Into London

Canals Today : Grand Union Main Line and Paddington Branch

Time at last to start the season's cruising! We set off from our mooring just after 9:30 and joined the main line, turning southwards towards Bulls Bridge.

Leaving Packet Boat Marina

The weather was not as kind today as forecast, nor as great as yesterday, but at least it was dry and occasionally reasonably warm although by mid afternoon in was turning somewhat more chilly.

The main road bridge at Yiewsley is having work done on it with a new arch shape attached to one side and anchor points ready on the other side to receive a matching structure. It was unclear as we passed under neath whether this is anything more that decorative.

The trees and shrubs lining the canal were very green, with the occasional splash of white.

Bulls Bridge

We paused at Bulls Bridge where Christine popped to Tesco for a newspaper, milk and bread. Just behind the bridge on the site which was once part of the busy commercial boat activity is now an industrial structure but we could not work out what it does. The once-handsome junction office has been derelict for some years and seems to have been even more gutted than a year ago although a new roof has been added.

Here the Paddington Branch joins the Main Line and, as we had long abandoned the plan to head towards the Thames and the Kennet and Avon as the river levels have still not returned to navigable levels, this is the direction in which we headed.

We saw several birds nesting in strange places but one seems to have worked out that this old sailing barge does not go far these days!

Where has all the plastic come from?

There were occasional new developments to spot but otherwise the journey was quite familiar. With no locks at all today, which should have made good progress. However, there was a very much more substantial amount of floating plastic to contend with, in some places quite dense and right across the canal. We are not sure why this has happened and do not remember anything like it before. A comment from someone on a moored boat suggested that it has recently appeared.

In any event, Mike had four trips down to the weed hatch. On the second occasion the plastic was joined by a old shirt which had twisted itself into a tight rope and needed a new sharp blade to the knife kept for this purpose.

Uxbridge Road Moorings

The towpath has had a lot of work done on in - more people use the canal for walking and cycling than anything else - and at Uxbridge Road moorings a barge was being loaded with more tarmac materials - presumably for a stretch a little further along.

Some parts of the branch into London run through almost rural areas, although some are a bit more deceptive than others. In this case of this wooden footbridge, the Western Way A40 is just around the corner!

Northolt Bohra Mosque

Just after passing a branch of High Line Yachting, we could see Northolt Bohra Mosque alongside the canal. Although we have seen it before, this is the first time we have actually found out anything about it. According to the internet, it belongs to the Bohra form of Shia Islam which originated in the Yemen. It looks a very substantial complex, seating up to 2000 people, according to one source. However, a news report on a visit by Rowan Williams in 2010 described it having a small attendance, around 100.

243 Ealing Road

At Alperton an extensive new housing development - 243 Ealing Road - is well underway, having started since we last came this way.

Even dogs find strange perches . . .

Not noticed this unusual structure at Porta Bello, except that it is on last year's photo of the adjacent bridge! However, that underlines the general experience that however many times one passes along a particular canal, news things always keeping coming to our attention.

We did not stop for lunch as we were making rather slow progress and were concerned about finding a night's mooring. Reports had suggests that towpath moorings might be scarce as CaRT had experimented with a new winter moorings scheme. Indeed, we found this to be so and were becoming quite concerned as we approached Little Venice. Where we moored last year now has No Mooring signs - no obvious reason so perhaps it is another case of difficult neighbours. CaRT and the local councils have been having a hard time in the past year or so, mediating between residents in houses and those on boats.

Just in time - at this stage in the day finding a space in Paddington Basin would be unlikely - we found a gap in the reserved winter moorings section. Since these come to an end tonight, we have moored up, hoping that the previous occupier will not return before dark!

16.4 miles - 0 locks