Day one

Fist pump for a successful start

The first day of actually cruising on our boat and we travelled from the marina in Cowley Peachey to the Brentford gauging locks at the junction of the Grand Union and the Thames. Before we even set off we had to lower the wheelhouse as the bridges on the Grand Union are too low for our boat to negotiate. That gave our muscles a taste of what was to come!!

We will sleep well tonight!! What with 10 locks on my own - Kevin managed the boat while I did most of the winding and pushing, I think I might struggle to even lift my cup of morning coffee tomorrow. Thank goodness there were a few walkers on the towpath eager to help.

Saris, plastic bags, weed and wire

There is so much rubbish in the canals it isn't funny. We, or should I say Kevin, extracted over the course of the day, 5 ten litre buckets of rubbish from around the prop and the rudder. I have never seen so many saris in one spot. Apparently in the Southall area it is common for Hindus to wrap coconuts in saris and put them into the canal in the hope that they "float" to the Ganges. All they end up doing is fouling the propellers of the many narrowboats and barges on the canal. And with ours bigger and drawing more water into the propeller we must have cleaned up a considerable amount.The other issue as well is that the engine filters were constantly getting blocked so Kevin was down in the engine room on several occasions cleaning filters to stop the motor from overheating.

I wonder what  day 2 will bring.