Thursday 1st October 2009

Was going to go down the Aylesbury Arm, however, there’s a boat in Marsworth No 1 Lock south so decided to go that way instead.  Good decision, Martyn and Ela on Nb Isadora are going all the way to London so will buddy as far as we can.  Did 21 locks out of Marsworth through Berkhamsted to tie up above lock 60.  Went into the Three Horse Shoes for a well earned beer with Bill (beware the Dobermans – eek scared me even!).

Friday 2nd October 2009

Set off together by 9.30am for Cassio Bridge.  Nice weather again and good company.  Another long day today with one swing bridge and 19 locks.  Good moorings though the pub is now a Harvester (euk!) and the shop doesn’t exist anymore.  So an early night in front of the telly.

Saturday 3rd October 2009

Set off together again by 9.30am.  I’m only going as far as South Harefield (Widewater Lock 86) but Martyn and Ela are off on a mission to get as far as possible.  Lovely to meet them and I’m sure we’ll meet up on the cut again some day.  Believe it or not we came upon a guy in a 30ft narrowboat in a lock waiting for it to EMPTY ITSELF!! – HE DIDN’T HAVE A WINDLASS.  He’d never even been on a boat before and the bloke who sold him the boat (just above this lock) told all locks were manned!!!  He apparently is heading for Weybridge so that means he has many more locks to get through plus he will need to go up the Thames for which he also didn’t know he would have to pay apart from the fact he doesn’t have a BW licence either.  Anyway a lady off another boat gave him a windlass but still has no idea how to set and work a lock.  I wonder how far he’ll get?????  The bad news for us is the Horse and Barge is not Bill friendly, hey ho another quiet night in.

Sunday 4th October 2009

Spent a very strange night listing at 15 degrees.  The water in the pound had dropped considerably and left us grounded.  So up early to try and refloat the boat, however, not as bad as I had thought.  So we were able to set off by 8.30am.  Heading towards Paddington Basin or Little Venice.  Only three locks to go through but 21 miles of canal.  Let’s see how we get on.  Much better weather than yesterday, light breeze but a bit cloudy.  It’s weird coming into London by canal cos you really see nothing of the suburbs right up until you get to Kensal Town and Little Venice.  There was a mooring in Little Venice but it was partly under a pedestrian footbridge so carried on into Paddington Basin.  Loads of spaces though on the floating pontoons the mooring cleats are completely in the wrong places for boats over 45 ft long so moored over behind St Mary’s Hospital – cor this brings back memories of the many times I worked in this hospital, glad that’s done with.  Had an exploratory walk with Bill, sadly no grass to be seen the nearest being Hyde Park or Regents Park.  Back to Beau for an early night.

Monday 5th October 2009

Staying over today.  The weathers turned really orrible and wet.  Took Bill for a walk back towards Little Venice and back for breakfast.  Finally settled in front of the old flipflop to get on the tinterweb and catch up on the blog.  All done but probs with the tinterweb connection.  Found Tesco’s and a little pub called the Royal Exchange which is a good old Irish pub with loads of horseracing memorabilia and lots of characters.

Tuesday 6th October 2009

Weather still dreadful so not moving again today.  Took Bill on usual walk and finally sorted out the tinterweb.  Had to download the Firefox browser and disable Internet Explorer 8.  All seems fine now.  Few beers in the Exchange and even found a launderette which I’ll use on the way back through London.  Quick shop in Tesco’s and an early night.

Wednesday 7th October 2009

Walked Bill as usual, better weather today but still looks like rain.  Been having a few problems with the fresh water pump so going to try and sort it out.  Oh dear it’s leaking again like the last time so switched the pump off and shut off the cold water supply.  Took the pump out and disassemble the whole unit and cleaned all the surfaces.  Replaced the seals with jointing compound and reassembled it again which I now hope will solve the problem.  put everything back together and turned everything back on and lo and behold it seems to be working OK, damn I’ good (I think?).  Decided to spoil Bill a little by taking him down to Hyde Park which is about a mile away.  Off we go and the heavens opened, too late now we’re going on regardless.  Found the park OK and walked along the Serpentine past the Serpentine Gallery to the Diana memorial water feature, which Bill promptly jumped into, no respect has the boy.  Despite the rain we had good fun playing with the ball twanger.  Back to the boat for Bill and a few beers for me.

Thursday 8th October 2009

What a change in the weather!  Not a cloud in the sky.  Up early and walked Bill towards Little Venice and back via the post office and Tesco’s.  Set off by 9am.  Chilly in the shade but soon got warmed up working Camden Locks.  No probs through the Islington Tunnel.  Pumped out at the BW site at Old Ford Lock but no water as the taps knackered.  Carried on through Victoria Park up the Hertford Union Arm but no suitable moorings.  Continued up the Lee Navigation past part of the Olympic site to tie up near Lea Bridge by 4pm.  Took Bill for a long walk through the filter beds there which is now a nature reserve -  very nice.  There are two pubs just up the way, but can you believe it I can’t be bothered, honest! 

Friday 9th October 2009

Set off from Lea Bridge after a walk up through the park to get the papers.  Over clouded and chilly with a blustery breeze.  Seven locks to go through and I thought all the strange locks were on the Kennet and Avon Canal.  First lock we came to was the Tottenham Lock which is a very long double lock with the west lock being manual and the east being electric.  So I went into the east lock to tie up and climb up to find a notice saying this side wasn’t working at present.  So I untied and moved Beau into the manual lock.  Many many winds later the gates are shut and the lock is filling when along comes another boat and do nothing other than go into the electric lock stick his key in the control and guess what – bugger it works!!!!  - has been for a while matey he tells me!  Anyway off we went through some locks that are in pairs some with electric gates but manual paddles and one that was totally manual and very heavy.  However, got up to Waltham Abbey and some nice moorings above the Town Lock with a nice big park for Bill to run in.  Settled in for the night and still not been in a pub!!!

Saturday 10th October 2009

3.49am we were rudely awoken by some dickhead climbing on my roof!!!! so bellowing like a banshee for him to “get off my f**king boat”.  It was very unsettling and we got little more sleep.  Up early and sure enough there are the footprints.  Wandered up into town for the papers and a look around the market.  Set of by 9.30am together with another boat all the way to the junction with the River Stort.  I turned right to join a queue at the first lock.  Yesterday I went through some strange locks, however, nothing compared to these.  Firstly they only 12 feet wide so you can’t get two boats in together but they’re wide enough for your boat to get thrown about if your not careful.  Secondly there are no hand rails on the top gates so you have to walk all the way around the locks and the pretty long too and finally be careful when opening the paddles because the wash is savage directly from the side of the chamber..  However you soon get into a routine and we aimed to get to Sawbridgeworth by 5pm.  Ha, not to be, I finally gave up at 7pm IN THE DARK when I finally found a suitable mooring tying up by a concrete wall beside a sluice.  Completely knackered again so another early night with no pub – must be a record, get onto to the Guinness Book of Records quick!!