Watford staircase

We arrived at Watford staircase locks quite early in the morning and expected to have to wait for the lock keeper to turn up. We didn't realise that there is no lock keeper on during the winter months and as the locks were mostly in our favour, the whole passage took just 35 minutes.
The locks had been closed for part of December and we were pleasantly surprised that the work had also included stripping away all the foliage growth in and around the side ponds.