Out of Paddington on the 25th – yes!!!

We were all ready to go. James was a few hours ahead of us all with the time difference from Kenya and Pete and Elizabeth were ready to leave Paddington. James, of course, was camera ready and took some early shots – james gray king on Flickr if you want to see incredible stuff.

With the engine on at 7:30, we pulled away at 7:50 and went all the way into the basin to turn around. We dropped James off at the entry to the station at 8:20 to get a phone card while we moored up in Little Venice to take on water, put off waste and get breakfast from the Waterside. He joined us again (a quick walk!) and we pulled away, eating our bacon and egg butties, just before 10. We went west on the Paddington Arm, gliding over the North Circular Road near Wembly and moored up at Willowbrook for fuel. A little while later we turned north on the main Grand Union canal to stop at Hayes and Harlington. Elizabeth and James went to put James on a train (faster then a Kenyan matatuk, says James) for Oxford. We finished up in Cowley Peachy again, all very familiar now. (and MUCH quieter than Paddington!).

Life in Paddo

Well, it was

It was not quiet. At all. Ever. Some bits were less noisy than others. But we were almost under the Westway, under a pedestrian bridge, by a road which went to Notting Hill and were watching the Bridge behind Paddington Station. This does not count overhead aircraft, trains and all sorts of people taking advantage of the clubs and restaurants. Or the people trailing wheely cases over the bridge (corrugated steel) which went over our roof. Or the people using the two hire boats (Prince Regent and Larkwing) moored opposite us. Or the guy on the first night who decided to put the speakers of his music system on the ROOF of his boat for all to hear. Oh peaceful bliss. Not.

But we had fun. Two friends joined us for dinner on the Friday, we trailed around Covent Garden on the Saturday (finding guitar strings), wandered through Notting Hill on the Sunday and went to the theatre on Monday night (Pygmalion at the Old Vic) after Elizabeth came back from an Oxford meeting. On the Tuesday, Elizabeth welcomed colleagues from the URC on to Bella and then out for coffee, and Pete hosted a regional Community Development Foundation meeting for a number of hours. Elizabeth went to Heathrow to collect James and then took a very surprised James to Bella – just a hop out of Paddington Station. What a hoot! Dinner at Zizzi’a opposite meant James could have pizza with cheese (no cheese in Kenya!).

Paddington!!!

We got there! We had telephoned ahead a few days before to see if we needed to book a mooring and were told that there was always room. With the wind hugely against us, we went through Little Venice and into Paddington Basin, running parallel with the station. No mooring to be seen. Elizabeth used every muscle possible to try to hold the 20 tonnes of Bella to the bollards as Pete went to see if there were moorings further ahead. Nowt.

We boarded again, went to the end of the basin and turned against the wind. Foul!! And Pete lost his hat, which we later regained. We then went out of the Basin to Little Venice Basin and moored lightly in a ‘no unauthorised mooring’ slot, with Elizabeth going to the canal office (moored broad beam) to get authorisation. No way. Luckily the receptionist remembered Elizabeth’s voice (the only time she has been grateful for her accent) and made waves. We were able to find anywhere we could and moor – proper visitor moorings or not. While in the canal office boat, Elizabeth spotted a space near a railing, under a pedestrian bridge and not far from a park for Josie. We turned in Little Venice basin, travelled back into Paddington Basin and moored next to said railing. Interesting!

Cowley Peachy (what a name) for the night of the 17th.

We’re nearly to Paddington (Paddo!). We stopped at Batchworth to take on water and put off waste, then cruised by all manor of boats, including a caravan on pontoons. Almost all the locks were set against us, but with Elizabeth and Blossom going ahead to wind lock gates and paddles, Pete and Bella could almost always just float in. We needed to stop along the way to pull a shirt and plassy bag from the weed hatch. In Uxbridge, at Cowley Peachy lock (the last until Paddo), Elizabeth met one of her project management students who works for Environment 21, a Thames and Grand Union Canal society.

16th of June, south to Croxley Green

Some of the day today was shared with a river. Lovely, as we could actually see into the water. If you haven’t guessed yet, canal water is not nice. All the kitchen sink water and shower water (not waste), let alone all the other stuff, goes into the canal. Really, long skinny ponds. Mostly still. Sharing the course with the river meant movement, river life and lovely water and many locks had weirs - the regular sound of low waterfalls was lovely. We made biscuits before we set out in prep for coffee time, then moored up in Croxley Green, Herts. Oh - and we travelled under the M25. We knew if we had blogged that, James was sure to guess where we'd be!

What does Pete do when Elizabeth is away?

Well, the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th of June, he took pictures. Well, actually every day he takes pictures. If you want to see some stunners, look at Pete_Gray@flickr.com. And it has nothing to do with Elizabeth being away, it was just a good title… Elizabeth was in Edinburgh doing a URC training weekend and was thoroughly enjoying the train ride and the fantastic Waverly station.

Such a gap in blogging

We write this from the end of June. We got to June 12^th and realised that if had we written any more then, James (then in Kenya and surfing the net) would guess where we were going. We wanted to surprise him by being moored in Paddington Station and collecting him from Heathrow via the Heathrow Express. So, now the end of June, the movement to Paddo is now an after the fact blog. But that’s OK. You’ll still know what we did!