On to Cheshunt

A rather long cruising day for us however we wanted to at least reach Waltham Abbey as Les (nb Valerie) had told us the River Lea is more interesting from this point onwards.  We Jan did a total of eight locks and I think she might have been pleased but then disappointed when only the first two locks were fully electric .

Three tall boats were moored above Tottenham Locks on the off side.  Pity about the pylons!

I happened to see the following notice on the lock cottage fence. 

A well maintained sign and fence although I fear Alfie will be sorely disappointed with our passing

The temporary sign on the lock beam had us puzzled.  I thought geese could fly?  If they can, then why wouldn’t they fly beyond the lock?

This part of the river gave the appearance of being almost rural but a quick look at the map confirmed it’s an illusion.  We are still in an urban area.  It’s the reservoirs to the east that supply London with water creating the rural impression.

Plenty of towpath walkers enjoying the weather.  Jan received some prolonged and serious questioning at one lock.

We passed two boats with NZ names.  nb Auckland also had the four red NZ stars on the side (the Southern Cross) and then we passed nb Rangatira.

There used to be a NZ inter-island ferry named Rangatira.  I don’t think I’d want to attempt the rough passage across Cook’s Strait on this Rangatira!

We stopped on the facilities mooring at Waltham Abbey to top up the water tanks.  Whilst that was happening I cleaned all the bird droppings off the roof and Jan bought a couple of ice creams from the nearby shop.  Waltham Town Lock was against us so Jan emptied it and opened the gates.  She then started to work Waiouru up when a boat appeared from the opposite direction.  The crew seemed to be doing all sorts of things to kill time rather than assist with the lock.  Amusing really as we were not in a hurry and are quite happy to work the lock on our own.  We gave then a cheery wave goodbye and headed north only to be flagged down by a man in a small zip boat.  His outboard was overheating and he wanted a tow.

What an interesting fellow Richard is.  He owns four boats, including a large boat moored in Limehouse Basin at £1200 per month.  He’s a marine engineer and has done so much.  I couldn’t hear the rest over the sound of Waiouru’s engine.

Apologies for the lateness of the last two posts.  The strength of the internet signal over the previous two evenings has been very poor.  Must be the school holidays.