Boat Blog: Back to Black Horse……

Sunday 7th February

I know, I know, you’re crying out for more Greygal but we just don’t have enough greyhounds on board to keep her interested…..

Plenty of room to turn!

We’ve had the most indolent weekend – after saying a reluctant goodbye to Greygal we went back to the boat to watch some truly woeful 6-nations rugby before going back to the pub for supper! The narcotic combination of fresh air and beer (or fresh air and sausages in the case of the dogs) worked its magic and we were all in our respective beds by 10pm.

We can thoroughly recommend these moorings – close to the pub, sociable during the day and very quiet by night (apart from the odd Heathrow plane roaring overhead). We slept so well – Indigo Dream’s bed is extremely comfortable and is arguably the boat’s best feature!

The temperature plunged overnight – what a shame – it was so mild yesterday with a bit of evening sun to brighten an already cheerful day.

Blue supervising the turn from lock 95 - very important job....

Most unusually for us, we were up early and underway by 9.30am. Now, the big question – can you wind a 60′ narrowboat below lock 95 using the junction with the River Brent? Richard chatted to a local walker who told him that the chimney sweep who moors two locks up regularly turns his boat there. Apparently the entrance is silted up but it should be ok to wind provided we stuck the bow into the river rather than the stern. It all worked well, Richard reversed the boat off the moorings and turned neatly without getting grounded.

I was onshore with Blue, having made a resolution to read some of the signboards along the way – I was too busy chatting yesterday to notice anything! There’s lots of information along the towpath – well worth a read if you’re the ground crew. I didn’t get much reading time – Richard soon handed over the helm – he can lockwheel quickly on his bike while I tend to bobble along on foot, daydreaming and looking at patterns in the clouds and whatnot….

We set off up the Hanwell, falling back into our old rhythm – this is the first time in ages that we haven’t had a crew! Nonetheless we reached the top in an hour and 10 minutes. The dogs had a great rummage up the flight. I was pleased to solve a mystery yesterday – where does Blue disappear to between Lock 95 and 93? Well, the canal offside is flanked by rough pastures – perfect for greyhound rummaging as they’re well-fenced with no roads nearby. Judging by the tracks in the mud it’s a popular dog-walking spot.

Catkins - already!

The canalside vegetation is at its season’s lowest, so now’s the time to look around the ‘built’ landscape. It won’t be visible for long – I was amazed to see catkins already exploding out of otherwise lifeless branches.

The built landscape here includes a high and very solid brick wall which flanks the canal on the towpath side. I’d always assumed that is was part of the young offenders unit, and so it is, for part of its length; the rest separates the modern Ealing Hospital from the canal. According to the informative signboard, the wall was originally part of the old county asylum. You can still see the old arch (now bricked in) which used to lead to ‘asylum wharf’. Interestingly, the asylum had its own market garden and was largely self-sufficient for food. The wharf was used for transporting coal in and surplus produce out.

I’ve done a lot of work for the NHS in my career and always thought that the fact that health authority offices were often sited in old mental health units was no co-incidence. The signboard made me giggle – “the former county asylum now called Ealing Hospital…..” – QED

Look down past the lock and you'll see the bricked in arch which used to take the canal to asylum wharf....

The other bit of ‘built’ environment are the two branches a little way past the top of the flight; the first is unsigned but is, in fact, the Maypole Branch – named for the Maypole margarine company. Apparently coconut oil was transported in and margarine transported out.  The branch is now used for mooring – it’s good to see it being used. The more I find out about the stretch between the Fox and the Black Gorse, the more I’m building a picture of the canal’s ongoing association with food production.

The other ‘branch’ is Adelaide Dock which now seems to house a load of BW boats. We know that 10 years or so ago there was a hire boat base there – I’ll look that up another day.

Some instinct made me check the fuel level today – just as well – the needle was nigh on empty. Thank heavens we didn’t run out yesterday – I’m not sure that Greygal and A would have been quite so happy if they’d had to haul Indigo Dream to the pub. We passed one battered cruiser today, being hauled along aimlessly by a very listless crew of three. It looked as if a few of the great unlicensed had shuffled around since yesterday – we wondered whether the enforcement officers had been around. It’s difficult to escape at the moment though – Victoria Park is closed to the East, there’s been a bridge stoppage to the North and the Thames has been on red boards for the last month (the water levels are coming down now) so the native population’s been locked in!

There a whole length of cut wood on the offside between bridges 19 and 20 on the Paddington Branch - how come the narrowboaters haven't snaffled it yet????

Greygal and A commented yesterday on how sad it was to see the boarded up and derelict cottage at Bulls Bridge junction (by bridge 21) – I think they’d be up for a restoration project if the owner was interested! We assume it belongs to BW, along with the  crumbling building a little further along. This was covered in scaffolding a couple of months ago and we though it was being restored; alas, the scaffolding’s gone and the building is now falling down. What a waste…..

We had planned to stop off at Tesco’s in Bulls Bridge to stock up on staples (we’re out of dog food – this is an EMERGENCY) but the lack of fuel took priority and we headed off to Willowtree Marina for diesel. For information, they open on Sundays though they do shut for lunch between 1pm and 2pm. We got there at 12.30pm and were served by the very pleasant man who runs the marina. We went for an 80/20 split as the heating’s definitely beating propulsion at the moment.

I found a good footpath off the service wharf at Willowtree. Walk along the wharf (away from the marina entrance) and there’s a little cut-through (originally found by Blue, of course) which I didn’t think led anywhere but does, in fact, link to the Hillingdon Trail. The very muddy footpath has a branch running parallel to the canal on the offside and another which heads ‘inland’. The path is well-fenced (perfect for the hounds) because it runs around a rough pasture which houses at least three lively horses. The dogs didn’t really need another rummage, but they’d have only got bored on board while the tank filled so we had a little exploration.

The former Lyone basin (not far from the Black Horse), as mentioned by Gilby in his comment a couple of posts ago. Shame it's not used for mooring - it would be a great spot.

The Hillingdon Trail would warrant a longer expedition – I’m not sure how you access the trail from the towpath side here – there aren’t any bridges in the immediate vicinity of the marina. Looking at the map, I guess that Bridge 19 would be the nearest access. Mind you, there’s no shortage of interest for the dogs along the whole stretch from the Fox to the Black Horse.

Another narrowboat caught up with us at the service wharf – I didn’t see the boat’s name but the crew were very complementary about Indigo Dream’s engine, which they reckoned sounded very smooth, like new, in fact. That’s not bad for a 4-year old boat with a few miles on the clock! Their compliments made them top people in our books.

By now the whole crew was hungry – the only provisions on board were milk for our lattes and a more than half-eaten pack of chocolate digestives and, as I mentioned, NO DOG FOOD. We made haste to Black Horse for lunch and Scotland/France rugby on the big screen. We forced ourselves to leave during the first half – we could have easily stayed there all afternoon but we needed to get home – the dogs were seriously tired and we were in a state of contentment so profound that the M25 was becoming increasingly unappealing.

So well-behaved though they do take up a bit of space.....

Luckily we had a good drive home and the dogs collapsed onto their beds – too tired even to eat whilst we caught the last of the rugby – definitely the match of the weekend. I kept them at home on Monday – not that they noticed – apart from 5 minutes of activity here and there they’ve been happy in their beds. As I mentioned in the last post – Lou’s not been well – her kidney infection was confirmed on Saturday so she’s now on antibiotics and strong painkillers. I was worried about her today – she was so still this afternoon that I thought she was on her way out, but she was just weary and too comfortable to move from her thick nest of duvets and sheepskins. I wrapped her up in a warm blanket – that’s one happy dog…….

Blue also likes to spread out.....

Boat Blog: by our favourite guest blogger…..

Husband? Check. Greyhounds? Check. Narrowboat? Check.

So many crew and so much water! The flight was full to overflowing.....

Fantastic, Greygal is back in action and ready to go. But hang on a sec, what’s this? The husband is half a foot taller and bearded. The dogs are no longer Susie, Miffy, Monty, Arthur and Ranger but Lou and Blue. And the flipping boat’s turned blue. Oh no, hang on a sec, panic over – I’m on my Southern floating residence, not my northern one. That means I’ve got fed up of waiting to return to Sowerby Bridge and, in desperate need of a cruising fix, I’ve thrown myself upon the mercy of my good pals and fellow grey lovers, Sue and Richard of Indigo Dream. Phew, glad that’s sorted. And what a Saturday it was! Richard’s cunning plan meant a 10am pick up for me and A from the Fox pub at Hanwell, a quick drive back to the Black Horse moorings and a prompt get-away after the usual round of kissing and fussing (the dogs, that is). The idea was to end up at the Fox for a late lunch, allowing me and himself to fulfil a (yawn) work obligation later in the afternoon.

Greygal and the greys....

Now if you’re expecting one of Sue’s fabulous travelogues, you’re going to be disappointed because I don’t really remember much. There was lots of talking, lots of coffee being drunk, loads of choccie digestives being hoovered up, and I seem to recall taking the boat down through Hanwell Locks without incident – always a boon, that, particularly when it’s someone else’s pride and joy. Suffice to say that it was an epic few hours in the company of people (and dogs) who are truly simpatico – generous and friendly hosts, knowledgeable boaters, grey aficionados, my latte cup really did runneth over. A fine lunch at the Fox rounded off the perfect day in my book – think it was the sticky toffee pudding that did it. Thankfully, my fellow diners thought it would be impolite for me to go it alone in the dessert stakes so A followed up his sausages with chocolate sponge; Sue’s gammon had a banoffee pie in its wake; and Richard thought the New York cheesecake would fill the hole left by his burger. The dogs – so quiet and well-behaved  it made me immediately want to enroll mine in Good Citizen classes – were rewarded with four tasty if slightly small sausages. I’m not sure it was enough to get them out of their high dudgeon though  – someone who shall remain nameless had forgotten to bring their sheepskins so they were having to rough it on the floor on blankets! I ask you…the indignity…

I just wish I could have slowed the day down a bit, it was all over way too soon. But there are mutterings and plans afoot – could this be the year of the great greyhound meet on the banks of the Leeds & Liverpool? Could this be the year of the mini-Mersey convoy? Could this be the year when we actually volunteer to make the coffee? Watch this space.

Photoblog:

There's a big bird's nest at the top of this transmitter. A (who knows about these things!) reckons it would be nice and warm up there.....

Always something new to see on the houseboats at Bulls Bridge - I'm sure this boat had a toy gorilla hanging there last time - the pheasant looks a lot more tasty!

Dog Blog: Dear Baxter and Muttley…..

nb Matilda Rose

Some canal or other

Somewhere in England

Thursday 4th February

Dear Baxter and Muttley

We’ve just got the best news ever – we didn’t have to go to class tonight – thank you so much for your tips, we never thought they’d work so fast. And mum took the liver cake out of the freezer for the class – so now we have to eat it for dinner instead – it’s yummy!

We’ve been working on plan B all week – you know, hobbling about, giving the odd whimper – just enough to make mum think we was too ill to go to class. It’s a fine line – we really had to concentrate so we dodge class but still get our daily rummages – it’s been very hard cos she’s kept us at home twice so we’ve had to cut back on the whining, if you know what I mean…

Anyhoo, it came time to go and we was just getting primed to whimper and limp around a bit when mum started groanin’ herself and said she had a ‘raine. Rain? It wasn’t raining – what she on about? She’s curled up in her chair and we cuddled up to her for a fuss – it’ll make her feel better if she keeps busy rubbing our tummies. It’s good cos we don’t have to pretend to be sick anymore – clever eh?

Dad says we have to go back to class next week – he says we’ve paid in advance so we’ll finish the course whatever happens – back to Plan A and B and even plan, whatever comes after B…….

Thanks ever so much

Yours gratefully

Blue and Lou

Boat Blog: A morning of DIY

Sunday 31st January

Richard’s original plan had been to spend at least a full day on the boat over the weekend but we’ve been down with some bug or other, so a morning was all he could manage. He had a quick visit to charge up the batteries and carry on with assorted winter tasks.

Indigo Dream was fine and Richard enjoyed coming back to her. The moorings are emptying a little, there are now three free mooring spaces between us and the pub though the waterpoint is still a bit crowded (it’s frozen so I guess it doesn’t matter) and the assorted plastic cruisers are still behind us. It must be tough to liveaboard on the cruisers during this year’s winter – they look distinctly draughty.

The batteries were at 78% – down from 84% so that’s not too bad. Richard left the batteries at 95%, but the central heating is set to run on timer for 2 hours every day ( 5 hours on Thursday as he mistakenly thought I was going to the boat on Thursday – I am not, I am busy being a lady who lunches!).

There was a tiny amount of clean water (<1L) in the cabin bilges and the wall in the toilet was dry (but discoloured). Richard attacked the toilet wall with a hair dryer again, fixed the two missing clips on the gas pipe, re-fitted the fridge, sealed up the gas pipe enclosure, improved access to the bilge, sealed up one cable hole into the engine compartment and emptied the trapped, rust-coloured but not smelly, water from alongside the toilet tank (which is in its own ‘bay’ under the back deck).

The real star today was the clear plastic panel we got to cover the gas pipe enclosure – the gas pipe needs to be inspectable so this was an elegant solution. The plastic came from these people: http://www.theplasticpeople.co.uk/cut-to-size-c-30.html – nice range, all cut to suit, very prompt service.

By the time Richard was ready to leave the boat, a tiny amount of water had percolated back into the same spot in the cabin bilge. It keeps re-appearing, which suggests that the first theory of water percolating down through the ballast  from when we overfilled the tank is now unlikely; repeated drying out of the bilges will be interesting.  The cabin bilge water is clean so it’s not canal water or from our toilet tank; the water’s not soapy so it’s not from the sinks and and we haven’t used the shower so it can’t be that. This leaves either a leak in our domestic water pipework, rainwater or condensation.

Against the leak theory is that the floor downstream of the tank is dry, the pipework was de-pressurised over the last week and the amounts don’t tally – we might expect a water depth of perhaps 10mm over about 4 or 5 months, but 2mm after a week?

Rainwater? Hmm we are not aware of any leaks apart from the mysterious damp patch in the toilet.There’s no staining around the windows/portholes

Condensation, well it is the right time of year and may account for the perception of having less water accumulating over the summer. To be continued ………

People have been talking about the grannybuttons effect. Well we are experiencing the Mutley/Baxter/Bones effect with a surprising number of hits coming in following our trips to dog training classes. Our dogs may well have more to say on the subject – we are to try and teach them the sit command, not easy with a greyhound!.

Note to Sue: Richard has oiled the hatch….

Local Snippet – fancy a cuppa?

I was interested to find a large Tetley building in Greenford (about 500 yards down the road from the canal). I know that tea used to be a valuable commodity and I’ve found some photos of tea barges on the Thames (though not along the Grand Union). The tea barges looked distinctly ‘dark satanic’ compared to their nautical cousins, the beautiful tea clippers, though I’m sure that both played an equally important role in delivering a good cuppa to the nation’s wealthy! Tea was apparently heavily taxed from the late 1700’s right up to the 1960’s, making it a popular commodity for smugglers.

Tetley is housed in a modern tower block – I guess that its site is a co-incidence – there’s no evidence of any relationship with the canal (past or present). However, a lot of land in the area was once owned and developed by Lyons, famous for its tea houses.  I can’t find any business relationship between Lyons tea and Tetley tea but the world of corporate take-overs is very murky.

I was surprised to find that this unassuming tower block is Tetley’s UK headquarters. According to one of Tetley’s websites, the brand employs 1000 people worldwide – I was surprised that it’s so few, I wondered whether they’d missed a nought – our local Tesco superstore employs 500 people…..

Anyway, Tetley was established by two ‘Tetley’ brothers in 1837; they later expanded their business to America where, apparently,  they accidentally discovered the tea bag. The story goes that one of their staff started sending out samples of tea in silk bags (cheaper than the tins they previously used) – the customers mistakenly thought that the tea was meant to be brewed in these bags, so the teabag was born (in the late 1800’s). Tetley is credited with introducing the teabag to Britain in the 1950s – I can’t imagine life without them, though the history of coffee might be more relevant on Indigo Dream

PS: Link to BW’s London Tidal Locks leaflet for 2010: It is here: http://www.waterscape.com/media/documents/22775.pdf I have no idea why Waterscape only links to the 2009 version when they have a 2010 version! Anyone know who to contact waterscape?  Last time I tried the published addresses they bounced.

Dog Blog: Dear Baxter and Muttley…..

Nb Matilda Rose,

Somewhere on a canal,

England.

28th January 2010

Dear Baxter and Muttley

We’ve been giving Boots on nb Bones some excellent tips about dog-training classes but we thought your advice was the best of all….

“Boots,
There are 2 approaches 2 these ‘classes’. The first approach is to do everything she asks, first time, everytime. This boosts her public ego, wins you loads of treats (although we agree you should get an upgrade in the treat dept), and makes you so adored that you get away with murder the rest of the time. The alternative,if you really hate it, is pee on the floor and growl at the other dogs. Be consistent and she’ll get slung out. Love Baxter & Muttley”

We want to report that we tried your methods this evening and they’re the business. Because Lou is top dog she really snarled at this excited thing that came up and sniffed her bottom – the cheek of it! She was very ferocious but she didn’t bit his bum coz we though that might be taking it too far.

I, in the meantime, managed a spectacular wee on the floor and all up the wall but I didn’t get a treat for it – why not?

Mum says we have to go back next week but, like you said, we have to be consistent. Mum says she’s stressed and has had to have a beer – give it another week and I think we’ll have our Thursday evenin’ free for snoozing again.

Yours sincerely

Blue and Lou

Boat Blog: BCN Bad News

Wednesday 27th January

Key messages:

The BCN Marathon Challenge 2010 has been cancelled

The BCN IS open for cruising …….

Editorial

I’ve just had a phone call from one of the organisers of the BCN marathon challenge to say that the event’s been cancelled. It’s not my tale to tell, which is why I’m calling this an editorial – there is no way that I can claim or wish to claim that I represent the views of the BCN Society.

There’s obviously been a lot of background discussion but as far as I can make out, the gist of it is that BW have concerns about maintaining the BCN’s water level and have asked the Society to avoid events that will generate too much extra traffic all in one go. Of course, that’s the whole point of the BCN Challenge – getting as many boats round as much of the BCN in one go!

We’re obviously very disappointed – we so enjoyed last year’s challenge and we’ve been getting excited about plotting a route which would enable us to……

1. Win (ha ha!)
2. Take in all of the branches that we haven’t explored yet – the Challenge was fantastic for making us explore waterways which we would not have otherwise visited, and I’m so pleased that we did.

I can only imagine how the organisers must be feeling – my heart goes out to them for the work they’ve done to get it to this stage. The only good thing is that the cancellation has come through early so hopefully there won’t be too much work for them in refunding entry fees and suchlike.

I’m hopeful that the challenge will run in future years, though I’m finding it difficult to pray for the wet summer that the Birmingham  reservoirs apparently need – Edit:  Specifically the Chasewater Reservoir which supplies a lot of the water to the BCN plateau and is being drained as the dam is not looking to clever. Thanks Adam for the tip. You can see Gordon in all his glory answering a question about Chasewater here

I did have a few wry thoughts about events that could replace the challenge:

• a walking or cycling ‘marathon’ along the towpaths, with extra points for finding sites where the canals used to be. (We would probably need to disqualify Captain Ahab to give everyone else a chance).
• exploring the BCN by canoe (maybe big Canadian Canoes rather than kayaks – extra points if you’re brave enough to pitch your tent in Perry Barr….)
• if the canal got to the stage of being dewatered (I’m sure it won’t happen) then maybe we could have a competition for the most trolleys spotted, or tonnage of scrap recovered (proceeds from sale of metal scrap to China to go to the BCNS….).
• Exploring the BCN by rowing boat Ankh Morpork style (fans of Terry Prattchet will know where I’m coming from) – the water in the mythical city of Ankh Morpork is so thick that rowing involved cutting the bottom out of the boat and running along the surface – another option if the BCN happened to find itself dewatered down to the mud!

I’ve been a bit flippant but I’m sure that the BCN will be open for normal business over the summer so if you get the opportunity then do go and explore its many branches – it’s a fascinating place to visit. I’d also like to thank the good folk of the BCN Society for trying to get the event off the ground – please keep trying in the future – the challenge is a great experience.

So, our 2010 cruising plans ,which were starting to revolve nicely around the BCN challenge and a possible adventure on the Thames with the St Pancras Cruising Club in August (more on this later if it’s confirmed), will have to be revised again. But then again, that freedom is what makes it so good to be a continuous cruiser and there is still so much of the network that we have yet to explore, and, even without the BCN,  many places that we’d like re-explore …..

NOTE: AS FAR AS WE KNOW THERE IS ENOUGH WATER IN THE BCN FOR NORMAL CRUISING – so don’t be put off – do plan your own cruise around the BCN – you won’t regret it…..

Photoblog:

A few highlights from last year’s challenge……

Hawne Basin - start point for the 2009 challenge

Views at Windmill End

View down onto Netherton Tunnel from the old main line

Wolverhampton Level

View from the Wednesbury Oak Loop

View towards Horseley Fields Junction

On the Wyrely and Essington Canal

Dawn on the Cannock Extension Canal

View from the Daw End Branch

View down from the Tame Valley Canal

Walsall Canal - bit overgrown....

The end of the 2009 challenge - Walsall Town Basin

Boat Blog: the mysterious leak(s)……

Saturday 23rd January

Richard went up to the boat today to investigate the mysterious wet patch in our bathroom which I mentioned a few posts back. It’s got worse since then and the bottom of the wall panel is sopping wet (though the damp hasn’t tracked much further up the wall since we last measured it.

It’s a mystery – the wall panel at the junction with the floor is sodden but the floor itself, the back of the panel and surrounding woodwork (well, MDF-work) is dry. Richard took out a section of floor under the cooker (which backs onto the wet panel) and the floor is dry underneath.

We’ve looked everywhere for the source of the water without any success – our latest theory is that it’s condensation. We can’t find a plumbing leak (not there anyway!),  and it’s not coming up from the bilges.

Richard partially dried it with a hairdryer today – we’ll see what happens next……

Unconnected with our bathroom panel, we may have a leak somewhere else – there were about 2 or 3 litres of clean water in our cabin bilge though this could be water percolating down the boat from when we overfilled the tank and some water got into the boat out of a loose connection on the tank vent. Richard left the water pump off and the pipes not quite empty but de-pressurised to help with the diagnosis.

Richard had no trouble getting the Webasto working, he thinks that there is a loose connection on one of the 12V positive terminals into the timer but did not have time to properly investigate as he was off to see the Leinster v London Irish game later and obviously we had to watch the Ospreys beat Leicester.

Richard also continued our exploration of our winter home. Today he found a good old-fashioned hardware store and a very decent bakery next door to it. Cross the canal at Black Horse Bridge and follow the road towards Sudbury – the shops are about a mile away on the main road up by Sudbury Hill Station. The hardware shop (BRS Hardware 020 8422 3957) has a fantastic range of stuff some of it hidden away in tardis-like cupboards.  There is a useful list of London hardware shops here but unexplicably BRS Hardware is not on the list.

Batterywatch: 100% on Sunday 17th; down to 91% by Wednesday 20th; charged back to 100% on Wednesday lunchtime. Down to 92% on Saturday, long use of hair dryer,  wet/dry vacuum cleaner and of course the coffee machine took the batteries down to 84% despite the engine running.

Local Snippets….

I’ve been much impressed by Captain Ahab’s exploration of historic waterways and I’ve been thinking that I should make an effort to write something more meaningful about our surroundings, particularly when we’re cruising such familiar water (or uncharacteristically staying still, as we are at the moment!).

Sadly, though, I don’t have the Captain’s patience or diligence for historical research, so I thought I’d start by finding out and sharing little snippets about the structures/industries that have caught my eye along the way.

I’m not a historian so feel free to correct me when I’m mistaken!

A brief history of Greenford

We’re moored at the Black Horse in Greenford, a curious area with three distinct faces – the green spaces of Horsenden Hill, the industrial estates south of the canal and the low level housing to the north.

Every time I’ve cruised through here I’ve been surprised at the abundance of green space. Well, I shouldn’t have been – Greenford is an ancient parish with settlement dating back over a thousand years (apparently recorded in 845, then mentioned later in the Doomsday book of 1086). Back then it was a small settlement and it seems to have remained that way for many centuries – right up to the 1800’s the parish was still described as ’small and isolated’. Miraculously the old parish has managed to retain some of that green space, thanks to the green belt, and maybe to the geography of Horsenden Hill which rises 278 feet above sea (or river) level. So that explains the first, and arguably most attractive face of Greenford.

The settlement apparently grew around a church and a few ‘big houses’. The canal is a relative newcomer to this ancient landscape, which may explain why Greenford doesn’t feel centred around the waterway (which is where I think it should be, of course!).

Even the arrival of the canal in 1801 doesn’t seem to have impacted on the area’s rural facade. There seems to have been some attempt at establishing an industrial base here in the 1850’s but the dye factory that was first built here dramatically exploded (tragically killing two workers), so that was the end of that! Interestingly, the canal is apparently 100 feet above sea level – I’d never thought that the Hanwell flight (to the West) or the locks from Camden to Limehouse (to the East) added up to such a big drop, obviously they have to or or we’d have to re-write the rules of physics!

BUT…… (here comes Richard the Engineer)  how does the maths work out? Well not that well! Limehouse cut is kept at near enough 11″, there are 12 locks up to Camden each at 8′ so that adds up to a surprising 107′. We need to look at this again.

The industrial and suburban faces didn’t emerge until the 20th Century – far more recent than I would have imagined. The railway arrived here in 1904, but the greatest influence seems to have been the arrival of the then giant Lyons company, famed for its tea houses. With better transport and prospects of employment, affordable housing soon followed. I found a site with some charming photographs of the staff at the Lyons factory when it was in its prime.

In 1086 the population in Greenford (presumably the parish) was around 130; by 1911 it was over 8,000; by 1931 it was around 14,000 and 20 years later it was almost 33,000. I wonder what it is now? Small wonder that one of the history sites says that “the peace and tranquil of the countryside in Greenford was largely lost forever”. But that seems like bleak assessment to me. Compared to the hustle and bustle of London, Greenford, from the canal, feels like an emerald oasis, so I’d rather celebrate it for what it is rather than what it used to be.

You can read much more about Greenford’s history on the websites highlighted here – the sites manage to be both concise and eloquent – no mean feat…..

Bored yet?

I hope not, in the next few posts I’ll be taking a little look at how some of life’s little essentials have influenced the area i.e. beer (the Black Horse), tea (Lyons and Tetley) and bread (Hovis)…..

Boat Blog: BSS Success!

Wednesday 20th January

Andrew Phasey, our ultra-helfpul BSS inspector came back to check the new gas works today – it’s all passed – Hurrah!

Now we have our BSS Certificate and don’t have to worry about it for another 4 years (hard to believe that we’ve had Indigo Dream for that long), when any issues should be ones of wear and tear rather than random stuff left over from the original build. Unless, of course, they change the standards by then…..

Note: the BSS certificate comes as two copies – we keep the white one for reference and the blue one goes to the licensing authority when we next renew; ah, that’ll be next December – oh my goodness, better file that blue copy somewhere safe….

It’s been a productive day – we got a local joinery firm to come out and inspect the ‘electrical’ cupboard doors and a very nice man came and gave me a rough quote there and then (about £80 excluding fittings) – bargain! We don’t know how much this stuff costs but based on our experience of getting quotes for a storage box we hadn’t thought to get away with less than £300.

I appointed them on the spot and he’s taken the panel away for his joiner to play with. We’ll post photos of the finished results; not that you’ve seen the original, but we’re so excited about finally getting round to fixing something that’s been irritating us for over 3 years that we’ll just have to tell you about it regardless. Let’s hope it’s a positive post – I’ve just appointed a joiner based on the fact that their estimator seemed like a helpful guy………

So, the gas is sorted, we’ve got the BSS and we’re fixing the cupboard – it was all going too well really……..

The Webasto refused to come on today – possibly a loose connection to the control panel. This is hardly surprising as we had to take it out of the panel (the one being converted to a cupboard door) and it’s been dangling off a coat hook!

I don’t think it’s serious but it meant that I had a very cold couple of hours on board today. I generated some internal heat by washing the floor (it was beyond description – just as well the BSS doesn’t include a requirement to be ’shipshape and bristol fashion’!). I had to go to the pub to warm up, oh yes I did, where else was I to go? New Year dieters won’t want to know that the Black Horse does really good chunky chips….

Blue and Lou, in the meantime, were toasting in Richard’s office, eating their customary share of sausage sandwiches

Boat Blog: BCN Marathon Challenge 2010

We received our copy of Boundary Post today (the BCN Society’s newsletter).

The exciting news is that the BCN Marathon Challenge is on again this year – put this date in your diaries….

May 29th – 30th 2010

We’ve decided to take part again this year and work our 2010 Odyssey round it – this means that we may not get so far north but there’s plenty to explore in the East so I’m sure we won’t get bored.

If you have a boat in the vicinity of the area in May then we can thoroughly recommend taking part.

If you don’t have a boat then get in touch via the comments – we have room for up to 8  ‘day’  crew members but we can only offer overnight accommodation to 2 ‘night’ crew, preferably people who don’t mind sharing a bed (with each other and possibly with Lou the greyhound!).

Health warning: we may be grumpy at 5am and towards the end of the second day!

Readers will already know that we did a ‘live’ blog of the challenge last year – looking back I can’t quite believe we managed that. I wonder if we could do the same this year. I have to point out that our account of last year’s challenge is definitely not a guide on how to win

I’m so looking forward to getting our application sorted – the planning last year was almost as much fun as taking part – that map of the BCN will soon be adorning our lounge wall again……..

Boat Blog: BSS Chores

Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th January

Richard went up to the boat on Saturday – it was an early start – the gas man was coming to do our BSS work at 9am. I stayed at home with the dogs – we’d just have been in the way and, as the hob was being fixed, I couldn’t even have spent the day making tea for the workers!

Note: The batteries, with the Webasto running for around 2 hours a day, was down to 50% – still lower than we expected but not as scary as the 2% we’ve previously achieved.

I must mention that Andrew Phasey, our BSS inspector, has been very supportive. I don’t know if all BSS inspectors are as helpful, but Andrew’s been generous with his time and expertise to discuss solutions with the gas man and come up with a realistic solution (without re-routing the whole run of gas pipe). The final solution was to sleeve the gas pipes running through the cupboard with the electrics.

The gas work took a surprising amount of time – the men were there all day and needed to go back on Sunday to test the system and sign off the work.

Note: We finally got our proper mooring permits for Black horse so we’re all ‘legal’ now!

I joined them on the Sunday as the gas man was due at a far more civilised time in the late afternoon. We went up for lunch at the Black Horse and enjoyed their huge roast dinner – what a luxury!

Richard had a long chat with our lovely neighbour on nb Donela – she’d recognised us as ‘the boat from the CWF forum’. But we weren’t the only bloggers out today – nb Marmaduke was moored outside the pub – her new owner presumably having discovered the delights of the convenient afternoon’s cruise from Willowtree marina to the pub and back. We didn’t see nb Marmaduke’s owners – they were probably in the pub at the same time as us but I didn’t quite have the gall to shout out “will Marmaduke’s owners please make themselves known” – maybe we’ll catch up with them another time!

Moorings are tricky at Black Horse at the moment – despite the ice’s retreat, the visitor moorings are still full (admittedly some were winter moorers like ourselves) so the water point seems to have become unofficial pub mooring. Maybe we need more mooring rings here, say on the other side of Black Horse Bridge – it’s a popular spot.

After lunch went back to the boat – firmly holding on to the dogs – Donela’s kitten has a distinct deathwish – he’d actually come on board Indigo Dream yesterday (no dogs -phew) – I hope the kitten’s not thinking of including our boat in his territory – big mistake!

Richard had to take down a few panels to give better access to the cupboard at the back of the boat. This has led to some new plans. We’ve been wanting to extend the doorway into the cupboard for a while – for some reason our boatbuilder put in a 6-inch wide doorway into a 2′6″ wide cupboard. Now that we’ve seen how good the access is with a full width opening we’ll definitely be looking for a carpenter to convert the panel into a proper cupboard door. Richard also considered the wiring and reckons it would be easy to install some more lights at the back – it’s a bit dark there.

So, with panels and wires strewn across the boat, Indigo Dream’s definitely got the feel of a PROJECT – who knows, we may even finish this one!

With the plumber due, I took the dogs off for a long walk (by our standards) – wow, the dog walking here is even more magnificent that I’d realised. I followed the towpath towards London (and Horsenden Hill), turned off onto the common by Uxbridge Road Bridge where the dogs had a good rummage; I then crossed the canal at the footbridge with the intention of giving them a run on the playing fields. What I hadn’t realised was that if you turn right (away from the playing fields), you reach Horsenden Meadows – hundreds of acres of open meadows around the foot of Horsenden Hill. This was perfect greyhound country – generous hedgerows for rummaging and wide open spaces for running. The meadows had the largest colony of crows that I’ve ever seen – their glossy plumage as black as holes in the universe against the bright green grass. Lou raced around joyfully while Blue rooted around – we had a slightly longer walk than I intended – I accidentally went one field too far, but the dogs had a great time.

So, here’s a message for F & F on Caxton – come on down, there’s plenty for doggies to see and do in the big city!

Apparently Horsenden meadows are medieval pastures, now maintained by a mixture of mowing and grazing. Fortunately the cattle weren’t there – Blue’s love of rolling in cowpats is legendary! The useful information board showed a range of beautiful meadow flowers and butterflies that may be be seen here in the summer. If all goes well we won’t be here to see them, we’ll be on the 2010 odyssey. Never mind, the winter-short grass suits the greyhounds better

We were out for over an hour, just enough time for the gas man to finish testing the system and pronouncing it safe. We were well-impressed with the gas man – he was a personable young man, very thorough, conscientious (turned up when he said he would!) and reasonably priced. Here are his details:

Gas Safe engineer with boat experience: W R (Bill) Beauchamp 07966 402252 – he’s based at Perivale so very convenient for the Grand Union.

It was slightly less effort to leave the boat today – it’s a complete tip! We can’t put all the panels back until Andrew Phasey’s had a chance to re-inspect the works next Wednesday.

When we got home I found out that I’d overdone the dog-walking – Blue and Lou hurled themselves onto their duvets, too tired even to explore their food bowls; they slept through the night, unbothered by the foxes in the garden. It’s 12.30pm on Monday afternoon – the dogs are still fast asleep in their beds, looking warm and contended wrapped in their blankets – what a life!