Category Archives: Cats on the Cut

‘Amber!’ 5th August

Ontario Bridge to Desborough Island, River Thames

Alarm set, no time for a cuppa in bed today, it was time to meet the tide.

Pushing off at 8am, first was Clitheroes Lock. A month ago one of the bottom gates didn’t want to open fully, so today I avoided having to walk back and forth and used the other gate. Morning commuters sped across over our heads at the Great West Road Bridge, followed by a train on the railway bridge.

Osterley Lock had two boats ascending. With the amount of duckweed about at the moment, it’s interesting to see the trail of how the water drains from a lock. Towards the back gates there is quite a steep line left on the wall, a clear gap, then towards the bottom gates a gradual line. I think the steeper line is from the lock emptying, the more gradual and slightly fainter line from when it was filled.

We soon arrived at Brentford. On our first trip down the Grand Union in 2014 we moored in the basin for a couple of nights, but the arrival of the 4:50 plane into Heathrow, followed by constant aviation noise has put us off since. Where has the house gone between the flats? There used to be a modern stilts house, but now there is just fencing and a bit of rubble.

The services were empty. Time to fill with water, deal with rubbish etc. We’ve heard that the wonderful water hydrant hoses on the Thames have been replaced with far less speedy means of filling your tank, so we wanted to start with a full tank limiting the need for water as we head upstream.

The well deck was cleared out, the garden put into the shower. Anchor attached to it’s chain and the rope attached to the T stud on the bow. Life jackets pulled out from the cupboard, we were almost ready.

No Lock Keeper on duty at the gauging locks, so the key of power was used to take us down onto the semi tidal stretch. Another two boats soon appeared behind us, dropping off their crew to work the locks, they made a similar mistake to me, not spotting the second buttons for the sluices and gates. A Lockie arrived just as both boats had started to descend.

Below on the lock landing pontoon Mick checked our weed hatch, clearing anything that had accumulated this morning, you don’t want anything to impede your progress on a river, let alone a tidal river.

There are plenty of boats moored up along the approach to Thames Lock, only really one space to wait, we pulled in there and were soon breasted up to by NB Zenith. Another three boats gradually arrived behind us all pulling in and tying to moored boats. Last checks for us as others attached their anchors and pulled out their life jackets. We chatted away to our neighbours, their cruise will see them down in Bristol in just over a weeks time, that’s a lot of hours, just hope the stoppage at Southcote Lock on the K&A is solved by the time they reach it.

First into the lock and first two boats to be realised onto the Tideway, sounding our horn just before appearing out onto the Thames and following behind Zenith.

Every time he hears a plane he wags his tail

Ham House, Kew Gardens, planes and plenty of river traffic.

There we were, every precaution taken heading upstream as a narrowboat came towards us. Mum and a toddler in the welldeck, no life jackets and Dad balancing on a locker, one foot steering whilst he leant over taking photos, well at least he had two points of contact with the boat!

Richmond Lock and weir soon came into view, no need to use the half tide lock today.

Under Twickenham Bridge, Richmond Railway Bridge. No time to stop for chilled medication, anyway there’s nowhere really to stop.

Under Richmond Bridge. Round a big bend and along the south side of Eel Pie Island. A chap stood painting with his easel (was that you Ade?) canoeists canoed and one boat sat out of the water with a roof for protection.

All too soon we arrived at Teddington. Each time we do this trip it seems to get shorter. We pulled up breasting up to NB Zenith, John heading off to inform the lock keepers that we were here. Instructions came back that they would like us and the three following boats to use the Barge Lock, the big one we’d come past rather than the usual Launch Lock.

We reversed back and pointed Oleanna’s bow into the long lock, which fortunately has intermediate gates. All roped up we waited. Surely the other’s couldn’t be that far behind! In the end the volunteer closed the gates behind us and raised us up off the tidal Thames.

We moored up to pop back and pay for our visitor license, the Barge Lock now filled with boats including the ones we’d been at Brentford with. £71.80 for a weeks licence, which I stuck onto the glass of our cratch so it could be seen clearly as we come into the locks.

After lunch we decided we’d carry on some distance getting a few more miles and a couple more locks ticked off.

Posh houses, lovely boat houses.

Rowers, a Four who had quite a speed on. With every stroke they were lining themselves up with us. We tried shouting, their coach following didn’t seem to say anything to the four chaps sliding back and forth in their seats, oars powering on. With every stroke they gained on us, every stroke that bit closer to a direct hit with our stern and prop! We shouted and thankfully at about only 15ft foot left between us they stopped. Not sure what would have happened should they have collided with us, we certainly wouldn’t have been able to get fully out of their way. Just goes to show to always keep an eye on what’s happening behind you, even if that is the direction you are travelling in!

Bridges and GoBoats as the weather became wet then dried up.

There were plenty of youngsters out on the river. Some novice rowers criss crossing their oars with each other. Some sat in sailing dinghies with their sails rolled round the masts, paddles in hand, although two boats were having some assistance back to base with a rib in-between them.

Two years ago to the day we treated ourselves to admission to Hampton Court Palace, today we’d just be passing by even though there were a couple of spaces on the moorings. Wonder if they still sell veg from their gardens?

Shanty boats, grand boats, life rafts, Tom Puddings and a boat that is still for sale two years on.

At Sunbury Locks we’d caught up with a lovely 1905 Dutch barge as we waited along with another boat for the lock to empty. The other boat pulled over onto the lock landing and as we passed a black cat hopped off the bow. This was very obviously not meant to happen, the lady on board now in a quandary. She called for her cat to no avail, then stepped on board her boat and brought it into the lock.

If Tilly had hopped of we wouldn’t have gone through the lock

The Lock Keepers closed the gates behind us all as Amber was called for over the fencing, the occasional adjustment of ropes still being tended to. By the time we were leaving the lock the lady dashed back called for Amber a few more times and then could be seen carrying her black second mate back to her boat and closing the door.

Past The Weir where we have stopped to have lunch onboard on our previous Thames visits. Patrol (or ridge) tents filled the grass in front of some waterside houses, whilst Shrek still hides behind a palm in someone’s garden.

Having almost reached Shepperton Lock it started to rain properly, we were getting quite damp. A space in the middle of the 24hr mooring on Desborough Island showed itself. Perhaps an island mooring would be good for Tilly. We slotted in and tied up. Unfortunately for Tilly at the top of the steps from the mooring was a road and as we moored up two cars sped past my head. No shore leave today.

7 locks, 17.63 miles, 1 full water tank, 1 water but, 1 right, 5 boats on the Tideway, 2 well ahead of the others, 1 barge lock, 1 lady overboard, £71.80 for a week, 1 wet end to a cruise, 4 chums, 1 sulking cat.

https://goo.gl/maps/XmSkrQDn5YnVXXKKA

Tuppence. 3rd August

Uxbridge Lock to below Lock 89

Sainsburys delivery arrived, the driver phoning to say he was here. He was more concerned about getting a parking ticket than delivering our shopping. Most of Uxbridge seems to protect itself from people parking for free. But no matter what we said to this chap about the cameras being out of action he was still concerned, making us take a photo of his number plate.

Our shopping was decanted from the crates into our bags then stowed back on board. The wine cellar is looking healthy again!

We moved things around inside the boat in anticipation of the arrival of the washing machine engineer. This time we moved the mattress onto the sofa, making for an interesting view out of the window for Tilly. The bow was tidied for easier access and then the washing machine was pulled out ready.

Then we waited, and waited. Our appointment was between 9 and 12, we’d hoped to be the first visit on the chaps books, but that wasn’t the case.

We waited and waited.

Then a phone call, he was nearly with us. With the diagnostics already done by both the last engineer and Mick (replacing the first circuit board) the chap got straight on with replacing the second board, the less accessible board. Water was then reconnected to the machine, it all looked good so far. Lights, water and ……

I got a phone call from the bedroom, could I bring a towel that didn’t matter. Oh heck!

The machine had filled with water, but now wasn’t draining. Our anchor chain bucket was positioned under the machine collecting the worst of the water, but some had escaped! I closed the door so as to keep the second mate from poking her paw in.

Next thing I knew the engineer had left. Had he condemned the machine, or mended it?

Tuppence. A tuppence had been blocking the outflow pipe (2p piece but it doesn’t sound as good), once removed all was working as it should. Hooray!!!! It had taken a while to get fixed, but we reckon it has saved us about £100 on getting a new one, saved us the heavy job of getting the old one out of the boat and a new one in, and saved a perfectly good machine (apart from a circuit board) going to a tip, therefore doing our bit for the planet.

So what to wash first? T-shirts!

We had lunch with the engine running. Next we needed to fill the diesel tank. Mick had called Uxbridge Boat Centre this morning and yes they sold diesel, we’d seen the pump before, but it not being the most accessible pump we’ve always discounted it. We pulled in alongside a weedcutter and the crane. ‘Fill her up’ 117 litres later and at a cheaper price than we’d have paid half a mile back Oleanna had a full tank again.

Next water, the second load of washing was already in the machine. I gave it a once over for them as it may have required a bit of feline attention before they over worked it. All fine, well except it seems to have grown a touch, I don’t think the cupboard door will go back on!

The water point above Cowley Lock looked busy. We passed The Piano Boat, Rachmaninov returning to base after it’s launch events at the Canal Museum. Then we joined the queue our water tank emptying all the time with the washing machine going. With the tap at Denham Marina locked off to boaters at the moment this tap will get more use. We emptied the yellow water, disposed of rubbish and then filled with water, after which we dropped down the lock and found ourselves a mooring where Tilly could head off to explore.

A third load of washing maybe was one too many. With big black clouds overhead the whirligig wasn’t going to be a good choice, so it was hangers in the pram cover and the airer with bedding in the bathroom. But where to put the towels? In the end the whirligig went up and fortunately no rain came down.

1 lock, 1.65 miles, 1 wine cellar full, 1 beer rack full, 1 washer/drier mended, 1 full diesel tank, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 0 rubbish on board, 1 new greaser, 1 bathroom shelving reorganised, 3 loads washing, 1 final inspection, 1 cupboard door behind the sofa, 2 happy clean boaters.

https://goo.gl/maps/3nULKX6fjVEmsg6u7

Cancelations. 2nd August

Uxbridge

First job this morning was to ring the washing machine people to see if the new circuit board had arrived and when they could come out to us. The lady on the other end of the phone knew exactly where we were moored, she’s been to the pub and sat looking at the boats moored alongside. It kind of helps being close to where the company is based. An appointment was made for tomorrow morning.

A morning going nowhere would be wasted without a cooked breakfast

Next we needed to cancel two bookings with C&RT as we’d booked passage through Thames Lock, Brentford to Teddington. We’d not been able to cancel them on line over the weekend so Mick rang them up. There is a long spiel about C&RT not tolerating abusive behaviour towards their staff before you get to speak to someone. Just what is the boating world coming to!

Passages are now cancelled and another one is made, here’s hoping we can keep to this one.

Next as we are sitting right next to a car park we booked a Sainsburys delivery, I thought I’d booked it for tomorrow morning, but when I went back to it to add things it was saying Wednesday! Now there weren’t any slots available, grrr! I cancelled the order, tried to get a Tesco delivery, but they won’t deliver to business premises. Morrisons don’t deliver in this area. A Click and Collect was considered, but at what time? Hard to know when waiting for something to be fixed. So I wrote out a list instead, one of us would have to go shopping.

Oleanna was due a 250 hour service, so Mick donned his overalls and lifted the engine boards. Tilly complained at not being allowed out. I ordered some samples of fabric to be sent to Chippy for me to pick up when I visit in a couple of weeks.

There are a few things we prefer to buy from Sainsburys, wood cat litter being one of them. You would think that wood pellets were pretty much the same everywhere, but I can confirm that Sainsburys ones absorb more odour than Tescos. They fluff up nicer too for our separating toilet.

So I walked up to Sainsburys to buy a bag, stopping off at Halfords to see if they had some Meguiars Ultimate Compound (thank you Irene for the suggestion) to try to remove the scratches from the cabin sides. One bottle bought, Oleanna just needs a good wash now then Mick can have a go at the scratches.

I spent much of the afternoon hunting through 250 pages of neon clothing on Vinted, a site where you can sell your old clothes. I’m needing nine neon tops for #unit21. With a tight budget I need to know something will fit before making a purchase so I’ve asked numerous scantly clad young ladies for bust measurements of their tops. The things you do as a Theatre Designer!

Kate Fassnidge left land and property to the community of Uxbridge

Mick later in the afternoon noticed that there was now a delivery slot for tomorrow morning with Sainsburys. He checked with the pub that it would be okay to get a delivery and they were fine about it, the ANPR isn’t currently working anyway. So the written list was converted into a virtual one again.

For sometime I’ve been meaning to start doing paintings of waterways, think I’ve mentioned it before. Our trip through London along the Thames gave me lots of reference photos so I’ve decided to start there. But where to start exactly? I considered linking bridges together, but with over twenty in that one day this would be hard. Instead I’m going to go for a circular view between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge so as to include the Tattershall Castle, Houses of Parliament (I’ll remove the scaffolding on Big Ben) and the London Eye. Today I’ve sketched out some ideas, a more detailed sketch will be needed before I start on the actual painting.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 passages cancelled, 1 booked, 1 engineer coming, 2 cooked breakfasts, 1 order made, 1 order cancelled, 1 order made again, 250 hours, 9 litres oil, 10L of cat litter, 1 bottle Ultimate Compound, 250 pages of clothes, 2 many nipples, 35.8 what? 1 exhibition, 1st ideas, TV signal reduced to 0 today.

Ping! 1st August

Ballot Box Bridge to Uxbridge Lock, Grand Union

As it was Sunday we enjoyed having a read of our Saturday newspaper with a cuppa before we got up, so we didn’t push off until almost 10am. Our aim today was to fill the diesel tank as the last time was a top up at St Pancras Cruising Club nearly a month ago. Also getting ourselves out west will hopefully help in getting an engineer back out to look at the washing machine.

Last weekend (I think) there was a big litter pick along the Paddington Arm, masses of rubbish was collected by volunteers and their efforts showed today, the arm looking much cleaner. Occasionally there was a sign attached to fencing asking people to please use the bins provided, here’s hoping!

The boat of fame we’d seen on our way in, decorated with graffiti looks like it is getting ready for it’s next makeover, the port side greyed out, maybe the starboard side is already repainted!

With intermittent showers I retired below. An email from the Production Manager for panto had just arrived, so I was able to give it a bit of attention. Checking felt samples and fabrics. Hopefully we may actually get to meet up at the theatre in the near future, which would be excellent to look at various things that are very much dependant on the structures back stage.

What looked like a lighthouse towards Bulls Bridge Junction turned out to be a tower on a self storage place. Then a very neatly painted NB Orpheus came into view, a very proud owner at the stern. This boat reminded us of the boat that pulled in alongside us in Llangollen Christmas 2017, both have slipper sterns and classical features.

At the junction I went to stand on the bow to give a thumbs up for a clear way ahead.

NB Driftwood was sat on the Tesco moorings, we wondered if they’d still be there when we come back. We turned right and headed northwards. Past a bus depot. Bindweed taking over the world. Under Murderer’s Bridge. Past NB Anglewood whom we’d shared locks with up towards Marsworth weeks ago.

At Cowley, two yellow eyed white cats sat on the roof of their boat. Below the lock we spotted a big sign advertising the sale of a house boat on it’s mooring. Even with a mooring and conservatory I think I’d have still tried to tidy up the outside a touch! Anyway if we had the money the lock cottage is still for sale and much more appealing.

Signs instructed to leave the top lock gate as we found it, water spilling over the bottom gates. C&RT were sending water down to somewhere. The Malt Shovel has new extra tables along the towpath, but considering it was a Sunday lunchtime there weren’t many takers.

Getting closer to Uxbridge it looked like our way ahead was blocked. A zoom in with the camera and I could see there was a very new widebeam coming past the pontoons alongside where the towpath is being upgraded. A lady stood at the bow, walkie talkie in hand. At the stern a chap at the wheel a lady looking down the starboard side. We wondered if it had been dropped in at Bridgewater Basin as No Problem XL had, it was certainly a new Collingwood boat.

Approaching Denham Marina a boat was just winding at the entrance. L plates on the side of NB Willum, there were three ladies on the stern. Blasts of forwards and reverse got them round then they headed back up into the lock for some more training.

We turned into the empty service mooring. Hang on the chain was across! But it’s not a Wednesday and it was just gone 2pm, they don’t close until 3!

A laminated sign on the chain announced that they were closed until 9th August, they had been pinged. Mick had tried calling this morning, but got no answer, I suspect they had just found out and were busy laminating the signs before self isolating. Hope everyone stays well.

We winded and found ourselves a space on the visitor moorings. With a quarter of a tank of diesel we need to find some soon, especially as we’ll be heading out onto the Thames. The afternoon was spent ringing several places, yes we can fill up at Packet Boat, but they reportedly only do a split of 60/40. Messages were sent to coal boats but none replied.

At least our mooring should be good for an engineer to visit, even if we have to put up with a very vocal cat in the meantime, shore leave is not deemed safe here.

1 lock, 11.74miles, 1 right, £215k, £580k, 1 mooring sorted, 1 campsite sorted, 1 plan coming together, 1 marina pinged, 0 diesel, 0.25 of a tank, 1 vocal cat, 1 green felt missing.

https://goo.gl/maps/u5B2Eq15AUBHGxhF7

Waving Goodbye, 31st July

Eco-Moorings to Ballot Box Bridge, Paddington Arm

Mick was off with a shopping list to keep us going for the next few days until we can get a click and collect somewhere. Then it was time to sit down with the Geraghtys. Todays topics, Olympics, Toddler stage school and Trampolines.

Time for us to head off. We unplugged (once the dishwasher had finished), turned on our tunnel light and followed the trip boats through Islington Tunnel. On the other side a boat was showing off it’s tyre sculptures. A curvy lady and a lizard, all very clever, have to say I preferred the lizard.

Many of the same boats were moored up in the same spots as when we first came past a month ago, tyre fenders touching the water an ideal place for a moorhen or coot to build a nest. Have to say one boat almost certainly had done a diy nest on their back deck, the predominance of organic material a sheer give away, London coots and moorhens like a bit of plastic bling added to their nests!

St Pancras Lock sat full, full of duck weed, in the last two weeks the bloom has taken over.

As we worked our way up Richard and Victoria from NB Chance stopped for a bit of a chat, they are currently staying at the Cruising Club before heading onwards, we also spotted NB Misty Blue pulled in against NB Flora Dora. Today we wouldn’t be stopping, not even for water as planned, someone else had got to the tap before us.

We waved goodbye to the gas holders as we ducked under the railway bridges and carried on our way westwards.

Below Kentish Town Lock Christine was waiting behind the railings to watch our ascent up the three locks, the last on the Regents Canal. She stayed a good distance away from the waters edge at all times, just as well as she still had her shopping to do.

The pretty NB Moondance was coming down in the middle lock, so we swapped over in the pound below and carried on upwards. The boat that had been on the water point at St Pancras appeared below the locks, but we were well on our way up and there was plenty of water coming down.

Hampstead Road Lock was full and needed the gates closing so we had a pause whilst I set the lock, no volunteers on duty today, although Mick said an off duty lockie stopped to say hello.

Now which gate was the b**ger to close? I called Mick to see if he could remember, he couldn’t, don’t know why I asked really! Foolishly I chose to open the gate on the island which opens over the steps, this was the wrong gate and did take quite a lot of effort to close. A lady appeared at the other gate and said as much, wound down a paddle then stood keeping an eye on the bottom gate. I half expected the lock to immediately be emptied as soon as I closed the top gate, but it wasn’t.

Christine had headed up onto the bridge above for one final wave goodbye. It’s been lovely to be able to catch up with family whilst we’ve been in London, spending some quality time with them. There were plenty more people we could have seen, but family were the most important for this visit.

Now back into the mayhem that is trip boats, paddle boarders and Goboats. The paddle boarders held back as we passed following NB Black Pearl who stayed in tick over for most of the way through Regents Park.

Big piling has been going in where we’d seen the sunken workboats two weeks ago. All boats now above water, a busy site.

By the time we reached Park Road Bridge we had another trip boat behind us, three Goboats at least coming through the not quite tunnel ahead. Then came another trip boat. With three boats waiting to go through, Goboats dawdling, some having pulled in right where the new trip boat had to go as there was nowhere else for it, it slammed into reverse! Quite surprised there wasn’t an incident!

Once through Maida Hill Tunnel we were away from any possible collisions. Rembrandt Garden moorings were awaiting it’s next lot of moorers and luckily for us the water point through Westbourne Terrace Bridge was empty, we pulled in, hooked up the hose and started to fill up. The tap being slow we knew we’d have chance to have something to eat before carrying on.

Blimey those fish down there blow big bubbles! I waited to see if one would surface in amongst the grass but it didn’t.

Slowly we cruised out west, we passed the widebeam we’d rescued a few weeks ago. Where scaffolding has been used to tie up to forever the hording boards have been removed, maybe the scaff will follow and people will have to drive mooring spikes in again. A wall we’d seen being cleaned of graffit tags as we came in last time already has a collection forming again.

Just where we’d rescued the widebeam a couple of weeks ago

Our progress slowed to the point where we needed to stop to clear the prop. Urban Jellyfish, as Tom used to call them, had been caught on our prop.

In Alperton we noticed a mural under a bridge. Had this been here before? A plaque at the end mentioned the artists name Gianpaolo Buccheri and that the piece was a commission from C&RT. It turns out it was created only a couple of weeks ago.

I also like the cat and sofa that must have been there longer.

Might have to start carrying a container with me soon

Soon we arrived at our destination, now our usual stop in and out of London, Ballot Box Bridge. We pulled in where there was plenty of space and despite it being very nearly Tilly’s dingding time she was given an hour of shore leave. I put a chicken in the oven to roast and Mick cleared the prop again.

4 locks, 1 tunnel, 11.63 miles, 1 right, 1 full water tank, 1 dry Christine, 1 empty wee tank, 2 trips down the weed hatch, 1 near miss, 2 many Goboats, 2 boaters and 1 cat waving goodbye to London.

https://goo.gl/maps/3JnRLqCfLrfnHpBM7

Visitors, Non-Visitors and an Invite. 30th July

Eco-Moorings. Islington

I had a visitor this morning.

Tom Adam brought me gifts so I managed to drag myself away from the big furry friends outside to say hello. She and Tom made cups of tea and they all chatted away for ages about boaty things and different outsides that they’ve tied up. It was good to see you Tom Adam, thank you for the chin rubs and the rainbow Dreamies.

It was great to see Adam from NB Briar Rose this morning. He’s working the Breakfast Show at the moment so we’d arranged for a catch up after he’d finished work today. Maybe next time we meet up it won’t be raining!

The day was full of showers, light ones and some down right heavy ones too! Each interspersed with glowing sunshine. The sunshine was tempting, I really wanted to have a wander about the streets to see what could be seen, but as soon as I got myself ready to stir my stumps the heavens would open again, the side hatch was shut, so we settled down to do some more nothing importantness.

The majority of boat traffic has been from the Hidden Depths boats. Parties going back and forth, in and out of the tunnel. The poor ladies on the back deciding that autumn has arrived early this year as they were both damp and cold.

No-one mentioned chilled medication two boats away!

Sadly our rendez vous with Nick, Kerry and Harry their dog was called off. Harry has a limping problem which moves from paw to paw and he’d seen the vet last night. So it was decided to take a rain check on our meeting this evening.

We eventually managed a short trip out to collect a fire and CO alarm. The one we have in the bedroom had started to chirp the other day, with a new battery in it it didn’t test correctly, so we’ve bought a new one from Argos. £30 is cheap compared to a life and if we can find the receipt then we should get our money back as they come with a ten year warranty.

A Jools Holland type band were busy jollying up the world by Argos, plenty of toe tapping. We then went to look at Chapel Market, only the stalls that we weren’t interested in were left as it was quite late in the day by now.

We walked back admiring the houses on Duncan Terrace. Every house looked to have it’s original window shutters. There were some bold colour choices for front doors. The fanlights above the front doors wonderfully ornate. A few of them had lamps in them, I’ve never seen this before. What a lovely feature. If you happen to have a spare £3million you could buy one of these five storey grade 2 listed, Georgian town houses, well this one is under offer.

We’d just decided that for our last night in London we’d treat ourselves to a take away curry when Mick noticed a message from Christine, his sister, inviting us to join her and Paul for some Tapas this evening in Camden. What a lovely idea.

The 214 bus took us round Kings Cross and onto Camden where we made our way to Jamon Jamon for a meal. Numerous dishes kept arriving to be put on our dinky table, some careful plate logistics was needed to make space for the next dish and then the next. All the food was very nice, thank you so much for the invite Christine.

Walking back along Duncan Terrace past the lovely houses we were pleased that one house had it’s fanlight light illuminated. If we had one of these houses the fanlight would be lit up every night!

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 visitor, 2 packs of Dreamies, 1 happy cat, 3 cookies, 37 rain showers, 1 or 4 poorly paws, 1 rain check, 1 pretty street, 1 combined alarm, 214, 9 tapas, 2 crème brulee, 1 cheese cake, 1 almond cake, 1 illuminated fan light.

Faces Everywhere. 29th July

Pond Lane Footbridge 16 to Eco Moorings east of Islington Tunnel

Some fabric samples had arrived at my brothers that needed collecting. My first thought was to walk across to pick them up, then Mick and I was could rendez vous at Bottom Lock on the Hertford Union. But Andrew was busy doing site visits so a later visit to the house was arranged.

We pushed off, the canal a lot quieter than it had been a couple of weeks ago. The pubs were empty and no canoes were out. A lady from a widebeam a few boats up took note of us leaving and phoned a friend who was on their way.

London does unusual boats well. Paint jobs that are not your standard traditional affairs. The uprights of The East Crossway Bridges have all been decorated, one with cds and other objects and one is almost totally covered in old spray cans. Then the new St Columba boat has an interesting roof line, a section of it raises similar to a roof on a VW camper van.

A right onto the Hertford Union, Ducketts Cut which was intended as a short cut from the Thames to the River Lee, cutting out the tidal Thames. It now saves a trip down to Limehouse basin and back up saving just under three hours cruising.

What we’d seen being started ten days ago

The graffiti we’d seen being painted almost a couple of weeks ago was still there, not yet painted over. The green Frankenstein holds a spray can.

This lock also has the offside bollards painted with wrestling faces, quite amusing.

On a couple of the pillars someone has painted faces, a different style to your usual graffiti art, but I quite liked them. There was another on the tight towpath bend below the middle lock.

Another piece that catches your eye is by Frankie Strand. There have been several of Frankie’s works along the Lee, a distinctive style. She is also an illustrator and has a website Here. She certainly likes here flamingos, snakes and cormorants.

A widebeam was just coming out of the middle lock, this turned out to be the boat that was heading to where we’d pulled out from. The large inflatable flamingo is now semi deflated, it’s head bowing down towards the water.

With just the last few inches of the top lock to fill I left Mick to finish off the lock on his own and headed off across Victoria Park to collect my post. A cuppa with my brother was lovely for an hour, but then it was time to catch up with Mick who was now single handing. Hopefully the London Leckenbys will catch up with us in a couple of weeks, if not we may not see them for quite a while.

I guessed that Mick might have made it to Acton’s Lock so started to head that way across the vast park. I gave him a call and it turned out he was only just starting to work his way up Old Ford Lock just after the junction back on the Regents Canal. My route was altered accordingly, popping back out onto the towpath above the lock. No sight of Oleanna so I carried on walking westwards.

A glimpse of a stern, was that Mick? Yep it was, he was just calling to tell me where he was. I soon caught up a bit before Acton’s Lock. He’d taken his time, loitering on lock landings so I wouldn’t have too far to catch up with him, also it meant he wouldn’t have to single hand too much. As he’d pulled away from Old Ford Lock NB Driftwood was just arriving so we paused at Acton’s Lock to wait for them.

Two boats however were heading towards us, so we worked our way up to free up the lock for them. We then pulled over to the elsan to empty our yellow water. This meant Driftwood was quite close behind us now. They caught us up by Stort’s Lock and then shared our last two locks for the day.

We only had through the next bridge to go, where as Rod and Nor were hoping to find space for Driftwood in Paddington Basin, I hope they succeeded. Hopefully our paths will cross again somewhere, sometime.

I walked up to the Eco-moorings. At first glance they looked full apart from a space that wasn’t long enough for us. Our booked mooring was 1A. The moorings are numbered lowest to highest East to West from Bridge 38, Froglane Bridge to the entrance of Islington Tunnel. The first four moorings are double moorings between April & September, all are 21.7m long, so we should have pulled in alongside the first boat. But a short distance on was a gap big enough for us, if it became a problem to anyone we’d move back. No-one else arrived so that was fine. Have to say unless you’ve fully read the emails and website you wouldn’t know which mooring was which as they are not labelled.

Phew we were moored up! Tilly was read the rules, she’d already started to do calculations to be able to climb the wall alongside the towpath. Yes but things took a different turn when I saw a furry friend. Calculations put on hold, I needed to introduce myself! No amount of cyclists , runners, even woofers distracted our second mate from her introductory mission.

‘Hello Leckers!’ A passing walker stopped to say hello. This was my oldest friend Nick, he’d just spent the day doing jury service in Southwark and had decided to walk home. He knew we’d be in the area as we’d planned to meet up tomorrow evening. Mick connected us to the electric hook up and we sat down for a cuppa and a good catch up. Jolly good to see Nick and we look forward to seeing him again tomorrow, hopefully accompanied by Kerry his partner and Harry his faithful hound.

The Eco-moorings are a quiet zone. C&RT have provided electric hook up points, so you are only allowed to run your engine if you are moving your boat and should you light your stove you can only burn smokeless fuel. At the moment these moorings are a trial, another two sites will become eco-moorings sometime in the future. Here’s hoping such places pop up around the network enabling boats to reduce their emissions in built up areas.

7 locks, 1 single handed, 2 shared, 5.21 miles, 2 rights, 3 canals, 2 shades of blue, 1 brother, 1 nephew, 1 shark left, 54.5 years a friend, 3 big friends, 1 wall to master, 1 tidy boat all hooked up. Shame the washing machine’s not working!

The Greasers. 28th July

Ordnance Road Bridge 38 to Pond Lane Footbridge 16

NB Driftwood came past as we were having our morning cuppa in bed, we wouldn’t be sharing locks with them today. We also wouldn’t be sharing with the boat that followed them as we had breakfast, keeping up with the green boat would have been quite a feet!

We pushed off around 9am to retrace our route back to Hackney Marshes, hoping to find a space before turning onto the Hertford Union. A pigeon was determined to sit on top of the bottom lock gates as I closed them, filled the lock, opened and closed them again.

The high banks of the reservoirs followed us to the east and the power lines hung above us most of the way. The smell of malt filled the air, due to passing a brewery where a wagon was off loading.

At Ponders End Lock I had a quick check to see if the powered lock might just work, but as the button to be able to open the top gates was missing I guessed we’d still be using the manual one.

Below we paused to top up with water. Taking in a bit of the graffiti under the bridge I noticed an outlined figure which reminded me of a friends ceramic figures. Below one layer of paint there was a sprayed message, The Hackney Empire Strikes Back.

At Alfies lock we waited for a boat to come up, the crew only sort of knew what they were doing. As the levels equalised bags of rubbish were brought out for disposal. Two C&RT chaps were busying themselves round the lock, they’d obviously lent the chaps on the boat a windlass as this was handed back to them. Apparently they didn’t have a Key of Power either! They can’t move very often!

The chaps in blue were busy greasing all the paddle gear. One chap had a gun to squeeze the lubricant in around the collars on the gates, the other a knife like a putty knife. With this he was troweling on the grease to the teeth of the gear. I asked how often they did this. Between three to six months. Here we were at the last manual lock on the Lee and it was being greased, If we’d left it another day or two the locks above would all have been easier!

An outdoor stage was being erected by The Drumsheds, an outdoor festival will host gigs in the coming months. So if you want a quiet evening moored up on the Lee, this isn’t the place to moor at weekends.

Stonebridge Locks and Tottenham are awkward to drop crew off at, so we pulled onto the service mooring above and I walked between the locks. Chance to see things from the towpath for a change.

Below Tottenham Lock we were ready to have to clear the prop at regular intervals, but the weed boats must have been through as we only had to go into reverse a few times. Fairly recent graffiti has been added to bridges in the area, someone’s not too pleased with the way the pandemic has been governed!

Gradually the duckweed increased covering the navigation. Our eyes began hunting for a spot to pull in for the day. Dark clouds had been threatening us for a while with the occasional shower, but the rain was soon going to come down in earnest.

Cycle superhighway just behind the friendly cover

A bit sooner than we expected a chap was just coiling up his ropes about to push off. The space would just be the right size for us, so we pulled back and waited for him to vacate it, then pulled in. Our timing had been good in that respect it was also good in that just after we’d put the pram cover up the heavens opened. Tilly was slightly dismayed at this. They only move the outside when it’s dry, then tie it up when it’s really really wet!

5 locks, 8.94 miles, 1 speeding boat, -1 button, 1 full water tank, 1 green carpet, 4 hours of wet outsides, 2 lucky dry boaters, 8 leftover meatballs.

PS. Does anyone know why the Lee is sometimes spelt Lee and other times Lea? Both the navigation and river seem to have different spellings.

PPS. Thank you Clare from NB Billy. The ladybird I showed yesterday has a got a problem, sexually transmitted parasites! Eww!!

Anyone Got Any Change? 27th July

Broxbourne Bridge to Ordnance Road Bridge

After a hunt round on the internet Mick found the other circuit board, the one that now by process of elimination must be the problem with the washing machine. He had tried removing this one about ten days ago and decided that an engineer would do it better than he could. A phone call to the company was made and the circuit board has been ordered, we need to call them back later in the week to see where an engineer can come out to us as we’ll be making our way back through London to the west.

Just as we were about to push off a boat came into view, hopefully a lock partner. As the boat came past we noticed that it was NB Driftwood that we’d seen yesterday heading up the River Stort with the high cratch, they’d obviously not made it under the bridge.

We pulled out shortly after them just as the local number checker arrived and tapped on the roof of the boat behind us. Would today be a day when everyone shuffled round to get the maximum time on a mooring? Is moving as your number gets checked a good thing? How many times would our number be taken? We seemed to be keeping up with the chap on the bike.

Back past the busy Lee Valley Boat Centre, we’d already had a couple of day boats go past and now people were arriving to collect smaller craft for a few hours.

Under a bridge I noticed a sign listing the Greenway Code for Towpaths. 6 is especially good. ‘Give way to oncoming people beneath bridges’. Very sensible except the positioning of the sign was under a bridge and it would take someone time to read it all the while being in the way!

At Aquaduct Lock we caught up with NB Driftwood and the number checker, who’d just stopped to take a photo of a widebeam just before the lock landing. Notices posted on boats regarding their lack of movement used to be paper with the C&RT logo slotted into plastic for protection. Today it seems that picture postcards have taken over.

Rod on Driftwood chatted away. Yesterday he had to reverse quite a distance when they realised their cratch wouldn’t fit under Roydon Railway Bridge. He could have collapsed the structure, but then would also have had to remove a lot of things from his roof to get under, so they’d decided to abort the trip up the Stort.

We accompanied them through several more locks, enjoying their company. Rod and Nor have had their boat since October last year and have refitted quite a substantial amount of the interior, still more work to do but for now it is time to cruise and enjoy owning a boat.

We passed boats we’d seen on the way up and kept passing the number checker. Boats were certainly on the move today. The narrowboat with a mass of fenders was being polled along to the next space and a wider than narrow boat complained when we started to shut gates on her. She’d apparently been waiting for ages, yet hadn’t shown interest and had just melded into the moored boats. We apologised and opened the gates back up for her.

There was sighting of a hot composting bin on a widebeams stern deck, tucked behind some nasturtiums. Sadly these are too big to live on a narrowboat, but trials are being carried out by several of the Composting toilet group on facebook with smaller containers that will speed up the composting process.

At Waltham Town Lock I decided to walk on ahead so that I could see what the new facilities block had on offer that we’d spotted the other day and get it’s location to pass on to Paul for the next update of Waterway Routes maps. NB Driftwood pulled in as they were after using the services.

We waited for a widebeam to finish dropping down Rammey Marsh Lock, refilled it, then dropped down ourselves. Now it was time to find a mooring. Plenty more boats along this stretch than when we came up ten days ago, but luckily we found a couple of spaces free. Depth and underwater lumps and bumps were a touch awkward, but we got in in the end.

After a late lunch Mick packed the hold all. We’d only got a few pairs of socks and pants left each, so it was time to visit the launderette. There was one close by on Ordnance Road, so not too far to drag our underwear. How much change did we have though? I don’t bother carrying money around anymore and the 46p I managed to find must have been on my bedside table for at least a year.

Luckily the shop next door to the launderette could supply enough change, so we now have freshly laundered socks and pants.

5 locks, 4 shared, 5.29 miles, 1 dribbley roof, 37 fenders, 1st 5 blackberries, 10 point code, 4 to 6 inches higher, 643 babies maybe, M25.

Are these babies or has this ladybird got a problem?

https://goo.gl/maps/56S7nfS8FQgK7pEE7

Two Bricks In The Amber. 26th July

Hunsdon Lock to Broxbourne Bridge

With all the rain yesterday we knew the river would have come up. The small weir that lads had been paddling in on our way upstream the other day was now a torrent of water, not sure you’d have been able to stand up in it today. I looked downstream from the lock the level was certainly higher, would the railway bridge below Roydon be passable?

We dropped down the lock and quite speedily made our way to Roydon Lock. There were quite a few boats moored on the pound. Signs along this stretch suggest you should find alternative moorings as the levels change quickly.

At the lock one bottom gate paddle was half raised, presumably to help lower the pound. There are also sluice gates further upstream that were raised sending water down.

The gauge below the bridge is quite hard to gauge, unless your boat is lowered to the level below. So we brought Oleanna into the lock and dropped her down. When level with the pound/reach below the top of our horns (highest fixed point on Oleanna) were just about level with the top mortar line of the lock. Tracing this across to the gauge and nudging Oleanna forwards we deemed the river to be two bricks in the amber, ‘Proceed with caution’.

The red line where Oleanna’s horns would come to, 2 bricks into the Amber

Two bricks in the amber was nearer red than green. Two low bridges to go under, which we might just make, but there is also a sharp left hand bend which with the increased flow would make it a touch hard to skid round. If we’d been heading upstream then maybe we’d have given it a go, you can go slowly heading into the current and stop should needs be.

Below the lock, river to the right and river to the left

Mick reversed Oleanna back into the lock, I closed the bottom gates and we refilled the lock, reversed out onto the lock landing, pulling as far back as we could and left the gates open should anyone else arrive from above.

A chap from a boat moored there said the level yesterday had been right up to the top of the lock and spilling over the bottom gates. The lady at the lock cottage said if we had no rain today we should be fine by the end of the day. All we had to do was wait, so that is what we’d do, Tilly taking advantage of the spare hours.

A message came from Hackney that the washing machine circuit board had arrived! Hooray!! With time on our hands Mick headed off to the station to catch a train in to Stratford to collect it.

During the morning I had a quote through for the set build of #unit21. Apparently the cost of materials has shot up in the last few months, I’m not surprised. Grahams quote thus was a touch more than I’d been hoping for. I need to get my budget in to the Producer by the end of the week, so we’ll see what she reckons as I know we’ve already trimmed away quite a lot of what we were wanting.

At about 1:15pm I could hear a boat arriving. One lock gate was slightly closed so would need opening up for them to enter the lock, so I went to lend a hand. NB Otter had things on it’s roof and the chap on board was aware of the low bridges ahead, but wasn’t aware of how the gauge worked below the lock. By now the 16.5 bricks below the green had increased to 18.5 so at least another 6 inches. Once Otter was lowered, it looked like it would still be in the amber, but nearer the green. The chap dropped his solar panel off it’s chocks, Tidied his roof, removing any plant pots, crossed his fingers and set off.

He didn’t return.

Then emails from the Production Manager of Panto started coming in. At least she was wanting to communicate with me! A quote for the build needed checking through that nothing had been missed, a village hall is being sought for me to paint in the week prior to rehearsals and the final costs of printed cloths were being added into the budget.

Of course poor Mick arrived back as I was working my way through the quote and was told ‘I’m busy!’ ‘No, I need to concentrate’ ‘Shhhh’. Tilly had already retired to the bedroom to keep out of my way.

Once work emails were sent, we made ready to push off again. Two C&RT chaps had walked past going to close sluices up stream saying the level was just about back to normal now. Mick removed the black buckets and coal from the roof. Oleanna dropped down in the lock, the level below had risen a touch since NB Otter had gone through. Still in the amber but far closer to the green, we’d go for it.

Zoomy down the river. Around a bend. There was THE bridge. All looked good several inches to spare. We’d have had difficulty earlier on. Under we limbod out through the other side.

The next bridge, arched, was now a breeze. A boat was heading towards us with a raised cratch, we both looked at each other, lined their cratch up with the top of our horns. It would very much be touch and go for them to get under the bridge. We mentioned this to them as they sped past us, at least they’d be able to slow down.

Their cratch a few inches taller than our horns. Eeek!

The sharp turn under the other bridge was handled by Mick and we were safe.

Brick lock with it’s leaking top gates took forever to empty, but with patience it did eventually. Below Lower Lock a group of boats has gathered and labelled the off side as Pirate Collective Pollenglish. Back to the junction with the River Lee and the end of the River Stort.

Boats were using the services below the lock, so there was no hoping back onboard below, a little walk was needed to find a suitable spot. Pylons of the Lee now escorted us back to Dobbs Weir Lock where two magnet fishers were hard at work, it didn’t look like they’d caught much.

At Carthagena Lock a boat was just leaving, the gates left for us. Brilliant! Except there was a breasted up pair hiding amongst the masses waiting to go down. We took our revs off and glided into the side to wait our turn.

We helped the pair down. If anyone would like a couple of painted watering cans they have been left for anyone to pick up just by the lock. Mick helped with the annoying bottom gates, thankfully as we left they weren’t too much bother.

Fingers crossed that a mooring would be available at Broxbourne. Most boats want solar for 14 days, so we were lucky in that there was space for us under the trees. We’d also quite like some solar, but cruising for a few hours a day means it’s not as imperative to us.

Too late in the day for Tilly to go out she was plied with her evening dingding to placate her. After we’d eaten our evening dingding Mick pulled the washing machine out to replace the circuit board. Would it work? Only a few more days of pants left in the clean drawer!

Well, we’ll be looking for a laundrette in the next couple of days! Sadly the circuit board hadn’t worked. We will regroup in the morning and decide how to progress.

7 locks, 1 twice, 4.93 miles, 1 left, 2 bricks, 16.5 bricks, 5.5 hours wait, 2 trains, 2 buses, 2 quotes, 1 dog peed rope, 1 bucket water, 1 bollard cat claimed, 18.5 bricks, 1 cratch 2 high, 1 breasted up boats, 2 watering cans, 1 circuit board, 1 broken machine still.

https://goo.gl/maps/NDk3dsBBMDKefRpf8

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna