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.

Flying saucer and strange boats as we approach London

My only excuse is laziness in not having added to our blog for nearly a week.  In that time we have come down lots of locks from the Chilterns and into London where we are moored tonight in a not very pretty but hopefully safe place in Northolt.

Without more ado here is the flying saucer:

But let's go back to last Tuesday.  Our friends, Ian and Cheryl, came to the boat at Marsworth and we cruised with them up the last 7 locks to the summit and then turned down the Wendover Arm to moor closer to their home in Tring.

This photo was actually taken when we walked up the locks on Monday evening.  It shows one of the locks of the flight with its attendant lock keeper's cottage.  The canal weaves round lots of bends as it climbs to the summit.

Here is Cheryl helping Helen with the locks.  Ian and Cheryl were a great asset in setting and working the locks.  Not all our visitors are so useful!

And here are Ian and Cheryl walking up to the top lock at Bulbourne to set it ready for Leo.  Just above the top lock you can turn right onto the Wendover Arm which acts as a feeder to the summit level and which can be navigated for just over a mile.

Here is Leo moored as far up the Wendover Arm as you can get.  This is a lovely peaceful spot with only the sound of the birds for company.

From that mooring we walked with our friends further up the Wendover Arm and into Tring.  As you can see volunteers are working to restore more of the Arm to navigation and about another 400 yards is now in water compared with four years ago when we last came up here.

Ian and Cheryl's son now runs the  King's Arms in Tring so we ate there in the evening.  Good beer, good food and good company.  What more could you ask for?  Go and visit the King's Arms - you will be made welcome.  The only downside was walking back to Leo in the rain afterwards!






On Wednesday we set off on the downhill run into London.

This is Cowroast Lock, the first of many locks each day as the canal comes down from the Chilterns.

We spent the first night at Berkhamsted which has an attractive High Street and the remains of a huge Norman castle.  It also has a wonderful Art Deco cinema, the Rex (right).  The film showing didn't appeal to us but we had a good look at the inside of the cinema.

A gosling made the mistake of coming into a lock with us and didn't seem to enjoy the shower on the cill as the lock level went down.











Now we are going to have a side story about some of the unusual boats we've met or passed in the last few days:

This is a wooden boat built by its owner, David.  He and his wife Lorraine have cruised much of the system.  A wheel can be fitted at each corner so that when they've finished boating for the season it can be loaded onto a car recovery vehicle and driven home.  Amazing!

 This picture was taken four years ago when we passed and below is the same boat this year.  The car has been more or less absorbed into the boat in the meantime.  We are still not sure if the car is on the front or the back of the boat. 

And here is the 2017 version.  Much smarter but still pretty odd.

The blue boat may well be the smallest narrowboat ever, unless of course you know different.

And here is what looks like a flying saucer seen today on the Paddington Arm.  

Here's a close up.  We think it must be a life raft and it was moored fixed to a floating platform which you can just see beyond.  Fancy meeting that at a lock!










Back to the main story.  We carried on from Berkhamsted through Hemel Hempstead (not a lot to recommend there) and then following the valley of the River Gade and the Colne towards London.

This is Home Park Lock which we shared with another boat.  Though you are approaching the city, for much of the way the immediate surroundings are green and attractive.

The milestones come and go - first crossing under the M25.

This bridge at Grove Park was made especially ornamental at the insistence of the Earl of Essex when the canal was built across his land.

From our mooring close to that bridge on Friday we walked round Grove Park.  This seems to be a posh golf resort but they don't seem to mind anyone walking around.  You will see that we miniaturised Helen so that she wasn't noticed!

A family of Egyptian Geese visited us in the evening.

Another milestone - our first tube train.  This bridge is below Cassiobury Bridge Lock near Watford.

Though there did not seem to be many boats moving, we did often manage to share locks.  This one is Common Moor Lock with a boat called "E = mc²”

From a mooring below Stocker's Lock we did an interesting walk round some attractive lakes and explored the River Chess Navigation.

This is the view from the road bridge of Stocker's Lock.  The Grand Union lock is to the right.  To the left is a parallel but lower lock that gives access to the River Chess.  With permission (the lock is locked), you can navigate about half a mile up the Chess and we found 8-10 full sized boats moored up there.  A cafe by the lock provides tea and cake.

 Bury Lake had sailing dinghies as well as wildlife.  For those birds that don't want the boats, another lake had just birds.

This is the lock that gives access to the River Chess beyond.

On the other side of the lock from the cafe is the Little Union Canal, a model with two locks which sometimes operates for visitors, but not when we were there.

 

That evening we had a visit from a flock of hundreds of Canada Geese.  We really should eat them - there are far too many on the waterways.











On Sunday we cruised down to below Denham Deep Lock and took the bikes to cycle back into Denham village.

Below Copper Mill Lock a small river  comes into the canal and you do have to watch out for the cross current.  Looking left you can see a canoe slalom course which we didn't try with Leo.

This is the hanging gardens of Denham  Deep Lock.  At 11 feet, 1 inch this is the deepest lock on the Grand Union.

Here is the view looking back to Denham Deep Lock.  On the left a barge has been converted into a floating dry dock.

Denham village is well worth a visit.  It is an absolute delight with lots of old characterful buildings and a small village green, not to mention three pubs.  Not a shop in sight, though.

Another photo of Denham village.















Today we have come down the last two locks to Uxbridge and then turned left at Bulls Bridge onto the Paddington Arm.

This is looking back to Cowley Lock, the last one before the run into London.

Here is the turn left under the bridge to the Paddington Arm.  This is all on the same level for thirteen miles into a basin round the back of Paddington Station.  Though we did have vague ideas of going all the way today, after using the services and shopping at Tesco, we wouldn't have got there until after 6 so we've stopped at Northolt.






 We've heard some horror stories of London on the waterways - too many residential boats blocking moorings for visitors.  So far we have not found any such difficulties, though a mooring we have used at Southall was pretty full.  I'll do another posting with our findings further into London in the next few days.  Our plan from here is to go through to Limehouse and to cruise the tidal Thames through the city to Teddington.  We haven't done this for 5 years so we thought it was time to do it again.  More details to follow.