I planned to have two days off from work, so that I could actually go somewhere in the boat, and stay the night. Set off as early as I could muster on a day off at 9:15am. Stopped at the toilet block to empty the loo, and really got going at 9:45am. First thing I noticed was a white van, not going along the A40 as you might expect, but face down in the cut! “Kids, or an accident?” I enquired “Kids!”, he said. I mentioned the fact that a friend of ours got stuck on something springy – it turned out to be a police car that had just been pushed in by the local kids in Brum.

It was hellish windy, and going slowly past boats occasionally meant going sideways down the canal. It was not long before I had a problem: White diesel smelling smoke was coming out of the engine room. Oil burning on the top of the engine is nothing new from my 1964 SR3, but I was worried now. I tied up to the rubbish barge near Yeading in a hurry, not wanting to push the engine I thought I would use a rope to stop the boat, but it was going to fast, and even with a loop around the bollard it kept going.

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I eventually got the boat tied up, and stopped the engine – should of stopped it earlier but forgot! Took up the floor, and found that it was coming off the exhaust. The only thing I could think off was that when the main diesel tank spilt into the bilges due to poor welding on the top of the tank, it had soaked into the exhaust bandage. After a little while it started dying down, so I thought I’d try again, but not far down the canal it started again. The exhaust was getting a lot hotter than normal (usually runs quite cool – I thought anyway), so pulled over at Yeading. After struggling with the rope – a nice man in a boat moored further up asked if I was OK - I took the weedhatch off. This was the first time I’d taken it off, so wanted to be near help. Not a sausage on it (not that you would expect one anyway…) so off I went again. It started to get much worse near Bulls Bridge, so once more I pulled in. I talked to Dad, who didn’t think it would be to much of a problem, it wasn’t going to burst into flames but I had my fire extinguisher to hand. After 20 minutes of talking, I was off again – shopping at Tesco.

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Typical! Even with new trolley you always manage to get a duff one! The locking wheel would not release, and after dragging it all the way over to the building, I gave up and got another one. Of course, once I wanted to take the trolley over to the boat, I had the same problem but this time with a full one. The easiest way of doing this is by dragging it backwards kicking and screeming! A tug not very cleverly placed cause some extra points on my 5 point turn, the wind didn’t help much either.

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At Drayton I saw one of the sand barges half way through unloading, but just below Cowley I found myself racing through a bridge to avoid a full one coming down the canal. They don’t seem to have a good underwater design – the one I overtook seemed to thash the water without getting very far, and after seeing one completely empty on my return journey it was possible to see the extremely short and square swim it had. Water could not get to the prop cleanly.

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I don’t what it was about this trip, but I saw at least three herons that didn’t fly off as I approached so I got some close up shots – not all of them in focus as I was steering the boat at the time!

Thinking the lock at Cowley would be empty was a mistake. It was already filling, it wasn’t until I walked to the top did I realise that a man with a windless, but no boat in sight, was wondering about. He said he would turn the lock back in my favour, so we both raised the lower paddles. After checking that the boat was OK, I went back to him, and enquired if he just liked working locks. Eventually he told me he was waiting for a workboat that was coming down with a burnt out boat which happened three days ago. I asked him if it was the one where a whino had broken in, and managed to set it alight with him still inside. He just said it happened only three days ago… so I don’t know.

After getting a free locking at Cowley, my only luck at Uxbridge was another boat coming out of the lock. Single handed through a lock means wasting a lot of time tying boats up, but a single boat in a double lock requires some ropeage anyway. Thankfully the wind was reduced by the large amount of trees along this part of the canal, so never became an issue.

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Another boat met coming out of Denham Deep helped immensely, in fact I was quite lucky with locks often finding a boat in the right place at the right time. There was still the few that seemed to be always full, even though a boat had only just past me – I don’t know if I was following anyone, but I never saw a single boat in my direction all day even when I stopped.

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As I past the River Colne junction at the Sewage works just above Coopers Mill, a little 15ft narrowboat with no roof came ploughing out. Two dogs adorned it’s bow, and he turned and followed me up the river. A boat came down the river, and he turned and followed that one instead. I think they knew each other.

I wasn’t sure how far I would get, but I was getting hungry by the time I had reached Springwell. After I had tea, I was going to continue upto Batchworth to turn, but a dark moody sky changed my mind. It did rain, but not for long.

I must remember not to stop here again – the TV signal is rubbish, even the locals have really high poles on top of their houses. There was a hill between me and Crystal Palace, and another in the way towards Hemel!

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I keep thinking it’s a weekend, so its really Sunday isn’t it? I was off at 9:30 again, but first I had to go up two locks, and 1.5 miles of canal, and then do it all again in the opposite direction! I was getting ready to leave, and thought I would take a couple of pictures, until I saw a boat coming out of the lock. Their crew member got on the boat, as I was starting the engine, so I thought it was all OK. It wasn’t until I’d got my mooring pins out that a toot, and a hand wave was asking if I was going up. I shouted, and raised my hand, which caused him to shout towards the lock. Another boat was coming out of the same single open gate. They noticed, so another lock in my favour.

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I had decided to leave the top gate open on Stockers lock, since I would be going through it again soon. When I reached the winding hole at Batchworth where the river crosses another boat came toodling down. We went through Stockers together, but I think the smell of bacon frying in a boat we had past made them hungry, so they stopped for breakfast.

All weekend – sorry Thursday, and Friday – that was the only boat I shared a lock with!

A large stuffed toy monkey hung from industrial ruins near Springwell, I’m not sure how it go there, but a boat called “Ain’t Misbehaving” opposite may have had something to do with it?

A friend of mine from work had just bought a nice but rather large GRP cruiser, and was worried it would not fit under the bridges… after seeing some the large vessels even this far up, I don’t think he has anything to worry about.

11:05am found me back from whence I started from, I should have just backed up a few hundred yards, but hey, doing new bits of water is the fun of boating.

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I passed the little tug boat again, this time he was pushing a pan with two portaloos on it. Only one dog in attendance this time!

Copper Mill Lock found me taking some pictures of “how to do it”, so here’s how I did a downhill lock.

1. Tied up any old how with the centre rope- that’s all I ever used. The main thing is ensure the boat is safe, and that you can get back on again somehow. The flow of the river pulled the bow out, but after filling the lock it was more inline.
2. I chose to drive the boat in, since there is nothing to be gained in bow hauling it in at the top.

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3. Got off the boat before it was fully into the lock, and ran a loop of the centre rope around a bollard, and started to push the gate shut with the rope in my hand I could control the boat while closing the gate.
4. Tied the boat off, since the centre rope comes off the roof, it would be a while before the rope would become shorter.
5. Opened off side paddle first, as the boat does not have time to get into trouble, before you cross to the other side. The boat was OK, so then I raised the other paddle.
6. Went back to the boat, and looked after it while the lock emptied ensuring it didn’t get to close to the cill.

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7. Once nearing empty, I tied the boat so that it could not drift back, as the water often flows back into the empty lock pushing the boat back to the cill. I looped it around a bollard near the centre, but tied it off near the bottom gate bollard so that I didn’t have to walk as far.
8. Dropped the offside paddle, and then pushed open the near side gate.
9. Dropping the nearside paddle now helps when you pull the boat out, as it doesn’t get in the way.
10. Now the heavy work, bow hauling the boat out saves having to jump down, climb down to the stern deck, drive out, and then get back to the lock. As the boat drifts out, start to close the gate.

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11. Most of the time, the boat stays along side the wall, but at Copper Mill, the flows of water pushed the bow towards the bank, and so the stern came away from the wall, hence the need to always keep a rope handy.

    At Black Jacks lock, I thought I would be clever, and instead of tying the boat up while I opened the top gate of the already full lock I let it drift forwards. I had not taken a rope, but I knew the inlet would pull it back to the bank anyway. The momentum kept it going forwards, but because the bow was pointing out when I left it it pulled away from the wall, and I could not get back on. Thankfully the boat drifted straight into the lock, until it got half way through when the flow of the water pulled at the stern, and it got stuck in the gates.

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Someone had an unusual rabbit hutch on a boat at Southall. The back deck of this narrowboat was completely caged, with little fluffy bunnies bouncing about in it.

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Going down the straight towards black horse bridge I noticed the new Wembley Stadium arch right in front of me. This is a new landmark for the area, and it's surprising how far it can been seen.

I have to pass my mooring, and turn at Black Horse Bridge as the canal is just not wide enough to turn at 60 footer. There was a fisherman there, he saw me coming, and pulled in his rod. As I got nearer I said to him that I was turning. After getting half way around, and stopping, I needed to give it another burst forward. “That’s really going to mess up my fishing!” he says. I mentioned that it was a winding hole nicely. He then started on at me, first giving me the “there are other users of the waterways”, to which I replied “and I’m always considerate of them”, then he played the “I pay for this!” card, to which I replied “so do I, £500 quid.” At which point he shuts up, while he thinks of another argument. He continued with more complaints, and I mentioned that there were many miles of canal he could fish from. One of his last comments was “I’ve been here all day, and you are the first one”. I said “I have to turn here, as my mooring is just down the canal, and it’s the only place to turn. I have to go out of my way to turn here!”

By then I was on my way. I didn’t turn around to see if he was going to give up for the day, but I suspect that any fishes in the area soon returned.

Once back on to my mooring I find it a little shorter. The bloke in front seems to shuffle down the canal every time I go anywhere, but apart from the problems it was a very enjoyable trip. It’s surprising how nice the canal is once you are the other side of Uxbridge.

Mike