A new waterway, the canalised River Brent

Friday, 05 August 2011 08:37

The junction of the River Thames at Brentford (as the name implies!) is with the River Brent. We let a couple of other narrowboats go ahead of us: narrowboat Perros knew exactly where he was going - we last saw him on the Oxford Canal.

Narrowboat ahead, approaching Brentford and Kew

Kew Gardens are on the other bank, but where was the junction? ......

Ah ha, narrowboat Perros is turning left, but there seems to be no signs that we could see. Maybe the trees are so overgrown they obscure it.

The next boat - with a New Zealander single handing, took a wider berth

I suppose this metal sculpture acts as a marker, but boats need to keep to the left (upstream) of it.

There are lots of barges moored at the entrance to the River Brent and immediately it feels as if London has arrived! The River Brent is still tidal until Brentford Gauging Locks, a reason to go down and on to it on a high tide. 

Boat on River Brent after confluence with the River Thames

There are two locks at Thames Locks (Lock 101) and we had booked our passage as required (a minimum of 24 hours notice for an out of hours passage); we were a little early, but after the Lock Keeper saw the other two boats through it was our turn.

Goodbye River Thames, we will be back

Thames Locks (taken into the sun)

Thames Locks are the demarcation between the Thames (Port of London Authority) and the Grand Union and therefore BW territory. Although "technically" on the Grand Union Canal, it is really canalised river as the Brent does not leave until the bottom of Hanwell Locks.

In Thames Lock

Again we passed more moored residential boats. It looks pretty in the photo below, but alongside the boats are houses and factories.

Residential Boats at Brentford

Above Thames Lock are Brentford Gauging Locks, electrically operated and requiring a BW key; boaters are asked to use the left lock on the toll office side. You need your BW key to get down from the footbridge to the central controls. We shared this lock with the small boat, as the other, Perros, had already left. He was aiming to get to his mooring on the Grand Union.

Brentford Gauging Locks

The basin above has the BW services and 14D visitor moorings. They looked very full with narrowboats mainly double moored. Opposite are permit moorings and the green duck weed was rather prevalent on that side!

As we took on water, John wandered down the moorings and found an amenable narrowboat owner who was happy to have us double moored against him for a night. Great - but I wouldn't choose to moor there for 14 days.

View from visitor mooring at night

River Brent (Grand Union Canal), Junction with River Thames to above Brentford Gauging Locks
1 hour 47 minutes, 0.69 miles, 2 locks