Paddington Basin

 

‘Futurest’ beneath St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington

 

The two little ships at rest in the Paddington Basin

 

We have arrived at the Paddington Basin, next to the main line railway station, helped (or hindered maybe) by the strength of the now familiar gale force wind blowing straight up the cut from the west. This is caused by the Venturi effect of the tall shiny glass and steel that towers way above us on all sides and unless there is no movement of air at all in the basin, this stiff breeze is always there.

And while writing the above, I have just come to the shocking realisation that it is a very long time since my last posting, way back at Widewater Lock. Since then we have been through Uxbridge and turned left at Bull’s Bridge, the junction of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal and now we are at Paddington itself.

A long time has passed but it has run by so quickly.

 

A thrilling finish at the Basin

 

Buckingham Palace from the Mall

 

 

This omission is unforgiveable and my only excuse is that since being in the company of the two girls, Janis on ‘Roots and Wings’ and her sister  Sharon, who is over from New Zealand and staying until August, I haven’t seemed to find the time to write…..

Yes it sounds pathetic and is, because it is so well used, that one. But the two ladies keep organising so many splendid trips out, all to which I could say “no” of course but haven’t been able to find the strength yet. Consequently while in port, I seem never to be on ‘Futurest’ these days except to sleep.

My old solo routine has disappeared completely and yet I find I’m not too disappointed by this. I never have time to waste time any more, as I did in the old days, and also I enjoy sharing the things that the girls do as well.

However on the rare occasions that I do manage to motivate myself, my writing has to be a very dedicated solo affair with never the slightest distraction for some hours. So during that period my companions go off on their own adventure. Later on in the day they recount what they have done and I envy them of course. But I can also feel pleased that I have accomplished something of my own as well.

 

St Paul’s from the Millennium Bridge

The skyline of London on the South Bank from Tower Bridge

 

Close-up of window cleaners on the tall building above

 

Replica of Francis Drake’s ‘Golden Hind’ at Mary Overie Dock

 

After the Lakes and nature walks at Widewater we journeyed down to Uxbridge staying there for a week, while Janis paid a visit to Newark and it was here that the weather improved a little and I managed to smarten the ship by repainting the roof and touching up the scratch marks along the starboard side. Janis returned bringing with her Sharon, who had been away on her own for a while; we were all together again and soon heading south.

We could have arrived at the Paddington Basin last weekend but on entering the Arm we learned that our destination was to be cleared of boats on Thursday last to accommodate some charity dragon racing that was to take place that evening. So, in order to be able to use our full week’s use of this mooring we tied up for a few days about four miles out, at Acton Road Bridge. This was only five minutes away from Harlesden Tube Station, so we were able to see much of London before we arrived at Paddington even.

Since then, as I have indicated already, Life has been hectic. The girls share my love of walking and in order to gain the best benefit from London, one needs to walk.

Over the few days that we have been here many miles have been covered and we have seen many of the sights and places in the city. The South Bank and the Embankment have been well walked on both sides of the river from the Houses of Parliament as far as the Tower of London. We have been to Camden Market, to Southwark Market and Pimlico Market too. Churches by the many have been visited, including St Paul’s Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral and Westminster Abbey as well as the ancient churches of All Hallows by the Tower and St John’s, Smith Square. We’ve seen the smart yachts in St Katherine’s Dock as well as the beautiful spritsail barges moored there too, while our hearts have been gladdened by two Shakespeare plays at the Globe theatre; ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ by an all lady cast and, only yesterday, the most splendid production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ that I have ever seen. It was wonderful and I was enthralled. We’ve set off from Green Park on a whistle stop, free walking tour seeing among other places, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and the Houses of Parliament and we’ve seen the Wallace Collection of art and ancient weaponry while benefitting from the history on the walls of the Wetherspoon Pub at the Tower of London.

 

Unusual seating at Camden Market near the lock

 

 

The Globe Theatre

 

And inside the theatre

 

Our stay already has been amazing.

Today we have all done our own thing, which has enabled me briefly to reacquaint myself with solo life.

And the Sun has started to shine.

A Better Week

By ‘a better week’, I mean there's been an improvement in the Old Man’s work level since Janis left to go to Newark and he’s been able to concentrate on the important things a bit better since then.

The weather’s a bit improved too. It makes such a difference when the Sun comes out, doesn’t it? I know it makes him feel better anyway.

But most importantly, he’s got on with a bit of painting that so desperately needed doing.

The first two days after Janis left for Newark we had lots of rain and it looked as if I was going to be marooned here at Uxbridge for the whole week with nothing happening…….  How dreadful and boring that would have been.

All was quiet around here till Friday morning when the Sun rose and shone all through the day and he got to work almost excitedly, preparing my roof for painting.

As you’ve noticed from previous photos, the Red Raddle that he put on two winters ago, after the engine was changed, was peeling furiously and every day for many a month I’ve had to watch great chunks coming away every day. Luckily there was a good undercoat beneath and the steel hadn't rusted except in a few spots, which he cleaned off back to shiny metal and primed. For the rest of the roof he just took the loose flaky bits off with a scraper ready for a top coat of the red the next day. He did take some photos after his final efforts so I’ll put them in here if I can.

 

AT my mooring in Uxbridge

 

He worked all day Saturday as well in the warm sunshine completing the roof and repainting the stern deck where the Rustic Red had badly faded during the four years since he’s been the Skipper. And while he had this red on the go, he also tarted up my stem post and decking over the Forepeak Locker. It all looks so much nicer now. Just to complete the job on the starboard side, which is towards the towpath, He repainted the sheer strake and the walkway along my side in Oxford Blue, which keeps it’s colour wonderfully. It never fades at all in years.

 

My new stern

 

I’m now not perfect, as what he has done makes the rest look more shabby than it was, but I do look a bit more presentable which every girl loves to be. By the Sunday he had finished and in the morning up went a brand new Red Ensign in the Sun to celebrate; I thought the old flag was getting very faded and weatherworn.

 

The new look

 

The Skipper finished just in time to welcome aboard his son in law Steve, his mother Val and George, the Skippers grandson to inspect me, which is what I always like ‘cos I’m a bit special you know…..  Everybody says that too.

They stayed for a cup of tea and cakes after which they left for home.

Since then the Old Chap’s cleaned ship as well so by the time Janis arrived back from Newark yesterday afternoon, I was feeling far better. I have to say that he’s done very well……  bless him, as I didn’t think he’d had it in him.

Janis’ sister Sharon, who left us to go off on her own to see the sights three weeks ago, came back with her so the two ships now have a full complement again.

I’m hoping we shall set off tomorrow morning for Bull’s Bridge Junction and the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal. Through inactivity I have long tendrils of algae streaming from all over my bottom parts…..

It’s most embarrassing.

Dead Slow and now Stop

The Skipper and I are on our own again as Janis has gone off to Newark for a few days.

Of course chivalrous, big hearted Arthur, when asked by her whether he would look after ‘Roots and Wings’ while she was away, said “Yes of course I will.”

Yuk! It makes you sick, doesn’t it?

“You go and have a lovely time.” he added, with the usual silly grin on his silly face.

So there you are. I’m stuck in Uxbridge, waiting for them to get themselves organised again.

I know, I quite enjoy the slow, peaceful mode of travel that he’s been doing this year but now he’s taking the mickey I’m sure!   Having a big laugh!

What is to become of the man?

It’s not as if he’s done anything since we arrived here on Monday. He’s been blaming the wet weather for it, but I’ve never known him to be so far behind with his jobs by this time of the year before. My red raddle roof needs repainting, it’s been like it all winter, and he’s not even begun to prepare it yet, so it isn’t that he’s had nothing to do.

It’s disgusting! In fact it's a disgrace I think. I must look terrible!

He spent all day yesterday going around the town looking to buy a new camera. I don’t know what for, ‘cos the one he’s got now is perfectly okay I think.

But there we are! The things a girl has to put up with eh?

And I’d begun to think we were doing so well till we arrived here. Okay, we were dawdling but that’s alright. The countryside was wonderful whilst coming past the lakes just south of Rickmansworth. Its been lovely in fact ever since we left Cassiobury Park at Watford and I was beginning to enjoy it. The weather was fine, not like it is now, and the evenings were still and quiet.

In fact I heard and saw the Cuckoo last Sunday evening just before sunset. It’s the first I’ve come across for some years now. He flew up and settled in the ash tree by my mooring at Widewater Lock. I thought he was a pigeon at first but then heard his distinctive call. There was no mistaking him.

It was super!

Of course Janis and the Skipper missed it. By that time they were inside, and on their gin and tonic I expect, probably their second. They may have heard him, being so close like, but you don’t very often see a Cuckoo and they missed that.

I think the weather is due to brighten up a bit tomorrow and for the rest of the week too, so hopefully the Old Man will get on with some of the jobs that need doing.

There’ll be no excuse not to anyway.

Widewater Lock

We are working our way slowly southwards towards Uxbridge. But though we are in the Greater London Area, it is surprising how much quiet rural countryside there is to be enjoyed, even though busy roads and railway lines are only a stone’s throw away.

 

Huddled together to keep out the cold

 

We are currently moored just below Widewater Lock, which as the name implies, is situated on a wider part of the Grand Union Canal. With the River Colne often running into it and with extensive Lakes on either side, it is difficult at times to distinguish the proper course of the waterway.

 

A carpet of Greater Stitchwort

 

But this countryside is beautiful, even on the wet days in the cold north breeze that has been consistently harassing us recently.

 

There we were, deep in the jungle of deepest Hertfordshire

 

But there have been sunny intervals and today especially, though the wind is still from the same primary point, it is not as vigorous and the Sun is shining brightly, showering its welcome warmth upon us. For the first time in many days I have not had to light my fire at all.

 

A Pochard with disabled wing unfortunately. Due to there being too much white bread in its diet apparently

 

The lakes, old quarries apparently, make ideal wildlife habitats which encourage walkers and anglers alike to use them and the woodland that surrounds the waterways has been so well managed as to inspire a myriad of flora as well as fauna to live there. It’s a naturalist’s wonderland.

 

The Comma Butterfly

 

Janis and I have made full use of the facilities and have walked around the boundaries of all the lakes on our way southwards. We have seen Woodpeckers and Red Kites in abundance as well as Pochards, Great Crested Grebes, Tufted Ducks, Common Terns and Mallard of course, as well as many families of all the common geese species. It‘s been a wonderful experience for me.

 

Travelling in mother’s slipstream

 

We have also seen a fine specimen of a Carp that an angler landed. It was certainly the largest fresh water fish I’ve seen I think and after all the  photographs had been recorded, I’m happy to say that it was restored into the lake. It swam off contentedly and didn’t seem to have suffered from its brief moments of celebrity status in the alien world.

 

A young angler with contented look on his face

 

 

Picture of a Fox in the distance foraging in a ploughed field

Tomorrow we journey the two miles down to Uxbridge where I shall look after the fleet of little ships while Janis returns to Newark on business and to see old friends.

Photos at Cassiobury Park

The day has been overcast and rather sad looking and while earlier this afternoon I biked into Watford across the park, later this evening the Sun briefly came out and I went out again for a walk in the park with my camera.

 

Moored just below Iron Bridge Lock

 

A rarer sight these days. A Song Thrush in full Summer throat

 

The Park is thick with trees and shrubs

 

Nature’s Arch

 

Wetland habitat

Cassiobury Park

We are still relentlessly heading south, slowly maybe but well contented, and are now well into Hertfordshire. One hundred and forty two miles we have covered since leaving Warwick at the beginning of March.

Though we are within the M25 circuit and getting ever closer to busy London, the wide Grand Union Canal, at one time known as the Grand Junction Canal, carries us quietly through such rural beauty both natural and historic that haven’t changed since the canal was built.

 

Plan of Berkhamsted Castle

 

The view from the Keep along the Curtain Wall and Moat

 

A local family at the Castle

 

The unique house in the Port of Berkhamsted

 

Through the after door at Iron Bridge Lock, Cassiobury Park

 

Janis and I have visited and marvelled at the flint built ruins of the Black Prince’s Castle in a lush green meadow at Berkhamsted as well as passing woods of tall green beeches on our way south. We have passed overhanging willows that stroke us gently as we pass beneath their long caressing fronds, through the small ancient but happy villages. Though clouds overhead are grey at the moment the fragrance, overwhelmingly pungent almost, of freshly mowed grass as we passed Grove Mill earlier was one of my many reminders that Summer was here.

We are now moored serenely just below Iron Bridge Lock, protected from the urban mass of Watford by an extensive area of trees, shrubs and parkland. It is known as Cassiobury Park.

Berkhamsted

I’ve been a bit poorly again you know and of course it’s taken him sometime to discover what’s wrong with me. Nothing is ever quick these days!

For some rime I’d been leaking water into my bilge. It’s been clean fresh water and the Skipper’s been pumping out the bilge beneath the Shower room every few days. Having had a new calorifier fitted only two winters ago, he thought it must have been leaking from there. Somebody had given me a loose fitting or something. But nothing seemed to be wet in that area so he was stumped.

He had no idea bless him!

Well, as you know, he’s none too bright really. He thought he’d just carry on pumping out the bilge until something else happened that would give him new ideas.

So just as we were approaching Cowroast that happened.

When he turned off a tap after use, the freshwater pump in the forepeak didn’t. ….

switch off I mean, at all, and from then on he had to remove the pump fuse after every time he used water to get it to stop.

Well what an inconvenient way of living. And it wasn’t very pleasant for me either not knowing what was wrong.

In the end his tiny brain ticked over and he got Janis to have a look in the water tank locker behind the forepeak. …….. She’s a lot smaller than him you see and guess what she found ….. wetness all around the fresh water pump. Goodness knows how long it’d been like that, but obviously the pump had been leaking for sometime and the water draining back into the Shower Room Bilge.

Well he took me into Cowroast Marina then and a lovely young man called Darren came aboard to confirm that, yes the Old Chap would have to fork out some cash to have the job done.

Unfortunately the chandlery at the Marina didn’t have a replacement in stock so we had to wait a day for the new pump to be delivered and fitted. The Skipper had decided to have installed a larger size pump with an accumulator and now they’ve been fitted, everything is absolutely wonderful. The shower has more force to keep him clean and the whole of the toilet pan is washed due to the extra pressure, which is wonderful.

We’re tied up in Berkhamsted at the moment. My bottom’s on the mud but I don’t mind. That’s okay. It’ll give him plenty to do to get me off when we leave.

Keep the old boy busy is what I say.