Monday 4 September above
Cassiobury Bridge Lock, Watford, to below Stocker's Lock,
Rickmansworth Batchworth Lock (3 miles, 4 locks)
We stopped at the Tesco mooring in Rickmansworth before finding a
quiet spot below Stocker's lock, before a mile of parked up boats
began. With no tv reception, John missed the England soccer match,
but watched a Sharpe dvd instead.
Tuesday 5 September Batchworth
(Rickmansworth) to Cowley Lock, plus planning Thames trips (8 miles,
7 locks)
The sun shone through gaps in the clouds after a damp night. We set
off, dodging drizzly showers, past lots of moored boats, some
dilapidated and unlicensed, through Springwell and Copper Mill locks.
 |
| hanging monkey |
 |
| leaving Springwell Lock 83 |
 |
| approaching Coppermill Lock |
The Sharks have their slalom course in the strong currents below this
lock.
 |
| Sharks Slalom |
Passing the Coy Carp pub, on the left hide more moorings, while
lakes, flooded gravel workings, can be seen through the trees to the
right. Black Jack's cottage at that lock had a good veranda.
After seeing an alligator, we saw a protester's flag, against the HS2
rail track, hung near Harefield marina, close to where it should
cross the canal – if it happens.
We paused for lunch on visitor moorings below the 11 feet deep Denham
Deep Lock at the 24 hour Swan and Bottle visitor moorings, opposite a
1930s block of flats. The blue boat behind us looked like it had been
there much longer, judging by the plants!
 |
| 24 hour moorings? |
John would have stopped at Uxbridge Boat Centre chandlery, but the
moorings were all full. Liana carried on counting all the boats
without a current CRT license visible as we cruised passed boats on
both sides before mooring above Cowley Lock, the last lock before the
Slough Arm and Bulls Bridge Junction, where many boats turn East for
Little Venice, the Paddington Arm, the Regents Canal en route for the
Lee & Stort or Limehouse Basin and the Thames. After a walk in
the park and a pint at the Malt Shovel by Cowley Lock, we dashed back
to avoid the rain for a night in front of the TV and a read.
We have changed our plans to accommodate our daughter, Rachel, who
wants to tour London's canals and the Thames next weekend. John has
phoned the duty lock keepers at Limehouse Basin (020 7308 9930) and
Brentford (020 8568 2779). The Thames Barrage is down all day on
Sunday 10/9, so I was asked to ring the Port of London Authority (020
8855 0315). They advised that, as this would remove the strong tidal
flood, slow narrowboats would take too long to reach Brentford, so
Annie should go upriver on Saturday. After more phone calls, we have
arranged to go downriver from Brentford about 3pm on Thursday 7/9,
reaching Limehouse Basin about 6.30pm. After a day by ourselves on
Friday, Rachel should join us, maybe at Paddington, and we can tour
London's canals before being let out on the Thames from Limehouse
Basin at 2pm on Saturday, reaching Brentford about 5.30pm (they think
it takes 2.5 hours, but we don't rush and take 3.5 hours!).
Wednesday 6 September The Slough
Arm and on to Bulls Bridge (15 miles, 1 lock)
 |
| Liana at moorings above Cowley Lock |
 |
| Liana and volunteer at Cowley Lock |
Up late on a lovely day, we descended Cowley Lock 89 with
help from a volunteer, turned right at Cowley Peachey Junction by the
Packet Boat Marina and headed West five miles to Slough basin.
 |
| Cowley Peachey Junction |
 |
| Slough Arm |
We crossed several aqueducts and passed under trellis-type iron
bridges plus the M25.
 |
| Colne Aqueduct |
The canal is rather overgrown and very shallow in places, especially
the last mile. Blanket weed, pennywort and other plants, plus lots of
plastic bags and rubbish made John use the weed hatch at the last
bridge each way. The basin was sadly neglected, but we managed to
wind and moor.
No comments:
Post a Comment