Having
had our bottom blacked and spent time on the Wendover and Aylesbury
arms our next target was to get to London. Last summer we went to Hyde
Park to see Bon Jovi and then the Stones the following day. We stayed
in a hotel and vowed that in future we would get the boat to concerts to
avoid the horrendous costs of hotels especially in central London.
We were due at the O2 on 20th July 2014 to see the final Monty Python
show so that was why we were now headed for London. We would go down
the Grand Union from Bulbourne to Bulls Bridge junction (just south of
Uxbridge) where we would turn left (east) down the Paddington arm into
London.
This entailed going through Berkhamstead, Hemel Hempstead, Apsley
(where the Basildon Bond paper mills originated), Watford, Rickmansworth
and then Uxbridge. This was a lock intensive stretch with 45 locks over
32 miles.
It was on this leg that I finally gave up work and as we needed to
redecorate the inside of the boat (for a second time) I spent two or
three days on the boat during the week, for a few weeks, on my own.
Here are some shots of me decorating.
At Winkwell (east of Hemel) was a swing bridge. You don’t get many
on the Grand Union but this was extra special because you have constant
spectators from the pub.
At Springwell lock (near Maple Cross) we were able to moor next to a
road so we brought a car load of pots and plants to the boat for the
summer.
It was this lock that we saw a hen/stag limo get stuck on!
We went under the M25 at J20 (A41):
And we saw this boat with a car on the back as a cabin!
There were a lot of heron on this stretch and even some ponies on the towpath. Here are some wildlife shots:
At Watford the canal runs right through The Grove, a luxury hotel, spa and golf course. We stayed for a weekend (on the canal).
Finally we arrived at Bulls Bridge junction. The Grand Union
continues down to the Thames at Brentford and we turned up the lock free
pound to Paddington.
Here are the 45 locks we went through (or the ones where I remembered to take photos).
We
turned off the Grand Union mainline onto the Paddington arm on 13 July
2014. This was 13 1/2 miles from Little Venice/Paddington and, for
once, there were no locks.
We had been looking forward to cruising into London for some time as
we would be going through areas we had never been to before and had no
idea whether it would feel intimidating or tranquil.
Seven miles from Paddington and it still felt rural as we went through Northolt and Perivale:
We went over the North Circular at Alperton/Park Royal. I doubt if
many people realise that they are driving under a canal when they drive
along this busy stretch of road:
Three miles from Paddington we passed Kensal Green cemetery and it
was still feeling rural - we were in a green corridor all the way into
London - not what we really expected at all:
We finally made it to Little Venice and double moored opposite some
flats next to a couple of smart restaurants and bars. The weather was
still being kind and it was actually the start of a fortnight of very
hot weather, often in the high 80s or low 90s during the day. Here are
some pictures of the main drag into Little Venice and the island in the
middle of the junction where the Regents canal goes off to the east
through St John’s Wood, Camden, Kings Cross, Islington and through the
East End to Limehouse basin. To the right the Paddington arm continues
for 1/2 mile down to the basin at Paddington.
We stayed a week at Little Venice during which time we finished
varnishing the cratch boards and touched up the paintwork including
painting our mushrooms:
We also fitted the cratch boards on the front of the boat. I had
these made, from my measurements, by a joiner in Derby and had picked
them up when I last visited my parents in Yorkshire. I made one error
in the measurements - I got the curvature incorrect on the horizontal
board that runs across the width of the boat at the front. Fortunately
there were three chippies fitting out a broad beam boat in front of us
and they sorted it out for us. They didn’t want anything so I just gave
them some cash to get a beer or two - knowing London prices it would
probably have been a 1/2 pint or two!
There was a very well behaved family of swans on this stretch and
they had six cygnets still alive at an age when you would have expected
most of them to have perished.
We spent a lot of time visiting places that we had never been to before such as various street markets, Primrose Hill and Regents Park.
After a week we moved down to the basin at Paddington. There were no
spaces right in the basin so we moored near the end under a footbridge
leading over to Paddington station.
Unfortunately we were on a bubble barrier. It had been installed by
the developer of the basin to stop litter floating into the basin. It
seemed to be very effective but was incredibly noisy as a line of
bubbles were constantly under our steel bottom. The bubbles can be seen
across the canal in this picture.
In the end we moved the boat back so it was overlapping the big beast
behind us. The agents for the offices told us that the big boat was
craned in to the basin when the development started with a view to
making it into offices. As it is too long and too wide for the London
canals it can only be craned out again. The issue now of course is that
the high rises have been built so a crane of the right size cannot
reach it.
Judith (my sister) and Nigel visited us one day and Nigel and I spent
a pleasant hour or two relaxing with beers watching the commuters
walking across the footbridge above us.
After
having our bottom blacked we decided to explore the Wendover and
Aylesbury arms of the Grand Union canal. The Wendover arm is only
partly restored but they hope to have it open all the way to the old
Wendover basin in the future. The Aylesbury arm is open to the basin
which is being redeveloped with new moorings, shops, cafes and bars.
We had a trip down the Wendover arm with its flour mill still in
operation albeit modernised. Didn’t see any other boats - so peaceful.
We then turned round to head back down the Marsworth flight of locks
to find the junction of the Aylesbury arm. On the way we passed a yard
where lock gates are made.
And also the collection of Tring reservoirs. The one on the left here is Marsworth reservoir.
Before we started down the Aylesbury arm we left the boat at the
White Lyon at Marsworth for a week during which time even more rain fell
and we got this email alert:
We felt a bit of deja vu but fortunately weren’t stuck as long as we
were the previous winter near Reading. Here are three flooded locks we
came across when out walking.
Wilstone (half way down the Aylesbury arm) is a nice village and we
found plenty of walks around there and the surrounding reservoirs (and
also the Half Moon pub). The collection of Tring reservoirs were built
in order to supply the Grand Union canal and water is still pumped out
of them into the canal today.
Here is some of the wildlife we came across:
And some of the 16 locks on the six mile arm. The first two were a staircase lock.
We left the boat in Aylesbury basin for a couple of weeks where we
caught up with my sister Judith and her family who live in Aylesbury.
Karen’s mum Ann, who lives in Wendover, also visited us a few times. A
new Waitrose and a budget inn have already been built round the basin
and further development is continuing so it should be quite pleasant
when finished. It is a stone’s throw as they say into Aylesbury centre.
The guy who runs the dry dock at Bulbourne (Jem Bates) where we had
our blacking done also has a yard on the Aylesbury arm. Here he builds
and restores traditional wooden narrow boats. His is one of the very
few yards left in the country that have the skills to restore or build
wooden narrow boats.
Our
next target was to get to Bulbourne in Buckinghamshire to get our
bottom blacked in the first week of January 2014. Narrow boats have to
come out of the water every two or three years to have their hulls
cleaned and repainted. Sometimes they are craned out but we decided
this time to go into a dry dock as this causes less stress to the boat.
Our journey entailed going back up the Oxford to Braunston and then
picking up the Grand Union and heading south through Milton Keynes and
Aylesbury. A total of 62 locks over 78 miles.
This was a largely uneventful journey until we moored overnight on
the summit just before Norton junction. At 4.30 in the morning we were
woken by a wine bottle dropping on the floor and then another. Up we got
and immediately fell over! The summit level had dropped dramatically
and we were listing badly (not that apparent in the photo).
We ran to the next lock at Buckby but the gates were closed and the
paddles were all down so all was OK there. It must be a problem at the
other end of the summit - 2 miles and a tunnel away at Braunston. We
rang Canal and River Trust (CRT) first and they were aware of the
issue. Someone had left paddles open at the top lock at Braunston since
the previous evening. They were closed as soon as CRT were aware but
it took until 1.30 in the afternoon before we levelled up and could move
off.
We found some smashing places overnight moorings on our way to Milton Keynes.
The swans in the Stoke Bruerne area had learnt to tap their beaks
along the side of the boat until someone gets up and opens the hatches
to feed them; however, we generally make a point of not feeding the
waterfowl.
When we got to Gayton we took a short detour up the Northampton arm
to get our Boat Safety Certificate renewed (the equivalent to an MoT on a
car). Karen took the opportunity to do some late summer spring
cleaning.
It was October when we hit Milton Keynes; the canal runs to the east
of the town and you are hardly aware Milton Keynes is there.
We spent Christmas and New Year at Marsworth, making good use of the Red Lion of course!
Karen insisted on having Christmas lights on the boat - the LED ones inside were so bright that we didn’t need any ordinary lights on!
This is the view we woke up to on Christmas Day.
There was a cracking New Year’s Eve sunset; quite different to New
Year’s Day. New Years’s Day 2014 was incredibly stormy and we had seven
locks to climb to get to the dry dock in time. Going past the
reservoirs at Marsworth was like being on the beach on a windy day -
waves were being whipped up and the water blown horizontally over the
canal. We were lucky enough to lock up with a fuel boat; they had to be
out as well as they were delivering coal and gas to the lock houses on
the Marsworth flight that did not have road access.
Anyway we finally made it to the dry dock and had to leave the boat there for the first two weeks of January.
Here are the locks from Norton junction to Bulbourne:
I must have fallen asleep as I missed locks 19 - 21 and 27/8.
I also missed three of the Marsworth flight - still, it was lashing down with rain and really windy.
