Little did we realise that our next stop would have so many connections with home when we moored up at Apsley Mill.
We needed a trip back home to Suffolk and decided that Hemel Hempstead was the ideal place to hire a car, and then nip straight onto the M25. Apsley ticked all the boxes, close enough to the hire company, sunshine on the solar panels, Sainsbury’s and Wicks over the bridge, and CRT facilities just along the towpath.
Ideal. And after the essentials had been dealt with, Eric drove back to Firecrest for a week of DIY whilst I stayed out of the way enjoying a week with the family.
Heather and Ant keeps chickens, but sadly they (the chickens, not Heather and Ant) are confined to their enclosure for the foreseeable future as bird flu wreaks havoc on the East Anglian poultry business. Chickens (and turkeys) haven’t got big enough brains to understand the need to remain socially distanced from the wild birds so they are having to endure yet anther season of Flockdown. Even more sadly we have seen the evidence this virus is having on our water fowl. The day we cruised out of London we saw 2 dead swans and 2 dead ducks. Frustratingly we hadn’t seen the Defra guidelines at the time so didn’t report our sightings, but we would urge everyone to report finding dead birds in an effort to help eliminate this devastating disease.
“….Reporting dead wild birds
You should call the Defra helpline (03459 33 55 77) if you find:
• one or more dead bird of prey or owl
• 3 or more dead gulls or wild waterfowl (swans, geese and ducks)
• 5 or more dead birds of any species
Do not touch or pick up any dead or visibly sick birds that you find. For further information see our advice to the public……” Defra website
What we did see however (3 weeks too late) was a report on the local London tv news with the reporter travelling along the Regents Canal…. past Firecrest moored at Islington back in August.
Once I was back on Firecrest, we took advantage of a walk-in clinic to look after our own health and got our booster vaccines for both covid and flu. And I took the opportunity to walk around the area, which has embraced the canal as an area for the community to enjoy now.
But 200 years ago Apsley was only just starting to thrive when the Grand Union was built bringing and taking goods to and from London. There had been water mills along the Rivers Gade and Bulborne, milling flour and fulling wool for centuries. But the early 1800’s John Dickinson established the first mechanised paper making plant, and in 1911 the brand Basildon Bond was created. And just seeing the name on the clockface brought back happy memories of letter writing. Unfortunately some **** decided to set fire to the historic buildings in January so the visitor centre is closed for the time being. It would have been fun to look around. Basildon Bond is now owned by Hamblins and made in Europe.
Although the main street through Apsley seems a bit humdrum now with factory units and retail parks, whilst Eric popped into Wicks for some more paint brushes, I happened to notice the neighbouring unit was Kent Brushes, now there’s a name I remember from my childhood home. I used to have a Kent Hairbrush, and this is where they are still made today. And just my luck the onsite shop was closed. But outside, the most interesting sculpture sat brushing her hair. I’m not entirely sure if I like it, her pose looks a bit sad to me.
