Today's was not a new walk for me. I had done it with Joyce's group both last year (in May) and the year before (at the beginning of September), but I was keen to do it again later in autumn an Dawn wanted to do it again too.
This was the invite...
"Carolyn, Aidan and I are hoping to walk our Annual 14 mile route. on Saturday Oct 10th or 17th (depending on weather forecast). It a peaceful and enjoyable walk beside this winding river with 13 locks. Park at Grange Paddocks Leisure Centre CM23 2HH (toilets here) or a road nearby. Bring a snack/drink. We will stop for a cuppa and/or bacon sandwich about 5 miles in. The Trackside Diner is open for cash pre-orders only. A bacon or sausage or fried egg sarnie is £3.50 and hot drinks £2. Gino D'acampo (and his son) still work next door!!! Train back to Bishop's Stortford so face mask essential. "
This was our route - the same as both previous times, starting at the leisure centre and returning by train from Roydon. With the "rule of six" in operation, we walked in 2 groups, with the second group a few minutes behind us.
It was a little slippery in places and we got a couple of light showers, but were lucky with the weather as we encountered a couple of heavy downpours on our way home afterwards.
Here are just a few of my photos.
There are a number of new notice boards with interesting information along the walk. See my Flickr album for pictures of most of them. You can also read about it here.
We started along the towpath at Hockerill Cut, the beginning of the navigation.
These houses were designed to invoke the memory of the gasholders that were originally on the site.
There are plenty of birds on the river. This moorhen was just at the edge.
There are plenty of fish too, but you are not allowed to take them away...
There are 15 locks in total, although we only went as far as the 13th. This is South Mill Lock, the first one.
This is the list of them...
Dawn sw something break the surface of the water. Was it a huge fish? No. It was a cormorant!
We saw it dive and come back up several times before it flew off. Then we saw it in a tree drying its wings.
I hadn't noticed before, but the bridges are all numbered. Unlike the locks, though, they are numbered from the bottom of the navigation.
The flowers look pretty, but this is Himalayan Balsam, an invasive species, which, if unchecked, will take over the riverbank.
This highland cow enjoyed having his ears tickled.
The second group caught us up at the Trackside Diner.
No Gino today... he is here on Mondays apparently. We set off again... not half-way yet.
On of the display boards later in the walk talked about Black Poplars.
Joyce wondered if these were Black Poplars.
They look like it and the leaves were the right shape. This tree, near the sign later, is also one, I think.
We liked the decorations on this barge.
Crossing back over the canal to the other side.
We liked these signs.
We passed several fishermen angling fruitlessly. But here we saw a catch! It was a pike.
Two boats travelling up the canal together went past.
This seat had the phrase "anam cara" on it. We wondered what it meant. Well it says here it is Gaelic for "soul-mate".
Our second stop, after passing these ducks in a row, was at The Moorhen, where I had a nice pint of Greene King IPA. The cat took a liking to Dawn's corduroy trousers.
Only a couple of miles to go now. Mind your head!
We saw some longhorn cattle.
Another nice sign by the wayside.
All across the fields around here we saw a line of these concrete blocks. I can't find out anything about them... nor could the blogger find an answer with this post.
It looks like this person sat out for too long.
A boat was coming through this lock as we passed.
Our last lock was Roydon lock....
...and then it was the train back to Bishop's Stortford....
...and a final mile or so back to our cars.
That was lovely! Thanks Joyce for leading us and the others for the company.
You can see more details of our route here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.
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