Moving again - Another short hop

(With both boats - posted by Alan

A slightly obstructed approach into our first lock of the onward journey.

Having the boats in Berkhamsted at least gave us the opportunity to spend time on them in easy reach of our home.  Thus we could both support Michael as required, but also do a few tasks on the boats, as well as simply keeping an eye on them.  Some nights we managed to be aboard, others we were at home.

One disadvantage of the part of Berkhamsted we initially moored in is the masses of bird poo that descend on the boat from the trees that overhang the moorings.  This seems to be from birds that turn out a particularly unpleasant variety, and which quickly becomes remarkably difficult to remove from paintwork.  No sooner do you get most of one lot off than another arrives.  Eventually after a few days an adequate space opened up a short way further forwards, and we were able to shuffle the boats far enough to make the problem far less bad.

Second lock - the "Upper Gas" lock.

I'll not go into too much detail about attempts to clear part of the main cabin roof where paint has been peeling off, and to get it into primer.  Suffice it to say that on a day where rain was only forecast as a vague possibility, shortly after I had finished painting the heavens opened on to paint that was still completely wet.  Minutes later torrents were running ovr it, and the wet paint was under at least a centime of running water.

After about five days in Berkhamsted we judged that Michael could survive without us for a few days, and because of other planned commitments we really did need to get the boats back to their home moorings.  So we loaded up again with all that we needed to move two boats together, (and that included David!), and set off on the first available evening for another short hop up to Cow Roast.

Berkhamsted to Cowroast
Miles per boat: 2.9, Miles both boats: 5.9, Locks:7
Total Trip Miles: 162.0, Locks: 106