Monday 7th April - Paddington Basin
We had a lazy start today followed by an explore around Bloomsbury.
Bloomsbury Square was laid out in the early 1660s on land then owned by the Earl of Southampton, but from 1723 became part of the Bedford Estate. The central garden originally had a cruciform layout.
On one side of the square is Senate House, the main building for the University of London. When Dave was a student he used to come here for many of his lectures and use the library.
We continued walking until we came to Le Garrick, a French restaurant near Covent Garden. We decided to have a late lunch here for old times sake.
We used to go to this restaurant when we went up to London to see a show whilst we were living in Basingstoke. We were delighted to see that it was just as charming and friendly as it was all those years ago!
On our way back we found Neal’s Yard. Located within Seven Dials, Neal's Yard is home to a collection of independent restaurants, cafes, shops and wellbeing brands.
Back at the basin we saw a mother duck with a whole brood of ducklings. I wonder where the nest was for this little family?
Tuesday 8th April - Paddington Basin
Today we are going to Hyde Park to meet Annie and family who have come for a day in London to see The Tower of London, Pudding Lane and Buckingham Palace.
On our way to Hyde Park we found London’s smallest house. The property, which measures around three foot (95cm) across and is smaller than most custom built wardrobes, is said to contain just two rooms, 32 feet by 4 feet, connected by a ladder, with a partition separating the upper room. The current residents are Benedictine nuns who never step outside the walls of the convent. The house is thought to be part of three linked buildings belonging to the cloistered community, which include a chapel, the nuns’ cells, a library, kitchen and refectory, all surrounded by a high-walled garden.
Sitting in Hyde Park enjoying the sunshine. We met Annie and family near here, had an ice cream, played in the play park and then saw them back to their car and their journey home.
Wednesday 9th April - Paddington Basin to Hanwell Top Lock
Today we leave Paddington Basin and head for The River Thames. Our first stop was at the services where we filled up with water and got rid of all our rubbish.
On our way along the Paddington Arm we came across a fuel boat so we pulled over and waited for him to come alongside and fill up with diesel. So much easier than trying to get into a Marina and also much cheaper.
Leaving the Paddington Arm at Bull’s Bridge. By this stage it was a beautiful blue sky although a little chilly.
We kept going through Southall until we got through two locks and before the start of Hanwell Flight of locks.
The last lock of the day and we moored up opposite a lovely green park where we spent a peaceful night.
16.25 miles, 2 locks, 7hrs 6mins
Thursday 10th April - Hanwell Top Lock to Teddington Lock
A big day today, we are heading down towards Brentford Lock to get onto the tidal Thames as far as Teddington.
First of all we had to negotiate the 6 locks of the Hanwell Flight. Hanwell Asylum was built to the west of London as the pauper lunatic asylum for the county of Middlesex, and opened in 1831. Before long it was accommodating the largest number of patients of any asylum in Britain, and within ten years of its opening, it had become (according to the historians of psychiatry Hunter and Macalpine) "the most famous and the most controversial mental hospital in the world". Upon his appointment as Hanwell's medical superintendent in 1839, Dr John Conolly abolished all forms of mechanical restraint, and introduced the non-coercive "moral management" of patients.
A very pretty mooring in one of the pounds in the flight of locks. The mooring seemed to have a large amount of land attached to it, separated from the lock cottage and its garden. The stretch from the end of the Hanwell Flight was the worst we have come across for a long time. There is severe silting at the mouth of the River Brent after the last lock and we got stuck. It was a very unpleasant 20 minutes persuading the boat to move through the silt, but we eventually got through. The rest of the journey into Brentford was very, very slow wading through treacle comes to mind!
Approaching Brentford Gauging Lock, the basin has many moored boats and flats/apartments overlooking the area. The Gauging Lock was where boats were gauged or measured to assess the tolls to be paid on their cargoes. The lock keeper used a special stick known as a gauging rod to measure how high out of the water the boat was sitting. From this the lock keeper could calculate the weight of cargo on board.
Leaving the gauging lock, the lock was manned which was a relief as we couldn’t see how to use it. Once through the lock we then continued on for another 10 minutes until we got to Thames Lock and the River Thames. We had to wait for the optimum time, 12.39, then the gates were opened and we were let down onto the river.
Leaving the Thames lock, there was one other boat ahead of us, so we gently turned right onto the river and travelled with the rising tide all the way to Teddington.
The Thames is tidal up to Teddington but we were extremely lucky to have the most gentle and calm trip all the way. We took it very gently and enjoyed the experience immensely. Once reaching Teddington we moored up whilst a team of divers were trying to extricate a sunken boat blocking a sluice. I watched the boat being winched out of the water, but unfortunately it slipped out of its ropes and disappeared under the water again. The operation was abandoned whilst the boats were allowed through.
We moored up on the visitor moorings after the lock and had an explore of Teddington. We found a boat shop which sold a replacement handle for our hatch door which had got damaged whilst we were in Paddington Basin.
9 miles, 11 locks, 5hrs 6mins
Friday 11th April - Teddington to Hampton Court
A beautiful day for messing about on the river, a whole group of canoeists heading off to see how far they could go. Perfect conditions for it.
Some splendid properties bordering the Thames, huge mansions with wide river frontage to apartment blocks with their own dedicated moorings. All very smart.
Kingston Railway Bridge, built as part of the 1863 construction of Kingston Station, it carried the railway from and to Hampton Wick. It was designed by Errington and built by Brassey and had five cast iron arches each with 75ft span. The sewage main from Hampton Wick is attached to it.
We were passed by several trip boats but this was interesting as it appeared to have a side paddle. Yarmouth Belle was built as a passenger steamer in 1892 by Thomas Bradley, Southtown, Great Yarmouth. In 1955, she passed to Thames Launches and had several other owners before being purchased by Turk Launches, in 1988. She was later completely rebuilt and restored at the Turk boatyard in Sunbury-on-Thames: the paddle wheels and funnel are dummies. She is one of the few remaining coastal passenger boats still working on the inland waterways.
Our mooring for the night was right below Hampton Court, the moorings were very busy and we were fortunate to find a space just big enough for us to fit.
We walked around East Moseley and down to the lock where we stopped for a drink and ice cream.
4 miles, 0 locks, 1hr 48mins
Saturday 12th April - Hampton Court Moorings to Shepperton Village Moorings
A lazy start this morning, and a short cruise down to Moseley Lock. This lock was unmanned this morning so we had to operate it ourselves, however we were joined by three other river cruisers, which meant that we didn't actually do anything as they did the operation. Once out of the lock we pulled over to put on water and then continued on our way.
On this stretch of the Thames there are a lot of houseboats. This is an example of the type of houseboats we passed. They look very smart with prices to match!
Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare is located on the Riverside at Hampton. The building was commissioned by the great 18th century actor-manager David Garrick in 1756 to celebrate the genius of William Shakespeare. Yesterday we saw many canoeists, today it was the turn of the paddle boarders. We even saw one with a dog standing on the paddle board!
We found a mooring on the Shepperton loop, just big enough and went for a wander in the afternoon into the village.
5.75 miles, 2 locks, 2hrs 54mins
Sunday 13th April - Shepperton Village Moorings
We are having Lizzie, Lizzie and Bea to visit today and Bea is going to have a sleepover on the boat whilst Lizzie and Lizzie go off to London for the evening.
Bea enjoyed playing on the tree swings, ably assisted by Dave and Toby, and we had great fun playing card games and Bananagrams all topped off with a movie night watching ‘Paddington in Peru’
A beautiful sunset from the side of the boat, the end of a glorious day!
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