Whiled a little while in Watford and then whiled away

Monday 9th August to Sunday 15th August

5 Miles, 15 Locks – for this week

Totals: 83 Miles 98 Locks, 2 Tunnels, 3 Swing Bridges

The clear intention of this week was to not move anywhere at all – I wanted to spend the week down in Watford and be able to start and hopefully finish a number of tasks that I had down on my To Do List.

I also wanted to get as much work (that’s paying work) done as I could, as there is a great amount that I have started and which is much longer term stuff – hopefully this week I can finish some and make a great dent in the remainder.

That is the intention – I will have to wait and see how they end up.

Tuesday was an extremely fruitful day in my quest for this week – I have finished turning the bed around – now have a 190cm x 137cm bed (for the imperial minded that is 6’3” x 4’6”) – it is a little bit tighter fit around but suits my height much better – so that is now done.
The weather was fantastic for ducks – it really did rain all day – didn’t stop boats moving and moving faster than they should – in a hurry to get to where they are going without ANY consideration for moored boats.
Workwise it was a pleasing day – plenty did get done.

Although I am not the seasoned liveaboard just yet and haven’t travelled all of the waterways yet – I am going to be surprised if there is a lovelier lock setting than this one in Cassiobury Park – Lock 77 and Bridge 167 – I think it will take some beating.

Weatherwise, if you were someone looking forward to enjoying some sunshine in this English summer then this week would have been sadly disappointing for you – essential outdoor wear was the wet-weather gear and umbrella.
As it was this is perfect weather for me and the ducks – love the rain and there has been a lot of it.

Maggie and Paddy came over on Thursday to give the boat a lookover

Paddy thought that he might be able to catch dinner – fishing from the back of the boat – he caught a fairly small bream, but by the time I managed to get the camera and position it for his attempt to kiss it, the fish had decided this was enough and jumped out and back into the water. But did get an after-the-fish-got-away photo

Well Saturday arrived and I felt that it was time to move northwards – so set off late morning and travelled only a relatively short distance but will be trying very hard to keep to short travel days. The rain continued in heavy bursts and I was fortunate only to get caught in one, but the coat was drenched through but I was not.

One of the many bursts of rain

Very nice weather for Sunday’s short cruise to end on the northern end of Hemel Hempstead; met a lovely German family over here for 2 weeks of cruising – the two boys were keen to look after the locks and in the interests of appeasing others – I let them. Another pair of boaters Peter and Bill accompanied for the earlier locks – Bill, according to Peter was around the 80 mark – he certainly looked mighty good for those years and able to handle the work of the locks with just a little help – after all they are all double locks.

In looking back on the week that was, plenty of work was achieved, some work on the boat (the rest will get done sometime), a relaxing time overall – yes I would say starting intentions achieved.

one for Diane to remember what i look like