Brentford to Paddington

Brentford Basin

We departed Brentford on Friday as arranged in company with David & Jenny on Roman Lady, to negotiated the 10 locks to Bulls Corner where we were to turn off onto the Paddington Arm.

We soon had a good system going with Jenny and I on the boats and the men having the exercise....just how it should be!!

Half way up the middle flight of 6 we passed what was the old Hanwell Asylum, now a hospital

Bath al fresco??

We passed one or two interesting sights in a stretch of canal that was in parts littered with debris although the water itself was incredibly clear. We managed o reach the top without picking up anything on the prop but Roman lady were not so lucky and just after the top they had a stop to clear the weed hatch.

Modern Sculpture

A short distance after the last lock we moored right outside Tesco to do a stock up and then turned down the Paddington Arm for the few miles to moor by the Black Horse Pub. We had arranged to pick up Gile, Susannah, Ella & Boe there for the trip the next day into Paddington.

The forecast was not brilliant but since it said the rain would hold off until the afternoon we decided to go. By the time everyone was assembled we set off about 11. The forecasters were correct with what was to come but out on their timing...the rain soon came!!!!

Initially there were gaps in the rain and during one of them we pulled into a rare patch of green to let Ellie off as we did not anticipate that it would be very convenient for her once we reached Paddington.

A little help from Ella with mooring up

Giles & Geoff stayed on the tiller the whole way, latterly in the cold wind and rain, whilst the rest of us stayed warm below...we did feed them occasional cups of coffee...

Junction with Paddington basin to right and Regents canal straight ahead

When we turned into the basin we discovered it was very full of narrowboats and the only place to moor was on the outside pontoon to the right of the large boat seen in the picture. We could only get the front end onto the pontoon and had to tie the stern to the large boat. Since it was pouring with rain and blowing hard it was no easy feat. Luckily we had Giles with us and he was able to do the required scrambling up onto the boat There was no sign of life on any of the other boats. After a latish lunch Giles departed to collect his car from the Black Horse. This was required to transport everyone including Ellie. She has now gone to stay in Greenford with Boe for 3 weeks whilst we are around London.

When they had all gone Geoff and I battened down the hatches and retired early to bed exhausted!

Sunday dawned sunny at first although the wind was still howling through the basin. One of the boats on the inside departed so we moved into his place. This was achieved by Geoff using a lot of wellie...he's much better at that sort of thing than me! We even had to remove the flowers from the roof as they were blown over.

We then departed for St James Church in Sussex Gardens. This proved to be High Anglican with lots of incense and a brilliant choir and organist, very uplifting music. There were only 4 in the choir but they were all professional musicians. A huge church with a very interesting history see http://www.stjamespaddington.org.uk/home.html

Teddington to Brentford run

Moored at Hampton Court outside the Palace

You can just see us behind the white gas guzzler!

Wednesday morning I took a gentle stroll around the free grounds of Hampton Court Palace. At one point I managed to tag myself onto the end of a guided tour to pick up some pearls of wisdom!.. One of which was that the huge bundles in this tree below were mistletoe.

On my return we took a gentle cruise down to Kingston to be slightly closer for the trip to Teddington on Thursday. We managed to moor just upstream of Kingston bridge.

Geoff went off to do his customary exploring to town and reported that it was a fantastic shopping centre. He also visited his old school, Kingston Grammar School. He said it hadn't changed a bit...the "new" science block was now 50 years old. I spent a very relaxing afternoon just sitting in the cratch with my crosswords etc and watching the world go by on the river.......far better than crowded shopping centres!

Moored Kingston (Middle Boat)

Kingston Shopping Centre

Thursday morning we departed at 0615. We had been told by the lock-keeper at Teddington to be there at 0730 as High Tide was then and that is when you are let through. However on talking to another boat they had been told to be there at 7 as we could be let out at 0720 so we decided to go early. We were not at all sure about this Tidal bit, never having done it before. The boat I had struck up a conversation with was called DRECKLY which provided the obvious opening. It turned out that the lady on board had indeed been born and brought up in Cornwall.

Departing Kingston

En route to Teddington we saw several interesting sights. The house below certainly made it difficult for their window cleaners!

The work barge below fascinated me with it's own portaloo aboard.

Church with old tower and modern additions.

A houseboat?

Strange live aboard boat

Gondola?

The houses we passed were quite varied, most of which we decided we couldn't afford!

Suburbia on the water

We reached Teddington just about 6.45 and went into the lock straight away and joined several other narrowboats. Thinking we would not be let through until 7.30 I fed Ellie and got her ready to go ashore whilst we waited. However on coming up top again I discovered we were already going down. She would have to be patient. We were then let out about 7.

Approaching Teddington

Gaggle of Narrowboats on the Tidal stretch

Garages flooded at top of tide

We passed these garages partly underwater at the top of the tide. This on a day when the river was not particularly high. I am not sure I would want to live somewhere like that.

The trip down to Brentford was interesting and completely uneventful. Admittedly it was a lovely morning(despite the forecast to the contrary). Father Thames showed us a gentle face and we didn't even notice the Richmond Flood Sluices. Since we were in company with several other narrowboats we just followed the crowd. Most were going to Brentford, only one was continuing down to Limehouse. We had invested in a VHF radio since it is now obligatory for all vessels over 45ft to carry one on the Tidal Thames, we tuned into CH14. However no one asked if we had one. We shall see what happens when we come to do the longer run from Limehouse back to Brentford, which will be in about 3 weeks time.

We followed everyone into the mouth of the Grand Union at Brentford and went up in the second load. Back to smaller locks again.

We then continued up to the Brentford Gauging Locks. The stretch between the two is semi tidal and there is a very low bridge just before the gauging locks which can be problematical. However the tide had dropped sufficiently by then and we passed through easily.

Brentford Gauging Locks

We moored just around the corner as all facilities were there. The intention had been to continue up the canal but it was quite pleasant there and we decided to stay the day. Geoff went off to do his customary explore. One of the boats we had come down with was Roman Lady with David & Jenny aboard and we arranged to join forces for the 10 locks up to Bulls Corner the following morning. This make life so much easier when there are two of us in the lock. They had had their boat for 20 years (makes us seem like real novices) and had first come through here then. They said how very different it was then, the new flats opposite which we were moored had just been derelict land. The present facilities had not been there and these were quite good now. At least they had the potential to be....there were washing machines (both out of order), showers, loos, elsan disposal and pump-out(out of order). The head lock-keeper was very helpful and full of good advice on the following 10 locks and timings for the Limehouse run etc.

Back to the Big River

It was still raining as we joined old Father Thames again, however it was reasonably warm and it was saving me from having to water my plants....one must look on the bright side!!

We passed through Sunbury and Molesly locks which is easy work now as they are all mechanised and the lock keeper does it all. All we have to do is hold a bow and stern line.


En route to Hampton Court where we planned to moor we passed numerous house boats some of quite splendid proportions.

Hampton Church

We tied up about 1pm and battened down the hatches for the afternoon. The rain did clear later in the afternoon and we had a gentle explore of our immediate area. Later we were joined by friends Gavin and Celia for drinks and then we all repaired to a local restaurant for dinner. We had a very good meal after I was eventually allowed to have my third choice of meal...the first two were "off"..........Geoff said that only I could choose the two things that were off the menu! Since my second choice was a very ordinary Ham, Egg & Chips and I did have chips with my third choice of Fish & Chips we found it quite extraordinary....C'est la vie.....

Leaving the Wey

Monday morning saw our departure from our very congenial mooring in Guildford meadows

We passed through this very attractive side of Guildford. The south side where we were moored is the prettier face of Guildford. Once through the town going north it is not so salubrious. However we were soon out in the country again en route to Pyrford where we planned to moor for the night.

Leaving the Meadows

As we left the meadows we were hailed by Gemini Dream whom we had last seen at Clifton Cruisers in April. She was single handing up the Wey for the second time.

Approaching Millmead Lock in the centre of Guildford

The weather was kind to us and we had a very gentle trip and we found a mooring just down from the Anchor pub so were able to have a pre supper drink ashore.

The outlook for Tuesday was not good and the forecasters were correct!!! We had to leave the Wey as our licence ran out that day and also we now had a time plan for our arrival in Paddington Basin as friends Rosi & John are coming to visit. It was a very soggy run off the Wey and onto the Thames again.

We passed through the last lock and handed in our borrowed lock handle. They are different to the normal and the lock keeper lend will you one as you enter, having paid your fee for travelling on the Wey which is owned and maintained by the National Trust. Geoff found the lock gates and paddles the best on the system so far. On the other hand I found going up the locks was very stressful. The flow in is very vicious and the slightest opening too far of the paddle is not pleasant. The return trip for my part was much pleasanter as we went down again.

About 11am we joined the big river again.

Weekend in Guildford Meadows

The bull is the one on the left!

A wonderful secluded mooring in what seemed almost like our own field on the non towpath side, however when I woke on Saturday morning and let Ellie off the back of the boat I was confronted by a herd of cows and one of them was a bull. Thankfully he had had his horns removed and he seemed quite benign. I was also joined by another early morning dog walker and I was still in my nightie!

Later we went for a wander and explore and to do some shopping. We then met up with friends Ann & Keith together with son Alistair & Aoife his wife. Back to Petroc for a relaxing afternoon. The weather threatened to jeopardise our plans of eating al fresco but it eventually cleared up.

Sunday morning we went to St Marys Church in the town. We had been faced with a huge choice of churches as we had 3 churches and the Cathedral to choose from. St Mary's had the most convenient time so we opted for that....it had a tower dating back to Saxon times about 1020AD. It was their monthly Communion Service and afterwards instead of the customary coffee we were invited to a glass of champagne and nice nibbles which were in honour of a member of the congregation who had a momentous birthday...which one was not stated!

We then went for a gentle wander in search of a suitable pub for our Sunday lunch. En route we discovered the castle grounds with a stunning flower display.

We found The White House pub on the town bridge which did us proud for our Sunday Roast and managed to get back to Petroc before the heavier showers set in....summer is back!!!!

Up to Godalming.

Rural backwater

Thursday we carried on up to Godalming and moored by the wharf which was very convenient for a shop at Sainsburys. I was able to wheel the shopping trolley almost to Petroc.
We couldn't stay there overnight so turned and went a short way back to just before the last lock. The mooring was not ideal for Ellie as we had to use the gangplank and she was not impressed. Geoff went off for an explore and whilst he was away the horse drawn barge came past. There were no problems going this way but they said they would be back in an hour and needed a longer run for the horse to get going after the lock and would we mind moving over to the other side temporarily!! It is not too bad to move when there are mooring rings but when Geoff has had to brave the nettles to get 3 stakes in, life gets slightly more difficult. Luckily he arrived back from his wanderings just before they came back as I didn't fancy doing it on my own.

After that it was a quiet night apart from a group of teenagers trying to vandalise the lengthman's small boat which was moored opposite. Geoff shouted at them and they did disappear luckily.

Friday morning we went up to town to see the market but it was very small. However I was lucky enough to find a hairdresser who could fit me in immediately for a cut and blow dry. I had been getting a little shaggy!!

We waited for a small shower to pass through and set off just before 12 to do the 3 locks back to Guildford Meadows. We had seen the moorings there on the way up and they seemed ideal for the weekend.

There are quite a few blind sharp bends on this stretch and we used the horn at each one. At one of them we heard another boats horn alerting us to an oncoming boat. The boat proceeded to appear on our side of the river and as he passed he shouted "I did hoot" Geoff replied that he also had to stay on the right!!

Along the way by these sharp bends you can still see the rollers which were used assist the horse drawn barges to turn sharp corners without chafing the rope. The rollers can be seen under this bridge on the left if you look closely

We have found a nice secluded spot right at the end of the meadows, no gang plank this time.
There is plenty of room to sit outside and Geoff had had his normal wander into town and it is only about a 10-15 min walk.

On the Wey!

We did not have an auspicious start to our trip to the Wey Navigation. As we left Shepperton I dropped one of the mooring stakes on my foot but that was nothing like Geoff's accident later on.

Whilst pulling one of the mooring ropes he managed to get a fish hook stuck in his finger. At the time I was trying to manoeuvre alongside another boat who had moored themselves in the lock waiting area. Geoff was trying to secure us alongside so we had to call for their assistance as he was out of action! Once secure I was completely useless so he had to extract it himself. This he did with a large pair of pliers.......I have checked and his tetanus is up to date!!

Waiting Pontoon for first lock

The actual entrance to the Wey is very pretty and the lock keeper takes you through the first lock and then proceeds to do all the paperwork and relieve you of your fee. In our case it was £54 for 7 days. You are provided free of charge with the special lock handle which is required for the locks.

Leaving first lock (Thames Lock)

We soon found that our normal practice of securing with a long middle rope which I control from the stern whilst keeping myself well back in the lock just doesn't work in these locks. We have had to change our modus-operandi to bow and stern ropes. Even then we have to take great care and fill very slowly.


After the fish hook incident and then getting banged around in the lock we decided to quit for the day and moored at New Haw (South of Weybridge)


Today, Wednesday we set off just after 8 and fared a little better in the locks but by noon it was too hot for me and Geoff's hopes of reaching Guildford or Godalming were dashed......he managed to find a nice shady spot in the deep countryside.

We are somewhere between Guildford and Woking. Just after leaving New Haw we passed under the M25 and thought of all those unlucky people travelling above us.