Navigation by pubs

I just came across an amusing waterways map of the greater London area on the web site of the London Waterways Recovery Group. I'll leave you to follow the link rather than risk infringing their copyriht by putting the map here. Suffice it to say I like it very much as it uses pubs as the only landmarks and copies the familiar London Transport map style.

Here's a picture of another pub landmark lurking behind a weeping willow.

The Rising Sun heralds our entrance to Berkhamstead, a town well endowed with pubs, none of which (amazingly) we have yet sampled! Must put that right this year.

Time and (Semi) Tide

Signs of spring and thoughts of trips to come. March 1st and the daffodils are out on the roundabouts and roadsides near us. British Waterways is nearing the end of its annual stoppage programme and we'll have a free run up the canal again.

I've been researching the journey up the Thames to Oxford and beyond. We have to buy an additional visitors boat licence for this, costing £75 for 15 days. Ouch! Should we wish to venture up the Wey Navigation (belonging to the National Trust) on our way past, that would be another £26 for 3 days or £51 for 7 days. Hmmm. All that is on top of our standard BW licence which this year is £540 odd. At least with the BW licence you can moor overnight almost anywhere on the canals for free. On the Thames you often have to pay a few quid.

Just before we enter the Thames from the canal, we go through a short stretch described as "semi tidal". I had to find out what this means. The Thames itself at Brentford is fully tidal and sealed off from the canal by a lock. Surplus water in the canal spills over a weir alongside the lock. When the tide below the lock goes out, the level in the canal stays at the level of the weir, but when a high tide comes in, it overtops the weir and raises the level above the lock. Semi tidal - geddit? Beyond the next lock further up the canal the tide has no effect.

Once we get on to the tidal Thames we dash upstream an hour and a half to Teddington, where there is a big lock above which the tide cannot reach.

A dream trip

I've been reading up on the restoration of the Cotswold canals, which when completed would link the upper Thames to Gloucester and the Severn / Bristol channel. For me it would provide and almost perfect circular route. Down to Brentford on the GU, up the Thames to Lechlade, down to Gloucester via Stroud, up the Severn to Tewkesbury, then onto the Avon through Evesham (near where I was brung up), to Stratford, then up to the Midlands to pick up the GU for the journey home.

The Cotswold Canals Trust has been doing sterling work in pursuing the restoration and are well on there way on this very ambitious project. It might well be another ten years before the trip becomes a reality, but if we still have a boat and are fit, I'd love to give it a go.

Take a look at the Costwold Canals website. Each year they run the Saul Canal Festival, near Gloucester, to raise funds. Rumour has it is that it is a superb event with masses to see and superb entertainment.

A somewhat larger waterway

We haven't been to the canal this week, but we did pop down to Portsmouth on Friday. An interesting contrast in boating scenes. How about this boat passing the local pub. The captain could practically reach out and grab a pint as he passed!

or the Mary Rose, still under a constant spray of water after all these years

I'm well pleased with the zoom lens on my camera. Here are two shots of Pompey's famous Spinnaker Tower taken from the same distance. We were in a boat at the time so the angle changes a bit.

Not bad for a camera that cost 150 quid.

Life on the straight and narrow

The Slough arm is straight, narrow and five miles long, and there always seems to be something interesting to see. Take this week for example. We've been staying on the boat the last few days but not going anywhere. That's partly because the Arm is cut off from the rest of the canal network for a fortnight. At the end where the arm meets the Grand Union at Cowley Peachey, they are inspecting and refurbishing the ARP gates.



"And what are ARP gates?" you rightly ask. Well after some research, (i.e. asking the good folk on the uk.rec.waterways internet newsgroup), it turns out they are Air Raid Precaution gates that can seal off sections of the canal if a major breach occurs. In that way a major loss of water from a huge area can be prevented. My guess is that our ARP gates are installed because the Slough arm passes over three aqueducts, which if breached would empty the canal between there and Ealing, where the next ARP gates are. On that section there are no lock gates to trap any water loss.

We went to see the repairs 9 days after the work commenced and all we could see was the fabric dams in place either side of the gates, so we don't know if the work is nearly finished or hardly started, or just stalled. Contractors boats were around, but it was lunchtime so no workers were to be seen.

There are at least a couple of hundred boats moored (i.e. trapped at the moment) in the Arm. You can see some of them in the picture. These are the ones at Packet Boat marina. The rest are with us down at Iver. To be fair though I doubt if more than half a dozen would have been out at this time of year anyway.

The previous day we walked from our boat to the other end of the Arm. The "basin" at Slough, five miles from the junction at Cowley Peachey. It would be fair I guess to describe the basin as unimpressive. Somewhere to turn round and go back.

There isn't even a good pub there :-( . Previously we had been only as far as the winding hole about 2 miles from the basin.

The rest of the Arm is OK and worthy of a cruise or a walk. Straight, narrow, and surprisingly quiet. The immediate edges are mostly reeded and there is plenty of wild life in evidence. According to an angler we met, there are plenty of fish, including pike to over 20 pounds.

At intervals there are also industrial sites, the biggest being the giant ICI paints factory at the Slough end. I guess this is where Dulux comes from. Surprisingly, it doesn't smell of paint, although there where one or two nasty niffs as we passed.

On the way back we detoured into Langley village with its old almshouses and the inviting looking Red Lion pub, which looks cottagey at the front but has a huge dining extension at the rear.

Back at the boatyard, Wednesday was the monthly craning day when boats are lifted in and out of the canal for hull surveys, blacking, repairs etc. Craning is expensive, over £200 per boat, but it does need a huge crane and a lot of manpower to sling and steady the boat. I wouldn't like to think of the consequences of a boat being dropped!

Watching the lifting is entertaining. It appears to need eight people. Four on the boat to adjust the balance. The boat swings alarmingly if the straps aren't in the right place. Two on the bank to hold the boat in line with fore and aft ropes. One to operate the crane, and one to supervise and give commands. The guy in the silly trousers is the marine surveyor waiting to do his bit once the boat is safely lowered onto the yard.

A final trip to round out year one

Insurance renewals remind us that it’s now a year since we took over Herbie (well 9 Feb actually). As a final trip we took out Steve, my best man thirty years ago, and Kathy Fordham for a quick run up to the Malt Shovel at Cowley and back. It was a cold but sunny day and once again we caught glimpses of the Slough Arm Kingfisher(s).

Time to look at our stats for the year. 75 days aboard, 523 miles cruised and 394 locks negotiated. Do you think we now qualify as boaters? I’m sure some would say we’ve barely started, but I reckon we’re not wasting the asset anyway. One of the things that has been nice is entertaining friends aboard, we’ve had 16 friends/ family members as crew so far, many visiting more than once, and we hope to increase that in the coming year.

Two more things we hope to achieve in year two are 1) undertaking a long trip (several weeks continuous), and 2) refreshing the paint on the roof and front and rear decks, and possibly also the name panel.

Back at Herbie’s base, we moor up against Lady Elgar, a beautiful boat with fine paintwork and some proper traditional fittings, including a boatman’s cabin inside, plus some very non trad things such as a computer workstation. Sadly her current owner is seldom to be seen, but her original owner Trevor Pavitt has just published a book about his travels on her. Trevor and his wife spent a number of happy years living and cruising on Lady Elgar and seems to have covered virtually the whole of the inland waterways system. You can see pictures and find out about the book at

www.trevorpavitt.co.uk. I dropped Trevor an email to say we were LE’s new neighbours and he replied quoting the paragraph at the end of his book when he and his wife finally walked away from the boat with tears streaming down their faces. Well, even though she seldom moves these days, she is still a lovely boat and looks in good nick. We tread very respectfully on her stern each time we cross over her to board Herbie.

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.