The last day

Yesterday I mentioned the ungainly Thames barge that had delayed our progress to Bentford Basin.  We understood that the intention was to moor this barge at the bottom of "the flight", by which we assumed Hanwell Flight.   Seeing how difficult it had been to manoeuvre this vessel we didn't really want to get stuck behind it, so this morning we set off early, just at dawn to be precise.  There was just enough light to see the first bridge hole.   The second lock lies behind a large weir on the River Brent and is notorious for receiving lots of detritus washed down by heavy rain.  Well there hasn't been any significant rain for almost two months, so levels were down a few inches and the rubbish not too bad, consisting mostly of clumps of decaying towpath cuttings.   As we approached the bottom of the lock flight we were relieved to see the barge still moored up, but the tug/safety boat was already on the move ahead.    Lock 97 is a bit of a mess.   One bottom hydraulic gate paddle was u/s as was one top ground paddle.  The pound above was very low as the gates appear very leaky.   It is not unusual on this flight to find one or other pounds empty first thing in the morning and I have been known to take the bike to the top first thing and let a bit of water down.    However, once through, we had no further trouble and the folk working the safety boat had emptied a few locks ahead of us to ease our passage.  It was pleasing to see that our vegetation concerns on the offside have been dealt with now and all locks are accessible easily.    Once at the top, we settled down to the 90 minute cruise to the bottom of Cowley passing firstly the broadbeam school barge and later a loaded Denham Gravel barge on the way.  The second gravel barge was idle at its moorings above Cowley Lock as was Arundel, the narrowboat that also participates in the traffic above Uxbridge.  Soon we were at our moorings and keen to get unloaded as soon as possible to miss the rush hour traffic.   So ends our summer cruise.    Further plans?  All being well, we will do the London Ring in November and there might be other moves, who knows.   Then its winterisation all over again.