Day Twenty-Eight - Marsworth to Berkhamsted

After filling up with water we left Marsworth at nine o’clock and went straight to the Marsworth Locks of which there were seven in a row. It was a crisp, sunny morning and I needed to do some locks to warm up. There were very few boats on the canal today which meant we had to do most of the double locks by ourselves.
When we reached Northchurch Locks a British Waterways worker told us of vandalism at the locks overnight. Someone had opened up the paddles to some of the locks and this had flooded the lower lying areas of Berkhamsted where we were staying the night. The locks were overflowing and this made it difficult to open and shut them. We met Katie again and she was motoring along and doing the locks by herself as her friend had returned to London. She was joined at noon by her mother who came to help her with the locks for the day. We did a few locks together before we moored at Berkhamsted at two o’clock. We may see Katie again with the “Leaking Cauldron” at Reading as we pass through.
Henk and I spent the afternoon strolling around the impressive High Street of Berkhamsted with its wide footpaths. The town was bustling with people and had a great energy. It had an impressive range of shops including a Waterstones bookshop which we can never resist entering. Our canal guide described Berkhamsted as “Many fine buildings combine to create a favourable impression: the 16th century Monks House (now a French restaurant); the Town Hall (now a French Restaurant) and St Peter’s Church (which hasn’t become a French restaurant - yet!). We had a scrumptious afternoon tea at the Town Hall.
Since the start of our boating holiday I have been photographing the names of the boats. It’s is amazing the range of names we come across and we often wonder how a boat was given its name. There are those named after people such as “Charlotte“, “Elizabeth” and “Yvonne“, those named after Shakespeare’s characters on the Shakespeare Classic Line boat company such as “King John” and “Puck” and the more humorous ones such as “The Jolly Buccaneers“, “Dingo“, “Me and Er“, “The Water Rat“, “Lock and Roll”, “Don’t Panic”, “Rising Damp”, “Snuggly Buggly” and “Unowotzizname”. We have even passed a “Platypus”! A very apt one for us has been “Dunwirkin”.
It was a chilly night and for only the second time we have put on the oil heaters for about half an hour to warm the boat in the evening. As it’s not a big boat it doesn’t take much for the boat to be heated.
Photos: Early morning Marsworth; An overflowing lock; The name of a boat for the Bach family; Afternoon tea at the Town Hall, Barkhamsted.