Thursday 28th June 2012 Ramble 7: The Fishery Inn, Boxmoor to Northchurch lock

Thursday  28^th June  2012

Ramble 7:  The Fishery PH, Boxmoor Common to Northchurch lock (no. 49), a 5 mile walk. The weather was humid and sticky. Hugh, Margaret, Peter, Sue and Glynis came along too.

We re-joined the canal and immediately saw the high level of water; the lock at Boxmoor was overflowing. This was presumably after the recent heavy rainfalls and in contrast to about 3-4 months ago when boat movement was restricted due to lack of water.

Along here the canal is close to the River Bulbourne and cuts through the marshy Box Moor Trust land as does the West Coast mainline railway and A41 trunk road. We passed a group of children led by Box Moor Trust staff and went under Robert Stephenson’s girder arch railway bridge. 

Then Winkwell Wharf and the little swing bridge (mechanised in the 1980s) alongside the pretty, 16^th century Three Horseshoes pub came into view.

As we were still climbing up over the Chilterns, we regularly passed locks, some with unusual names e.g Sewer Lock,  Top Side Lock and stopped to have our picnic at Bottom Side Lock. There were several boats moving, probably due to the nice weather and we watched some go through the locks. One couple, with ‘antipodean’ accents, told us they were off to the Olympics having secured a mooring at Mile End.

We were soon entering Berkhamsted, with busy canalside pubs and recently-built urban development where previously there were wharves, mills and timber yards. One timber yard had connections with Canada resulting in a totem pole being shipped over and erected in 1968. 

Another surprise was seeing an orang-utan in a conservatory on the opposite side of the canal. Apparently it is lit up at night.

Near here we stopped for a while to have a drink at The Crystal Palace PH (so called, because it was designed by Joseph Paxton, who also designed the ‘other’ Crystal Palace)  so making a very leisurely walk.

 We finished at Northchurch Lock No. 49 where there is an unusual square brick building which we thought housed pumping equipment to maintain high water levels in this higher section of the canal. 

Saturday 9th June 2012 Ramble 6: Grove Mill to The Fishery Inn, Boxmoor

Saturday  9^th June  2012

Ramble 6: Grove Mill, North Watford to The Fishery Inn, Boxmoor Common .  The 6½ mile walk was on a cloudy and cool day.

Today we found that many people were out walking, jogging and cycling along the towpath. The weather wasn’t special but it was dry. It was a Saturday and this part of the canal is very close to the built up areas of Watford, Abbot’s and King’s Langley and Hemel Hempstead. We have called this the walk of bridges as there were many interesting ones along this part of the Grand Union Canal.

We rejoined the meandering canal close to Grove Mill; another building converted into flats that today were hidden behind trees (better in winter!).

The first bridge (No. 164) we came to was an elegant white stone bridge which has been much photographed. When, in about 1800, the Earl of Clarendon gave permission for the Grand Junction Canal Company to cut the canal through his park he insisted that this ornamental bridge was built. It was restored in 1987 by British Rail and now the road over the bridge leads to a 5-star hotel with Golf and Spa centre. It has hosted the Golf World Championships (2006) when Tiger Woods won and the England football team have practised there.

A little further on, and still in Grove Park, bridge No.163 was interesting as the towpath here passes from the right to the left of the canal. It is a lovely ‘turnover’ bridge that was built to allow the horse pulling to cross over without being unhitched from the boat. It has been described as looking like the folded sleeves of a sweater! It was hard to photograph.

Next, Hunton Canal Bridge was fascinating as the underside brickwork seemed to be diagonally across the span. Apparently, this skew arch bridge replaced an earlier one and was built in 1932. It allows the bridge to span the canal at an oblique angle.

We stopped near here for refreshments in Hunton Bridge, a lovely ‘island’ village surrounded by M25, A41 and the mainline railway!

Carrying on we soon went under the M25, at which point the traffic noise seemed to be quieter. The viaduct is long, imposing and takes the M25 across the River Gade valley and west coast mainline railway.

A little further on, after passing the odd sight of a dinosaur lurking in the adjoining bushes, we came near to King’s Langley.

Here there was another bridge undergoing reconstruction.

There is obviously more construction work planned at Nash Mills too.

At Dickinson’s Quay (the site of former paper mills), near Apsley on the outskirts of Hemel Hempstead, there are flats, restaurants and shops. There is a modern foot bridge that has you walking in circles!

We carried on until The Fishery Inn which is at Boxmoor and built so close to the canal. There are remnants of common land nearby and Hemel Hempstead railway station is not far away.

Thursday 31st May 2012 Ramble 5: Springwell Lock to Grove Mill

Thursday 31^st May 2012

Ramble 5: Springwell Lock to Bridge 165, near Grove Mill, North Watford.  This was a walk of just over 5½ miles on a fairly warm sunny day.

Springwell Lock is still within the Colne Valley Park so we rejoined the towpath in quiet, woody surroundings. Nearby are several lakes and reed beds. Some are where gravel was extracted, others old watercress beds. Now there are sailing and water-skiing lakes and quiet ones maintained as sanctuaries for wildfowl. 

The odd first thing we saw today was a large toy monkey swinging high on a disused industrial building on the far side of the canal. 

There were many canal boats permanently moored along here, many with their own gardens of herbs, vegetables and flowers.

We walked northwards towards Rickmansworth to Stockers Lock. Here we saw that one enterprising person had used their Diamond Jubilee bunting as a washing line. 

 

Also here, displayed at the front of the lock cottage, there is a collection of tools etc used in past. Stocker’s Lock had a house for coal tax collectors. Coal tax was collected as a toll going into London for 300 years up to 1890 according to information gleaned from websites.

 Near here is the boundary post between Hillingdon, London Borough and Hertfordshire.

 We were approaching Batchworth locks, an important stopping point in older trading days and spotted an interesting canalboat. It turned out to be ‘Roger’, the last wooden motorised narrowboat to trade on the Grand Union Canal and worked carrying coal until 1968. It became dilapidated and then was restored and is now used for educational purposes. Roger is the sole surviving example of a narrowboat built by Bushell Brothers of Tring, who constructed wooden boats between 1850 and 1950. 

Just here we saw a gaggle of geese taking their young out for maybe their first swim. This they did en masse with the adults fore and aft to protect.

At Batchworth Locks, on the outskirts of Rickmansworth, there is a Canal Centre housed in former stables. This area was busy with school children visiting and enjoying a ride aboard a canal boat, ‘Pride of Batchworth’ going through a lock. There is a shop and café here too. These are run by a Trust that also, each May, holds a large canal festival. 

After Rickmansworth the canal follows the course of the River Gade, a tributary of the River Colne and passes Frogmore Wharf where Tesco supermarket is now and yet more flats. This site was where WH Walker and Brothers Ltd once operated. Opened in 1905, the boatyard built and repaired large numbers of distinguished and hard-working wooden boats. 

The canal passes on the western side of Watford and goes through Cassiobury Park. This is a long stretch of wooded parkland which was once owned by the Earls of Essex. The 4^th Earl negotiated with the canal construction companies to achieve a landscaped, wider canal with ornamental bridges.  Incidentally, it apparently took a gang of 100 men a month to dig out one mile of canal using only pickaxes, shovels and wheelbarrows. It is very peaceful around here and we saw several herons.

 

 

We finished near to Grove Mill where there is a sharp bend in the canal.