Where are all the water taps?

Thursday 26th June
It’s looking like another hot day so Dave took Meg for a good walk round Ramney Marsh before we left this morning.  We moored above Waltham Town Lock, where the moorings are much more attractive than below (can’t remember whose blog we read that on but thanks for the tip!)  We did the shopping and had a brief wander round the Abbey ruins, having a look at King Harold’s (supposed) final resting place, but decided to spend more time here on the way back.  I forgot the camera and phone, so no pictures this time.
It’s very hot but Meg and I had a walk down the flood relief channel before we had lunch and carried on.  The navigation is very straight with locks a mile or so apart, with tantalising glimpses of lakes either side through the trees lining the river.  There aren’t a lot of weirs but they are generally attractive and seem well guarded – this one is above Enfield lock.

The rectangular shapes this side of the barrier seem to be planters of some kind – some houses with gardens running down to the water have these instead of a mooring or fishing spot, some planted up with water plants, some not.
We have been looking for a water tap since leaving London and have failed to spot any of the ones marked in Nicholson’s.  The service station at Waltham Town lock has no tap though it had everything else.  We finally found one lockside in Carthagena Lock.  So we thought, no-one around, we’ll just fill the water tank before filing the lock in case someone comes along and wants to share – but the one boat we saw coming towards us arrived at the top ….. so at least we had a part-fill.
We had hoped to moor above this lock, but the moorings were full and the banks suddenly turned into proper river banks, so we went on up Dobb’s Weir lock and found a nice mooring above.  And near the pub!  It’s the Fish and Eels, a very attractive pub in a lovely riverside setting, with excellent beer.  Shame about the food!  We don’t complain very often but when they asked how our meal had been we told them the truth.  We didn’t want a free pud and asked for the bill – delighted to find they had taken the drinks off the bill.  It’s a Vintage Inn which seems to be a large chain – we’ll be avoiding them in future!
6 and half miles, 7 locks.

I've just edited a spelling mistake and noticed this is our 100th blog post!