Two's Company.

Hi Friends and Visitor's.

It has been the most splendid days cruising today.
My cold has almost gone thankfully. I seem to have stopped sneezing and now just have a rather runny nose. But I actually feel fine.
I did not sleep to well last night. Most of it was caused by the heat and the rest of it was caused by the rowdy guys, who were walking across the field behind us. They were obviously drunk and high on life or something else. They were very noisy and this was bothering me. I was sincerely hoping they kept away from our boat.
We were awake early, so I got up and made us a cuppa, which we enjoyed in bed, whilst discussing the coming weekends fun and games we are going to. We then got up and had breakfast.
So Having done all the usual morning stuff, I got the boat ready for today's off and whilst doing so NB Constable went past. No sooner they had gone into the distance, we were ready for the off, but we did not think we would catch them up to share the locks. We got to the first lock and they were just leaving it, but were very happy to wait for us at the next lock, which was very nice of them.

Marjorie, David and Eric were on a deadline, as they need to be back in Slough tomorrow (Wednesday) lunchtime, as David has to crew a pair of boats on the Severn. So we were on a mission to keep them going. David was walking between most of the locks, setting them along the way, whilst Eric and I worked the locks and Marjorie and Keith steered the boats. It worked like a dream until we got to Kings Langley Lock, which was when we got behind a Community Boat, this slowed up progress somewhat, because they were out on a day out. The lock was also filling extremely slowly, due to badly leaking lock gates. We now had a queue behind us now, this showed just how slow this lock was. In the queue was the Community Boat Belfast, which had a crew of children onboard. Yayyyy we had many hands to make light work. I got them working by helping to open and close the lock gates, they were having a wonderful time. For the crew of Constable losing an hour was a real downer, but we soon picked up the pace again, once we cleared the Community Boat. I should say we were not speeding or leaving lock gates open. We were cruising at normal cruising speed and making sure all paddles were down and gates were shut when exiting, we just made sure we did it economically and therefore were working at a pace. It was really lovely to cruise with a crew who knew what they were doing. It was a real laugh and lots of jolly banter was passed between us all. We had planned to stop above Lady Capels lock, but with no mooring to be had, we stayed with Constable and made it to The Grove, Cassiobury Park Watford, having done 6.2 miles, 12 locks, in 4hrs 10mins. We said our goodbyes to the Constable crew, hoping they would reach their destination in time.

We moored up just before Grove Mill, which an absolutely beautiful place. Cassiobury Park is Watford’s secret gem. not too far from the town centre, the park is a tranquil and relaxing place.

The Earls of Essex lived in Cassiobury House for more than 250 years.

As we cruised around a bend, a voice from a moored boat, enquired as to whether I was still sneezing. It was Barbara on NB Cloud 9, she has become a friend on my Facebook page. We never expected to see her, but was so pleased to put a face to the name. We decided that if we could get the boat in, we would moor up behind Barbara and spend the night. Hooray the boat came into the side and so we banged in our pins and tied up. After a chat with Barbara, we were in need of lunch as it was now 1.30pm and my stomach was really growling.

With lunch done, I went exploring with the camera and came up with a few delights.

I stood in the middle of a grass meadow and the only sounds I could hear, were the Skylark and the Grasshopper's. Getting this photograph of a Grasshopper was difficult, because they do not stay still very long.
Unlike this extremely beautiful Comma from the Nymphalinae Family. Ixt was more than happy to stay still for the photograph. I could have stayed in the meadow all afternoon, it was so sublime. But there was a cuppa calling my name. I spent the rest of the afternoon chatting to Barbara on her boat and on ours. So much to chat about, in so little time. I can honestly say that Barbara is a scream and a wonderful lady.
We have had dinner and are now watching a brilliant digital TV signal.... Note to self- Moor here again sometime.
So I am now off to take off my shoes, put my feet up and relax, after what has been an excellent day.