Category Archives: Moorings

And No Sleeping With A Politician! 7th August

Boveney Lock To Cliveden Woods

As you can see from the above we got moving today.

A yellow flashing light could be seen near to the lock as we had breakfast, whatever was happening needed to be watched and we weren’t the only ones going to gongoozel.

The crane had arrived and was being set up alongside the lock. Fencing panels removed to get the outriggers in position. Despite the number of people wearing high-vis, a bright yellow crane with a flashy light, members of the general public still tried to walk through the area even though there was a footpath just behind a hedge. Extra barriers were put up to protect everyone.

The crane powered up, extended itself, turned then lowered it’s big hook to which chains were attached. These were zoomed out over the top of the lock and positioned ready for use. Someone got a big hammer out, knocked wedges out and the broken collar.

It being Saturday morning we decided to do an outside broadcast to the Geraghty zoom call. Not sure what the other topics were today as we were very much engrossed in activities by the lock.

The chains were attached to the lock gates, slowly the gate was lifted back in line. More hammering, nuts and bolts were tightened, wedges knocked in. A bit of a careful lean on the gate was required to get everything back in line. A cuppa was handed round, a bit more hammering, then the moment of truth.

Was it only the collar that had gone, or could something have happened to the hydraulics too?

The gate faltered a bit then closed met by the other gate. They then both opened. Closed, then opened again. The Lock Keeper came to the end of the island and announced that she wanted the first three boats. She wouldn’t be packing the lock, that would take too much time, just three boats at a time. There was an obvious cheer from the small crowd.

The first boat above the lock was a hire boat who’s crew had abandoned ship this morning, the hire company sending a cab for them. This didn’t matter to anyone, the first three cruisers made their way into the lock as everyone else rushed back to their boats to make ready.

Below the lock two cruisers were first in line, in they went, the grey narrowboat in front of us being given the cross signal. Boveney lock is only 45.59m long so clearing the back log would take some time. Boats were left to sort themselves out, most people relieved to be able to move again. Only one boat pushed their way round as they’d been stuck longer than others, everyone else just let the next boats go, easier and quicker than letting those out from the inside first.

We were in the second lock, three narrowboats and a pretty wooden boat that was just narrow enough to come alongside in the gap behind us. Up we went all the time the Lock Keeper on the phone calling the other locks either side and hire companies to inform them that she was up and running again. Big thanks as we left.

*Excuse me!!! Doesn’t that cat know all the health and safety implications of sitting out when they move the outside!* *No wonder he’s got a funny ear!*

Each boat found their natural pace. NB Zenith passing us before we passed the narrowboat in front of us. Zeniths second mate sitting out on the bow watching the world go by. I really hoped that Tilly couldn’t see this as it might give her ideas. We all know our cats and I have to say I wouldn’t trust my little thug not to have a walk down the cat walk to see if there was anywhere to jump off to land, so she will just have to live with the world passing by through the window.

Bray Studios looks to have been almost rebuilt. They were in the process of knocking bits down two years ago. Now the building looks crisp again, behind it you get a glimpse of the studios. In a field a short distance on was a huge wall of plywood about 40ft high. Maybe this will be a giant green screen for some filming?

Bray Lock is even shorter at 40.94m. This meant the keeper only took two boats at a time so we had a wait before it was our turn. Above the pretty village of Bray comes down to the waters edge soon followed by the bigger fancier houses in the run up to Maidenhead.

In the run up to Maidenhead Railway Bridge buoys marked a channel, a sign mentioned a regatta. Gazebos filled the river bank, we moved over to port despite the colours of the buoys being wrong. At least at this end there was a sign, coming through the bridge ahead boats were unaware and headed straight down through the course, thankfully no races were happening at the time.

A pause was required for lunch below Boulter’s Lock, it also meant we got out of the rain for a while. With the sun back out we joined the queue for the lock, the lock keeper trying to squeeze a couple of cruisers in behind three narrowboats. It worked, but was a touch of a tight squeeze. I’d put my wet weather gear on again and as the lock gates closed I felt very over dressed compared to everyone else. But as the water started to rise the black clouds came back over bringing rain, I now felt that I was the only one prepared.

The rain felt like it was setting in, did we really want to get soaked? It was a bit after 3pm we decided to stop if we could find space on one of the islands below Cliveden. The cruisers had different ideas and both sped off whilst all three narrowboats looked for somewhere to moor.

All the spaces on the islands were taken, we waved at NB Old Nick which looked very comfortable nestled into it’s mooring. We tried further up along the river bank finding a space where the bow came into the side, but the stern stuck out a touch. This would do us if only our rope throwing skills meant we could moor! After a bit of toing and froing with the rope we succeeded.

Tilly had already approved our choice and shouted at us to HURRY UP!!! The rules were recited along with another one ‘No sleeping with a politician!’ Mick said he was fairly sure John Profumo was dead, Tilly had no idea what we were talking about. I have no intention of cuddling up to anyone but She and Tom.

Once we’d booked ourselves into our mooring, £10 a night to the National Trust, I had a look at possible walks. The estate would close at 5:30 when visitors are asked not to be in the grounds. I chose the red route (3.1 miles 1.5 hours walk) and decided to go clockwise round it, so hopefully if I overran the time, I’d be past any member of staff in the car park, I did take my NT membership card in case I needed it.

Luckily Tilly was busy as I headed off, the occasional glance over my shoulder to make sure she wasn’t following me. The route took me to Spring Cottage where a minimum 2 night stay will set you back £2250, but it does sleep 6 and you get a welcome hamper and can book a chef to cook for you, although I suspect that would cost extra.

Here a zigzagging path climbs up the cliff. At the top spectacular views make your out of breathness all worth while.

Views across the countryside below and one back to Cliveden House.

I was surprised at how far away it was, next time we’ll stay for longer and get closer to the house and gardens where over 25 years ago I helped do specialist paint finishes in a new wing alongside the infamous swimming pool.

Surrounded by trees I followed the cliff top path to a cross roads where the route led to the Green Drive. Here a large avenue of trees leads you away from the house, it’s width gradually diminishing as you reach the car park. This was possibly the original approach to the house.

I avoided the car park bypassing it to the view point, more stunning views across the lower landscape and to the river. Carved bears and snails look after the track before you continue through the wood at the top of the cliff again. Then a steep path brings you back down to the Thames where I headed northwards back to Oleanna where Tilly greeted me with her tail held high. It’s good here, can we stay? Maybe next time Tilly, maybe next time.

3 locks, 6.34 miles, 1 lie in, 1 crane, 6 workers, 90 minutes reduced to 9, 35 boats, 3 at a time, 7 downpours, 1 regatta, 1 empty wee tank, 1 ~~over dressed~~ prepared boater, 0 island moorings, 1 National Trust mooring, 3.1 miles, 1hr 15mins, 1 stunning view, 0 people on the Lady Astor balcony, 1 cat in heaven, 0 MP’s toes to keep warm, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://goo.gl/maps/sh1DNedSAQuGcg3j9

‘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

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!!

I Went To Bishop Stortford And I Bought A …… 23rd July

Footbridge 28 to Bishop Stortford, the end of navigation

A little face kept watch on us approaching his boat this morning. He then popped back inside as we passed, maybe Tilly was giving him the what for out of a window.

Sheering Mill Lock was our first and it took me by surprise as I needed a key to work both the bottom gates and the bottom paddles. I signalled back to Mick and then went to close the top gates. As we worked our way up a C&RT van arrived alongside the lock with a big bag of aggregate or sand in the back, a work boat was moored on the weir cut, they would bring it round to off load the bag once we were out of the way.

Now in Sawbridgeworth we looked for a mooring for a few hours. The chap on a red boat had told us we should visit the mills here, good antique shops, well worth a nosy. We spotted the mills and the moorings alongside modern apartments where signs say not to moor. Then ambiguous signs about Private Mooring, 2 days? We were puzzled, could we stop or not? The one visitor mooring was taken, so we carried on to Sawbridgeworth Lock, a neat and tidy lock with cottages over looking it.

At the end of a line of boats there was a space that would have suited us, but we decided to save a visit to the mills for our way back down stream. Instead today we’d get to Bishop Stortford.

Clare on NB Billy had warned us of more low bridges and sure enough they were low with lovely sticky outy bits.

Tednambury Lock is overlooked at a distance by a house on a hill, the field between filled with yellow ragwort. A gate on the bridge over the bottom of the lock deters loads of more than 3 tonnes and an old garden gate has been reused on the path up through the field.

The river meanders round, several boats were moored on the meadows here and had carved themselves seating areas in the long grass. A leap of faith required to reach dry land, some leaps were bigger than others!

By Spellbrook Lock we’d picked up a prop full of weed again. So once Oleanna had settled at the top Mick lifted the weed hatch to free it up. A long straight above the lock showed an oncoming boat, a blue one, could it be NB Misty Blue and Graeme? It was, he slowly made his way towards the lock as I wound paddles down and waited for Mick to finish. This would be the last time up here that our paths would cross, Graeme covering the water quicker than us, so it was farewells for now. We’ll meet somewhere else, sometime. Enjoy the rest of the summer Graeme.

Organised Gongoozlers sat waiting at the next lock, a flask and mugs for a morning coffee break in the sunshine watching the boats. We seemed to be hot on the heals of another boat who were also on their first trip up the river. A couple with their two kids also stood and watched, their daughter in a push chair seemed uninterested until she spotted Oleanna at the bottom of the lock when she gave out a loud happy screech!

At Southmill Lock the last on the river we caught up with the boat ahead. NB Small World, we hadn’t seen them since Broxbourne and had assumed they’d headed up the Lee, but no they must have just been setting off at a similar time to us a short distance ahead.

The route into Bishop Stortford is mostly surrounded by new warehousy type flats, maybe developers are encouraged to try to replicate the past. A zigzaggy bridge from the millennium crosses the river alongside original mills and leads it’s way towards the station.

The structure of Millennium Bridge and the Mills

A boat pulled out in front of us having just finished at the services, he then winded with hindrance from the wind and headed back towards us. One spot left right at the end of the moorings facing the end of the navigation. Rings are provided, but nestled in amongst nettles, someone could really do with strimming the moorings!

Those nettles would keep a hot compost bin happy

Sadly for Tilly the Health and Safety committee deemed the moorings to be unsuitable so they then had to put up with feline protests for an hour or two.

I think it was thirty years ago I had my first professional design job for Snap Theatre Company who were based in Bishop Stortford. My interview necessitated me removing my portfolio from the final exhibition at college whist marking was happening. When I showed my folio to the Artistic Director of Snap there were certain things I couldn’t show him. A prop design of a barbers chair for my final project at college wouldn’t have been good as it was a theoretical design for the Olivier at the National Theatre, if I was actually designing for the National, why was I at an interview for a youth theatre summer school production of The Tempest!

I spent two/ three weeks in digs here, I can’t remember where abouts now. Much of the town centre has changed, I can’t even remember where the office was where I had to leave the van each night, Sainsburys has certainly moved. The Artistic Director, Andy Graham has also moved, a Google search shows him now to be working near to Chipping Norton of all places!

We had a wonder around the town, a few places sparking memories. The old mills now house a dance school and Chinese restaurant among other things. We crossed the zigzagging bridge and across the vast car park. Huge areas are set out for season ticket holders. Many of the spaces were empty as people now work from home, or maybe they were used by airline staff, not so many flights from Stanstead.

Beyond the A1250 road bridge that cuts the navigation off is Castle Gardens. We walked alongside the river, now far too shallow for any but model boats. This however looks like a new course for the river. There had been a channel that went under the road, but on the 1892-1914 OS 25 inch map it shows the river coming into town a bit further west. Sainsburys now sits on top of the Terminus Basin and the winding hole is where you turned off to it.

Getting out of puff might have been worth it for the views

Sadly the castle had closed for the day, so no views from the top of the mound for us.

We decided to eat out tonight, a proper pizza for Mick and a gluten free one for me at Pizza Express. This used to be an old favourite, it feels like we’ve not been to one in years, possibly true. The photo is deceptive due to perspective. I had an ample amount of food, Mick had a bit too much!

Oh what did I buy?

……….. a spatula! What else!

6 locks, 5.74 miles, 2 boats coming down, 2 days or maybe not, 5C less, 0 shore leave, 2 tideway boats, 30 years ago, 1 spatula, 1 castle, 1 river rerouted, 2 pizzas, 1 bored cat.

https://goo.gl/maps/xBf4Ex7zzeL9MYGv8

Thunderous Trains. 20th July

Ordnance Road Bridge 38 to Broxbourne Bridge

Another early start today, hoping to reach a shady mooring again before the sun got too hot, I hoped I remembered a mooring correctly and that it would be free.

We were soon at Rammey Marsh Lock where we ascended and swapped with a boat heading downstream.

Next we bobbed under the M25, a far less spectacular view than the one you get from the Grand Union.

Shortly before Waltham Town Lock and the road bridge below it, there is a new service block with bins, a water point and toilets alongside some moorings. We both remember a cafe with bins behind it, possibly a pump out machine that ate our C&RT cards with out it doing any sucking! Looking back at Lillian’s blog for News Years Day 2015 has confirmed that the new buildings here have replaced the the café and services. A banner boasts about a show boat that must be moored on the little arm just out of view. If you have £225,000, this would buy you a 60ft widebeam on a serviced mooring here. I wonder what the other charges are?

Now the locks are all manual. The bottom gates having cranked beams made from RSJs. These tend to flex more than move so take quite a lot of effort to get going. People offered to lend a hand, but only with the top gates, they must have known!

The locks are now fairly evenly spaced along the straight stretches of the navigation. Each pound was almost full of moored boats, all different shapes and sizes, many hogging the shade.

Cheshunt had been our destination for the day, but then our schedule has changed in recent days so we wanted to head on a touch further. Anyhow there was very little space available.

As we worked our way along we tried to remember where the Water God of The South bequeathed a big washing brush to us. It was somewhere along this stretch. The electric lines looked familiar but the towpath wasn’t quite right, it needed speed bumps to discourage speeding cyclists!

Up ahead at Aqueduct Lock we could see that the lock was empty, bottom gates open waiting for us. Then a group of people with windlasses in hand arrived. We were still some distance away so I wouldn’t have blamed them for turning it. The gates closed, then there was movement around the lock, but nothing much seemed to be happening. They then reappeared at the bottom gates and proceeded to try to open them again, the leaking top gates had obviously just let through enough water to make this impossible. They all returned to their boat which backed away from the top gates.

A widebeam was moored just off the end of the lock landing, a lady was most apologetic as they had broken down and hope they weren’t in the way. Three signs announced this which were all pretty new, so maybe not a constant problem for them. Up at the lock the boat above was now winding. Ah ha! A day boat from Lee Valley Boat Centre in Broxbourne, a sign above the lock suggests that small vessels should not pass down the lock, maybe someone had seen this hence their retreat.

Once up we knew that this stretch was where we’d received the brush. We’re not certain of how we came to be its new owners, but my theory is that a cyclist had stolen it from another boat and whilst speeding down the towpath they had launched it at Lillian’s roof practicing their javelin throwing. We still have the brush and it occasionally gets used on the gunnels.

After Kings Weir the river takes over again bringing back meanders which helped to hide the other small vessels on the river today. I’ve not seen a pedalo for years! One motorised boat had obviously been told to keep to the right, they did this religiously even if it meant going through the over hanging willow trees.

Just after the right hand bend by The Crown pub the mooring I’d remembered showed itself to be very much in shade and free. Brilliant. We pulled in just after a fisherman and tied to the end bollards. A green green wood right alongside us, Tilly heaven.

I was given seven hours! I made the most of it, but was getting a touch parched and exhausted after six, so returned for a snooze in my escape pod.

In the woods we found space where we could put a stool without being in a cyclist or scooters way. Mick had his first haircut in an age, it’s always nice to see my boyfriend reappearing from behind all that hair!

With the railway being quite close the trains rumble over bridges crossing the river. But as the afternoon progressed the rumbles were hard to differ from thunder. The two merged into one as dark clouds came past. At 2pm we expected torrential rain if the rumbles were to be believed, but it took until 4:30pm for the heavens to open at last.

We’d considered going to the pub for food, but were glad we couldn’t book a table as I think our food would have got a touch soggy in the garden. I do remember Tom and Jan eating in a pub along here somewhere and not being that impressed, so maybe the weather saved us from wasting our money.

5 locks, 5.15 miles, 1 more hot day, 1 more early start, 2 more leapfrogs with Small World, 0 brushes today, 1 day boat retreating, 5 pedalos, grade 3, 1 boyfriend again, 2 torrential down pours, 2 goats cheese ham and caramelised onion pizzas, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval, 2 reusable blocks!

https://goo.gl/maps/USXAqQsEZHf6cV5t7

Farewell HS1. Hello Hackney! Breach 55 17th July

St Pancras Cruising club to Marshgate Bridge 15, River Lee Navigation

Back in Yorkshire it looks like it’s been a lovely day and a good one for drone flying, Mark has been back to the breach site today. Thank you Mark for letting me use you photos.

The breach site has been without water for quite sometime now, there are plants growing on the silt on the southern side. The little boats are back that were used to get across the canal in the early days of the cofferdam, it also looks like the small tug is back on site.

In the above photo you can see that the access road has had a change in direction. It now leads across the eastern side of the cofferdam to what looks like a little pool of water.

This is where, when the cofferdam was built, they discovered a void behind the original piling on the south side. This had a temporary fix done to it to make the dam water tight. Now the top has a new concrete edge, a more substantial fix having been made.

Back on the north bank it looks like they have started to remove some of the aggregate that was being used as an access road. Parts of it have been dug out.

The piling now has a top edge, capped off to neaten it off. The concrete over the drain below has now been brought out to meet the level of the piling, neatening it all off. The surrounding bits of towpath have been filled in and levelled off.

Here’s hoping that when they raise the water levels everything remains water tight. Then the next stage will be removing the cofferdam and reopening the navigation.

Meanwhile back in London

We dropped into the Geraghty Saturday morning zoom for about ten minutes before paying for our mooring and making ready to push off. Graeme had his crew arrive, Roy and Jamie.

Mick walked down the gunnel of the boat in front of us and pulled our bow rope, pivoting Oleanna so that her nose poked out from the other boats. Terry from NB Flora Dora gave us a final push with a pole as Mick cranked the engine up, our extrication from the basin far easier than we’d thought it would be.

The sun was out, the sky blue, we were both lathered in sun cream, the world looked good. Once in the lock Mick got out his new propmate ready to clear the prop, making sure he put his hand through the string. There had been no point in doing so before we got out past all the weed in the basin.

NB Misty Blue soon followed us out and the two boats were ready to descend towards the Lee Navigation.

With plenty of crew our cruise would be plain sailing. We dropped down St Pancras Lock and said our goodbyes to the basin, thank you all for making us feel welcome and giving us somewhere to be whilst we headed to Scarborough, Huddersfield and attempted to sort the washing machine. But I have to say I won’t miss the trains early in the morning.

Last of the gas holders in their original place

A short distance on by Goodsway Bridge there is part of one of the gas holders left to mark where they had originally stood. Then on to Islington Tunnel. A lady moored on the offside just before the tunnel ask if we could lend a hand. Last night they had their rowing boat stolen, it was used to break in to a charity boat on the other side of the tunnel. If we could see it could we make sure it was tide up safe for her to collect later.

We had to wait for a trip boat to come through then the way was clear, NB Misty Blue following on behind. The rowing boat was tied up on the moorings so safe for now, maybe the lady would be able to get someone to tow it back through the tunnel for her.

A boat was just coming up City Road Lock, so we swapped over and waited for our lock partners to join us.

Lots to see. Interesting boats, graffiti all with the sun beating down on us.

A couple of volunteers were on duty at Old Ford Lock, they helped us down meaning we could stay on board and get ready to turn left onto Ducketts Cut, The Hertford Union Canal. With only three locks and 1.2 miles long the canal is easy, it cuts the corner on going down to Limehouse Basin and back up to the Olympic Park, which is 4.7 miles and 6 locks.

Misty Blue led the way, onto new waters for her and her crew.

More colourful boats, the Dad of the flamingo we’d seen up near Tring a few weekends ago and C&RT signs that are now totally unintelligible! We think the mooring sign used to say 4 hours, but we’re not sure!

Loads of spray cans, it must cost a small fortune

At Old Ford Lower Lock a chap was busy creating on the wall alongside. For as long as we can remember this wall has always had graffiti on it. Today it was getting a refreshed look. The face of a green man was appearing as the chap worked away. I was interested in how they work.

As a Scenic Artist I usually have reference to work from, a scale model, this chap kept looking at his phone. The chap said the wall was usually planned out before hand, but not always sometime it was just how the mood took him. He was however following whatever was on his phone quite religiously. I said I looked forward to seeing how it turned out when we return in a week or twos time. He said it was going to be a really good one, but that it would have been painted over by the time we come back.

Here is where the two boats parted company.

Graeme and crew on NB Misty Blue turned southwards with the aim of cruising round City Mill River to see the stadium, his crew being West Ham supporters.

We turned northwards up into Hackney Wick. Blimey the river was busy! Moo canoes filled the water, the towpath was chocka, bars and restaurants were filled to the gunnels, the whole area alive and buzzing.

The graffiti artist who has the ‘I ♥ Eggs’ as their tag has decorated one of the bridges. They have moved on from just their tag that appears near St Pancras, now there are fried eggs to accompany it.

We moored by the Copper Box for our first Christmas afloat in 2014, large areas of the land surrounding it have changed so much. It was what felt like desolate wasteland before, now it is filled with buildings.

We passed under the footbridge from Josh’s old junior school where we once moored on Lillian, this stretch now permanent moorings. Onwards northwards the only gaps in the moorings were too shallow, but we knew somewhere we’d be able to moor.

Up ahead tucked in behind a bush we could make out a riveted hull, then the red and green of the cabin side came into view, we slowed down and prepared to pull alongside NB Billy. An exchange of messages yesterday with Clare meant we’d be passing today, but they had decided to stay another night at Hackney Marshes and offered for us to moor alongside.

We’d only really just got settled when NB Misty Blue came past, sadly Old Ford Lock was closed on the Lee so their trip around the loop hadn’t been possible. As we are heading in the same direction our paths are likely to cross again in the next week or so.

Clare and Pete returned from a bike ride round the Marshes. We decided to do a do-si-do, for us to be on the inside and them on the outside. This would mean we were ready for them to push off in the morning and Tilly could have shore leave without passing over another boat. We swapped sides, possibly confusing a boat who thought it’s luck was in as both boats pulled out, but then snuck back into the same spot.

NB Billy should have been long gone, but they had had an incident with a large chunk of tree and their prop a week ago. A lot of damage was caused and necessitated being in dry dock for a day, their prop blades were distorted, it sheared off 8 bolts from the shaft coupling and dumped their propshaft into their bilge. But all is just about right now, just a bit of packing needed in Billy’s stern gland.

As we chatted Tilly came and went, her calculations went slight array when she attempted to leap from the stern which os moored out at quite a distance. A big splash, one soggy cat extricated herself from the cut onto the bank and ran inside, to be grabbed by me with a Tilly towel. I’d told her not to go off the back! It was all planned, a nice cooling dip!

Now we have yet another dirty towel needing washing with no washing machine!

8 locks, 5.83 miles, 1 tunnel, 0 mysterons, 2 lefts, 3 canals, 1 Goole escapee partner, 5 crew, 1 propmate, 1 hot day, 1 prearranged mooring, 1 Billy, 1 soggy moggy, 1 do-si-do, 1 noisy towpath, 1 bouncy castle, 54,674 cases!

https://goo.gl/maps/Ki8h4kCkCsDBScpy5

Coming Back Round. 13th July

Ballot Box Bridge 13 to St Pancras Cruising Club

Before we got invited to join the tideway cruise we had other plans, this was to venture out to the eastern side of London and onto the Lee and Stort to finish what we started in January 2015. Our cruise then had to be curtailed due to rising water and an imminent lock closure.

So today we carried on back round to where we started last Friday. This should have been quite an uneventful day, some work for me organising the return of overalls to Amazon whilst Mick stood at the helm and brought us in to London.

No visitors in the middle of the night at Horsenden Hill this time

The final pair of overalls were tried on in Huddersfield and didn’t fit so a larger size was ordered and then I went through the website to arrange the return of five pairs. The paperwork took next to no time but a copy of the QR code did not arrive by email for at least an hour. But in the end everything was returned and by the end of the day a refund had been triggered to arrive back to my credit card in the next few days.

Small World still with the tide behind them

Up on deck we were soon caught up by NB Small World, their cruising speed greater than ours. When an opportune moment came Mick pulled over to let them pass.

The pipes that had snaked their way along the edge of the canal close to the temporary HS2 bridge have now vanished, wonder what they had been for? Duck weed is starting to take over though.

Just as we were coming up to a bend to the left near Old Oak a cyclist warned us of a boat adrift ahead. Sure enough there it was just off centre, a big widebeam. There was space to get past. Was it on the bottom? Could we help?

We slowed as we passed it, the front mooring line along with spike were sat on the bow, almost as if someone had pulled the pin out and coiled the rope up ready to push off! It did mean there was some rope we could get hold of. Mick looped the rope over a dolly and started to pull forwards, it wasn’t grounded it just needed some umph to get moving.

Along the towpath there was a big gap where we could pull in past a moored boat that we didn’t want to bump into. Gingerly we pulled the widebeam across slowing and letting it’s bow nudge into the bank rather than our stern. Now what? Would we be able to bang the spikes into the towpath or was this stretch empty for a reason.

C&RT chaps ringing base and left incharge

Fortunately this problem became someone else’s as two C&RT chaps just happened to be walking the towpath. They didn’t mention that they were coming to find an adrift boat, but they ended up with one. We helped nudge the stern in and left one chap holding a rope whilst the other went to their van for a mallet and a bigger spike. Who knows how the boat got in the middle of the cut. A speeding boater? Or someone had assisted it by pulling out the pins, coiling up the rope and giving the boat a push? Anyhow it was back on the bank now.

Onwards. I was waiting for a phone call from the panto Production Manager, to try to sort logistics of painting the show this year. A phone call at lunchtime had been arranged and all the time we were getting closer to Little Venice and Maida Hill Tunnel. We passed NB Small World who’d managed to find a towpath mooring. The water point at Little Venice was occupied so we couldn’t hang around there. Both of Rembrandt Garden moorings were full, although the community space was empty. We carried on and joined a line of trip boats going through the tunnel.

Popping out the other side I was busy trying to get hold of Gemma, only to get her answer phone, as we passed where the work boats and tugs had been two weeks ago. Here containers which had been sat on boats were now half submerged, apparently lots of high vis clothing was hanging up to dry draped around the bank.

We paused for canoeists to come round the bend at Cumberland Basin then we turned the left hand bend towards Camden. Around half of the boats on the moorings were the same as they’d been twelve days before, they were just in a slightly different order and some had turned round. No chance of us fitting in there today.

No Christine today, we’d refrained from telling her we’d be in Camden today for her own safety

The gates to the top lock were wide open waiting for us. As we pulled in the volunteer we’d seen last time appeared like Mr Ben. Today he was the only volunteer on duty.

Now please don’t get me wrong, I like volunteers. I also like doing locks, that’s why I love boating. I can manage lock gates and do not jump down onto boats as they are descending in locks, especially when I can just step aboard below. I also check that the helm is happy for me to start emptying or filling a lock and I would never lift a paddle when Mick was not at the helm of our boat and home! We really must remember to have a whistle at the ready, both on the boat and with the windlass. There is being efficient and there is being an accident waiting to happen!

We then had a short distance to travel back to St Pancras Cruising Club where we had a nights mooring booked. Mick reversed Oleanna into the basin. Boat movements in the last week had made it easier to get the stern in. The bow however was a different matter.

Mick tied the stern off, then pulled us over using the centre line until the bow was close enough for me to pass over the bow rope to him on the gunnel of the boat we’d be facing. A lot of pulling and eventually we were in, nestled against NB Misty Blue again.

We hooked up and got a load of washing ready. Mick closed the door of the machine, pressed the buttons. Nothing! No beep, no light, no click, no nothing! He checked the socket, that worked. He checked the fuse in the washing machine plug, that was fine. Time to pull the machine out.

Everything was built quite tightly, but the washing machine pulls out relatively easily, once you’ve removed the handle of the laundry drawer and the door to the cupboard the machine sits in. As Mick pulled the machine out we both heard the water pump start up. Was this a good or bad thing?

BAD!!!

‘Turn the water pump off!!!’ The switch was switched in the electrics cupboard, towels flung on the floor to soak up the river of water appearing from below the machine. Bu**er! The pipe supplying the machine had broken. This wasn’t the original problem, just one that came along to keep the original one company!

We’ve now got dirty towels and nothing to wash them in!

Mick had look at the machine, but couldn’t find anything obvious. Maybe our Tideway Cruise had caused this. Had the machine been buffeted about on the waves? Well it ‘s in quite a tight fitting cupboard so most probably not.

Water over the skin fitting of the outflow pipe! We’ll put tape over that next time.

Had the ballast inside it caused a problem? Maybe. Or had water come in through the outflow pipe and done something? This is very possible looking back at Adam’s photos of us in the swell on Saturday.

Whilst all this was happening Tilly did her best to investigate things too. I had to pull her out from the electrics cupboard that she’d got half into and round the internal door. Then with the shelving unit pulled out from below the gunnel behind the shower she was trying to get through the gap into the washing machine cupboard too! Doors needed closing, with her on the outside. I was just trying to help get to the bottom of things and lend a paw!

Everything was put back in place, water mopped up, stop cock closed. Time to call an engineer. If it’s a dead machine we’ll need to plan it’s extraction from the boat and where and how to dispose of it. But for now we’ll be wearing slightly more holey clothes.

3 locks, 10.4 miles, 1 left, 1 tunnel, 1 reverse, 1 small minded boat, 1 adrift boat, 1 rescue operation, 0 phone call, 1 over keen volunteer, 1 sideways manoeuvre, 1 dead machine, 1 curious cat.

https://goo.gl/maps/r261ZH111x4vhGqa9

Tideway Tilly. 10th July

A photo heavy post! If you click on a photo it should enlarge.

Limehouse Basin to Ontario Bridge 205A Grand Union Canal

Tilly seemed keen to be out this morning despite the not so inviting view from our bedroom window. Today we’d be heading out onto the Tidal Thames so no shore leave for cats, no matter how much they shout!

One of the last jobs to do today was put Tilly’s escape pod back together ready should there be any necessity to abandon ship. She also quite likes to sit in there anyway.

At 10:30 all crews congregated in the car park for our final briefing. An extra sheet of paper was passed round which detailed the distances between bridges on our cruise upstream. We were reminded to keep looking behind us as that is where the danger can lie, make sure our anchors were actually attached to our boats and just to hold our course and not to turn into waves as they can come from any and every direction. VHF radios were handed to crew who didn’t have their own, ship to ship being on channel 8.

St Pancras Leader, Simon, would radio VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) when they left the lock and the third lock leader would do the same when the last and final boat entered the tide way, Tail end Charlie would be Oleanna today. There wouldn’t be much commercial traffic on the river, but plenty of Clippers and speed boats. The weather forecast wasn’t so good, everyone prepared for rain which was just trying to start.

The first locking of four boats was at 11:15. Limehouse Lock can hold three narrowboats abreast and as two boats were short they could sit one behind the other. We watched as the boats pulled into the lock, each passing ropes round the risers on the lock walls, these are positioned directly under the bollards above.

Waiting for NB Chance to take her position in the lock

The pull as the lock starts to empty, radial gates not paddles, is strong necessitating ropes needing to be passed round a T stud to help you keep hold.

We watched as the lock emptied and then the boats departed. NB Thermopylae led the way followed by NB Chance, NB Misty Blue and NB Mobius brought up the rear. Each boat motoring out of the lock and turning right onto the Thames keeping a distance between each other.

The next boats were ready and waiting for the lock to be refilled, we headed back to Oleanna for a final briefing with our second mate, move the towline to the bow and untie ourselves from the mooring.

Oleanna looking forward to her trip up the Thames

Tilly was warned that that the outside we’d be moving today was likely to be quite lumpy bumpy for a while, she retired to her escape pod and waited to see what happened.

NB Coracle was lead boat, followed by NB Small World then us at the very back. As the lock gates fully opened Andrew on NB Coracle said ‘Let’s go boating!’ It was 11:48 we were 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

Leaving Limehouse Lock, the river was big but not as big as leaving Goole

I closed the cratch cover up and moved through Oleanna to the stern. I was soon pleased that I’d thought to move bottles from the galley shelves and counter tops as the river was most certainly lumpy. We turned into the flow of the tide heading upstream.

Speed boats zipped past their wakes moving across the river. They were towards the south bank, we were towards the north bank, the waves kept coming and coming, first this way then that. You said it was going to be lumpy! You didn’t say that we would be looping the loop!!!!

Tilly wasn’t happy, she was shouting at the back doors! I have to admit that I wasn’t too happy either as Oleanna rose and fell with the waves. Please excuse the out of focusness of this footage as my camera had no idea what it should focus on! This is by far the lumpiest water we’ve encountered. As a child I used to be seasick every time I even stood near to a boat, so today I did my best to keep calm and looked round at everything to keep my mind off the swell.

We fell in line behind the lead boat and NB Small World, one yellow buoy coming a touch close to us. The river was moving us along, at one point I couldn’t hear the engine, Mick had put Oleanna into tickover as we had been gaining on the boat ahead.

Behind us Canary Wharf, ahead old warehouses, the River Police jetty.

The Shard came into view, then as we rounded the bend at Wapping the view opened out.

The Walkie Talkie, St Pauls, BT Tower, City Hall and of course Tower Bridge. Wow!

Dora May just off centre with a blue and cream wheelhouse

At Tower Moorings we tried to spot Dora May that used to belong to my friend Kathy. She is still moored there, wheelhouse positioned with a great view over to Tower Bridge.

Just look at that! Tower Bridge built between 1886 and 1894

We managed to line ourselves up briefly for a photo we’ve been dreaming of for years, under the central span of Tower Bridge.

Then we got back in line with the two boats ahead and headed for span 1 to the north side. It is quite an impressive bridge to walk over, but more so to pass under.

We waved to the south bank of the river where Mick’s sister Christine had positioned herself.

No chance of spotting her, but thankfully she spotted us.

I especially like the one in front of the Tower of London.

The bridges now come thick and fast as did the swell.

Trying to take photos clinging on, trying to stay upright at times was quite hard.

London Bridge Hospital looks like a new coat of white paint has been added, keeping it crisply clean, soon followed by Hays Wharf. This wonderful deco building once a wharf now contains consulting rooms and the cardiology department for the hospital.

Follow my leader under the correct spans of the bridges as waves buffeted themselves against Oleanna.

Tate Modern (opened 2000) and the wibbly wobbly Millennium Bridge (opened 2000, reopened 2002).

The Samuel Pepys pub is where Mick used to drink when he worked almost next door for BT in the red brick building.

More bridges, more sights, more big trip boats.

Pillars where old railway bridges used to be. The Oxo tower (originally a power station supplying the Post Office, built at the end of the 19th Century) more shiny tower blocks.

Waterloo Bridge (opened 1942, fully opened 1945), The National Theatre (opened 1976). Have to say I was a touch disappointed that the National hadn’t brought the horses out from War Horse onto the terrace to see us pass as they did for the Queen!

Frequent glances behind brought different views as well as checking if we were being followed.

Hungerford Bridge (opened 1864) and the Golden Jubilee Bridges (completed 2002)

Then Hungerford Bridge and the Golden Jubilee Bridges. Were we early? We looked up as we came under the bridge.

A pair of shoes, legs, a radio 2 news presenter stood phone in hand ready to capture us as we passed below.

Thank you Adam, hope you got to work on time.

The London Eye (opened 2000), County Hall (1922), Tattershall Castle (a steamer built in 1934 and was used as a Humber Ferry) and onwards to the Houses of Parliament (finished in 1860) and Westminster Bridge (opened 1862).

Such a shame Big Ben is still swathed in scaffolding, maybe we’ll just have to come and do the trip again in the latter part of 2022!

As we passed the exclusion zone in front of the Houses of Parliament I shouted out a few comments to those who run our country. I so hope they heard and will take heed of my words!

Under Lambeth Bridge ( 1932) with the MI5 offices (1929) with it’s gold roof.

A boat sat out of the water a structure held it upright. I wonder if those eating and drinking at Tamesis Dock knew they weren’t afloat.

Mick tried pointing out another building he used to work in. ‘That one with all the windows’! It turns out Mick used to work next door to the MI6 building on the south bank, well before it was built.

By now the river traffic was easing, the swell gone. Under Vauxhall Bridge, the four towers of Battersea Power Station (completed in 1955) rose from the redevelopment below.

Next week will see the return of the open-air cinema and theatre at The Coal Jetty. Apartments are being sold and retail and restaurants are already open. We do wonder what the residents will think of living next door to the Super Sewer though! I’m sure it will all be below ground.

Victoria Railway Bridge rebuilt and widened in the 1960’s

Chelsea, originally Victoria Bridge, rebuilt in 1937

Albert Bridge, built 1873, suspension bridge incorporated in 1884-7 and final alterations made in 1973

Victoria, Chelsea and Albert Bridges. The question is who was Chelsea? Did she have a bit of a fling with Albert getting between them!

Albert Bridge painted in pastel shades has a touch of a Wedgewood feel to it.

Battersea Road Bridge was followed by numerous house boats.

I wonder what it’s like living on one of those with the tides coming and going.

Lots Road Power Station which used to produce electricity for the underground is having a makeover. The internal structures have been removed and 800 tonnes of steel have been used to retain the exterior façade. Along with four new buildings the development will provide 420 residential units.

Hanging under Wandsworth Bridge ( built in 1940) is a dishevelled bail of straw. It’s an ancient bylaw of uncertain heritage that if a bridge arch is open to river traffic, but with restricted headroom, then a bundle of straw should be hung from the bridge as a warning. At night time it is replaced by a white light.

Fulham Railway Bridge (1889) and Putney Bridge (1886)

Down stream of Putney Bridge (1886) is where the Oxford Cambridge boat race starts, the course passes under Hammersmith Bridge, Barnes Bridge and finishes just before Chiswick Bridge a distance of four miles.

Fulham Football Club is having major works. The riverside stand at Craven Cottage was demolished and is being redeveloped into more than just a football stand. Floating pontoons are being used in the building work and an exclusion zone around these is in force on the river marked with yellow buoys.

Now we started to encounter rowers as we approached Hammersmith Bridge (1887). An area along the southern bank has been marked out for the rowers to use, keeping normal river traffic away from the area.

Hammersmith Bridge has been closed to motor traffic since August 2019 after cracks were discovered in the bridges pedestals. The closure was extended to pedestrians, cyclists and normal boat traffic last year. It is however open for pre-booked transits which are subject to a lot of conditions. One of which is that you have an abort plan should the bridge be closed in front of you. This would entail winding and stemming the tide in a predetermined section of the river, contact with VTS would be made and then we would wait for slack water before returning all the way to Limehouse Lock with the outgoing tide.

All three groups had to pass under the bridge in an hours window. Thankfully no abort signal was given and we as Tail end Charlie passed under the bridge at 13:38, well within the hour. Phew!

Under Barnes Railway Bridge ( built in the 1890’s), more rowers and paddleboarders.

We received a phone call from Simon checking our location at 14:00, we could confirm we were under Chiswick Bridge and all was fine at the back of the flotilla.

A zoom in on the camera to Kew Railway Bridge confirmed we were catching up the second group. NB Combs Lass and NB Galatea were just passing under the bridge, it was the first time we’d seen them since Limehouse.

Kew Bridge a wide span bridge was to be the last we’d pass under, the Tower of Kew Bridge Pumping Station watching our approach towards Brentford Junction.

Passing islands to our starboard side we could see the sculpture Liquidity by Simon Packard. This to boaters helps mark the entrance of Brentford Junction on the Thames, to locals it caused a big hoo-ha when it was first erected as it blocked the view from new flats and a local restaurant to the river.

This was where the flotilla would split. Three boats could be seen continuing on up stream towards Teddington. NB Thermopylae now at the back. The third locks worth of boats veered off at the Junction and headed for Thames Lock. Here NB Albert Victor was joined by NB Coracle our lead boat and we joined NB Small World in the second lock to rise up to the semi tidal stretch at the bottom of the Grand Union Canal.

I had chance to check on everything below, half expecting Tilly to still be in a tizz and maybe for her to have suffered from seasickness. I was greeted by a cat who was trying to be quite cool about everything, even if she was a little bit shouty! There was also a bit of a puddle in the main cabin. Oh dear.

However it didn’t take me long to realise that this was just water and it must have come in through our hatch despite the outer doors being closed. There was water on the surround. In absolute torrential rain with howling gales we’ve had water come in having been forced up under the doors. This must have happened when we were in the really lumpy water.

Thames Lock which takes us onto semi-tidal water

Heading to the bow to open up the cratch I also noticed a very small amount of water had made it’s way up under the front doors. These are raised off the floor of the well deck and have a frame that sits quite a bit higher than the doors. Water will have come in through the well deck drains on the choppy sections of the river and some of that made it’s way inside!

Maybe if we plan to do more rough cruises we should look at adding extra protection to these areas, the amount of water wasn’t alarming, but it would have been better to have come in to a dry boat.

A lock keeper was also on duty at Brentford Gauging Locks bring us up off the tidal water and onto the canal proper. We were now bunched up and a queue had formed at Clitheroe’s Lock. I headed up to help , other crew walking on ahead to set Osterley Lock.

When we reached the final lock of the day NB Albert Victor was waiting for a partner, so NB Small World joined them, leaving us to lock up on our own. The off side bottom gate refused, despite a bit of a waggle back and forth, to open fully, so it was one boat in at a time. On leaving half a tree trunk floated above the lock gates. NB Small World pushed it out of the way, but by the time I’d refilled the lock it had drifted back down to be in the way again!

The first sign of a gap in the moorings we pulled in, close to the community gardens. Tilly’s paw was already clinging onto the bathroom porthole her nose sniffing the fresh air, the trees here already having been given feline approval. As soon as our location had been noted with co-ordinates and what3words the rules were recited to Tilly and she was given 2 hours shore leave.

Time for a well deserved cup of tea!

Graeme and David with everyone else behind them

This evening we joined everyone else who’d come off the river at Brentford along with Simon who’d made it over from Teddington for a meal at The Fox. This is a pub Mick knows well as he used to live about 200 yards away. I was famished, but had also forgotten about the portion sizes. A portion of chicken wings arrived as a starter, I’d been expecting 4 or 6, but 12! Mick and I should have shared them. Sadly they had run out of rainbow trout so I chose pork belly with mash, Mick had sausage and mash. All the food was very tasty as expected.

A very good evening wrapping up an incredible day. The rain had held off, the planning had been spot on, the waves added extra adrenalin, advice was shared, lead boats knew the river, tail boats were VHF qualified. Thank you very much Simon for offering us the final space on the cruise. Thank you also to St Pancras Cruising Club, from start to finish we felt we were in safe hands.

Waterway Routes under new improved rain shield which wasn’t required today

5 locks, 18.75 miles, 2 rights, 34 bridges, 3rd locking, 10th in line, 1st St Pancras cruising cat, 1 lumpy river, 1 shouty cat, 2 puddles, 1 sister-out-law, 1 fellow blogger, 1 boat in tickover much of the time, 4 rice crispie cakes, 0 flying pigs, 4 power stations, 3 lock keepers, 2 hours shore leave, 1 fox, 807 photos, 1 very nice meal, 1 fantastic day.

https://goo.gl/maps/kU1p4HBtsysYSh7c7

For more photos of the trip from the front of the flotilla follow this link to Scholar Gypsy

Adam has also published a post with his photos this morning, showing the second group of boats as they headed for Westminster Bridge. A link to his blog Briar Rose

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna