After a lovely few days spent mostly catching up with family and friends that we haven’t seen for ages, it was time to leave Paddington Basin. It really is a great mooring, bustling without being too noisy, always something going on and yet still something of a haven. At about 8.30 we reversed out of our spot and returned back up the arm to Little Venice and through the bridge.
There are a couple of ways to get to where we’re going, and we did consider carrying on west on the Regent’s Canal and then doing the tidal Thames through central London from Limehouse. But it’s quite a long trip where you can’t stop, and we have Macc to think about these days. Also, we’ve done the trip twice before, in 2011 and 2014, while we’ve never done Brentford to Teddington (although we have gone in at Brentford). So we’ve opted to return along the Paddington Arm, go down to Brentford, and do the shorter tidal trip from there.
The first stop of the day was immediately after leaving Browning’s Pool. We stopped on the water point just through the narrows, and also made use of the Elsan and the bins. It was a pretty slow tap though, so we decided we’d give it until 9.30 and then carry on. We’d already done a wash load, so at least the water for that would have been replaced. We’ll finish filling the tank tomorrow instead.
The second stop of the day was at the Kensal stop and shop moorings which are right outside Sainsbury’s. There’s a round building by the bridge there, which is currently advertising the Minions.
Adrian went off to do the shopping while I stayed behind with Macc, who’d gone for a morning nap. He seems to sleep much better when we’re moving; when we’re moored in places like Paddington there’s too much going on, so he’s been missing out on sleep for the past few days. Once Adrian was back we set off again, past the busy Kensal Green moorings (although there were several spaces had we wanted to stop), and the big railway yard. At Old Oak Common there’s a riot of cranes, probably HS2 because this is where it’s going to come to an ignominious halt now that it’s no longer going to Euston.
Where the Overground crosses the canal, a train was sat there for ages.
We crossed back over the North Circular, with the traffic as bad as ever. This aqueduct dates from the 1990s, but the little towers have the Middlesex crest on them, which I think are from the previous 1930s structure.
Just beyond, we passed the hopper loaded with big reels of cables that we saw on the way in. This time it was moving, with a narrow hopper behind. A bit later the temporary floating towpaths were also on the move.
At Alperton, the fallen tree was still blocking most of the canal although there’s probably slightly less of it there than there was the other day. A CRT workboat moored further along was full of rubbish — it’s called the Pride of Slough, and I’m sure this is something the people of Slough can be truly proud of.
When we got to the golf course, I saw a man doing a practice swing to try to get his ball on the green. It was only when he actually hit it that I realised he was in a bunker.
I knew where I was aiming for today, but I misremembered where it was. I thought it was just past Bridge 13, but when we got there, the place I was expecting wasn’t there. It turned out we needed to be through Greenford, so we keep on going and had lunch on the move. On the way, we passed a very badly moored boat: all its ropes went up to the branches of a tree above it. Not surprisingly it was swinging around all over the place.
I rather liked the design on this boat, on a set of permanent offside moorings. You certainly can’t miss it.
The place we were aiming for was just beyond Footbridge 17A at Marnham Fields, an area of parkland which would be right up Macc’s street bearing in mind that he hadn’t had the chance to be off the lead for a week. There are a couple of other boats here, and it’s all rather pleasant. Macc must have needed sleep, as he didn’t wake up until we’d moored — I took him for a walk straight away, and he enjoyed a sniff and a run around.
There are plenty of brambles here, and some of them are even ripe.
10 miles, 0 locks.