Rickmansworth to Harefield.

Monday 21^st April.

Having already posted for the weekend, I thought I would just tag this onto today, which is my Birthday, arghhhhhhhh another year older, but also another year wiser he he he.
Yesterday (Sunday) having had lunch, we were glad to see the sun finally poking through. We had been stood out on the towpath talking to Mike and his friend from the Canal Centre, when we decided that we would move the boat down to Harefield as the afternoon was so nice, but first we moved over to Frogmoor Wharf to do a shop at Tesco.
Having done the shopping we moved off at 2.20pm to make the short journey to Harefield where Keith’s sister and husband live. As we headed off we noticed two boats following on behind one of which was Pisces’ the boat which Hadar is modelled on, along with her was NB Spirit of 57 another youth boat from the same place as Pisces’, they had been out with a group of youngsters for the weekend.
As I worked the first lock we were joined by Spirit of 57, to share the lock and the work

The joy of this situation was the youngsters on the boat were more than happy to do the work, so I climbed down the lock ladder back on to the boat and left them to the hard graft LOL. They were a lovely group of boys and really polite.

The farm after Stockers Lock is famous for being in the film Black Beauty, it is still a stables. I was a huge fan of Black Beauty when I was somewhat younger than I am now, but I still enjoy watching the film even now when it comes on, it is a real classic.

We then passed by a disused factory with its gorilla. Yes I lie not it has a gorilla hanging from it. Goodness knows how long it has been there. I know we walked down this way back in 2001/2 and it was there then. Someone was either brave or stupid enough to climb up onto the rafters and hang him up there. It is however sad that the factory is in such a state. Something else we remembered was the fact that now the moorings there are all permit holders only, that was not the case when we walked along this stretch before.Springwell Lock and once again the youngsters did the lock work, and very good they were too. There used to be watercress beds near by but they have long since gone and now it is a stretch which interests naturalists, because of the large variety of plant life. Orchids have been found in the adjacent chalk pits from time to time. I said before about the different boats we have seen on the Grand Union Canal and we saw another which interested Keith
It was a converted Thames Lighter, the reason it interested Keith was because his grand father was a lighterman on the Thames and would have used boats like this.We arrived at Coppermill Lock and the end of the journey for Pisces’ and Spirit of 57 they were now home; we however had the lock to do so we could find a mooring. Just below the lock is where canoeists practice on a slalom course of rough water which can push the boat across the canal.
We left them and went under the road bridge past the Coy Carp pub and hey presto we found ourselves a mooring at 4.15pm, so a short day for us LOL.We sorted ourselves out before walking up to see Keith’s sister and husband, also at the house were Keith’s other sister and brother-in-law who came to see us at Hunton Bridge, plus their daughter and son-in-law with their new baby daughter, who is absolutely gorgeous and was very good considering all the strange people who were coming and going. We spent a lovely afternoon nattering with the family. The evening was spent having dinner with Keith’s sister and husband it was no nice to catch up with everyone.