Various locks are being worked on and will be closed so we are trying to get through before they shut. Doing between 3 and 15 lock miles every day for 7 days to get from Aylesbury to Hemel Hempstead. One or two days were bitterly cold so we did not get far. Other days were bright n shiny so were able to make up distance lost. Last Sunday was one of those bright clear days as we made our way up the Marsworth flight of 7 locks. Lots of people out enjoying the sun and seeing our boats through the locks. The canal is deep and clear up on the summit pound going past the old Bulbourne Workshops where BW used to make lock gates.
Many summit pounds have tunnels to go through but this one has a deep cutting. Tree lined and sheltered from the wind. 3 ½ miles to the next lock at Cowroast. Or Cow Rest. Where cattle pens were provided for drovers resting their herds between the Midlands and London, long before the canal was built.
Next day headed down 7 locks into Berkhamsted where we stopped for lunch by the park. Another 10 locks in two days got us to Chaulden on the outskirts of Hemel Hempstead. Progress slowed waiting for ice to clear.
