Back on the Grand Union

Woke up this morning, that’s always a bonus, around 8:15, I hadn’t made my mind up whether to stay or go but there was nothing appealing about the mooring or the area I was in, my cassette needed emptying and I wanted to fill with water as at the moment I am quite conscious of the fact that the weather could change for the worse and I could find myself not wanting or unable to move. So I had some breakfast, loaded the washing machine, put on the neck warmer, the body warmer, the hat, the gloves and the jacket and went up on deck, as I did so it started to rain, so back inside and everything off again. I then checked the forecast which said “light showers” so I waited a while and it stopped raining, everything back on and off we go, two minutes later light rain again, oh well never mind.

Now when I reached the end of the Slough Arm it’s a ninety degree left turn, fairly tight but ok, so I slowed as I approached and the heavens cast down upon me the heaviest rain and strongest wind I have yet encountered, I could hardly see and the boat was being blown to the right as I tried to negotiate the turn, I nearly made it in one go, but not quite, as soon as I was around the corner the rain eased and the wind dropped, someone was having a laugh with me!

On to Cowley Lock (89) where two boats were just coming out, “that’s handy” I thought heading towards the now inviting empty lock, when suddenly I see a chap at the lock waving and pointing to my left and then I notice the great big brightly coloured wide beam waiting to go into the lock, in my excitement at seeing someone, for the first time, exiting a lock and putting it in my favour I hadn’t even noticed him! No problem swift bit of reversing, apologise to the steerer as I back up past him and moor up where he was, I then walk up and assist them through for which they were grateful, just through the lock are the services, so I fill the tank (slow tap took an hour 15 mins for about 500ltrs) empty my bins, empty the cassette and I’m on my way again. It’s very busy around here, all the visitor moorings were taken and it was raining again, there was space on the towpath but it was a long muddy walk to anywhere so I carried on a bit further in the now fairly heavy rain but, as soon as I saw a likely place I moored up, just at the end of 4 or 5 other boats, safety in numbers, and a little sooner than I really wanted but I was wet and had enough for today, so I am just before bridge 187 in Uxbridge. There is a Lidl about a 15mins walk away so that was first job, and I am now back inside in the warm, the wind is again howling, the boat is rocking from side to side and making tapping and clunking noises as it bumps off the edging along the towpath, which, when I first started my travels caused me to look outside every time I heard them, but now I just ignore it, let it roll a bit it’s quite calming.

No travel pictures it was too wet but here are my mooring views front and rear, you can tell it’s windy from the waves.

Totals today: 3 Miles : 1 Lock

Goodbye Bulls Bridge.......

.....you treated me well.

I arose just after 8am, the plan was to fill with water before leaving but,that was foiled by two boats who had moored last night right across the water point despite there being room just further along, I think they both took on water when they arrived and just didn’t bother to move as it is so quiet, I probably could have breasted alongside them or asked them to move but I have enough for the next few days so I didn’t bother.

So I pulled pins at 10am, said farewell to myself and set off

Heading Off

in search of the Slough Arm, past Hayes and on through Yiewsley, seemed to be reasonable towpath moorings available at both towns and a big Morrison’s at Yiewsley, just after this I saw a sign for Packet Boat Marina on the left, now my Pearson’s shows the Marina just a short distance down the Arm but my Pearson’s has not proved to be 100% accurate so I assumed the Marina had its own entrance before the actual Arm, I was wrong, for just  as I got past the point for turning in I could clearly see this was in fact the entrance to the Arm itself, so into reverse, backed up and off I went down the Arm.

Start of the Slough Arm

I have to say although there were not any “wow look at that” moments it was an altogether pleasant little cruise, some bits industrial, some bits residential and some rural, quite a lot of weed in the first mile or so and then it opened up wider and deeper, about half way along the Arm

between bridges 6 and 7 after High Line Yachting’s yard it is residential mooring, so it’s slow speed engine at  tickover for that stretch, lots of boats moored some three abreast, but still plenty of room.

When you get to the “basin” at the end of the Arm it’s a bit of a letdown, just a nice neat winding hole really with a few swans and ducks, so while I was floating stationary in the basin, I made a cup of tea, the boat wasn’t going to go anywhere so no need to moor up.

Then it was back up the Arm looking at things from the other perspective, I had earmarked three potential moorings for the night, but as I approached the first in among the bushes unseen from the other direction was a makeshift tent signs of a bonfire and lots of empty beer cans, so probably some homeless people living there, I thought I’d give that one a miss, onto the next site which just did not look as good coming the other way, so here I am

at the third place, I was able to use mooring chains instead of pins, the M25 is a little way behind me
but with my tinnitus it won’t bother me at all, and it seems very quiet otherwise, the odd cyclist or walker on the towpath so I should be ok for the night as long as it stays that way. I moored up just about 3pm so a nice 5 hour lock free cruise in chilly sunshine.

Total Today:  13 Miles : 0 Locks

Just a bit more......

........painting.

Not a lot happening at the moment I left the painting I had done for a few days to harden and yesterday I did the other horizontal shelf.

Before

Another bit done

The hot water tank has to come out to complete this section but until I know a bit more about the plumbing on the boat and I am somewhere where I can refill easily it’s staying as it is.
When the weather warms up a bit and the bilge can be dried out I will finish the vertical sections and bilge floor, I can’t wait.

So I have been here at Bulls Bridge now for about 12 nights and I think it’s time to move on, I was struggling with making a decision about whether to go down the Paddington Arm or not but because of the winter moorings taking up so many of the visitor moorings I have decided to give that a miss, I will be back no doubt at sometime in the future to have a look, I think I will have a pootle along the Slough Arm and see what it’s like along there, it’s only about an hour’s cruise to reach it and the arm itself is only about five miles long so if it’s no good for an overnight I can easily come back out onto the main line again.

I have read good and bad about this Arm, most of the bad seems to relate to a few years ago, my “Pearson’s” canal companion refers to it as “One of the Great Little Canal Journeys of the World” Really? I think that’s reason enough to have a look.

So depending on the weather in the morning I will fill my water tank and set off, it’ll be good to get moving again and take some pictures that are not of paint.

More painting anyone?

Well I can’t just sit around and do nothing, well actually I can, but I get a bit bored, I have quite a problem reading books, I read a chapter but while I am reading I am also thinking about what else I could be doing, so I usually give up on the book and get on with whatever I was thinking about. I have almost totally given up on TV, I only now watch programs that I want to watch and not anything else, so a bit of breakfast TV to take in the news and weather and maybe a drama or film in the evening, you do realise just how pointless watching “Pointless” actually is.

Anyway back to the engine bay yesterday, first I charged the batteries as I would need to remove the starter battery to do the work, then out with the battery and it wooden enclosure and begin de-rusting the horizontal shelf, it is so difficult and cramped the job has to be broken down into five or maybe six stages, there is not much room to stand and very little room to kneel, and on this occasion made worse by the fact that the engine was now hot!

Before

One half

Anyway after a couple of hours prep it was on with the first coat, the good thing about Coo-Var (£43 for 2.5 litres is the bad thing) is it can, in fact has to, be recoated as soon as it is touch dry or within four hours, and it doesn’t require a primer, so second coat on later and relax, sore back, sore ribs (from laying on the engine) sore elbows, my word I would never complain about painting a house ceiling again.

Other half

Battery back in

This morning an alteration to the battery enclosure and some re-routing of the cables as this battery has the terminals around the opposite way.

Now I will have to leave phase three a few days at least to let this coat harden before I start stepping on it and generally damaging what I have just finished.

I’m not sure what I am doing travel wise, I am itching to get moving again but don’t wish to head north if it’s colder, I am contemplating going down the Paddington arm later next week but not sure yet, I ought to have a look while I am here but London isn’t too appealing to me, another problem is that quite a lot of visitor moorings are given over to Winter moorings at this time of year (you buy a permit and can stay as long as the permit is valid, 1,2,3 or more months) and there may not be many proper visitor spaces, but a decision will have to be made. 

A Nice Little Job Done

Well it wasn’t nice but it is done.

Sunday and yesterday I decided to try and crack on with the Engine bay refurbishment/repaint, it is really a bit too cold for it at the moment but I wanted to get the bay directly beneath the engine done so that I would be able to see any possible oil or coolant leaks, so here’s the story told in pictures.

Before any work, full of water and about 5 years of sludge rotten leaves and rust particles.

The water and muck gone, well most of it.

Cleaned up a bit and de-greased.

Nice and shiny two coats of silver CooVar paint.Not as smooth as glass but there is not much room down there to work on anything.

You cannot see much, most of it is under the thumping great big engine but I assure you I did paint as much of it as I could physically reach!

When I woke up this morning it was a little chilly, I have started using a new type of smokeless fuel, I was burning Calor Gas’s own brand, but I have now bought “Home Fire” which the diesel man said was the most expensive, slower burning so it gives a bit less heat and a bit less ash but “stays in” overnight longer, it was £13 for a 25kg bag compared to £10 for a 20kg for the Calor. So when I went to bed last night I did what I had done previously and loaded up the stove and shut all the vents, that normally would just about last all night and give me just enough red hot bits in the morning to revive the fire, however it was more chilly than normal and when I looked at the stove it was still fairly full but obviously not giving out as much heat, so reviving it was no problem, tonight I will leave the vents open a little and see how that goes, and then I looked out of the window and saw this, frozen over canal,

so it was not just the fuel or method it was blooming freezing outside!

Today is not a day to do much, hence the early blog post, as I was typing this a tug went by breaking the ice and making large lumps of it bash the side of my boat, it’s about 10mm thick so not too bad, no harm done, another cup of tea I think.

Big Move

It was very cold last night, quite a heavy frost this morning but I didn’t realise until I looked outside, I think the boat is finally drying and warming through, the wise mooring monitor at Brentford said to me “ I light the stove in October and it does not go out until April” and I think he’s got the right idea, even though some days are warm the evenings are not and letting it go out and relighting it is really just a waste of effort, the boat cools and takes longer to get warm again, so mine’s staying on now ‘til summer.

Today I had to move, I was on 24 hour moorings so I made the effort and moved about 80 feet across the canal to the tow path side, I can moor there for another 13 days (it’s 14 days normally but that’s in the same “area” so technically I have 13 left).

I walked to Hayes Bridge retail estate to visit Halfords for some bits, it’s about a 40 minute walk away, the 1^st 10 minutes were alongside the very busy A312, it was noisy and cold but then I went through Minet Country Park, they’ve got a fantastic cycling facility there, Hillingdon Cycle Circuit, it’s like a road track but for cycles only, quite challenging I would imagine, with hills and fairly tight bends, it was very busy, all the young kids in their lycra with expensive looking bikes ages probably started from as young as 3 up to adults. I doubt many car drivers even know it’s there.

When I got back to the boat I did a more permanent repair on the tunnel light and horn which I had previously done an emergency bodge on, I also fitted an on/off switch to the little charging outlet I had previously fitted, it has a blue LED to show it’s working which was lit all the time and driving me mad, so now I can switch it off.

Time to start dinner, I am cooking a Lamb Pilau, should be interesting.

Totals today : 0 Locks : about 80 feet J

Hello Bulls Bridge (Southhall)

Last night I did venture into “The Fox”, I went early to avoid the quiz night and left after sampling the London Pride, a nice pubby pub, serving food but not taken over by it, bar stools were available which is something I like, I would use it again if passing.

Today I woke at 8 as seems to be about normal these days (who needs alarm clocks) and after breakfast got myself ready and pulled pins at just after 9, I had a busy day ahead, the Hanwell Flight of locks (97-92)

Looking ahead to some of the flight

Looking back at the last of the flight 

and Norwood Locks (91-90) so eight in all, and I had an appointment to meet Pete the diesel boat at Bulls Bridge.

Things did not go well when on reaching the first of the locks I could not get onto the landing area, there is a bridge just before the lock and the river Brent flows into the canal at this point, there was so much silt and debris I just ground to a halt and as i attempted to reverse back the outflow from the leaking lock gates took the bow and started to swing me around, I tried backwards, I tried forwards, I tried poleing, I gave up, fortunately at this point it was wide enough for my boat to do a full 180 degree turn or else I would have ended up wedged across the canal, so as the boat swung around I thought to myself “that was fun, maybe come back and have another go at that” so back I went the way I had come, winded and back towards the lock, this time I moored before the bridge and it went ok. Off I go and set the lock ready for me, back on the boat, pushed off and away I went only to find myself grounded again, this time a bit of reversing got me to within five foot of the bank but I couldn’t move any further, the boat was far enough back from the lock to not be pushed by the outflow, but I was again stranded, it was a “Happyness is a Cigar called Hamlet” moment, for those of you who remember the TV ads.  At this point a lady dog walker appeared so I asked if she minded just pulling the boat back a little, luckily she  was a nice lady and agreed and between her pulling and me reversing I was able to get off the boat and pull it even further back away from the lock, attempt three saw me swing wildly across to the far side of the canal with a fair amount of engine power just avoiding the far bank foliage and joy upon joy I was into the first lock, this whole fiasco had taken best part of an hour so while I was in the lock I made a cuppa.

From that point on everything went as it should apart from  me heading for a very handily placed bollard at one of the locks only to find it was in fact a white plastic bag, you have to laugh at times like these. In the middle of the flight whilst waiting for the lock to fill about nine lady walkers appeared, they were very curious, normal question is, is it cold? But this time I got is it damp, do your clothes smell, is it your hobby, where have you come from, where are you going, and even do the locks fill automatically (now that would be nice), well as I said before, you have to laugh, but they were all very pleasant.

So onto Bulls Bridge

Bulls Bridge Paddington through here

Handy for the Store, Black overhead

, Tesco have kindly built or refurbished some 24 hour visitor moorings right outside their store so that’s my home for the night,


I ventured down the weed hatch again and was pleasantly surprised, not as much of the rubbish that I had cruised through had got caught on the prop as I had anticipated, just this little assortment.

I showered, visited the store, and then right on time about 6pm Pete arrived with diesel and smokeless coal for me, a bit dodgy in the dark and it did start to get slippy he said as the temperature was dropping fast but he had it all done in good time so I now don’t need to worry for another month at least I hope.

 Totals Today: 8 Locks : 4 miles (included the back and forth)

Moving On Again

After much debating with myself about moving on to Bulls Bridge alone or waiting until Monday when Dave (N.B. Chavori) was moving and would have shared the locks (and the work) the slight concern over fuel and coal won, I have tentatively arranged to meet a trading boat (supplying diesel, coal and gas) on Friday at Bulls Bridge and so I decided to set off this morning, before leaving I took on water, to do that meant reversing back along the canal some distance, I could have winded (turned around), filled up and winded again but I decided I need the practice reversing, so luckily it was fairly wind-less and slowly I reversed back, as you cannot steer a narrowboat in reverse the idea is to watch the front of the boat and if it starts to wander (and they do) you have to give a short burst of forward gear steering to straighten then boat and then back into reverse, it sounds easy and if the weather is calm and there is plenty of room it is reasonably easy, with practice, however, it can also get you into a pickle if you’re not slow and careful, this time it went well and I moored on the water point and filled up,

Taking on water

it took about 45minutes to fill, I have a 900 litre tank which is quite large and it was probably about ¾ empty.

I did not intend to go far today, Pete on the boat behind me had told me I could moor just before the Hanwell flight of locks, this is shown in my Pearson’s guide as private so it’s good to talk to other boaters, I set off for the short run and arrived at Clitheroe’s Lock (99) where there was a tremendous amount of rubbish in the lock and above the lock, however it did not cause any problems other than not being able to fully open the gates, of course it decided to rain as I was working the lock and stopped as soon as I had finished, onwards to Osterley Lock (98) and the same situation, rubbish lot’s of it, in and above the lock, this section of the canal is it would appear abused and treated as a rubbish disposal point, onwards again only about half a mile to the tow path moorings just before the Fox pub at the bottom of the Hanwell flight of locks, Pearson’s guide says of the Fox “Good Beer Guide recommended pub offering London Pride, Doom Bar, and Landlord on tap” three of my favourite beers all in one place, it would be rude not to check, sadly Mr Google informs me it is quiz night tonight, I may have a quick look, not a lover of quiz nights. 

Nothing worthy of a picture on the way but here's my mooring for the night, I squeezed in between two nice wide beams, might shelter me from the wind.

Total today : 2 Locks : 2miles

Holding station a bit longer

Just a quick update really.
I have decided to stay at these moorings a while longer, I needed to sort out a few electrical bits, I bought a small inverter for the TV to save powering up the 2kw one just for a 50watt telly, it came with battery terminal clamps like you get on a set of jump leads, that was no good so I sourced the correct cable and terminals locally and have wired it directly to my 12v distribution board, I also fitted properly the 12v usb/cigar lighter which I bought ages ago and had done a temporary job on,

and I have ordered a laptop car charger from Amazon, that should arrive at the pickup locker on Monday, I want to get a 12v fridge later in the year and then the 2kw inverter will only need to be used for the washing machine.

Apart from that I have started to look at repainting the engine bay which is quite rusty and at the moment holding quite a lot of water, the bilges obviously get water in them and the bilge pump clears that mostly, but I don't think the bay directly beneath the engine should be like a fish tank, and it does not appear to drain into the bilges so bent double and not sure what exactly I was hoping to find I began cleaning it out, but it won't be a five minute job, I will need to do a little each day as my poor old back cannot cope with the awkward confined space, pictures will follow when complete, may be October!

It's very windy here tonight, it's a bit like being at sea, should rock me to sleep though :-)

Still at Brentford.

It was dark before I got moored up on the 6^th so this was the view from the side hatch on the 7^th.

I decided to stay here yesterday it’s quite a nice spot, 14 day visitor moorings with all the facilities you need and will be even better soon as Canal & River Trust along with a developer are putting in shoreline facilities with water taps at each mooring position, there are all in position just not functioning at the moment, I would hope it will still be 14 day and not change once all the work is finished, they may struggle to get boats to move on, but they have an on-site mooring monitor, he does not like being called a warden, a very helpful man as well for the reasons that follow.

So yesterday was great, to begin with, I had a wander around, picked up some provisions, read a book, then at 2pm decided to start the engine to charge the batteries, to my surprise and disappointment the battery was too weak to even turn the engine over although it was showing 12.4v on the Smart Gauge, so down the engine hole, the terminals were not very tight, removed the battery and checked the acid levels, a bit low but not desperately so, topped up with distilled water, repositioned and connected the battery, left it half an hour, tried again, still dead, I think it had passed on, this battery is no more, it has ceased to be, it was an ex-battery.

So as luck would have it a quick chat to the mooring monitor and he informed me there was an MOT/tyre/battery garage across the road, so took a photo of battery and noted numbers etc. and off to said shop, the man was totally bewildered, I know he’s not a narrowboat specialist but when I explained a little that it was just a starter battery albeit a biggy he said that cannot be correct a 110ah battery would be enormous the size of a wheelbarrow, so long story short much too-ing and fro-ing on foot I found another garage and bought a similar battery, there are heavy! had to carry it back to the boat on my shoulder, by now it’s 4:30, connected it up, and started the engine, my sigh of relief was followed by another free shower, it had been a stressful afternoon.

This morning I fully intended to move on, this was my view from the side hatch,

raining persistently, but I said to myself, imagine you have to move because you are on 24hour moorings and get going, enter the wise mooring monitor, he very kindly came along to enquire if I had sorted my battery problem, after thanking him I explained my rationale re moving and he said.....
“but you don’t have to move on, you are not on 24hr moorings, narrowboat life should be enjoyed, not endured”

Now thinking back to when this was all just an idea, I used to read other blogs and think why do people get so tetchy about busy locks and rush about, I won’t want to be in a rush, so again I have decided to stay put another day and see what tomorrow brings.

Time for a cuppa I think, stoves on, I have coal, gas, water, food and diesel, don’t worry, be happy.

Totals this entry: Zilch. 

And Finally..... The Grand Union Canal

Only two things of note happened during my pootling up and down the Thames, firstly I had moored at Walton

Side Hatch View

for the night but there was no phone signal, I decided to walk into town for some provisions when I got a phone call, my niece Tracey had been driving around the area trying to spot me, so once she knew where I was she arranged to come along and see me with her husband Lee and two of their children, Alfie and Phoebe, it was lovely to have an unexpected opportunity to show them my new home, thank you all for the visit.

The other thing was that I had seen a lovely widebeam at Hampton Court Moorings and then again at Molesey Lock where they were taking on water and when I arrived back at Kingston Bridge they were there again and this time I got the chance to chat with them, a lovely couple, I didn’t ask their names

Me in the middle Jakandan on the right

but the boat was called Jakandan (if I have spelt that correctly), they had the boat built for them and had been cruising for three months loving it, the lady said they should have started years ago, they were staying on the Thames and heading further into London, so we wished each other good luck before I left this morning.

Today.

After what seemed a very long time going back and forth up The Thames (although it was only 3 days more than anticipated) I finally set off for Teddington Lock at midday, I was about an hour earlier than I had originally planned but I was taking no chances, let’s get there, the river was on yellow boards (caution) and I did not want to wait and see if it changed to red (moor up and hope), so because I was early it decided to rain for just that first hour, when I arrived at Teddington the sun came out.

Waiting at Teddington Lock

Teddington Lock

Whilst waiting a narrowboat pulled up alongside me and asked if it was ok to breast up (tie up alongside me) I said yes of course, he introduced himself as Dave (NB Chavori) and I asked where he was off to, when he said Brentford I asked if he minded if I tagged along behind him as that was where I was heading, and I had reservations about losing the daylight and the turn into the Grand Union, he was happy to oblige and give some advice telling me as everyone had that the journey up the tidal stretch would be no problem, he was also with another boat a small cruise called Summer Breeze, I did not catch the young couples name but they were very pleasant.

At about three pm (we had to wait for the tide) the lockie’s signalled us to enter the lock, then we were through and away (no-one noticed, or if they did, mentioned my expired licence, and there were three of them.) I have to say it was all very simple, calm river, no traffic other than some canoeists just before Richmond,

Little Convoy Richmond Bridge

I must admit though if I did not have Dave to follow I may well haved missed the entrance to the GU, it’s a sharp left, a very tiny sign on the left, and a very uninspiring entrance, not much “Grand” about the first bit!

Then it was through Thames Lock, onto the Brentford gauging locks and through that to the visitor moorings, by now it was dark, Dave kindly pulled in to a very convenient mooring (well he was first) and I, rather well, squeezed into one a little further along, I surprised myself, but I struggled a bit to moor, the rings and bollards were not best placed for me and so I put pins in, I was cold, it was dark and I was happy just to get tied up.

They have showers here along with washing machines toilets and the usual boaty needs, so I took the opportunity of a free shower where I didn’t need to bend my knees to get under it, it was very pleasant.

I will decide in the morning whether to stay or move on, the weather may play a part.

Total today: 3 Locks : 8 miles  

Happy 2015 everyone

I had a quiet night at the Hampton Court Palace moorings, a few fireworks early in the evening but by the time midnight arrived I was fast asleep.

This morning was very mild and as I only wanted to get to Kingston to look for a winter hat I didn’t leave until 11am, I moored up at Kingston Bridge as planned,

again on the free 24hour visitor moorings, and began to make arrangements for my passage onto the Grand Union first on the phone to Teddington Lock, that was simple I could go through whatever day I wanted to,  and for £8.75 I could moor the night before on the lock waiting area, next phone Brentford, Thames Lock, I had been warned you had to give 24 hours notice so I phoned in plenty of time, they were on answer phone as expected but as I started to listen to the message this blooming great cat appeared from nowhere and jumped in amongst the pigeons, the Lock was closed until 5 ^th January, ahem, no-one had mentioned they might be closed over Christmas and the New Year but they are J.

So it’s plan “B”, there wasn’t a plan “B” but there is now, tomorrow back to Shepperton, Saturday back to Hampton Court or Kingston, Sunday down to Teddington Lock stay overnight and Monday 5^th through that lock and on to Brentford, Thames Lock assuming they phone me back to confirm my passage, one little problem which I will ignore is my Thames Licence runs out on the 4^th and I won’t be off the Thames now until the 5^th, I will see if anyone notices.

So the blog will be quiet while I pootle upstream and then down again, unless anything momentous happens.

Total Today : 0 Locks 3 miles