leaving central london for Hertford

Monday 8th August
The whole world must have seen footage of the dreadful riots and looting in various parts of London, Camden being one of them    When we went into town, we saw many shops smashed and looted, fortunately we
 were reasonably safe as along the towpath where the boats are moored up, there are large steel gates at either end which were locked so only boaters can gain access to the boats. 
                                                                                                                                                        Tuesday  9th August.                                                                                                                          Weatherspoon have a steak offer night on Tues, so we decided to take advantage.  (for those who don't know, Weatherspoons are a large nation wide pub chain who offer very good value and quality with both food and drinks.)   We were seated at one of the windows overlooking the lock and market area and sadly watched pubs and wine bars boarding up their windows in anticipation of further trouble and looting by these morons.

Thankfully the anticipated trouble did not  happen, not in London anyway.

Wed 10th Aug.
We  went bramble picking to have with pancakes and ice cream for pudd tonight YUM YUM.   Got loads of brambles as well as some funny looks from people walking by on the tow path - Camden is known for it's diverse population and many strange looking people, so why we attracted attention I have no idea or, perhaps it could have been  the two large poles with hooks at the end and the large plastic bowl we carried with us. (waste not want not is what we say)

 Half were gone by the time I took this photo..........

Well  it looks as though things have calmed down so we have decided to set off and head for Hertford - about two days travel away.

We went through the Camden and St Pancreas locks, through the Islington Tunnel ( I love the tunnels, sort of  exciting and romantic in the silent dark with our rather impressive head lamp showing the way)

We were now on the Lee Navigation river and found the water level extremely low - we were to find out why later.......
We decided to moor up in a spot that looked safe enough along with 3 other boats.   The small town called Bow, in the hamlet of Tower was nearby.    The longish high street had lots of small independent shops - not one huge supermarket to be seen, wonderful.....not a bad place.
As we walked back to Merlot, a very old man was struggling to get his boat through the lock we were moored behind, shame man, I am not sure if traveling on a boat on your own at that age is such a good idea.  Trev gave him a hand in the lock and to moor up.  He did seem a game old stick - so sweet - aagh shame as they say in SA.

tying the rope around yourself is not really a good idea especially if you are not that strong but I guess he must know what he is doing (I hope)

Foi toch (another SA expression - means oh shame  and I am certain I have spelt it incorrectly.   He must have been in his 80ies at least.   Respect!!!!!!!!

Thurs 11th Aug
Happy birthday Harry xx
We woke up to find the boat tilting alarmingly  due to a significant drop in the water levels.  

Unfortunately this pic does not reflect how lopsided we were...
We set off  traveling past the Olympic stadium - work in progress.  

One stretch of water was so covered in green algae, it looked like a grass carpet with debris floating on top

                                                                                                                                                           Onwards past Tottenham, and on to the River Lee Navigation - again the water level was very very low with Trev having to be very careful navigating the river to avoid going aground.  
One lock had a lovely former lock-keepers cottage with a notice outside the front fence.  See for yourself.....

Inside was written................

We had no bounty chocolates but left a toffee crisp attached to one of our Fish Hoek holiday cottage cards - never miss an opportunity to advertise.
As we passed through Enfield, we saw smoke still coming from the Sony factory that had been raised to the ground during the riots.   We now found out why the water level's were so low - in more than one place firefighters pumped water from the river or canal to fight the fires.    They are still on standby as it will take days to completely extinguish the risk of hot spots re-igniting.

More free food - Whoo hoo - the persistent rain kept off long enough for us to pick some more wild fruit.  I am going to be busy making apple and bramble crumble or pie.   We also picked lots of elderberries - might have a go at some elderberry jam.

 Getting the best ones!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE FREE FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The downpour has relented, the sun is shinning and we are nearly in a place called Broxbourne on the Stort navigation river.   It looks like a beautiful part of the river....