Cowley Peachey

No point in leaving early this morning, so we waited till after 9:00 when the lock-keepers come on duty, and set off.  The only other traffic was a large cruiser on the way to Rochester, that joined us in Sunbury Lock.  The long moorings at Teddington were empty apart from one narrowboat facing upstream.  Half an hour before high tide we aimed for the lock which had just been vacated by a large trip boat heading for Hampton Court and 15 minutes later were in the tideway, joined by a tiny cruiser and its lone occupant who stuck behind us all the way to Brentford.   Our intention was to carry on up the Hanwell flight and he likewise, so we would have company.   The difficulty here was to try and find a way of working given our differing techniques.  He, for example, wanted to work his own side and was used to roping his boat in and out of the locks.  So we went in first on the offside, used a bow and centre rope and never opened our side gate paddles to limit the narrowboat surging across the lock suddenly.   Leaving Brentford Gauging Locks at 15:00, we reached the top at 17:50.   There was more evidence of BW cut backs.  The lock sides were weedy, and vegetation in several cased obscured the sight line into the locks with the stairs overgrown with nettles and brambles.  Gone it seems when pride in their local patch gained the local team awards for their work - assuming that awards are even still given.