We have just embarked on a year-long journey on our narrowboat 'Perros', around the canals of the UK. We started on Friday 1st of June. From Saturday 2nd to Tuesday 5th was a national holiday in the UK to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee and sadly most of the holiday was wet and cold so a lot of people had to put up with it raining on their street parties and festivities. We had a lovely send off from our marina on Friday mooring. We had made some lovely new friends there and they threw a little party for us. We got to Harefield near the marina and stayed there for the first night. There was a pub there but it looked a bit dubious so we had a drink on board.
On Saturday we travelled a short distance to Croxley Green passing through some very pretty countryside. We left there on Sunday morning and cruised through drizzle to Hunton Bridge, a pleasant little village with 2 pubs and a shop. In the Kings Head we encountered a jubilee party that had been rained off and lots of excited little children were running around inside the pub. The Dog and Partridge did not live up to it's advertisements and was quite empty and forlorn. Walked quite a long way, getting lost in the process, to get a chinese takeaway for that evening.
The next morning went for a walk in some nice woods near Hunton Bridge then left in the rain to get to Kings Langley. Kings Langley is a small and pretty country town on the edge of the Chilterns. It has 2 nice pubs, the Rose and Crown (a bit posh) and the Saracens Head (unpretentious locals' boozer - more our kind of place!). The sun came out briefly while we were in Kings Langley and we went for an Indian meal in the evening.
We left Kings Langley on Tuesday morning and cruised a short way to the edge of Hemel Hempstead. Went for a lunchtime drink in the Red Lion. Advertised wi-fi but I couldnt get it on my ipad and the pub was empty and quite desolate. We walked back to the boat as people from a block of flats opposite were trying to be jolly at a communal jubilee party in the rain. On Wednesday the holidays were over. I did 2 hours painting then we pulled the boat back to the lock to get water. Then we travelled through 3 locks through Apsley, which seemed a very nice place. Apsley marina is managed by BW and surrounded by cafés and restaurants - looks very nice but is very pricey. Now we are in the Frogmore End of Hemel Hempstead.
