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The
Thames Ring August/September 2009
by Roy & Celia Heatley
We seem to have
established some sort of a routine mostly in September when we regularly cast off to cruise the Grand Union canal to London’s
Paddington basin and back. We have grown to love this section (Crick to London) of the GU not only because
it is wide and deep more or less throughout its length, but also because it offers such a diverse palette of urban and country
landscapes, plus and this seems to be very important, because we both have long family roots in London, we feel that we are
returning home somehow. Finally, we relish the opportunity to stay more or less in the centre of the capital city for seven
days (and up to fourteen days in Little Venice) absolutely free of charge - plus if you factor in the benefit
of free travel care of our bus passes then it’s an offer too good to miss. On the previous two visits in 2006 and 2008 we have
done different things in and around London which is not really difficult given the breadth of choice available in England’s
capital city. This year it was to be visits to three museums and a show at the Albert Hall plus there would be the inevitable
but nonetheless very welcome weekend visit by daughter Melanie accompanied this time by husband Kevin.. This year however was going to be a cruise
with a number of major differences for us because in the first place and for a change, we had not set ourselves
a time limit (except we wanted to be back at our marina mooring by early October and certainly before the clocks went back).
In our recent cruising years I had still been working in private practice as a counsellor so each outing had had to be limited
to a maximum of a month. Then when earlier in 2009 we did have freedom from work constraints, we still had to limit
ourselves to four weeks and return to base earlier than we wanted to because of family commitments. There were no such restrictions
for this late summer/early autumn cruise. Our second
difference (and to any other cruise we had undertaken before) was that this year we were both on a diet to lose weight
in time for a week in the sun the following February 2010 in the Canary Islands. We were not sure whether if when in holiday
cruise mode we could maintain our dedication to the slimming cause but on the other hand we did not want to fight shy of the
sun loungers beside the pool because we were looking something like beached (and bleached) whales. Fortunately we had started
this particular campaign some four weeks before the holiday and had achieved some measure of successful weight loss
by the time we were due to cast off so this initial success spurred us on to continue throughout the cruise weeks - which
we did much to our joint surprise and I must say not a little pride. This is the first time that we have both been ‘in
it together’ so to speak. All my life my weight had remained steadily constant regardless of the large amounts
of food that I managed to put away so there was no need to diet whatsoever. But that situation had changed over the recent
months and almost surreptitiously the pounds had begun to accumulate. I was already close to fourteen stone with a pot-belly
to match plusAll my life my weight had remained steadily constant regardless
of the large amounts of food that I managed to put away so there was no
need to diet whatsoever. But that situation match plus strangely my clothes now seemed to be shrinking
and therefore getting very tight and very uncomfortable to wear as a result. In stark contrast to me, Celia for more or less
all her adult life has unfortunately had the ability to put on weight seemingly without trying and has more or less been on
a permanent diet but without much help and support from me to lose those unwelcome pounds - this therefore was now the time
for joint and determined action. What this would do for my on-going campaign to seek out a weekly supply
of fish and chips (purely in the interests of comparative science of course) would remain to be seen. Little did I know that
during the latter stage of the cruise even the unseen powers above would endeavor to intervene to keep me on the straight
and narrow at one of my favourite fish and chip establishments. The
third difference for this cruise was that we were going to break new ground for us because, as part of the cruise - a ring
- we were going to venture onto the tidal Thames for the first time in our narrow boating history. So in late August 2009 and with a certain amount
of mixed feelings - joy at the freedom before us but some apprehension at the prospect of a passage, albeit short, on the
tidal Thames - we cast off from our Crick mooring. After many years of boating we feel reasonably experienced and competent
(we know that you never stop learning however) but there was an ever present tinge of “Oh sh*t! What have we let ourselves
in for!” about the proposed short two hour maximum tidal Thames passage. We had of course spoken to many people who
had done this before us and unanimously the response was “Oh you’ll be alright. It’s easy. Nothing to it”
but for some reason we still felt ever so slightly apprehensive. Not that this marred our first few days whatsoever. Without any incident during this
first day, we cruised through the Crick tunnel, then after only a short wait, descended the Watford flight, and journeyed
on to the Braunston tunnel with just a couple of boats coming the other way in the tunnel - but there was evidence that much
heavier traffic had travelled this way some time earlier in the day in the form of clouds of smoke and diesel fumes pouring
out of the tunnel mouth. As a result, the interior of the tunnel was a right pea souper. Next we went down the flight, then
through and out the other side of Braunston itself to moor up on the first night on a quiet country bank all by ourselves
close by a working farm. Bearing in mind the time and distance we had travelled, this first day was for us a little miracle.
However our solitary
mooring situation lasted about thirty minutes because although the weather had been more or less OK during the day, by now
in the late afternoon, clouds began to gather and inevitably drop lots of water on us and others that were still cruising
the cut, so in no time we were surrounded by hastily moored boats. One of them, a hire boat, shadowed our journey right down
to the end of the canal. By next morning the rain had cleared but a strong and gusty wind remained. Because I absolutely hate
cruising in strong wind there was some “shall we go/shall we stay” debate but eventually the decision was made
and late in the morning we we cast off to continue our journey southwards.
There are four extra
pages for members to read in the January 2010 issue, posted 25/1/2010
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