London Canals and up the tidal Thames to Teddington

Despite some gloomy predictions of how difficult it now is to moor in London we didn't have too much difficulty and we have had a glorious ride through the centre of London on the tidal Thames from Limehouse to Teddington today.  Here is the story of both.

On Tuesday we left our mooring at Northolt and cruised into Paddington.  The mooring at Northolt was not very attractive but seemed to be safe, at least we had no problems and there were relatively few people on the towpath.

Next time you have the misfortune to drive along the North Circular Road look out for the canal aqueduct.  Here is the boat's eye view of the road with crawling traffic heading west.  No such hold ups on the canal with very few boats moving though lots of them moored.

The Paddington Arm had plenty of duckweed (which doesn't really affect the boat) and, at the edges, quite a lot of blanket weed which certainly does.  If you stay in the middle the boat is generally fine, but if you go closer to the side then the prop does tend to get sticky.

No sane boater could stick to tickover passing moored boats in London.  We did slow down but not to tickover.  This photo approaching the Western Avenue flyover gives an idea of the number of boats moored.  The odd stretch clear of boats is a clear sign of concrete towpath with no crevices to insert a mooring pin. 

Much of the way boats were moored two deep.  Occasionally, as here, three deep.

But we made it to Paddington Basin with no problems and you can just spot Leo moored behind a broadbeam boat on the outside of the pontoon.  There were a few other spaces, but not many.  Moorings seem to be mostly for 7 days.

This is the floating 'pocket park' at the far end of the basin.  The grass is artificial but we liked the effect and quite a lot of others did too.

Wednesday afternoon we walked into and round Regent's Park which was lovely.  We passed the London Transport Lost Property Office which had Paddington in the window.  The label says "Michael Bond 1926-2017.  Yes - we will take care of this bear"








We left Paddington yesterday (Wednesday) to travel the Regent's Canal down to Limehouse.  This entails 9 miles cruising with 12 locks dropping the boat 100 feet or so to the Thames.  The locks were nearly all set against us and the journey took 6 hours.

Here is Leo about to go round Browning's Island at Little Venice to join the Regent's Canal.

Very soon you go through the Maida Hill Tunnel which is short but only one way so you have to check there are no boats coming.  This building is built over the east end of the tunnel.  The west end has a restaurant above it.

Passing Regent's Park Zoo is always a highlight.  Here is the Snowdon Aviary right by the canal.

Some boats moored are well kept and even fairly new.  Some are cluttered and untidy and some are very scruffy indeed. We got some nice comments about our boat from passers by, but perhaps this was only because the rest looked so dreadful.

This is the first of the locks.  There are three locks at Camden.  The famous market is alongside this lock but beyond that the area is now being developed so the market area is reduced.  Normally both locks work but yesterday only the left one was working so we had to wait for the broadbeam to lock through first.

Litter and blanket weed is frequent along the Regent's Canal, though we only had one trip down the weed hatch.

Again there are loads and loads of boats moored.  If we had wanted to stay overnight along the canal it would have been difficult to find somewhere.

Duckweed is common on some pounds.  A bit like cruising a boat across a lawn, but no difficulty for  the prop.

This is Commercial Road Lock, the last one dropping you down to the basin at Limehouse.  As it was a very hot day it was a blessing that the lock is below an arch of the Docklands Light Railway and in the shade.

And here we are moored in Limehouse Basin waiting for our booked passage through the lock on the following day.  We had a super meal yesterday evening at the Grapes, a lovely small old pub owned by Ian McKellan.  Gandalph's staff is behind the bar.  The beers and the food were excellent and the pub looks out over the river.





And so today at 9.30 we took our place in Limehouse Lock to go out on the big scary river.

At this point we have come down the lock and we are about to enter the river from the cut below the lock.  You have to give a long hoot before you do, in case something is coming.  Also remember to call London VTS (like Air Traffic Control for boats) on the VHF radio to tell them what you are doing.

And we're off!  Round a couple of bends Tower Bridge comes into view and of course the Shard.  The river was fairly placid until we got to Tower Bridge but then passing RIBs and Clippers produced wash of 3 to 4 feet, tossing Leo around like a piece of jetsam.  Surprising how well a narrowboat does ride the waves.

And so under Tower Bridge through the main arch, but they didn't have to lift it for us!

Cannon Street is the first of the many bridges ahead of us in this picture.

Under the Millenium footbridge (the wobbly bridge) by Tate Modern.

Past the London Eye.

And past the Houses of Parliament.  Here there is an exclusion zone of 70m from the north bank, so you have to make sure you are near the centre of the river.

Battersea Power Station is being redeveloped.

Albert Bridge is really attractive.

A tug called 'Reclaim' pulled four huge barges past us.  It then dropped two at Battersea Power Station and caught us up as it took these further up river.

Presumably this was deliberate, but you do wonder.

After two and a half hours we passed the cut at Brentford which leads to Thames Lock and access to the Grand Union Canal.  This would take you up Hanwell Locks to Bulls Bridge which we left on Tuesday.

This is Richmond Half Tide Weir which is only open for 2 hours either side of high tide.  It had only just opened so our timing was perfect, but we did get dripped on as we cruised underneath the gates which lift into the bridge structure.

Through Richmond and round a few more bends and Teddington Lock finally comes into sight.

We shared the lock with a couple of boats including 'Henley' a rather nice looking trip boat bound from Westminster Pier to Hampton Court.

And finally here we are just past Kingston opposite the island called Raven's Ait.  We've really enjoyed our cruise up the tideway today, the second time we've done this trip on Leo.  It is really a privilege to be able to take your boat right through the city and to see all the sights.








From here our way lies to Weybridge tomorrow and then up River Wey for a while, hopefully meeting some friends from when we used to live in Woking.  But now it looks like the promised thunderstorm is arriving so I'll stop here.