We awoke to a frosty morning and the canal was steaming. Today turned out to be the best weather of the trip, with sunshine almost all the way. Our last cruising day this trip. A fairly typical day on home waters. The crowds were out at Cassiobury Park in Watford, so we had plently of onlookers to amuse with our curious downhill locking techniques which involve bow hauling the boat out of the locks to close the gates and rejoin the gliding boat as it passes the lower landing. Amazingly we got to Harefield at about 17:00 hours. The car battery was of course as flat as a pancake in spite of my latest modification of a larger solar panel. I think the weather has been so miserable for the last month that it would contribute little. So, battery out, install it in the back of the boat with a couple of jump leads and charge it up for an hour.
So - we made it back four days ahead of our planned schedule pretty well exhausted. No prizes for that, but it illustrates to me how hard the life of a working boatman must have been because I am sure they worked a lot harder than that. We also know what we can achieve if we have to in future. We are looking forward to our summer trip to the Preston Brook IWA Festival when we will have time to stop at all the interesting places we have passed on the way home this time.
Comments