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City & Village Tours: 0845 812 5000 info@cityandvillagetours.com
Cruising in the Chilterns
If at the end of the Hidden London & the Regents
Canal day (described on the previous page) you
stayed on the boat at Little Venice and had a week
to spare you could cruise along the Paddington
Arm of the Grand Union Canal, join the main line
at the Bulls Bridge Junction and continue to the
highest point of the canal where it crosses the
Chiltern Hills. Or you could come back another
day with your group and enjoy Cruising in the
Chilterns.
The day begins in the utterly charming village of
Aldbury which might seem uncannily familiar -
it’s picture postcard qualities and proximity to
Elstree and Pinewood have made it a popular
filming location for everything from The Dirty
Dozen to Midsommer Murders and Morse.
There’s time to buy morning coffee at the idyllic
country pub by the village pond and stocks where
if you want to you can pre-order a lunch to come
back to. This is normally a pricey stockbroker belt
pub but we’ve been visiting with our groups for
more than twenty years so, for our customers, they
offer a special and very reasonably priced lunch
menu.
During the morning we are going to explore the
lie of the land by coach. We’ll visit the grounds
of the old Ashridge Estate, now looked after by
the National Trust, which were once home to
the Duke of Bridgwater - the father of the inland
waterways. You’ll see some of the sleepy villages
that the late great Sir Bernard Miles talked about
in his
Me and Old Charlie
wireless monologues
and hear about Rothschilds and zebra drawn
carriages, edible dormice, witches and the Great
Train Robbery. The photo to the right shows two
members of Enfield Unison Retired Members
enjoying the view from the Beacon across to the
Dunstable Downs and the Whipsnade chalk lion.
Back to Aldbury for lunch. If you choose not to
prebook lunch at the pub over your morning
coffee there’s another village pub, a small tea
room and a corner shop that sells sandwiches
with bench seating around the pond and in the
churchyard for picnics.
When the canal was first cut through the Chiltern
Hills the engineer rode out on horseback to survey
the landscape. With only limited engineering
skills available 200 years ago the canal twists and
turns as it follows the contours of the land. We
enjoy a 90 minute cruise on a wide beam barge
with seating around tables which is great both for a
sociable conversation and ideal for when they serve tea
and cake which is included in the tour fee. The guide will
point out a few things of interest along the way as we
wend our way to the Marsworth Locks. It’s hard to
appreciate that what today is a very peaceful waterway
was once the M1 of the Industrial Revolution, linking
the London Docks with the city of Birmingham.
This tour is available daily from March to the end of
October and the boat which is all yours for the afternoon
seats up to 53 people in comfort. You can book a date up
to the end March 2013 at the current brochure rate of
£18.95 per person. From 1st April the trip including the
canal cruise with tea and cake will cost £19.95 per
person. Our prices are based on a minimum of 35 people.
You can read more about this trip on page 29 of
our current brochure or on our