On 27th December Jai A and myself (Dave) decided to brave the frost and go for a paddle to help with burning off the calories we may have acquired over the Xmas feast.
We decided on the GUC and Wendover arm as it is local and we last paddled it in the summer, we were interested to see the difference.
We put in at Cow Roast, near Berkhamsted and headed towards Tring.
A long straight stretch of the Grand Union Canal that takes you through whats known as the Tring cutting.
The weather was warming up but a little overcast, onwards we went for 3.6 Miles, just generally chatting laughing and joking about all sorts of things. but mainly enjoying being out on the water when a lot of the country were still in bed.
Time seemed to pass quickly and soon we arrived at the Wendover Arm Spur, on our left hand side, whilst in front on the Grand union was a lock, No portage for us as we were turning onto the Wendover Arm and continuing for another 1.5 miles.
The arm is a little narrower than the GUC and more like a river, The sun decided to come out and it was quite pleasant paddling along with the reeds significantly reduced than the summer months and when we last paddled this section.
We soon reached our Lunch stop, that was empty of boats this time.
We made use of a new bench as we sat, ate our lunches and drank our coffees.
Almost 5 miles to this point, so there and back makes for a good paddle at any time of year.
Time to head back as the weather was forecast for wind then rain at 3pm,
We made it just, with a few light spots starting as we packed up dried and cleaned our boats and headed back.
A great day out.