The Sumpners Afloat

29th July to 4th August- Heading in to London – at last!

It was an absolute scorcher on Monday, with temperatures expected to hit 30 degrees and higher this week. What a week to be heading in to town. It always seems to be hotter in London – it must be that crush of humanity? Whatever – I cast off from the Marina at around 11am and cruised the short hop up to the Tesco at Yiewsley, which took all of 5 minutes!

I had a click and collect booked – fresh fruit and veg and soft drinks and ICE, mainly! That all went very smoothly and we decided we’d stay the day there as we had on a couple of other occasions. It was so hot – thank heavens for a fridge and plenty of ice for drinks!

After Paul had finished work, we decided to move on, even though it was still hot. We’d be breaking new ground today for Old Nick, by turning left onto the Paddington Arm. I think we were both a little apprehensive as we turned off the main line. London canals come with a fine supply of horror stories, but we had decided we’d make our own minds up about that.

We cruised for a couple of hours, spotting various places where we thought “I’d moor there”. Maybe ignorance is bliss, but if we’d been near any other large conurbation, we’d have gone with our gut which, so far, has not let us down. I had consulted other boaters and compiled a list of “safe” moorings, but the mooring we eventually chose was not on that list, although it was fairly near to one spot I’d listed.

Once we had moored, Paul took the boys for their evening walk – albeit a shade later than usual. We had eaten our dinner as we cruised, so I washed and tidied up while he was gone. About 5 minutes after he’d gone, I heard what sounded like a gunshot and then another. I mentally passed it off as kids, but when he hadn’t come back after a while, I rang – just to check he was still ambulant! Of course he was!

A little later in the evening, there was another few volleys – obviously kids with firecrackers of some sort. It was quiet all evening and a little cooler as we went to bed, although we still took the fan into the bedroom with us. I hate being too hot to sleep. I awoke at about 5 am and turned it off, though, as the air coming through the open bow doors was deliciously cool (verging on chilly!) by then.

The alarm went off an hour later and we set off. Such a gorgeous morning and the route of the canal was not unattractive, with numerous water birds, with young of varying ages, vying for treats. As you know, it’s our favourite time of day and we were not disappointed, the only boat on the move – silently.

We pulled over at around 8am at Horsenden Hill, near Perivale. A slightly shallow spot but amazingly quiet. It would be more than adequate for somewhere to spend the day. And boy was it hot! But we survived and I had a lovely cool shower shortly before we set off after work.

We were a bit iffy about where we were going to moor that night – by which I mean we didn’t really have a clue! We were very much going to have to rely on that gut instinct. We cruised down through Alperton, where the Stop and Shop moorings for Sainsbury’s look to be respected.

We saw a succession of – how shall I put it? Ramshackle seems a bit dismissive and rude – let’s say “creative” boats. There are a couple of examples below. Some seem to be held together with gaffer tape – and I guess we need to remember that, whatever the condition, they are someone’s abode.

We passed over the North Circular (A406) on the rather impressive Stonebridge Park aqueduct (aka the North Circular Aqueduct). Before I researched it, we assumed that the centre island you can see in the picture below was a gauging island, the like of which you see on the BCN, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. It appears that this is the second aqueduct on this spot. The first was built in 1933 and then widened 3 years later as far as I can tell, as the North Circular got wider.

The picture here shows the aqueduct as it was in 1974, taken from an almost implausibly traffic free North Circular. Wikimapia also has some good images here. The coat of arms on the square buildings (what are they?) is apparently from the original 1933 structure. Sad to see they are – like a lot of surfaces – daubed with graffitti.

There were many moored boats and it was difficult a) to find a space and b) find one that felt OK. We eventually found a space in Park Royal, just before the Grand Junction Arms (built in 1861). We weren’t entirely happy about it – it just felt a bit dodgy – but our gut told us it was probably alright. It was, but I was not fully comfortable all night, waking at every noise.

As we arrived, we saw a Cormorant on a stick protruding from the water. He was singularly unperturbed by our presence, which enabled me to take a good close shot or two of him (or her?)

We had another early start on Wednesday – again with not much of a plan for mooring. We have a pre-booked space in Little Venice on Thursday, and if the worst came to the worst, we’d rock up a day early and pay the fee. I’d checked online and knew there was space.

It was a cloudy morning and refreshingly cool – although another scorcher was forecast. We skirted round Wormwood Scrubs – a famous category B prison, whose inmates have included some pretty famous felons – including Dennis Nilsen, a serial killer whose grim “hobby” was discovered by a Dyno-Rod employee. Also East Enders Leslie Grantham and Pete Doherty of The Libertines – briefly.

We passed under Ladbroke Grove and on into West London, where we finally spotted a space that we felt happy with, which we quickly nabbed. The spot is almost under the shadow of the Westway, quite near Westbourne Park Tube station – on the map below, its just before the point where the Westway kisses the canal on its way to Paddington.

It was still quite cool when we moored, but there’ll be no shade today. On the upside it’ll be great for solar. As we have guests coming on Friday, I set about making a batch of Welsh Cakes – not an experience I fancy repeating in this heat. I’ve also had a request for Bread Pudding from my nephew (arriving on Sunday) that can wait until the temperature tails off a tad!

It was a scorching hot day and we garnered a nice 9.4 KWh so had no qualms about leaving a fan on all night. It was surprisingly quiet and is a great spot – although much footfall and e-bikes and scooters whizzing past – sometimes so fast they are almost a blur. I’m surprised there aren’t more accidents. It needs regulating, but how would it be enforced? We have to keep the boys on a lead when they are on their walk or they’d get mown down.

As Paull was coming back from the boy’s walk a narrowboat came past and as they passed the working barge opposite – tossed 3 or 4 big bin liners and other rubbish into it – thus making their refuse problem someone else’s. It all happened so quickly they were gone before we knew it, otherwise we’d have got their boat number and reported them to CRT and also to WoodHall & Heward, who own the barge. Lazy and selfish. It makes us very grumpy. As do the passing boats who have obviously never heard of slowing down for moored boats. It seems particularly bad around here. I’ll stop moaning now!

Around 10:30, I set off to bring the boat the short distance down to Little Venice – our booked mooring. When we arrived there was a queue of boats waiting to use the services, but plenty of space on the bookable mooring stretch. As nothing (in terms of services) was particularly urgent, we nabbed a spot and settled down for the remainder of the day.

A little history, then, about Little Venice. The last time we were both here was June 1985. Well overdue for a repeat visit! This area has not always been called Little Venice. It was none other than Lord Byron who gave the area its name – apparently he said “there would be nothing to make the canal of Venice more poetical than that of Paddington were it not for its artificial adjuncts”. I’m not at all sure I know what that means!

The area became popular after the completion of the canal in the early 1800s, when Paddington was just a little village on the outskirts of London. Famed Regency architect and favourite of the Prince Regent, John Nash was responsible for the Regency style with white stucco buildings that can be seen bordering the canal.

It was bombed quite extensively in the war – the theory being that the enemy mistook it for the Thames. It has had some notable residents, including Robbie Williams, Noel Gallagher and Richard Branson – indeed early interviews with Branson are from his houseboat. He bought the boat for £2,000 aged just 16. Jammy git! But it is a lovely spot and I’ll put more photos up as we go through.

I know I said I’d stop moaning, but I was sitting there, people watching when a chap walking by dropped a Primark carrier bag. I called after him (I’m quite loud – don’t know if you’d noticed?) and said you’ve dropped a bag. He point blank ignored me and carried on walking. This is also totally unacceptable. Grr! I despair, sometimes.

My brother – who was scheduled to be joining us on Friday, and who had just arrived back from San Francisco – rang to say he was feeling very unwell and that Covid was a possibility! Horror! I had a large grocery delivery booked for Friday morning! We took a decision to cut that order right back before the deadline at 5:30pm and agreed to keep a watching brief to see how Bruce’s health drama unfurled.

The cut back delivery arrived on time on Friday morning and we had a conflab. Bruce was definitely not up to coming (despite negative Covid tests) as he was still feeling pretty rough. We thus set off, stopping briefly at the services to top up and empty out before heading up to the junction with the Regent’s Canal.

We noticed an odd phenomenon just by the services, which we assumed was water being pumped in from somewhere. The water actually looked as if it was being aerated in various spots, with a whole line of bubbles at the narrows. Research shows that they are actually weed suppressing “bubble curtains” which also help prevent silting and improve the oxygenation of the water, Fascinating!

We had to wait at Maida Hill tunnel for a while to let the trip boat, with their tight schedule, go through and spotted the house where Arthur Lowe once lived. Once through, it was great passing the mansions with their gardens leading down to the canal – although one had that awful astro-turf, which is very bad for earth dwelling critters. We also saw some warthogs and Eastern black and white colobus monkeys in what was formerly the iconic Snowdon Aviary. It was originally designed in the early 60s by Princess Margaret’s (ex)husband and former architectural student, Lord Snowdon. It is now called Monkey Valley.

As we turned by the famous Chinese restaurant boat, we saw that a Church had very enterprisingly allowed a cafe/bakery to set up within its grounds. It was called the Pedlar’s Pitstop and we quickly stopped and grabbed a lovely coffee, some wonderful pain au chocolat and a loaf of freshly-baked sourdough!. Result!

And then we were in Camden – heralded by the famous Pirate Castle, and then we arrived at Camden Lock – with its buzzing shops and stalls and food bars – over 1,000 of them. And the crowds were thronging on this sunny August Friday. And there were numerous gongoozlers – I suspect that my ugly fizzog will grace quite a few holiday snaps! Luckily I acquitted myself pretty well at the locks – which is to say that I did not embarrass myself! Or Paul. By the way – Camden Lock is actually called Hampstead Road Lock. You’re welcome.

It had started out quite overcast and reasonably cool, but the sun was relentless as we passed through the 3 locks. I had to quickly slap on some SPF50. But it was quite exciting being in the throng and being part of it all. The next lock was St Pancras Lock, where there was a volly on duty. The lock is kept in immaculate condition by the St Pancras Cruising Club. Well done them, we say!

The approach to the lock passes a really stunning development, fashioned inside the superstructure of some old gasometers. Really clever design and very stylish. The volly told me I’d need to part with a million quid if I wanted one of the apartments! Wait – I’ll take two! The development is called “Gasholders” (slightly less imaginative but descriptive!). We loved it.

It was a real relief to pass through the cool of Islington Tunnel, although slightly unnerving being followed at pace by an unlit vessel (no tunnel light!). Our booked mooring was at the Islington Eco Moorings (|Colebrook Row) complete with hook-up, just past the East Portal and we were soon tied up and relaxing. And charging! Another scorcher of a day – but pretty exciting. Although part of me (most of me?) yearns for the solitude of the countryside.

To obtain electricity, you first have to register with the Metermacs website and load some money on to your account (min £10). I had done this in advance of our arrival to save time. When we arrived, it was a simple matter of making a note of the charging point number and the number of the outlet you are plugged in to. You then have to log in to your account, click on arrive and enter the location details and bob’s your Uncle!

You may be wondering why, with all this sunshine, we need electricity? Well – we spent most of the day at Little Venice under trees (London Planes) and I did some cooking, heated water, we ran the fan all day and night, so a ;ittle top-up was a bonus (although we were only down to 78% SOC) and I had more baking planned too.

During the early evening, we had a tap on the window and a young girl told us she was a singer and was making a video and was it alright if she filmed it on the front of our boat? We agreed and captured it all on our security camera. Maybe we’ll see ourselves on the box one day, eh? Or maybe TikTok……….

Lenny (our nephew) had requested that I make his favourite Bread Pudding. He’s my favourite nephew! Of course I would – even in this heat! We are so looking forward to seeing him on Sunday. And his Mum. As ever – if anyone fancies the recipe, drop me a line through the “contact us”. Once again, it was a bit too hot for baking, so he’d better be grateful!

We had a very quiet night and set off at 09:00 down through a total of 8 locks, including the famous Old Ford Lock (No 8), through Haggerston, Victoria Park, past the entrance to the Hertford Union Canal, Mile End and finally Limehouse. We were staying overnight, but the Aquavista Waterside and Marina had no space to accommodate us, so we moored “on the wall” – where we had also moored all those years ago. It was quite exciting when we started to get glimpses of Canary Wharf.

Once we arrived at Limehouse, we had a chat with Bruce. He and Juliet will finally join us here for the night, so we booked dinner at the Bread Street Kitchen – a Gordon Ramsey restaurant. It used to be called the Narrows and was the scene of a shameful incident involving the Rogers’s, too many Jugs of Pimms, a very hot day and a very early night.

Bruce and Juliet arrived at 5pm and we had a chat before walking to the pub. We had a drink on the patio and then went inside for dinner. The dining room overlooks the Thames and we watched the Uber Boats and ribs scudding up and down as we ate. I’m sad to report that it was a very average meal, that the service wasn’t great and the food was a shade overpriced. The service was so bad that they never did come and get our dessert order! But we had a lovely evening anyway,

Sadly, when we were walking back to the boat, poor Juliet mis-stepped off the kerb, and twisted her ankle really badly before landing on her knees. It looked very painful and Paul ran off to get some ice, Bruce went to get her car and I sat with her. She felt a bit faint and the ankle had already swelled to cricket ball proportions. And we can’t even blame it on the alcohol – she had one glass of Rose!

We had to get her back to the boat and then down the harbour wall steps on to the boar. Tricky! We did think about Bruce taking her home to his, but that’s up 4 flights of stairs! Non starter. She managed it so gamely, bless her (although putting any weight on the ankle was very painful). I think gravity probably helped somewhat and we set her up with leg raised and frozen peas.

When she felt sufficiently recovered, we all went to bed. We both went out like a night. Not sure Juliet did, though, poor thing although she did report having a reasonably comfortable night.

The alarm went off at 07:50 and we were up and at it straight away. After breakfast, Bruce and Juliet left, she had to climb the harbour wall again – Ouchee! Then at 11 pm Mel, Lenny and Evie arrived. We did not know Evie was coming and were so very pleased to see her. A lovely surprise.

We set off for our cruise, exiting Limehouse basin onto the Limehouse Cut (opened in 1776) – part of the Lee & Stort Navigation. It was a really lovely day – not too hot but sunny. We cruised past the Three Mills complex – which is one of London’s oldest surviving industrial centres. It has quite an interesting history, which to you can read about here.

We pulled over for lunch just below the other Old Ford Lock (Lock 19) – odd that there are two – within view of the 2012 Olympic Stadium – now the home of West Ham Utd. Just as we had finished lunch, Bruce rocked up. He’d caught a train to Victoria, and then out to Hackney Wick station, after which he reached us by a short walk along the towpath. A great result.

We turned onto the Hertford Union Canal (aka Duckett’s Cut – opened in 1830), like the Limehouse Cut, intended to provide a short-cut between the River Thames and the River Lee Navigation, as an alternative to the tidal, tortuous and often silted Bow Back Rivers section of the River Lea.

All too soon we were back at Limehouse – a trip of 5 miles and 8 Locks – and it was time to say goodbye to Mel and Evie – we’ll be hanging on to Bruce and Lenny for a few more days.

We seem to have packed an awful lot in this week – it hardly seems possible that it’s just one week since we left Packet Boat, but next week, we’ll be retracing our steps up to the Grand Union mainline, where we’ll be turning left and down to Brentford. We have a passage booked out onto the tidal Thames on Thursday teatime, and we’ll be heading up to Teddington, where the Thames is no longer tidal. Exciting times!

Period	Miles	Locks
29th July to 4th August	24	12
Cumulative	200	196