At 10 o’ clock sharp on Friday we were “flushed” out of Limehouse basin and onto a very calm River Thames. Our little flotilla of five boats, as always, looked very diminutive as we powered out into the big wide world.
The Thames never seems to fail which ever bit it is and the bit through London is no different.
The Tower of London overlooked the very calm waters of the Pool of London – which is traditionally the “scary” bit if there is one.
The Shard, with it’s head in the clouds, looks down on HMS Belfast.
Two happy chaps – Manel and Doug with a great view of the calm waters we enjoyed during the trip.
With Parliament dissolved our seat of government stood empty as we passed by.
Vauxhall Bridge is one of the lost wonders of the Thames for most London visitors. It’s adorned with the most wonderful bronze statues with differing depictions.
Battersea Power Station looking rather strange with only three of its four chimneys. Part of the restoration / conversion is the complete restructuring of the stacks (we understand).
Even calmer waters as we reach the areas of Chelsea and Kew – our little band of boats, all nicely equally spaced, head towards our destination of Brentford.
As we left the river for Thames Lock at Brentford we bump into friends Nick and Emma on nb “Marpessa2” who were ready to join the river. Nice to see you guys and safe cruising.
As four of the five leave the second set of double locks ……..
……. we do a short trip up this 19th Century ‘motorway’ to the The Fox at Hanwell to join in their annual Beer Festival.
On Saturday morning, after coffee and cake on board “Chance”, a good few members of the group helped us up through the Hanwell flight of locks as we needed to get “Chance” back to Packet Boat marina.
The one (and only) highlight of the canal section between the Hanwell flight and Bulls Bridge junction is the fascinating “Three Bridges”. Road (above), canal and Railway (below) all intersect at the same point. Bad planning has given rise to the amazing and ingenious construction.
With “Chance” safely back in the marina we used the car to get us back to the mooring at The Fox, where we joined up with the others again for a BBQ. Enough food for the proverbial 5000 but, as you can see, there weren’t! having said that we had a great time and a fitting end to a wonderful weekend. Andrew, Perry, Beverley, Diane, Doug, Manel and Frances.
No “extreme” cruising this time but terrific nonetheless. Thanks so much to our friends at St Pancras Cruising Club for letting us join in.
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