August Bank Holiday weekend and it didn’t rain (much)!

29/08/2010 by admin.

Sunday 29 August 2010

Having had a few hectic weeks (and weekends), Bev and I decided that we deserved a weekend away from it all. Although we had some unpredictable and inclement weather over the past few weeks, the forecast for the August Bank Holiday weekend looked quite promising.

So, with Max (the Labrador), Bev and I set off on Thursday evening for the 200 mile drive to Packet Boat Marina.  Arriving just after 7pm, we unloaded the car and settled in for the evening.  Within an hour the unmistakable tapping on the roof saw the start of downpour.  This continued through the night and into the morning.  Catching up with Carol Kirkwood (BBC weather presenter) who was standing unbrella in hand presenting the BBC weather forecast from a rain-drenched, muddy Reading Festival gave us some hope promising an improiving weather forecast.

As forecast, by lunchtime the rain had ceased and the cloud had lifted - much to the pleasure of Bev who could now see the aircraft landing and taking off from Heathrow.  With a blue-sky forecast for tomorrow (Saturday) and an improving forecast through to Monday (and beyond), we decided to stay put in the marina on Friday and delay our departure until tomorrow.

This then gave me chance to attend to some of the bits and pieces; filling the fuel tank (two trips by car to Uxbridge Boat Centre), adding Redex fuel treatment to the tank, buying 100KG of coal (Homefire Ovals) which are now sitting on the roof and refilling the water tank (after taping up the leaks in the hosepipe which seems to have turned into a colander!).

With plenty of time to spare on Friday, I decided to cook.  Three courses; leeks wrapped in ham with a cheese, creme fraise and mustard sauce, chicken pasta with brocili and a rather indulgent melting chocolate pudding - all washed down with a cheap (not) bottle of plonk (many thanks for the wine Mr Lydon).  Ah well, back to the diet tomorrow

OK, enough of this lazing around, time to set sail.  Saturday morning, and as promised, a cloudless(ish) sky we set off towards Rickmansworth.

First challenge and within 10 minutes of setting off we come across two unoccupied boats tied together but having come adrift and now blocking the canal.  Jumping off the boat at bridge 189 I managed to haul the two boats back to the bankside and secure them with a decent piece of rope.  Clearly the thin plastic rope they had secured them with had worn through - some boaters just need to learn how to moor properly.

An interesting sign - “No fishing between arrows” - Now if I am not mistaken, those arrows are about 6″ apart!

Onwards to Cowley, Uxbridge and Denham Deep - all of which we shared with other boats.

By the time we got to Widewater lock we found we were not only sharing locks, but having to queue.  Clearly the superb weather, coupled with it being a Bank Holiday weekend brought the boaters out en-mass.  Not that any of this was a problem, as it’s great to be able to stop and chat with other boaters and gongoozlers.

King Louie (who we had shared a few locks with) had reached his stop-off point - the Coy Carp at Harefield.

Whilst helping a single-handed boater through Black Jack’s lock, he mentioned that Rickmansworth mooring were rather busy - especially around the Tesco moorings.  This we found out later was probably due to the Real Ale festival being held in Rickmansworth all weekend.

As we were fully stocked up with food and Holy Water (St Ella), we decided not to go all the way to Rickmansworth and stop at the first available mooring after Stocker’s Lock.  So we continued through Copper Mill and Springwell locks - sharing with another 50+ foot narrow boat and a small cruiser.  With it being quite a tight squeeze for all three boats in the lock, Bev helped protect the cruiser from being crushed by 2x 30 tonnes of steel by holding on to their bow handrail.

As we exited Stocker’s lock, there were just two boats moored along the long visible stretch of canal running along the Colne Valley Trail.  Good enough for us.  We moored between the two boats with a 100m separating us.

Having had glorious sunshine for most of the day, and having been cruising for just over 5 hours (a voyage that normally takes no more than four), we were glad to stop and crack open a can of Holy Water.

On Sunday we planned to just stay put.  Catch up with some emails, write the blog and do some reading.

Relax

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Day 10 - The Thames Barrier Cruise (and that small boat HMS Illustrious)

09/05/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Saturday 9th May 2009

With the very generous hospitality of the Cruising Association at Limehouse, we duly assembled on Friday evening at 19:00 prompt for the safety brief lead by Andrew Phasey (Vice Commodore of Saint Pancras Cruising Club).  As promised, the saftey brief was kept as short as possible so that we could partake of some Reverend James and an excellent bar meal.

Although a number of those present intended moving on to The Grapes, Bev and I decided to retire for the evening (as Bev was quite clearly a little apprehensive about the trip out on to the Thames having seen the boats on the river-side of the lock being thrown from side to side by the current, waves and backwash at the marina entrance.

Armed with the latest “hot off the press” edition of the London Tideway Handbook - Estuary Edition.  I discovered that the publication provides such useful information as Sound Signals (e.g. 5 short blasts = “You are not taking sufficient action to avoid me; or I do not understand your intentions are actions”) and Passing Through the Tames Barrier (call London Vessel Traffic Service on VHF Channel 14 asking for permission to pass through the barrier).

Just after 10:00, we set off from Limehouse Basin towards Bow Lock where we had to wait for the incoming tide to cover the washing machine before we would be let out on to the River Lea (aka Bow Creek).

Eric Naylor and Cherie just below Three Mills waiting to enter Bow Lock.

Sharing Bow Lock with Robert and Nicky on nb Tugby.

Mike Askin with Victoria rounding one of the last bends on Bow Creek before joining the Thames.

Passing Trinity House lightship moored at the entrance to the Thames.

Crossing the Thames with the O2 Arena (nee Millenium Dome) on the South Bank.

One of several helicopters from HMS Illustrious during their display along the Thames.

Now aim the pointy end between those two piers…

Cane you spare a cup of sugar Messrs Tate & Lyle?

Closely followed by Victoria

Returning upstream through the Barrage

The convoy returning to the O2 Arena with helicoptors providing the welcoming committee!

Old and new; Victoria and Canary Wharf

Pulled over by the River Police to help them with their enquiries!

I’ll race you to Tower Bridge

Royal Naval College at Greenwich

As the river starts to get rather choppy (worse to come!)

Bev at the helm sporting her new life jacket - the colour suits you

HMS Illustrious…

… which from this angle is smaller than Victoria!

Hey Bev, can we have a helicopter landing pad on our roof?

The start of even choppier waters…

Hold on tight…

Locking throughLimehouse with Cherie…

Squeeze in, there’s room for one more…

Leaving Limehouse Lock

Returning on the Grand Union with Canary Wharf in the distance.

Wanting to get home early tomorrow, we push on to Little Venice.  As we approached Camden Locks we had hoped that as it was after 19:00, the shops would be closed and the area quiet.  Quite the opposite as there were hundreds, possibly thousands of people relaxing, eating, drinking etc around the locks!

Fortunately, three locks done in text book format - not a single foot wrong, nothing falling in the water and not a single bump (phew!).

Once clear of Hampstead Road Locks, a quick photo of the hoards of people on he canal side.

Journey time: 10:00 - 20:30

Limehouse Basin, Bow Locks, River Thames, Thames Barrage, Limehouse Basin, Grand Union to Little Venice.

Posted in Cruise - May 2009, Holidays, Voyages | 1 Comment »

Day 8 - Waltham Abbey to Limehouse

07/05/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Thursday 7th May 2009

On Friday evening, we need to be moored at Limehouse Basin for a safety brief at the Cruising Association before heading out on to the Thames on Saturday.

Our options were to stay another day at Waltham Abbey, do the run to Limehouse in two sections (possibly mooring overnight at Victoria Park) or head straight to Limehouse.

Having not previously been to Limehouse, I decided to telephone the Harbour Master.  He confirmed that although there are only visitor overnight moorings at Limehouse, he would be quite happy for us to stay longer.  With this news, we set off at just after 10:30, stopping en-route for lunch at Stonebridge Lock (Tottenham), where we refilled the fresh water tank, disposed of rubbish and emptied the chemical toilet.

Shortly after setting off (with a very cloudy sky but no rain - yet), we saw a fleet of 12 helicopters flying overhead.  Not sure if it was welcoming committee, we kept a low profile and hid the anti-aircraft guns.

We found out later that the helicopters are part of the HMS Illustrious Fleet which is currently moored at Greenwich (on the River Thames) - more about HMS Illustrious later.

Returning down the Lee Navigation, I took no further photos until we reach the junction with the Hertford Union Canal.

The northbound photos can be seen on a previous posting.

On Tuesday we had joined the Lee Navigation from the Hertford Union Canal (to the right) to head north (to Waltham Abbey).

Construction at the London Olympic site

As we entered Old Ford lock, we were joined by five policemen in two inflatable launches.  We struck up a conversation which prove to be very interesting.  They are responsible for patrolling all the waterways within the M25 boundary.  Having heard that HMS Illustrious is currently moored at Greenwich to celebrate the 100 anniversary of naval air flight, it transpired that they escorted the aircraft carrier up the Thames just the other day.  As we will be cruising out of Limehouse to the Thames Barrage on Saturday, all being well it will coincide with the planned 14:00 fly pass.

In terms of her ‘vital statistics’, Illustrious is an impressive 209m long, with a beam of 36m and a displacement of 22,000 tonnes.  She has 1400 compartments and 15 lifts, and she is powered by 4 Gas Turbine Olympus engines (a marinised version of Concorde’s), giving her a top speed in excess of 30 knots.  With a Tailored Air Group embarked she has a full complement of over 1000 people, and can operate with a range of both rotary and fixed wing aircraft from the Harrier GR9 to troop-carrying Chinooks.  Her roles can vary widely, and include everything from Maritime Strike to Evacuation Operations; all of which she has ably demonstrated herself to be very much capable of fulfilling.

Of course compared to nb Tastoma she fails in one distinct area - she cannot fit into a canal lock
Continuing down the Lee…

Past the blocked entrance to Bow Back (leading into the London Olympic site)

Three Mills

How quaint…

Spratt’s Patent Limited

Entering Limehouse Basin

Limehouse lock onto the Thames - it’s an open and shut case!

And lots of pictures from around the Basin and the Thames (where we will be heading on Saturday) …

That’s nb Tastoma in the middle…

Posted in Cruise - May 2009, Holidays, Voyages | No Comments »

Day 7 - Waltham Abbey

06/05/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Wednesday 6th May 2009

Having had a long day cruising yesterday, overnight we decided that rather than attempt to get to Hertford, we would stay at Waltham Abbey.

Much to Bev’s relief, she could catch up on her sleep (staying in bed until after 10:00).  With me up at just after 05:00, I had plenty of time to catch up on personal emails, sort out the couple of hundred photos that I had already taken and try and find out what there was to see around us.

Yesterday evening I had already taken a short walk to stock up on provisions so knew roughly where we were and that the town centre was only a few minutes walk.

Of course, having stocking up with plenty of bread, the first job of the day was to feed our neighbours.

Later in the day we walked to the town and visited Waltham Abbey Church (the reputed burial place of King Harold, killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066).

Having seen all we wanted to, we picked up a couple of steaks from a local butcher and some bird feed (as they must be fed up with just having bread).

We were tempted to pop into the Welsh Harp, but decided there must have been something wrong with their spirit level when they built it, so just returned to the boat.

Posted in Cruise - May 2009, Holidays, Voyages | No Comments »

It all hinges on some welding

30/04/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Thursday 30th April 2009

Having travelled to our offices in Slough on Wednesday morning for a couple of meetings, I returned to the boat at Packet Boat Marina in the evening.  On Thursday, the boat was booked in for some welding work at Highline Yachting to repair the hinge on the side hatch door that had sheered off last week.

At around 10:30, I set off from the marina for HLY where I moored on the pontoons between the boat yard and the Waterside pub/restaurant.  I met up with Mark and Paul who telephoned Steve (the welder) who arrived about 10 minutes later.

Although I had brought along some new hinges, with the boat’s insulation being sheet polystyrene, Steve said it would be difficult to weld without removing some of the internal panelling and the insulation.  As the lower part of the hinge was still firmly attached to the boat and only the upper part broken, we agreed that the best course of action was to try and repair the hinge rather than replace it.  This would then only require welding to be done on the door (which does not have insulation).  Steve set about drilling out the hinge rod from both the lower and upper hinge, welded the upper section back on to the door and inserted a new rod to make the hinge as good as new.  Once the door was realigned (with the aid of a universal persuader), the job was complete.

Whilst at HLY, I bought some more coal and propane and returned to the marina.

With a full tank of diesel (160ltr), 3 full bottles of propane (39KG), 20ltr unleaded petrol (for the generator), 950ltr of fresh water and a full wine rack, all I need now is for Bev to arrive and we would be ready to start our journey.

Posted in Cruise - May 2009, Holidays, Voyages | No Comments »