Our Narrowboat Morpheus

We took over from Andy and Carol at the St Pancras Basin and secured a couple more nights mooring there. A friendly club and a safe mooring behind the station, next to a boat called …..Morpheus !

Using “our” Morpheus as our London pad we spent a few days on foot, especially enjoying the London Walks tour of Little Venice, learning a few things about the canal as well like the horse steps (to get horses out of the water who had fallen in) and the ARP gates at Paddington which would be closed during WW2 air raids to secure the water in the canal in case of a bomb breaching the long lock-free stretch through West London.

With Cathy returning home for a few days I ventured up the River Lee, past the Olympic site and through some amazingly green meadows and parks in the heart of East London. Being a river it was a bit weedy, but being clear water you could actually open the weed hatch and see clearly for once what needed clearing (usually plastic bags).

Andy (week 19) returned for the day to keep me company for a showery Thursday back to Limehouse basin and a meeting with the lock-keeper to arrange our passage on the tidal Thames the following day.

The family rejoined, along with a friend with the requisite VHF radio and licence, and at  7.30am on Friday 27th May we entered Limehouse Lock, lifejackets on, anchor, flotation ring, maps, bridge charts and radio at the ready – and with more than a little trepidation on my part – one long blast on the horn and we were out on the Big River.

All the sights were there to see and Morphues behaved impeccably. We attempted to hit any wake from the other bigger traffic at 90 degrees, but she was reassuringly stable, especially laterally, with no rocking, and with a couple of knots of tide and deep water she would make good 6mph almost on tickover.

Under Tower Bridge, a 360 to get the good photos and then the bridges come thick and fast, keeping a lookout for the 2 yellow lights to mark the upstream arches. Past the Eye and Big Ben, giving the Houses of Parliament the required wide berth, what a great way to see London.

Hammersmith and Chiswick pass by, and Brentford looms all too quickly, although you have to keep your wits about you to spot the canal cut off the River – no signs at all !  Into Thames Lock at high tide and ahead of schedule at 1030am, the only problem was persuading the lock keeper to telephone the BW enforcement officer to confirm we did have a valid BW Licence (it just hadn’t made it’s way to the boat yet) and we were back on the serenity of the Grand Union .

Thinking of trying it – well if you have the time (11 day round trip) and can sort out a VHF licence – definitely go for it, I can’t wait to go back and do it in the other direction.

Dean Cathy and Samuel Ayres  Weeks 20,21,42,43

Perhaps not up there with climbing Everest or hitting a golf ball on the moon’s surface (if indeed that really did happen), we set our compass due south and a planned handover at Little Venice. Every long distance trip prior to this has been scuppered by one of three things; Buckby ALWAYS due maintainence when it’s our week, weather or the locality of some very nice canalside pubs serving bloody cine ales and house white (mrs h is very easy to please).

Thumbing through Nicholson’s and consulting numerous interweb route planner sites, we made the brave/foolhardy decision to reduce our normal alcohol unit intake levels to a sensible level and head for The Smoke.

Already made it to Cosgrove so feeling optimistic as I moored up opposite The Navigation. A dog friendly gastropub who’s manager/chef is reputedly Michelin trained and sources most of his ingredients locally. Top man.

Easter Holiday on Morpheus

We had two lovely weeks on board Morpheus at the beginning of April; sorry we are so late in uploading our blog! The weather was changeable but with some lovely hot days for most of the time. A great time was had by those family members who joined us. Our daughter, Lauren, joined us, not for a break but for peace and quiet to continue to write and complete her dissertation. I’m glad to say that she’s finished it and achieved a 2.1 BA Honours degree. Thanks Morpheus. Penny’s parents joined us for two days and dad caught a fish! He always loves his fishing and at age 86 he’s still going strong. The boat was well equipped for all eventualities and occasions. The washing machine was great, as was the central heating and deep bath. We saw an amazing range of birds with some cute passengers who happened to hitch a lift and eat some of the duck food we carried. Our first family of 11 ducklings greeted us at Bugbrooke on our way home. We had seen many ‘couples’ of ducks on their nests. We had a more or less uneventful two weeks taking a gentle journey down the Oxford canal. Originally we wanted to try to complete the ring along the Oxford canal, Thames and back up the Grand Union. But fellow travellers warned us that Oxford was busy with boaters waiting to risk the flooded waters of the Thames so instead we opted for a return trip. Anyway, on the canals the return never seems as if it’s the same route taken on the outward journey. The River Cherwell was lovely and we decided to try our hand at turning the boat in order to enjoy the river again, and again.

Thanks.

Mike and Penny Stevens – Mill Hill, London