Quite taken with the Lee.

For the first time in ages we heard rain beating down on the roof at 5.30am, but a quick look at the forecast promised drier weather later. So once Jade had been walked we set off for Picketts lock. Most of the locks from here on are manual, just need some muscle power as the gates are VERY heavy .We did have one lock that needed buttons pushing due to the lack of balance beams on the bottom gates. No room for them as the road and wall got in the way.  It's been one of those quiet days for us, no mishaps, moans or loose boats, which makes a change. All in all its been a lovely day cruising the Lee. Once moored at Nazeing Marsh I went with Jade to find somewhere she could have a swim. She was really hot and uncomfortable and swimming helps with her back. The only place was by a fishing peg and she had a bit of a leap of faith to get in but boy did she love it. On the way back, and as I rounded a corner, there, staring at me, was a muntjac deer. For once no camera and I usually always have my camera so I was really mad at myself for not taking it with me. Still maybe there will be another opportunity at some point. As I only took a few pictures on route, this post wont be as long as normal.

Last nights mooring Nr Tottenham Marshes

Ponders End mill stream

Enfield Lock with resident pigeons nesting in the lock gates

Rammey Marsh lock

Lock cottage by Picketts lock

And finally:-

 brown marmorated stink bug

Not often we have to reverse out of a lock

Lovely early morning start with glorious sunshine to aid us on our way. All to soon we came to Old ford lock which was in use with a C&RT pusher, pushing a very large barge. After this lock was the very sharp L hand turn into Hertford Canal. I had hoped to do it in one go but didn't anticipate the curtain of willow hanging down completely obscuring my vision. I managed to miss hitting the side by the skin of my teeth and after a bit of reverse manged to get into the junction.

The willow tree branches was overhanging the turning point. Junction on the left.

Heading for the wall!!!

 The locks on this arm was very slow to fill and all but one was empty and had to be filled. In the middle pound I watched the bottom getting rather near to the top as water rapidly disappeared to fill that lock. Keeping in the middle was the only option as trying to get on the lock landing was impossible.

View of the Gerkin from Hertford Canal. It is really 30 St Mary Axe, widely known as The Gerkin and situated on the former site of The Baltic Exchange. At 180 metres tall, it is the second tallest building in the City of London

Graffiti by Hertford bottom lock

This is why it was full

 All to soon we entered the river Lee and first thing to notice was the Olympic park. I must say the first section was full of new development and loads of moored boats along the route. There were spaces available and we have earmarked several for on the way back to go and explore the Olympic site.

Olympic Park

Loose boat only held on by the front rope.

  The first few locks on the river have either manual locks on one side and automated on the other. At the first lock, Tottenham lock, we paired up with Nb Sunflower and all went reasonably well. Buttons were pushed and the hydraulics responded. Not so on the next lock, Stonebridge lock. Sunflower went in first, roped up and waited for me to arrive. Ian got off to take the rope and that's when things went a bit pear shaped. The lady on nb Sunflower pressed the buttons to close the gates and then tried to open the paddles on the top gates. A lot of whirling noise but nothing happened. Ian went round to see if he could help and noticed the bottom gate paddle on the east side still up. So they tried to close it by pushing the button. Nothing! they then opened the gates, closed them again and tried again. Nothing. A phone call to C&RT to report the situation and all that was left for us do was reverse out and enter the west lock which was manual. Boy are these manual locks hard work. Ian and the lady struggled with the gates that have to be shut using the windlass. A lever then has to be pulled out so the paddles can be opened, again winding it with the windlass. Ian was utterly exhausted by the time he had got us up. Then Sunflower disappeared onto the facilities leaving Ian to wind down the paddles and then wind again to close the gate. By now he was on his last legs and we did no more then find a secluded spot so Ian could recover. We have decided to have a BBQ tonight as the weather is still good and the walks round her are excellent. Fishing's not bad either!

Stonebridge lock

Paddle not closed properly

The gentleman on Sunflower phoning C&RT

Now in the west side manual lock

Ian closing one gate and having to walk round to do the other. Poor lad should have had 3 Weetabix for breakfast!

I did feel so sorry for this Heron. Wonder how he damaged his wing.

Looks soooo dejected.

And finally:-

Cormorant

A bit of a list

Woke up this morning to a sever list to Starboard. The water had dropped by a good foot and as the water is exceptionally clear we could see that a shelf near the bottom was causing our problem. The photo of our boat didnt really show the whole picture so I walked along to find a better view of another boat.

The saga of our water pump continues. With Ian having removed the water pump last night we were unable to charge the batteries. Consequently last night we saved as much battery power as possible by only having one light on ( it is a LED light so more energy efficient ) and only putting the TV on so I could watch my Holby City! I was concerned my freezer would defrost overnight but thankfully it was still frozen this morning. So this morning Ian tried to remove the back plate of the pump and bu**ered up 2 screws. In the end drilling the screws out was the only solution. Anyway looking at the impellers they looked to be fine and after another phone call to Martin, confirmed the pump wasn't our problem! Ian still thought it might be the head casket but no water seems to be getting into the oil so the only other advice Martin gave Ian was to get the cylinders compression tested to see if air is leaking through the head casket. For now though, the pump has been restored and placed back in the engine. After a few false starts with water leaking from the hose fitting, it seems to be running okay. Only time will tell if air is getting into the system and the water gets blown out again but we have decided to continue along the Lee & Stort for now with a daily top up of water if necessary.

So not much to report today. Jade has been a bit of a worry as she really doesn't want to go for a long walk anymore and taking her up a flight of steps to the road this morning made her back legs give way. We have a pain killer called Rimadyl which we used for Judy and I'm going to try her on that for a few days to see if it helps. With Jade not wanting to go for a walk I took myself out instead. I would only have got in Ians way and I'm sure he was getting fed up with all the questions I was asking. Victoria park was full of cyclist, children and generally people enjoying this fine weather. Crossing one of the bridges I glanced over the side and found a very amusing small floating mattress that must have been  placed there by an irate council home owner.

I also found this amusing. None of the cyclist  slows down. ( and there are a considerable amount tearing along the towpath here ) We constantly get a ding ding of the bell and are expected to leap out of there way as the race past!

Dodging pedestrians and runners

Victoria Park.

We will leave early tomorrow if nothing untoward happens overnight with the engine. As the batteries need a good charge we will have to continue to run the engine up to 8pm.

And finally:-

Ladybird newly hatched ( if that is the correct word ) from its pupa.

Tufted duckling taking a dive.

Juvenile Herring gull