Today we made the return trip top Packet Boat Marina, not able to stay until the end of our booked week tomorrow as our new mattress is due to arrive in the morning.
It was a wonderful, bright sunny day, rather better than forecast. In the sunshine it was rather warm - until mid afternoon when a few clouds arrived, making it then chilly until the sun emerged once more.
So, Mike set off in good time with just a brief stop at the service point to empty one of the elsans and to drop off a bag of rubbish.
As the route is by now quite familiar to us, only some of the views, mainly to show how bright it was. The Trellick Tower seems almost non-brutal against clear sky.
The first hour was taken a fairly slow speed as there is an almost constant line of moored boats, although a new arrival can always find somewhere before too long.
Horsenden Hill on the sky line with a popular golf course between it and the canal.
As we approached Black Horse Footbridge in Greenford we could see a wrecked van pushed off the edge into the canal. Moments later, coming around the bend at some speed was a large barge-mounted crane with pusher tug. A brief exchange with the crew established that they were preparing to remove the van. Perhaps if we had been ten minutes later we might have seen the operation - alternatively we might have been frustrated by not being able to pass!
At one stage Mike spotted a fox basking in the sunshine in the undergrowth close to the edge of the canal bank. Alas, we passed to quickly to take a photo.
We kept going, not stopping for lunch, as it was obvious that the temperature would drop quickly once the sun started to get low in the sky. So we had our lunch on the go - a mug of the remains of the weekend's soup was most welcome.
We turned right at Bulls Bridge. It was welcome to see that a little work is now happening to the old office building but there is still a long way to go.
A squirrel was rummaging around beside the towpath - this time the camera was ready.
With the sun occasionally hiding it was quite cold as we turned into the marina. Mike thought that he had made the turn to the pontoon just right until a sudden gust of wind meant that he had to reverse and start over. Second time went just fine!
16.7 Miles - 0 Locks
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