More Olympic Park waterways travelled

We had a long day yesterday - that's why I'm writing this the day after, rather than in the evening of the day itself (if you see what I mean). Long, but certainly interesting, and including waters new to us.

My alarm went off at 0600. I wanted to be sure that we were ready to go as soon as Tottenham Lock was mended. The first CRT team which looked at the problem said that if people were sent from Enfield then they could be here early, which they were. They pressed a couple of buttons and - look! - both top gates started to close. The problem had been a hydraulic pump overheating. No doubt they reset the system and all came back to life.

WB Pericles said that we could go first as we had the time constraint of a booked passage through Carpenter's Road Lock later that morning. At 0800 We were successfully worked through Tottenham Lock by CRT, then we made a dash for the Olympic Park. At Old Ford Lock we saw Joe, the helpful and friendly CRT person who was going to see us through Carpenter's Road Lock. In the end we must have been about 45 minutes later than our booked time of 0900 there.

This is the lock, approached under a highly reflective footbridge.

Carpenter's Road Lock is the only one in the country with a radial gate at each end. Having passed under the first gate ...

… the gate closed behind us; then the next gate was opened slightly to equalise the level with the river beyond. As this is all part of flood control, the level here could be higher or lower than the previous pound. In this case it was lower.

With the gate raised sufficiently we left the lock and turned right onto the Waterworks River. This is looking back towards the upper end of the Waterworks River, which I had wanted to explore but Joe said it was too shallow. It also seems to be outside CRT's jurisdiction, although Nicholson marks it as navigable.

Did I mention that we had been joined by David, Penny and Florence? No? They boarded at Carpenter's Road Lock. Do you like this twin peaks photo? That's the Olympic swimming pool.

Just before City Mill Lock we turned left onto Three Mill Wall River, passing a sculpture inspired, so the sign said, on pick-up-sticks.

We continued south for a short distance, then turned left to nose into the Prescott Channel. I had intended to go down to Three Mills Lock and wind above it, but the channel looked a bit too narrow with shallow sloping sides so I reversed out and went back to City Mill Lock.

This, again, is built to be able to cope with varying levels and has two sets of V-gates at each end.

Emerging from City Mill Lock took us on to the Bow Back River ...

… we wanted to make a very sharp right turn onto the City Mill River.

This manoeuvre completed, we came round past the Olympic Stadium, now the home of West Ham United FC (photos in a previous post) and rejoined the River Lee Navigation where we went straight up Old Ford Lock. At the junction with the Hertford Union Canal we turned left to go up (confusingly) Old Ford Locks. Our guests stayed with us until Regent's Park. Approaching Camden I got talking to two Spaniards who were interested in seeing us work through the lock.

We briefly considered seeing if we could find a space in Paddington Basin, but decided to carry on to Harrow Road Bridge 3 where we had moored three weeks ago. We tied up alongside Go with the Flow, another IWA festival attendee.

After another early start (Go with the Flow wanted to set off before 0730) we are now making our way through west London on the Paddington Branch.

First lit stove seen for a few weeks

Well, we can't stay here for ever, going to the Proms every night, so we moved on. First job was to wind as we were now facing the wrong direction after giving our guests a short there-and-back ride yesterday. I should have tried just where we were, immediately east of Bridge 3 as the canal looked just about wide enough for our 55' boat - and we would have had nothing to lose - but we back-tracked for a mile to wind just past the Sainsbury's at Kensal Town. The winding hole isn't signed, but at the spot indicated on Waterway Routes there was the vestige of an entrance to an old basin so I stuck the bow in there and powered round. There was plenty of room behind me.

While I was winding Jan popped in to the supermarket. Just before this point we passed Captain Smollett, whose crew must have been feeling a little chilly. We were plenty warm enough, thank you. Incidentally, the bright green duckweed hasn't come out at all well in my photos. I think the camera must be (counterintuitively) fooled into overexposing. I'll have to experiment with the controls …)

We were soon back to our mooring of the previous two nights and then Little Venice and on to the Regent's Canal through London Zoo. At the locks at Camden we went down the first three locks on our own, but then we paired up with another boat for the rest of the way to Limehouse Basin.

The building at 1 Canada Square [centre] is still the most instantly recognisable of the growing cluster of skyscrapers at Canary Wharf.

As we arrived at Limehouse Basin two other boats emerged from Limehouse Cut to take what appeared to be the last visitor moorings. There was, however, just enough room for our locking partner to squeeze in in front of Spey; we tied up alongside. Perfect.

And this is our view in the basin.

Walking past the tidal lock to the Thames I couldn't resist another Canary Wharf photo, especially as the sun was behind me.

Tomorrow we start up the Lee Navigation.

King's Cross

The last time I was on Jubilee I returned home via King's Cross Station. The roof over the concourse is spectacular.

The train to Cambridge often leaves from Platform 8; the tracks dive under the Regents Canal shortly after leaving the station.

On this occasion the train left from Platform 1, which is not, as it happens, the platform with the lowest number.

At King's Cross there is a Platform 0. Are there any other stations with a Platform 0 - or even negative numbers?

I'll take a photo of it next time.

Regents Canal sign wrought in iron

On my recent cycle ride along part of the Regent's Canal (Regent's or Regents? The apostrophe came automatically) I came across a wonderful wrought iron sign.

It shows some of the things associated with the canal, either from the past or in the present.

I particularly like ... well, I invite you to guess which are my favourite two designs in the sign.

Barge on a London canal in the 1980s

I rediscovered this photo today, taken from the bow of Savoy Hill in the early 1980s. I think it might be the Regent's Canal. I don't know what the boat is. I photographed the photo so as to be able to put it on here.

I must try out my slide scanner with negative strips - and see if I can find the relevant negative!

Timelapse: Islington to Pickett's Lock

At last! Here is the first of a series of timelapse films recording our epic cruise from Northolt to Northolt via Hertford, Bishop's Stortford, Limehouse Basin, Thames Flood Barrier, Radcot (almost as far up the Thames as you can go), Brentford and Bull's Bridge. Except that I can't find the first section, from Northolt to Islington. Perhaps I hadn't set up the timelapse camera for that bit.

This timelapse sequence starts on the morning of Monday 16th August 2010 from the north portal of Islington Tunnel, and proceeds via the Hertford Union Canal to the River Lee Navigation as far as Pickett's Lock.



Edited to correct a couple of errors and to add: the film seems to be running very jerkily, not like the original. Perhaps it's my computer.

The Regents Canal bridge that's sometimes there, sometimes not

Monday 16th August 2010

Approaching the Kingsland Road bridge I could see a train on a bridge just beyond, so I snatched a photo. I like capturing trains on railway bridges, and road traffic on road bridges. It justifies their existence!


Through the bridge holes I could see a confusion of kayaks, so we went slowly past as they clung to the bank.


Bing maps shows a similar cache of canoes in the aerial image looking north. But where is the bridge? That vertical strip of rough ground (to the left (west) of the kayaks), bisected by the canal, is the path of the railway.


The railway was evidently being rebuilt when the satellite passed overhead, as in the next image, looking east, there is the new bridge.


For the sake of completeness, here is the same scene looking south...


... and, below, is the Bing Maps image looking west.


An apology: I said two days ago that this post would have been yesterday's offering. I lied. It's a day late.

Search for Thomas Briggs leads to murder

Continuing along the Regents Canal as seen through my camera we come to the lovely brick building of Thomas Briggs (London) Limited. My internet searches failed to find out anything about this firm. Was this a factory? Or a warehouse?


One of the first references I came across was in an article in wideworldmag.com headed "East End Canoe Safari". This is a well-written exhortation by Ed Chipperfield to get yourself an inflatable canoe ("for between £125 and £180 on eBay"), dodge the "dead dogs", and paddle a six mile loop around the East End.

How's this for a cruising guide?

Limehouse

After three locks, the canal ends in Limehouse Basin – a huge marina for yachts and cruising boats, overlooked by the monolithic presence of Canary Wharf. Here’s where the dowdy, grubby canal opens to reveal luxury, money and space, with a perimeter of development that puts the rest of the route to shame. It’s a sharp contrast with Limehouse’s historical reputation. During the 19th century, the docks here were London’s original Chinatown, and thanks to the Imperial trade in narcotics the area was synonymous with opium dens. Putting ashore here looks hopeless – you’ll have to take a sharp left, ignoring the first left-hand fork to a loading bay and instead plough on east up the Limehouse Cut.

And here's the next bit - irresistible!

The Cut

Limehouse Cut was London’s first canal, connecting the Lea River with the Thames. It’s long and very straight – 2 miles– and if the wind is coming from the east, very cold indeed. It cuts a channel through Tower Hamlets, and the banks are peppered with offices and dwellings, between run-down and disused factories and warehouses: the finest is a block emblazoned with ‘Spratt’s Patent Limited’. It’s got a great history: the company began the modern dog food industry single-handed. In 1860, Mr Spratt came upon the idea of taking hard meat biscuits that were normally given to soldiers as rations and selling them to dog-owners.

The reference to Thomas Briggs comes in the passage about the Hertford Union Canal. Apparently Thomas Briggs was the victim of the first "railway murder". There's no suggestion that this TB was the one whose name is engraved in two feet high letters. Here's Mr. Chipperfield again:

As you pass Lock No. 3, you’ll see a pub, the Top of the Morning. It’s where in 1864 the victim of the first ever railway murder died, one Thomas Briggs. He was stabbed and thrown from his train near Hackney, robbed of a gold watch, and his attacker, a Mr Muller, gave birth to a brand new cockney verb: to ‘muller’ a man now sits firmly in the language as a byword for violent assault.

HarperCollins - sign up Ed Chipperfield now to update your Nicholson waterways guides!

I was going to include a mysteriously appearing railway bridge and more canoes in this post ... but that can wait until tomorrow!

St. Pancras trains, lock and cruising club

15th August 2010


I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised to see the Eurostar train at St. Pancras. Eurostar moved its London terminus there from Waterloo in November 2007.


It does seem odd, though, that trains to France have to go north from the station! (The line then goes east to Stratford before diving under the Thames and heading for Folkestone.)

Continuing east on the Regents Canal we came to St. Pancras Lock, with the wooden clubhouse of the St. Pancras Cruising Club.


We would be joining a SPCC organised cruise on the Thames tideway later in the holiday. At this stage I didn't know if we had to meet here for the safety briefing. We didn't.


Jan steering Willow through St. Pancras Lock - the clubhouse is in the background

Camden - gongoozlers' paradise

August 15th 2010


I've already touched on the gongoozlers' paradise of Camden. Actually - er - no, I haven't! I thought I'd posted about it but I think the problems with the prop may have usurped that one.

So, Camden. It comes as quite a shock, seeing all those people out with their drinks and their cameras, just hanging around the locks.


What's really surprising is how they all keep behind the railings - well, they did at Hampstead Road Lock (above). It was a different story at Camden Lock.


Here you have to pick your way carefully around the human trip hazards.


Everyone was friendly, just out to have a good time in the August sunshine. Our passing through must have added to their enjoyment.

Floating food

There's something about water which attracts restaurateurs and café owners. And, of course, their customers.


The Regents Canal does a 90º left at Cumberland Basin; in the basin sits the Feng Shang Princess, a floating Chinese restaurant. This is an arresting sight when encountered going east, the red standing out against the trees. (Is it really floating, though? What would happen if the water level dropped?)

Back at Little Venice is the Waterside Café, which, when we passed, was sporting an advertising board for The Floating Boater. This, according to the website, is actually two charterable trip boats - FMC motor Lapwing (built in 1913) and The Prince Regent - which do fairly upmarket catering.


Establishments such as the Gongoozlers' Rest on the Grand Union at Braunston must get much of their trade from people who go for a day out to look at a busy canal centre. Gongoozlers, in a word.


That's the Gongoozlers' Rest behind my "breakfast in a bap".

We've been to the Moonraker Tea Room at Slaithwaite on the Huddersfield Narrow: once for an ice cream, and once for a cup of tea.

Then there's the floating Thai restaurant on the River Wensum in Norwich ... there must be many more examples of this kind of thing.

Andrew Denny featured the Curry Boat on Granny Buttons recently, now that's my sort of floating restaurant!

Maida Hill Tunnel and Café Laville

On 15th August we passed through Maida Hill Tunnel near the start of the Regents Canal (if you're entering from Little Venice, as we did). We had to wait for a trip boat to emerge - you can see its tunnel light in the photo below.


Here it is again, a bit bigger!


Some of the people on the trip boat seemed to be enjoying themselves; others looked less sure about it.


And then under the Café Laville and into the short (272 yards) tunnel. What a fantastic location for a café! I looked it up to see if it had a website. I couldn't find one - but top of the search results was a review site giving mostly bad reviews. To be fair, the poor reviews (mainly for bad service) were written over a year ago; the one recent review was rather more positive.


Tomorrow: Forget the Granny Effect, check out the Elvis Effect!

Open air Elvis and other larger-than-life people on London's canals

You do see some surprising things when travelling the waterways. On the Paddington Branch, for example, is Elvis Presley, five (or so) storeys up.


I assume it's Elvis Presley.

And this is Samuel House on the Regents Canal. Orange boards covering the windows of empty flats have been replaced with portraits of past and present residents of the Haggerston and Kingsland Estate in Hackney.


It's an art work called i am here. This is from the website:

Without any prior warning in April 2007 (...) bright orange boards were promptly fitted over the windows of all the vacated and empty flats on Haggerston & Kingsland estate. This rather bold visual statement even further underlined the dilapidation of the estate. The blocks now dotted with orange boards rapidly turned into an object of curiosity, especially for the passers-by using the increasingly popular towpath along Regents Canal for daily commuting to and from work, or for weekend strolls to Victoria Park and Broadway Market.

i am here was initiated by artists who are themselves long-term residents of Samuel House. Through their open windows, facing on to the canal, they often overheard passersby speculating on reasons for the building's demise and its current state. The installation aims to disturb this one-way interrogation by replacing the 67 bright orange boards with large-scale photographs of residents on the estate: onlookers no longer stand unchallenged, as their gaze is met and returned by a multitude of faces consisting of current and former residents on the estate. Thus the project literally humanises a piece of architecture on its final journey.