Stoppage at Cowley

Today we are marooned at Cowley, but more of that later.  After departure checks, i.e. VHF, anchor out and ready for deployment, sealing the Eberspacher exhaust, donning life jackets, moving loose objects to a safer place, weed hatch check (part of a mooring hawser and enumerable plastic bags) we entered Limehouse lock at 9.00 am along with two cruisers destined for Teddington.  Limehouse reach was essentially calm, that is until the very fast catarmaran commuter service boat passed us going up river.  The wash from this boat took the form of a very long swell which had Nuggler pitching impressively, though not enough to take water over the bows.   The morning was cold and misty which gave London a rather depressing appearance with drab commuters trudging over the bridges to the city like figures in a Lowry painting.  There were very few boats moving this early in the morning and once past Westminster Bridge with a few early morning tourists waving at us, the river was quiet.  Arrival at Brentford two and a half hours later was uneventful and we proceeded up to the bottom of Hanwell passing our only canal boat of the day on the way.   The pound below lock 94 always seems to be down, and this time it was so low that we grounded on obstructions on the lock floor and could not close the gates.   Pat went up and let a load of water down to float us off and our journey continued.  At Norwood top lock we had our first intimation from Archimedes that there was a problem at Cowley and indeed, on arrival there we were stopped and moored up.  A dredger working on the bridge approach had taken a bite out of a culvert and all efforts now were directed to sealing up this hole in the bottom of the canal.   It soon became evident that we would make no more progress today, so we reversed to the bridge nearby the recently renovated "Waters Edge" restaurant (Previously the "Turning Point") and settled for a meal there.