Berkhamsted

The boater who had been moored on the water point when we arrived in Berkhamsted yesterday moved off this morning just before 8.30am.  This enabled us to reverse back and top up the water tank.  I also took the opportunity to dispose of our rubbish in one of the adjacent bins.  I did notice the standard CRT sign requesting hazardous waste (batteries, waste oil, etc) not be left.  This hadn’t stopped one or more boaters from leaving three 20 litre containers of waste oil.  <grrrrr>

Yesterday evening I went for a walk along Berkhamsted high street.  Some interesting buildings and a number of pubs.

The Crown

The Lamb

This one is a restaurant.  But the building looked interesting.  Apparently it’s the old town hall.

Not a pub.  Just an interesting building!

In 1066 William the Conqueror received the formal surrender of the Saxon State in Berkhamsted.

We left Berkhamsted around 9am and I will admit from the canal I thought the southern end of the town looked more attractive than the north.

Castle Wharf.  (Port of Berkhamsted) used to be a major canal terminus moving produce such as coal, grain, aggregate, timber manure and chemicals.  The construction of the canal also led to drainage of most of the surrounding area.

Jules fuel boat Southern Cross was moored above the lock but no one was aboard so we didn’t stop for fuel.

More pubs.  This time it’s The Boat

The last pub for the day was The Rising Sun.  It’s in a very nice location And is likely to be very popular on a balmy summer day.

We hadn’t gone far out of Berkhamsted when a couple walking the towpath caught up with us.  The male made a light-hearted comment about the “Aussie” flag on our stern and then mentioned the woman with him wasn’t his wife. A very pleasant couple and when they walked off ahead of us we happened to notice they were each wearing a large black sleeveless vest with the words “Waterway Chaplaincy” on the back.  From their comments it was obvious they were both local residents.