Thursday 8th April An early start leaving Harefield at 7:30 am for Bulls Bridge Tesco. Apart from all the locks being against us except for Cowley, we had a good ride down. Tesco reached about 10:30 for a "Mega Breakfast" (£2.99) and a shopping spree to restock with provisions for the weekend. Crew for this leg was Chloe + dogs. A fast trip to Little Venice in just over 3.5 hours followed.
Friday 9th April Gemma joined the crew for this leg. A cold morning and an early departure again (7:30). Having negotiated Maida Vale Tunnel we were soon enjoying the early morning sunlight on the beautiful gardens and willow trees in Regents Park. "Camden Lock" was almost deserted and passed uneventfully. At St Pancras, we paused to chat to some of the members of the Cruising Club about their forthcoming Thames Barrier Cruise. (See future trips) After Islington Tunnel we caught up with ARA and ARCHIMEDES which gave us the opportunity to top up our diesel tank. It sounds like this well known trading pair might soon change hands. Having made excellent progress thus far, and joining with a 35 ton "boat with no name" and massive smoking engine down to Victoria Park, we stopped for lunch. After lunch we reached Limehouse Dock by 14:30 where Pat was waiting. A good evening followed, firstly at the Grapes where Debbie & Tom joined us. Then, as there was no food service that evening a forced decampment to Commercial Road behind the DLR station where we found the "Legendary Indian Eating Place" (Cafe Rajistan) where an excellent curry was enjoyed. Recommended!
Saturday 10th April. Most of the day was spent waiting for the tide. Pat & Gemma took the opportunity to do some shopping at Canary Wharf where there is a large shopping centre. Getting the dogs (large overweight Labradors) off the boat & up "the wall" was a challenge and a two pronged approach with one of us on the wall pulling and one on the boat with a hand between the back legs proved adequate motivation. They were quite happy to jump back down. We joined up with Ragnar (ex Viking Afloat hire boat) and Wilmcot for the tideway cruise. Water choppy below Tower Bridge and at Waterloo Bridge as before, but quite uneventful and enjoyable, although cold. On arrival at Brentford the Lock Keeper advised us that two bodies had been found in the canal, one on the Hanwell flight and one at Camden. We later heard on the news that the latter was thought to have been in the water for two days. We must have unknowingly passed it on Friday !! As a consequence the Hanwell Flight was closed with no indication from the police as to when it might open. Seemingly, boats were backed up above and below. This was a concern to us, for although we intended to spend the night at Brentford, we did need to be home on Sunday afternoon. There appeared to be no information easily available as to what the problem was Dinner: Lamb hotpot, broccoli Nice Italian Red
Sunday 11th April Up early to see Ragnar about to set off. The clever skipper had cycled up to the bottom of the flight early that morning and found it open. So no problem. Shortly after he had left, our friendly Lock Keeper arrived to tell us that the flight was open. The police had initially sealed everything off as a potential crime scene sometime around 9 am. One or two boats were marooned mid flight. Seemingly this flight is prone to leakage from the side ponds (which English Heritage won't allow BW to maintain we were told) and needs "water management" daily. The police would not even allow BW staff to let water down, so these poor vessels were eventually grounded listing. Nothing happened for about 4 hours wating for the SOCO team then thay wanted to put divers down, but it was too late in the day by then, so they were planned for Sunday morning. Then apparently, sometime before 9 pm that day they just removed all the tapes and disappeared with no word to BW staff or stranded boaters. It was a boater that informed BW that the flight was open. We therefore left at 8 am. Ragnar was moored by the Fox having breakfast, but no other boats to be seen. The crew were then mobilised for the flight, one ahead setting locks and one behind closing gates. Gemma disappeared up the flight, but soon returned to tell us that another single was two locks up and would wait for us. So a very pleasant journey up to Norwood top lock followed in the company of Karel and Susie, continuous cruisers on nb Daniel. Having made good progress we had lunch on the move and reached Harefield by 16:00.