Lynx’s Diary

Sunday 25th September

Well, I’s got BIG news – mummy Sue has turned into a greyhound – YES – my hu-mum woz turned into a greyhound….

Oh sure, she woz sort of greyhound-ish anyway – I means – she eats a lot an’ she sleeps a lot an’ she far…har har har, sorry mummy Sue!

But then, THEN, she got a fur coat ‘an she gots big furry feet an’ big furry paws and a BIG pointy-nosed head – eeeeek!

Eeek - that's not dignified, not like wen we lies on our back wif all four paws in the air....

Is not good AT ALL wen your hu-mum turns into a hound:

1. hu-mum’s makes sooper giant hounds so there is no room on the sofa for US….
2. Auntie Sarah, who is hu-mum to me pals Susie, Miffy, Monty, Ranger, Sid, Henry an’ Archie, wants to adopt mummy Sue – but I though I woz Auntie Sarah’s favrit…
3. hu-mums wot turn into houndies has big furry paws wot it no good at all for cookin’ liver cake and oxtails an’ stuff
4. hu-mums wot turn into houndies is not allowed in shops so they can’t buy us hot chikkins
5. hu-mums wot turn into houndies duzn’t give good cuddles coz they’re paws is too big
6. hu-mums is not dignified like wot we is – they just duzn’t know to roach prop’ly…

I knows that Auntie Sarah helped mummy Sue to turn into a hound so I hasked her “how do I gets my mummy Sue back?”

She sed I hads to say the magic word – “woofacadabra” wot is qwite hard to say, but me, Lou and Ty practised and sed it all together then mummy Sue’s fur fell off and she woz a hu-mum again!

Mummy Sue sez that if all retired houdies gets their own hu-mum than she never has to turn into a greyhounds agen – pleeze ev’rybody – adopt a greyhound qwik so I’s get to keep my hu-mum….

She tooked up the whole sofa!!!!

Look at them ears - our ears is never all skewiff like that....

Auntie Sarah tooked good care of mummy Sue wen she woz a hounds but I fink Auntie Sarah should look after proper hounds like ME....

Huh, I's already told prime-minister Cami-knickers that greyhounds is important - no need for mummy Sue to parade by his big house too....

We luves our hu-mum best wen she's just the way she is.....

Boat Blog: The Thames Festival Flotilla

Saturday 10th September

Leaving West India Dock en masse...

We slept well at West India Dock, despite the roaring of the aeroplanes taking off from City Airport – it was all part of the Docklands experience!

I think we were all rather chastened by yesterday’s experience, however we resolved to do better with the aid of some new instructions from Andrew to reflect the discussions during last night’s debrief and some informal agreements between the skippers in each row.

We were awake early, though we wouldn’t be locking out of the dock until 9am. We were expecting a different crew today – Sarah (aka Greygal) and Andy, though minus their hounds. It’s too long a time between landfalls and having seen Sarah and Andy struggling to clamber over the four boats between us and the shore I think we’d have definitely been fishing hounds out of the water if they’d brought their pack. They arrived early enough for coffee and bacon sarnies before we set off for the lock.

Seeing our raft of boats moving off along the dock ready for the turn into the lock was a thrilling sight – imagine how it will be at the jubilee with 200 narrowboats! We’d moored up in random order and entered the lock in similar fashion. The plan was to lock down to the river and then sort ourselves into numerical order as we cruised round the Isle of Dogs. There would be plenty of time – we entered the tideway soon after the tide had turned inwards and rather than moor up mid-river as we’d done yesterday we would, instead, cruise upstream at a snail’s pace to our muster point at Barn Elm Reach.

Well, it gave us time to look, make coffee, eat pastries and look some more – we might even rival the greyhound’s olympic looking team! But there’s always plenty to see on the Thames and a bit of banter to be exchanged with fellow boaters as we jostled into position. The conditions were good – overcast but with very little wind to trouble us. The waters were calm – as they often are in  the morning before the commercial traffic carves the surface up later.

Getting into order....

It seemed to take an age to crawl up to our muster point but we got there in good time – again, perfect for lunch before the main event. As we found out yesterday, just getting to Barn Elms is a cruise in itself, so no wonder that the crew felt as if they’d earned a little snooze. But there was work to be done. Today’s formation was part of the Mayor’s Thames Festival and we would be the tail end of a flotilla of a 140 boats of all different types – rowers at the front, cruisers, historic boats, dutch barges and the narrowboats bringing up the rear. Now, you might have thought this was an insult but we were rather relieved after yesterday’s attempt at co-ordinated cruising – can you imagine being in the middle with boats bunching up in front and others running into your rear!

Anyway, as part of the festival, we’d been encouraged to decorate out boats and, of course, we were obliged to fly our festival burgees – anyone not flying the flag would be escorted out of the parade. While other boats festooned their roofs and sides with bunting we put a Greyhoundhomer banner on the back. Because we were on the river all day, there wasn’t the opportunity to collect money for Greyhoundhomer, so I said I’d dress up in a greyhound costume and at least raise some awareness. This was my opportunity to try on my costume for size (I had sneakily hoped that it would be too big and that someone else would wear it). As it happened, no-one over 5′ 3″ could have worn it so I was back in the frame. The greyhound head was strangely addictive – everyone tried it on and the whole costume was surprisingly enjoyable to wear. As the only greyhound on board I found myself being lavished with care because Sarah and Andy were really missing their pack! By now the sun had come out (Hurrah!) so it was decided that I would leave the costume off until we got to the main bridges – wearing a (fake) fur coat is very hot!

At 2.45pm we peeled off from the wall and got into formation neatly and quickly – now our practice yesterday was paying off though there were still some minor issues at the back – it is a bit like moving off at traffic lights, those at the back suffer from the cummulative effect of all the little delays whilst those in front move off. That said the narrowboat flotilla looked really good and we allowed ourselves a little smugness when we heard some of the tupperware navy being told off for going the wrong way, then we caught up with the dutch barges and found them in a little disarray and complaining about having to cruise so fast. Ye gods, that was our convoy yesterday! But not today, we maintained our order and as the parade got underway in front of us we slotted smoothly into our places. OK, the change from 4-abreast to 2-abreast still caused some consternation but we were so much better today

The clippers had to weave through our line of narrowboats to get to their piers - Strictly Come Cruising 🙂

Our spirits soared and as we approached London proper – I put on my greyhound costume and Sarah joined me on the bow because everyone knows that greyhounds need hu-mums and aunties to look after them. Sarah did a brilliant job – she told me exactly when to put the greyhound head on, which direction to wave and when to hang on to the boat when the water got a bit choppy. She also told me when I could take the greyhound head off – it’s  a bit stuffy in there and it was nice to get some air below the bridges before putting it back on for my audience. Richard says that the crowds on the bridges seem to come alive when they saw my costume and waved enthusiastically. Of course, I couldn’t see any of this – the ‘window’ in the head gave me a great view of my feet but little else. There was nothing wrong with my hearing though so I was a bit indignant when someone shouted an enquiry – “Is that a womble?”.

I think that our only regret of the day was that we’d have liked to have seen the whole parade – I hope that someone has taken photos from the bridges so that we can get a feel for what rest of the parade looked like – we could see very little once the dutch barges had got themselves organised. One of Richard’s staff took some photos of us going under Lambeth Bridge – the photos are so good we wished we’d had people stationed at every bridge!

The rest of the river traffic was much more respectful today – maybe because the harbourmaster himself was supervising proceedings from his launch! At one time a little duck boat (old amphibian craft which runs road/river based trips) entered the waterway at its usual spot and found itself in the convoy – it quite innocently joined the parade until the PLA bundled it out – after all, it wasn’t flying a Festival burgee (and it didn’t have its radio on and apparently hadn’t read the instructions to mariners)!

Richard will have to give you the view from the helm – I was having the best time dressed as a greyhound and waving at people so I didn’t pay any attention to the navigation!

The view from the helm: I thought that Friday’s rehearsals looked dreadful and that collectively we were awful! [Ed: stop holding back Richard and tell us what you really think :-)]. But Saturday was so different. Yes we needed bit of a burn to get formed up, but no one complained about the speed today – though in all fairness we were travelling with the tide. The Dutch barges seemed to struggle at the start, which led to some interesting conversations on the VHF – radio confidentiality prevents me from saying more 😉 At two of the bridges we needed to make a transition from 4-abreast to 2-abreast – that needs r-o-o-m……at the first of the ‘narrows’,  the front of the convoy was slowed by the Dutch Barges so we ended up being bunched up just at the point where we needed more room so it became very tricky. It looked worrying from the helm, but I have to say that people did really well getting in and out of formation, remember this is not still water but water moving at perhaps 3 mph. We were meant to have 50′ between boats in a row and 100′ between rows – I doubt if we were spot-on all of the time; it is sometimes hard to find room to be 50′ apart. However we didn’t have any huge gaps between rows today and achieved a much tighter formation with reasonably straight rows. Moving together across the tideway to reach a particular bridge arch is tricky – hey it’s hard enough when you are by yourself. One boat seemed to need a bit of a push from a passing rib, and there were a few fairly large last minute corrections but yesterday’s practice and the lecture which Darren gave us last night about precisely which arches he wanted us to take really paid dividends. At Blackfriars the transition from 4-abreast to 2-abreast worked really well, though somehow the convoy wandered too far north as we re-arranged into 2-abreast formation. We did have a bit of lumpy water to go through, but actually it was easier then normal as the waves were so broken up that we could just ignore them. Even the wash from the Harbourmaster’s launches needed just a minor correction – nothing like a normal day on the Thames! Mind you there was a very short patch of water just below Tower Bridge which was well lumpy, we got to see the odd propellor out of the water.

Because today’s cruise was so much better, the call to disperse, just beyond Tower Bridge, seemed to come too soon – we were just getting the hang it now! It had been a real thrill going down the tideway in formation and waving to all the crowds. Most of the narrowboats were going back to West India Dock, but a few of us were heading for Limehouse. We were in the second locking and, interestingly, Jeremy the lock-keeper advised us to stem the tide and wait on the tideway rather than on the pontoons just outside the lock. We were happy with that – the pontoons are a bit unsteady! With no boats in the lock entrance, Jeremy could empty the lock quickly and we were soon back at our berth. The lock entry was easy but we did start from further off the wall then last time which seemed to be very helpful.

Will we ever get bored of this view.......NO!

It was only 5.30pm but it felt much later – it had been a busy day and a very early start for Sarah and Andy. We bid them a fond farewell – they were only a couple of DLR stops from their car. Our car was in Limehouse – we packed up quickly, said goodbye to Andrew Phasey, having thanked him for his organisation and cheerful confidence and set off for home. We wanted to pick the dogs up from Richard’s mum this evening and have a full day at home on Sunday. As  Richard said, it was an uneventful end to an eventful day – he was quite right, a gathering/celebration to mark the end of the event would have been great.

We learnt a lot from the rehearsals as, I suspect, did the organisers. I imagine there will be more practice runs as the jubilee approaches and we’d be very keen to take part – yes, it may improve our chances of being selected for the big event, but it’s also just a thrill to be on the Thames with other narrowboats.

We hope that our experiences on the rehearsals have convinced you to apply for next year’s pageant – if you’re tempted then don’t forget to get your application form in before the 31st October…..

Photoblog:

We took fewer photos today (too busy waving at the crowds in my Homer costume :-)) but there are still hundreds on today’s facebook album….

Skipper Kathryn and crew Sue on nb Leo - the formation was a very sociable thing...

Getting into line...

The Shard - due to completed by 2012 - http://the-shard.com/shard/gallery/progress

I wonder what's in there?

The Harrods Furniture Depository, just upstream of the Barn Elms moorings...

The waiting time at Barn Elms gave everyone a chance to rest, relax and put up their bunting...

There was time for the crew to have a little snooze - Sarah was missing her hounds so she had a cuddle with my costume instead!

Now that's what I call a formation of narrowboats....

The formation was going so well until we caught up with the Dutch Barge contingent who were a bit behind schedule and slow to get moving...

The harbour master on his way to sort things out!

The moving from 4-abreast to 2-abreast was still a bit of a challenge...

See the little yellow duck boat behind us? Trying to join the parade without a special flag eh? A miscreant like that will need keelhauling at the very least!!

Ohh look, an honourary greyhound! Traits I will be adopting - eating and sleeping prodigiously! Sprinting around like a mad thing and sniffing bottoms - ah, I'll give them a miss thanks...

Homer at Westminster....

The formation was in good shape passing Westminster - we'd lost it a bit at the last bridge but we were getting more used to working as a team today...

The menfolk were taking their helming duties very seriously....

While Sarah and I had fun at the front...

Band leading the Leisure Boats

The Leisure Boat Convoy

Dutch Barge Convoy

Narrowboat convoy coming round the bend

Another long range view of the narrowboat convoy

Galatea and Madam

Galatea

Frances Anne and Thamesis II

Panacea and Itsus

Quick, put your head back on

The journey continues ..

Moving further downstream

Duck Alert

Almost out of sight

Back of the Convoy

Passing under Lambeth Bridge...

A view of the 4-abreast to 2-abreast manoeuvre - tricky...

Moving from fours to pairs causes some congestion - it may be unavoidable - more practice needed I think...

Then all of a sudden the pairs start to come together....

A nice pair!

There were thousands lining the route - the landbound Mayor's Festival seems to have been a huge success..

Today's star photo - nb Panacea perched precariously on the waves...

And her we go under the centre arch again - what's that, Andrew, take the right hand arch, sorry, can't hear you.....

The end of the parade - the last few boats bringing up the rear...

Historic steam tug "Portwey" - she has her own website - http://www.stportwey.co.uk/

Boat Blog: A Narrowboat Rehearsal….

Friday 9th September

Approaching Limehouse lock with our cruising 'buddies' for the next 2 days - nb Leo and nb Hazell Nut

We were up and about early, but not as early as Kath and Neil of nb Herbie who had to get up at 5am in order to join us for today’s adventures! Neil has done a masterly summary of their experience from the crew’s point of view on Herbie’s blog.

Limehouse lock can take 3 full-length narrowboats at a time, so even getting 21 boats onto the Thames was a logistical exercise. They allow a speedy 20 minutes per lock – so there would be a gap of over 2 hours between the first and last boats in the convoy. As it happens, it may have been slightly less, as Jeremy kept the lock turning over very efficiently.

The first boats were due to lock out from Limehouse at 7.20am – timings dictated by the level of the incoming tide over the cill. Fortunately for us we were in the fifth lock with our partners for the two days – nb Hazell Nut and nb Leo – so we locked out at a more civilised 8.30am.We were to proceed upriver with the tide in single file in our groups of three – this would make it easy to break into pairs to take up our mooring positions on the wall at Barn Elms. As well as locking positions, we’d all been assigned numbers which we had to clearly display on sides, bow and stern, so that we could keep track of our positions in the formation.

We set off in high spirits – there is now a new speed limit for commercial traffic in the pool of London so we didn’t get a lot of wash from passing Clippers, but interestingly the slow-moving catamarans really seem to carve up the water so it was a little choppy. We are used to this now – it’s always choppy in the pool of London and generally gets much smoother upriver of Victoria. Cruising conditions were good – it was overcast but dry – the wind was manageable and forecast to die down as the day went on.

We cruised upstream at a steady pace, enjoying London’s iconic sights and waving smugly at the dead-eyed commuters crossing the bridges on their way to work – few waved back! There are so many photo opportunities and I can’t imagine that we’ll ever tire of the tideway – not least because it demands such vigilance that you can’t see everything in one trip or even ten! Neil took over steering duties as we went past the Houses of Parliament which gave us an opportunity to look round a bit more then normal which was great.

Opening the lock gates - to let the water out! It's a grand sight, especially from the bow....

The Port of London Authority (PLA) was in attendance, but conditions were so good we were surprised to be hailed by PLA Tug Impulse just downstream of Putney Bridge – there wasn’t enough water upstream so the convoy had to moor up while the tide caught up with us. I was very interested – we’ve never moored up on the tideway before (it’s usually a dash from lock to lock). We looked upstream and spotted the boats at the head of the convoy mooring up to miscellaneous bits of wall, pier and barges. We joined a raft of narrowboats tied up to the “Tidy Thames” rubbish barge moored in the middle of the river. The turn into the tide was fascinating – we’ve punched the tide before, but rarely near it’s height when the water really is rushing in. I was on the helm and the tiller suddenly acquired a life of its own and the previously yielding water turned to porridge – THICK porridge. I also became acutely aware of the current on the far side of the river that we turning into.

We came alongside nb Tamesis very smoothly, but only with many adjustments of the tiller and power! Nb Leo came alongside us and with our part of the convoy safely rafted up we had the leisure to observe the world going by. It went by very quickly – the narrowboats in the convoy behind seemed to be flying upriver – of course, that was us 10 minutes ago – wow, who could believe that a narrowboat could move that fast! We were fascinated by the speed of the tide – only too apparent as it swept debris up the river and formed a raft of trash between our boats – we released this before we moved off – wouldn’t want a log in the prop! We could also peruse the floating pontoons nearby – they looked like floating bird houses/roosts but I can’t find any reference to such – maybe they’re meant to be for humans but the birds have just taken over! Also on the environmental front, we also saw a HUGE barge festooned with cylinders – it’s one of two oxygenating barges which literally bubble oxygen into the river to keep it healthy – fascinating. In the meantime, an airship, as in zeppelin type thing, coasted overhead – all good stuff.

After half an hour or so, the PLA tug told us that we could move – the raft of moored boats broke up, crossed the river to join the upcoming tide and juggled around to get back into numerical order.

Cruising iconic London.....

It was a surprisingly short cruise to Barn Elms and the grand sight of the convoy mooring up in pairs against the wall. I was so interested in the wall, and in lunch, that I failed to look across the river to another environmentally important site – the Barn Elms Wetland Centre (based more around the reservoirs rather than the river) .

Now, one of the purposes of the rehearsal was to see whether there were enough chains, guide wires and other bits and pieces attached to the wall to enable the whole convoy to moor. We didn’t have any trouble finding bits to tie to (a chain and old bolt) but there was a thriving sapling in our way – one of a few growing out of the wall in different places. We checked with Andrew just in case the wall’s vegetation was rare or protected, then got the pruning saw out and cleared the way for today and for future rehearsals.

Now we had a long wait for the tide to turn before we could start the rehearsal proper – enough time for a good lunch and to look over the formation plans again. Richard checked the radio (we were having trouble setting it to tri-watch – long story but eventually we settled for letting it scan between the channels we need to use (10, 14, 16, 72 & 73)) and he also made sure that the engine/prop were in working order for the return trip. It was a funny time – it felt as if we’d already done a good day’s cruise, but the main event hadn’t happened yet!

At 1.15pm it all started again, with the convoy peeling away from the wall in pairs – we had to get into our formation of fours by the time we reached Putney Bridge. It’s fair to say that this took some time!

The plan was for the narrowboats to form rows of four boats, separated by 50 feet; each row would be 100 feet behind the row in front but the rows would be staggered so that there would, in fact, be a 200 foot separation between the boats in alternate rows. Got it? Many didn’t and there was a certain amount of watching each other’s business and questions along the lines of “what on earth are they doing?”. Of course, the thing with watching other people’s business is that you tend to concentrate on them, prompting comments from other boats wondering what on earth we were doing 😀

See, Kath and Neil look perfectly relaxed (I'm sure that Kath is not texting international rescue to winch her out!).....

We’d left the wall at slack water – this was not a problem for most engines, but some boats struggled to maintain the pace without the tide’s help and were worried about pushing their engines too far. It was a difficult balance – Indigo Dream’s engine had power to spare so we could maintain pace whatever the state of the tide; but some boats only just had the capacity, for example at a time we were doing 1200 rpm, another boat was well over 2000 rpm. For information, the flotilla will need to move at 6 knots (approx. 7mph) – this will be made up of 4 knots from the engine 2 knots from the tide. This is important – for the actual jubilee the pace will be set by the Queen (or rather, her schedule) and she won’t be worrying about whether a narrowboat’s engine can cope or not! It will be very interesting to see what the outcome will be – specify a minimum engine power or change the timings to make sure that the tide is with the flotilla?

For most bridges the formation split between two arches, but in places we had to merge from a four-abreast formation into two-abreast in order to pass through a narrow single arch. This was not as simple as it seemed! It demanded a lot of co-operation and some mathematical ability as people needed to speed up and slow down to make room for the merging boats. I won’t say it was bad-tempered, but there were a few niggles as a pile of rampantly individual boats and skippers tried to work as a team – bit like the “Weakest Link” quiz show really!

Within a very short while it became evident that we needed to know which was most important – maintaining our row or maintaining the proper distance from the row in front – it seemed impossible to do both! The other issue that cropped up was communication – the convoy had its own VHF channel and there was certain amount of chatter which, at times, made it difficult to work out what was an instruction to an individual boat or to the convoy as a whole. Some was plain amusing like the instruction to take the centre arch of a 4 arch bridge… I reflected that if the formation’s niggles could be solved just by answering those two questions then we were in for a much better day on Saturday!

One big test came when nb Morpheus’ engine failed (the swell had stirred up some muck in their fuel which subsequently blocked their lines). In previous convoys the normal St Pancras plan was for the nearest narrowboat to rescue any that were ailing. However we’d been told that this time the PLA boats would support any narrowboats that got into trouble. As Morpheus was quickly swept towards a bridge pier this became impractical – the PLA craft wouldn’t get there in time. Back to plan A then, as nb Dragonfly stepped in to assist. Nb Morpeus brested up to them and nb Dragonfly pulled them out of the formation and out of trouble – it was an impressive bit of boating and for Saturday it was agreed that the nearest boat available would provide assistance if needed, ie go back to the normal St Pancras plan.  At this stage Richard felt very relieved that he had serviced the engine the day before and that we have all those extra fuel filters as recommended by Tony Brooks – link here. Incidentally he had found a bit of diesel bug in the pre-filters, nothing in the main engine filter.

A beautiful bridge emerging from the scaffolding....

As we proceeded into the populated pool of London all inter-boat niggles were forgotten – we had bigger fish to fry, or giant trip boats to dodge 🙂

It was nice to be accompanied by the PLA though – they promised a right b”££”$%^&* to a trip boat that left its pier and crossed right in front of the lead boats – how nice for us lowly narrowboaters to have friends in high places! Of course, next June, the river will be closed for the parade – there won’t be room for craft coming upstream when there are a thousand boats bearing towards them downstream!

A short while after we passed under Tower Bridge, the call to disperse came through and the first 10 boats or so went on towards West India dock. Being in the back 10, we were taking part in a practice of the ’emergency stop’. For most boats this would involve anchoring, however at the briefing we all looked so horrified at the idea that they decided we could ‘stem the tide’ instead i.e. turn into the tide and maintain station using our engines. It almost worked – boats 1 & 2 in our row  (though we were in paired formation by now) had decided that they wanted to try stemming the tide in reverse without turning and we foolishly agreed to try that plan  – unfortunately this wasn’t the best technique as narrowboats can be a bit random in reverse. How did we get on? Well to hold still relative to the bank, we needed about 300rpm more in reverse then we would have in forward gear – we have waited outside Limehouse a few times stemming the tide so know the sort of revs we need.  In deep water it is possible to stop a boat in a straight line then hold her straight against the prop kick with help from the tide flowing past, but when the wind blew up we had no chance. nb Leo had stopped slower then we did but then managed to reverse up and past at more speed then we think we could have managed in reverse but when the wind caught her she almost circled us – getting into a perfect position to turn :-)!. We think that a lot of narrowboats would struggle to hold their boats in reverse against the tide but it may depend on the hull shape. However once your bow starts going off course you have no choice except to engage forward gear to get some steerage. The boats at the back turned their bows into the tide and did much better – so, that’s the recommended technique if the Queen decides to stop off for some shopping on the way (it wouldn’t be done to overtake her!). I’m not sure even now whether the PLA personnel on tug Impulse were laughing or grimacing at the sight of the convoy’s ragged emergency stop manoeuvre – there were certainly teeth on show!

I wonder if this is the Dutch Barge flotilla that are due to join the parade on Saturday...

With the last part of the rehearsal over we proceeded to the vast lock into West India Dock. We’re no strangers to big locks but this one really is a monster – the curved gates look as if they’re made of old world war 2 panzer tanks welded together. It took a bit of time to assemble the raft in the lock – our 21 boats were lost in the immense lock so it seems likely that this will be a likely entry/exit point for the flotilla proper next year. The ascent was surprisingly gentle and before we knew it we were further dwarfed by the expanse of the dock in front of us and the haughty towers of Canary Wharf above us.

We’d been allocated moorings in a little corner of the dock next to the lock – it took a bit of time but we all reversed into the spaces, well apart from one boat who got turned around by the wind, with four of five narrowboats rafted up in each row.

We all decamped for a dockside debrief – covering the main issues that needed to be solved before Saturday’s attempt. By this time, most of us had been on the water for over 9 hours and were overawed by the task or getting the formation to work – what had seemed so straightforward on paper had been very difficult to achieve on the shifting water. Andrew and Darren’s enthusiasm seemed undented and they seemed madly positive about the rehearsal – there were a few disbelieving head shakes but we got the answer to our questions (the most important thing was to maintian the row of four and the PLA would keep tight control of communication). We did have a droll moment when Darren went through, again, the formation to be adopted at each bridge – he told us to “go into single file” – when asked, he had to admit that by single file he meant two-abreast as per our plan!

I was cheered by the leading team’s optimism but by now I was getting tired. Neil and Kath joined us for a pint at the Gun, an old pub overlooking the Thames. but we weren’t tempted to stay – it was a bit of a ‘yuppie’ place and the food seemed overpriced so we walked back to the boat and bid the Herbie’s a fond farewell. I’m very grateful for their crewing skills and for the gift of their company. I really admire Kath because I know that deep-water cruising isn’t her thing, and their safety was severely compromised because we didn’t have the dogs on board (!) but she courageously joined us anyway for a full day’s rockin’ and rollin’ on the river!

With our guests gone, we set off in search of food in the soulless surrounds of Canary Wharf – the office lights are left on, giving the illusion of life when there is none. We eventually found reasonably priced pub grub in the Spinnaker pub but I was glad to get back to the boat and relax – we were in bed early – we had another big day ahead!

Photoblog:

We took almost 400 photos of the day – I’ve out a few on the blog and the rest are on Facebook – here’s the link to the album….

Are these floating nature reserves/bird roosts?

Rafting up to barge "Tidy Thames" - looking back, it was a very interesting place to bide awhile.....

I hope that this photo gives you an idea of the sheer volume of water rushing past on the incoming tide - I do have a 10 second video on my phone - it's awesome!

Keeping the Thames breathing - oxygenation barge....

Freeing up the debris that got swept into the gap between the rafted boats....

PLA Tug Impulse supervising the rehearsal....

At least we could all relax and swap tall tales while we were moored up in the centre of the river!

Nb Zavala waiting for the tide on Putney Pier - the convoy certainly ended up in interesting places....

Approaching our 'proper' moorings on the wall at Barns Elms Reach....

Don't they look fine - and that's just half of the convoy....

The main event - peeling away from the wall ready to get into formation...

Getting into shape - doesn't look too bad in this photo....

Looks good here too - maybe we just imagined that it was a bit of a shambles 😀

The moment that Morpheus lost power and headed for the bridge - eeek!

Phew - nb Dragonfly to the rescue - Dragonfly was able to re-join the flotilla later on....

Our line looking good with nb Hazell Nut and nb Orlando to our left - it wasn't always quite so co-ordinated...

And there's nb Leo on our right...

There was always a bit of sorting out to be done at the bridges....

What a grand sight - it is a thrilling cruise...

There was quite a bit of traffic in the lower reaches....

This was the near miss with City Cruisers....

The formation did get a big congested under the bridges...

It did get a bit choppy later on...

nb Helis and nb Temptress showing that you can maintain a formation under bridges...

The photo of the cruise - nb Leo going submarine - she didn't sink, neither did anyone else!

Half of the formation was meant to go under the right-hand arch but who wants to go there when we can all fit under the famous bit 🙂

Yacht Aviva - http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1055790 - swap your narrowboat for that???

A good view of our favourite watering hole...

There's a fearsome current around these mooring buoys at the bottom of the 'U' around the Isle of Dogs...

See, Kathryn, skipper of nb Leo doesn't look the least bit worried - mind you, she hadn't seen the photos of her bow under water at this point 🙂

Narrowboats turning into the portal of West India Docks...

How's that for a lock chamber...

Closing the gargantuan lock gates...

I assume that these are old depth markers in feet - we won't be running aground then!

The raft rising...

Andrew P's unfailing energy and optimism is at the heart of the success of these adventures 🙂

That's a great view....

Entering West India Dock....

West India Dock at night....

Boat Blog: A detailed briefing….

Thursday 8th September

Well, it was finally here, the reason why we’ve had to dash back to London and cut short the odyssey by about 8 (working) weeks…..

On June 3rd 2012, there will be an amazing event on the River Thames to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (QDJ) – a 1000 boat flotilla made up of a motley assortment of craft ranging from skinny skiffs to fat barges and, of course, narrowboats! There are spaces for around 200 narrowboats – if you’re interested in taking part then the deadline for applications is 31st October – you can find more information here.

Of course, if you know someone who’s likely to be taking part you may want to offer you services as crew 😉  At least three people per boat are recommended – helm, radio operator and look-out – there may also be vacancies for galley slaves, bunting erectors, dancing girls and other similarly skilled positions….

We were due to have a two-part rehearsal this weekend:

• Friday 9th: A narrowboat only rehearsal featuring 20 narrowboats and a wide-beam – the purpose was to check whether we could all maintain the required speed and formation and identify any issues that would need to be sorted before the real thing.

• Saturday 10th: A 140 boat flotilla made up of many different types of boat – the purpose was, once again, to check whether we could all maintain the required speed and formation and maintain the required safety gap between the groups of different types of craft. This grand parade would be part of the Mayor’s Thames Festival – we were encouraged to decorate our boats and I resolved to wear a greyhound costume and wave at the crowds standing on the banks and bridges!

We volunteered for the rehearsals a couple of months ago and during that time we’ve received a number of updates and written briefings – as we’ve come to expect from anything organised by the St Pancras Cruising Club. However an essential condition of our participation was attendance at a narrowboat briefing meeting on Thursday. There was a real frisson of excitement in the room as the skippers and crews gathered at the Cruising Association – there were many familiar faces – the most reassuring being those standing at the front of the room – Andrew Phasey of the St Pancras Cruising Club and Jeremy the senior Lock-keeper at Limehouse. There was also a new face – Darren from the Port of London Authority (PLA), who has a big chunk of responsibility for organisation of next year’s jubilee event.

Darren, Andrew and Jeremy spent the next 2-hours giving us a detailed briefing on the 2 days, plus information for those overnighting at West India Dock on the Saturday night. They also answered everyone’s questions. Their presentations were backed up by written instructions, plans and photographs of relevant landmarks. Although it seemed that all the possible scenarios had been covered, a few things had been left ‘loose’ – deliberately so – because they wanted to see to what extent the main event will need to be micro-managed. We also collected our “Mayor’s Thames Festival’ burgees – an essential requirement for participation – anyone not displaying their burgee would be asked to leave the parade immediately (as one little Duck tour boat found out when they tried to tag along with us on the Saturday!).

The whole crowd then ate at the Cruising Association, with people’s reactions varying from bewilderment to excitement. We were excited – we were certain that we’d understood the briefing and comfortably accepted that those things that didn’t quite make sense to us would become clear on the river the following day.

It is likely that the 2012 jubilee event will be oversubscribed, though you may want to read the next two posts and look at the photos before you decide whether to apply! We thoroughly enjoyed the rehearsals and felt very  supported by the organising team – it may be a once in a boating lifetime event, so if you can get your boat to London by next June then why not apply?

After the briefing, Richard joined the Limehouse Berthholders Association barbecue (I went to bed to shake off the tail end of a mid-week migraine). The marina’s denizens are a sociable lot and within a short while it was as if we’d never been away – Limehouse marina really feels like Indigo Dream’s proper home…

The Odyssey 2011: Day 48 – the end of the Summer….

Bulls Bridge to Limehouse Basin

Sunday 4th September

Looking back to Bulls Bridge....

I was up early today as I wanted to do the car shuffle before the London traffic woke up. I had to drive right through the heart of London to Limehouse then catch the train back to meet Richard – I hate driving through London!

While I was getting bewildered by the various road and lane closures through the city, Richard cast off and set off along the Paddington Arm – a canal I’ve cruised solo many times – it was definitely his turn to enjoy the Sunday morning peace of a much underrated stretch of canal .

I got to Limehouse with car and nerves intact – there is free weekend parking in Northey Street – a stone’s throw from the marina. I had a surprising number of options for meeting the boat – there being tube stations near the canal at Greenford (Central Line); Perivale (Central Line); Alperton (Picadilly line); Willesden Junction (Bakerloo line and trains) and Warwick Avenue (Bakerloo Line).

In the end I travelled to Willesden Junction – about 10 minutes walk from Bridge 7 (opposite the Powerday wharf). I got to the canal as Richard was banging a pin in to hold the boat – great timing!

We set off along the canal in overcast conditions – the rain was to catch up with us later – big time! By the time we got to Camden locks there was a seriously drenching rain – it made for miserable locking, though the locks were set our way with at least one top gate open (following the earlier passage of a trip boat I think). The rain had dampened the crowd’s enthusiasm and there wasn’t the usual towpath melee with legs being dangled in the water. We took advantage of the quiet and moored up briefly between the top and middle lock to scout around for some lunch. There are a multitude of waterside food stalls so it wasn’t long before we were back on board – we gave our waterproofs a few minutes to dry off while we ate our lunch then we set off again. Lou and Lynx were sensible enough not to look too smug when we donned our wet coats and went out into the weather – they were locked indoors on their sheepskins!

Bridge 17A - so this is the one that was damaged during the recent riots - tragic...

We got to the second lock and as we starting to descend I heard Richard yelling – a pair of boats coming up had quite deliberately closed the top gate (left open by a previous boat) and emptied the lock in front of us. What a pain! We were down the lock and waiting before they’d even got their boats into the locks below – their crew’s theory was that by turning the lock they’d actually saved water as they would be coming up using our water – they’re probably in the same camp as the people who think that water moves uphill when you lock up! Their locking technique left something to be desired as well…

Richard was quite cross but let go of his annoyance as we cruised along – especially when we met the “floating cinema” boat which we’d seen featured on TV the week before – it’s a novel idea and looked much better in real life than on the telly. It also cheered us when we found that the rain had stopped by the time we got to the far end of the Islington tunnel. However our progress towards City Road lock was halted by a long trip boat turning in the basin. We were perplexed – in our experience, the trip boats don’t routinely turn there. We reversed back a bit so that they’d have room to come under the bridge and asked a moored boater whether it was usual for the boats to turn there (after all, there may well be new services emerging as we come up to the olympics). The question taxed him – he wasn’t aware of anything going on….

Imagine our surprise when we passed under the bridge and ran straight into the bustle of the Angel Canal Festival. It looked as if it was a great success – the towpath was thronged with interesting stalls and multitudes of people. The waterway below the lock had narrowboats moored three or four deep and there was a unique assortment of little craft flitting between the basin and Wharf Road Bridge. We moved on regretfully – the festival looked like tremendous fun but we had to reach Limehouse today!

I’d been a feeling a bit ambivalent about getting back to Limehouse – here it was, the last day of the 2011 Odyssey with the prospect of a year in and around London to come. However, as we got to Mile End lock we were hailed by Charlie, one of our Limehouse neighbours, who was cycling along the towpath. He took a windlass and proceeded to set each lock ahead of us and help us through. Then we heard some more familiar voices – Kevin and Jan from nb Peace of Pearce, with whom we shared many tideway adventures in 2010 – they helped with the locking too, while we caught up a bit of gossip. It was simply the best homecoming that we could have imagined and I remembered how regretful I’d been to leave the company of these good people when we started the odyssey back in March.

With their help we were soon back in our familiar berth where we caught up with more of our neighbours. As always it took quite a while for us to pack up and leave – Limehouse marina was looking very fine in the fading sun, the other moorers are a fine bunch and I finally let go of my gentle regret that the summer cruise was over. We’ve had quite an amazing summer on some truly unique waterways – this year’s Odyssey has taken us from London to Birmingham and then to the Chesterfield Canal before coming back to London.  We have covered 677 miles and gone through 630 locks, not bad considering that we are back 12 boating days earlier then usual or in ‘boating round work’ terms, 2 months earlier than usual. Or should that be ‘working round boating?’ 🙂

But it is good to be home, and with BIG adventures to come the following weekend Indigo Dream is hardly going to have time to gather cobwebs…..

Photoblog:

The continuing ruins at Bulls Bridge...

The hounds were quite awake this morning - that's unusual!

The canal is indeed a green corridor through London....

This footbridge is finally open!

This development below St Pancras lock has suddenly taken a leap forward.....

Sculpture by the junction with Battlebridge basin - I've no idea why a bull...

The floating cinema...

There is a lot of duckweed on the Grand Union - I've previously only seen it in this abundance along the Lee...

The Angel of Islington....

The Angel canal festival was buzzing - despite the heavy rain earlier....

New islands in City Road basin!

Canalside developments are springing up - I wonder whether this is all part of the 2012 plan or a longer-term ambition to make the best of the waterway..

The timber cladding so beloved of developers hereabouts is not weathering very well...

Duckweed isn't deep enough to foul the prop but cruising through it still felt like pushing through pea soup..

Though the duckweed does make interesting patterns on the sides of the lock 🙂

The overhanging willow makes for a mysterious gateway to the junction with the Hertfordshire Union Canal...

Leaving a trail...

I think those are nice new plates on the top lock gates - a few of the locks below Old Ford have them...

The Odyssey 2011: Day 47

Cassiobury Park to Bulls Bridge

Saturday 3rd September

It's a hard life....

The day started overcast and cool – perfect for a long day’s cruising. We all woke in good spirits – including the hounds – though one of Lynx’s eyes was slightly closed – like all devious hounds he opened his eye wide on inspection – he didn’t want to end up at the vets! He had a reprieve over the weekend but a visit to the vet on Monday showed that he had a few tiny scratches on his cornea – probably from sticking his head into the undergrowth!

We had a leisurely start, closely watched by the crew of nb Imagine, who were waiting to share locks with us again. We set off around 9am, and they soon joined us – however they only came down two locks before mooring up in Croxley Green – their garage had apparently been burgled overnight so they had to go back to check things out. We had a pleasant trip through the rest of the park, spotting two fine greyhounds being walked above Common Moor lock.

It was relatively slow going through Croxley Green – there were lots of moored boats on both side of the canal. We were amused by the sight of a cat the size of a donkey on nb Odin – s/he was sitting in the cratch and I thought it was a large toy cat until it moved it head imperiously. Lou and Lynx were oblivious on board!

Indestructible! This gorilla has been hanging there for as long as we've been boating!

Being closer to London, we were suddenly overwhelmed by canalside shopping – we stopped in Tesco’s in Batchworth just for the sake of it!

There are some magical places on the next stretch – Black Jack’s lock and it adjoining cottages were as lovely as ever. The cottage below the lock has a huge collection of apple trees – they were in blossom on our way up and were now laden with an enormous crop of apples – I wonder what they’ll do with them all. The whole area is very welcoming, with scenic locks and enticing views towards the surrounding lakes. Unfortunately the canal is very shallow at the edges – I’ve often fancied mooring on the stretch above Denham Deep lock, but the edges are badly in need of dredging – I doubt whether the towpath side is even 6 inches deep. It’s a shame as it would be a perfect place for the hounds – especially where there’s access through to the Colne Valley trail and the adjoining lakes.

We noticed that the Horse and Barge pub, by Bridge 180 in Harefield, is working hard to attract business from the canal but we were so well-stocked with supplies post-Tesco that we carried on…

The past and the present - the lock chamber dated 1870 and the lock gate 2008...

We’d had a thoroughly enjoyable day’s cruise but the real world intruded at Uxbridge – I needed to get the train back to get the car so that we could attend a wedding party in Thame in the evening. Richard dropped me off at Uxbridge and I went back to Betchworth by tube, train and cab – the car had been fine and I had a mercifully smooth trip back. In the meantime Richard single-handed down Cowley lock and headed towards Bulls Bridge – our rendezvous. I parked up in Tesco just after he moored up outside so it all worked perfectly. The Bulls Bridge moorings were quite full but we managed to squeeze in just by the dry dock.

We were planning to drive to the wedding party but we’d need to leave the car in Tesco’s car park overnight when we got back. As it’s a 24-hour Tesco we didn’t think we’d be challenged, but we sought permission from the store anyway. I have to say that they were very obliging and gave us permission to park overnight – phew!

We had a nice time at the wedding – having remembered to pack our posh clothes on board – but we didn’t stay out too late and were back and in bed before midnight – just as well, I had an early start planned for Sunday….

Photoblog:

This made me smile - the boat is covered in little slogans..

Always a sad sight...

Maybe we worry too much about our blacking - this boat is still afloat!

The Horse and Barge - working hard to attract canalside business...

Canalside development at Uxbridge lock...

Floating dry dock - how clever is that? Operated by P J Wakeham who also runs fuel boat Baron hereabouts...

There are allsorts on the canal.....

An invitation you can't refuse???? 🙂

Ouch!

This is West London....

The Odyssey 2011: Day 46

Berkhamstead to Cassiobury Park

Thursday 1st September

Sharing locks with nb Imagine...

We almost had a good journey up to the boat this evening. We left at 8pm via Richard’s mum to drop Ty off, then we had an easy drive along the uncannily quiet M25………..until we got to the M4 junction and found that theyd just that minute shut the M25 beyond on account of an accident. I’ll confess that part of me was sad for the people in the accident but a greater part was cursing that we’d been delayed yet again! I shouldn’t complain though, they’d only just shut the motorway so we were able to divert along the M4, cut up through Uxbridge and back onto the M25 past the closure. Mind you even though we were near the start of the queue it still took 15 minutes or so to get to the junction.

We’re close enough to home to be able to carry supplies so there was no need to stop ‘n shop, just turn up, onload hounds and supplies and fall into bed! Predictably Indigo Dream had been fine on the moorings – Margaret and Roger walk Bess and Sharry this way so they’d kept an eye on her. Apparently Bess and Sharry have been looking onto the deck every day, wondering why their houndie friends aren’t there and why they aren’t going cruising! Amazingly even the bike had been fine – we’d forgotten to take it off the roof – wow, Berkhamstead is indeed a good place to moor!

Sadly Roger and Margaret couldn’t join us today because of other commitments but I hope we contrive a meeting before we cruise up this way again – that probably won’t be until 2013!

Friday 2nd September

After the frantic pace of the last few weekends, we had a late start today, setting off from the moorings at 10am. We hadn’t been idle though – Richard had done his engine plus gearbox checks and hoovered out the bilges.

It's all too much for poor Lynx...

A pair of boats passed us in the morning so we had the dispiriting prospect of locks set against us all the way and no locking partner. However as we were closing the gates at Topside Lock we were joined by nb Imagine who’s crew were out for a 2-week jaunt from Harefield. They’re very familiar with the waters hereabouts as they tend to weekend in the area – unlike us, they’re not too keen to leave the boat unattended so don’t move further out unless they can have a few weeks at it. Richard was planning to lock-wheel as usual but the puncture that he repaired last week failed (it was a patch on a patch!), he put in a new inner tube but somehow managed to lose a bit off the quick release bolt which attached the wheel to the bike. He searched lockside but it’s probably at the bottom of the cut. So, lockwheeling was off, but we had an efficient trip down the locks anyway.

They seemed somewhat reserved at first, but as the day went along we got them chatting a bit more and we had a pleasant morning’s locking with them. They stopped for lunch at Winkwell while we pressed on, later sharing locks with nb King Louie. They were more reticent – I never did get the helmsman to chat but I think that Richard did get talking to their lock crew – a tough wiry older man who seemed to be very efficient.

Although this stretch is more built up than other parts of the Grand Union, it’s pleasantly suburban and there are some wonderful spots – Boxmoor Top is as tranquil as any, despite the roar from the nearby trainline and road. It was a perfect place for the hounds to have a bobble (though it was hot so they generally just got off and lay down immediately). Lou was desperate for a splosh, but although the river Bulbourne runs alongside the canal and is accessible in places, she decided that the step down into the water was too far (maybe a foot) and she won’t jump into water!

We admired nb Aramand in passing – she had the most beautiful paintwork – done by Carnzu – who used to be based at Pitstone Wharf – we’ve admired their work before.

Sharing locks with nb King Louie...

We stopped off for water at Hemel Hempstead (above Lock 66) and said goodbye to the quiet crew of nb King Louie. There were many passersby, one, a lady called Anne with grandson Toby, interrogated us incisively about narrowboating – in the end I showed them round the boat – much easier than explaining! They were fascinated – you never know, we might see them out and about on the cut in their own boat one day!

We decided to stop for supplies at Hemel Hempstead – there’s a big retail park alongside the canal, allbeit on the offside. The 24-hour ‘shopping’ moorings just below lock 66 were occupied, but there were plenty of spaces on the towpath opposite so I set off to Sainsbury’s while Richard searched for the Halfords. I was back at the boat a while before him – Halfords is a good 15-minute walk from lock 66 – probably easier to get off at lock 65 and walk to it from there. Never mind, there was a nice lunch waiting for him when he got back and a nice surprise! He was mending his bike (Halfords had the necessary bolt) when he was hailed by a passing boat – it was the delightful Carrie from nb Blackbird. It was so lovely to see her – she moored up as soon as she saw the dogs and came over to give Lou and Lynx a big cuddle. It was a fleeting but worthwhile meeting – we hope we bump into her (and Simon from nb Tortoise) again soon.

Nash Mills has changed beyond all recognition - there was a new footbridge in the orignal development plans (no sign of it yet) - I wonder when it will all be finished?

Our extended stop at Hemel Hempstead gave nb Imagine a chance to catch up with us (they said they would!) and we shared locks with them for the rest of the day. I’m always fascinated by the area around Nash Mills – it’s constantly changing as the imposing old mill is replaced by modern intensive housing. The canalside mill building has been fully demolished now and the houses/apartments are going up apace – I wonder if it will be finished by the next time we cruise past?

Note: Red Lion lock has VERY leaky bottom gates, making the lock difficult to fill.

During the last part of the day we cruised through increasingly fine parkland – first the manicured perfection of the Grove (being enjoyed by a legion of moored boats) then onto the tree-lined magnificence of Cassiobury Park – I love the huge mature trees here – the beeches must be hundreds of years old – it’s something we don’t see every day.

We decided to moor above Iron Bridge lock – it was quieter than the mooring spots below the lock and had good access to a sploshing pool across the canal. Lou had a lovely time but Lynx was unimpressed – he doesn’t do water, but Richard carried him into the pool and set him down in the water. Lynx looked utterly disgusted and delicately minced his way out like a high-heeled WAG walking through a field of cowpats!

We ate on board – the moorings are silent but we had a restless night – the gas alarm went off again – this time I thought I got a faint whiff of LPG but I may have imagined it. We opened the hatches and windows, the apparent smell disappeared, we checked that the gas was off at the cylinder, turned on a gas ring to take out what was in the pipes and went back to bed.

We’ll get the system (gas and alarm) checked out when we get back to Limehouse…

Update:

Our gas alarm and motorised valve is a Haztec 2S manufactured by http://www.seath-haztec.com/. We suspect there could be a tiny leak in the motorised valve so wrote to Seath Haztec asking how new valves are and also inquiring about the life of the sensors. They came straight back with a detailed and useful reply:

“The valve is unlikely to leak in our experience.  You could however, get a leak between the valve body and the gas fitting that screws into it (the 1/4″ BSP fittings).

We do stock the valves, and a 1/4″ BSP 12 volt valve would be part number 139HZ12 and price is £42.18 + vat.

Regarding the LPG sensors, they last very well and we have sensors in the field that have lasted in excess of 10 years.  Generally speaking, if they function they are ok.
Calibration is done by the control unit.  It is possible to test the sensors by placing a cigarette lighter near each one and allowing gas to flow from the lighter above the sensor, and thereby triggering an alarm.
A more accurate calibration would require removal of the sensor and return to us, along with the control unit.

Should you need replacement LPG sensors, they are part number 136HZ02 and priced at £34.98 + vat each. ”

The spares prices are very reasonable – Richard’s Drager monitors cost £65 to service every 6 months and if a sensor goes that costs between £50 and £100 to replace. Our sensors are still functioning, we will use one of Richard’s Drager monitors, a gas bottle and my CO test cyclinder to check they are triggering correctly and get in a Gas Safe man to confirm that we are just being paranoid.

Photoblog…

Makeshift slipway...

Apsley always looks so inviting...

The stretch above Nash Mills lock is attractive.....

I'm sure that the developers will want rid of this manky old rubbish barge once their swanky housing is finished!

Red Lion lock - leaky to the point of causing problems with filling - hope it's on the winter maintenance programme....

The cottage at lock 71 is beautifully maintained - I hope they're benefitting from the now green earthworks that were erected to screen the area from M25 traffic noise...

We inside the M25 now - so that's London then - uh, not really!

The lock cottage at Charlotte's Vale locks is delightfully quirky...

The Odyssey 2011: Day 45

Marsworth (Bridge 130) to Berkhamstead (Bridge 143)

Monday 29th August

I love the view from the Marsworth flight...

It seemed unnatural to have cruised a whole two days without any visiting greyhounds so we set out to rectify that today!

We had a relaxed start to the day as our planned destination was the far side of Berkhamstead – a short day’s cruise away. Just as well, we’d had a disturbed night’s sleep – Ty regained his courage and his appetite at 2am – the subsequent commotion woke Lou up, who also decided she was hungry, and she’s a LOT more vocal than Ty. Then Ty decided that maybe it was safe enough to go outside for a wee – this woke Lynx up. Three hours later, the gas alarm went off, and, once again, we couldn’t find an obvious reason for it.

We woke up slowly but still managed to get up and dressed by 8.30am-ish. Richard went off to find a shop selling milk in Marsworth (there wasn’t one!) and I sorted the rubbish out and swept the floor – it was pretty grubby after two rainy days. We got off before 9am, did a quick stop at Bridge 130 to drop off our rubbish into the nearby skips (better than at the junction – less used and therefore empty). We then moved onto the water point at the junction with the Aylesbury Arm – I was pleased to see that the services were still available – I’d thought they were closed down as part of the redevelopment. There was good water pressure here but we only did a partial fill as we wanted to get into Marsworth flight proper before the bank holiday stampede.

The flight was surprisingly quiet, though there were plenty of boats moored in the long pound between locks 45 and 44. We didn’t find a locking partner and, with few boats coming down, most of the locks were set against us – we were following a pair which included Blue Moon, our old neighbours from Engineers Wharf. It didn’t matter – Marsworth is one of our favourite spots and it was a pleasure not to rush through. Lou and Lynx had a good bobble between the upper locks – especially Lynx, who ran behind Richard’s bike. I took Lou on board a bit sooner – it’s important that she doesn’t overdo things. I think Lynx may have felt the same way – he was exhausted by the time we got to top lock and there was more excitement to come…

The Wendover Arm called to us but no time today....

We had wondered whether we’d feel a bit flat to be coming back onto such familiar waters, but we’d forgotten how much we love the Grand Union – it’s much under-rated but we find it fascinating. Once again I felt a pull towards the enticing entrance to the Wendover Arm, which we know to be a very special bit of water; we admired the artwork at the Bulbourne blacksmith’s workshop and we were entranced by the mysterious deeps of the Tring cutting – deeply shaded even on a bright mid-day, with coolness of a valley that has never felt the sun – marvellous.

As we cruised along, we got news of today’s guests – Margaret and Roger along with greyhounds Bess and Sharry – we met up with them at last week’s greyhound gathering and they came cruising with us on our way up earlier this year. We picked them up at Bridge 136, just outside Cowroast. The usual commotion of trying to board new hounds while ours jumped off to explore was compounded when Ty jumped off and did a runner – off the canal and up the road – at a steady but implacable pace. Richard headed off after him and I followed with Ty’s lead, leaving our bemused guests to hold the boat (luckily they are experienced boaters and greyhound owners so took it all in their stride). By this time Ty was well down the lane. Lou and Lynx had gone up to the lane to check what was happening but had stayed with Richard – I rounded them up and took them back to the boat – leaving Richard to chase Ty. We took the boat out of the bridge hole and moored up – it was rather shallow, and subsequent pounds were low, leaving many of the moored boats aground at interesting angles.

It must have been a good 15 minutes before Richard returned with Ty – fate was with him – the lane was relatively quiet – the traffic had largely been blocked by the passage of an enormous combine harvester from the nearby farm; the harvester’s progress had been halted by parked cars so Ty came back safely.

With that drama over we set off down the canal – starting a chat about all things boating a greyhounds and boating which was to last all day.

Roger and Margaret are very efficient crew, both are very spry and have many years of boating under their belts – we whizzed through the locks and the hounds enjoyed a good rummage between the Dudswell locks. So much for loyalty – when they saw Roger walking on with Bess and Sharry, Lou and Lynx immediately joined them and left us behind!

View back to the Bulbourne workshop and Marsworth top lock..

We stopped for lunch in a quiet spot above Northchurch lock – the human and canine crews were getting on famously – we were very impressed that Lou let girls Bess and Sharry into her space – all three girls were happily asleep on the back deck at one point. Jelly boy Ty was particularly taken with Bess – she’s quietly confident and not as bold as Lou – just his type in fact. He walked nicely with Bess and seemed to gain some courage from her company….

By 3pm we were at the Gas locks in Berkhamstead and it was time for me to decamp and head for the train station. There was one train an hour to Wolverton at 23 minutes past the hour so I needed to shift. I handed the helm to Roger, who unsurprisingly proved to be very competent. Richard was asked by a complete stranger outside a pub at one of the locks is that Lou or Blue (sadly not Blue but Lynx), as they talked he racked his brains as to who she may be till she let him off by introducing herself as Debbie who has commented a few times on this blog.

I had a smooth train journey to Wolverton and there was my car, all safe under the station car park’s CCTV cameras. I programmed the satnav and set off. Alas, I followed the satnav onto the M1, slap into the middle of a stationary traffic jam. It was a tedious trip to the next junction (Junction 13), where I ignored the satnav and turned off towards the A5 instead. Bah – there was a 25 minute queue to get onto the A5 and it, too, was a car park, so I headed off gird again and eventually found my way back to boat by just after 6pm – what a disaster!

People often ask us how we manage the car shuffle which is so essential to our style of cruising. Well, Richard’s efforts on the bike are obviously crucial as he often cycles back for the car; the foresight of the great railway engineers in putting trainlines next to canals is very helpful, so we can often get trains back to the car. However of paramount importance is the goodwill of our friends, who, in exchange for a paltry day’s cruising, help out with lifts or take the helm so that one of us can travel back for the car – thanks to them we’ve had yet another magic summer’s cruise.

Roger and Margaret had kindly invited us to their place  five minutes away, for tea – we were glad to accept, especially as it meant that Lou, Lynx and especially Ty could have a run round their garden. The hounds and the best time – they hared round the garden, ate a big tea, scrounged food off their adoring humans and generally made themselves comfortable (in Ty’s case he ran to the top of the stairs and hid there). We had such a pleasant evening and could have talked all night – we eventually dragged ourselves away at 8.30pm. Many thanks to Margaret and Roger for their hospitality and to Bess and Sharry for letting our hounds take over their home (though not their sofa – there are limits :-))

It was good time to leave, the traffic had vanished and we were home by 9.45pm. We’ve had a big weekend’s cruising and we’re comfortably close to home now – that’s another sweetener as the end of the odyssey approaches…

Photoblog:

These early starts are wearing the hounds out!

The lock cottages are dated 1909 and the locks themselves are dated 1914 - I can't help but sorrow - what hope there must have been in the new infrastructure and how it must have been dashed by the war....

These young trees at the sides of many of the locks along this stretch all have little memorial plaques...

The wonderfully shady Tring Cutting...

Indigo Dream looking mighty fine...

Lou, Sharry and Bess, with Lynx in the background - great to see Lou accepting the girls onto her territory...

Roger supervising the black pack - rescue centres have trouble rehoming black hounds but they look mighty fine to me!

A safe pair of hands on the helm...

That's Ty in the foreground - he's so happy to be in a house with a safely enclosed garden.....

The girls having a little rest between locks...

Bess (I think) appreciating all the comforts of home...

The Odyssey 2011: Day 44

Great Lindford to Marsworth (Bridge 130)

Sunday 28th August

The park adjacent to the offside visitor moorings at Great Linford.....

We had another early start today, knowing that we had another long day ahead. We almost got away at 8.20am but got a bit distracted chatting to a man walking on the towpath with his two magnificent greyhounds – the one looked uncannily like Greygal’s Susie and was apparently a fine racer in his time. Our own hounds were tired after a day’s cruising and took no interest whatsoever! I’m happy to say that Lou was much more cheerful this morning and though she was a little stiff, the awful muscle spasms in her back had passed.

We expected to have the canal to ourselves but I was surprised to see an approaching boat. I was even more surprised when another boat (private not hire!) appeared, overtaking the first boat on a narrow bend and blocking the canal in the process – I had thrown Indigo Dream into reverse to avoid a collision. The skipper was cheerfully unabashed – we found out later that he’d dragged a fisherman’s rod into the canal when passing a different boat earlier. “What a prat” I thought, then for the good of my karma I tried to think charitable thoughts like he might have been in a hurry to comfort his dying granny in Milton Keynes General – yeah right 🙂

It was generally quiet though, with few boats on the move, though there were plenty moored on the towpath. I can hardly blame boats for mooring here – this stretch is very pleasant and as it’s lock free to Fenny Stratford (“Lock free to Fenny” – wouldn’t that make a fine title for a novel) we could relax and enjoy the scenery. It got busier later, but the Grand Union was the motorway of its day and it seems to absorb the traffic without congestion.

One unmistakable feature of this stretch is the apple trees – every other tree on the towpath is a crab-apple, their branches so laden with fruit that in places they swept the path. It was agonising – I wanted to pick some – that would make a LOT of jam for charity, but I’ve already got more fruit than I can manage at home – what a waste. I had a wry thought that if we jam-making ladies (gents also welcome!) of the waterways got together maybe we could make jam from the towpath apples, sell it and donate the proceeds to the Bedford and Milton Keynes link – I wonder how many miles of canal we could pay for that way?

Lou made the best of the park's facilities 🙂

But maybe there’s a more urgent use for the money – many of the brick bridges hereabouts are in very poor condition, with dramatic cracks in the brickwork that might have been avoided with a little bit of maintenance.

The dogs had some good rummages today as many of the locks are quiet. However I kept them on board at Soulbury – my nerves weren’t up to letting them loose so near to the road and with so many gongoozlers at the pub. This time we shared locks with nb Cleddau who had a relatively novice crew on board but did very well. One of their other crew members had never been on a boat before – he kept getting off at the locks with his windlass but he never did get to use it – the other crew members were too quick for him!

The Globe Inn was busy but there were a couple of mooring spaces directly outside and plenty of space further along the towpath. I was tickled by nb Bojangles, moored on the towpath by the pub – it had five small terrier types on the roof and a black labrador on the back deck. The terriers were having a wonderful time, defending their territory from their elevated position. I tried to imagine Lou, Lynx and Ty on our boat roof – I shuddered at the thought – they’re so leggy and clumsy we’d forever be fishing hounds out of the canal!

As predicted, there were no hire boats left at the base in Leighton Buzzard though there was one boat on the mooring – nb Ocean Princess – she had an unusual layout and Richard tells me that she’s famous for being a specially adapted sea-going boat.

We were fortunate enough to have locking partners for most of the way today – we left nb Cleddau at the Globe but were soon joined by nb Katie, a little boat being single-handed down to London by its young lady skipper, probably as a live-aboard. She was very efficient though for some indefinable reason we didn’t get on – she was rather posh and maybe I shouldn’t have insulted her by wondering what breeds had gone into the mix of her little dog – he was, actually, a very rare black and tan pedigree jack russell – oops! We didn’t grieve when we caught up with nb 4 Fun, crewed by more compatible middle-agers like ourselves 🙂 (speak for yourself Sue!)

Tranquil moorings at Marsworth...

We exchanged greetings with nb Blue Moon in passing – they were our neighbours at the Engineers Wharf moorings. We were surprised to hear that they had moved on and were now moored at Packet Boat marina on the junction with the Slough Arm. It was lovely to see them – I think we were the first two boats to occupy the then brand new moorings at Engineers Wharf.

This stretch has some of my favourite locks – I love the peace and isolation of Ivinghoe and Seabrook. The pounds were low, as they were on our way out in April, but the water levels seemed ok and we were relieved not to have our cruising days curtailed by stoppages.

There were a substantial number of moored boats between Pitstone Wharf and Marsworth Bottom lock (lock 37) – we were a bit concerned that there would be no room for us beyond lock 38. We needn’t have worried – there were spaces before and after Bridge 130. We rang the Red Lion pub and found that although it is dog-friendly, it does not do food on Sunday nights. Never mind – we had supplies on board and watched the ‘new’ Star Trek movie again. It didn’t work for us on the second time of watching though it was just the right amount of fluff for the end of a busy day.

We had, amazingly, reached our target for the day and went to be feeling optimistic about meeting our London deadline. We looked forward to a good night’s sleep and a fine day’s locking up Marsworth in the morning…..

Sign at the Great Linford moorings....

We always admire the old wharf house at Great Linford...

This bridge is in such bad condition...

How many jars of jam would I need to make and sell to pay for this new waterway? I've love to see it opened during our boating lifetime....

Crab-apples - there was such an abundance along this stretch...

Another version of the dog-proof deck....

Working in tandem at Soulbury locks...

The Globe Inn - one of our favourite canalside watering holes..

The happy canine crew on the roof of nb Bojangles...

Lou and Lynx taking locking as seriously as usual!

The Whipsnade lion....

Oi you, no fishing at the lock moorings!

The Odyssey 2011: Day 42

Watford Top lock to Weedon (Bridge 24)

Sunday 21st August

View from the Watford staircase...

We had a reasonably relaxed morning – the locks didn’t open until 9am so there was no point in getting up very early, but we did make sure that we were ready to go as soon as the lockie gave us the go-ahead. We had been assured that he would let the boats down first before starting on the queue below and we entered the first lock just after 9am. We were glad to get started – the lockie believes that the stoppages will be extended with shorter opening hours and potential “one up, one down” working.

The Watford flight is very interesting – a mix of single locks and a quadruple staircase – I’d thought there were two staircases, because what else could cause such a boating log-jam?! Once again the staircase makes good use of side-pounds and they provide a scenic backdrop to the locks.

The lockie let five boats down – the three of us that had spent the night above the locks and two others that turned up at 8.30am – they were very lucky indeed! As we descended, boats started to ascend – there is room to pass in the lower pounds but it’s quite a logistical exercise.

Nonetheless we got down quite quickly and moored up at the bottom to top up our water tank and give the hounds another bobble – not that they were interested – they just slumped on the towpath, though I’m sure they weren’t suffering from CO poisoning! We’d come down the flight quicker than expected to we were glad of the interval while the tank filled as it gave Sarah time to catch up with us. She was bringing favourites Ranger, Henry and Archie for a cruise, culminating in a late-afternoon greyhound gathering in Stoke Bruerne. We had some logistics of our own, we’d also made arrangements to meet up with Roger and Margaret of nb Mary Beth and their two greyhounds Bess and Shari, who came cruising with us back in April when we passed through their home town of Berkhamstead.

Looking up to Watford top lock...

We picked Sarah and the hounds up at Welton Station Bridge and Richard moved the car down to the Buckby flight, where we joined him later. Mindful of our speed, I put Sarah on the helm and saw to coffee/food instead! We enjoyed a girlie cruise and Sarah relived some more memories of cruising with her dad as they used to hire boats from Welton Hythe. All too soon we were at Norton Junction. It was a strange feeling – I was mightily relieved to be off the Leicester Arm – it’s well worth exploring but the water shortages/stoppages have been tedious and frustrating. Nevertheless, coming back onto the familiar Grand Union mainline was like leaving Oz – we’ve explored some fantastic new waterways ‘over the rainbow’ but it was also pleasant to be back on our favourite home waters.

We met up with Richard at Buckby top, where there was a queue of 6 boats waiting in front of us – at least they’re double locks! At first we had to brest up to a BW workboat, but as the queue shuffled forward we got a spot on the lock moorings so that the hounds could come off for a bobble. They really enjoyed themselves as they got lots of fuss from the boaters and passersby. As we entered Buckby top we acquired a locking partner (with a terribly smokey engine – we did our best to stay away from the ‘exhaust’ side), which made things a little easier. Richard lockwheeled while Sarah and I took turns to steer, make coffee and entertain the hounds. The middle locks are well-fenced so the hounds could have a good bobble, when they could be bothered! Towards Buckby Bottom lock, a spot where Blue would escape and explore at every opportunity, Lynx just found a patch of deep shade to lie in and flat refused to come back to the boat! While the other hounds ran back to the boat joyfully, Lynx lay on his side and used his amazing hypno-powers to persuade random passersby to rub his tummy!

The Buckby flight was very jolly with banter between passing boaters and walkers, but it was so so slow. After a couple of locks we caught up with the boats before and had to wait at every one. We already knew that we wouldn’t make Stoke Bruerne bottom lock today, but now we knew we wouldn’t even make Gayton junction. I fed the crew and Richard cycled back to get the car from Buckby. In the meantime Sarah and I cruised on  – it was up to us to decide where to stop – somewhere between Weedon and Bugbrooke.  As the canal was so busy we decided to moor up in Weedon, just before Bridge 24. There is a long line of 14-day mooring rings, plenty of other boats and good access to the road. We directed Richard appropriately and he brought the car down. We then changed crew – Richard fed the hounds and packed the boat while I took Sarah back to get her car from Watford bottom lock – a surprisingly short distance away via the A5!

Side pound in action...

When we got back, we quickly bundled the dogs into the cars (mindful of the fact that nb Leo moored in front of us had 2 cats) and drove to the greyhound gathering at Stoke Bruerne.

We had a lovely afternoon – we met up with Margaret, Roger, Bess and Shari and enjoyed the company of many other hounds. Considering it was a barbecue with lots of loose food around, every hound behaved impeccably and peace reigned. The event raised over £1000 for GWRE (Greyhound Rescue West of England). There was stand with lots of greyhound goodies – I confined myself to a greyhound mascot for the boat and a new winter coat for Lynx.

It was gone 6pm by the time we left – we’d had such a good time and when five boating greyhound-mad people get together there’s never enough time to talk about everything that needs talking about! We dragged ourselves away with great difficulty. Luckily we didn’t have a bad journey home but we’d have to take a close look at our cruising schedule – it’s essential that we get back to Limehouse by the 8th September and the stoppages have put us under real time pressure….

Photoblog:

The tall top gates in the staircase are alarmingly leaky - I was glad Indigo Dream is only 60' so I could avoid the shower!

That's why the locks are restricted...

Harvest...

Queueing at Buckby top....

The crew back together again...

Such a pretty cottage...

We really do need a bigger back deck...

With the deck full, Henry had to take the sofa - it's a hard life!

At the GWRE barbecue - it was reassuring to be among a crowd of people who are even more besotted with their hounds than we are 🙂