Paddington Basin to Willowtree Marina (cruise retrospective)

We started off from the Basin in bright, sunny weather, but there was still an extreme chill in the air that continued throughout the day. The stretch of canal out of Little Venice was now even fuller of boats than when we first came through. There were no mooring spaces at all, and boats were breasted up three deep in places. There's to be a major boating event at Little Venice in a couple of weeks' time, the IWA Canalway Cavalcade, and there's expected to be a huge gathering of boats for that. One boat which had found a mooring was NB Wobbly Limited. It looked all closed up, but we discovered later that poor Mr Wobbly was inside sleeping off a bout of flu.

I've said before that kingfishers seem to be getting less timid. Now it's the turn of herons. Time was, they'd wait on the bank until you were about 20 to 30 metres away. Then they'd fly off ahead, land on the bank and wait until you were... Repeat until bored, then sweep off across a field. On this trip we've passed very close to lots of herons who have stood their ground and watched us, immobile, as we passed. One stood right next to Grace at the stern in a lock, quite clearly wanting to be fed. And the one which takes first prize for temerity is one we saw two days ago,  following behind a walker and repeatedly pecking at the backs of his legs. "Feed me, Seymore! Feed me!"

Talking of birds... London's canals have lots of bridges. Iron constructions whose girders provide nesting nooks for countless pigeons. These birds are not content to watch you pass through beneath them in the boat. Instead, they flap around as if in panic, covering you in feathers and the dust of dried excrement. The threat of psittacosis seems very real as I close my eyes and hold my breath and wait to emerge into cleaner air at the other side of the bridge.

Boat names fascinate us. We frequently wonder what the significance of a name is, and why someone called it that. Until today, I thought the silliest name for a boat just had to be "Moose Drool". Today, we saw "Laughing Gravy" and "The Slowness of Cows". Why???

We moved on through London; Kensal Green, past the huge and famous cemetery, Alperton, Perivale, Northolt,

and at around 4:00pm we arrived back at Willowtree Marina, where we moored for the night. Once again, the 230v mains supply was more than welcome. We did a couple of loads of washing, almost wished we had more to wash, vacuum-cleaned the cabin, and used our laptops. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed, but this is a good place to stop.

South Hackney, here we come (cruise retrospective)

It was extremely cold this morning, and continued to be so throughout the day, but we carried on, undaunted, dressed in multiple layers, and feeling like Michelin men.

We left our mooring at 9:30, unusually early for us, after a peaceful night in an unusual location. Down the river through Ponders End, Edmonton and Tottenham Hale.

We noticed today how the coots invariably build really scruffy nests of pretty much anything they can get their beaks on, while geese nest in rather more style, being more discerning about what building materials they use. And swans nest best. In the reeds, often simply by flattening and structuring them into the large mounds on which their eggs are laid. Then they sit on them, regally. Divas of the river.

It being Saturday, rowing boats were out in force, from solo lunatics going backwards at speed to sixes going backwards at higher speed, no less lunatic. Their frequent presence was something of a hazard to bigger boats, and our own problem was further compounded for a while by a narrowboat limping very badly towards the Lee Valley Marina, smoke pouring from her exhaust pipe in a most unhealthy manner. They finally beckoned us past at a moment when there were no manic rowing boats coming at us from all directions.

We passed by the marina. It was too early in the day to be stopping, despite the lure of a 230 volt landline. Laptop charging would have to wait. Perhaps we'd stop off at the Willowtree Marina again in a few days' time. And, we reminded ourselves, Willowtree are considerably cheaper, for a better service.

There's a tremendous amount of birdlife on the river. We noted that coots are common here, and moorhens far less so, while the opposite tends to be the case on canals. And we've been surprised by the large number of cormorants, too, which we used to think were exclusively sea birds.

And they swim so low in the water that they look as if they're too heavy, and sinking. Odd creatures.

Clapton next, and Hackney Wick, the river becoming ever more shabby, a reflection of the housing and industrial buildings on both sides of it. Then we took the right turn onto the Hertford Union Canal, aka Duckett's Cut, named after its builder back in 1830. There are three locks in its 1¼ mile length, and most of it runs past the Victoria Park. It's quite a pleasant stretch.

We were hoping to stop and get some lunch on the Regent's Canal just past Old Ford Lock, right turn out of Duckett's. But mooring boats filled every foot, sometimes two or three deep as far as Kingsland Road Bridge, on the border of DeBeauvoir Town (no, we hadn't heard of it before, either) and South Hackney. Here, we took the very last available space, and moored rather unconventionally with several ropes because of the inconvenient spacing of the iron mooring rings.

Here we stayed for the night, our plan being to overnight in Paddington Basin tomorrow, or, that being full, at Kensal Green Cemetery. Hopefully. The day after that, we'll spend the night at Willowtree Marina and spoil ourselves with some real electricity and a meal at their restaurant. The boat really needs to be vacuum cleaned, and it would be very useful to spend a few hours at the computer!

(I have electricity until tomorrow morning, so...) Onto the Paddington Arm

...I'll post another retrospective account of this fabulous cruise. We're back in Willowtree Marina in Yeading, not far from the exit of the Paddington Arm onto the Grand Junction Canal. We're plugged into a mains electricity supply, so we've been washing clothes, vacuum cleaning, recharging things, and catching up with email and stuff. Tomorrow, we carry on with our journey.

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Catching up... Day 24

Our journey on from Denham Deep Lock - the deepest on the Grand Union, at 11 foot 1 inch - took us through Uxbridge and Cowley. Large, modern buildings lined the route, some of which I remember from when I taught at Bishopshalt School in nearby Hillingdon.

The weather was fine. Almost summer. Fish were jumping, the cotton was high.

It's good to meet in person folk I'd only known previously on the web. I'd been Tweeted by Wobbly Boater a few days earlier.

I replied...

A few days later, a boat hooted as it passed us, moored up but preparing to leave. It was NB Wobbly. We exchanged a few words this time. It was likely we'd meet up now. And we did.

It was at Cowley Lock, in fact. They, too, were headed for the Lee and Stort, and would get there "eventually". It's their habit as continuous cruisers to stop from time to time, sometimes for a week or two, so they were going to take rather longer than us to get there. It was good to see them, and put faces to names.

We left them at Cowley Lock, had lunch shortly afterwards, then carried on through Yiewsley and Hayes. Canalside properties were an uncomfortable mix of new and old, rich and poor. And it was definitely London suburbs now.

Bull's Bridge, the junction of the Grand Union with its Paddington Arm. We waited to turn in as an unusual craft pushed a houseboat out, and left onto the GU. It was quite a manoeuvre.

It was followed immediately by a short narrowboat, nipping out quickly in the wake of the others, then we turned in.

The Paddington Arm was an immediate disappointment. There was rubbish everywhere. On the water, on both sides of the canal, particularly where junk had been thrown over the the fences of canalside businesses. The rural setting was very pleasant, however, and we enjoyed this for the couple of miles to Willowtree Marina.

The marina was our safe choice of overnight mooring. Having had no previous experience of canal travel through London, we didn't want to find ourselves not able to moor at the end of the day. Unable, because there were no suitable places to stop, or because there were no spaces at suitable moorings. So we'd booked in to Willowtree. The mooring had a mains electricity supply, and there were full services, of course, so we made the most of this little haven, tidying up, vacuum cleaning, dumping rubbish and so on.

We booked a table in the restaurant, too, but when we arrived at 7:30, the waitress apologised that there was a huge party celebrating a 70th birthday and taking up most of the tables. The one she's booked for us was actually in the bar area, but it was one of the two that had been taken up for the past four hours by a large, noisy family group. She seemed rather intimidated by them, but nonetheless managed to persuade them to move to just one table. Grudgingly, they did, but our meal was frequently disturbed by small children pushing behind us, and one particularly obnoxious man talking far too loudly, and shouting very close to my ear at his kids, who took no notice of him.

The waitress was brilliant, managing to serve everyone most efficiently without getting at all flustered, despite the chaos around her. And the food was good, though far too plentiful!

Grace's burger and chips!

We were in no great hurry to leave on Sunday. I'd been given no deadline. Actually, it was all very informal. There were no instructions or rules, and no paperwork at all, save our receipt for £21.25. Money very well spent!