I lied on Saturday!

Monday, 24 November 2008 19:14

Saturday was the last time I wrote our blog. I didn't deliberately lie! Sunday turned out to be YUK ( I did say WP, now you know what it means, Bones ). But W did not P, it was sleety, snowy, windy and rainy approximately in that order. Hence my lie - we did not move. Well not quite true - we had to move the bows out into the middle of the basin, still tied at the stern.

Why? We had a tremendous gust of wind which blew our front aluminum gangplank up in the air and off into the drink Oh darn! It is rather vital and specially adapted to be used with it's twin at the stern, making a wheelchair ramp.

My sister, who was visiting us, was vastly amused to see John and I leap up, don our wet weather coats, hats and shoes in record time and dash outside.

Now being aluminum it was absolutely no good to get the sea searcher magnet out. But we did! Then we undid the bow rope and shackle and let Epiphany drift out. Thanks to a concrete lining only a few years old and very clear water we could see our ladder resting peacefully on the bottom.

Off came the pole, the boat hook and John went fishing. The bow rope was too short, so just as I unearthed our 20 metre rope our neighbour from nb Chickasaw came to help with his boat hook. He managed to hook it whilst I kept the boat out under engine. Rescue completed, with many thanks we retreated inside to warm up and dry out. Lesson learned - later on John tied both gangplanks more securely!

So today we set off at last. I said a cheery goodbye to Paddington and its noise and we visited the sanitary station at Little Venice before venturing off up the Regents Canal.

A cold and blustery day so we wrapped up well. We knew that moorings on the Regents Canal were few and far between, so we wondered where we would end up spending the night!

First sight after Warwick Road Bridge was The Catholic Apostolic Church on Maida Vale. An interesting building!

Then Maida Hill tunnel with a cafe on top. All of 272 yards long! (the tunnel that is - Ed!)

Lisson Grove bridge (2) almost qualifies as a tunnel too.






Soon the best bit of the canal - alongside some lovely big houses on The Outer Circle and flanked by flats of St John's Wood on the towpath side.

Blow Up Bridge has a history all of it's own. 
I remember the excitement when Lord Snowdon's Aviary was built and visiting it as a child.

As we passed The Giraffe House in London Zoo we think we saw a giraffe and maybe a zebra too?



At Cumberland basin we turned left into virgin territory and pretty soon say Camden Visitor Moorings - full of winter moorers - no room for visitors. Of course ... no one would want to visit Camden by boat in the winter, would they?

After The Pirates Castle bridge we approached Camden locks. No time to stop at the market - only a 4 hour mooring anyway!

Lock 1, Hamstead Road, is a double lock. We took the right one as an Education Boat, full of children was using the left one as a down and up lock experience in one go! Camden market continues beside the basin and lock 2 Camden or Hawley lock. Pretty quiet today but probably busy at the weekend and in warmer days!

The pound between Hamstead locks and Hawley/Camden lock

 Locks 2 and 3 (Kentish Town lock) are no longer double and the remains of the second act as weirs. All the locks were hard, but Intrepid Fi carried on closing the bottom gates and paddles, opening the top paddles and then one gate, whilst John hung around in the gusty wind.

As I got on the boat from the lock steps of Kentish Town I twisted my foot and "Intrepid Fi" became "Hop along Fi". Not much good for any weight bearing so we spotted a mooring with 3 bollards just after St Pancras way bridge and stopped for lunch.

After much discussion centered on my ability to do one more lock and the advantage of resting my foot for the rest of the day and night we opted for the latter.

Despite being in the heart of roads and trains it is remarkably quiet! Just the occasional cyclist rattling by and  residential flats on the off side.

We will see what tomorrow brings forth - to Islington or not?

>>> View Next Post		View Previous Post <<<