The Stockers Afloat - 2002
Itinerary :-
Day 1 Pear Tree Bridge to Slapton Lock - 8 locks
Day 2 Slapton Lock to Marsworth Junction - 16 locks & 1 swing bridge
Day 3 Marsworth Junction - Fisheries Lock - 17 locks & 1 electric swing bridge
Day 4 Fisheries Bridge to Cassiobridge Via Stockers Lock - 28 locks
Day 5 Cassiobridge to Winkwell Top Lock - 18 locks & 1 electric swing bridge
Day 6 Winkwell Top Lock to Cow Roast - 15 locks
Day 7 Cow Roast to Horton Lock - 13 locks & 1 swing bridge
Day 8 Horton Lock to Pear Tree Bridge - 11 locks
Total 126 Locks and 4 swing bridges (2 electric)
We set out from Pear Tree Marina in Milton Keynes onboard the BBC Club narrow boat "Savoy Hill" on Easter Saturday aiming to get to Stockers Lock just north of Harefield, Middlesex. Roger Stocker steering, Trish Stocker on the locks, helped by Emma & Tim with Doris Stocker making sure we had all the necessary nourishment to make the journey. We left on the first day at just before noon, getting to our planned overnight stop near Slapton Wharf. The weather was quite nice with plenty of sun. Leaving our mooring at around 9 am we stopped about 1 hour later for breakfast, tying up none too securely as whilst finishing the last rasher of bacon we noticed that the front of the boat had drifted away from the side and we were now at a 45 degree angle with the bank! Soon corrected just as a boat came the other way I’m sure they have seen it before. Lunch was from the portable BBQ with my sisters family by the side of the canal, the weather was a intermittent drizzle with not much sight of the sun. We were fortunate to link up with another narrow boat the climb the series of 7 locks to the Tring summit, this helped no end. We moored for the night just up from the pub. The Monday dawned with a mainly blue sky, setting off towards Cow Roast at just after 9 am, 2 miles plus without a lock, most unusual for this area. At the lock we linked up with another boat going as far as the boat yard in Berkhampsted. Much easier to do the locks with 2 crews. We moored for the night just by the fisheries pub which we regretted slightly as they have a no children policy in the pub which meant that we had to site outside to eat our meal, it was not that warm!
Click on the picture to enlarge.
On Tuesday morning I had doubts that we would make Stockers Lock (for this day marked the mid point in our week when we would have to start returning). Due to the high number of locks on this stretch of canal (10+ through Hemel Hempsted) I kept a look out for other boats heading our way, again we were lucky to be able to share the next 8 hours with another boat going all the way to Hertford 20+ locks later we made it to Stockers Lock, and a very nice place it is too!! The next turning place was after the next lock so this added 2 more locks to our grand total so far. Returning through the lock we took many pictures to record this event.
We moored just north of Watford for the night in Cassiobury Park at just before 8 pm. A long but good day. The weather had been warm and sunny, time for the shorts and T shirts, summer had arrived. We hung around for a while Wednesday morning but saw no boats going our way so we were on our own. Even stopping for breakfast failed to find another boat going north..so on our own. This time we moored by a very nice pub in Winkwell called the Three Horseshoes just by a electric swing bridge. Very nice and peaceful.
Another fine day of warm sunshine. Thursday was a real summers day with clear blue sky. The boat pub on the canal in Berkhampsted looked well worth a visit. Indeed is was really nice sitting out on the terrace and it was almost difficult to drag ourselves away, which we did when we saw another boat going our way. We shared the work all the way to Cow Roast where we moored together for the night, setting next morning together just after 10 am.
This meant that we were able to share the series of 7 locks. We said our farewells when we stopped for lunch at a pub just off the canal. The night was spent by Horton Lock just south of our first nights stop at Slapton. The next day saw a chilly breeze which meant that it was on with the fleeces and careful with the wind on the steering. My friend Dave Renwick met us just south of Leighton Buzzard for the trip back to base, after a quick pint of Ruddles at the Globe it was straight back to Milton Keynes arriving at 5.30 pm. We worked it out that we had been through 125 locks in the 7 days, taken off some paint from the boat but had a good time.
