Summer Jaunt 2018

Summer Jaunt 2018. 1

Beginning The Journey.

Tuesday 1^st May.

Here we go again on another summer cruise towards the Midland waterways , with no plan in mind except to visit Canalway Cavalcade on the way north once again and then Braunston Historic Boat Rally to do some marshalling of the daily parades during the weekend of June 24^th/25^th and meet up again with old friends. I will also meet up with my eldest daughter at Sutton Stop for a meal and a few beers in The Greyhound. Hopefully I will make some new friends and meet established friends on the cut somewhere/somewhen on the way.

I am travelling with nb Zavala, crewed by Margaret and Brian as far as Cannie Cavalcade at least, but after that they may be cruising the Bow Back Rivers with the Byfleet Boat Club. Having already done that some years ago with St. Pancras Cruising Club after the Olympic Games, I have no wish to repeat it, much as I enjoyed it at the time.

We departed The Pelican moorings on The Wey and were soon on the River Thames, with intention of stopping the night at Kingston, where we all ate at Cote Brasserie overlooking the river. I have to say that I cannot fault any Cote restaurants and I have eaten at several over the years.

Wednesday 2^nd May

We intended to stay at Kingston most of the day and lock through Teddington onto the tidal section half an hour before high water, which was at 17.20, assuming that Thames Lock in Brentford would be manned as usual before and after high water. The Teddington lock keeper was also of that opinion, so I phoned Brentford and spoke to the duty lockie the day before, who told me that the lock was not manned after 6pm, but assured me that the duty lockie the following day would wait a few minutes after 6pm to let us through. I did phone about 4pm on the day, but the lockie at the time was adamant that he was going home at 6pm precisely. Brian and I considered it and thought of hoping to make it in time, but the thoughts of spending the night on the mud outside the lock were not very condusive to a good night’s sleep. So it was decided to lock through in the morning at 5am along with Tristan III and MyLady, who fortunately had already booked a passage. I say that because Thames Lock in not normally manned at that time in the morning, despite being told the opposite by the Teddington lock keeper. The moral here is “Do not believe anyone, until you have confirmation from the horse’s mouth.”

Thursday 3^rd May

Rising at 4am after a poor night’s sleep is most unpleasant. It was still dark, but at least it was not windy or raining. Heading for the normal lock that I have always been through before, I was redirected towards the barge lock, which is far larger, but is divided in two by an additional pair of gates. The drop at that time was only about 6inches, so we were quickly through and no lines were needed. We were virtually on slack water with a heavy mist that could be seen lying just above the surface. With a constant progress without speeding we reached the GU turning at Brentford in 1hr and 5 mins, which was good going according to other times recorded. As we were waiting for the lock to open, the CRT van crossed the bridge with the duty lock keeper on board and he assured me that the lock was only manned because one of the other boats had previously booked it, which was very lucky for us. Any booking now has to be made with CRT head office 48hrs in advance, not 24hrs as previously. Once again the goalposts have been moved!

The Gauging Locks were soon dealt with by Margaret and we were well on our way towards Hanwell flight of seven locks. All went well and we soon got into a routine, with Margaret emptying and setting the full locks and seeing Brian and myself in before drawing the top paddles and then walking up to set the next one. Brian then opened the gate on his side to exit while I lowered the paddles on my side, before exiting through the open gate. I then stopped just beyond the gate and closed up, before moving up to the next lock, where I had to remove an orange length of ripstop nylon from the blades down the weed hatch. Whether this was a sari or not was debateable, but it certainly impeded progress for a while.

Norbury Top Lock was the last one and then it was Bull’s Bridge Depot that it once was when full of working boats. It was just gone 11am, so we were in good time for some rest and relaxation on almost empty moorings outside Tesco. Brian and I had a beer each before having some lunch and crashing out for a bit.

Friday 4^th May

I awoke feeling well refreshed to sunshine and the day became warmer by the minute, with hardly any need for a fire on board. Last night I cooked some Waitrose calf’s liver with a cider vinegar and cream sauce and tiny new Jersey Royals and sweet corn – delicious, but then I only cook it about twice a year as a treat. The sauce was a little on the sweet side, but I did not have any raspberry vinegar, which is normally what I would deglaze the pan with.

My note in Nicholson’s told me that it is 13 miles to Little Venice and takes 4.5 hours, so there was no urgency to leave this morning. Plenty of time to water up and do some chores, like watching the snooker!

At Bulls Bridge.

We departed Bulls Bridge about midday and joined the long queue of boats cruising into London. I stopped briefly to ask James on Tristan III if he had a mooring plan and although Tina did, it was for their boat alone. I lent James a Stillson wrench to release his very tight water inlet, which had seized up over winter. Further along Claire on M’Lady had a plan which she kindly sent to me, but because I was a late applicant, Stronghold was not on there, so I was still non the wiser.

Steady progress was made over four and a half hours, passing about four miles of live aboard boats breasted up as we got closer to Paddington. Of course the pollution with bottles and plastic bags increased too and several times I had to “chuck back” (quick rev in reverse and pause) to clear the blades, before making further progress.

Just after 16.30 there were signs of boats slowing down and queueing for entry into the pool to moor up. I was invited to breast up next to a 67ft Dutch barge called PAX and began conversation with the owner, Nathan Johnson. The barge was built in 1905 and he had refitted the interior himself with the aid of his wife/partner. For three years he was in Rotterdam and moored next to Valery Poore, who has written several books about her boating experiences in Holland and Belguim, which I have read and we have also communicated by e-mail mainly about her writing.

A little later one of the waterspace guys came along and suggested I moor behind PAX on the bank, because nb Manatee had not turned up and she was supposed to be in the inside against the bank.

I strolled up to the bar later and met John Fevyer on the way. Karen Cook was on the stern of her boat, so another catch up chat took place about her journey from Dunchurch Pools Marina. Jack Reay was on board decorating his boat. In the bar I met up with Graham and Linda Scothern  and John Boswell for a pint. Also in the bar was Mike and Jenny Moorse, whose boat was in dock having a new Barrus Shire engine fitted, so they were sleeping on board Pat Barton’s boat. All in all it was quite a sociable evening.