After a lazy start, by the time my Dad and I got out of the boat, President had already arrived. We went for a quick shop – which was a very posh coffee bar, and mini supermarket combined.

13:30 Meeting about the cruise – Rodger (organiser) actually wrote a thesis about the Driffield Navigation, so it is a small world. The plan was to wait on a wharf near Limehouse until President got on the river, and then to peel off and follow. After the meeting everyone was worried with all the warnings, and possible problems, you could cut the anticipation with a knife. A quick bite to eat, and then the first lock was on it’s way.

14:20 First Lock Empties – After running back to the boat, it didn’t take much time to get going into the third lock.

15:00 Third Lock Empties – Here we go again, after doing the tidal barrier cruise the day before, we were getting use to this. Yesterday, I had noticed a rubbish collection barge right near the exit, which would be blocking the way going towards London. I checked before we left the lock, and it had found itself 1/8 mile upstream, well out of the way of the lock, but right near the wharf where the boats were waiting.

Continued....

The gates opened, and Martin in Fulborne set off first for the jetty just outside the lock. In fact his friend was driving, as Martin want to take photos. We got out on to a bumpy tide way, just as several trip boats were flying up and down. As we made our slow way down the river, both the skipper of Lotus (who also locked out with us) and I saw the chaos the moored boats were in on the wall. We both decided to bob about in the river.

The tide was only slow (about 2mph), and I could push it at tickover (about 2.5mph) – if slowly! Just as the waves were dying down again, a large tug called Regain pulled 4 pans loaded with containers at great speed. Again the boats on the wharf went up and down, and bashed into each other. Boaters were holding onto to their neighbour to stop the boats banging to much.

15:21 President came into view, moving nicely with very little smoke. I turned around and follow Lotus, and President. I needed quick a bit of throttle to keep up with them. We were making 7mph over the ground, and the boats on the wharf were getting left behind. We did notice a Narrowboat (Nuggler) being attacked by the Garbage catcher (they don’t like floaty things!), later we found out that the skipper was more involved with what his wife was doing with a fender-lesson learnt I think.

Fulborne came flying past, to get some pictures from the head of the convoy – Martin should have some good pictures of Shoestring as we were on the opposite side of President for most of the cruise. Tower Bridge didn’t open for us – but I didn’t mind as I saw it open the week before for a Thames sailing barge while my Sister and I were sightseeing! The Thames boatman doing a commentary said he’d only seen it open three times before – I’d already seen it open twice and I don’t go there very often!

continued...

16:00 Big Ben. President started throwing out some lovely black smoke as she approached the Parliament. Big Ben noticed the boats, and give us 4 bells! The commercial traffic died down after the busy period near Limehouse, but a waterjet boat flew by, and you can see the waves on the side of President in the Big Ben picture below. Now you know why they have the wooden board in the engine room door!

Somewhere near Battersea, we heard on the radio that Eric on Cherie was having problems. We later found out that the engine suddenly died, just near a bridge, and someone had to take them into tow. After checking all the usual things to do with fuel, Eric was just putting the engine board back down, when he noticed the engine stop was not fully home. It was pushed back, and the engine was started again! Since I had a similar problem when trying to start my engine, I know how he feels.

17:55 Brentford. The rest of the voyage went smoothly, and BW were operating both locks at Brentford.

Continued...

20:47 Hanwell. The original plan was to have a barbeque but it didn’t quite happen after the original planner, Libby Bradshaw, had fallen off someone else’s boat when the handrails had given way. The local “local”, The Fox, didn’t do food on a Monday night, so we hot footed it down to the Dolphin ¼ mile further down the road. We had a very good stake, and because we didn’t want the usual garnish, the cook stuck some salad on the very large plate. The pub was a bit rough around the edges, but the landlord had only just taken it over. The night before however a large amount of travellers/gypsys invaded the pub, and the landlord called the police. They didn’t want to know, and he had to get rid of them himself!

I got up at about 8am, and noticed most of the boats had already gone. Eric, and Mike Stevens were all that was left by the time we left. I would have asked Mike if he wanted to join us, but the boat was all closed up, so we had to go up the locks on our own. Dad went ahead to get the next locks ready, and caught up to Martin Ludgate. We did ask if he could wait for us, but they decided to continue up on their own – setting the bottom paddles for us.

10:00 Top of Hanwell. Martin was just leaving the top lock as we approached the bottom.

11:05 Bulls Bridge

12:42 Uxbridge. I wanted to fill the tank up with fuel as it had not been filled since Braunston by the previous owners. After putting 333 litres at 31p a litre the stern dropped a little in the water. Whilst the bloke at Uxbridge Boat Centre was waiting for the tank to fill, he was telling us about other boats that have taken a while to fill. One boat he was filling just wasn’t getting any closer to the top of the tank. Later the diesel was found in the bilge – the pipe was not connected to the tank, and it just flooded the boat. I bought a huge amount in the shop as well, and was several hundred pounds worse off for the privilege. It did mean however that Dad could install my new bubble stove (with back boiler) properly.

15:58 Cowley Lock (return journey)

18:00 Northolt. Dad finished off my heater, and got off back to Hull at around 8pm. As soon as he had left, I noticed several problems with leaks. The leaks on the radiator water system has been fixed, but I noticed a diesel spill on the drip tray – one of the joints Harworth Heating made was leaking, and needed tightening up. Then I noticed a leak on the water pump, due to a loose screw. Then to cap it all off, I could smell diesel coming from the engine, I thought it might have been one of the joints Dad had made. I only wish it was – the main tank was seeping where it meets the deck. I didn’t have a tank to lower the level, and I could not get anywhere until the Thursday the week after!

Thursday 20 May 2004 - The CO alarm then woke my up at 6am on Thursday almost as a reminded to get the damn tank. I assume that the evaporation creates CO? I bought a 5 gallon container, and used my new hand pump to remove the diesel. That seems to have fixed it, but I should think a small list might bring it back.

Read about other peoples experiences of the day:
Nb. Nuggler
Nb. Felis Catus II
Nb. President

©Mike Askin 2004.