Croxley

We drove up from Cornwall yesterday, following various church services including the sunrise service on St Breoke Downs. It was cold! Furthermore, overnight the clocks had jumped forward an hour so it felt like 5:30 rather than 6:30 when we met.

We arrived just after 4 o'clock - a good, largely clear run meant that we made good time. We had not expected to move off from the marina mooring that evening so we unpacked and then tucked in to a roast. It was slightly easier to prepare as the meat came from the freezer having been part of an earlier roast!

Monday morning, bank holiday, and everywhere was especially quiet as Mike popped to the nearby newsagent for a paper. Just after 9:30 we finally unhitched ourselves from the pontoon and set off to join the Grand Union at nearby Cowley Peachy Junction, one end of the Slough Arm.

With a cold east wind forecast for much of this week we put on as many layers as we could manage - there was even a brief flurry of white stuff!

Cowley Peachy Stop Gates

At the junction there are stop gates - usually not noticed as most are overgrown but with such a long level pound it was important to add these at strategic points to minimise the amount of water loss (and damage to other property) in the event of a collapse of the canal. However, we do wonder whether these could readily be made to work and they certainly do not look as if they are regularly tested.

Cowley Lock

The first lock was Cowley Lock and as well as a standard lock keeper's cottage there also stands a larger building. From the name of the tea rooms which now lives in the ground floor, we assume that this was a Toll House, dating from the times when every boat had to pay a toll based on what it was carrying. These tolls paid for the construction and maintenance of the canal, at one time a profitable business.

Just before Uxbridge, a couple of boats caught our attention - Large and Little, as it were. The first seemed impossible to work out how it arrived here: surely it is too high to pass under the bridges and the higher parts did not look as if they were demountable (as with some larger wide beam boats) The other, a little pusher tug, is about as small as they come.

Denton Gravel Wharf

When we came this way before, Denton Gravel Wharf has seemed quite abandoned but does this rubbish boat indicate a new use for the access point?

Wide Water Lock

As we approached Harefield (Wide Water) Lock we were a bit confused as we could see a boat moving below the gates and we assumed that it had just come down. However, as we arrived we discovered that it was planning to go through the lock backwards, together with another boat also waiting.

For several miles, former gravel pits line one or other (sometimes both) banks of the canal. Now filled with water these are used for a variety of purposes, mostly leisure activities. With the trees and shrubs still not putting on any green leaves, a little more of these lakes could be seen than later in the year.

Just below Copper Mill Lock signs warn of strong cross currents just after a road bridge. Sometimes the cross flow is quite gentle but today it took all the power from the engine to maintain a course across the flow - and also avoid the canoeists that use the short stretch of white water.

Canalside house come in many shapes and sizes - this one is a combination of a modern glass walled extension to an older, rather more conventional house.

Stockers Lock - Display of Tools

At Stockers Lock there is a small collection of old canal maintenance implements together with an old enamel sign.

Batchworth Lock

By the time we reached Batchworth, scene of a boat sinking a month ago, blue skies arrived and the sun shone for the rest of the afternoon, making it a little less chilly than so far today.

River Chess Lock

The second lock connects with the River Chess but as the gates are firmly chained and locked it seems that this diversion is not longer navigable.

As we left the lock another boat arrived and so we waited for them at Lot Mead but they passed us by shortly afterwards as we opted to pull in and moor for the night at the spot we used last year. The bank side of the canal is often quite shallow along here - apart the many places where there are long term moorers, but official and not. There are a few rings set into the edge so perhaps this was once a loading wharf, but there are no signs today of its former life.

10.1 miles - 10 locks