North Up The Grand Union

After our 'Grand Day Out' on the canal together, Sam and Sumana had to catch a plane the next morning, so Jeanette took them to Heathrow and then returned to Rickmansworth – but then joined us for a few days on the canal as we continued north up the Grand Union. No need to tell you that she is something of a canal enthusiast – just look at the picture!

This stretch of the Grand Union was new to all 3 of us and once again were surprised to enjoy remarkably rural surroundings as we travelled through Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Through Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted (where this pub The Rising Sun is beautifully situated next to the canal) and northwards towards the 'summit' at Tring.

Apparently, before a pump was installed, the old working narrowboats often used to have to wait for ages in dry summers, as the summit level keeps losing water down the locks both sides, to the tune of about 200,000 gallons of water per boat!

Fortunately (in some ways!), this is hardly a dry summer, and the pump is in action these days, so we reached the old British Waterways workshops at Bulbourne with no difficulty, and enjoyed a good Sunday lunch together in the pub opposite. It was certainly busy, with boaters and others, so after lunch we decided to 'hide' down the Wendover Arm just a short distance away. This canal used to connect right through to Wendover, nearly 7 miles away, but now we could only go about a mile along it – but restoration is actively under way! Here is an unusual picture of a new bridge over a dry canal – one for the future, perhaps?

Then down seven locks from the summit on the other side, where we turned left down the Aylesbury Arm. This is a narrow canal (locks only 7 feet wide) and we specially like narrow canals. It's not just the smaller locks (easier and quicker to work!) but the whole scale of things seems more human, somehow.

Some of the locks had water pouring over the top gates and there were several sections where we were cruising through a corridor of reeds. We trundled slowly to Aylesbury, where Jeanette caught a train back home and we turned around to retrace our route, but not before Val had bought herself a sun hat – proves at least that the summer has not been ALL rain!

Back to the Grand Union 'Main Line' and down some more (wide) locks. . . Some of the bridges below them were built 'double', apparently as the canal company expected to need to build second locks next to the first ones – but then the railways came along!

All the way down these locks until we reached the edge of the enormous Bletchley / Milton Keynes conurbation. Our map book showed mile after mile of lockless canal winding all round Milton Keynes, and we expected to have to plunge through as quickly as possible to avoid too much urban desolation – how wrong we were! It seems that the town was built around the canal, using it as a sort of linear park in some places and leaving it pretty much wild in others. A very pleasant surprise indeed.

After more than 10 miles of 'flat' cruising, we started climbing again, slowly at first with just one single lock and then with the flight of seven leading up to Stoke Bruerne. This is a well-known canal centre, partly because of the Canal Museum but also because of the way the village seems to focus on the canalside – it was absolutely full of visitors! Here is the top lock (with a disused dry dock beside it), as seen from the top floor of the museum the next day (Monday – much quieter).

We waited just outside the village overnight before visiting the museum and making the short journey through the hill via Blisworth Tunnel to the much sleepier village of Blisworth, to collect our mail. We could show you a picture of the tunnel, but that is just black with the lights of two oncoming boats in the distance. Here instead is the tower of one of the ventilation shafts, on the hilltop above! Lots of water pouring down on us from the tunnel roof – probably our wettest tunnel yet.

Just a mile on from Blisworth, and we were back on familiar territory. Our 'share' boat was moored at Gayton Junction for while, so we have travelled up and down the next stretch a few times before. Not bad countryside, but first the main railway line to Scotland, then the A5, followed by the M1 all seem to want to share the same space as the canal! The motorway is really noisy all the time!

Gradually we lost each one again, and fortunately the M1 was the first to go. Under the A5 bridge and up the last lock to the wharf at Norton Junction – here it is on a misty October morning in 2005.

Overnight there before heading west through another tunnel (much drier) to Braunston, where we are now. This is another well-known canal village, but probably has the worst mobile internet reception that we have found yet. This 'blog' has taken much longer than usual to publish, and we spent most of yesterday trying to buy some train tickets over the internet (and eventually succeeding). As you will realise, some different travelling coming soon – we 'll tell you about it later.

Time For A Major Catch-Up!

Sorry for the very long delay since we last wrote. No, we have not been affected by the massive rainfall and floods and are neither stranded in some farmer's field nor stuck under a bridge somewhere. Much more mundanely, we needed to download a major update to the computer's virus protection software and so used up our monthly allocation of mobile internet access when we were only halfway through July. Result:– no blogging since then and now that August is here we can get going again.

Here are some attractive little riverside cottages in Hertford, not far from where we moored. We started back from there towards London on the River Lee just after our last blog entry. As we hope to be back in the London area in early November (when Shireen and Frankie's baby is due), we looked at places where we might be able to moor for a while. Both the Lee and Stort have good railway connections to London, so this seems one of the best options for us.

We had hoped that some of our old friends from the Romford area would be able to make the relatively short journey over to the Lee or Stort, and several of them made a real effort to fit it in. In the event, Alan and Barbara were the only ones to actually make it, and we enjoyed a good day with them, going north from Waltham Abbey and back again, with an excellent pub lunch together at the 'Fish and Eels' at Dobbs Weir. We hope that we shall be able to catch up with some of the others later on!

We then did a 'marathon' run from Waltham Abbey to Paddington Basin in just one day – 18 locks and 19 miles took us 9 hours 20 minutes cruising! Here is some oddly pleasant scenery near St. Pancras. We wanted to get to Paddington in time to help Shireen move out of their rented flat. They hope to be in their own maisonette by late August or soon after.

Then back along the Paddington Arm to see Val's nephew Paul, with Caroline, Billy and Tom. We had a good day out together, only slightly marred by the pub where we stopped for lunch having changed hands (and character!) since the canal guide was published. Billy wanted to 'drive' – good job his Dad was looking where the boat was actually going!

And so northwards up the Grand Union Canal! Once we passed the junction with the Paddington Arm, we were on 'new ground' for us, and found that, like the River Lee on the northeast of London, the Grand Union on the northwest is also flanked by reservoirs and pylons – but somehow not so forbidding as the ones up the River Lee!

As we knew that we were going to be able to meet our Indian friends Samuel and Sumana in Rickmansworth sometime this week, we decided to get there in time to have an anniversary meal with our 3 'kids'. Adam, Jeremy and Shireen had all been together in Brighton for Saturday, and Adam drove them all up to celebrate our 35th on Sunday. Great to be all together – it doesn't happen very often! Odd to see our car again, too . . . we have grown very used to NOT having it!

Today, Samuel, Sumana and our mutual friend Jeanette joined us for a really summery cruise down the Grand Union and back again (another pub lunch!). Sam claimed that he had never steered a boat before, but he seemed to know exactly what to do and very quickly learned how to operate the locks as well. A nice relaxing trip for them after a fairly hectic 4 weeks in the UK before flying to the USA tomorrow and then back to India to the Sharp Memorial School for the Blind, a Christian school where they lead the work.

Bleakness and Beauty

You just would not believe that this is Hackney, east London! On our way out towards the Lee and Stort Navigations, but still very much in London.

And here is Shireen, complete with 'bump', demonstrating her skills at the helm of 'Zindagi'. She travelled some of the way up the River Lee with us and then took a train back to Paddington.

Unfortunately, she saw the rather bleaker bit of the Lee and missed the beauty to be found further north . . .

. . . and this is one of the better bits! The 'canalised' river reaches almost due north from East London, with the high embankments of endless reservoirs on one side and the ever-present lines of pylons marching alongside. Even the constant presence of the railway and various roads seemed pleasant by comparison!

And then, round about Enfield and Waltham Abbey, it all began to change, slowly at first, until we found ourselves in much more pleasant surroundings, like here at Carthagena Lock near Broxbourne – they even had hanging baskets on the lock footbridge!

Soon after that, we turned onto the River Stort and the scenery changed instantaneously, as you can see yourself here. Quiet, tree-lined, almost secret in some places, passing through nature reserves and small towns.

Unusual lock cottages, some of them with the coat of arms of George Duckett, who made the river navigable in the late 1700s . . .

. . . and some sections awash with colour from the exotic Himalayan Balsam which has spread along the banks.

London By The 'Tradesman's Entrance'

Having arrived from the Thames at about 7.30 a.m., we mooched slowly up the Grand Union Canal to just below Hanwell locks. Val's nephew Paul lives just a few minutes away and we had arranged to meet him (and Caroline, Billy and Tom) after he finished work in the afternoon. Our daughter Shireen came to join us soon after lunch.

Friday morning – Shireen had to go to work and we started up the 8 locks at Hanwell and Norwood Green, sharing the work with 'Polveithan'. Then a stop on the edge of Southall, where we serviced the diesel-fired hob and got it working well again. Shireen rejoined us after work.

Generally westwards along the Main Line of the Grand Union, before turning north at Bulls Bridge to join the Paddington Arm. This definitely did not feel like London! A very green and semi-rural canal, gradually turning eastwards towards Paddington. Here is an old wharf crane, still visible on the modernised canalside.

And so under the blue bridge into 'Little Venice', where the Regents Canal Joins the Paddington Arm. The Visitor Moorings were full up (probably due to the Tour de France and the Live Earth concert) but we managed to find a space – surprisingly quiet in spite of being practically under Westway and near Paddington station!

We continue to enjoy the way in which we can chug right into the city centre and find a 'free' mooring (included in our annual licence fee) while all around motorists are paying high parking fees and even the Congestion Charge for the privilege of staying in the same area.

Down Deepcut, Dramas at Woodham and the Thames

As we were working our way down the locks in the Deepcut and Brookwood flights, John (the Basingstoke Canal Ranger) was busy on his mobile phone. Then he came and told us that we might not be able to go down the Woodham flight the next day, and in fact might be 'trapped' on the Basingstoke canal for up to 3 weeks!

The reason? One of the lockgates on the Woodham flight was dangerously rotten and might collapse. If it did so while we were in the lock, there could be real danger of damage to the boat and personal injury. On health and safety grounds, they might have to close the canal with us still on it!

The next day, we started down the Goldsworth Locks, waiting for a phone call to tell us what had been decided at a site meeting at the damaged lockgate.

Eventually we had the news. They were going to let us down the locks, but we would have to get out of the boat while going through the lock, and it would be hauled through on ropes. In the event, it was very mundane, no drama, no danger. But we were the last boat down the flight and the canal has been closed since then.

It seems to sum up the negative side of this beautiful canal. The maintenance of locks seems to be on a 'fire-fighting' basis, lurching from crisis to crisis with insufficient finance, making poor use of the Rangers' time and efforts. What a pity – but at least we did see it all – really lovely!

Back down onto the River Wey and down to the Thames at Shepperton again, to be faced with a swirling 'whirlpool' of water where the Wey joins the flow from the weir on the Thames. It looked like our fears might be true and we would have to wait there for the level and current to subside. Meanwhile, 'Zindagi' was surrounded by foam!

After a comfortable (but rather 'wavey') night, we phoned up Sunbury Lock (the next one downstream) and were pleasantly surprised to hear that there were NO warning boards out and we could go on downstream – so down we went, and found moorings just a few hundred yards above Teddington Lock, ready to start at 6.15 the next morning to catch the high spring tide.

So here we all are in the lock early on Thursday. If you look carefully you can see that lifejackets are in evidence – these and an anchor are essentials for the tidal Thames. Six narrowboats and one big Dutch barge – and still plenty of spare space in this enormous lock. Quite unintentionally, we found ourselves at the front of the lock with the Dutch barge, and so were the first out of it and therefore 'leading the convoy' down this tidal reach of the Thames to Brentford Lock.

After the fairly strong flows on the river above Teddington, the water below was like a millpond with very little movement. It was just about high tide, but the ebb was due to start soon!

Very odd, being the front boat of this small flotilla chugging slowly down a quiet and empty Thames at this early hour!

It took about an hour to travel down to Brentford, and soon the still waters began to flow faster as the ebb tide started. As we had not been this way before and were at the front of the convoy, we had some uncertain moments trying to spot the entrance to the Grand Union Canal at Brentford, as it slants back almost invisibly on the left. When we had seen it, we had to cut across the ever-increasing stream and back against the current to enter the channel. Perhaps a little scary, but no real problem!

So, back on the British Waterways (BW) canals after a long time on the Thames and other waterways. We had left BW territory at Oxford on the 18th of May – seven weeks ago!

Wimbledon and Wildlife

Late June, sunshine (and showers!) – if we were back in Devon, Val would be dividing her time between picking strawberries and watching Wimbledon . . .

No strawberries to pick (and sadly we hear that the rain has damaged the Lapford crop really badly), but Wimbledon is still available! Here she is watching Tim Henman before he lost his match.

. . . and you get your first glimpse of the inside of 'Zindagi'. This is the view in from the front doors to the 'living room', complete with sofa, woodburner, TV and video. The bookcase is out of the picture on the right, and the washing is more often just outside the front doors!

Meanwhile, Dave was out looking for the 'other' end of Greywell Tunnel but found some other treasures first, while getting not-quite-lost in the woods. A Fritillary butterfly in the woodland sunshine and a young roebuck in a clearing.

You Can't Go In There !

Oh Yes, we CAN! But only just, as there were only one or two inches to spare – this is why we had to strip 'Zindagi' right down as low as possible. This bridge (at Fleet in Hampshire) is allegedly only 5'9" high (minimum), but we got through OK – the lowest bridge we have been under yet, though there were two earlier ones at 5'10". We even took out the tiller pin in case it snagged and snapped.

What about this, then? This is way too low to get under, but it is an electrically-operated lift bridge, so Dave just hopped off with our trusty British Waterways key and operated the controls. Such a quiet country road that we were not expecting to stop any traffic, but there was one car waiting by the time we were through.

But there is a limit! Not far from the lift bridge, we reached the present limit of navigation of the Basingstoke Canal, near the ruins of Odiham (King John's) Castle and marked by a line of floats – and ducks! A few hundred yards along the increasingly overgrown canal is the eastern portal of Greywell Tunnel, which collapsed in the 1930s and now has an important population of bats.

After much searching, Dave found the other end of the tunnel, almost invisible in the undergrowth but protected by a barrier. Although the canal is still visible there, it is many years since any boats went along it and no restoration seems likely.

Somewhere else we may not be able to go is the Thames! We phoned the Lower Thames Office on Wednesday and they told us that the recent heavy rain (which has not affected us too much) means that the yellow boards are out again, with every prospect of moving to 'red boards' very soon. Maybe we shall find ourselves waiting at Shepperton when we leave the Basingstoke and the River Wey next week. A minor setback – nothing compared to the floods elsewhere!