The long way out of London – From Uxbridge to Windsor
First of all: can we start a petition please to build just a few miles of canal from Slough to the Thames? Slough is about 8 miles and 2 locks from my mooring in Uxbridge. In Windsor on the Thames I am not more than 5 miles from Slough, but it took me 40 miles and 22 locks to get there. This is truly the long way out of London.
My journey started at my home mooring in Uxbridge, where for the first time in my life I loaded truly all my earthly posessions onto the boat. Willum is slightly wonky now, I need to work on balancing the load on the roof a bit better at some point, but it’ll do for now. So off we go down the Grand Union mainline down to the Thames lock, where the canal meets the tidal river.
The Hanwell lock flight down to the Thames is quite picturesque, but really not my favourite with very deep and hard going locks. Fortunately I had help from a local friend, or it would have taken me all day.
Then the last two miles down to the Thames. That stretch is the river Brent, which has a habit of flash flooding and bringing down all manner of tree debris with it then. There has been no rain in a long time, but the first river lock was still full of big branches that I had to push aside to even operate the lock. The next lock was even worse as it had a gash about 10cm wide between the bottom gates, where water was pouring out faster than it was coming in at the top. It took 3 strong guys and me to open the gate. If they hadn’t come along I would have missed my booked slot at the Thames lock.
It was great to get through this last lock though. If everything goes according to plan, it was my last wide canal lock for this year! From here on it’s all electric on the Thames and then narrow locks through the Midlands. Woohoo!
This is my big heavy anchor. If I ever have to use it, I will likely not get it back. It is only for an emergency on the tidal river. I am always a bit nervous on the tidal as any problem can escalate pretty quickly with the strong current.
Turns out there was only one other boat apart from me going onto the Thames. The Wessex Rose hotel boat had guests on board, who had booked the “London Loop”, through London on the canals, then back up on the Thames from Limehouse to Teddington. It didn’t go well due to multiple ad hoc closures in London and they missed out on all of Central London basically. But according to one guest they still enjoyed their trip (the skipper is also a great chef apparently).
We chugged along together on the short tidal hop to Teddington, which takes about an hour. It was all calm and uneventful and we arrived in Teddington at the tidal head in the afternoon.
Teddington also holds good memories for me as when I was working for eBay in Richmond I lived very close to this lock and weir for a few years.
Being on the Thames couldn’t be more different to crawling along a shallow ditch, err, sorry, canal. I love the serenity and calm of the canals. The Thames in contrast feels free and alive. The water has little waves and even when you are moored, the boat rocks gently as other boats go past. One nice perk is that it is possible to admire the surroundings without crashing into the bank or another boat after a few seconds.
One slight downside for me is that I always feel a bit like an imposter here on my not very shiny narrowboat with stuff piled on the roof. This is rich people’s country with big expensive cruisers (some people would call them gin palaces) that only come out of marinas for short trips. I am trying to not let this get to me and actually everybody I have met so far has been very friendly.
Anyway I digress. I have cruised from Teddington to Dorney Lake so far, which is just past Windsor. The river bank changes so much on this stretch. Close to London all the bank is built up or private and there are very few places to moor. The further you get away from London, the more open the country becomes and the more it becomes possible also to moor in wild spots. The cruising so far has been a real pleasure with most locks having lock keepers and being not too busy. The biggest adventure so far has been sharing a lock with a very big French Brothers trip boat.
Runnymede is a strange place. Although the Magna Carta was signed here and the few original copies are highly treasured, there is no national monument to it here. The only “official” monument to the Magna Carta in Runnymede has been erected by the American Bar Association. It is a beautiful place though with a variety of other memorials and artworks scattered across the large meadow and surrounding area. No photos as I didn’t stop there this time.
Windsor was up next. The first impression of Windsor is a veeery long loop around Home Park with occasional glimpses of the castle in the distance. This time this long slog was made special by lots of horse-drawn carriages driving around in the park. Apparently they were all part of the Royal Windsor Horse Show.
After the park and another lock, which I shared with the large trip boat, Windsor town centre came into view. On previous trips it had been total chaos here, with big trip boats zooming around fast amongst the usual crowd of big cruisers, little hire motorboats, kayakers and paddle boarders. This time it was not very busy despite it being a Sunday, maybe because it was only around lunch time. I was relieved as manoeuvring around all these little boats with a 60ft heavy steel boat can be a bit nerve-racking.
Fascinating Kerstin. I’m enjoying your adventure!