a small Jack Pike.

746 locks, 1043 miles, 29 Tunnels, 39 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

No comparison.

11 locks, and 8 miles. Now moored at Sawbridgeworth on the Stort Navigation.

Last evening after the engine cooled down it was down the engine hole to service the engine once more. I also changed the air filter as well because the present filter had been in use for nearly 12 months and was starting to look like something out of a coal mine.

Leaving the River Lea this morning and joining the River Stort was a big change as the 2 rivers are as different as chalk and cheese. This river is a lot narrower and twists and winds its way towards Bishop Stortford. For a start off the locks are wide locks BUT only 13 feet wide so you cannot get 2 narrowboats in simultaneously. Two of them are electrically operated but the gates are smaller and lighter than those on the Lea so locking is a lot easier.

Its amazing what you see walking along the towpath, these  2 porkers seemed quite oblivious to our presence. These chickens seemed to be quite happy in their free range environment. The farmer can shift the hen houses when required as they are of lightweight construction.

Along the way, yesterday and today, we were treated to some amazing flying by a couple of radio controlled model aircraft. Yesterdays model was a delta wing aerobatic model which the pilot put through its paces with stalls, barrel rolls, loop the loop and some high speed flying. The pilot was no novice that was for real. Today's model was something  slower along the line of a Cessna which flew very realistically to the real thing.

We stopped at Harlow lock for lunch but after talking to another couple we moved on to our present mooring which was recommended as being a delightful village. So far we have not been over awed by the place but we will investigate the place closer.

739 locks, 1035 miles, 29 Tunnels, 39 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

Heading toward the River Stort

4 locks, and 6.5 miles. Now moored by Ryehouse Station on the Lea Navigation.

We had glorious weather this morning to visit Hertford museum and the township itself. The town is like walking back through a time warp as the city father's have shied away from demolish and rebuild. Many buildings have been refurbished to the style of the period of the original builder or era. It was great to see the various styles of architecture within this quaint town which reminded me of what towns in Hertfordshire were like back in the 50's & 60's.

Hertford Castle

Towpath at Folly bridge in Hertford.

The museum was small but informative with several aerial photographs of the town in earlier days. There was also an Egyptian display, fossilized bones found around the district and a police and prisoner display with an armband made of leather and copper that youths from a reform school had to wear when out and about in town.

 

Cheeky squirrel! 

It is with some sadness that we read tonight that Mike Stevens of Felis Catus III had passed away yesterday. We met Mike at Rugby about a month or so back (see here) and have read many of Mike's articles in various canal magazines and he will surely be missed on the cut. Our deepest sympathy's go out to his wife Wendy and family.

Tomorrow its on to the River Stort on our way to Bishops Stortford for the weekend.

728 locks, 1027 miles, 29 Tunnels, 39 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

End of the run.

4 locks, and 6.5 miles. Now moored at Hertford on the Lea Navigation.

It was a misty morning when we started off this morning. There were a couple of other boats on the move one of which shared a lock with us. Unfortunately they were only going to Ware to do some shopping so we had to do the last 2 locks alone again. The locks and gates on the Lea Navigation are the biggest locks and heaviest gates we have struck to date. Unfortunately only 4 of the locks are electrically operated which make life easier. Part of the problem with the gates is the short balance beams which are offset to the gate.

When we reached the headwater of the river we winded and just squeezed in on the end of the 14 day moorings. A short walk and we found Tesco's to stock up before we attempt the river Stort.

Autumn's arrival?

724 locks, 1020.5 miles, 29 Tunnels, 39 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

Waltham Abbey

6 locks, and 6.5 miles. Now moored by Rye house station on the River Lea.

First job of the day was to go into town and visit Waltham Abbey and church founded by King Harold in 1066. We had been recommended to visit the Abbey by Geoff Cowan a follower of our blog who had been the organist at the church. We were quite lucky in that we had moored within a mile of the church. It turned out that today was also market day which was behind the church.

Upon setting foot in the church, the church verger,Ian Eaton met us and gave us a guided tour ( he also remembered Geoff). He was very knowledgeable and passionate about the history of the church and the Abbey, the latter just being an outline of what had been the inner and outer walls. The church is the fourth church to stand on this site dating back to 700AD and is only a quarter of the size of the Abbey. When the church had under floor heating installed in the 1980's workers found wooden foundations dating back to the first church.

When Henry the eighth ordered the destruction of all the Catholic monasteries Waltham was the last to go as one of Henry's personal staff had family involved with the Abbey. Parishioners in the area petitioned the king to retain the original church which had been incorporated into the Abbey. The king granted their wish and the church was saved. The only problem was that the church tower was weakened when the Abbey was demolished and it collapsed probably due to the weight of the bells within the tower. A new wall was built with a beautiful stained glass window depicting the 7 days of Gods creation of man and beast.

The present tower was rebuilt at the opposite end of the church to help support that wall as somebody had removed 2 arch ways and windows were changed. Somebody wanted to try and recreate a Gothic look but in doing so weakened that end of the building. The tower was built from materials salvaged from the demolished Abbey.

Waltham Abbey was founded by King Harold in 1066 and his grave is shown below, now in the Abbey grounds but originally in the Abbey that was demolished.

The Abbey was founded by King Harold in 1066, his grave is in the Abbey grounds, originally it was in the part of the Abbey demolished.

After leaving the church we checked out the market for fresh veges before heading back to the boat. It was late morning before we got under way but as there are not many other boats on the move we had a long slow cruise as Dot had to shut both gates and paddles of most of the locks before we could enter. Why do these lazy so and so's even bother to cruise at all, they leave the hard work for someone else. During the last few days on this river we have found most of the 14 days moorings full of liveaboards who are obviously outstaying their visits. I know it is now October but there are genuine continuous cruisers such as ourselves that want to moor up too. British Waterways seems to be letting out more and more of the visitor moorings to winter moorers. Little Venice they were joustling for positions on the unmarked winter moorings and supposedly paying BW 1600 pounds for the winter privilege. Now you ask me! Where are we to go?

At Feilde's Weir lock we met 2 boats heading in the same direction as us but had stopped below the lock to water up. Just as we were about to leave the lock one of the crew on the boats below the lock came up and said to me " I hope you are not going to moor up by those other boats as that is my mooring " To this I replied " Your mooring? They are 14 day visitor moorings" To this he merely replied "Oh OK" and walked off. What a bloody cheek! Any way when I got to the mooring it wasn't that good so we pressed on to our present mooring which is much better.

720 locks, 1014 miles, 29 Tunnels, 39 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

Nature's bounty.

5 locks, and 7 miles.  Now moored at Waltham Abbey on the River Lea.

We started the day by drifting across the river to the water point opposite. While waiting for the tank to fill, it was pretty low, we had a late breakfast. The weather was not looking too brilliant but it was dry.

It was not long after we set off when we saw the local bus service depot. Behind the building was an assortment of old Routemasters and single deckers, one of which was an old Greenline bus that used to do the long distance country route's back in the 1960's. They brought back a few memories.

By the time we had travelled the first mile the rain arrived and steadily got worse. One ray of sunshine was an apple tree at Ponders End lock on the towpath. All the reachable apple's had been picked but it's amazing what you can do with a fishing landing net with an extendable handle. You can shake the apple's off and catch them at the same time. Stewed apple and custard for pudding tonight, yummee. There is still plenty left for tomorrow as well.

Not the most interesting of landscapes so far!

By the time we reached Waltham Abbey we decided we had done enough for the day and we had been welled drenched with the rain, enough is enough.

714 locks, 1007.5 miles, 29 Tunnels, 39 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

What a lovely place

Still moored at Stonebridge lock on the River Lea.

After a lovely peaceful night we decided to stay put today as we had been warned about a lot of canoe's and kayak's being on the water on a sunny week-end. The latter turned out to be true as the hire centre opposite was doing a roaring trade in canoe hires.

There has only been 3 boats pass through here today but the towpath has been busy with cyclists and walkers.

As it was a warm sunny day I took the opportunity to do a bit more painting on the outside of the boat because there won't be many fine days like today until next spring.

We are starting to reach a few milestones now with covering a 1000 miles  and the anniversary of our first year is only a fortnight away. What a year it has been.

709 locks, 1000.5 miles, 29 Tunnels, 39 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006