UK Canals - Journey reports

Brinklow Marina

The short cruise to the marina took about an hour.   Then the jobs which are part of the maintenance record.

The boat will now be winterised for the next 6 months and no further reports are expected.

Oxford Canal:Newbold

Braunston opens at 9:00, so I left the mooring at about 8:15 and arrived precisely on cue.  I had not understood that diesel, pumpout etc are all self service, so once I had got over the shock, been to the office and signed the diesel book, received my token and found someone to open up the pumpout shed it was all go.   It was a good long pumpout enabling a proper washout which was excellent.   I did the business at Midland Chandlers and then set off slowly for Rugby.   Within minutes there was another boat up my backside, so let him pass and before long another, so I gave in and speeded up in as much as one can speed up on this canal which is so shallow in places.   All the Hillmorton Locks were functional and with a volunteer lock-keeper to help with the last.   So past Rugby and stopping at Newbold so as to leave just a short cruise to the marina in the morning to get the oil temperature up for a quick oil change.

Grand Union Canal:Bridge 100

Having missed the pumpout at the closed wharf facilities yesterday, I made for Braunston.  As always the winding nature of the canal as it follows the contours above Fenny seems to take for ever and the recitation of "it must be just round this corner" many times anticipates the top of Marston Doles two locks.  Unusually, there was no queue, but it became apparent that there was a boat just ahead, so I had to fill the lock as no upcoming traffic was evident.  So, as a single hander it's working the lock from lockside of course.  Nudge the boat up to the bottom gates, open the paddles and watch it drop.  The boat always tends to run back as the lock becomes empty.   Opening the mitred bottom gates works for me by first winding the paddle opposite to the lock ladder down, then standing at the pointy bit and just pushing the opposite gate open, then getting off lockside, opening the remaining gate, dropping the paddle, nipping down the ladder to the boat roof then counter, and all this hopefully before the boat bumps up against the top end of the lock.   I try to remember to leave the boat with the rudder hard over for this reason, because it would be the rudder that takes the shock.  I have used a rope on a bollard to prevent this run back, but with my new long rear fender is doesn't seem necessary.  There is one potential snag to this and that is if there is a badly leaking top gate.  It can drown the boat if the doors are left open.  (Bad experience at Watford Locks some years ago).   Leaving the lock slowly it is often possible to grab the rail on the outside of one gate and close it, then stop the boat and push the other gate shut without leaving the boat.   Saves mooring up.   So I worked like this and kept pace with the boat ahead and the one behind, although I would confess to welcoming on two occasions a boat just exiting the lock ahead as I arrived, thus avoiding the need to moor up the prep the lock.   To get to the bottom of Napton took about 2 1/4 hours and it was gone 1 pm.   The wind was getting up a bit and it was getting cold.   Besides getting a pumpout, I wanted to visit Midland Chandlers for a few essentials to do an oil change and effect some repairs, so decided to leave all that until the morning.   Hence Bridge 100.

Oxford Canal:Fenny Compton

A leisurely start as Pat is going home and we are waiting for the first off-peak train.   Then the boat is off, now with MF solo.   Really a straightforward run with quite a few opposite direction boats all nicely timed so that I had a couple of locks with exiting boats, so straight in and all the first few locks in my favour.   No heroics!   So mooring up to prepare the mitred gates where appropriate and in bridge holes approaching the bottom gates carefully to work the lock.   The trick learned on the Wolverhampton 21 of exiting the lock with the boat setup in reverse as it leaves the lock, to get off to close the top gate so that the boat always returns to you works brilliantly. After Cropredy I spied a boat ahead, so now all locks full, or rather nominally full because all the bottom gates leak so badly.  By the top of Claydon I had really had enough, but all the decent piled moorings were taken and there was nowhere for the next half hour that took my fancy, so might as well continue to Fenny where the boat needs a pump out etc.    Only to find that the wharf office was closed, so I will have to remain continent for a little longer!  Must be early closing day.   Perhaps an early start tomorrow to see what Braunston offers.

Snowdonia

Next two days here whilst MF goes to Wales for railway  work on the Welsh Highland Railway. Here's a view taken whilst inspecting track between Snowdon Ranger and Rhyd Ddu, Snowdonia.     Pat goes to the Haberdashers - joy!

Oxford Canal:Banbury

Oh Dear!  We overslept this morning by 90 minutes.   Never Mind.   We still got to Banbury.   The first mile or so was very shallow making progress very slow and showing signs of bad bank erosion due to the inevitable turbulence as the boat moved.   Really this section needs piling and dredging badly because it can only get worse now.  Further on there was a lot of rush growth, narrowing the channel to single line only.   However, once past Nether Heyford things improved as did progress.   Thanks by the way to the boater who opened Nether Heyford (correction thanks Sue Lower Heyford) lifting bridge (Mill Lift Bridge) for us.

Pat! Down in the deep at Somerton Deep Lock

  Somerton Deep Lock was no problem.  The cottage always reminds me of the Local Shop in League of Gentlemen.  Further on, 

Pat rises from the deep with the old lock cottage in the background.

Chisnell Lift Bridge was down but was easily managed with the chain from the towpath side.  The three lift bridges reached after re-crossing the motorway after Grants Lock, 172,171,170 are all usually up, but for some reason the last one (170) was down.   There appeared to be no chain on the towpath side which meant crossing and pulling on the balance beam.  It took my whole weight dangling on the chain to move it, depositing me in a heap fortunately not under the falling beam.   Likewise to lower it again took a great deal of strength to get it over the balance point.   Not right.  However, we did arrive in Banbury in good time 8 and a half hours as predicted by the canalplanner.   Our usual moorings for the station were all taken and an alternate got no TV signal, so we moved up through Town Lock to Castle Quay, but no better.   Maybe we would be better off further on by Spiceball Park, but its just further to walk to the station.

Oxford Canal:Pigeons Lock

Whilst on the Thames, while Pat has been a bit under the weather, I have been working the locks (pressing the buttons!) and helping getting the boat roped up from the lock side.  Pat has been on the helm.   This has worked well, so I am pleased that it seems to be continuing practice on the canals so far.   Our destination today was Thrupp, but there were no moorings left there and anyway we wanted to continue on a bit to take advantage of our bonus from yesterday.   The narrow canals with the miles of in line moored boats are so frustrating though, as an average speed is an unknown before the event, planning is for nothing.   You just get to where you get to and that is the end of it.   So today we only got to Pigeons Lock at a reasonable end of cruising day and will have to make Banbury tomorrow come what may.   That's about 16 miles at what we can only assume is 2 mph worst case, plus about 9 locks.   Do-able, but another long day and just as well we got a bit of time in hand.

River Thames:Abingdon

Fog was forecast and indeed it was foggy with only the barest suggestion of the new footbridge upstream visible.   We thought it best to wait a while and as visibility improved slightly we decided to leave at 8:00 am using the Android Maps app location feature on satellite view to keep an eye on the topography ahead.   The real concern was the few rowers out there, so we stuck well to the right hand side and proceded slowly.   At Mapledurham the blue self servicce sign was up so we were surprised by the presence of the lock-keeper and got a bit confused.   We have been caught out by this a few times now where perhaps around duty change times the board is up when in fact the lock is still manned.  The fog finally lifted around 10:30 as we were passing Beale Park, but just earlier the approach to Whitchurch was quite murky.   Without knowledge of the River travelling would have been foolhardy.   Goring Lock was manned and so wereClifton and Cudham.   Originally aiming for Clifton we decided to continue on to Abingdon for good moorings and a "bird in hand" for the rest of the trip.   I have a trip to Wales planned for Monday, ideally from Banbury. 

River Thames:Caversham

Started just after first light again but bearing in mind that Boulters Lock might not be on automatic if we arrived there too early.    As it was it was fine, but full.    So the long wait while it drains, then again while it fills.  This is quite a long deep lock filling from gate paddles so it is bound to be slow  to avoid excessive tturbulence   The steep sided tree lined valley in the next reach overlooked by Cliveden was full of fog which though not too dense did make navigating just that little more exiting.    At Cookham the lock was empty and we found another boater waiting telling us that there was supposed to be something wrong with the top gates and he didn't want to hand wind.   They worked OK for us!    In the long reach to Marlow there was some more fog but rapidly disappearing in the sunshine.   It was still cold on the back of the boat.   We passed Daedalus moored below the lock and arrived there just in time to catch the lock after a departing tug.   There were lock-keepers at Hurley, Marsh and Caversham, otherwise it was all self service.  Nonetheless we made good time and even found a short stay mooring at Tesco for a bit of essential shopping.    There are notices stating that the mooring fee there is £9.25 for 24 hours only, payable by credit card!   There seemed to be quite a lot of the usual looking suspects there, so possibly this might not be working too well.   We moved on to Caversham Bridge.

Moorings at Christchurch Meadows

River Thames:Molesey Lock

I am so glad we found this mooring.   It takes all the uncertainty out of our situation having the electricity to keep the boat running.    Pat was not feeling very well with a chesty cough so we decided to visit the GP.  On the way we had a call to say that our alternator had arrived and could be fitted in the afternoon.   It took us just over an hour to get back with Pat's prescription and it seemed to take less that a half hour to get the job done.    The increase in charge rate from the new alternator is dramatic, so hopefully all our woes are over save for the issue of the leaking hot water cylinder.   

Leaving Limehouse

A lovely sunny day has dawned.   We had a lie in.   Then some difficult decisions to make as we should have left this afternoon and without a definitive plan we have to stay near shore power.   However, good news from RCR.    An engineer will be with us tomorrow at 10.00 am, so given this assurance we have decided to leave anyway, and with the help of the marina staff and another burst of energy from the mains power, we should have enough battery power to run the lights and VHF for the duration of the trip, then the engineer can come to Teddington instead of Limehouse and we should be back on track.   So the morning was spent readying the boat, moving the anchor, fixing the radio and lots of other little tiddly bits.

At 3:45 we started up and slowly moved over to join nb Daedalus, our companion for the trip.  We exchanged telephone numbers in case of problems and then had to wait until 4:30 as a boat was expected off the river.  We eventually left out into a rather wild scene of a mass of fast ribs,  Thames Clippers, and slow trip boats with humongous wash, all creating a terribly confused water.   Nuggler rides all this very well with very little roll, but of course pitching with water & spray coming over the bows.   Fortunately, our cratch board and covers deflect almost all of it. Our fellow traveller didn't fare so well, being a tug style with open front deck took quite a lot of water into the cabin under the front doors.  We were told later that one particularly bad roll saw water up to the port holes. The Pool of London was even more frantic. The Brazilian warship was preparing to sail, and Tower bridge had just opened to pass a mock Mississippi paddle steamer (without the paddles).   Once past Westminster Bridge all this suddenly dies down and we just carry on in peace, averaging about 7.2 mph in the tide.    Probably passed less than 10 boats from there to Teddington.   Of course, all the light was going, and by Richmond we were in the dark.    I am fairly familiar with the River, but for the last half hour having to feel my way, probing with the headlight to sniff out blind corners.   We arrived safely and quickly settled down for a snack and tired, to bed.

Limehouse Dock

Going nowhere but a bit of a busy day really.   We have no means of generating domestic power, so this was a worry.    I now understand that the "wall moorings" at Limehouse are the responsibility of C&RT for which we are allowed one free night, then £25 per night thereafter.   The marina is run by BWML, a private company, which collects the mooring fees on behalf of C&RT and also operates the lock on behalf of that organisation.   We are, therefore especially grateful to BWML and their management team who have been very helpful to us beyond the call of duty in allowing us to move over to one of their electric pedestals to recharge our batteries, then move back to our rightful moorings.    This saved the day for us in getting the batteries well up as if we had done a day's cruising and will see us through to tomorrow at least.    Then we had our party to enjoy at the Cruising Association headquarters.    We had the use of the Council Room, food and drinks provided all for a reasonable price considering the view and location in one of the more interesting parts of London with so much history.     A really lovely afternoon with family and friends.    The issue remains though what we are to do next regarding the alternator.

Limehouse

They say trouble comes in threes and the day started out well, a bright morning.  We left in time for the locks at Camden to be open.  No real problems.  The fencing at Lock 2 makes it a nuisance for the single hander as a neat exit down the steps is practically impossible.  It just means a slower and  more tedious method.  We were astounded by the increase in the number of permanently moored boats on the way to St Pancras Lock, and indeed in places thereafter.

Early morning at Paddington

  Even if these are genuinely moving boats, they are clearly moving back and forth and they can never be moved away and reduced in numbers.  What has happened in this short time to change the environment so since Canal and River Trust came into being?   Effectively these are all housing units and look like they will increase in number to the point that the canal is blocked, unless radical action is taken.   I have no idea what that radical action could be, but do Londoners want a sort of waterway shanti town to continue to develop.   Some form of innovative affordable housing has to be thought of.   We had no problems making our journey, but we were not expecting to stop en route.    Arriving in Limehouse we moored temporarily to visit the harourmaster's office and then moved the boat.  It was then that the alternator packed up.   Well it stopped generating.    This is the domestic generator which keeps all our services running, so we have 24 hours to get it sorted before the fridge runs into trouble.    Frantic phone calls got an engineer on site from River Canal Rescue, but it means the alternator has to be sent away and our plans are now in the bin.    We will not be able to leave on Sunday as planned.   We have to get this sorted and so while here we have the potential benefit of shore power, but once gone we lose it.   Coupled with that we have the issue of tides if we wish to continue the journey via the Thames.   The days are shorter now  and the tides limit departure and arrival times to daylight hours.    If we do not leave on Sunday, Tuesday becomes the next likely departure date.  

Post script:  The issue of shore power at Limehouse is a bit fraught.  One after the first 24 hours of free mooring on the "wall", a fee of £25 per night is payable to Canal & River Trust, but collected on its behalf by the British Waterways Marina Ltd (BWML)staff.  There are no facilities there apart from an agreement allowing boaters to use the water point and pumpout on the marina pontoon.   In view of our situation, the harbourmaster kindly allowed us to move to a vacant marina pontoon on Saturday for the sole purpose of charging our batteries up on shore power, then moving back to our original mooring.

Paddington Basin

We made it.  But first an investigation into yuesterday's strange noises coming from the propeller.  We are in plastic bag country now as reminded by the plastic being blown into the canl yesterday in the stiff wind.  With plastic bags comes other rubbish and we picked up the strange noise whilst reversing at Bulls Bridge.    It turned out to be some old mattress springs wound around and only removed after much struggling with the aid of some wire fence cutters.   With a clean prop we moved off with new silky smoothness.   A stop at Alperton Sainsbury followed.   We need to stock up on groceries for the next week as convenient supermarkets are few and far between.   Then once moving on we came up behind a very slow, full sized old barge converted no doubt for camping - the hold was covered with tarpaulin - and populated by youth, all having fun.    I think we have seen this vessel before out of Brentford.   They said they were aiming for Paddington.   Easily overtaken, we continued, coming across moored boats in places we would never had expected, then at Kensal Green on the grassy bit from the railway bridge to Kensal Green Road Bridge (and another Sainsbury) solid moored craft and no real chance of stopping here.   Carrying on clumps of moored boats where I have never seen them before and in the final run up to Little Venice Pool, double breasted up boats all the way.   Our intention of finding a mooring for the night was not looking good.   The facilities mooring was free, so we stopped there for rubbish, water and a pumpout (cards from the Floating Cafe on the other side of the bridge £16.35).  Pat then persuaded me to have a look at Paddington Basin and amazingly we found a mooring there.  So we are all set for a run down the Regent's tomorrow.