Watford to Apsley, 5 miles, 12 locks
Well my prediction was about right: set off at 9:15 and stopped at the water point in Apsley just after 3pm. In order to conserve 'toilet inches' I had a cup of coffee and a banana for breakfast, but I only lasted until just after noon. Fortunately that was good enough and now I'm at Apsley I've emptied the loo and filled the water tank. I've also cleaned the filter on the water pump, because I'd noticed that it wasn't stopping as promptly as it used to. Of course, that could be an pressure thing. If I wasn't using the most basic eTrex GPS to tell me my speed, I'd know my altitude, which must be decent as this stretch of canal is basically climbing up the Chiltern Hills and the summit at Tring is 395ft above sea level.
Half of todays locks I did by myself, but from Lock 71 at Abbots Langley I was accompanied by the South Hertfordshire Narrowboat Project community narrowboat. This was full of very well behaved kids in life jackets and unbelievably relaxed grown-ups. The skipper was from Mexico and was taking the boat out for a week as a break from the rat race. Reckoned that the pace of life on the canals was roughly what he was used to back home and that he needed it to charge his batteries. Mexico sounds like my kind of place.
Jan is coming round with my new Maplin Solar Regulator. This is a gizmo that goes between Oothoon's solar panel and the batteries, and makes sure that they don't get cooked. I need one because the new inverter/charger that Sterling have sent me doesn't have a solar regulator built-in like the old one did. I have bought one of these before, but in a moment of distraction I wired the battery to it the wrong way round. It claims to have 'reverse polarity protection', but the smell of melting electronics told me otherwise. Naturally that was the last one anywhere in the UK and I've been waiting for Maplin to get them in again so I can fry^H^H^Htry again. Bet this isn't going to be simple.
Dunno where I'm going tomorrow. I've been warned not to stop in Berkhamstead, where the kids think it's funny to set boats on fire, so the next nice place is Cow Roast, which is also the start of the Chiltern summit level. Nicholson's is telling me that it's 20 locks away and the BBC is saying that it's going to rain, so I stand no chance. On the other hand, there's the swing bridge at Winkwell to operate, so that's something to look forward to.
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