Rickmansworth to Brentford

Wed 10th April

A very sunny day.

The first job today was to go down through Batchworth Lock and use the facilities. A boat was coming up in the lock, so James told him he didn’t need to close the top gates as we were coming down.

We were on our own in the lock, and we tied up on the lock bollards below, which double up as the bollards for the facilities. We had to use two hoses joined together as the tap was not canalside, but across the paved area where we will be performing on 18th May at the Rickmansworth Festival. We emptied three cassettes, but the rubbish bin had been moved away to somewhere else, so we kept it all on board.

As we were leaving, another boat came down through the lock behind us. They said they were going south through the locks, but they had to buy a paper first. They stopped at Tesco (the real one!) and we carried on.

Pausing at Tesco

Historic boats

We passed a lot of moored boats, and one guy asked if we could wait for him at the lock. He was waiting for his cat to come back! We know about that. We didn’t make any promises and said he may be able to share with the chap who was buying a paper.

At Stocker’s Lock there is a lock cottage with lots of canal memorabilia in the front garden. Two boats were coming up, on their way to Shardlow.

Lock cottage with memorabilia

Heading for Shardlow (Derbyshire)

When they had emerged, we went in, and the boat with the cat appeared and we shared with him. Bottom of Arden was the name of the boat, skippered by Geoff. We accompanied him through four locks before he turned and moored up. 

At Springwell Lock we saw that we were entering the new low emission zone. How long will it be before they start penalising diesel powered narrowboats? Soon after this we saw Henry and Lin’s boat Trinity. They weren’t on board.

Low emission zone

Trinity

We managed to dispose of our rubbish at Copper Mill Lock. At Widewater Lock, one of the Hillingdon boats was coming up, with a scout group on board - lots of young kids trying to turn windlasses and push gates.  By the time they had finished a boat was in sight catching us up from behind. It was the man who had bought a paper in Tesco. We shared the lock with them, and as we left, two more scout boats from Hillingdon were ready to come in.

Sharing Black Jack’s Lock with Bottom of Arden

We saw some floating pennywort which no doubt will become a problem in days to come, as it has done on the Wey, the Soar, and other places.

Floating Pennywort

We moored up just before Denham Deep Lock. We had a bit of a spring clean. Hazel washed the green chairs that we keep on the roof. We had collected some sap from trees last night, so James cleaned the roof and the starboard side of the boat. 

 Moored above Denham Deep Lock

We had some good wildlife experiences today. We saw our first swallow of the year at Stocker’s Lock and a bit further down we saw our first ducklings with their mum. We also saw buzzards, cormorants, herons, red crested pochards, and a parakeet.

Red Crested Pochard

Ducklings

6 locks, 6 miles.  Depart from Rickmansworth 0930, arr 1255.

Thu 11^th April

We were on our own in the locks today, as we descended first through Denham Deep Lock, the deepest on the Grand Union, then through Uxbridge Lock.

Denham Deep Lock

Uxbridge Lock

Immediately below Uxbridge Lock is Denham Marina, where we had arranged to call in for Jason to look at our coal fire, which needs some attention. Unfortunately, a family emergency meant he was away all morning. We waited 2 ½ hours for his return. He had a look, and confirmed that he could fix all the problems, so we put a date in the diary, after Little Venice Cavalcade, and before Rickmansworth Festival. While we were there we topped up diesel at 80p per litre.

Denham Marina

We continued our journey past many moored boats and through our third lock – Cowley Lock. We manged to dispose of our ash in a bin near here.

Cowley Lock

After the junction with the Slough Arm we moored up to visit Aldi for some provisions. 

Slough Arm

We set off again after an hour to travel further down the canal. Since were last here there have been some changes. Colham Bridge has sprouted some steel decorations costing the council £200,000.  And some of the industrial buildings are being demolished.

Colham Bridge 192

Demolition in progress

We passed Bulls Bridge without stopping at Tesco, hoping to find a more peaceful mooring. A little further along, we saw a naked man on the towpath! As we approached, he disappeared into his “home”, a collection of boats covered in things that might come in useful.

The naked man’s home

Once again we saw a few unusual birds today. An egret, several Mandarin ducks, cormorants, parakeets, and a pair of Egyptian Geese.

Mandarin ducks

Egyptian Geese

We had intended to go down the first two locks before mooring up, but it was late, so we stopped just short of Norwood Top Lock, where there were rings.

Moored at Norwood Top Lock

3 locks, 9 miles.  Dep 1030, arr 1745.

Fri 12^th April

We had no disturbances in the night, just some minor traffic noise in the morning. We emptied rubbish, but we haven’t seen any recycling bins for a long time, so it all went in the general waste bin. We started by filling Norwood Top Lock before we went in. We noticed a sign about volunteers offering help on the locks, with a number to phone or text. James sent a text.

Norwood Top Lock

Just after Hanwell Lock, we saw the place where we had intended to moor. It was fine, with a grassy park area, and three boats moored up. However, we did notice more traffic noise here. Just after this is a place where a road cross over the canal, and the canal crosses a railway. It is called three bridges.

Three Bridges

Then we had the six Hanwell Locks to contend with. Almost all the locks were against us, and every time the boat entered the lock using one gate, the other gate opened, so help on these locks would have been appreciated.  We passed the establishment that used to be called a lunatic asylum. There used to be a canal arm here so that boats could take in supplies. The entrance has been bricked up.

Passing the lunatic asylum

Then we spotted two guys wearing lifejackets, walking down the hill towards us. “Good!” we thought, “Volunteers have arrived”. But they were maintenance men going to a work boat that was moored just below.

CRT workboat

Blossom

We passed under the M40 and noticed the graffiti. Is it as good as the graffiti under the M25 on the Wey Navigation? We will find out next week.

Under the M40

Graffiti

There were some relics of an industrial past, with a forlorn-looking chimney, and a Victorian iron footbridge, made at Horseley Iron Works in Birmingham.

Industrial past

A boat with wooden shiplap cladding

As we approached Brentford, there were some modern buildings in evidence, complete with a water feature. 

Modern buildings in Brentford

Water feature

When we arrived, we found a place to moor underneath what used to be the canopy for a loading bay at an old warehouse. We visited the town and brought a few bits back from Morrisons. We had hoped to eat out this evening, but the choice was limited so we had a meal on board. We spotted a sign showing how far it was to Braunston.

Canal sign

We met a guy whose daughter has a boat, and they are planning to go down onto the Thames tomorrow morning at the same time as us. We gave them some advice and said we would go with them as they have not done it before.

Moored in Brentford

10 locks, 3 miles.  Dep 0915, arr 1210

Next: Travelling the tidal Thames to Teddington. Visiting Refresh Church at their meeting in Walton where we will probably know a few people, including the speaker, Ann Clifford. Then into the Wey on Monday.