Out of London

It was “tideway” day today – the river, calm and tranquil at 8 o’ clock this morning, was beckoning us forward.

A pre-journey photo : a “Rose between two thorns”? – as if!

Having been flushed out of Limehouse Basin (by a lock keeper who demanded that next time he saw us he wanted a free sailor’s hat) we were soon heading upstream towards one of the most iconic views you’ll ever going to get on the London Thames.

Neil and Pauline on nb “Waterlily” nearly didn’t come with us this morning as Pauline had made up her mind that it was too dangerous because of the waves!  After a little gentle persuasion she agreed to the trip and became a virtual figurehead on the front of their boat for entire journey! Waves! – it was calmest conditions we’ve ever had. 

No comment!

Such a pity the last one went – this one is so soulless.

OK Pauline, this was a wave but the only one!

Surviving the blitz, St Paul’s still stands supreme, if  just a little hidden these days.

Blackfriars railway station, just recently restored and refurbished and spanning the entire width of the river, is quite a sight as we pass underneath.

HMS “President” has just had a new paint job and very impressive too.

Cleopatra’s Needle deserves a closer inspection some day.

This pic was taken just at the first strike of 9 o’ clock this morning. An awesome sound on land but on water you have to be there.  Nb “Waterlily” is still following behind thankfully.

At Nines Elms, just before Battersea, the new American Embassy still needs a lot more work before it looks like a real embassy.

The Albert Bridge (sorry to include yet another pic of this) is the prettiest bridge of all!

Steve, who we were delighted could join us for this ‘exit’ trip of ours, took over the tiller when things got less busy on the river(and when the other two “hands” got bored!).

After 3 hours of riding up on the incoming tide we were passing beneath Richmond Bridge and heading towards Teddington Lock and the extent of the tidal reach.

There’s Pauline, still on the front of the boat!

A second, and final, “no comment”!

Waiting to enter Teddington Lock, we were caught up by Laura and Ali on nb “Large Marge”, who we’d got to know in Paddington Basin.  They’d joined the Thames at Brentford and spotted us passing by. It’s a very small watery world!

After a fantastic and wonderful day’s cruising we moored up at 12:30 at Kingston on Thames.  The sun shines the wine is out ………

…… and it’s: “permission to removes hats sir?”

Towards the Thames.

Our last day in central London ended with a very enjoyable drink and a bite to eat with friends Pauline and Neil on their boat “Waterlily” as tomorrow we’ll take the trip down the Regent’s Canal to Limehouse Basin together.

Joined by Steve again (as he’s on leave from his work) we tripped the light fantastic through Regents Park – with the ageing Snowdon Aviary in the background …..

……. through good old Camden …….

……. where it was remarkably quiet for once …….

…… and where Master gave his first instruction to his apprentice.

Onward towards Limehouse with nb “Waterlilly” in the lead ……

…. with the locking crew (comprising of Steve and Pauline in the this case) working very hard ……..

……. and having to resort to the occasional run to keep up the pace.

After nearly five hours cruising we arrived in Limehouse Basin to take on water before mooring up for the night.

Steve enjoyed himself today, not only as part of the ‘locking team’ but also as video camera man, so we’re looking forward to seeing the results in good time.  He also had time to practice his “men’s aftershave advert” pose – no chance Steve! but thanks very much for your help today and we look forward to you joining us tomorrow for our last, and final, tideway cruise through the city.

Meanwhile this evening, with Neil and Pauline, we took the short walk to one of our favourite pubs, “The Grapes” for some food and a great laugh as always.  Here we all are with Cindy (definitely our favourite barmaid).  Tomorrow, we hope the weather and the tide will be with us for the start of our trip up the full length of the River Thames.

The London “season” drawing to an end!

The last few days (in our last week in the capital) have been full of meetings, walks, talks, spills and thrills.

Evenings in Paddington Basin at the end of these sultry summer days can be very atmospheric.

Friday saw us meeting up with friends for lunch …….

…… followed by a quick trip to Hendon for an hour’s thrill on a Segway track.

It truly was thrills and spills – this pic was taken a split second before Doug collided with the parked Segway machine on the left (which just happened to belong to James, who had stopped to take this picture!)

After that it was back on “Chance” for a nice glass of Champagne – kindly donated by Kevin ………

……… and then, just as we were well relaxed Tom, on fuel boat “Ash”, came along (as we’d asked) so it was all hands to the pumps …….

…… well almost all hands – one pair stayed well in the pockets!

Saturday we had a good walk into town.  A good majority of people don’t look up when they’re walking along – a glance upward along Praed Street in Paddington and you get this wonderful view of the original part of St Mary’s Hospital.

Along Park Lane is this very thought provoking memorial to the millions of animals that have lost their lives at war.  As one inscription says: “They had no choice”.

Further along Park Lane and someone has a sudden delusion of grandeur.

Just off Wellington Gate is the stunning memorial to the 55,573 airmen of Bomber Command, from the UK, the Commonwealth and Allied Nations who lost their lives over the course of the Second World War.  As Winston Churchill said: “The fighters are our salvation but the bombers alone provide the means of victory”

Further on, and again we take a pic of the most photographed building in the world.

Saturday evening saw us joining more friends in a Persian Restaurant in Paddington for an ‘interesting’ meal Steve, Ivan, Doug, Kevin and James …….

…… then back to “Chance” for some after dinner champagne as the evening cooled down towards a 2 am ‘retirement’!!

A Day in the Life of Paddington Basin.

Wednesday seemed a very long, hot (but enjoyable) day.  Starting with the arrival of friends Neil and Pauline (the cup cake queen!) on nb “Waterlily”.  In the excitement of meeting, and the subsequent coffee and cake, we didn’t take any photos but that will be remedied soon.

This was our very tranquil view from the boat on Wednesday morning ……..

……. but further down the basin work was going on apace with the installation of the new pedestrian bridge.

Undeterred by the construction noise, the enormous mirror carp are gathering in greater and greater numbers at the far end of the basin – there are now about a dozen of them basking in the warm surface water and getting a lot of attention from the passers by.

There’s one more ‘finger’ of the five which make up the pedestrian bridge.  Each finger is balanced at one end by a large weighted ‘sail’, with hydraulics for raising and lowering.  The last finger is going to be a problem as the engineers have to work below each finger during installation and there’s no room for them to get out after they’ve finished. Great!

Lunch time means construction and office workers alike make use of the basin for their well deserved hour break.

Some decide to take the deckchairs provided on the lawn to watch Wimbledon on the big screen.

Back at “Chance” there’s no lunch break!  James is half way through summer polishing and Doug can’t stand the spider poo on the Dodger. (Spiders seem to love making their home under the Taff Rail when we’re in the marina!)

Rest and relaxation eventually comes to “Chance” when friend Steve arrives with a big box of doughnuts ………

……… which ‘someone’ is very pleased to see!  Looking at that waistline he shouldn’t get too pleased.

We spent a very nice afternoon with Steve on the rear deck (doughnuts and gin and tonic went down very well for James!).

We had a cormorant diving around the back of the boat which we thought was amazing as it was so close to us.  Little did we know that he’d perch right right next to us and dry his wings – he had no fear at all as we went about our business of wine, nibbles and chatter.  We’ve called him George.

A tight squeeze but we’ve done it.

The little Peugeot 208 courtesy car took quite a bit of loading this morning (rather like getting a quart into a pint pot) but we had to get everything in, including our neighbour Nigel, for the next few months on board “Chance” (not Nigel, he was only with us for the day!).  We arrived at Packet Boat marina about mid day and, with Doug choosing the shopping duties, James and Nigel were left with taking on water and then pumping out the toilet tank.

With all the ‘dirty’ work out of the way we set off for Paddington for, what will be, our last week in London.  We’re hoping to meet up with friends and have an exciting day on the tideway before heading out of the capital to enjoy the summer further afield.  Nigel enjoyed a glass of sloe gin and tonic on deck with James …….

……. and Doug as we cruised along in the sunshine.

We were very pleasantly surprised when we got to Paddington Basin to find two spaces free.  Not bad for July!  We were informed that major work in the basin is scheduled for tomorrow.  The new bridge is being installed at the far end.  Here’s some interesting looking pieces waiting on one of the barges ……..

….. and dozens of workmen very busy laying an awful lot of concrete.

With only an hour or so before Nigel had to catch his train back home we had a very pleasant al fresco meal at the Grand Union pub at the end of the basin.

We’ve had a really good day and it was a great pleasure to have Nigel with us on his first trip on “Chance”. Next time we hope to have both Nigel AND Michele.