Inside and outside the M25

Over the last week we’ve spent a few days inside and outside the M25. The last few days we’ve been moored at Kings Langley, just down from my sister Louise’s house. It was lovely, she came for dinner straight from work last week and our niece Alice dropped in to show her nan, Linda, the boat on Saturday and then she took us back to their house for dinner. Louise noticed someone put a photo of our boat on the Kings Langley Facebook page on a frosty morning I guess just as we’d lit the fire as there was smoke coming out of the chimney.

Home Park bridge

Sun rise over the M25

Yesterday we caught the train from Kings Langley to Euston to attend the London City Orchestra’s autumn concert, Edmund plays double bass with them. It’s been 2 years since we last attended a concert he’s played in. Afterwards we had dinner at Pizza Express curtsey of Tesco rewards!! We got to London nice and early so we could have a stroll around Camden Lock Market and of course do some gongoozling too.

Hampstead Road lock

 

Camden Market hall

A couple of weeks ago we caught the National Express coach to Hitchin for the 4^th ‘Festiwool’, a lovely one day event that’s run by one of my friends from Hitchin Stitchin. We helped at the first one but have been off cruising the last couple of years. We had a look around the show and I got some wool tops and John got some needle felting equipment. I had a lovely long chat with the editor of ‘British Fibre Art Magazine’, she recognised me from last year’s Burscough Wool Festival, where we’d helped her carry her stock from her car to her stall. I caught up with quite a few friends that I’ve not see since we moved aboard. In the afternoon we manned the door. To top off an excellent day just as the coach was leaving the M1 at junc 8 we saw a barn owl catching his tea on the verge.

Poppy display by Hitchin Stitchin

Festiwool

We had a visit from Brenda (& Geoff) who I’d trained with at Edgware General Hospital way back at the beginning of the 1980’s. It’s so lovely meeting up with so many people we’ve not seen for so long.

We are stocked up with coffee beans as we were moored a few days by the back door of Smith’s Coffee Roasters, gosh the daily smell from there is amazing. Plus, we got 10 HUGE hessian coffee sacks which we’ll turn into rag rugs. 

Our neighbour

An perfect source of fire wood

 

Marsworth & Hitchin for knitting

We spent 5 days at Soulbury before heading further southwards. Last Friday I went to Hitchin Stitchin group, where I’d not been for 2 years. I hadn’t told anyone I was going just incase the 07.00 bus didn’t turn up (after our train episode last week). As I was at the bus stop I could see the stars in the sky, but a mist appeared over the canal and River Ouzel Valley. As a car headlights shone on my back I could see a my ghostly shadow in the mist as if I was hovering over the canal. I had such a lovely time knitting or should I say chatting and was forced to have lunch with Clare and she gave me a huge bag of her Bramley apples.

Saturday we had lunch at The Three Locks pub before the 7 of us plus Rossi, Dale’s parents Alsation all crammed into the boat for birthday cake and more drinks.

Sunday John put on his blue CRT volunteer clothes and headed up to lock keep with Dick as it was the last day of the volunteer season. As we’re going to be in the area until next spring he’s offered to do the locks when we’re there.

We moored in Marsworth for a couple of days. We walked into Tring around the reservoirs, whose levels are very low, I guess we need to wish for lots of rain so they fill up. Wednesday evening we spent in The Red Lion pub with the knitting group. All the other knitters there have permanent moorings at Marsworth and we’ve not seen the for 2 years too. It felt SO ODD leaving the pub & going to the boat instead to driving home. I think the weirdness of being near home/work’s going to take ages to get used to. Louise and Paul came for Sunday breakfast and to help us up Marsworth flight.

At the moment we're moored in Berkhamsted. We’ve had two stunningly beautiful winter mornings,Monday we waited for the mist clear before we set off as with the sun on it, we were blinded.

The water was so clear we could see the bottom.