Seven of us met up at about 10am on Saturday 21st September at Cow Roast between Berkhamsted and Tring. There had been a yellow weather warning during the week for rain and lightning during the day on Saturday which we had monitored closely. The weather gods must have been shining on us because as we arrived the clouds parted and it remained fair and warm all day with no rain!
We were all parked up and ready to paddle by 10:15 and after a short safety briefIng and bit of individual warming up we were on the water at 10:30. The water quality was surprisingly good and the bottom of the canal could be seen. We paddled down the Grand Union Canal towards Tring for about two and a half miles before turning left just after the Grand Junctions Arms at the Bulbourne and up the Wendover Arm to the Winding hole where barges can usually turn round. A quick dose of sugar in the form of Jelly Babies gave us all the energy to paddle the last one and a half miles to the end. This stretch is rarely used by barges and is therefore undisturbed and many fish could be seen. It is a beautifully tranquil stretch of canal.
We passed the flour mill and shortly afterwards there was a feed of moving water into the canal. Tony promptly tried to have a quick play but scared the water and it immediately stopped.
We continued on towards the end of the Wendover arm where our plans were slightly scuppered by the last 200m being drained so we walked to the end of the navigatable part which gave us all a chance to stretch our legs before setting off back towards the Grand Union Canal and Bulbourne Junction where we stopped for a much needed lunch at about 1:15.
Re-energised we headed back along the Grand Union towards Cow Roast. We followed a large Heron which appeared remarkably tame and with one stop for another Jelly Baby infusion of sugar arrived back at the start just after 3pm.
All agreed a lovely paddle along the canal especially as there were no locks to portage along the whole stretch.
