Up early as usual with the intention of being first up the Hanwell flight in isolation so that I could go at my own pace. It was evident on leaving that two of the boats I had followed out of Teddington had the same idea and would not be far behind me. The first lock two locks were in my favour and although the following boats were able to help with the first, I had left them behind by the second. At Hanwell bottom lock I picked up with WILLPOWER. Ruby and Cliff had just opened one gate and were entering as I pitched up, so I stopped at the lock landing, opened the other gate and joined them. They seemed to be a little dismayed to find that I was single handed, but with single gate working and setting locks ahead we made a formidable team and reached Norwood Top Lock in 3 hours from Brentford. They appreciated my need for haste but left me to carry on for the remaining two and a half hours of the journey as they needed water.
I met the two Denham gravel boats at Uxbridge. With the moored boats there, especially at Uxbridge Boat Centre where they are sometimes two abreast, the canal is pretty tight. There is quite a surge of water pushing sideways when these vessels pass and then everything is sucked back after, so being near moored boats is difficult to manage. I just missed one guy's outboard motor with about a foot to spare with a feeling of helplessness as the boat was pushed towards it.
Back at Harefield, the car battery was flat again, but this time I came prepared with jump leads to charge it up on the boat. Next time I will disconnect the battery before leaving I think.
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