Hertford

Here I am Rune

Distance 6.4 miles

Total 1955 Locks  90 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2749.8 miles

The weather held off and here we are in Hertford, the end of the Lee Navigation. There isn’t a lot in the way of moorings however and if we want to run the engine to recharge the batteries we will need to find somewhere else to moor since we are immediately outside of some residential properties who will be none too pleased at getting a house full of diesel fumes.

The final few miles to Hertford were relatively uneventful although there was potential!  The first lock we encountered was Stanstead lock at Stanstead Abbotts and it is notable by the fact that there are no side paddles, you fill the lock by opening the gate paddles. This can be an interesting effort since if you open the paddles too quickly your boat sinks! Initially tried opening the paddles gently but the lock hardly seemed to be filling so I then secured the bow to stop it swinging across the lock and quarter opened the paddle, the water came in with some considerable force but did then at least fill the lock.

Since we are quite close to a Waitrose we may get the weekend shopping from there tomorrow but at some point we will need to turn around, which leaves us with a high risk of losing our mooring space. If that happens we’ll go back to Ware to find a mooring.