Bet it’s cold in Winter

 

The one question we get asked more than any is “I bet it’s cold in Winter” . Well last night was one of the coldest nights of the year and as you can see at seven minutes past two in the morning ( yes I’m getting old and have to get out and have a pee in the middle of the night ) it was minus 6.5 deg out and 21.2 deg half way up the boat with the bedroom at the end being just over 19 deg. On Inca we have spray foam insulation as well as central heating and double glazing which helps retain the heat.

Our main source of heat is our Morso multi fuel stove. We are burning Excel coal and when its really cold we will burn just over 2 bags a week at £10 a bag. Normally if we can find any wood to supplement the coal it would be just over a bag a week when it’s not so cold. We also have the stove fan on top that blows the hot air down the far end of the boat to the bedroom.

We also have a plan B as I always promised Carolyn she would never ever be cold on Inca. If it gets to minus double figures we have the luxury of two more stove fans giving us a total of three fans to keep her Ladyship warm and toasty. But I cant see us ever using them ,although you never know !

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A first for us !!

 

After coming out of London and cruising down the Paddington arm Inca started going slower and slower. Even putting her in to reverse to clear what was around the prop and revving the engine made no difference. So there was only one thing to do and that was to get down the weed hatch and see what was fouling the prop. After several minutes of pulling and cutting with my knife I pulled this lot out. Over the years we have had all sorts of horrible things around the prop ,but this was a first for us. As well as all the plastic and crap we had a Bra !! just how it got in to the canal God only knows. We are both in to recycling everything we can but with it being a bit big for me and a bit small for Carolyn we ended up binning it ……..

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Speeding CRT !

 

In the end we had a few good days at the park moorings at Yeading. We were told about dog fights and unruly behaviour ,but in the end we enjoyed our stay and even had a few field mushrooms from the football pitches above our mooring.

Beware if this boat ever speeds past you . For some bizarre reason it will not slow down when passing moored boats . What's even more bizarre is that it’s a Canal and River Trusts boat who’s rule states, pass all moored boats on Tick over. In total it went past us 4 times over the next week or so and speeding every time. Once it even had a senior manager from CRT on board ,obviously out on a jolly !!!!!  Needless to say I have put a complaint in. Watch this space..

Time to move and we pulled pins at 08.10 and with the need for water after doing four or five loads of washing after our time in London, we tried to stop on this new water point on the Paddington arm. Believe it or not there is a tap in the middle of all those Swans.We tried to get in ,but just had a load of abuse from the angry hissing Swans. The problem is that although there’s a sign saying do not feed the Birds the local Asian community come down with sacks full of food to feed them.

Moving on and luckily we managed to get on the water point at Bulls bridge. This is a first for us as every other time we have been this way there has been boats moored on the points.

The first time we came down to London this Factory at Hayes was in full production producing Coffee. In its heyday in the 1950s, the factory employed some 2,000 people. Many of those currently working there have done so for more than 25 years.But unfortunately it is now closed and the site has been bought by a property developer.

Reaching Cowley and it was always our plan to turn left and head up the Slough branch as it’s an arm we have never done. We turned in to the arm and then looked at all the weed in the canal. After mooring just past the arm we walked up to see that it was weed from bank to bank and after talking to a local boater we decided to give it a miss.

Never mind we picked up this mooring opposite Packet boat marina where we will spend a week or so. With Uxbridge only a short Bus ride away Carolyn is more than happy to stop here.

As well as shopping and spending all my our money Carolyn is also in to keep fit and if she can she will join a group where ever we are. At Uxbridge they run this work out session in the local park which is run by an ex Army Instructor. Not being a lazy old Git like me she soon joined up and enjoyed her time working out. It looks like this will do us until we are ready to continue our journey North

 

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Foraging

 

It’s been a bumper year for Damson’s and Carolyn just can’t pass a tree without filling a bag full of them. Damsons are a small fruit with vibrant dark blue skin and a strong, sour flavour, damsons are similar to plums and a member of the rose family. They have a large stone and are often juicy, but tend not be eaten raw due to the tartness of the flesh ,although they are perfect for jam making.

Just a small collection of what Carolyn has produced this year . In total she has made 12 jars of Damson jam, 5 jars of Damson and Plum jam, 5 jars of Damson chutney,and 5 jars of runner bean chutney ( Beans bought from a canal side stall).

Its also been a bumper year for Crab apple’s and Carolyn has now just produced 8 jars of Crab apple jelly.

We have also had a few good feeds of field Mushrooms and are now starting to harvest this years nuts. We have so far got loads of Hazel nuts and are now starting to harvest a lot of Chestnuts….Just the ticket !!!

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Goldprick

 

 

With our time up in Paddington basin we pulled ropes through bollards at 07.55 and after winding (turning) headed out of the basin.

This strange looking boat is one of the London canals clean up boats The only problem is that they only seem to operate where there are lots of people and Gongoozlers and tend to ignore the rest of the canal network.

After 2 weeks on one tank of water we were getting a bit low so we pulled in at Little Venice for a fill up.It isn't the easiest water point to get on as for some reason (money no doubt) there is a cafe boat moored on the water point, so its a case of getting your bow in and climbing through the railings.With it not being the fastest filling tap it took us just under an hour to fill up.

On our way out on the Paddington arm we soon passed this boat. With a paint job like that and fake grass on the roof you certainly know you are in London.

Not really a canal boat ,but I just loved his under sized Anchor.

Every time we pass this building in Kensal we are always amazed at its design. Its called Trellick tower and is a 31-storey block of flats in Kensal Town, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London England. It was designed in the Brutalist style by architect Ernő Goldfinger, after a commission from the Greater London Council in 1966, and completed in 1972. It is a Grade II listed building and is 98 metres (322 ft) tall (120 metres (394 ft) including the communications mast).                      

Goldfinger was known as a humourless man given to notorious rages. He sometimes fired his assistants if they were inappropriately jocular. Even James Bond creator Ian Fleming had a beef with poor old Ernő, naming one of his most famous villains, Auric Goldfinger, after the architect in revenge for his bulldozing of a number of Victorian villas in order to build his own modern home at Willow Road in Hampstead.

Goldfinger being a humourless man - threatened to sue over the slur, but allegedly backed down when Fleming suggested changing the name to 'Goldprick' instead.

We did consider travelling across London and doing the River Lea and Stort but with a stoppage on this bridge which is 7D on the Paddington arm we decided to head out of the capital.

After a good three hour cruise we picked up this mooring at Yeading. It’s somewhere that we were told along time ago as a place not to moor as there was a history of dog fights and unruly behaviour in the park. After speaking to a couple of other boaters who had moored there recently with out having a problem we I decided to give it a go . (watch this space)

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The Tate

 

At 09.30 we went in to Praed street and jumped onto the number 23 bus . It takes you all the way down Edgware road then onto Oxford street ,Regents street then through Trafalgar Square and then dropping us off at St Pauls before carrying onto Liverpool Street. As always if we can we go upstairs and sit in the front for the best view. It would be a lot quicker to catch the tube , but we prefer the Buses' as you can see what's going on around you.

One of our favourite TV programmes is First Dates on Channel 4 .The show is filmed at the Paternoster Chop House restaurant in Central London, St Pauls, showing many people on dates, all of whom have not met each other before. At the end of the date, the couples are interviewed together and asked whether they would like to see each other again. Unfortunately Carolyn’s favourite maitre d' Fred Sirieix wasn’t in the restaurant so we didn’t go in. Mind you it’s nearly 40 years since we had our first date.

From St Pauls we walked over the Millennium Bridge which is a 330m steel bridge linking the City of London at St. Paul's Cathedral with the Tate Modern Gallery at Bankside.

It was then in to the Tate which holds the national collection of British art from 1900 to the present day and international modern and contemporary art. Tate Modern is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world. As with the UK's other national galleries and museums, there is no admission charge for access which is music to my ears to the collection displays, which take up the majority of the gallery space, while tickets must be purchased for the major temporary exhibitions.

As you can see Curly is not that impressed with this Warhol picture ,although she liked it a bit more when I told her how much it was worth.It depicts  Marilyn Monroe who died in August 1962, having overdosed on barbiturates. In the following four months, Warhol made more than twenty silkscreen paintings of her, all based on the same publicity photograph from the 1953 film Niagara. Warhol found in Monroe a fusion of two of his consistent themes: death and the cult of celebrity. By repeating the image, he evokes her ubiquitous presence in the media. The contrast of vivid colour with black and white, and the effect of fading in the right panel are suggestive of the star’s mortality.

We were really impressed with this vast tower of radios, each tuned to a different channel and adjusted to the minimum volume at which it is audible, relates to the biblical story of the Tower of Babel: a tower tall enough to reach the heavens. Affronted by this structure, God caused the builders to speak in different languages and, ceasing to understand one another, become divided and scattered across the earth. According to myth, this inability to communicate became the cause of all mankind’s conflicts.

Not so impressed with this. I think even me and Curly could have done something better.

It was then upto the viewing gallery on the top of the Tate. As you can see Curly has no fear of heights as she looks out over The Thames towards St Pauls.

I actually managed to walk all the way around hugging the inner wall as I went.The biggest problem I encountered was when I met someone else coming in the opposite direction with the same fear of heights as me and also hugging the inner wall.

These apartments are next to the Tate and are even higher. How people can live up in the clouds like this I will never understand. There is a sign which says give them some privacy ,but that’s not exactly possible when you have thousands of people a day walking around the gallery.

Yet again we had a brilliant day and Curly loved every minute of her visit to the Tate. With Hamish back on Inca we had to cut our visit a bit short, but we will certainly be back for another visit when we are next in London.

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A short cruise

 

With our time running out Rembrandt Gardens Carolyn spotted a good mooring in Paddington basin opposite the hospital while out walking Hamish . With moorings in great demand in the basin I immediatly pulled ropes through rings and headed the few hundred yards in to the Basin.

We now have another 7 days, if we decide to stay that long in London.Carolyn is more than happy that we have more time here as the shops are now even closer (cutting wit). The only problem I have here is that because of all the tall buildings we don’t get any Sun on the Solar panels,so I am having to run the engine for 2 or 3 hours every day. But then I suppose that’s a small price to pay for a free mooring in the middle of London.

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Out and about

 

It must be a school holiday again as we now have our number one Granddaughter Curly (Abbie) up with us for a few days.

So it was a trip down to The Natural History Museum. With an opening time of 10.00 we got there on time only to find the biggest queue you have ever seen. We ended up going in a side door at the far side of the Museum, and it took us an hour to get in .

Once inside as you can imagine it was packed to the rafters with people which sometimes made it difficult to see everything and take it all in.

We decided that it’s another place we would have to come back to when it’s a bit quieter although Curly enjoyed what she saw.

After a couple of hours of fighting the crowds we made the decision to leave and have a look in The Victoria and Albert Museum. As you can see Curly was not that impressed with yet another Museum when Harrods with their massive toy section is just up the road.

I had to put this picture on as it’s Pizarro seizing the Inca.

I loved this picture and I’m sure I can find a place on the wall for it. It is an oil painting by Constable which portrays the construction of a barge at a dry-dock owned by his father. It is based on a tiny pencil drawing in a sketchbook at the V&A. Constable painted the landscape entirely in the open air.

Constable often made full-scale studies for large exhibition paintings. He used a broad painting style to establish the general balance of the composition and its colours. This study which Curly was most impressed with is for his most famous work, The Hay Wain, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1821. The painting is now in the National Gallery. The scene is near Flatford Mill.

The V&A has one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of jewellery in the world. Over 3,000 jewels tell the story of jewellery in Europe from ancient times to the present day. Needless to say both Carolyn and Curly were totally enthralled and we ended up spending over an hour in this section.

Unfortunately with Hamish back on the boat we didn’t have anywhere near enough time to fully explore the museum,so it’s another good excuse to come back here again the next time we are in London. In the end Curly enjoyed the V&A a lot more than the Natural History Museum ,so that was a good result.

I was a bit surprised to hear my name shouted out from the other side of the canal one afternoon . I soon realised that it was Marilyn (nb Waka Huia) who was trekking along the towpath with David and their two Grandsons.

They had booked Narrowboat Jessie for a couple on nights in Little Venice  https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/107051 It was good to see them again and have a chat and a catch up.

Tomorrow we are going to jump on the 23 bus and head down to St Paul’s then head across the Millenium bridge to The Tate Modern Gallery .

 

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