Return to father Thames

A couple of days cruising has seen me safely back on the Thames. Yesterday was quite a long haul as I covered the 18 miles and 10 locks from central London to Brentford.  I don't enjoy this stretch stretch of canal seems as it has more than its share of sunken rubbish, mainly plastic bags and bits of nylon string, which are prone to getting wrapped around the propeller which slows the boat and puts additional load on the engine.  The solution is to stick an arm down the weed hatch and cut the rubbish off. I have invested in a pair of James Herriot style gloves which are most welcome in the cold water.

Two or three hours completed the 12 lock free miles of the Paddington Arm and saw me rejoin the main Grand Union canal at Bulls Bridge.

Bulls Bridge - Through the bridge for Paddington.

The remaining run down to Brentford is only 6 miles but has 10 locks including the 7 lock Hanwell flight. The canal passes an old asylum which has small wooden doors in the wall to allow the fire brigade to put hoses through to take water from the canal.

Halfway down the Hanwell Flight with the asylum behind the wall.

With the Hanwell flight complete Brentford is only around a mile away with a further 2 locks as the canal passes through pleasant countryside.

The day ended at a handy mooring in the basin only yards from the gauging lock which separates the canal from the river Brent. Only a few hundred yards further is the Thames lock which provides access to the tidal Thames.

Brentford Basin 

This morning I passed through the Thames lock around 10:00 on a rising tide which helped carry me the 6 miles up river to the famous Teddington Lock. Home to Thames television and of course the site of the famous Monty Python fish slapping sketch.

In fact there are three locks at Teddington. On the left of the picture below is the largest. At 21 ft wide and 625ft long it could hold over 30 narrow boats the size of mine.  It is not normally used which is why the traffic light is red. To the right of this, behind the trees, is the standard lock which can still take 9 Mr Bunbury's.  There is also a final small skiff lock designed for rowing skiffs which is only a few feet wide.

Approach to Teddington Lock.

The aerial shot below (not mine) shows the comparative size of the three locks.  The upper most is clearly the 625ft monster. The standard lock is below the island with a white cruiser in it and the skiff lock, also known as the coffin lock, is the tiny one alongside that.

Teddington Lock aerial view