Thursday, April 29, 2004
Iver to Denham
On our way at last! Pretty foul weather, cold and wet, but good to be on the move again after a winter spent on the mooring.
Left our berth at 0930 and pottered down to take on diesel then off down the Slough Arm to Cowley Peachey.Here we were alerted by a steam whistle to the imminent arrival of the famous steam narrow boat “President” on her way to Little Venice for the Canalway Cavalcade. Sure enough she appeared around the corner in a cloud of steam, with our friend Martin Burke at the helm of the butty “Kildare” and all the crew tricked out in traditional garb.
Uxbridge has changed beyond recognition since we first passed this way. I rather miss the atmosphere of gentle decay which it used to have – still plenty of moored boats though.
Beyond Uxbridge the countryside becomes more open and we proceeded in solitary splendour to Denham where, having ascended Denham Deep, deepest lock on the Grand Union, we moored alongside Denham Country Park as we have so often done before.
Not exactly a taxing day: day’s run = 6.1 miles and 3 locks in 3.0 hours
On our way at last! Pretty foul weather, cold and wet, but good to be on the move again after a winter spent on the mooring.
Left our berth at 0930 and pottered down to take on diesel then off down the Slough Arm to Cowley Peachey.Here we were alerted by a steam whistle to the imminent arrival of the famous steam narrow boat “President” on her way to Little Venice for the Canalway Cavalcade. Sure enough she appeared around the corner in a cloud of steam, with our friend Martin Burke at the helm of the butty “Kildare” and all the crew tricked out in traditional garb.
Uxbridge has changed beyond recognition since we first passed this way. I rather miss the atmosphere of gentle decay which it used to have – still plenty of moored boats though.
Beyond Uxbridge the countryside becomes more open and we proceeded in solitary splendour to Denham where, having ascended Denham Deep, deepest lock on the Grand Union, we moored alongside Denham Country Park as we have so often done before.
Not exactly a taxing day: day’s run = 6.1 miles and 3 locks in 3.0 hours
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
We have spent the day checking equipment and loading stores (including good supplies of grog) and are now ready to leave tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Feeling absolutely knackered after spending all day crunched up over the generator, but the good news is its now working again. The sheared bolt proved very obstinate to extract but I eventually got it out in bits. Reassembly also difficult but much helped by a flexible shaft screwdriver which I bought specially for the job. I also had to re-braze the sump extractor pump which had fractured. We now plan to spend tomorrow tidying up the boat ready to leave early Thursday morning. Hope to get to King’s Langley for the weekend.
Sunday, April 25, 2004
In the course of servicing our generator I discovered a serious problem: a bolt which retains the air-cleaner assembly has sheared and subsequent vibration has caused other damage. This will take a day or two to fix so we have had to delay our departure, however we still hope to get away this week.
Only compensating factor is the glorious weather!
Only compensating factor is the glorious weather!
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Having enjoyed a week’s motoring in France and a brief family visit to Shropshire we are now busy preparing the boat for our cruise. This mainly involves the usual engine chores: changing oil and filters etc. as well as polishing up our brasswork after the Winter.
We plan to slip our moorings here at Iver on Monday (26th April) and head north up the Grand Union.
We plan to slip our moorings here at Iver on Monday (26th April) and head north up the Grand Union.
