Tuesday 8th June

I was firstly woken up by a cuckoo :-) then by the rain :-( We left Northchurch about 11am, it wasn’t worth leaving any earlier cos of the rain. We went through three locks then stopped for lunch in Berkhamsted and a trip to Waitrose which is right beside the canal but doesn’t have access like the Tescos we have found! We left Berkhamsted in a hurry as there was another boat coming down towards the lock which meant that we could share the locks. We went through one lock and the other boat stopped to go to the pub! We then did ten locks on our own most of which were against us. Richard and I shared to lock operation today which was just as well as there were fourteen in total. There was one swing bridge which was electrically operated – Richard had a few problems trying to work out how to operate it! We are now very much in suburbia – very different to what we have been used to. We moored up for the night in Hemel Hempstead, not sure whereabouts but it was next to a nice park! There was quite a few heavy showers during the afternoon – just enough to soak us! Not a very interesting day really!