Narrow Boat Chalice

A New Chapter Begins!

2011-05-17T23:57:00.000+01:00

Well, we have just become a two boat family, having just bought the former Working Boat, then Ice-Breaker, then Tug, named SICKLE.

Current plans are to keep both boats, so it seems appropriate to start a new blog that will cover our adventures with both SICKLE and CHALICE.

It is not impossible both boats will be out and about together on occasions.

The new SICKLE and CHALICE blog can be found at

http://sickleandchalice.blogspot.com/

Final day (minus Cath)

2011-04-27T23:11:00.000+01:00

(posted by Alan)

I don't know why, but didn't sleep well, and ended up sitting in bed quite early, browsing stuff on my laptop.

We had arranged with Cath that she would come and have breakfast with us, before she headed into work. She perhaps was not to know that Charlie had not yet had his early morning walk, so that quickly became her first task.

Soon after Cath has said her farewells David and I set off - a good move, as 4 small boats locking through together did so immediately behind us.

David generally doesn't do a lot of the locking, but when he does, you know you are on a whirlwind tour, where things tend to get done faster than you are used to! Today was no different, and I can only marvel at his youthful energy, and imaginative use of bike. We found it no problem to pull a paddle at each lock as we left it, to prepare it for the boats following.

Some of the water levels were seriously low, and I could not get the boat in against the bank below certain locks. David easily leaps the gaps, so no problem there, but emptying a lock in a shallow pound with the boat close to the gates, (and it was also a windy day!), can be quite a challenge, as the boat can get suddenly drawn forward.

At a couple of the worst cases we took the unusual step of bringing the boat right into the "vee" of the gates, and running it quite fast in ahead gear to ensure it stayed put as the full lock was drawn off.

The main distinguishing feature of the day, other than how fast David works, was just how "bloomin" cold it was, and whereas other days I had been peeling layers of clothes off, today I just kept adding more.

Tring summit was reached in record time, I think, but I got very cold on the back steering over it, until the downhill locks commenced.

We then got a steady run of boats coming up the locks of the main Marsworth flight, sometimes causing us to pause for breath, (well me, at least!), although nobody else seemed to be going down.

Above final two locks, yet again waiting for boats coming the other way.

We were finally joined by another boat for the last two locks, also called "Mars- worth" but some distance on from the main flight, as it pulled off a water point after we passed.

Charlie is generally very patient as we work through locks!

So, another trip drew to a close. Not a bad one, given that on only day two we had thought we might have show-stopper engine problems. Not a bit of it, and more than 300 miles of boating, and not far off another 200 locks added to the "log".

Berkhamsted to Cook's Wharf
Miles: 7.9, Locks: 16
Total Miles: 309.6, Total Locks: 193

Another big push towards home.

2011-04-25T20:13:00.035+01:00

(posted by Alan)

So we were now committed to trying to get Cath into the best place to be at work tomorrow.

Lot Mead - First lock of the day.

The Hemel Hempstead area would do, but Berkham- sted would be better, but an awful lot of locks. We had no idea if it would be as busy as yesterday, so agreed to just set off, and see how we did, just accepting what came.

The ever scenic Ironbridge lock near Watford.

In fact we saw almost nothing moving the way we were, but passed a lot of boats comiung the other way. As by no means all the locks were in our favour, clearly other boats were travelling North, but for a long while we didn't see any, and worked through all the first locks alone.

Another day of brilliant sunshine - in fact the only rain we have seen in over 2 weeks out on this trip was a thunderstorm when we had already moored up at Tewddington on the Thames.

Home Park lock, near Kings Langley - Hemel in sight!

Also just a day of steady progress, and far less hanging about that yesterday, so we were ticking the locks off quite fast.

Apsley, (where Cath went shopping, and I filled the water tank), and then Boxmoor, both part of Hemel Hempstead were reached quicker than we could have hoped for, so we decided to head for our first choice of Berkhamsted.

The overspill from the Rising Sun pub - never seen it this busy!

Before we got there, we finally caught up another boat - an efficient single-hander, and worked with him, until he moored up for the night. We stopped ourselves after just one more lock, having booked a table for a meal at a local Pizzeria. Our son, Michael, who doesn't "do boating" came and joined us for the evening, and we had the rare pleasure of the whole family for a meal out.

Cath then left with Michael, with an agreement that David and I would carry on for a final day, and hopefully return Chalice to base, unusually with Cath not there.

The stats say a lot about this part of the journey up the GU, where there is on average less than half a mile between each lock, but where not many are conveniently enough together to work as a mini flight. A suggestion that we should have gone a bit further to get the lock count into the thirties had fallen on deaf ears - I can't think why!

Lot Mead (Rickmansworth) to Berkhamsted
Miles: 13.5, Locks:29
Total Miles: 301.7, Total Locks: 177

Change of plan, (and a very long day!)

2011-04-24T22:15:00.000+01:00

(posted by Alan)

Today saw us leave the grandeur of the Thames, and back to our more usual canal environment.

We had opted to go out of Teddington on the morning tide, and had already found out that meant locking through by about 07:30 am, so we set off down to the lock a bit before this. Despite several boats apparently waiting, none seemed to be going through around that time, and in fact we saw little else moving for the 5 miles we were on the Thames, other than a variety of rowed craft.

Another burnt out boat.

We did see the burnt out narrow boat "Centaur" that made the news quite recently, and eventually one lone narrow boat going the other way, that seemed to be making slow progress against the now outgoing tide - we were surprised it had not come through earlier on a still incoming tide.

Richmond half-tide barrier and lock.

Choosing the timing right means that the "half tide" barrier at Richmond, (a kind of "mini Thames barrier"), is open, so you don't work the lock that only comes into play when the barriers are down.

The lock, and the "don't use" arch.

I find this barrier confusing, as it has an arch near the lock that both has illuminated orange lights, (theore- tically "OK to use"), but also a board with three reds, (which definitely means don't use).

In fact the tidal effects are considerable. On it's own Chalice probably can make about 5 mph in open water, and we were getting little more than this on leaving Teddington. But before we got to Brentford we were at between 7 and 8 mph over land, something that becomes very apparent as you turn across the river, and almost double back 180 degrees up the channel to Thames lock.

Brentford has two sets of locks, the first being keeper operated, and the true tidal locks. The next stretch is partially tidal, and you get to the "gauging locks", which are self operated. Or they would have been other than we caught up another boat which must have left Teddington earlier than we did. The crew of this decided to fill the lock before we were fully ready, then be very patronising when this caused our boat to rub against theirs...... (Deep breath, and carry on!.....).

After this bank holiday weekend mayhem commenced, as we quickly caught two very slow moving narrow boats. We eventually realised that a third boat with them had not left Brentford until we passed it, and they were stalling us to the first of the locks, in the hope it would catch up. (Another deep breath, and carry on!....).

Alan, David and another drag the stuck boats back out.

By Hanwell lock flight, our progress was already being heavily slowed by these boats, when the two metal ones attempted to enter a lock side by side, with debris stopping either gate from fully opening, and with fenders between the boats to further restrict their chances of getting through. They were well stuck, and didn't seem to grasp how to get unstuck. We eventually persuaded them to let us try and hand tow them out backwards, whilst people jiggled the gates. This worked quite quickly. We thought we were on our way, then, but apparently the chap on the small accompanying cruiser then refused to go through the gates, (on his own, not with another boat!), because he feared he would get stuck too! (We are talking of a 7 foot of boat in a near 14 foot gap). (We were getting quite good at taking long deep breaths by now!....).

We have never seen Hanwell locks so busy, but were at least lucky enough to be ahead of apparently experienced crews on the boats behind that then jammed themselves between another pair of gates. (Normally two narrow boats can enter a broad Grand Union lock easily, side by side, but not if there is large amounts of junk stopping the gates opening - a wise crew knows this, and doesn't try!.)

Meanwhile a debate was going on about whether we were after all going to turn on to the Paddington Arm, and head for London, which had been our original plan. For various reasons we felt we might be better heading for home, and getting as far as we could before Cath had to be back at work. I was still getting visual disturbaces for a start, and didn't fancy trying to involve further hospitals in this, thinking it might be better to get back to where I had had the surgery.

Waiting for Cowley lock.

The decision was "Head for home", but being a gorgeously sunny bank holiday weekend, the canal was incredibly busy, and we were spending large amounts of time waiting, sometimes when locks were reversed as we approached them, which is rather poor etiquette. (Yep, lots, and lots of deep breathing, overall!).

Bikes carried precariously over the deepest lock on the Grand Union.

We thought we would stop before Rickmans- worth, but as people started tying up, we found ourselves making far better progress, so pushed on to Lot Mead, which we rather like, as there are good options for walking Charlie the dog.

We don't normally do non-stop boating days of over 12 hours, but today we did. It was hard to believe we had still been on the non-tidal Thames just that morning.

Teddington to Lot Mead (Rickmansworth)
Miles: 25.1, Locks:22
Total Miles: 288.2, Total Locks: 148

Last of the non-tidal Thames - Getting to Teddington

2011-04-23T21:33:00.000+01:00

(posted by Cath)

We had only a few miles and locks to go today, to get ourselves to Teddington, so we didn't rush it at all. Alan and I took Charlie for a walk past the moored houseboats at Chertsey, and on a bit further, until we met a road. Charlie was keen to try out his new found swimming skills, walking into the Thames in several places, and doggie paddling about.

Bikes out at Walton on Thames - Ready to shop.

We decided to moor up at Walton on Thames, to go to a super- market. We've used the bikes a few times while away, but not both at the same time. Alan and I set off on the bikes in the baking sun, stopped for a coffee and cake before we got to the town centre, then went shopping - it really is hard to believe that this is the UK in April. It feels much more like somewhere on the continent.

As we were being fairly lazy it was after 1 pm before we got going again, on through the final lock to Hampton Court, where we thought we might amble about in the garden for a while. We intended to moor on the visitors moorings outside, but all seemed full, except a small gap, that we weren't sure that we'd fit into. We had a bit of a misunderstanding about what David and I (on the front of the boat) thought needed to happen as we approached, and what Alan (on the back of the boat) heard - so we arrived shouting forward and back, and trying not to look like rank amateurs.

Coffee and scones at Hampton Court,

At this point we were rescued - we spotted Kingfisher, with Lucy and Rob from the Canal World Forum - who had just moored, and who let us breast up to them. We knew that they were travelling up the Thames, and roughly where they might be, but we hadn't formally met them before, so once introductions were over we headed off to the Cafe in the Hampton Court Gardens, and had the opportunity to find out a bit about each other.

Truly a "House Boat"!

After coffee we said goodbye to Lucy and Rob, and we set off towards Tedding- ton, only a couple of miles further on. As I steered black clouds began gathering towards the south, and there were rumblings of thunder.

We moored up, Charlie got another walk, and we confirmed what time we need to lock through onto the Tidal Thames with the 'lockie' at Teddington, just as the heavens opened, and the rain began in earnest. We are now moored up, doors of the boat still open at the front, as it is still hot, despite it having been raining now for a good couple of hours.

Chertsey to Teddington
Miles: 11.8, Locks: 3
Total Miles: 263.1, Total Locks: 126

Thames is magnificent, but very busy today

2011-04-22T22:09:00.002+01:00

(posted by Alan)

Last night we finally got down to thinking about our options for the rest of the journey. Although we were sure we had probably caught up enough of the time lost over Alan's eye problems, there remained the thorny question about one particular stretch of the Thames which although only just over 5 miles long always places heavy constraints on the journey into London.

The short length from Teddington lock on the Thames to Thames Lock, Brentford, the entry lock to the Grand Union Canal, is tidal, and there are at best only two short windows in any day where the tides are right for an easy passage. Unfortunately this weekend those times fall badly, either meaning a ridiculously early start from Teddington, or risking arrival and trying to find moorings in Brentford after dark. We decided in the end to delay to Sunday morning, when we reckon we will not have to go through Teddington until around 07:40 a.m., and which should see us locking in to Brentford without having to request a lock-keeper to work out of hours, (it's often hard to contact them).

Sometimes the smaller buildings are just as attractive.

So the pressure was now off to do huge mileages each day. As the day progressed it quickly became obvious we had made the right decision. Boats were out in "Bank Holiday" numbers, and we were often in long queues at locks, albeit that we generally got into the next available 'slot'.

Cath was fascinated by the use of boat rollers to bypass the lock at Bray.

It has been another stunning day weather- wise, and it really has shown the magni- ficence of this stretch of the Thames at it's very best. There really are all sorts of craft, with a lot of them just being human powered.

Chalice looking rather small in a big lock.

In fact narrow boats look very dwarfed by many of the fibreglass boats on the Thames, as this are generally far wider, and massively taller.

Classic view.

Of course this stretch of the Thames contains some very famous landmarks. It seems "Lizzie" was at home at Windsor today, but I doubt she reads the blog, and no invite for tea was received.

Does this really fit under all the required bridges ?

While we waited at a lock for this trip boat, the impression was rather of a house being taken through the lock

Swan by David

Of course as well as boats of just about every conceivable type, size and condition, there is a near constant display of animal life.

"Wyvern Shipping" Hire Boat

Last time we came around this way we saw a hire boat from our local fleet back home, and were surprised to do so again. I think you have to be fairly well heeled to afford the length of hire this would require.

Chalice in the distance, as we return after our walk.

We were aware that Charlie the dog had been aboard far too long, so with no need to make more miles started looking for moorings at Chertsey. We found an ideal spot, and once tied up, Cath and I took Charlie back up a large riverside meadow. Charlie, a rescue dog, initially seemed to be a Spaniel who doesn't actually like water, but he is starting to get the hang of it, and took a few more tentative cooling off swims. Our attempts at a pub were less successful, as you could not get access to the main garden without passing through the "no dogs inside" bar. So we were limited to benches out the front. Good beer and cider, but noisy road.

Cliveden Deep to Chertsey
Miles: 20.1, Locks: 8
Total Miles: 251.3, Total Locks: 123

On to Cliveden Deep

2011-04-21T22:47:00.002+01:00

(posted by Cath)

A very hot day.

We overslept a bit, so got up fairly quickly when we woke, and got started. After not a lot of miles we came to a big Tesco, right by the river - where I stopped to get supplies. One of the problems with supermarkets that you don't know is spending far too long looking for things that you need - this wasn't helped by me not having a shopping list, although I did have a clear idea of what the meals would be for the next couple of days. I was wandering up and down the aisles muttering to remind myself of what I needed to buy. By the time I got to the checkout I had been in the shop for a long time. "Is that man something to do with you?" asked the woman at the checkout. I looked up to see a very fed up Alan, with Charlie, standing at the window, looking in.

Today we were going through the 'super rich' areas, superb houses, massive boathouses with very shiny boats in them. At one point I found myself staggered that any houses could have quite such big boats moored at the end of the garden, when I realised that the homes were moored at the end of the gardens.

I spent some time doing the washing, with our "Fisher Price" twin tub washing machine. When we are out for a couple of weeks I try to wash every week or so, when we've got fine weather. Today I managed to break the shower pump again - meaning that instead of spinning the washing, and draining the tub into the shower tray I had to empty into a bucket and chuck it over the side. A woman in a small boat coming out of the lock as I emptied once again through the side hatch shouted, "Have you just pee'd in that bucket?" Embarrassed, I explained that I was trying to do the washing.

Kevin & Lauren

Over the last couple of days we have seen a man and his young daughter canoeing much of the same route as us, last night they camped at Mapledurham lock, and they were away before us this morning. We finally got to chat to them today. Kevin and Lauren are canoeing from Cricklade to Chertsey. Kevin said that the first parts of the journey were quite difficult, even in the canoe they were scrapping the bottom at times. They have booked camp sites, sometimes at locks, which I didn't realise was possible. They don't have Internet, but their position is being tracked on Google maps aprs - http://aprs.fi - as Kevin is a radio amateur. Lauren will be six next week - the week before I was six I had my tonsils out - I think I'd much rather have done what they are doing.

Huge numbers of these structures were being erected

We went through Henley, where there were the scale of prepar- ations for the regatta was quite remark- able. The river is very wide at this famous place.

Medmenham Abbey

Later we passed Medmen- ham Abbey, former home of the notorious Francis Dashwood, founder of the Hellfire Club.

Weir at Marlow

As we progress further down the Thames the volume of wsater passing the weirs at each lock gets more impressive, although it is difficult to capture the power of the river in a photo.

Bat over boat.

We moored beneath the trees in the beautiful Cliveden Deep, Charlie thinks that this is the very best place he's been ever. We lit the barbecue and opened a bottle of wine.


Batin flight as captured by David.

We sat beneath the trees, eating our meal, until the sun set, and the bats began to loop low over the boat. David even managed to photograph one of them.

Mapledurham to Cliveden Deep
Miles: 27.2, Locks:10
Total Miles: 231.2, Total Locks:115

On our way again

2011-04-20T22:40:00.002+01:00

(posted by Cath)

An extremely hot day, although the mist took until very late to 'burn off', leaving even nearby hills faint and faded.

We were getting ready to leave the mooring when 2 very large "Caversham" cruisers came past us covered with young people wearing life jackets. As Alan was sure that he had seen 4 of these boats together the previous day, we set off towards the lock, hoping that we might get through the lock with the first two of them.

Delayed by photo call!

At the lock someone off one of the "Caver- sham" boats told Alan to go ahead, as they were waiting for the other 2 boats to catch up - but just as we got into the lock the other boats arrived. As Sandford lock is very large we managed to get all of us into the lock, and all the young people posed for a group photo. They were foreign, I don't know what language they were speaking, a germanic language, but not German or Dutch, I think, as I can speak a little of each of those, and I would have recognised some words. Perhaps something Scandinavian, although it is surprising that their English was not better if that is the case - most Scandinavians put us to shame with their command of other languages. The guy taking the group photo was also trying to operate the lock, and was having little success despite adults on the boats shouting "Oepen schlueses", as he perused the options on the mechanism. He did finally manage to find "Open sluices".

They were refilling with water when we got to the next lock, which was a much smaller lock, so we went on ahead.

We don't think they expected it to be so hot.

At one lock we were joined by two young men, who are canoeing from Lechlade to Teddington to raise money for the Japan disaster fund. Both were looking very sun-burned, and were grateful for some sunblock on their knees. They were with us in several locks, and although we eventually pulled ahead of them, we saw them at the end of the day, working through Mapledurham lock, on their way to Reading.

Abingdon

Clifton Hampden Bridge

Our plan was to get quite a few miles done today, to try to offset the delays we had in Oxford. So we carried on through picturesque towns, and under the elegant arching bridges of this section of the Thames. Early in the day we were not wearing our inflatable life jackets, but we try to make it a policy that if we are on the back of the boat we wear them, just in case one of us goes off.

I went to some trouble to make sure that we ate proper food at lunchtime, not just another sandwich, so I prepared bowls of hot food, and took two of them up to the back of the boat where Alan was steering. I flicked the brass step down on the side of the boat, and just began to climb up onto the back, when I heard a loud noise hissing noise, and my ears were pressed firmly against my head. I looked down to see the self inflation toggle from my life jacket caught in a small brass catch on the back of the boat. Alan took a moment to work out what was going on, but by the time that the whole of the lifejacket was inflated he realised. Once it's inflated it's not actually very easy to get off in a hurry. OK, the toggle should have been tucked away, it normally is, I hadn't noticed that it had worked it's way loose.

Mapledurham overnight mooring

Although our plan was to carry on late, Maple- durham looked very inviting, and it would have been very late before we could have got to the other side of Reading. A Canal World member suggested a few safe places to moor in Reading, but we got to walk the dog, have a relaxed meal in a meadow by the river, and were treated to an acrobatic display by a small aeroplane. Charlie got to romp in the field with some of the many passing dogs out for an evening walk with their owners by the Thames.

Sandford Lock to Mapledurham
Miles: 31.0, Locks:9
Total Miles: 204.0, Total Locks:105

Even More Deja Vu, It Seems

2011-04-19T23:27:00.001+01:00

(posted by Alan)

As we considered it not worth taking any risks with my eyesight, we decided to stay in Oxford for a mid afternoon appointment we had been able to secure at the John Radcliffe hospital. This was going to result in nearly two days spent in Oxford we had not planned for, but we felt to press on without getting it looked at would be foolhardy.

So we decided we might as well make the most of Oxford before then, and get some shopping in, and by lunch-time both Cath and I had added considerably to our wardrobe, We made a poor decision then about how to get to the boat with our purchases, and ended up walking far further than planned, and not having time for a proper lunch.

But a bit of rushing got us back into central Oxford in time for the bus out to "the Radcliffe", and we grabbed sandwiches and bottled drink en route.

This was all starting to seem terribly familiar, as it was the mirror image of when Cath had similar eyesight problems on our last boating trip to Oxford, also at Easter, but 2 years ago. Today was easier though, as we were starting from Oxford, not Thrupp, and it wasn't a Bank Holiday this time, so buses were much more abundant. The downside was that whilst last time the eye hospital was deserted, this time it was very busy indeed.

As it turned out, we were in a different part of the unit, from most people there, being an "urgent assesment" rather than a routine appointment, and were seen relatively quickly.

A thorough but fairly unpleasant examination followed. The doctor was surprised how intolerant the affected eye was to the bright lights used, and had to put anaesthetic in the eye to be able to examine it. She said cataract surgery did not usually produce such a reaction.

Anyway it transpired she was carrying out identical examinations on me to those Cath had 2 years ago - the real worry is either "retinal tears" or the retina becoming actually detached. Fortunately she found no evidence of this, but could see the same "floaters" as the optician had seen yesterday.

The diagnosis, exactly the same as Cath, although the symptoms slightly different. Cath had "flashes", whereas I was seeing wandering black spots of various sizes, but in both cases what we have is "posterior vitreous detachment" which relates to ageing and shrinking of the "vitreous humour" in the eye. In my case recent cataract surgery may have contributed to the onset.

Basically I have been told I can continue, but should present myself at an eye hospital within 24 hours if the symptoms worsen, or certain other things happen - a bit of a challenge if part way up the Thames to London!

Anyway, late in the afternoon we finally got going again, or would have, had we not found the very first lock without power, and with the hydraulics to hand crank the gates not actually doing so. We'll gloss over the exact detail of how we got through the lock, other than to say it put two other potential sharers off attempting it with us, but get through it we did, with no Environment Agency kit harmed in the process! After a few more miles, and one more (fortunately working!) lock, we decided not to press on into the unknown, with no certainty of finding a good mooring.

Dilemma for spectacle wearers returning to boat.

We moored up above Sandford Lock, glad to be moving again, and enjoyed a meal at the King's Arms - a relatively cheap experience, by "Thames side" standards, but non the worse for that.

We now just have to work out how to do the remaining trip in two days less than planned!

Oxford Osney to Sandford Lock
Miles: 4.0, Locks:2
Total Miles: 173.0, Total Locks:96

Deja Vu

2011-04-18T22:44:00.000+01:00

(posted by Cath)

What is it about Oxford and eye problems? Last night Alan started to see black dots in his eyes. By this morning the problem seemed to have resolved itself, so, because I wanted to go into Oxford we moved the boat down a half a mile or so of canal, nearer the middle of the city.

We were just sitting down for a coffee in Waterstones, when Alan said that the dots were back again. You don't mess with your sight, and knowing that in Oxford you can't just walk into the eye hospital and get to be seen, we went into an opticians. The first one couldn't see Alan today, but we got an appointment an hour or so later in a different opticians.

It's quite scary, waiting for that hour, walking around, making sure you've eaten something, had a drink, found a loo, and checked the bus timetables to the hospital in case you are told that you have to go straight there, all the time wondering what might be happening to your sight.

At Specsavers Alan was basically put through the same lot of tests that he had 5 weeks ago, for new glasses following his cataract operation. The optician wouldn't commit, but seemed to give the impression that she didn't think that it was serious, although she wanted Alan to go to the John Radcliffe Hospital for a proper check. The hospital rang Alan and offered an appointment for Thursday - Alan explained that we are on the boat, and that we need to be pressing on.

Above Isis Lock (Last on the Canal)

The hospital wouldn't say whether they thought that Alan really needed to be seen very soon, but eventually offered an appointment tomorrow afternoon, or told him he could go on to London and go into Moorfields.

Back on the big river.

We've decided to hang on here, hope that there is nothing serious, but get it checked out, and if we do have to stay longer, then find ways of dealing with it.

Moored above Osney Lock

Rather pointless signs in abundance

Having made the decision we went and filled up with fuel at College Cruisers, (cheaper than expected!), before venturing out on the Thames for a quick trip from the "Sheepwash Channel" up to Godstow Lock and then back to Osney, where we are now moored. This has hopefully charged the batteries a bit, and provided some hot water for showers, as well as getting us off of British Waterways moorings with a very short stay limit.

Osney

Oxford (Canal) to Oxford (Osney on the Thames) via Godstow
Miles: 5.0, Locks:1
Total Miles: 169.0, Total Locks: 94

Start Of The Journey Home

2011-04-17T21:09:00.004+01:00

(posted by Alan)

Old Father Thames

Well, we thoroughly enjoyed Lechlade, and a rare opportunity to have had a short lay-over before starting to retrace some of our journey. Other boaters have the opportunity to move slowly around the canal and river system at their chosen pace, often lingering for days at a time, if the fancy takes them. However because of Cath's work we have a stark choice. We can, of course, "potter" sometimes , but if we do, we would constantly only ever visit the same bit of canal, before we had to "potter" back to base. If we want to go to places we only go to infrequently, then we do have to make fairly constant and good progress most days. Here, unusually we have been somewhere completely new, so not spending a lot of time in any one place is a penalty we usually willingly pay.

So today, we knew we needed to make good progress, and although not essential to be off the upper Thames, we knew if we could get to Oxford, that would be a bonus, as we might then be able to fit in a visit into the city.

Still no unusually early start, but we were moving by 9:00 for once, although not until some time after we had seen another narrow boat already set off.

Tight Squeeze In A Lock

There are 9 manned locks on this stretch of the Thames. All are similar, apart from their depth, longer, but not massively wider than a standard long broad canal lock, although the standards of maintenance appear far higher than say the Grand Union, with all gates immaculate, and very little water leakage. In practice we operated more locks as "self service" than expected, which we rather like. Either some lock-keepers take more generous than advertised breaks, or some of the locks were left without keepers today.
(Cath: when I arrived at one lock, having walked Charlie from the previous one, the "lockie"was on the weir behind the lock keeper's house, attached by a harness to a wire running the whole width of the lock, and fishing polystyrene sheets and other rubbish out from the weir)

Waiting for a lock to become free

Where a keeper is useful is in taking respon- sibility for mixed steel and fibreglass boats in the same lock. A keeper put two wide fibreglass boats in behind us at one lock, and it was quite tight, and it looked possible that one of them could have hung it's front on the lock-side. So, when left to our own devices, but with the same three in a tight-fit at the next lock, I kept a steady eye, that all remained well.

The smallest "boat" passed today.

The fibreglass boats can often make better progress than Chalice, although strictly they should not be, as we are more or less on the 5mph speed limit, so any boat drawing away from us is probably breaking it. Most seem happy to go at a similar speed to us, this far up, but it is galling when you suggest they go ahead, only to be held up shortly after as they make a fudged attempt at turning and/or mooring up.

Lock keepers use a long metal shaft to move the off-side gate.

The weather has remained excellent thoughout, making this river look stunning. Although what a difference a few hours make. When I took Charlie for his early morning walk, he got soaked in the dew drenched grass, and my shoes were waterlogged. When Cath walked him between two locks later on, it was very hot, and he went swimming twice to cool off. Up until now he has never gone voluntarily in the water, so this may be a start of an unwanted trend - up until now we have dubbed him "the Spaniel that doesn't like water" - now we rather fear he could start jumping from the boat!
(Cath: on our walk between locks Charlie and I came across an older man, a tall lad, and another spaniel. They were putting a cylindrical crayfish trap into the river. We chatted for a while - mostly about spaniels - but I found out that they would expect to get 20 or so crayfish in the trap over night. The man said that these days they are American Crayfish, although in his youth they had all been the native variety).

Cath works our last Oxford lift bridge for this trip

Penultimate Oxford Canal lock

We decided that, although it would add slightly to our journey time, we wanted to briefly leave the Thames via the Duke's Cut where we had entered it, and to travel through Oxford on the lowest reaches of the Oxford Canal. Our main reason is that we have never travelled this short stretch before, and wanted to add it to the list of those we have been on.

Overnight Mooring

We are now moored on quiet moorings, but still maybe a mile's walking from the city centre.

Lechlade to Oxford (via Duke's Cut and Oxford Canal)
Miles: 29.3, Locks: 11
Total Miles: 164.0, Total Locks:93

Destination Lechlade - Head of the navigable Thames

2011-04-16T22:29:00.000+01:00

(posted by Cath)

It was a wonderful, sunny day, although steering the boat past some of the shady plantations of trees can be a bit chilly still at this time of year.

Over-enthusiastic control of moorings ?

Heading west towards Lechlade, the Thames becomes increasingly winding, you need your wits about you to avoid ending up in the shallows on the inside of a bend - it is very physical work to keep the tiller over to get around some of the bends. I decided to walk Charlie between two locks, through the meadows, which he thought was wonderful - although he kept trying to drink the Thames.

Most bridges are attractive, but all are different

The Thames Path route is much more direct than the Thames, cutting off all of the bends, so I could just about keep ahead of the boat.

Chalice shares lock with typical large GRP cruiser.

As we closed in on Lechlade there was actually one short section with two hair-pin bends - we were being closely followed by another boat which was travelling in completely the other direction to us for a little while.

The Round House at official head of navigation of the Thames.

We carried on past Lechlade itself to the end of the navigable river, at the Round House, Inglesham, where we winded, and headed back to the moorings opposite the church.

Derelict lock at start of abandoned Thames and Severn Canal

After mooring, Alan and I went to the town, which was character -ised by antiques shops, which were far more interesting than any in our home town, although we just browsed, and didn't buy anything in them. The rest of the town was very quiet, even the pharmacy was shut for Saturday afternoon.

David and Charlie watch as Chalice is turned.

Back at the mooring we dug out the chairs and picnic table, and had our lasagne on the bankside. At the next boat there was a group of people with a barbecue.

Atmospheric evening at Lechlade

As the evening drew on, the smoke from the barbecue began to settle above the water meadow, so that when David and I went for a walk at dusk we were able to duck down under the misty smoke and look up at it drifting slowly in fronds. Even on the other side of the field you could smell that the smoke was from the barbecue.

Meal ended and near full moon.

It was almost full moon, which gave a particularly wonderful look to the fields after dark.

Because we don't get a lot of time to go boating, and because it takes us a long time to get to 'new' bits of canals and rivers that we haven't been to before, we tend not to hang about, however, spending a relaxed evening by the Thames was one of my highlights this year.

Newbridge to head of navigation at Inglesham, and back to Lechlade
Miles: 17.8, Locks:6
Total Miles: 134.7, Total Locks: 82

From Oxford Canal On To Thames (Or Isis)

2011-04-15T23:30:00.089+01:00

(posted by Alan)

Another swan's nest in an unusual location.

Not making a particu- larly early start seems to have been a theme of this trip so far, and today was not particu- larly different. In fact it is possible we did get away a little bit earlier than some days, but being low on supplies, and knowing where we were heading is so rural there will be precious few villages, let alone shops, we stopped again very soon to walk to a Co-Op in Kidlington. (We were almost out of one of our most essential supplies, namely ground coffee, and whilst we can live without most things, that would be going too far!).

Last true Oxford Canal lock before turning on to Duke's Cut

There is a total of just 4 locks to get from the Oxford, and out via "Duke's Cut" onto the Thames, (with somewhat curiously the last lock being uphill ). It actually took longer than we expected to be on the river, perhaps because there really are lines and lines of moored boats on what are really quite narrow and shallow bits of the canal. So we plodded along very sedately, to ensure only friendly waves, rather than any shouts to slow down!

Turning on to Duke's Cut

Unusual paddle gear at, and bridge over, Duke's Cut Lock

Duke's cut always seems an odd thing. The lock is under a bridge, for a start, and although now just "uphill" as you leave the canal onto the river, clearly shows signs of having had double gates at each end in the past, so presumably once upon a time the Thames could actually have been lower at this point on occasions than the canal ? Presumably it's this history that causes it to have highly unusual paddle gear for the exit gates onto the river ?

Now at last we were on to new territory for Chalice - we have gone down river from the Duke's Cut towards London, in the past, but never turned right onto the upper reaches towards Lechlade.

Despite apparently little flow on the river, progress is slightly slower than I might have guessed - we are generally bettering 4 mph, but not by a lot, although it is clearly deep enough. Perhaps there is more flow than there appears - we will see when we come back te other way.

Chiswick & Chalice in Eynsham lock

We knew the "Big Woolwich" ex working boat Chiswick was ahead of us, but spotted it tied to a lighter before we entered the Thames. However by the time we reached the first lock, and had completed the lengthy transaction to buy a 15 day Thames licence, (at under £100, better than I feared it might be!), Chiswick was ready to lock through with us.

..... and again.

I was very surprised to see it steered by James, who is normally with the coal boats Archimedes and Ara, but also does commercial river work, I believe. Knowing James doesn't exactly hang about, (to put it mildly!), and with consideration of Chiswick's classic Lister JP2 engine and big propeller, I suggested he went first - a good move, as they quickly drew away from us!

David goes into "self service" mode at next lock.

However, he wasn't going far, and we actually had to hold back at the next lock, as he turned Chiswick to pass back down river. The locks are meant to have keepers during working hours, but most are displaying the "self service" sign, and you never quite know if a "locky" is going to appear or not.

Although we had a target of where we wanted to get to, we also had an idea we fancied yet another pub meal. However the power of the Internet comes into play at times like this, as it is often possible to look up menus, and even whether pubs are "dog friendly". What looked like best choice locationally, ("The Trout" at Tadpole Bridge), was quickly ruled out as being an expensive and pretentious restaurant, rather than coming close to "pub grub". So we stopped much short of plan at Newbridge, as one of the pubs there, the "Maybush Inn" looked more like we wanted.

In practice we had a very nice meal, although for what we were paying, I felt main course portions could have been more generous. Bitter at £3-80 a pint, and a decent Pinot Grigio at £5-20 for a large glass quickly inflated the bill though. I know the pub trade is suffering, but prices like these rule it out as a regular thing for many families. In a way they are doing themselves no favours - a bit more reasonable, and we would probably have stopped there on the return, but that's now unlikely.

My party piece was to open up my head on a light fitting projecting from one of the low beams, (I knew the beam was there but not the light). It bled profusely fopr a few minutes, and got me much attention from the staff and landlord, but Cath is a trained first aider, and decreed that other than pressure to stop the bleed, I was fine - she proved right, of course!

Not content with that though, the pub had it's own entertainments in the form of Oliver, a very poshly spoken young man who's family apparently breed race horses - he was most keen to show s pictures of a "potential future winner" born just that day. The evening got more surreal when his brother appeared - near identical, other than being dressed smartly in a suit, versus Oliver's casual. People always seem genuinely to want to know about the boat, how we use it, and where we end up.

Quiet mooring - lovely old bridge as background

A very quiet night on moorings presumably owned by the nearby farm, although they made no effort to collect the £3 overnight charge that was displayed on a sign nearby.

Thrupp (Oxford Canal) to Newbridge (Upper Thames)
Miles: 14.7, Locks:7
Total Miles: 116.9, Total Locks:76

South with the Wests

2011-04-14T23:30:00.126+01:00

(posted by Cath)

Sharing the oddly shaped Aynho Weir Lock

We seem to be finding it harder to get started early in the day, and finally got going at after 9:00 am, by which time several boats had passed us.

We got to Somerton Deep lock to find a couple of boats ahead of us going down. The people immediately in front of use were an elderly couple, by the time that we walked down to the lock they were using two windlasses at 180 degrees to each other, to try to start moving the extremely stiff paddle gear.

Chalice waits while Timothy West and Prunella Scales work through.

Alan crossed the lock, and raised the paddle on the other side, then walked back to me and said, "Don't make it obvious, but I think you might recognise these people".

I looked, thinking Alan meant that I might have met them at a banter, but as the man raised his head from turning the paddles it became clear that I had seen him on television, as it was the actor, and canal campaigner, Timothy West. His even more recognisable wife, Prunella Scales, was by now on the other side of the lock. They turned out to be a charming couple, just people out boating, and enjoying the spring sunshine. We followed them down through several locks, chatting as we went. The reaction they provoked in people coming the other way was interesting, cameras came out, and nothing beyond the usual canal talk was said to them, but the passing boaters took the chance to say to me, that it was good to see people who publicly support the canals, actually using them. I was surprised by Prunella Scales' very posh accent, as I'm used to seeing her playing a role, but even more surprised when she told me a somewhat saucy story!

Another attempt not to look like a paparazzi photographer!

The West's moored up, and we carried on South. At one lock there was a BW flat coming up. While I helped to work the flat through the lock, one of the workmen began to express his concerns about what would happen to the BW jobs when it becomes a charity.

And sharing the other diamond lock at Shipton

In the few minutes that the boat was passing through the lock, I had virtually his whole life story, including how many year's he'd been working for BW - since he left school - and his concerns for what he would do if he lost his job, as he can neither read, write, or drive. An interesting point, physical work, such as traditional BW jobs, probably didn't need those skills, where would those jobs be now? And would they be legal?

Essential water filling and toilet emptying at Thrupp

It was a long day, with the locks fairly widely spaced apart, but we finally got to Thrupp wharf, and tied up at the services. I went to empty the cassette, and the next person up was Maffi, from the Canal World Forum. He said that there were quite a few forum people passing through.

We ate, then leaving David in the boat, we went to meet Maffi in "The Boat". A very interesting evening, with Charlie somewhat wary of Maffi's dog, Molly, who was very happy to be given one of Charlie's hide chews. When we got back to Chalice, it was in darkness, and David had gone to bed (not a common occurrence, he's often up until 5:00 am at home), we crept in, somewhat chastened.

King's Sutton to Thrupp
Miles: 17.1, Locks:11
Total Miles: 102.2, Total Locks:69

Fenny Compton to King's Sutton

2011-04-13T23:54:00.000+01:00

(posted by Cath)

We were moored near to the Wharf pub, next to a field of rapeseed plants, just coming into bloom. As we set off I volunteered to walk Charlie through "the Fenny Compton Tunnel", which is nothing of the kind.

Outside the marina, after a couple of hundred metres, I came across a nesting swan, blocking a large part of the towpath. Charlie seemed very excited, and I was a bit worried that he might be daft enough to start an argument, but it turned out that he had spotted a duck on the towpath too. We got past the swan with just slightly raised wings, and a bit of a hiss. The duck jumped into the canal, and Charlie lost interest.

"Turnover Bridge" in "Tunnel" where tow-path changes sides/

Walking briskly along, keeping up with the boat, I was struck, once again, just how extra- ordinarily lucky I am to live in a beautiful country, and to have enough time, and money, to be able to indulge myself in the hobby of boating.

Second part of Fenny Compton "Tunnel"

Spring is bursting into life all around us, hedges are covered in white flowers, plants are blooming along the edge of the canal, in the fields are baby sheep and cattle. Nature seems to have suddenly woken up in the last week - all except a few species of tree, ash included, which still hold bare branches towards the sky.

Charlie can always be persuaded to go searching up (or down) steep banks, you just have to suggest that he might be able to find Jumbones growing there (Jumbones are a favourite treat, he hasn't yet worked out that they don't grow wild). He never seems to find them, but is always happy to look, he hasn't yet realised that it is a ploy on our part to burn some of the excess energy our of our bouncy young dog.

What was this ramp and winch originally used for ?

Today, while looking he found this interesting abandoned winch gear in the 'Tunnel. It's only a short distance up the side, next to the towpath , but I have no idea what it might have been for.

We seemed to be going in the right direction, there were few boats going south, but at every lock there was a boat coming up, sometimes two or three in the same short pound, many of them hire boats - I suppose that we had got to the day that they all needed to turn back to the hire base. The weather was changeable, but held off from raining, at least until the very end of the day.

Many of the fields we passed show the long low humps of medieval strip farming. The canals are old, but the fields show signs of being so much older. It was the ploughing that caused these long humps over hundreds of years. The ploughs were difficult to turn, hence the long fields. By working in one direction, then the other, the soil steadily got turned towards the middle of the field, and into the long hump. Long after the enclosures of the fields the canal came along, and cut straight across these fields. Nowadays most of these fields are filled with sheep and lambs, with occasional groups of bullocks. Those that are used for arable crops have had the hillocks ploughed flat long ago.

I didn't realise that Alan was watching for people that we 'know' from the Internet, that he was expecting to be passing us. At some point he said that we should be looking out for "Harnser". No, I said, I saw that a couple of miles back, going in the other direction. Oops!

Waiting for the lock in the centre of Banbury

We made good progress, and I went shopping at Morrisons in Banbury. Being used to Waitrose prices this super- market always surprises me, and I staggered back to the boat carrying far too much.

We tied up near to the M40, and a railway line, hoping that the noise would die down a bit before we turned in for the night. After a short shower of rain, David and I took Charlie for another walk, and discovered that some of the lift bridges cannot be lowered, with the balance beams held down permanently by metal structures.

A quiet meal at the boat, reading, or working on the computer, then bed.

Fenny Compton to King's Sutton
Miles: 14.2, Locks:14
Total Miles: 85.1, Total Locks:58

Braunston Puddle Banks to Fenny Compton

2011-04-12T23:30:00.002+01:00

(posted by Alan)

Despite having set ourselves a moderately demanding schedule, we haven't exactly excelled at early starts. I am generally up quite early, but somehow things then get very relaxed, and I would struggle to explain how the time gets used up until the engine gets fired up.

We tend to have a broad plan for the day, and our scheduling (such as it is!) is helped by having done a similar trip two years ago.

Lots of boats were moving before us, and it was very busy on the stretch from Braunston to "Wigrams", where the Grand Union Birmingham main line branches away from the Oxford. Sadly this stretch usually features a few badly stricken wooden ex-working boats, and this time was no different. I unfortunately am not familiar enough with them to know for certain which boat each is, as they seldom carry an identifiable name.

We had a agreed to deliver some boat paint, surplus to our requirements, to a friend, and this meant a short detour by turning right onto the Birmingham line, towards Calcutt locks. That done, we turned above Calcutt, but also seized the opportunity to buy some engine spares at the boatyard there.

Starting the ascent of the Napton Flight

We were soon back on the Oxford, headed towards the picturesque Napton locks, where Cath cycled off to shop at the village store, while I attended to filling water tanks and emtying toilet tanks. We were soon on our way again, but found this stretch nothing like as busy as our only other previous passage through it. Oxford locks are some of the easiest around, and we made light work of working up the 9 here to the summit level.

After that it was really just a case of progressing a reasonable distance along the summit, but as Cath didn't fancy cooking, and the pub at Fenny Compton was good on our last visit, we decided to head there.

Not a usual place to see a narrow boat on this stretch.

We made good progress, until we caught a former "Challenger" "share" boat who's steerer seemed to think he would save time by sticking to the inside of each of the more major bends, (of which there are plenty on this stretch). Of course each time he ended up in shallow water, and near static with the propeller thrashing as he failed to be able to follow his chosen path. Cath normally just tucks in patiently in such cases, so I was somewhat relieved when she got permission to pass, and quickly left them floundering behind.

Charlie takes the air!

We then had a very enjoyable run through to Fenny Compton, where, unlike our previous trip, plenty of good visitor moorings were available close to the pub.

Charlie contemplates am alternate name for "his" boat.

Better still "The Wharf" not only had good vegetarian choices to suit both us and David, but also welcomed dogs in the bar area. A done deal, then, and we enjoyed an excellent meal. I particularly liked the "Hooky Gold" - a very acceptable beer they had on tap.

Braunston Puddle Banks to Fenny Compton
Miles: 17.5, Locks:9
Total Miles: 70.9, Total Locks:44

Some Good News! - Then On To Braunston, And Back To Plan

2011-04-11T23:30:00.119+01:00

Bugbrooke to Braunston Puddle Banks

(posted by Alan)

Last night we had a most unwanted discovery - large amounts of engine oil deposited in the bilge. We were lucky to have checked before levels in the engine dropped to the point where oil pressure was lost.

Old BMC engines tend to leak small amounts of oil, (and often fuel and coolant too!) but this was quite different. The quantities involved pointed to sudden failure of something, rather than a "routine" small leak. We knew roughly the part of the engine it must be coming from, but none of the obvious "joints" seemed to be likely causes. Much had dripped from the starter motor, (not a part that normally contains the oil!), and our forum friends had suggested that failure of the front oil seal on the crankshaft would probably throw oil around the flywheel housing, and hence into the starter - this didn't look good.

I decided to remove the starter to peer into the flywheel housing - I couldn't possibly see the oil seal, of course, or anywhere near it, but it should show how much oil had been thrown from the crankshaft and flywheel. Good news! - the answer was "very little", so the failure we feared no longer seemed anything like as likely. I decided to put oil back in the engine, and run it, to try and see a source.

I actually ran it for a quite a while, and could see or feel nothing, and went off to post progress on the forum. Cath said "before you send that, check one more time!", which I did, and found oil dripping from the starter motor.

Eventually we got to that "eureka" moment - oil was forming on the casing of the sensor used for the oil pressure gauge, and dropping from there on to the starter, (all hard to see, as there are lots of other bits obscuring a clear view). Chalice's 1970s engine had wrongly taken the blame again - the failed part was a brand new addition only a couple of years old.

A bit more investigation revealed the sensor as "quite broken and not fixable", but it was possible to take it out of the equation completely, as a non-essential part. So jubilant, and about 3 hours later than we might have been, we were set to head off again.

(posted by Cath)

The most seriously burnt out boat we have yet seen - frightening!

We stopped at Stowe Hill Wharf for fuel, where we met Dominic, from the Canal World Forum - his price a bit cheaper than others at the moment. Nice to put a face to a person that we've both corresponded with.

Ascending Whilton & Buckby Locks

On northwards until we got to Whilton, then we worked up the flight, following a pair of boats, a Wyvern hire boat and a private boat. The flight wasn't busy, but we met a couple of single boats coming down. I walked Charlie up the flight, but he was very excitable, and impatient to get moving when we stopped at each lock.

In The Buckby Lock Flight

Efficient hire boat crew help make Braunston flight

Alan steered us through Braunston tunnel, meeting only one boat coming the other way. By the time we got to the Braunston flight, we had lost one of the boats ahead of us, so we went down the locks with the hire boaters, who were experienced and efficient.

In Braunston we went to moor after the turn, on the Puddle Banks. The side of the canal here slopes considerably, and it is difficult to get close to the bank. Just as we pulled in the wind whipped up straight across the plain to the right, and pushing the boat out. It took all three of us, pulling with all our might, to haul Chalice in and moor her.

After mooring Alan and I took Charlie for a walk, and met with John, Cotswoldsman, from the Canal Forum, arranging to meet for a drink later in The Boathouse.

We ate a good and reasonably priced meal - several vegetarian options too - at The Boathouse, and shared a drink and a chat with John.

Back at the boat we slept well.

Bugbrooke to Braunston Puddle Banks
Miles: 13.4, Locks:13
Total Miles: 53.4, Total Locks:35

Quiet Day, But With Entertainment And A Nasty Surprise At The End

2011-04-10T23:30:00.000+01:00

Little Woolstone (Milton Keynes) to Bugbrooke

(posted by Cath)

Alan was up and about early this morning, and couldn’t understand why I was still lying in bed snoring, when I’m usually in the bath by 6 am. The truth is that I push myself for 6 or 7 weeks during term time, then I collapse when we get to a holiday. I finally got up at about 8:20, while Alan was walking Charlie. I made coffee, and porridge, and we finally got going around 9, and had our breakfast on the back of the boat as we headed off.

I took a long stint steering around Milton Keynes, following a slow Wyvern hire boat, which pulled over at Wolverton to go shopping.

At Cosgrove I jumped off with Charlie, saying that I was taking him for a walk, and that I’d see them when they caught up with me – Oh, and by the way, the cassette needs emptying.

I walked, and walked in the spring sunshine. I started to get hot, so stopped to take off a layer of clothing, which I tied around my waist. Then I walked until I got hot again, so I stopped to take off another layer of clothing – it had been cold standing on the back of the boat earlier. Charlie started panting, and thinking that he wanted to drink canal water – which I discouraged.

Eventually, I started to wonder if the boat had broken down, but reminded myself that if that had happened, then David would come to find me on one of the bicycles, so I kept walking, thinking that Charlie needed the exercise. Finally, at Yardley marina Charlie started to look hopefully at another boat moored up, to see if it was ‘his’ boat – so I stopped.

Charlie and I sat by the bridge for some time, until David hove into view on a bicycle. No, they hadn’t broken down, they just were behind me, and starting to panic that somehow I might be behind them. David rang Alan, who appeared quite a long time later, and I, and a grateful Charlie, jumped back on board. Next time I go for a short walk with the dog, I’ll take my phone.

David speeds us through Stoke Locks

Working up Stoke Bruerne With An Efficient Hire Boater

At the Stoke flight we went up with a Gayton Marina Alvechurch hire boat, Pied Billed Grebe, the boat that Charlie had previously thought he’d cadge a lift on at Yardley Wharf. The man, said that he’d last done any canal boating when he was 10, but he certainly seemed to know what he was doing. We got talking to them, as one does, they had a nice dog, and a pleasant young daughter, who helped at all the locks. Some of the paddles are very stiff up this flight, so I chose to use the long throw aluminium windlass, which I don’t usually use.

When we got to the top, they decided to pull over to go for an ice cream. Alan decided that he wanted a beer, so we pulled onto the water point to refill while I went to get some drinks. At this point disaster struck. I was focused on jumping back onto the boat, and getting my wallet, I undid my belt, not thinking that the expensive aluminium windlass was tucked into the back. There was only a small gap between the boat and the side, but the windlass fell into the canal, just outside The Boat restaurant. I watched as it sank – far slower than I thought it would, but not slowly enough that I could grab it.

Being aluminium there was no chance that we’d get it back with a magnet. Alan has often said that I’d lose it, and is always warning me to be careful. David thought that as it had sunk slowly it might still be where it had fallen in, and he went to get the boat hook.

After a bit of poking around with the boat hook we thought that we might possibly have identified the windlass, but it was far too far down to drag it out. David is tall, with long limbs, so volunteered to strip to the waist and lean in from the side to try to get it out. I held his belt, and the man from Pied Billed Grebe held his feet, but although he stuck his head and shoulders under it wasn’t enough. “You don’t want to strip to your underwear and try to find it with your feet?” I said to David.

Hero resscuing Cath's Windlass

“I’ll do it,” said the man from Pied Billed Grebe. “No, no, we can’t ask you to do that,” we said. “You’re not asking, I’m volunteering. I work at a yacht club, it’s nothing new for me,” and before we knew it he had stripped down to his underpants on the back of the hire boat, in full view of the crowds in Stoke Bruerne on a busy spring afternoon, and had slipped into the canal to feel for our windlass with his feet.

Although it was a hot day, the canal must have been very cold, but he spent some time up to his shoulders in the water dedicatedly trying to find our windlass. He ducked completely under a couple of times, without finding anything.

He was hidden from the crowds outside the museum by our boat, which we had moored on slack lines, and were holding away from the side. But the drinkers and the queue of people buying ice cream at The Boat were all watching with unbridled curiosity. That’s the point that we realised that a crowd of the diners in the Restaurant were watching from above through the panoramic windows, cheering and waving.

He walked up and down in the gap between our boat and the side, but couldn’t find anything. We tried a number of times to persuade him to get out, but he was determined, and suddenly he ducked in again, and surfaced, triumphant, with my long throw windlass.

He jumped out of the canal, took a dripping bow for the crowds and disappeared into his boat for a shower.

Once again, I am staggered by the self-less generosity of people.

After that just about everything seemed tame. We had a pint, and headed off through the tunnel. It was still early, so Alan continued on for a few miles beyond Blisworth, finally mooring at Bugbrooke.

(added by Alan)

Or we thought everything seemed tame........

After Cath made the above pronouncement, I decided to lock the bikes up in the engine room. Knowing I could not easily access the engine in the morning, I decided to do engine checks before I blocked access to it. I was horrifed to find large amounts of engine oil disgorged into the bilge, and a check on the dip-stick confirmed a large loss of oil during the day - but mercifully not severe enough to result in any damage.

By then it was too late to do any real diagnosis, but none of the obvious places it might be leaking seemed to be candidates, and the starter motor was dripping oil underneath. My immediate fear was failure of the rear crankshaft oil seal - a part buried deep behind the gearbox and flywheel, and not a repair job I could carry out canal-side, I think. I decided to ask for likely causes on the Canal World Discussion Forums, and not unsurprisingly several people thought a similar cause was likely. BMC engines are known to have this oil seal fail.......

Too late to attempt to isolate the problem, I went to bed, rather dejected that, at the very least, outr much needed break was about to be terminated.

Little Woolstone (Milton Keynes) to Bugbrooke
Miles: 21.9, Locks:8
Total Miles: 40, Total Locks:22

Start of the Extended Thames Ring, (Hopefully!)

2011-04-09T23:30:00.015+01:00

(posted by Alan)

Globe Inn, Leighton Buzzard to Cook's Wharf to Little Woolstone (Milton Keynes)

Well, things are in chaos at home. Alan is increasingly hobbling around as a result of smashing his pelvis rather more than a year ago, (it doesn't look like it's going to settle down now, unfortunately), and still in a lot of discomfort following cataract surgery. Cath is very over-tired, following having never really caught up her work backlog caused by Alan's mum's illness and passing. So what would any sensible set of people do at this point ? Why, start a big boating trip, (of course!).

Anyway the plan is to do the Thames Ring, (anti-clockwise), which we have done before, but to try and "borrow" enough extra time to tackle the upper reaches of the navigable Thames to Lechlade, (which we have not).

This means that while we will not do manic days, we do need to put in a decent mileage and lock count most days.

We managed to be on board Friday night, (albeit very late), and should have got away promptly on Saturday, (and might have done, had the boat clock not still been on winter time!).

A glorious day, with steady progress, and no unexpected happenings.

We caught one of our local day boats at the first lock, and worked with them until the Grove pub, a mile or two before Leighton Buzzard.

The owner's name on this boat always appeals to my childish sense of humour.

Bottom lock at "Three Locks"


Stoke Hammond

A standard "grocery stop" at the Leighton Buzzard super -market, and then forwards, with a fair knowledge that there would be Wyvern Shipping hire boats ahead at Three Locks, (there were!).

We chatted briefly with our friends Allan and Debbie at Stoke Hammond, and then introduced ourselves to Canal World Forum member Chris and his wife Pat at Fenny Stratford.

The very shallow Fenny Lock

On to Little Woolstone, where although still plenty of daylight left, we decided we were knackered, and tied up.

Cook's Wharf to Little Woolstone (Milton Keynes)
Miles: 18.1, Locks:14
Total Miles: 18.1, Total Locks:14

Short Break at Half Term - Fifth and Final Day

2011-02-27T15:16:00.009Z

(posted by Alan)

Globe Inn, Leighton Buzzard to Cook's Wharf

Today was just a case of a fairly standard run back to base from just north of Leighton Buzzard - relatively undemanding, although the weather forecast didn't exactly sound brilliant. There was no great hurry to start, as we definitely needed a stop at Leighton Buzzard Tesco, and being a Sunday, that didn't open until 10:00 am anyway - so we did the short trip down to there to be ready for that.

By the time we restarted the rain had set in, and it was also colder than yesterday, so not the best of boating weather. There was a brief moment just North of Leighton where we actually had 4 boats moving at once, but at least one of these seemed to be only making a trip of a few hundred yards, and we eventually ended up passing through Grove lock with the same couple we had accompanied through several locks yesterday. As we already knew they were taking their brand new boat to Grove Marina, it was fairly obvious we would be on our own after that, and so it proved to be.

Lots of rain

And even more rain

In fact we hardly saw anything else move until we had done the further 8 locks back to base. It rained steadily, so Cath took over steering for stints, to allow me to go in briefly in attempts to warm up. I'm not supposed to be doing much hard work after eye surgery, but did work around 4 of the locks, and was pleased to be doing so again.

Even on days like today there are unusual sights to see some places, and Cath spotted a Muntjac deer in the former side-ponds of one of the many locks. It was really quite close, and in no great hurry to run off, despite us being there.

I predicted the rain would stop as we approached "base", and I wasn't far wrong. It seemed to take an eternity to pack and load the car, (we seem to take stuff for 3 weeks, even if only going for 5 days, or so!), but eventually we were ready, and another trip was sadly over.

Because of our disrupted year last year, we never once got further north than Cosgrove, so already this year, still in February, we have done better on that front than last year. We hope to go a great deal further in the summer!

Globe Inn, Leighton Buzzard to Cook's Wharf
Miles: 7.9, Locks:10
Total Miles: 65.6, Total Locks:46

Short Break at Half Term - Fourth Day

2011-02-26T21:17:00.003Z

(posted by Alan)

Stantonbury, Milton Keynes to Globe Inn, Leighton Buzzard

A strange sort of day, probably best summarised by "it rained!".

Cath sleeps well on the boat, using it to recharge her batteries after what has been a fairly demanding time work and family-wise. So quite often the "home" routine is reversed and it is me who gets up to attend to the morning chores, which basically are....

1) See if fire is still alight, and attempt to rescue it if it is.
2) Get gettle on to start coffee making process,
3) Take Charlie out for at least basic toileting essentials.

Sounds easy, but all involves stumbling through the cabin where David is trying to sleep, (with head to coffee end, and feet to stove and dog end...). As Charlie wants to quickly re-introduce himself to all on board, it can get a bit lively.

Anyway, we had moored in a spot I never have before, strangely remote, given it was broadly "Milton Keynes", and I quickly found I could deviate from tow-path across a field, with a massive lake to one side, but a ruined stone building ahead. This proved to be a former parish church of Stantonbury, but stood now completely alone surrounded by fields. Next time I must take my camera!

Once back at the boat, the more the rest of the family started to stir, the more it rained! So we decided we were in no great hurry to get going. However, it really showed no sign of letting up, so eventually I donned reasonably weatherproof gear, got ready, and set off.

It really was a day when nobody else much was moving, but a boat had passed in our direction maybe 20 minutes before we set off. I was a little surprised to catch it well before Fenny lock, but we did, and followed at their pace. After that they suggested we went ahead, which allowed us to have locks part prepared before they caught up, and we slipped quickly through Stoke Hammond, (greeted unexpectedly by Allan from "Keeping Up"), and then "Three Locks", where the other boat planned to stop. In practice so did we, as Cath got hit by a very sudden migraine, literally whilst walking between the top two locks. (How different is a deserted "Three Locks" on a Saturday in February, to mid-summer, when you would have to be asking sightseers to move, in order to be able to operate the locks at all...)

We moored for a while, whilst Cath rested - an unexpected bonus being that the rain largely stopped whilst we were tied up. Eventually I started up again, and pottered down the "Jackdaw Pound", still one of my favourite bits of this canal. By then the sun was out, but I really was enjoying it largely on my own, with just the occasional dog walker for passing company.

We so much enjoyed a visit to the Globe Inn only a month or so ago, that we thought we would go again. By 6pm Cath felt better, if a bit wobbly, and decided that eating out would be better than trying to cook. When we did eventually get to the Globe, we were told "Sorry, no! - we are at full capacity!", but eventually negotiated ourselves into a corner seat, not otherwise booked for dining. Another good meal, although the next time I'll not ask the barman to recommend his selection from around five different ales. Sorry, but the "Abbott" was not what it should have been, and the one I subsequently switched to was a very much better bet. I'd recommend it now, but other than remembering it was from a fairly obscure brewery, and that it's name began with "Old", exactly what it was has already slipped my mind.

Throughout our stay in the well crowded pub, Charlie, although well behaved, at times acting like an absolute "tart", not just enjoying the attentions of strangers, but at times positively relishing it. Everybody seems to love Charlie, in a way we had not anticipated when he first arrived from the "rescue", and he certainly turns many heads.

I'm not sure if there are any pictures for today - it really did rain rather too much for photography.

Stantonbury, Milton Keynes to Globe Inn, Leighton Buzzard
Miles: 14.5, Locks:5
Total Miles: 57.7, Total Locks:36

Short Break at Half Term - Third Day

2011-02-25T21:20:00.074Z

(Posted by Cath)

Stoke Bruerne to Stantonbury, Milton Keynes

We didn't want to rush back to the home mooring at the same speed as we'd come up to Stoke, and I also wanted to look at the Museum. Alan was not so keen on the museum, but agreed to come with me.

We had to wait until 11 am for the museum to open, so Charlie got a couple of walks, and I got an hour or two of coursework marking done - sadly, the pile I am working through is not going down nearly as fast as I'd like.

The museum has a gift shop, full of the kind of things that were a magnet to our kids when we used to visit museums and castles with them when they were younger - bookmarks, fridge magnets, pencils, pens, erasers, etc. as well as a very good canal oriented bookshop - we found ourselves picking up book after book and deciding that we really did need it in our collection. We were told that if we signed a gift aid certificate for our entry fees we could have a season ticket for the year - not a bad idea as we hope to be in Stoke several times this summer. We were given audio 'interpretation' devices - but found that we preferred to look at the exhibits without being directed at various key points - we know enough of the basics, we were more interested in looking in detail at things. I'm sure these are very useful if you don't have much experience of the canals, but there is only so much detail they can give you.

We think that there is a basic problem with canal museums - it is very difficult to bring something like this up to the modern standards. So many museums these days are filled with interactivity, games, and animated interpretations. Children are used to having a lot to do - our sons used to love the Science Museum in London, particularly Launchpad and the activities in the basement - there was so much to do, so many ways of exploring science. What is there that you can do in a canal museum? There is only so much you can do with 'worksheets', particularly for a generation brought up on interactive games. While there seems to be a steady stream of people through the museum it is difficult to know how it can compete against the outside world in the current economic climate.

What did I find interesting? The painted 'ware' - comparing the different styles (and qualities). There was a water can from 1901, showing scenes of canal life, including four little dogs - although the paint was quite old and faded I would like to have been able to see the other side. The 'Idle Women' exhibit was interesting, as well as the information about the canal 'navvies'. There is a huge wheelbarrow on display - surely no-one was ever strong enough to use it? A peculiar leather and wood device proved to be the innards of a bilge pump - it didn't look very efficient. I was also interested to get the chance to pick up and examine a modern replica "boatwoman's bonnet" - I had no idea that they were constructed like that - they must have used huge amounts of cloth. I loved the notice about 'locomotives and other ponderous carriages' - taken from a bridge that could only handle the normal 'local traffic'.

On the second floor is the reconstructed boatman's cabin of a butty. It doesn't look right - you can't go inside to get a proper look, but the cupboards and stove just seem wrong. I'm sure the museum know what the proportions and measurements should be, but from outside they look odd.

Coming back down the Stoke Bruerne Locks.

We spent an hour in the museum, stopped at the Cheese Boat for some supplies, then back to Chalice, a snatched lunch of toasted cheese on crumpets, and off down the locks again. We shared with a single hander from Blisworth, passing a number of boats going up - far more moving than yesterday.

It was grey, and drizzly, and by the time that we were through Cosgrove it was clear that we weren't going to be able to get much further before dark. We moored next to a spinney of trees near Stantonbury, almost in the dark by the time were were there. Wine, and spaghetti bolognese, then sleep. We need to buy some food, or stop for a pub meal this evening.

Stoke Bruerne to Stantonbury, Milton Keynes
Miles: 10.3, Locks:8
Total Miles: 43.2, Total Locks:31

Short Break at Half Term - Second Day

2011-02-24T23:55:00.044Z

(Posted by Cath)

Fenny Stratford to Stoke Bruerne

We knew that today would be a lot of long miles, then the climb up the flight to Stoke Bruerne. It was a glorious day, cold, but with high, broken cloud letting the sun through.

Grafton Street Aqueduct, Milton Keynes

We took it in turns steering. I spent two hours cleaning the inside of the boat of the dust and grime that had settled over the recent winter when it had been necessary to neglect Chalice due to family matters. Then Alan took over and washed down the mud and footprints from the outside. David was on kitchen duties, providing sandwiches and fruit bread to keep us going.

Charlie enjoys the sunshine

We saw very few boats moving - perhaps three before we got to the Stoke locks. There are a few hire boats out, not many, but not really surprising given that it is February - a couple of Alvechurch boats and some 'Canal Club' out of Gayton Marina.

Through Cosgrove lock, then the winding miles of countryside towards Stoke Bruerne. I walked Charlie along the towpath for a while, then I steered while Alan took a shower. At the bottom of the Stoke flight we stopped to fill our nearly empty water tank and also to buy some solid fuel off the coal boats - we like to support the canal traders, whenever we can. Whilst doing all this, a couple of boats came past and up the flight. Although the boats ahead of us were single handers, they came back and shut gates after going through, and even pulled paddles for us if we weren't yet up at the lock, they were efficient and speedy.
Coming up the Stoke flight

Crossing the lock

We arrived at Stoke well before dusk, moored up, and I had a shower, and even got a little marking done before we headed off to the Boat Inn for a pint and an excellent meal.

Fenny Stratford to Stoke Bruerne
Miles: 18.3, Locks:8
Total Miles: 32.9, Total Locks:23

Short Break at Half Term - First Day

2011-02-23T23:55:00.066Z

Cook's Wharf to Fenny Stratford
(posted by Cath)

Alan got the boat ready on Tuesday afternoon - taking some of the bags, getting the fridge cold, lighting the fire - while I tried to get a few things sorted at home. David had real problems getting himself organised and it was quite late when we finally got on board with all of the other stuff.

We stowed everything away, and I cooked dinner, after which I went to bed, as I was quite tired. I have spent the last week fighting a chest infection, and for the first few days of the half term I needed a lot more sleep than usual.

I fell asleep quickly, Alan came to bed soon after, but was clearly disturbed by an intermittent knocking noise that seemed to be coming from the direction of a boat moored across the canal. Eventually, at some small hour, he got up, got dressed, and went out to find out what the noise was. I became aware of him clambering along the wet gunwale, and as our neighbouring boat is away from its mooring I knew that if he slipped he'd be in the very cold cut. I have to admit that I found myself thinking, "No, please don't fall in, I really don't want to have to leave my nice warm bed."

Well the knocking noise proved to be the fender that normally hangs between us and our neighbouring boat. The fender was just into the water, and any water movements made it bang against the side of our boat - it doesn't usually happen because the other boat is normally there.

We set off soon after nine o'clock, with hot porridge for breakfast. It was a damp morning, the tops of the Chiltern hills hidden in the mist. There are the very first signs of spring appearing, a tiny white-flowered wild flower poking a rosette of leaves through the cracks in the brickwork around the locks; catkins on the alder trees and the hazel bushes; and a tinge to the colour of some of the bare branches as the first buds appear.

Horton Lock

Most of the morning was just damp and misty, but we had occasional periods of drizzle and rain. We headed north, through the Seabrook and Ivinghoe locks, then onward into Leighton Buzzard where we stopped to get some food, and I tried to persuade David to get a pair of jeans in Tesco, as I was not sure that all the pairs he had brought would last through the trip.

Just south of Linslade Manor we saw the Canal World Forum boat Pinmill travelling south - a chance for a quick greeting and a wave, and they headed on towards Aylesbury.

Soulbury, three locks

David at Three Locks

Stoke Hammond Lock

Alan is still recovering from his cataract operation, so I have to do most of the locks - with some help from David.

We finally got to Fenny Stratford at about 5:30, moored up, and had Cottage Pie for dinner, once again I fell asleep early, and slept like a top.

Cook's Wharf to Fenny Stratford
Miles: 14.6, Locks:15
Total Miles: 14.6, Total Locks:15

More mad runners

2011-01-23T22:11:00.011Z

Sunday 23rd January 2011

Alan woke up early, and got up to check the fire, then took Charlie for his first walk of the day. I have to admit that I snoozed on in our warm bed for a while.

Once fortified with coffee I got up to make porridge, which we ate outside, as we headed on north to the first winding hole.

The weather forecast threatened rain from midday, so we wanted to get on fairly quickly.

Brand new top gates at Leighton Lock - Good to see it now has gate paddles.

We turned, and headed south again, only to see the runners from yesterday heading back in the other direction again. Once again they had set off at 8 am, and by 10:00 the faster ones were heading back through Leighton Buzzard on the way back to Northampton.

One of the charac- teristic double bridges from this stretch - for a brief time in history, a narrow lock was added alongside the original broad one, as a water saving measure.

It remained a cool, and damp day, but we never saw the promised rain. Charlie spent a lot of his time - when not walking between locks - standing on the front of the boat like some figurehead and watching the world go by.

It was an uneventful trip, but it was so good to be out on the boat again.

Boater and dog.

I've been reading Richard Mabey's book 'Weeds', about our relationship with "plants which are growing where we don't want them". Alan and I were talking about the season and agreed that we are probably in the middle of winter now. Even though we are a month after the solstice it is probably the coldest and greyest that it will be, with few signs of the spring to come. I did see bunches of hanging hazel catkins, but they never seemed to be where I could take a photo. However, by Seabrook middle lock there was still a bit of colour around when I looked for it.

Mosses on the coping stones.

Lichen on a blackthorn tree.

We arrived back at the mooring around 3:00 pm. Our weekend trip was less than 18 miles, and only 20 locks.

Footnote by Alan (who hopes he didn't muck up Cath's post too much by inserting a couple of extra photos!)

We have always tended to think of "Chalice" as a bit of a fair weather boat. It's only form of heating is a small solid fuel stove, located at the very front end of the cabin - there is no form of radiators or other "central heating". However experience is showing that despite the boat's length that stove can heat the whole living space in really quite cold conditions. We get maybe a 5 degree temperature gradient between the toasty warm sitting area at the front, and the cooler bedroom at the back. So we are increasingly happy to venture out now in mid-winter.

Not much heat gets to the steerer though - not like a traditional boat that would have a stove in the back cabin right alongside. I'm tempted to see if a normal style heater from a car or van could be added to the engine cooling circuit - I rather fancy having hot air blasted up when steering on a cold January day!

Trip to get some fuel

2011-01-23T18:38:00.010Z

Saturday 22nd January 2011
We've had a nearly empty tank for a while, and we didn't know of any fuel boats due past, so we decided to go to get some diesel at Grove Marina, just south of Leighton Buzzard.

As always, we had some things to sort out before setting off, so actually left our moorings shortly before 11am. It was drizzly, cold and grey, but we were happy, and so was Charlie the dog, although he got very wet on the walks between locks. Walking along the towpath there seemed to be a strong smell of fermenting apples at times, and there were heaps of rotten crab apples underneath some of the trees, but I couldn't always see where it was coming from.

It has rained a lot recently, and many of the fields were so flooded that it was hard working out if they were fields, or lakes ..."Well, it LOOKS like a lake, but I've never noticed one there before."

We started to notice small groups of runners passing us, thin wiry runners with very developed leg muscles - mostly men, but there were a handful of women among them. All of them decked out in bright shades of yellow, orange and pink lycra. They all bore numbers declaring that they were in an 'Ultra' race. Enquiring at a checkpoint by Church lock I discovered that they were running from Northampton to Tring, and had set off at 8 am. The nearer we got to Leighton the more women there were among them, and the older and less wiry the runners were.

We got to Grove and got our diesel, and a new cylinder of gas, then headed on northwards to pick up some food in Tesco.

As we were leaving the mooring outside the supermarket a couple of people were watching us leave - I pushed the front of the boat away from the edge, and jumped on. Mr Bystander called out, "why are you doing all the work, why doesn't he do it?" I never fail to be surprised by passers by, who no matter what I am doing are convinced that I am working hard, and Alan is being lazy. I can be working locks, or steering, just about everything except lying on the roof, and they will ask why I'm doing all the work. I turned back, "because he's recovering from a broken pelvis". "Ha," says Mrs Bystander, "that's a good enough excuse!"

We carried on as far as The Globe Inn, and moored in the gathering gloom. Another runner passed, a much larger woman. All credit to her, but I was worried about her carrying on along the towpath in the dark, given the state of it these days. She must have had another 12 miles to run.

We walked Charlie. Getting a dog has been really good for us, in the past we would have collapsed at the end of a day's boating - on the computer, reading a book - now Charlie gets another walk, we get to talk things over. I dropped into the Globe to check the menu, and discovered that we would be able to take Charlie in as long as he remained in the paved area and off the carpets - but that the last table in the restaurant had just gone. No matter, said the landlord, you can sit in the pub area and eat - just come back in a while when it has got quieter, when there would be tables free.

Back on the boat we changed out of our muddy clothes and went back to the pub for a drink before our meal - and found the previously busy bar much quieter. We ordered drinks, and decided on our meals, which were excellent. My peppered mushroom suet pudding with chive mash and seasonal vegetables cost £10, and Alan's Red Pepper and Onion Tart was £7 - both really delicious, with attentive service from the bar.

Somehow we found ourselves in conversation with another couple in the bar - the talk became more and more animated, and they moved over to sit with us. Eventually they had to go, as they had another place to go to that evening, but we left with their phone number, and the plan to meet up again at some time.

Back to our nice warm welcoming boat, and a good night's sleep.

Getting some charge in the batteries

2011-01-16T18:22:00.000Z

Sunday 16th January
We decided that our poor boat needed some charge in the batteries - so set off up through 2 locks to Marsworth, where we had a quiet pub lunch in the Red Lion.

Afterwards, we found this bike and a brace of pheasants outside!

It was wonderful to be out on the boat for the first time since the summer. Even if it was cold and grey.

Some sad news.

2011-01-16T10:40:00.004Z

Posted by Alan.

This may seem a strange thing to post here, but I have been receiving several inbound messages from people who I have no obvious other way to respond to, but I know look here from time to time.

Many have noticed that our regular cruising pattern ended after August, and indeed the boat has not moved since, and has sat through the recent severe weather, unloved, and with a flat battery.

Some will know the reason is that my mum, Adelaide, fell ill in early October, and we have been on a fairly roller coaster ride since then.

Sadly Mum passed away on the 27th December, and was laid to rest this last week.

Mum had lived independently at home, without assistance beyond friends or family ,up until over 92 years old, and was not a fan of hospitals and care homes. So, while it has been a shock to lose her so quickly, we are comforted by the fact that she spent most of a very long life as she wanted it, and that the unavoidable period of being cared for by others at the end was not too drawn out.

So, on a brighter note, if I can manage to not damage myself again, as I did early last year, (more boating time lost!), and if Cath's parents can manage to stay hale and hearty for a while, then there is a much greater chance that we may make it around a wide range of canals and rivers this year.

Mind you, I now have a cataract operation to get out of the way before serious boating begins.....

Thanks to all those who have expressed concern, or given support, through the recent months.

Boxmoor to Cook's Wharf

2010-08-02T23:55:00.015+01:00

(Posted by Alan)

Boxmoor to Cook's Wharf

Resuming my attempt to remember what happened on the intensive final two days of this trip!

In fact we did not intend to make a particularly early start, but a pair of community boats had been moored behind us, where not a lot of control seemed to be being put on the youngsters aboard, making their antics look quite dangerous. So when it looked that "Pisces" and "North Star" might be about to start up, we decided we would rather be ahead of them, than behind them.

Once we had worked a few locks, and were approaching the middle Winkwell one, someone hailed us from a moored boat, and asked if we would wait for them. I thought they might be a while getting going, but in fact we were quickly sharing locks, which helped us on our way a bit.

"Wooden stake and mesh" bank reclamation just below Berk- hamsted, something we have seen elsewhere, but new to the lower Grand Union, we think.

Small tug being delivered to these these works by lorry - I had previously thought it was being taken away, but have since met the lady who drives it, and who corrected me!

We continue to share locks at Berk- hamsted's "Rising Sun". I was fascinated to hear that the owners of this boat had saved at least £20,000 over an equivalent new one, by a second-hand purchase of an almost unused boat. (It's an Aqualine, built in Poland).

Alan lock wheels past extensive floral display at The Boat, Berk- hamsted

Our companions were stopping at Berkhamsted, leaving us to press on up the next eight locks to Tring summit alone. As we started encountering every lock against us, despite frequent boats the other way, we were clearly catching up another boat, but never quite seeing it. Often pairs of top gates were open, so we were guessing either two boats or a wide-beam.

Typical state of the refuse facilities at Cow Roast

We were not long on to Tring summit, about 3 miles with no locks, before we quickly caught up a wide-beam community boat. Much of the summit, being in a cutting, is relatively, (but not exceptionally) narrow, but they seemed to be navigating it incredibly slowly, even before they decided to start letting some of the visitors steer the boat, and were actually virtually stopping on a fairly regular basis. As we caught them at one of the wider parts, they could easily have held at the side for half a minute or so, and waved us past, but they didn't, and eventually we stopped in a bridge-hole and shut down the engine until they were out of sight. It didn't help much, as we very quickly caught them again, so we repeated this, waiting longer, but still caught them quickly.

Imagine our relief when as we finally got to Marsworth top lock, a narrow-boat was waiting to enter, meaning they could not share the lock, due to their width, but we could. I don't think I have ever been waved past with quite such bad grace, or such condescending comment. A great shame, as this was one of the usually better operators of coimmunity boats, but their arrogance and unhelpfulness that day has left me with a rather different view of what can happen.

Fortunately the lady we then shared with proved to be the perfect antidote. She was not young, but single handling a boat she had recently bought, and which was not without some mechanical issues. She was clearly having the time of her life, and neither the fact that a warning beeper kept coming on on the engine, nor that she had no idea what it meant, really didn't seem to trouble her at all. In fact she was not fazed when the engine decided to stop as she was under way, ("it does, sometimes", she said quite simply!).

So thank you, unnamed lady, as well as our accompanying boat earlier in the day. Not an auspicious day for community boat crews, we felt, but some very nice private boaters made our day. (And we got back within out target time too, which was surely a plus).

Almost home! - leaving the penultimate lock at Peter's Two

Boxmoor to Cooks Wharf
Miles: 12.2, Locks: 27
Total Miles: 179.8, Total Locks: 189

Widewater near (Harefield) to Boxmoor

2010-08-01T23:00:00.010+01:00

(Posted by Alan)

Widewater near (Harefield) to Boxmoor

Apologies to those who have told us repeatedly that they are waiting to see if we made it home!

We did, of course, but immediately embarked on our project to try and give Chalice a DIY repaint.

Now any amateur that has ever tried it will tell you this is not a job for the faint hearted - that roof that doesn't look too big normally, for example, suddenly appears a lot larger if you are trying to take it back to bare metal, or to apply many layers of new paint to it.

So we have been busy, and the blog went on stall, but I'm now finally going to attempt to record those last two days.

In fact, the wet dock booking made us decide to try and get back from Widewater, (near Denham) in just two days, to allow us a clear day for getting at least a bit reorganised at home, before boat painting completely took over our lives. This is not a massively hard target, but we were both very tired, and we knew it would take a bit of effort.

Above Widewater lock is usually a good tie-up, and this time was no different, so I have no real excuse that I woke early. However it was a good opportunity to take Charlie for an early morning walk, which I did trying not to disturb the other people on board, (a challenge!).

Leaving Widewater on another fabulous day

A strange feature of this part of the trip was that although the canal had become quite busy, we still ended up sharing very few locks, or indeed even finding very many in our favour, necessitating someone regularly being ahead with the bike to set them up, if progress was to be maintained.

However at Lot Mead, just north of Rickmansworth, the resident of the lock-side cottage approached me, and said there was a problem with the top gates, and despite multiple attempts to shut them or dislodge obstructing matter, they could not be closed. I was just thinking "what chance of getting BW out quickly on a Sunday of a Bank Holiday weekend.", when A BW guy appeared. I'm not sure if he was actually working, or just doing a good turn, but miracle of miracles, he knew where to find a keb. Now a keb is a long shafted rake, with end like a digging fork with it's tines bent through 90 degrees, and exactly what you need, but finding one near a GU lock these days is nearly unheard of. So when out man fished around expertly, we were mightily relieved when he pulled out the obstruction. It was one of the shaped metal caps used to top off the mitred posts of the gate, but curiously it didn't belong to the current gates, as both theirs were still present. Good old BW man - our chances of getting back on schedule suddenly recovered!

Approaching the pair of locks at Cassiobury

It is unusual this far down the Grand Union to find many low pounds, because much of it has rivers flowing in and out, and water is usually plentiful even when rainfall has been unusually low. However we did realise we were seeing quite a few pounds where levels were down from usual. Fortunately Chalice has a shallow draught, and is little affected by small water shortages on a canal like the Grand Union.

Using British Waterway's property as a waiting point to avoid the shallows in a low pound at Nash Mills

The schedule we were trying to stick to actually required that we got beyond Boxmoor, but there are opportunities to moor there that are rather quieter and less affected by road and rail traffic noises, so we decided enough was enough. We had done 23 locks, but stopping a bit early left us 27 to do on the final push.

Widewater (near Harefield) to Boxmoor
Miles: 14.0, Locks: 23
Total Miles: 167.6, Total Locks: 162

A Quiet Day With Cath's Father & His Wife

2010-07-31T22:21:00.018+01:00

(Posted by Alan)

Brentford to Widewater near (Harefield)

On two successive trips on the tidal Thames we have tried to take Cath's father and his wife for a trip, but each time he has been busy, (or so he claimed, anyway!).

With hindsight we now realise this would not have been a very clever idea, as neither is young - in fact Dot became 85 yesterday. We found the two and a half hours, much of it crashing through waves physically exhausting, and realise it would have been very difficult for them.

Anyway we had agreed to take them out for the day today - they could get to Brentford on public transport, and if we could deliver them to Uxbridge station, getting home would be quite straightforward too.

They couldn't get to us particularly early, but we should have time, including a lunch stop,

Now, I have to say, if you wanted to show off the Grand Union, you would not by choice start at Brentford. This has to be the most litter strewn bit of the entire cut, locks are filled with floating debris, and the prospect of large plastic bag tangled on the propeller is ever present.

Jim and Dot at Hanwell, (shame there is nowhere else for the bikes!)

Also you probably would not choose a route that fairly early on includes a flight of 8 double locks, which is what you get with Hanwell and "Norwood Top" combined. Furthermore these locks were unusually busy, many of the intermediate pounds missing a foot or more of water, and a few boats reversed locks on us that they probably should not have done. I think our guests may have been initially perplexed about an arrangement that took maybe an hour and a half for only a mile travelled!

Locking up through Hanwell - the threatening clouds never did deliver much rain.

One of the few remaining parts of the old asylum buildings, viewed from a lock. They have always had a kind of menace for me, since I first encountered them in the 1970s.

The next part of the plan didn't work too well, a suggestion to have a pub lunch. The canal guides indicate three possible canal-side pubs each at a different bridge separated by around half a mile. The first was deserted, and looked uninviting. The second proudly announced outside that it did food, but when Cath enquired, it did not. The final one looked far more promising, but was in the middle of a refit, and not doing food at the moment. The guide showed few more options, and the next pub along apparently has strippers - we decided not to inflict them on a couple in their 70s and 80s.

So a change of plan saw us stop at the supermarket at Bulls Bridge, and buy what was needed for a lunch on board.

By now we were into a fairly long lock-less section, so hopefully our guests got a better idea that canals is not all being static in locks.

We eventually arrived at Uxbridge, by which time I think we had worn them out. Cath ensured they were safely on a train, before returning to the boat.

We were by a noisy road, and a noisy pub, so decided to push forward for a few more locks starting with Uxbridge lock itself.

We moored at one of our regular quiet overnight mooring spots, just above Widewater near Denham.

I just wish the boat we shared Denham deep lock with, and who then followed very slowly behind us, had told us their intentions. Having set up Widewater lock for two boats, and waited very patiently for them, they instead turned into the marina entrance, just before the lock.

Oh well, that's boating for you!

Brentford to Widewater (near Harefield)
Miles: 14.0, Locks: 14
Total Miles: 153.6, Total Locks: 139

The Tidal Thames - again

2010-07-30T22:48:00.033+01:00

(Posted by Cath)

Stonebridge, Limehouse and Tidal Thames to Brentford

The day started overcast, and while there were occasional sunny breaks it remained fairly cloudy.

We knew it shouldn't take too long to get down to Limehouse, but set off with plenty of spare time. I decided that the boat was filthy after our trip up the Lee, and began washing her down, as well as cleaning inside.

Last lock before the Thames at Old Ford - there was consid-erable surface weed on this stretch!

We stopped at Three Mills at Bow, where there is a large Tesco next to the river. I went there while Alan took Charlie for a walk prior to heading onto the Thames.

Alan realised that we had left a "goat chain" (used for mooring against piling) at Stonebridge. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, Alan sent a message to our friends and the chain was recovered - not quite sure how we're going to get it back yet. We ate a light lunch at Bow, then set off again.

At Limehouse we breasted up next to a boat that was going to Teddington, so we knew that he would be leaving half an hour or so before us. There were two boats going to Teddington, but we were - once again - the only boat going to Brentford.

The river boats rather dominate the narrow boats - this one passed us later on. (Chalice waits in the back -ground).

Somehow, it doesn't seem to matter how much preparation we have done, we always end up in a rush - trying to get the anchor chain out of the locker - and the anchor set up on a chain and line at the back of the boat - the bikes inside, and everything stowed safely away.

We waited until 2:15, after the hourly Thames Broadcast from London Vessel Traffic Services, and set off onto the Thames once again. This time it looked even more choppy than last time - it was - very much choppier.

Back on the big river again, soon after leaving Lime- house.

It's hard to show how rough it was, although the number of blurred photos we have is probably the best evidence.

Charlie took one look at it and headed inside to his bed, David and I stood in the front well deck. Within two minutes we had been splashed from head to toe, and my shoes were soaked with the water that was running over the front deck. It was also very windy, and quite cold.

Fortunately it became a bit better once we got past the Tower, such as when passing HMS Belfast.

Alan makes a poor attempt at a "no publicity" plea to the photo- grapher.

We waved at passing trip boats - although the passengers looked at us as though we were some species of lunatics.

Another shameless image of Chalice passing famous London landmarks.

Cranes at Battersea Power station.

Attractive housing further up river.

Shortly after Hammersmith Bridge we saw a bright orange boat coming towards us at a huge speed, which proved to be an RNLI lifeboat. This stretch of the river normally has an 8 mph speed limit, but Google reveals that these craft have a 40 knot (46 miles per hour) capability, and we can well believe it was doing that! It had flashing blue lights and a two tone horn, and shot past us so fast that it barely appears in our son's time lapse video. It is very reassuring that they move quite so fast in an emergency, but we would not like to see anything get in the way of one!

Did we enjoy it? Well, yes, but perhaps not as much as last time. Maybe we should have waited longer before trying it again, although when the opportunity presented it we weren't going to go the other way around.

As we arrived at Thames Lock, Brentford, a tiny boat with an outboard came out of the lock. As it puttered past us in a cloud of blue smoke, David pointed to it's name - Purple Hayes - somehow appropriate.

A Canal World Forum member was waiting by the lock, she had read that we were coming through, and was taking some pictures before heading off to work.

David put extra power batteries into his camera which held up though the whole journey this time. He has produced a new time lapse video (without the break for replacing batteries that he had last time), which shows the whole trip - because of it's size it won't be uploaded onto the Internet until we get home. However, one of the problems with it is that the first section is very jerky, because we were being thrown about so much by the waves.

We got just about the last mooring at Brentford. The man on the next boat was interested in our trip, as he'd been seeing two boats off towards Teddington from Thames Lock and had seen us arriving. He saw Alan straightening out a chain on the towpath. "That's someone who knows about mooring in London," he said. "It's an anchor chain," I replied. "Oh, I thought he was going to moor up with it."

Once again we got to go for a nice walk in the nearby park with Charlie. Before getting a dog we would have slumped about on the boat, now we get out in the fresh air, and get to know more of the areas near to the canal or river.

Stonebridge, Limehouse and Tidal Thames to Brentford
Miles: 24.4, Locks: 6
Total Miles: 139.6, Total Locks: 125

To Stonebridge Lock on the River Lee

2010-07-29T23:33:00.006+01:00

(Posted by Cath)

Harlow to Stonebridge

Another long push south today. It started overcast, and even rained slightly at one point - but a lot of the day was hot and sunny again.

Chalice at Parndon Mill, south of Harlow.

Heading south on the Stort.

We kept on South for the whole day, with little to distract us from the travelling. All along the canal were bramble bushes hanging with huge, ripe blackberries. I must get my jam kettle out when we get home.

One of us cycled ahead a lot of the time - and Charlie got a lot of walks between locks. At Waltham Common Lock I decided to walk Charlie through "Waltham Marsh" down to the next lock. On the map it had looked very simple, but I got lost and although I had a walkie talkie I didn't have my phone with me. I couldn't hear Alan on the radio, although he could hear me saying that I was lost.

Then suddenly I turned a corner and there was Waltham Town Lock, I couldn't see the boat, and began to wonder where they were when they appeared. They'd been slightly delayed at the previous lock.

We decided to moor up near to our friends on Rallentando at Stonebridge Lock, and Charlie got another walk through Tottenham Marshes. Rallentando is nearing the end of a long and thorough paint job, and looks amazing. I suspect that our approaching painting session is unlikely to produce anything like as good.

Harlow to Stonebridge
Miles: 17.4, Locks: 17
Total Miles: 115.2, Total Locks: 119

*$~@$&!!!! goosegrass - and Bishops Stortford

2010-07-28T08:51:00.001+01:00

(Posted by Cath)

Sawbridgeworth to Bishops Stortford and back to Harlow

Another baking hot day.

Attractive cottages by the Sawbridgeworth Lock

As we set off towards Bishop's Stortford, I decided that it would be a good idea to walk Charlie up a couple of locks. I put him on an extendible lead - usually he's on a short lead to help with his training. He had a great time, running through the long grass, and trying to get down to the water. He was panting more and more, and clearly wanted a drink.

When I caught up with the boat I got David to bring him a bowl of water on the lockside, as he was clearly so thirsty. He lapped it up lying down - he was obviously more puffed out and thirsty than I'd realised.

Back on the boat I discovered that Charlie was covered in goose-grass seeds. Not just a few, but several hundred at least. I sat on the front of the boat trying to brush them out of his hair, but as he got more and more fed up with the process I resorted to hacking at the longer 'feathers' of hair on his legs with a pair of trimming scissors. I doubt that I've managed to remove half of the goosegrass, it's going to be a long process and he'll probably need a 'number 2' cut when he gets back home. My priority at the moment is to remove them from his feathery feet, where they will cause him considerable discomfort between his toes, and from his ears - which are becoming more disreputable with every day..

Nicholson's guide seemed to suggest that there were interesting riverside pubs on the route into the town. The idea of a nice meal in a riverside garden seemed very appealing on a very hot day. The reality was very different. Like many towns there has been a lot of building going on recently, and there is a lot of new housing backing onto the river. The pubs that seemed to be riverside were close to the river - for example, on a road next to a bridge, but with a frontage only onto the road. None of them seemed very welcoming or suitable for a meal.

Moored at the end of the navigable section of the Stort.

I went shopping for food while Alan emptied the loo and filled the water tank, then I persuaded him that we should go for a coffee and some cake. We found somewhere, but only our coffee appeared - we eventually gave up waiting, paid for the coffee and went back to the boat. Our over riding feeling about what little of the town that we managed to see was that it seemed much like every other provincial town, with the same range of shops. Perhaps it was too hot, and we were too tired.

The Stort is really very attractive. Towards the south it is particularly wooded, while towards the northern part there are many open fields. Near Stortford it becomes wooded again.

Passing under Kecksy's Rail bridge, North of Sawbridgeworth.

After our brief visit to the town we set off south again. If we are to get to London on Friday we needed to get quite a long way, so we kept on through Sawbridgeworth where we passed a very attractive housing development. The strange thing is that the riverside frontage is bordered with a row of mooring bollards - and accompanying 'no mooring' signs. Why go to the cost of the bollards and then forbid mooring? There is also a marina, which is still completely empty - why?

Passing the new housing in Sawbridgeworth, above Sheering Mill Lock

"No mooring" bollard.

The empty marina. Where are all the boats?

We carried on into Harlow, where we moored next to the railway station, and went to eat at the Hungry Horse on the other side of the river. Our concerns about the railway, and in particular the platform announcements, proved unfounded, and we slept well.

Sawbridgeworth to Bishops Stortford and back to Harlow
Miles: 14.8, Locks: 15
Total Miles: 97.8, Total Locks: 102

And from the Lee on to the River Stort

2010-07-27T20:21:00.029+01:00

(Posted by Cath)

Waltham Abbey to Sawbridgeworth

It's been a very warm and humid day, relieved by occasional (mostly light), and very welcome showers.

Alan took Charlie for a walk before I'd even woken up. We were a bit late getting started, and I walked up through the next few locks with Charlie. I was very surprised by the size of the blackberries growing - although Jessica had told us that they were very good along the Lee and Stort.

We were working up with two other boats, a narrow boat and a 30 foot GRP boat.

The three boats at Aqueduct Lock.

We carried on to the Stort, with the GRP boat following. The locks are narrower on the Stort - 13 ft 3 inches, too narrow to get two boats side by side. However, as our boat is 50 foot, and the locks are about 85 foot long we thought we could fit the GRP boat in behind us. We could, but the locks fill so violently that we were being thrown all over the place and we were worried about causing damage to the fibre glass boat. As they could travel a lot faster than us, and we knew they only had a few locks to go we suggested that they went ahead of us, and we carried on alone.

The Stort was opened for traffic in 1769, allowing access for the farmers and markets of Essex to the River Lea and from there London, and the rest of the world.
An attractive cottage, at Brick Lock.

At Roydon we went under the low rail bridge. We took the chimney off - just in case - Alan, who was steering, had to duck.

The banks of the rivers are covered with Himalayan Balsam, an invasive non-native plant which was introduced in the 19th C and quickly spread along waterways. It's considered a pest, but the flowers are bright and attractive.

The River Stort becomes narrower and very meandering, particularly after Harlow, requiring considerable concentration to make sure that you don't meet with another boat coming the other way. In fact, we only came across one day-boat out of Broxbourne. Given that the country is in recession and more people are supposed to be holidaying at home we don't understand why there is so little traffic on the river.

We rounded one corner to be faced with a river full of children in canoes, and nobody seemed to have noticed that we were bearing down on them. We reversed, and the instructor herded them off to one side, although one girl clearly hadn't grasped the difference between 'forward' and 'backward'. The centre also had kids jumping into the river as part of the many activities that were going on - the children all looked like they were enjoying themselves.

We kept on until Sawbridgeworth, where Alan and I took Charlie into the town while we shopped. We ate here two years ago, but were sad to see that the excellent pub appeared to have changed hands, and is now a very different type of establishment. So we ate curry on the boat - followed by blackberry and apple crumble, made with very local, and very fresh blackberries.

Waltham Abbey to Sawbridgeworth
Miles: 14.6, Locks: 15
Total Miles: 83, Total Locks: 87

Through London on to the Lee Navigation

2010-07-26T23:12:00.021+01:00

(Posted by Alan)

Little Venice to Waltham Abbey

One of the things that has struck me since I started to co-author the blog with Cath is how sporadic our photography efforts can be. I suppose it's not surprising that the more we do, the less time there is to think about taking pictures, but it is certainly often the case that we end up with frame after frame on something inconsequential, but the bigger, more dramatic, or simply more unusual, happenings of any day go unrecorded.

This is brought to the fore if one of us writes a day's blog, then tries to find related pictures to illustrate it! If we choose the pictures first, then try and weave the blog around what we have actually taken, it often gives a less accurate feel as to how the day unravelled.

I'm not sure we have done any better today, but did at least manage to belatedly capture the "Girl Guides" on their travels.

Anyway you can't really photograph lost keys, which is how the day began, when I managed to drop the bike lock keys over the side when transferring bikes from the safe haven in the engine room, to their usual day-time position in the well deck. I suppose I could have photographed David and I fishing for over half an hour with a powerful Sea Searcher magnet, (we knew the keys were unlikely to be magnetic, but assumed the ring they were on might have been).

But I didn't, so here instead is standard photo of boat on it's overnight moorings - but while we still had the bike keys!

Another thing I have noticed, is that if we pass through London from West to East, it always seems to rain for at least part of the transit. And, lo and behold, today was to be no different, although nothing like the torrential rain of some previous passages.

We soon found we were following other boats, and indeed soon 'caught up the Girl Guides'. Cath was on locks, and chatted more with them about their trip, and their boats, one of which is a 12 berth Springer owned by the Guides, and much in demand. Unfortunately it is old enough to have "middle age spread", and regularly gets wedged in the narrowest locks, so they are fund raising to replace it with a brand new boat. They have raised about £40,000 so far, but still need about £55,000 more - sounds like a good cause introducing many new youngsters to the canal in a kind of way now largely lost.

The "Guides" lock-down through Hampstead Road Locks. I'm sure they'll not be offended if we say they were not the fastest of crews, but they seemed to be having a marvellous time!

Another feature of a passage along the Regents Canal from Paddington to Old Ford, is a number of locks that are very hard to work, because bottom gates self open almost immediately as soon as anyone has closed them. You really need three people on locks, so that two could hold a gate shut each, whilst a third winds paddles. We are usually only one, when a lock is being set, so a bit of ingenuity is usually required to (for example) slightly open a top paddle, before bothering to try and "shut up" at the bottom. If you get it right, the flow of water will hold one gate shut whilst you walk around and close the other, but get it wrong, and they either drift open again, or slam together with indecent force.

Many of the locks have various issues, but how this had been achieved with a ratchet we could not work out.

The pawl is the wrong side of the 'cog' on which it should run, and can't be got in the right place, due to the bar above - but nothing looked like it had been dismantled for months.

But more serious problems were looming. The fastest route to the River Lee is via the short Hertford Union Canal, (often known as "Ducketts"), but our last two passages through Ducketts have found seriously emptied out pounds between locks. We were warned it was bad down there, and when we checked the shortish pound between the top tow locks, there was someting like 4 feet of water missing, with clearly less than the two feet of water we needed to get the boat from lock to lock. (The water mainly failed to reach the shallower sides of the canal near the bank).

We have got more bold now when we encounter such conditions, so simply spent some time running through water from above to put enough water in to guarantee getting through. I'd say we made up only about half the deficit, which was enough - we could have perhaps put slightly less, but were aware the 'Guides' were following too.

I suppose I'm become a grumpy old git, but the fact that the same bit of canal is causing major problems not just months, but years, after we first encountered it, is a disgrace, and Duckett's really does feel like a canal British Waterways would like to forget about.

To prove my point about photography, I could easily have taken a picture of the extent of the water shortage - but failed to!

Once on the Lee, we were surprised to find vast mats of duck-weed, thick enough for the water fowl to be walking all over.

There is usually some weed on this navigation, but we have not seen it like this. Further up the stench coming from mats of some other weed types was particularly revolting, but these fortunately were few.

We were also surprised by the sheer scale of large outbreaks of the particularly nasty Giant Hogweed

There seems to have been an explosion in the numbers of live-aboard boats with no home moorings on the Lee. We try not to get involved in the rights and wrongs of this, but were unhappy that the complete lock landings for the first lock you encounter were being permanently occupied by such boats, making working the lock difficult - there are still miles of empty bank, for God's sake!

We had also been warned about British Waterways having continued not to address another issue for a very long period. The locks you encounter first were all part of an (I think!) 1950s modernisation program, with twinned locks, one worked with electrics and hydraulics, but the other requiring a lot of hand cranking. At Stonebridge problems with the "electric" lock regularly mean BW turn off the power, forcing you through the "manual one". This should not be an issue, but all the "hydraulics" on this lock are faulty, meaning about 80% of your effort is wasted, and only about 20% results in the desired things happening. Another maintenance shambles, whilst where everywhere you go, BW wastes money in stupid things that add nothing to the canals and rivers.

Cath works Chalice through the "manual" lock at Stone -bridge, whilst David attempts the pointless 200 turns of a windlass.

Above the lock we spotted our friends with boat Rallentando, who have revived it with a wonderful paint job. I was fascinated to watch the sign-writer they have employed adding much of the lining, and seeing what he achieved at the first attempt free-hand. Our friend Jessica pointed out that there was excellent dog walking there, so she offered to take Cath, Charlie and their dog Rocky on a guided tour. Charlie had been inside much of the day, so the walk was well received. I also failed to photograph the newly painted Rallentando, (or Rocky!).

Usually Cath is keen not to push on too late into the evening, but last night said she rather fancied running on, and trying to get really into the country, and further towards the "better" bits of the Lee. So we worked on through several more locks to Waltham Abbey. Splendid walks for Charlie again, and, as I write this the following morning, he has had two more marvellous romps.

What else did we see that was unusual - well whilst we had seen Orthodox Jews up here in the past, we had never seen anything like the numbers we did today. Huge numbers of youngsters on bikes, but those out canoeing still wearing their traditional clothing somehow presented a more unusual sight.

But, (as you have probably guessed by now!), I failed to photograph them to!

I'm sure this blog would be better with more pictures, and less words!

Little Venice to Waltham Abbey
Miles: 20.6, Locks: 17
Total Miles: 60.4 , Total Locks: 72

Into Paddington - With the Guides

2010-07-25T23:00:00.001+01:00

(Posted by Cath)

Stockers to Little Venice

Knowing that we had to get into Paddington to pick up our son at about 7 pm, we set off fairly early. We were on our way by 8 o'clock.

At the first lock, Springwell, I was approached by a cyclist, "is this the way to London?". "Um, no, that's the way to Birmingham."

"Ah, good thing I asked. So does this way go to Harrow on the Hill?"

Frantically trying to scan my mental map, all I could think was that it is unlikely that the canal goes anywhere near a hill, as it's downhill all the way to London. "Well, this will take you through Uxbridge, and there's a branch towards Slough."

"Oh, I must have the wrong canal then."

"No, sorry," I replied, "this is the only canal anywhere near to here." My problem was that all I could think of was canal based locations, but not the names of nearby places. I doubted he'd understand "Bull's Bridge". "If you keep going you'll get to Brentford, or there's an arm that takes you up towards Paddington."

"How far is it to Paddington?"

Once again, I had a problem, he wouldn't begin to understand "a day's journey", so I hazarded 20 to 25 miles, and he set off towards Paddington.

I have been very struck when reading histories of the canals that the boat people undoubtedly had very vivid mental maps of the routes they used, but these probably bore no resemblance to any geographical maps. I find that I have two mental maps: the roads that I drive alongside a vague idea of where various cities are in the UK and a completely separate canal map. The two intersect at various points, but I have difficulty in finding my way between two nearby points on the two separate mental maps, even at places I know well.

Working narrow boat pair Archimedes and Ara were back home after delivering gravel to the Coventry Canal.

As were Arundel and Joe

I walked Charlie down through a couple of locks - they are fairly well spaced here so it was a reasonable first walk of the day. Then at Widewater a boat was waiting for us in the lock, we followed them down until we got to Uxbridge, where we pulled over at 11 am, as they opened, to go and buy some paint for our repaint when we get back from this trip. This took far longer than we expected, we needed to do some more calculations, and then we spent ages deciding on exactly how we want to do the roof. We are planning to change the colour to mid to light grey, as the dark green roof becomes so hot that it is impossible to touch on a hot day.

We set off again at nearly one o'clock, then at Cowley a series of small boats slowly entered the lock, a new one arriving in view just as we were on the point of closing the gates, it probably didn't take very long but we were beginning to panic about arriving in Paddington on time. After Cowley it's a long stretch of lock-less miles to Paddington, so we took one hour turns at steering. I spent some time trying to sort Charlie's ears. He has very long ears, (ridiculously long really), and very long hair both on the outside, and the inside. While we try to keep them brushed, he's managed to get goose-grass caught in the them, and the hair has become matted in places. I sat on the front deck with his head on my knee, armed with some tasty treats to keep him interested, and worked on the ears with a comb and brush.

Approaching Kensal Green we could hear the deep booming sound of a rave going on in the trees to one side of the canal. A number of young men were slumped or supine on the tow-path. Ahead of us were two boats, both across the the cut. As we approached them we could see banners draped across them proclaiming "Girl Guides, Birmingham and Northamptonshire". However, the women on the boats were the oldest girl guides we've ever seen - some of them being a decade or so older than us. The guiding boats were pulled in towards the tow-path, allowing us to pass. As we went by one of the 'girl guides' waved and called out, "We were just thinking of going to the rave".

Alan turned to me and said, "You know, today has suddenly got a lot weirder".

One Alan's favourite boats on the Paddington Arm near Kensal Green

It is good when you arrive at Little Venice late in the day, and can still find a mooring!

Having tied up at Little Venice, we took Charlie for another walk and then set off down the Paddington Arm to meet David at the station. The guiding boats had moored up down the Arm, with 'guides' sitting on the cruiser deck chatting.

David appeared, looking quite flushed, but not surprisingly. It turned out that instead of catching an underground train from King's Cross, he'd walked down the Euston Road, and Marylebone Road, before following signs towards Paddington - while carrying some 30 kilos of kit.

Back at the boat David showered and changed and we headed out towards Zizzi in Paddington Basin, where we had an excellent meal - although we ordered before we saw the size of the portions. The garlic breads were huge and we had to ask for a box for some of the pizza we couldn't manage.

Charlie is temporarily fooled by the walker we found him down the Paddington Arm.

We went to buy milk at Sainsbury's in Paddington station - I'm not sure what time this closes (if it ever does), but it was still open at 10pm on a Sunday night. Then on the way back to the boat we got brave and went to ask the guides what they were doing.

It turns out that it is the centenary of the guiding movement. There is a tall ship going around the coast, visiting lots of guiding regions, but the ship can't visit the interior of the country. So, a relay team of 'guides' has brought a couple of boats down from the Midlands, to celebrate the centenary. They seemed very cheerful and were having a great time. Tomorrow this team will hand over to another team in Limehouse Basin, who will take the boat back to Leighton Buzzard, for the next team to take over. Oh, and for the record, they hadn't been planning to go to the rave - one of the boats had got something through the prop.

Stockers to Little Venice
Miles: 24.8, Locks: 7
Total Miles: 47.8, Total Locks: 54

Winkwell to Stockers

2010-07-24T21:57:00.009+01:00

(Posted by Cath)
Winkwell to Stockers
A sunny day, Alan was up early, and took Charlie for his first walk. We ate breakfast and then set off around 9:00 am. I walked Charlie from Winkwell down to Apsley - although he pulled constantly the whole way. He's been taught to walk to 'heel', which he's generally pretty good about, but he's so excited by being on the boat, and walking down the towpath that he's constantly pulling ahead.

Unlike yesterday we were largely on our own, we caught up with a couple of boats, but neither stayed with us for long. After Charlie was back on the boat we got one of the folding bikes off, which allowed us to get the locks ready. It meant that we both got quite a lot of exercise, although Alan is - not surprisingly - still a little nervous about getting on a bike.

Going through Hunton Bridge with a cheerful group of people who'd hired a local community boat for the day.

At Common Moor

We did quite a lot of miles, and a lot of locks, on a hot day. We walked a lot, and cycled a lot. By the time we got to Stocker's Lock, just south of Rickmansworth we were quite tired, so moored up with a plan to take Charlie for a good walk. It was only too late that we realised that David, our son, is planning to meet up with us tomorrow, not on Monday, which means that we really should have pressed on south for another hour or so. It's going to be hard to get to Paddington to meet up with him, and we'll have to set off early.

We took Charlie for a long walk around the lakes that are only just a short distance from the canal. We've moored here many times, but have only just discovered the lakes - as a direct result of having a dog.

Winkwell to Stockers
Miles: 12.4, Locks: 23
Total Miles: 23.0 , Total Locks: 47

Difficult Decisions - Should I stay or should I go.

2010-07-23T23:11:00.014+01:00

(Posted by Alan)

Cook's Wharf to Winkwell

For various reasons we have known for some time that it would be impractical to do one of our summer "mega trips", where we usually stay out at least 3 weeks, and pile on both the miles and the locks. A great shame, really, as the two weeks at Easter largely also fell off our boating schedule when yours truly contrived to fall from a push bike beforehand, and smash his pelvis in three places, and an elbow in one.

So the idea was to start the school holidays with a trip which of necessity had to be rather less than 2 weeks. We should have set off yesterday, the day after Cath's term ended, (although I'll be the first to admit we were ill prepared!) However, soon after her school day had ended, unfortunately Cath got a call from her mother, who apparently had been suffering severe pains in much of her body, had seen a GP, but was now being despatched to hospital. We live miles away, but fortunately a very caring neighbour had stepped in, even to the point of going to sleep at Cath's mums house on Wednesday night to look after two dogs and a cat. So plans rapidly changed, and Cath drove up yesterday, first to deposit son David at his gran's house to act as a longer-term animal minder, then to see her mum in hospital.

The short version of events, (I'll spare you the long one), is that hospitals communications are seldom great, and knowing when anything will happen, tests be done, results known, or feedback given is at best a guessing game. All we knew by this morning was that Cath's mum felt better, was awaiting results of some extra tests, but likely to get sent home today.

Difficult decisions then. If we didn't start our planned break, (already shortened by over a day), then we would run out of time, but what if the situation ended up being less favourable ? Fortunately we live close to the boat's mooring, we had two bikes on board, and the canal runs close to the railway for many miles. We reasoned that if we had to abandon the boat for a bit we could, (even if it then only got taken back to base quite quickly at a later date), whereas we could not claw back time lost by not trying.

So eventually we were on our way South by about 11:30, just the two of us and Charlie the Spaniel, as David was now elsewhere.

Not too much to report on the boating. A fair day, mercifully free of the excessive heat we have had. Canal levels were unusual, after all these dry conditions, as a few pounds down from the summit were unusually low, but in pounds around Berkhamsted where levels do drop quite often at any time, water was pouring over some lock gates for no obvious reason.

Good water levels between "Gas Two" locks

Unusually we shared locks the whole way. Initially we shared with a Wilderness boat, with a couple taking grandchildren on a day trip. These charming boats are made of glass-fibre, so it is usual to agree how to handle entering and leaving to keep steel and plastic well apart! As soon as they made their first planned stop, another boat was just casting off, and has stayed with us all day, (now being about 10 feet behind, actually).

The lady we shared with most of the day had just bought her ideal second-hand boat in the Braunston area, and was bringing it down to it's new mooring.

By mid-afternoon our decision to travel was suddenly made to look "iffy". It turned out that the hospital were now saying my mother-in-law needed an ultrasound done, but this was not going to be until Monday, and they would be keeping her in over the weekend. The usual heart-searching followed, but we decided to carry on, whilst we contacted people, and to see who would be available to visit, and when.

But later on, David rang us to say that his Gran was now at home having been taken home by Cath's brother! Apparently another doctor had seen her, and reversed the decision to keep her in as quite unnecessary! Based on what's happening this time around, and on my own hospitalisation in February, I'm starting to think it's no exaggeration to say that whatever you are told is going to happen will not, (or at least not then, anyway!). David is planning to spend a few days with his Gran and then meet up with us.

So at the moment the decision to travel is still working for us, but tomorrow is of course another day!

A less sound decision was probably to visit the "Three Horseshoes", however. What they can charge for a pint and a large glass of wine almost beggars belief, and my beer proved to be cloudy enough to need replacing something you could see through properly. The food, whilst delicious, did not come in sufficient quantities for those who have just done 24 locks, and was over-priced. However, as usual Charlie came in for much admiration, including from a girl who gave him enough attention to cause him to jump up her for even more. "Hello, Georgia", said Cath, recognising one of her pupils. "Oh, no! Don't give me a detention," said Georgia, "I didn't realise it was your dog". (Cath note: I had no idea I am considered that scary!) Although the dog rescue said Charlie would be admired everywhere he went, I don't think we expected anything like the adulation he actually receives! He was less popular this morning when he managed to eat a small plastic bag - something we rather fear we may not have seen the last of, (yuk!)

Cook's Wharf to Winkwell
Miles: 10.6, Locks: 24
Total Miles: 10.7 , Total Locks: 24

Another Unusual Day On The Grand Union!

2010-07-08T18:44:00.033+01:00

OK, I'm a sucker for old working boats, (even in ones or twos). I'm a real sucker for old loaded working boats, (even in ones or twos). So when seven are known to be working through my home turf loaded, one day of being a spectator, or even a lock wheeler, was never going to be enough, was it ?

Charlie the dog, after all, needed a walk, and Marsworth reservoirs are one of his favourite spots. He'd not mind being "moored" by the odd lock, while I wound a paddle or two, would he ?

So I set off to Marsworth by car, hoping the fun was not over. Luckily for me, if not the steerers, low pounds around Berkhamsted, and general slow down on Tring summit meant even the lead boat had only made it less than half way down the flight.

So some more pictures, that represent the different order the boats were in on this part of the trip.

Mike is on the lead boat, the massive Royalty class Victoria. He is carrying a similar load to the others, and needs as much depth of water, but the Royalty boats were built with much deeper hull sides, giving the untrained eye an impression they are carrying less.

Mike waits whilst a BW man is trying to clear an obstruction behind a gate that would mean the later boats breasted together would get stuck.

Archimedes and Ara are the next boats down. The steerers of this pair switch fairly freely between motor and butty, so you never quite know who to expect to be on the tiller.

As I spent lots of time with this pair yesterday, I let them go, to get some pictures of the single motors following.

Next down were Callisto and Themis. Although both motor boats, Callisto had been having fuel issues with it's Russell Newbery engine, so they were breasted together, and being powered by Themis' National, (I hope I have that the right way about!).

Here they are in the second lock down at "Maffers"

Moving on between locks - all but the bottom the pounds at Marsworth are short, but few of the locks are in any alignment, as the canal twists and turns.

Third lock down - The BW man has cleared the gate with an obstruction, so they can stay breasted.

The white former lock-keepers cottage is a useful marker in this flight for those who have lost track of where they are, as being beside the fourth lock, whichever way you are travelling, it marks mid-way through the locks.

Some of the 'S' bends between locks need some nifty tiller and speed wheel work to first miss the bank as you leave one lock, and then to have to get right across to the other side of the cut to get a good line into the next lock.

Most of the work of the flight over, there is a much longer pound to reach the bottom lock. Always popular with moorers, they may have been surprised by the time 7 loaded boats had all made their way past in not much over an hour.

Themis pulls Callisto into the bottom of 7 locks of the main Marsworth flight. Congratulations to their crew for making me a hot mug of tea, that kept me as a captive audience for a few locks, and so guaranteed my presence as a lock wheeler.

By now Charlie the dog was finding it all a bit much. Being tethered up quite a bit, and with Marsworth being so popular with dog walkers, he was getting a bit bored by having other dogs sniffing his bottom! I decided to not wait for Arundel and Joe, who were slightly separated from the 5 boats ahead of them.

I went on up to Chalice's mooring, giving me the opportunity to see the whole fleet pass in the period from about 11:20 to 12:30

Victoria

Archimedes

Ara

Themis

Callisto

Arundel

Joe

And, all too soon, sadly, the last one had gone, and life on this stretch of the Grand Union reverted to the more normal mix of private leisure boaters, interspersed with hire boats, day boats and wide-beam trip boats.

Thanks to the crews/owners for bringing this spectacle to our canal!

An Unusual Day On The Grand Union (A VERY unusual day on the Grand Union!)

2010-07-07T20:49:00.016+01:00

This is another post where I have been "playing boats", but Chalice has not moved.

A news item on Canal World Forum alerted us to a total of seven narrow boats being loaded with gravel at Paddington Basin, which they are then carrying right up to Atherstone on the Coventry canal.

That simply sounded like an opportunity too good to miss, but the problem is I'd normally tackle such a day out by bike, and I have not been back on the bl**dy bike since I fell off it and broke my pelvis in three places, and my elbow in a less dramatic sounding one place only. The pelvis is by no means fully repaired, and, I suppose if I'm honest, I was considerably more than just "apprehensive" about getting back into bike riding.

So thank you to the crews of these boats for giving me the necessary lure to break out the bike, get on a train and to come down to Apsley to start looking for you.

Also, although I picked up a windlass, I didn't really expect to use it a great deal. When I followed the "jam 'ole" recreation last year, each boat had enough crew that "hangers on" like me only needed to work the occasional paddle, or to lock wheel ahead to give them a bit of a break, Not so today! Despite the large publicity this was happening the boats were largely operating loaded with just one person per boat - just a single crew man on the single motors, and only one more to steer a butty. Only the last pair had more, so the crews had no capability of "lock wheeling", namely someone going ahead to set unfavourable locks before their arrival, (although the steerers of leading boats can at least shut gates and "pull a paddle" to start the lock emptying for following boats - but extra work for them, that slows progress further).

So I very quickly found myself much in demand, main role being as boats left a lock to close up, and prepare it for the next boats along. Obviously I can't do this for all boats, but can at least help those at the back stay closer to those at the front.

The boats were, (and in this order).

Single motors:

Callisto & Themis, (both "Star" class and travelling together).
Victoria ("Royalty" class, either alone, or sharing with various pleasure boats).

Motor/Butty pairs:

Archimedes & Ara (both "Star" class again).
Arundel (modern replica of older working boat) & Joe (ex Birmingham canal navigations "Joey")

I stayed mostly with the 2 motor/butty pairs bringing up the rear, and although I chatted with Mike Askin on "Victoria", I somehow failed to photograph it - sorry Mike.

A typical load on each boat was 18 to 20 tons, I believe - not massive in true working boat days, but enough to give the crews plenty to do to avoid the problems of the shallower canals of today. The gravel is surprisingly dense, meaning that the holds don't look very loaded, but the boats depth into the water shows that actually they really are.

Anyway not much else to say, but show the pictures.

Callisto & Themis at Home Park Lock

Archimedes and Ara near King's Langley

Archimedes & Ara approach North Grove lock

Arundel & Joe approach the M25 Fly-over

Above lock 69A "Town" class Banstead and its modern butty had broken loose, and was blocking passage. (Was this to do with the single motors that had already passed with their loads ?).

It was shunted out of the way by Archimedes & Ara, who put one of the following pair's crew on it to re-moor it.

Archimedes & Ara on the slightly longer pound up to the Nash Mills locks.

And passing up through the now derelict and part demolished Nash mills. Breated up they seemed to need a lot of power, even though levels weren't down.

Lots of elum required to make the turn out of the top Nash Mills lock.

By now Cath had driven down to Apsley at the end of her working day, and managed to catch Mike Askin on Victoria, borrow a windlass, and work him through a couple of the Apsley locks. She might have produced the missing photo, had she not unfortunately discovered the camera she has actually had no battery in it.

Archimedes and Ara tackled the short pounds breasted up. - Also now at Apsley.

Archimedes & Ara approach Apsley top lock - the point at which we bade them farewell.

Having turned the top lock for them we went down to the middle Apsley lock, and awaited Arundel & Joe (their technique of singling out even in the short pounds seemed to mean the engine needed to be worked far less hard).

Cath was offered a ride on Arundel, and didn't seem to try too hard to refuse! Despite being a modern boat, built after most commercial narrow boat traffic had ceased, Arundel completely looks the part.

Arundel and Joe arrive in Apsley top lock - despite travelling singly, the Joey was strapped to the motor each time, so that it can control its position in the lock.

Sadly, by now my injuries were playing up enough, and the next lock far enough away, that I decided to call it a day - I never did get that elusive photo of Victoria loaded, (almost certainly for about the first time since 1971, according to it's owner!).

We wave Arundel and Joe on their way.

I'm afraid I didn't get everybody's names, particularly on the final pair where more people kept arriving, too many of them called John!

But I offer my thanks to all who allowed me to go and play working boats for a few hours. They were all a welcoming and friendly lot, and seem to have attracted remarkably few volunteer lock wheelers in view of the wide publicity this has received.

So I'd urge anyone who likes old boats, particularly loaded ones, or the noise of Listers and RNs working hard to turn out and offer support. If you are like me you'll be glad you did!

Oh, and riding the bl**dy bike really wasn't that frightening after all!

Out for the evening

2010-07-03T20:53:00.031+01:00

Friday 2nd July 2010
This edition of the blog will contain notes on the current sartorial choices of towpath cyclists.

I finished work a bit early, so suggested to Alan that we spent the night on the boat. We need to talk about what we are planning to do for the summer break, and how we are going to get various things things done on the boat, and I had the idea that we could sit in the evening sunshine with a glass of wine.

Alan suggested that we moved north a couple of locks, to be away from the railway, which seemed a good idea. There are winding holes (if you include the unofficial places where we can wind a 50ft boat) every few locks in the section north of us.

We set off, but found that immediately below the Seabrook 3 we couldn't get the boat into the side, so ended up mooring just above the Ivinghoe locks, with a view of the Chilterns across the canal. We cooked dinner, and chatted about our plans. "What we need is 'Cruising Rings and Other Things'", I said, so Alan opened the cupboard to get the book out, and we moved forward in the boat to look at the various options.

A bit later we heard chomping noises, only to find that Charlie had discovered the loaf of bread that I'd put in the cupboard, had dragged it off the shelf by pulling on the plastic bag that I'd put it into and had taken a couple of large bites out of the top. I cut the top off the loaf, thinking that we could still make sandwiches with the remainer tomorrow, and threw the cuttings out for the ducks - I don't want Charlie thinking that he can just take a couple of bites and he'll get the rest for his tea.

When Alan rebuilt the middle section of the boat he added a very useful cupboard, the top shelf of which we use for our books. One of the useful features of this cupboard is that when the door is opened it blocks off the back part of the boat - good if you've got someone else staying on the boat and sleeping in the front section, or if you want to change clothes in some privacy. However, you do have to shut it when you take things out, or the dog will start to look for some extra food.

In the dusk a duck with 11 large ducklings came by and began to attack the weed just under the water line of the boat.

We took Charlie for a walk down to Horton Lock, the sun slowly setting in a stunning display of pink and orange. On the way back a field full of young cattle charged up the field to huddle in the corner peering at us over the fence - there must have been 40 or more, but it was too dark to take a photo - all we could get was pictures of glowing eyes in the dark.

Horde of cows

Saturday 3rd July
We were quite sluggish getting started, so it was much later than usual that we started up the boat and got going. After some discussion we decided that it was far too nice a day to wind the boat between Ivinghoe locks, so decided that we'd set off for Slapton and turn there. I knew I'd got things to do at home, but any excuse to go off boating....

Just as we finished emptying the top Ivinghoe lock a little boat, with a balcony of flowers on the front, arrived behind us. We waited for them at the next lock and shared with them for several locks.

Maude-Again is a 20ft 6 inch fibreglass boat that the owners built in their back garden. It took them a year, and it is built of flat sheets of fibre-glass provided by a local supplier who manufactures his own flat sheets. The owners explained that the advantage of this is that for three weeks after manufacture the sheets are flexible, and can be bent into curves. This way they managed to get away with not having an expensive mould for the boat. They used galvanised forms for the corners. They told us that they had built the boat 7 years ago, and it took a year to build. They now trail it all over the country, and have travelled extensively in their boat - all credit to them.

Signs at Slapton.

We were going so well that somehow Slapton came and went (who wants sandwiches made from a loaf with the top cut off anyway), and we kept heading north. Eventually we got to Grove, where we knew that we really did have to turn around - but not before trying out the pub. Several people had said that the food is good, if a bit expensive. It was a little pricey, but nothing out of the ordinary, and the food was fresh and quickly served. The 'fat chips' that came with our meals were excellent, and in quantities that I really couldn't cope with - although I tried valiantly.

Alan steers, approaching Church Lock, just past Grove Marina.
We winded, and headed south again. The canal seems much busier today than I've seen it in ages - far more boats moving than usual. The sun continued to beat down, although by now there was a slight breeze.

Coming back through Horton a group of young men on mountain bikes passed us. They were all dressed differently, some in long trousers, most in shorts, and the final one in cycle shorts. Now, I own several pairs of cycle shorts, which I invariably wear underneath cycle tracksters. They are very comfortable, but I wouldn't impose my rear in cycle shorts on any unsuspecting passers by. It is a feature of cycle shorts on bumpy towpaths that they make visible a disturbing quiver - except in the most rock hard derrieres of the truly addicted cyclist. I was just considering what kind of mexican wave version of this I might be capable of - when another small peleton of cyclists shot past. The final young man in this case had eschewed cycle shorts for a very fetching crimson dress. It was a strapless dress with a tight velveteen bodice and a full circular skirt bordered with white hearts reaching to about half way down his well toned thigh. From his cycle bag protruded a long, curly blonde wig, which he had presumably decided was unwise on such a hot day.

I was so struck by this sight that I completely failed to notice that the lock was full. Alan had slowly been moving the boat forward, and it pushed the gates open - leaving me stuck on the non-towpath side - which prompted one of those completely pointless arguments that can only happen on a very hot sticky day.

Charlie tethered to the lock sign to keep him safe while we work the boat through.

This photo shows the old pumping house beside the middle Seabrook lock. There were water supply problems on the canals from the early days, and there are many pumping houses next to short flights of locks, where the water was back pumped from the bottom lock to the top pound. Many of these old pumping houses are now homes, this one remains empty, with doors barred against entry. Alan wandered over and took some photos. On the other side are boarded windows.

We got back to the mooring far, far later than we should have, having had a really great day, but not really having got much further with our discussions of what we need to do.

Braunston Historic Boats Festival

2010-06-26T21:10:00.060+01:00

Saturday 26th June 2010
We went to the Braunston Historic Boat Festival last year, for the first time. This year we'd got the offer of a ride on Owl in the parade.

Painted Cans

We stopped off at the boat to make a measurement, as Alan was hoping to buy something at the chandlery in Braunston, while I quickly watered the plants that we put in to the small patch of garden at the end of our mooring last weekend. Then we set off for the festival.

We've discovered that Charlie the dog has a bit of a tendency to be car-sick, so we wanted to avoid any very winding roads on the way to keep him as comfortable as possible. Unfortunately, Mavis (our aging Sat Nav) had different ideas, and we found ourselves taking a very roundabout route down the most narrow and twisting lanes in the whole of Northamptonshire. Not surprisingly, despite not having been given his breakfast in the morning, Charlie had been sick by the time we arrived - fortunately not much, and fortunately onto the old towels we had laid out in the back of the car. Dogs don't seem to be much fazed by this and he happily wolfed down his breakfast that we had taken with us.

We parked in the village and walked down to the canal in the blazing sunshine. We quickly found Jim and Sue on Owl, and arranged to meet up with them later, then set off to explore.

Punters in the parade - they are punting the 200 miles from Cambridge to Oxford to raise money for the charity "Help for Heroes"

The main problem that we found was that we kept meeting people that we know, and then spent far too long chatting to them. We met up with lots of people that we know through the Internet (mostly Canal World Forum), several have had quite serious injuries or needed major surgery this year, so it was good to see how well all of them looked. We saw Chris and Daphne having a ride on Tycho, the ice breaker. We managed to put some faces to names that we know, even if we didn't always get the chance to introduce ourselves properly.

Looking down from the bridge into the arm.

We were delighted to see Chertsey, still in primer, and with work yet to be done, but only a dream at the festival last year.

Eventually we tore ourselves away and made it back to Owl by 2:00 pm, when the parade for the boats in that section was due to start. This was great fun, and we were joined by Chris and Daphne who had left the group on Tycho by then.

Passing the moored boats in Owl.

The parade is slow, there are many boats moored, and there is only a narrow channel to get down.

Boats pass the Marina and the arm, and the Stop House, then carry on to the junction, where they pass under one bridge, and reverse under the other, before heading back towards the marina. They head through the marina, then go back to their mooring on the main canal.

Looking under the bridge as we passed it into the arm and the marina entrance.

Passing the Stop House. Angel had been drawn by horse, and legged through Braunston Tunnel, so that the tunnel had had to be closed to other traffic for some hours. Angel was once owned by Alan's late brother, Peter.

Making the turn at the junction, boats reversing under the other bridge can be seen.

Manchuria

Boats reversing back to go back towards the Marina.

Row of Stewart and Lloyds tugs outside the marina - and Ariel with a kit car on the deck.

Back at the mooring we found ourselves the outer boat of four moored up, not the inner boat - a fact that caused a few problems later on. We sat and chatted, other people came and went, and it was a very pleasant afternoon in the sun.

View from Owl at the mooring - a lot of boats.

Alan decided that he needed to go and walk about a bit. When I woke up to the fact that he had been gone for ages I had to get Charlie over three other boats to the towpath. To make matters far more interesting he has today realised that the strange stuff around the boats is WATER! And he has now discovered that he doesn't like getting wet (a bit daft for a spaniel, but he has had a few baths since he came to live with us). As dogs can't really walk along the narrow gunwales of working boats he had to go across the back counters - and each one was a major trial. He peered into the water, looked at the gap between the boats, and then refused to go. I was carrying some bags so ended up lifting Charlie, throwing him vaguely in the direction of the next boat, and then jumping over to repeat the process at the next boat.

Alan wasn't far away, he was looking at the boat Chertsey. Sarah was showing him around, they were peering into the engine room. I have to admit that I admire enormously what Sarah and Jim have done in such a short space of time.
The tugs from the marina bridge - I haven't yet found out how they got the kit car off.

We made our goodbyes, went back to Owl for Alan to say goodbye, and headed back up the hill in the evening sunshine. A great day, and special thanks to Jim and Sue on Owl for being our hosts for the day, and the offer of a ride in the parade.

Visiting Stoke Bruerne

2010-06-12T22:10:00.043+01:00

Saturday 12th June 2010 - Stoke Bruerne
We should have been getting on with things at home, but who's going to let that get in the way of a visit to a canal festival?

Alan and I (and Charlie the dog) set off (far too late) to go to the Stoke Bruerne 'Gala Weekend'. We were further slowed down when 'Mavis' (the Sat Nav) directed us via Gawdknowswhere. Mavis does get things spectacularly wrong sometimes - including directing us down a cart track in North Wales that resulted in major damage to our car wheels and tyres.

However, we eventually reached Stoke Bruerne and parked up near to a garden with a reasonably large specimen of a Giant Redwood, or Sequoia, tree, sometimes called Wellingtonia (wiki link) in the UK - which is always a good idea, they are usually twice the height of any other tree around and are visible for miles, so you can then find your way back to the car easily from some distance away without having to remember the route.

Daniel (modern boats, like this, were in the minority)

As we approached the middle of the village, by the canal, we could hear the merry sound of 'canal folk music', played on accordions by men in waistcoats with red spotted neckerchiefs. Unfortunately (hmmmm...) we were too late to see the morris dancers. I do actually have a bit of a problem with some of the 'canal oriented' stuff that gets served up at every boat rally and festival. I know that the crowds need to be kept entertained, but I'm not aware of the traditional association of canals with morris dancers. I have been told that Irish dancing has its origins in the small space available in Irish cottages - but boat cabins were much smaller. Why morris dancing?

Then there were the pirates. No, sorry, why pirates, FGS? Why this persistent association with canals and pirates? Someone needs to explain it to me some time. They arrived on "George", an interesting old boat, accompanied by extremely loud explosive bangs, vigorous fiddle playing, and smoke producing orange flares. The dog was terrified so we walked up the canal towards the tunnel entrance to distract him.

On our way we stopped off to sample goods from both 'the Cheese Boat' and 'the Fudge Boat', deciding to make any purchases on the way back again.

There were some interesting boats up towards the tunnel, and we were pleased to meet up with Jim and Sue on Owl; who provided us with tea, beer and good conversation for some considerable time.
Victoria winded in the winding hole near Owl.

A boat had recently moved from its mooring at the end of the winding hole, the owners said that when the big boats winded there wasn't enough space.

Almost around.

It was a very warm afternoon, and we sat canalside watching the passing trip boats and a few passing hirers who seemed to be a bit confused to have found themselves in a Johnny Depp movie. Eventually we decided that we needed to move on, so we took a look at a few more boats, chatted to a few more people and then headed back towards the museum, where the stalls were.

Owl.
There were fewer boats than expected, but there were still quite a few there. Many of which seemed to have been newly painted.

Dodona

Fazeley

Stanton.

Archemedes and Ara were fully laden, the bows very low in the water.

We went for a drink and got chatting, once again, to people about Charlie. We were told by the rescue centre that he would attract attention, but we have genuinely been surprised by the number of people that want to stroke him, talk to him or about him.

When we got Charlie from the rescue centre we kept the name that we were told that his previous owners gave him - it was easier that way. We've now discovered that huge numbers of dogs are called Charlie - now it seems that boats are too.

We went back to the Cheese and Fudge boats, and made purchases - once again sampling all the wares first. Then we decided that it was time to go back home. We found the car quickly by a quick scan of the horizon for the distinctive silhouette of the Sequoia tree. A short(ish) day out, but a very pleasant one.

Bulbourne to Cook's Wharf

2010-06-06T23:00:00.004+01:00

(Posted by Alan)

Once again despite getting up early to walk Charlie, (both together this time), we were moderately lethargic about actually getting going, despite what looked a fairly good day.

Then Cath said "I know that engine", as the characteristic "thump thump" of Owl's Kelvin K2 grew louder. Jim and Sue are taking Owl first to a Stoke Bruerne event, then to the historic boat event at Braunston, and had spent the last week smartening her up for these events.

Cath, however, was not awake enough initially to think of the possibility of sharing the nine locks back to our base with them. Could we get going before they had slipped too far ahead ? Well the latest massive barge moored in the narrows up there certainly didn't help, as we had to halt some time for two boats coming the other way, so by the time we were at the top Marsworth lock, Owl was already leaving it. All was not lost though, as a very slow crew were working into the next one down, coming up, and Jim had to hold in the first pound until we were into it also.

From then we had a very smooth passage down the flight, although Owl's deeper draught, and Jim's need to get it lined up at each lock after the swerving intermediate pounds made shadowing it down harder work than when sharing with less deeply draughted boats on previous days, at places where the intermediate pounds are generally straighter.

Still I managed to enter each lock at more or less the same time as Owl, which I love because I'm not particularly good on Chalice at being able to stop and not drift sideways across the lock. (On some boats I can, honestly, but I've not mastered it for Chalice).

Locking through with Owl - Jim and I got rebuked for talking too much, and not getting on with it!

I simply loved the restrained slow beat of Owl's Kelvin driving it's mighty prop. Jim hardly ever seemed to need to open it up for more than a few beats, and much of the time it manoeuvred or stopped on barely more than tick-over. What a contrast from Chalice's buzzing, (but historic!), van engine.

The main flight was all too quickly over, but we were further cheered below the bottom lock as Owl worked it's way past the Barlow's wooden motor "Hood", restored at, (I believe), the local wooden boat specialist a few years back.

Owl passes Hood

An otherwise excellent morning was temporarily marred by one of the local wide-beam trip boats insisting on holding mid channel along one of the narrower stretches, although he could easily have moved over to give us 6 feet more room. We were pushed into the shallows, and through some dense overhanging trees. I must admit these boats are usually very professionally operated, so I have no idea why what happened did on this occasion.

All to soon we had done the final two separated "Lower" Marsworth locks, said our farewells to Owl's owners, and were back on our home mooring, wishing we could have carried on with them to Stoke Bruerne and Braunston.

All in all a very enjoyable trip, with the obvious highlight of the choppy Thames through central London on a magnificently sunny day in a week where the weather had sometimes been far less good.

Bulbourne to Cook's Wharf
Miles: 2.5 , Locks: 9
Total Miles: 118.8 , Total Locks: 133

Apsley to Bulbourne

2010-06-05T23:00:00.002+01:00

(Posted by Alan)

As already mentioned, Cath and I worked many years ago at the massive John Dickinson paper factory in Apsley. Although in jobs in Information Technology, our office was nothing more than the bricked off corner of one of the large warehouses alongside the canal at the bottom lock of the three in Apsley. For many years it didn't have any windows at "people height", so to observe passing boats you had to sneak outside. I well recall the very last of the narrow boat traffic on the Roses "barrels" run from Brentford to Boxmoor. This actually outlasted the more famous "Jam 'Ole" traffic by several years, and is what I choose to think of as the last regular carrying contract of any significant distance and lock count.

In fact we both met when I had just joined this employer, so despite being a "grotty" place back then, this canal location is where our history together started.

This modern housing however now sits where our "warehouse" once was.

Our overnight mooring was just South of that lock

The plan was then that we moved up a couple of locks to deal with water supplies and emptying rubbish and toilet whilst the shopping continued in parallel. The first was quickly achieved, but Cath took so long in the supermarket that I walked Charlie over to see what was going on. We never cease to be amazed just how admired he is, and needless to say that Cath emerged to find the lady who had already suggested she slipped me some money, and I passed her the lead.

We set off again later than planned, knowing our lock count today needed to be higher than yesterday's 19, but with Cath still in charge of steering because of her twisted ankle.

In fact my pelvis held up quite well, as we ticked off the locks, just about all of which we found against us, with both top gates left open - "You are following a big green wide-beam" people kept telling us.

Steady progress at Boxmoor

We finally found our wide-beam, a big Dutch barge, at the Rising Sun lock in Berkhamsted. They had tied it to the bollards below the lock that should be reserved for lock working, as they settled down for an al-fresco lunch with some fine wine. Such behaviour is unreasonable normally, but on a busy Saturday particularly so, as we and the boats leaving the lock in the other direction all struggled past.

I would have nominated said boat as having "most inconsiderate crew of the week", but then encountered an even vaster shiny-blue brand new (very) wide-beam moored in the winding-hole at Berkhamsted station. This area is the only place a long boat can turn for many miles, and even if they couldn't work that simple fact out, the very clear "no mooring" signs should have been obeyed. Fortunately people who behave so unreasonably are remarkably rare!

Having passed the boat that had been going ahead of us, we naively thought we would get some locks in our favour, but as we ascended the "Gas Two" in Berkhamsted David spotted a boat pull away ahead of us in the distance. However by Dudswell we had also caught them, and shared the final three locks up to Tring summit.

Sharing Cow Roast lock.

Until we recently moved our home mooring this would have been journey's end, but now we are a few more miles, and quite a few downhill locks, further on. Whilst the locks would have to wait until tomorrow, we decided to push on and complete Tring summit that night. However not until we had stopped and had a long chat with our friend Jim whose two marvellous (tastefully) converted Joshers moor there.

Moving on after stopping at "Owl" and "Hampton".

Once we arrived at Bulbourne we were having the inevitable debate about which would be a good mooring. The heavens opened, but some how we still foolishly decided to move up past a few more boats. Asking for all we got, by the time we were fully tied up we were all soaked to the skin.

Cath asked about food at the pub, but trade had been good enough that none was available, so we settled down to the rest of a quiet evening aboard.

Apsley to Bulbourne
Miles: 11.0 , Locks: 22
Total Miles: 116.3 , Total Locks: 124

Widewater (near Harefield) to Apsley

2010-06-04T23:00:00.010+01:00

(Posted by Alan)

This part of a return trip from London always means a steady stream of locks, seldom that far apart, but never that many miles covered in any day. We were in no great rush to leave our pleasant mooring at Widewater, but knew there would be a steady effort required if we were to stay reasonably on target for the journey home.

We soon became aware that we were following a boat fairly closely, but it was a few locks before we caught them sufficiently that they held back and waited for us. This proved to be an excellent arrangement. Normally Cath and I are perfectly happy to do lots of locks alone, but with my recovering pelvis I was only doing a relatively small number, putting much of the hard work on Cath, who is herself very over-tired.

The couple we caught up proved to be a very efficient crew, with a superb R. W. Davies boat, (not a "Northwich Trader", as it predated all of those). They do a big trip out each summer, but because they are based on the Lee and Stort, they always have to do the push up the Grand Union. They were a very efficient crew, and I was able to shadow their boat and come in simultaneously with it at virtually every lock, which massively speeds progress.

Passing very efficiently up through Cassiobury Park

It was as well that they worked so well, as most locks were not in our favour, and many top gates had to be closed before they could be made ready for us. However we knew that by King's Langley they intended to stop, whereas we needed to carry on for quite a bit further, to give a good chance of being back "home" in good time. I commented to Cath that we needed to continue to take things slowly as we worked alone, as we were now tired. At the very next lock, we pulled close to the side below it, but as she stepped perfectly sedately from the boat into the recently mown grass, her foot went down one of the many dodgy holes that exist, and she fell to the ground with a cracking noise. "Did it hurt, badly?" - "Yes", but she could still wiggle the foot in all directions, and eventually managed to stand.

It's at times like this we are glad we both feel equally confident "at the tiller" or "on the windlass", and we changed over, and I then hobbled around, to tackle the next few locks, whilst Cath steered sitting on the side of the rear hatch. Actually, to be fair, son David who tends not to get too involved in operations, did turn out and help considerably - just as well, as we eventually caught another boat who were painfully slow.

We had intended to push forward to the supermarket at the middle Apsley lock, as supplies were low for an evening meal, but then I remembered that the new development on the old John Dickinson's site at Apsley has some canalside restaurants and bars. That was just what we needed in our current state of tiredness and self-destruction, so we moored below the Apsley locks, and went and enjoyed a meal cooked for us.

Cath and I used to work at the John Dickinson's site, when it was a sprawling mass of generally unattractive industry and warehouses, and back then I doubt we could ever have imagined it as a thriving residential area with marina, bars, restaurants, shops and even a new pub. It is, apart from the locks, the original bridges, and a small retained part of the mill buildings, absolutely unrecognisable from it's persona of 30 years ago.

Chalice moored at Apsley, with Marina and Restaurants behind

Middle lock, small part of original mill, and new Paper Mill Pub

We did wonder if it was unwise to moor near a pub that was doing a roaring trade on a balmy Friday evening, but either the customers were quite well behaved, or we were too tired to notice!

Widewater Lock (near South Harefield) to Apsley
Miles: 12.8 , Locks: 19
Total Miles: 105.2 , Total Locks: 102

Brentford to Widewater (near Harefield)

2010-06-03T23:00:00.000+01:00

(Posted by Alan)

I don't know why but the night after we came off the Thames, I had unusual difficulty staying asleep, despite being dog tired. It wasn't even for the usual reasons of poor sleep at Brentford, (often a mixture of Jumbos on the Heathrow flight-path and strange bubbling sounds as gasses seem to be released by something below the boat), so I can only assume the excitement of yesterday's rather roller-coaster ride had left my mind still rather too active.

I decided to risk the wrath of my crew with noisy sliding hatches, and take a walk around 05:30 am. We have always found getting a mooring at Brentford a pain, and have usually relied on breasting up instead with a friend on the "Island" permanent moorings, but we knew he is no longer there. In practice there were quite a few slots, and I guess the difference is that when we have visited previously British Waterways have "pinched" much of the visitor mooring space to let out as "winter moorings" In fact we were on a truly excellent spot, just above the gauging lock, that looks like it is part of the facilities area, but is marked as visitor mooring. Right by sanitary station, rubbish facilities, toilets and showers, and amazingly having individual water points and (so far as I can see) even a free mains hook-up. (We had no need of the latter, being self sufficient from battery power, when moving).

Brentford visitor moorings, looking towards gauging lock.

Brentford visitor moorings, looking North

My wander around took me under the one remaining, but derelict, overhanging warehouse, once so common in the area, and through a large enclosed warehouse with rubbish strewn water. I can't explain why, but I find these enclosed places spooky in a way that I don't, for example find canal tunnels. I'm never sorry to get out of them, although it looked like you could moor there if really desperate.

The last of the former Brentford ware- houses, from inside.

Lots of boats left Brentford Northwards before us, so it was a fair guess locks would be against us. However we caught a single hander at the first lock, and shared with him until the foot of the Hanwell flight, where he was stopping.

Whilst moving up to the second lock of the Hanwell flight, a boat that we were not sure was still behind us arrived at the bottom one, so I waited in the second lock, one gate open for them to catch up. I thought we were not going to have a good relationship when one of their crew drew a top paddle on my side, just as the bottom gate closed, and whilst I was still walking back along my roof to take the controls. Being rapidly flushed backwards towards the bottom gates with a dodgy pelvis I could have done without, but once that misunderstanding had been overcome, they proved to be a very efficient crew, much travelled, and we went up very smoothly and efficiently, with their third man always one lock ahead setting it up for us both. great when it works like this, and we were remarkably soon at "Norwood Top".

After that we were largely on our own again, except for one "passenger" who had his boat tied in the mouth of Cowley lock, waiting, (as it turned out), for another boat to come and work him through it. And that's just what happened - he waited until we had turned the lock, and opened the gates, then declared he was coming in, must use the side that we had planned to, and then sat there motionless whilst everything was done for him. Once upon a time I would have got riled by such behaviour, but when it became apparent he only intended to share this one lock, I decided to do no more than mutter under my breath!

Waiting for Denham Deep Lock to Empty.

We worked on smoothly for a few more locks, ending up in the pleasant stretch above Widewater lock. This is coming to be a regularly used spot by us when down that way, and is usually disturbance free, to the extent even of no excessive swan, geese, or duck noises. I slept better that night, perhaps because I had slept so poorly the last!

Brentford to Widewater Lock (near South harefield)
Miles: 14.2 , Locks: 14
Total Miles: 92.5 , Total Locks: 83

Ducketts Cut, Limehouse Cut, But Mainly The River Thames

2010-06-02T23:00:00.033+01:00

(Posted by Cath )

Victoria Park and Duckett's Cut
Our mild apprehensions about spending the night next to Victoria Park along Duckett's Cut proved to be unfounded. We spent a quiet night although at around 11:30 when I took Charlie for his last walk a couple of cyclists sped past with LEDs flashing, shortly followed by a young woman hurrying home. It didn't give the feeling of a place to avoid, so we have no idea why no-one else seems to moor at this location, whereas they are all packed in, double berthed, just a short distance around the corner at overflowing moorings on the Regents.

Charlie had a short walk in the park in the morning, and seemed to really like the walks he had there. Then we set off down Duckett's, only to find that the top gate of the first lock wouldn't seal. Alan and David spent some time trying to rake out the cill with the long shaft, but didn't manage to move anything significant. Then, an elderly woman on the bridge below the lock told us that she had informed British Waterways that the gate wouldn't shut properly, but that they hadn't fixed it yet. Eventually we managed to shut it enough to start to empty the lock, albeit with very excessive leakage still from the top gate, but the next issue was that the pound below the Top Lock was exceedingly low. It was the pound that was completely empty on our last trip through the Cut. The elderly lady said that it was regularly impassable, usually low every morning, and we would not get through without letting down water.

We started to try to run some water through the lock, only to be stopped by the lady. She said she had worked for BW for many years, and that the only way that we could run water down was to refill the lock, then empty it again. Since we needed to press on, and she was absolutely adamant how it must be tackled, we did it her way, which involved closing the bottom gates again, (even though another boat was by now approaching from the other direction), and taking Chalice back up the lock it has just descended, and back down again.

To Limehouse
Fortunately, there were no more delays and we passed down the Limehouse cut, (which appears virtually deserted), and arrived at Limehouse before 12 mid-day. We moored up and tried to get our bearings.

Limehouse Basin, the former Regents Canal Dock, is still fairly large

I was feeling very apprehensive about a Thames Trip, so allayed my fears by cleaning up, and washing the boat. Charlie was taken for another short walk, prior to going out onto the Thames, and put into his life jacket.

Alan and I walked up to talk to the lock keeper to find out what would happen, and if there were any things we needed to do. He told us that we would go out with the other two narrowboats that were booked for a trip to Brentford at 2:30. I was quite reassured by this, it meant that if we did get into any difficulties on our first tideway trip, then there would be other narrowboats around to lend a hand.

I decided to take a shower, only to hear the boat start up long before I expected, and begin to move. We had been given the go ahead to move up to the lock. Somehow it was all happening faster than we expected.

We didn't get into the lock, a large cruiser shot in before us, and rather than argue the lock keeper left him there. We were turned back, to go in afterwards - on our own. So much for thinking we would be in company!

Inside the tidal lock at Limehouse

Onto the Thames
The Limehouse lock fills and empties by slightly opening the massive hydraulic gates. There are no sluices or paddles. You see a gap in the gates, and the water rushing out.

Leaving Limehouse Lock into Limehouse Reach

We set off, alone, onto Limehouse Reach, which seemed incredibly wide, and incredibly choppy. In fact it wasn't too bad, and Charlie was happy sitting on the front, watching the world, and the boats go by. I was too busy looking at things and taking photos to feel any of the apprehension that had dogged me for days.

It's fairly wide up this stretch

On the way towards Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge
David had set up his camera on one of the brass steps on the side of the boat (strapped on with electrical tape!) to take photos every three seconds, with the plan of making a time lapse of our journey, and that was clicking methodically, but by the time we got to Tower Bridge we were in the territory of the massive Thames Clippers and the trip boats, who take no prisoners. Chalice was pitching back and forth, and waves were breaking at the bow. Charlie decided that while he was happy to watch boats, or even be pitched up and down, water was too much, and he tried to hide under the gunwale.

People were waving to us from boats and bridges, but it was all whipping past very fast. Chalice was moving forwards through water at around 4mph, but so was the tide, so we were moving at up to 8 mph relative to land - not fast on a road, but quite fast in a 50 ft narrowboat, when you have to avoid bridges and other craft.

We were not bold enough to go under the centre span of Tower Bridge!

As there were far too many things like this around!

Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast

The London Eye

We seemed to speed past so many of the landmarks - Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, HMS Belfast, the Globe, Millennium Bridge, the South Bank complex, the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament (keeping well outside the 'exclusion zone').

Passing Parliament David realised that the batteries in his camera had run down, and went to change them - a pity as his time lapse video is otherwise good. Never mind, it's an excuse to make another Thames trip in the future.

There is an exclusion zone around the Houses of Parliament

Houses of Parliament and The London Eye

When the pitching died down a bit we took Charlie inside the boat for a while. It was a toss up between letting him be afraid of the water breaking over the bow, or being sick inside the boat. He found somewhere quiet to lie down in the dark.

Charlie enjoys the view on one of the calmer stretches

When the water stopped sploshing over the front of the boat we got Charlie out again, but quickly learned to spot the boats that made a big wash, and took him inside the boat for the few seconds that water was breaking over the bows. He was a bit bemused, not quite sure why we were suddenly taking him inside then letting him out again almost immediately, but we really didn't want him to become neurotic about being on the boat.

Then on, under more bridges, trying to keep track of which one you were going under, past Battersea Power Station. After the excitement of everything passing us we began to settle down, David and I sat down in the front well deck. Charlie with his head resting on the gunwale, watching the boats going past.

Alan checks he really was supposed to go under that London Under- ground line

My Dad wants to watch us go past
Approaching Chiswick David got a call on his mobile phone, it was my father, who lives in Mortlake, and who had been trying to contact me for some time (my phone was in my bag, in a cupboard). Where were we? Would they be able to run down the road to see us passing?

I called back to Alan "slow down, my Dad wants to watch us going past". "What? *&£%$, we can't, the tide is taking us along" - however, he slowed the engine, and we pottered past Mortlake, with David and I scanning the banks of the Thames looking for my Dad and his wife. We couldn't see them, so Alan turned Chalice after Chiswick Bridge, and headed back against the tide to see if we could see them. Chalice battled against the oncoming water to see if we could see my family waving.

We didn't see them, so we turned again and continued upstream. In fact, shortly afterwards my Dad rang me again to say that he had seen us heading downstream and turning back again, he had been waving, but from the boat it had been hard to pick out the people on the bank.

Brentford
We passed from the Thames and first through the tide lock at Brentford, (which a man works for you) then through the semi-tidal "gauging locks", (which you work yourself). We used the excellent visitor moorings just above the latter locks - luxury berths with both water and power available right alongside. Although we are self-sufficient on power, being able to top up the water tank when it is not eating into boating time is a real bonus.

In the evening we met with my Dad and his wife, Dot, for a meal at a restaurant just next to the Brentford basin. A great end to a really memorable day.

Oh, and this is the time-lapse video of our trip.

Ducketts Cut, Limehouse Cut and River Thames Limehouse to Brentford
Miles: 22.0, Locks: 7
Total Miles: 78.3 , Total Locks: 69

Kensal Green to Victoria Park (Hertford Union Canal)

2010-06-01T21:47:00.019+01:00

(Posted by Alan)

A deliberately light schedule planned for today. We want to get to Limehouse around lunch time tomorrow, (Wednesday), so just needed a positioning move that got us within easy striking distance.

Despite my recuperating fractured pelvis, I seem to keep being the one taking Charlie for his early morning constitutional - a bad move as that is when he is most lively, and me least so! The banks at Kensal Green are liberally littered with goose and duck poo, and this appears to be a delicacy to a young Spaniel, so I diverted through the "nature area" by the boat, to be quite surprised to find a young man sleeping rough. Of course I know London has many homeless, but I hadn't expected to find one bedded down so close to where we had spent the night in a lot more comfort.

Once underway, Cath got me to moor at the "Sainsbury's" stop, and headed off, saying she would be not very long. A great deal later she returned cursing and generally spitting blood saying it had some of the stupidest arrangements she had ever encountered in a supermarket. I decided tact should cause me not to ask why, but if she can bear to talk about it, perhaps she will add an addendum to this post.

We pressed on to Little Venice, where "boaty things" like emptying the toilet cassette, and jettisoning rubbish were attended to in the rain.

I normally enjoy the Maida Vale to Camden stretch, but found myself inside trying to battle with British Waterways to book a passage through the Thames locks at Limehouse and Brentford tomorrow.

Could they make it any harder ? Indicated times show that we would not lock though at Brentford until after normal "day" hours, so need a lock-keeper for the "on demand" bit in the evening. I was armed with the latest "Tidal Locks Availability" booklet for 2010, but that didn't help.

The number published for Thames Lock, Brentford actually routes you instead for an answerphone for Three Mills and Bow Locks.

There is a "do it all by e-mail" option, which we tried to initiate last evening, but has remained unanswered all day.

The corrected number for Thames Lock, Brentford was also on permanent answerphone nearly all day.

So I never saw the passage through the zoo - instead I was trying to arrange extra credit on my mobile, to replace all that used up trying to get sense out of BW. Additionally my dear old bank has for no great reason decided to issue me with a credit card with a whole new number, and Vodafone's systems weren't having any of that. (This provoked a security alert from my bank later on, which also needed attending to - and I go boating intending to relax!).

The descent from Camden was tackled with increasing rain, as we once again battled with all the barriers that have been erected in a bid to safeguard the drunken public, but generally increasing risk to boaters.

Below Hampstead Road Locks at Camden

Tarporley

At it's home base we were joined by the community boat Tarporley, and although it pulled out across our path, they signalled us to pass.

Very unusually we had to wait outside Islington Tunnel for three well spaced boats travelling the other way to clear it.

Tarporley then followed us very slowly through the tunnel, so we waited some considerable to see if they intended to share the next lock, which we had already entered. They did, but as they approached they veered heavily towards our rear end. Now I don't particularly like trying to put my body between 20 plus tonnes of converted Town Class working boat and Chalice, but some action was required, as it looked fairly certain that Tarporley's massive bow was going to hit our cabin before the hulls touched. I managed to "field" Tarporley, only loosing a bit of paint on our rear coamings.

"Sorry about that, it's a new skipper under instruction" I was told. "He needs quite a bit more instruction" said I!

Locking through with Tarporley in more rain

Tarporley turned at Kingsland basin, so we pressed on alone. The moorings above Old Ford lock at Victoria Park, as usual, proved to be fully occupied, and generally double berthed, with overflow onto the lock landing area, so we carried on down. An attempt to moor just past the Duckett's cut entrance proved "interesting", as an underwater ledge holds you about 18" from the side. The pound seemed to be falling, and we seemed to be on an increasing tilt.

So, after taking Charlie for an extended walk in Victoria Park, (it needs more poo bins, council, please!), we moved Chalice a few hundred yards up Ducketts. We are wondering when other areas are so congested, why nobody is moored here. We are hoping it's not for any sinister reasons that we end up finding out tonight!

Eventually managed to speak to a very helpful lock-keeper at Limehouse. He says he has no idea why BW advertise e-mail bookings, because for certain nobody looks at the e-mail address given. He also acknowledged that contact details for Brentford are not how it now works. When I had just about given up hope of hearing from them Thames Lock, Brentford finally called. We may finally have made the required arrangements.

Even going on the tidal Thames can surely not be as difficult as booking it!

Kensal Green to Victoria Park
Miles: 10.3 , Locks: 8
Total Miles: 56.3 , Total Locks: 62

Rickmansworth to Kensal Green

2010-05-31T17:08:00.014+01:00

(Posted by Cath, using Alan's account).

A grey and overcast day after yesterday. The alarm went off as usual at 7 am, and again, I had difficulty in surfacing from sleep. I've had a difficult couple of terms at work, and I'm falling asleep all over the place. Alan got up and took Charlie up the towpath for his first walk of the day, while I levered myself from bed and got dressed.

Quiet mooring just below Lot Mead Lock

A cuckoo was calling loudly on the other side of the canal, so I drew the curtains back to see if I could see it. Unfortunately not, I got a view instead of a young man in pyjamas scratching vigorously at his undercarriage while having a smoke on the front deck of his boat - why do some people seem to think that they are invisible when on a boat?

At Batchworth lock, I was steering when two portly, older Asian gentlemen appeared to one side of the lock and started to limber up and do stretches. I have to admit to being fascinated - one was dressed in loose joggers and had a woolly hat pulled down over his ears - the other was wearing a jacket and a flat cap - were they planning to run? Alan had wound the paddles and I was steadily descending, but I wanted to watch the men, so I found myself standing on tiptoe as they slowly disappeared. Unfortunately I will never know, but my last view of them was as the stouter of the two, in the jacket and flat cap, lay down on a bench and started doing leg raises - I sank down with a final sight of his trainers.

Black Jack's Lock

The rather deep Denham Deep Lock

It stayed dry, if overcast, all day. We headed south aiming to stop at Uxbridge for fuel, then, soon after we came out of Uxbridge lock we suddenly remembered that Uxbridge chandlery is shut on a Monday. We pulled over and did some frantic ringing around to find somewhere within range of our rapidly depleting diesel that would sell us some. Willowbridge on the Paddington Arm is open on a Monday, and quoted a good price.

We passed a number of Canal World Forum boats as we headed south. Some in their home locations, others on the move.

After Cowley we had many lock free miles - not great for Charlie the Dog, he was cooped up, as he is usually gets several walks a day - done between series of locks over a couple of miles each time. Charlie is walked along the towpath, then is tethered safely at the side while we work through the locks.

Then along the Paddington Arm to Willowbridge Marina where we filled with diesel, and then found that the price that they had quoted us was 'without any tax'. Hmmm... quoting a price that no-one could possibly legally purchase at. We paid considerably over the usual price, and wouldn't have filled the tank if we'd know it was so expensive.

We finally arrived at Kensal Green at about 6 pm, and took Charlie for an extended walk to make up for his incarceration all day.

Kensal Green overnight mooring

Lot Mead (near Rickmansworth) to Kensal Green
Miles: 24.5 , Locks: 9
Total Miles: 46.0 , Total Locks: 54

Winkwell to Lot Mead (near Rickmansworth)

2010-05-30T22:23:00.006+01:00

(Posted by Alan)

Winkwell to Lot Mead (near Rickmansworth)

A very different day to yesterday, despite a near identical mileage, and similar lock count.

For a start we have shared locks all day, having worked on our own all through yesterday. Three different boats shared at various times, all rather bigger and shinier than Chalice.

Our last shares were with fellow Canal World Forum member "terryvanman" who has bought a very nice boat from another Forum member, but one where there was a sad tale to tell, as the builders had gone under during its construction, placing enormous stresses and extra expenses on the guy who had commissioned it. This seems to have led to him never realising properly his dreams of life afloat - not a nice story, but at least the boat has found a good home with someone who is really enjoying it.

Another major difference about today has been the weather - largely sunny all day to replace yesterday's rain - no need to light the coal fire today, and the sun block even came out.

We have stuck remarkably well to the schedule proposed by the excellent CanalPlanAC web-site, (http://canalplan.org.uk). Although an excellent planning tool, we usually find things that happen on the day mean we never quite adhere to their suggestion, but for the last two days we have, albeit completing today rather faster than they suggested.

Even the single hander ahead, towing some kind of lifeboat conversion, leaving all gates open and many paddles up, did not seem to slow us, although we were on his tail by the time he called it a day in Cassiobury Park.

Previous overnight stops around the Rickmansworth area at this time of year have usually meant fairly sporadic sleep due to the huge hoards of Canada Geese in the area, (we have had disturbed nights at Batchworth and Stockers in the past). Only time will tell whether a decision to stop short of Batchworth will lead to a quieter night, but there seem to be less noisy birds around.

Our mooring spot has given us a chance to explore some of the Ebury way, (a path / cycle track on ther bed of the former Watford to Rickmansworth railway branch), and for Charlie to get much needed exercise. This caused us to loop round the back of the short canalised section of the Chess that still acts as a mooring basin, and is accessed via a lock parallel to the usual Grand Union one at Batchworth. I realised I had never seen this arm before, and found it quite different from what I assumed. I was also surprised to learn there was once a further lock and arm off of it, long since abandoned.

Tomorrow presents a bit of a planning quandry - I doubt we really have time to get into London proper, and even the popular moorings at Kensal Green seem an ambitious target. I guess we will be looking for a spot part way along the Paddington Arm, but must admit appealing spots are rather few and far between. Before then, a fill of fuel is a must, if we are not to find ourselves short in London, where there really are no canalside sellers to speak of.

Winkwell to Lot Mead
Miles: 10.8 , Locks: 21
Total Miles: 21.5 , Total Locks: 45

A Whitsun Trip - Heading to London

2010-05-29T23:43:00.013+01:00

(Posted by Alan)

Cook's Wharf to Winkwell

This will be brief, initially, but having got this far, I am determined to post some trip notes on the day they actually happened, not 3 or more moths retrospectively.

Having had only a token trip at Easter because of my injury, we were determined to try hard for Whitsun.

So, despite some engine problems, (possibly!), we are heading South down the Grand Union towards London.

We managed to get packed and onto the boat last evening (Friday), but too late to leave our home mooring. However this gave us a much earlier start than we could possibly have managed had we not overnighted on board.

I know there were parts of the day where it did not rain, but somehow they seemed to be few and far between! However this did not daunt us, and after a while you almost stopped noticing!

Heading South of "Bottom -side" lock, in steady rain.

This is the first time we have attempted a serious trip South from the mooring we moved to late last year. It has added 9 locks, and several miles, including Tring Summit to such a trip, and it's quite a surprise how long it took to just get to where we would previously have started from. (Of course the reverse of this is that when travelling North we have less to do, and can be somewhere sooner.)

Waiting for the attractively named "Sewer" or "Sewerage" Lock

The price of two drinks in the Three Horseshoes probably came close to breaking new records for us, but a reasonable wine in a large glass never seems to be the cheapest option!

Cook's Wharf to Winkwell
Miles: 10.7 , Locks: 24
Total Miles: 10.7 , Total Locks: 24