Herbie's midwinter cruise

We're just back from a 6 day cruise and we've had a great time. Luckily we started on Friday, so we just missed the great storm on Thursday last. However the results of all that wind were all to evident along the canal. Lots of fallen trees and bushes hanging or floating in the water and loose branches and twigs clogging up the locks and bends. Here's how it went.

Friday

Our friend Rick, who has recently retired, joined us mid morning and we set of down (or is it up?) the Slough arm in surprisingly good weather. The plan that day was to get to the Black Horse at Greenford for a meal and a jar or two of Fullers. Rick, well known for leaving on lights etc. opened the wash basin hot water tap and no water came out (because we had drained the pipe last time we left the boat and it take a while to come through). Leaving the tap open he returned to us on the rear deck, where none of us could hear the water pump running and running and running. The water came through all right - 150 gallons of it, straight down the plug hole and into the canal. Well we got there OK, but only to find the pub swarming with painters, who told us the place was closed for redecoration. Ah well, it’s a good overnight mooring stop anyway, and there's a tap there to refill the lost fresh water. It took an hour and 45 minutes to refill the tank! We ate in. Here we are outside the Black Horse.

Saturday

We set off for Central London in blustery drizzle which soon cleared to become a fine day J . We're used to seeing unexpected wildlife on this stretch, and today it was wild green parakeets! Lunch of cheese and jalapeno sandwiches in Paddington basin, where we ventured out to buy a London AtoZ. The basin was unusually empty of boats and consequently less colourful than usual, so we pressed on through Maida Hill tunnel, through Regents Park to Camden where we were very lucky to find a mooring spot not far from Camden Locks.

The famous market next to the top lock is absolutely brilliant. Lots of exotic foods and clothes and furniture and fabrics. Kath was in her element.

We bought some great cushion covers and shelf curtains for Herbie, and Kath bought a hat.

Sadly we were still digesting the lunch time sandwiches so couldn’t find room for the Curry Goat, or Moroccan Tagine, or Chinese pick and mix, or . . . . . although it all looked fabulous. We eventually ate out in the evening at the Ice Wharf next to the lock and washed it down with some excellent Deuchars IPA.

Sunday

The coal delivery boat Argo was stopped near our mooring so we boat a couple of bags of coal for the stove. Its always nice to buy from the trading boats rather than a boatyard. Cheaper too. Being moored so close to the market we popped in again for an hour before turning the boat right outside the market and setting off back towards Greenford. It was getting a lot colder and breezier again. Passing London Zoo some Hyenas came out to see us.

Lunch outside Kensal Green Sainsbury's opposite the famous Cemetery, and on over the North Circular aqueduct. We were on the lookout for some plastic crates we had seen in the water on the way up. Rick wanted them for his garden plants. Eventually we did see them and spent an entertaining twenty minutes manoeuvring Herbie in and out of the bank side vegetation in a stiff breeze while Rick flaied about with the boat hook trying to snare the crates. In the end we got five. Not a bad haul.

Rick and Kath decided to walk for a bit so I was left alone to steer. Much to R & Ks amusement Herbie did a spectacular lunge into the bushes when I bent down to rummage in the biscuit jar. I regained my composure in time for a very neat stop back at the Black Horse (still closed for painting).

We had a phone call from Claire (our daughter). She has been poorly lately and the doctor had sent her into hospital for a couple of days to re - hydrate her! So would we have Jacob for a couple of days on the boat. Partner Joe brought him over that evening. We had a night in and a game of cards.

Monday

Yet another crew member arrived. Friend David from Rickmansworth was joining us for the day. So now we were five. Off we went, down the Paddington arm to Bulls Bridge where it meets the Grand Union proper and we turned left towards Brentford. It was now cold and showery in the breeze.

At last some locks to do. There are eight to descend at Hanwell, and having plenty of crew we made quick time in most of them. However one had a very large bush (mostly ivy) just inside the gate and another had a gate that didn't want to open, so we didn't break any records. We moored up below the locks and David left for his train at tea time, leaving us to stroll up to the Viaduct pub for a warming meal and some particularly nice beer.

Tuesday

Theoretically an easy cruise down to Brentford and back. Only two locks each way. However we didn't reckon on the amount of debris the storm had deposited in the water. Osterley lock was completely full of drift wood, plastic bottles, polystyrene etc. Getting in was hard enough, but getting out was a real trial. Like boating through pack ice.

Once at Brentford we moored in the basin and set of on foot to find the spot where the canal finishes and enters the mighty tidal Thames.

It’s a bit of a rabbit warren of boat yards and backwaters, but we got there in the end and had a look at Thames Lock. Next summer we hope to pass through it onto the Thames for a circular route up to Oxford and the midlands.

Back to the boat where a pot of hot home made pea soup had been cooking on top of the coal stove. Lovely grub. Then off back to last night's stop. Through the dreaded Osterley lock again, where Jacob salvaged a number of floating footballs collected by the wind. That night we felt duty bound to pop into the Fox - a great traditional local pub near where we were moored - for a jar or two of Timothy Taylor's. Finally back to the boat for a game of Scrabble.

Wednesday

It was eight o'clock. "Look out the window" called Rick. We did, and gasped. It had snowed overnight and everywhere was really pretty.

This was a boating first for us and it was interesting to see the pattern on the roof of the boat where the heat from inside had melted the snow where the cross members were.

This was our last day and we were headed for home. Back up the locks in quick time, on past Bulls Bridge and up to Cowley Peachey to turn into the Slough Arm. Not for the first time this trip I had to go down into the weed hatch to clear plastic bags etc from the propeller as the boat was losing thrust. Ooh that water was cold, and look at the stuff the prop had collected!

Down the Slough arm we got a close glimpse of a kingfisher with a fish in its bill, and we pursued a cormorant who dived in front of us for about a mile (coming up for air of course) until it at last shook us off.

And so back to our moorings and then home for a rest.

Preparations

I went over to the boat today to deliver our new chair - a high backed grandad type, and a load of logs for the fire. It was a good job I had recently measured the boat entrances. The rear hatch is 60 cms wide and the chair was 58, so it only just went in. It looks good in its proper spot (I'll do a pic next time) and it should be comfortable for resting in the evenings. The fire logs came from a fallen tree (or part of) in a friends garden, and are(I think) sycamore. It remains to be seen how they burn. We're off cruising from Friday, so we'll soon find out.

Tomorrow (16th) is the day of the Save Our Waterways protest cruise past the Houses of Parliament. There's a heck of a lot of water hurtling down the Thames at the moment, so I hope they don't come to grief. I'll be with them in spirit, and I expect we'll see something of it on the news. Going up the tidal section of the Thames at any time of year in a narrowboat is not for the faint hearted. Not only can it be choppy, you have to watch out for all the big Thames trip boats and barges. Remember what happend to the Marchioness!

Seeking a chair

The one thing the previous owners of Herbie wouldn't pass on to us was a nice old high backed carver chair in the saloon. Apparently it had been a rocker, but they'd cut of the rocky bit. Anyway we've decided to get something like it to put in the same spot.

One problem is that you have to be really careful over dimensions when buying furniture for a boat. Not just because space is tight, but more crucially that the boat doors are small (only about 2ft wide). Even though the boat might have room for something, there's no guarantee you can get it in! I've been busy playing with scale drawings of chairs and doors to see what can be done. Chairs with arms - and worse still rockers, can be deceptively wide /deep.

Well, I've just had my 60th birthday. Very odd because I don't feel that old at all. Actually as decade birthdays go, 60 is a good one.

At 30 you say goodbye to irresponsible youth and think about settling down :-(

At 40 you are supposed to be achieving in your career and have the mortgage, kids and all that - not to mention avoiding the mid life crisis :-(

At 50 you're not so fit as you were but still have years of work left to face and still have dependent kids :-(

At 60 the kids have at last left, the mortgage paid off, work (for me anyway) finished and with luck and good health can look forward to being irresponsible again and getting a life before real old age sets in. AND, there's the bus pass, free eye test and prescriptions etc. :-)

I'm not complaining!

Next boat trip starts at the end of next week. We're off for a couple of days in London including a visit by water to Camden market. Old pal Rick, very recently retired, will be with us as crew.

Full reports here in due course.

You might notice I've set up a new template for this blog. The text area is now wider so you can read more without scrolling, and I've added a tiny bit more about me in the profile.

Charges up

I had a nice letter today from our boatyard (High Line Yachting) , wishing me a happy new year etc and mentioning that mooring fees are going up by about 15% :-(. However they were quite right in mentioning that they are still the cheapest in the area, considering the good level of security and facilities they offer. We checked out the opposition over the summer. If we were to moor two miles up the cut at Packet Boat marina, our fees would be around £1000 per annum higher! I guess we'll stay put for a bit.

Here we are on our mooring spot. First looking towards Slough

And then looking Eastwards towards the main line GU canal which is two miles away

We've been on the road for the last two days, delivering our son Peter back to Cambridge and visiting other son Richard on his boat at Huntingdon. On the way home we detoured a good few miles for a spot of lunch at one of our favourite canal pubs - the Anglers Retreat at Marsworth. Lovely food and perfect Tring Brewery beer.

Back to Front

We popped over to the boat the other day to check it was still floating and to measure up what Kath calls the "back" shelves, which are actually at the front of the boat. I know what she means though because when you are inside the boat it feels the other way round.

Herbie, you see, is one of the one or two percent of boats that has the bedroom at the front, the galley at the back, and the saloon ( and the bathroom) in the middle. The vast majority of narrowboats have a layout something like this :



Some traditional boats may also have an engine room between the bathroom and the bedroom, and of course longer boats may have extra rooms.

Herbie is rather more like this :

Of course there are pros and cons. The more usual layout is especially nice in summer when the front doors lead straight from the saloon to the front deck, and also has the saloon at maximum distance from the engine and any noisy gubbins.

Things we like about our layout are:

1. the galley is handy for making tea etc when we're on the move and on the rear deck
2. the wood burning stove is admidships and distributes the heat better
3. the side opening doors are right in the saloon to give an outdoor feel in nice weather

Horses for courses really, but I'm a bit surprised that our layout is so uncommon.

According to our site meter this blog has just had its 1500th visit since we started counting! Actually its not so impressive as it seems as quite a few visits are from people who have reached us accidentally through a Google search for "Slough" or "stove" etc. There do seem to be a few repeat visitors though, so if you are one, thanks for coming back and Happy Christmas!

Money money money

Any boater reading this will already have heard the news that the EC have refused to let HMG allow continued use of red diesel for pleasure craft. So sometime we'll be paying about double what we do now. I guess that's another £250 or £300 a year for us. Ah well. Apparently they are allowed to make arrangements for a transition so perhaps that nice Mr Brown will take pity and give us lots of warning or maybe phase in the change. We live in (slender) hopes.

I shouldn't think many people are boating from choice at the present. The rivers down here are in "red" condition and it has been really windy. My garden fence was leaning badly today, and having propped it up, the gate won't now shut, partly because the wood is swollen with the constant wetness.

Changing the subject completely (boaters may switch off now if they want), we went to a fascinating do on Friday. It was Roger Watson's 60th birthday bash coupled with the 17th anniversary of Traditional Arts Project (TAPS), of which he is artistic director. Roger is well known to folkies throughout the land and a friend of ours. As we expected, it was a real mutlicutural event. The (huge) buffet was a mixture of very authentic Indian and Middle Eastern snacks and sweets, and the entertainment featured a whole list of acts including an amazing steel drummer, a lady playing Andean? music (pan pipes etc), a village folk choir, a mumming play with longsword dancers, songs from the brilliant Rob Johnson, a few more I can't now recall, and of course Roger's Anglo/ Afro/ Indian band Boka Halat who were on top form. All that and free guinness too. What more can I say!

Christmas is coming and we went to a carol singing session at a pub near Alton. We sang for nearly two hours. Exhausting.

This and that

No Herbie trips to report at the moment, although we did a short canal visit last week when we went (by car) to Banbury which is on the Oxford canal. I'd forgotten how small the single locks look. We are getting so used to the two-boat-width ones on the GU that the single ones seem tiny. We prefer single locks really as they hold the boat snug, are lighter to operate and they fill / empty faster. Next year we hope to do the Oxford canal on Herbie.

The reason we were in Banbury was to go to Banbury Folk Club to see one of my favourite performers, Anna Ryder, who was absolutely brilliant (check out her web site here ). In over forty years of folk clubbing I must have seen thousands of performers, and Anna ranks with the best (IMHO). Apart from the fact that she can play anything (like piano and trumpet simultaneosly), her songs are so original and her general enthusiasm and energy is always a treat. I defy anyone not to enjoy seeing her perform. The club organiser Derek Droscher is an old chum of ours. Poor old Derek is now suffering the attentions of the Performing Rights Society (PRS) who want a sizeable cut of his door takings to cover copyright. This is the first time I have come across this in a small folk club, and were it to become general practice it would surely shut down 90% of the small clubs out there :-(

I'm just reading "Idle Women" by Susan Woolfitt. Its a true account of the lives of women who supported the war effort in the 1940s by operating narrowboat freight transport. I have to say its an unexpectedly good read, made all the better by her regular references to places on the cut that we know so well from our travels in Herbie.

Waterways Protests

You may well have seen reports of the many Save Our Waterways protests that happened over the weekend. We were unable to get out to our nearest one because of Jacob's birthday celebrations, but we were with them in spirit. In case you missed it, its all about the government cutting the grant to British Waterways because DEFRA has been fined £millions by the EC over mishandling of farmer's subsidies. Boaters are afraid that all the good work restoring and maintaining canals in recent years will be undone. We know this only too well, living as we do near the Basigstoke canal which was reopened after many years of volunteer activity (doing all the digging, lock repair etc.), and is now closed off and already slipping back into disrepair because of underfunding. If you want to see the benefit to ordinary folks of waterways development, just look at the transformation of Birmingham's Gas Street area. What was a slum is now a thriving night spot, and bringing in loads of tourist income.

If are sympathetic to the cause you can easily help by signing the electronic petition at the 10 Downing Street website http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SaveOurWaterways/. You can find our more, at the camapign website www.savourwaterways.org.uk


Nuff said

A reminder of a sticky adventure

This is a picture of Olive, a converted Humber Keel that resides at Cowley on the Grand Union. We pass her every time we go North from our base. A good number of years ago I had the chance of a trip on her, and an interesting trip it was!

Olive is the floating home of a friend (Dave 1) of a friend (Dave 2), and she was due to have her bottom scraped, inspected and blacked. Being such a big boat, it was decided that the best way to get her out of the water was to take down onto the Thames to Isleworth, where she could be floated onto supports which would be exposed at low tide. So that was the plan.

I was recruited, with Dave2 to help through the Locks on the way to the Thames, and invited to do a turn on the tiller on the way. Everything about Olive is huge. To operate the tiller, which was about 8ft long, you couldn't just stand still and move it with your arm, you had to walk side to side across the deck! Getting under bridges was a matter of ducking down low. Dave1 was a bit concerned about the low bridge on the tidal stretch at Brenford, and we knew we had to wait until the tide was right to get through.

All went well until we arrived at our first lock (Norwood top lock on the GU, where we went through on Herbie a few days ago). getting in to the lock was fine, although Olive was about 14ft1 in wide and the lock was only a smidge wider. The water was duly drawn off and Olive descended gracefully to the lower level. Gates open and off we go, - except that we didn't! The lock sides obviously narrowed at some point and Olive was stuck. We tried full power to push her through. No deal.

Dave 1 was getting anxious at this point. His home was jammed in a lock.

We decided to refill the lock, back Olive out at the top, and think what to do next. The problem was that this did no good as Olive was still stuck. A quick phone call to BW was made and an operative appeared shortly. "I know Olive has been through this lock a few years back", he said,"but I think the lock sides have bowed in a bit since. We'll open all the paddles and try and flush her through." So the bottom gates were opened, all the sluices were opened, and a tremendous force of water surged through the lock. Still no joy. Olive was well and truly jammed.

"We'll have to pull her back out at the top" said Mr BW, "I'll go and get a work boat and pull her out. There's one moored just up the way." In only a few minutes he was back on a little blue tug thingy and a big rope. The rope was tied fast to Olive and with a tremendous splashing and churning, the little tug with its big engine strained at the rope. Tighter and tighter it went, until with a loud crack the rope gave way. Had the rope hit any of us at that point it might have killed us, such was the speed at which it flew.

By now we had gathered quite a few onlookers, it being a sunny weekend day. Various suggestions were made, such as taking an angle grinder to the lock wall, or applying a layer of grease to it. Dave 1 was not amused. This was his home we were talking about.

An hour passed, with various attempts at this and that, and a queue of boats was forming, waiting to use the lock. Things were looking desperate. Suddenly, someone said, "I can see her moving", and sure enough, for no explicable reason Olive seemed to have freed herself! Dave 1 was decisive. "Right, "he said, "we're going back home. We'll never get through all these locks. I'll have to have the bottom done somewhere else." Out of the lock we backed, Olive was turned and we set off back towards Cowley, which Dave1 not a happy bunny.

It was now getting very late and when we arrived back at Cowley it was pitch dark. Amazingly we managed to turn Olive and squeeze her into her moorings (which only have inches to spare at either end) by torchlight.

Well, that's the story. Olive's bottom today looks like it has had its clean up, probably in the dry dock at Uxbridge. Dave2 was pleased to see her when we passed her on Herbie last week. Whether she'll ever see the Thames again is anybody's guess.

Five more days afloat

Despite the short days and variable temperatures, the canals are looking lovely at the moment with all their autumn colours. last Friday and Saturday we entertained old friends David and Helen aboard Herbie. On Friday the weather was appalling! Very heavy rain and strong winds too. I got soaked just taking the boat 100 yards up to the boathouse to load up. Needless to say we didn't go far that day, just 2 miles to get out of the Slough arm and 10 more minutes up the Grand Union to a sheltered mooring near Cowley lock. Luckily, Saturday was really sunny and pleasant and we managed to get up to Harefield marina and back before dark.

David showed his skill at the tiller (he is an experienced sailor), executing an immaculate turn into the narrow entrance of the Slough arm on our return. Here he is taking us down towards Uxbridge below Denham lock, the deepest on the GU.

The colours of the hedgerow are stunning in places. Just look at the variety of shades in this short stretch of bank on the Slough Arm.

Having returned our guests to their car, we had just enough time to get Herbie down to the winding hole and back so we would be facing the right way next morning. It was a race against the rapidly failing light. At the winding hole we did our best ever turn, straight round in one go like a handbrake turn. We needed our tunnel light on when we got back to our mooring, but we made it.

Next morning our regular crew mate Pete Higson joined us for a cruise where we planned to break new ground. Up until now we hadn't gone further south on the GU than Bulls Bridge at Hayes. This time we were to go all the way down to Brentford, close to where the canal joins the Thames. Once again our range was constrained by available daylight, so that night we got as far as the Fox pub below the eight lock Hanwell flight. This is an attractive flight of locks, most being less than a hundred yards from the next. They're quite deep too, so by the time you get to the bottom, you've come down quite a hill. Part way down is the famous Three Bridges where the railway, the canal, and the road all cross at the same point (the canal being over the rail and under the road). Vey difficult to get a good photo, but here we are on the canal crossing the railway, with the road immediately above us. I'm not sure what went over the disused bridge you can also see.

The Fox is to be recommended, being just a few yards from the canal, and service as good a pint of Timothy Taylors as you'll get anywhere.

Next morning we carried on down to Brentford, and were all surprised by the countryside feel of it all. Only in the last half mile does London reveal itself with the mighty GlaxoSmithKlein building (the one at the end of the M4) looming over the tree tops.

Eventually we see it from the other side as we approach the basin at Brentford gauging lock. (Pete at the helm here).

The basin would be a good spot to stay for a few days in London - mooring is free for 14 days.

We only stayed a couple of hours. Enough to walk down to Syon Park and to the Thames at Isleworth where the speed of the tidal current looked somewhat alarming to us narrowboaters. We plan to take Herbie through there next year. I guess we'll do it at a gentler stage of the tide.

That evening we returned tpo the Fox for a meal, but they don't do food on Mondays so we walked on to the Viaduct, a splendid Fuller's pub nearby. The influx or Polish workers seems to have at least one beneficial effect here as the waitress (who was excellent) was Polish and there were Polish dishes on the menu. We had Bigos, a Polish hunter's stew containing sausages and pork and cabbage, and it was just the job on a cold night. The beer, being Fullers, was of course pretty good too.

Next day we had to get back to base, and took Herbie up the Hanwell flight in double quick time. The locks were all set in our favour, presumably because the last boat to use them was us on the way down two days earlier. The canal was of course full of leaves at this time of year, and sometimes the water in the locks looked like a thick leaf soup!

Before turning down the Slough arm for home we detoured into Uxbridge to fill up with diesel. At Denham Yatch Basin their it was 45p a litre as against 60p at our boat yard. So as we needed a hundred litres that saved us 15 quid!

Then the short dash for home before dark. On the way we got caught in a hailstorm and it got very very cold standing out at the tiller.

All in all an excellent trip, and we were impressed enough with the Brentford strech to add it to our pleasure cruising repertoire.

We're certified!

Herbie was retested today by the Boat Safety Examiner and we passed:-). Not without some difficulty I might add. The inspector's manometer kept showing a very slight gas leak, so I had to keep clambering in and out of the very cramped gas locker with a pair of spanners to tighten up the various connections. I was afraid of overtightening, which you can easily do with compression fittings. It took nearly an hour of tightening and testing until she was happy. Anyway we're certified safe now for four more years. All in all it cost £193 for the inspection, retest, certificate and report, and £30 or so for new hose, regulator and compression fittings etc. A good job its not an annual exercise.

Today I did my first trip from home to the boat by public transport (plus a 30 minute walk). It actually takes over ten minutes to (briskly) walk the length of the line of boats at our moorings. I think there are about 70 or 80 boats in all, mostly breasted up in pairs.

Buses are really cheap on this trip. I can get a green line coach from Bracknell to Langley (an hour's ride) for only £2 if I go after 11am. In January, when I turn 60, it'll be free! Getting older has some benefits.

A riveting picture

I couldn't resist taking this photo yesterday when I was at the boatyard. What a fantastic patchwork hull. More interesting than a lot of the new boats with faux" rivets. It's just had the epoxy treatment - very expensive - about two grand I think.