Into the depths of London

28th & 29th April

Taking advantage of a fine morning, we made an early start, and were on our way by eight. It wasn't as early as some, though; the evening before we'd had a chat with Jean and Reg Ferguson who had tied Braidbar number 60, Smudge, behind us, but they were gone by the time we got up.

We were later told by Anne and Dave from Verulam that they'd locked down at 6.30. Our own locking was enlivened by a flock of parrots crossing above us – they are becoming ever more common in and around London.

Steady boating brought us to Cowley Lock, the last one we'll work for a bit, by 9.30. We stopped to do a pump out, using the rewired pump. It did indeed work faster, and I think cleared more of the tank, although not down far enough to bring on the green light on the gauge.

Just after we'd finished and started towards the lock, Verulam appeared and stopped to water and dump Elsan. We waited for them in the lock, since there was no one else coming up. The water tap is quite slow at Cowley, so after a bit they abandoned the attempt and came to share with us. They planned to water at Bulls Bridge instead.

Unfortunately when we got there, the moorings (admittedly there's not much of them) were pretty full, including the ones by the tap. We both managed to tie against the wall which is the extreme northern end of the mooring, so that we could get our shopping, but this left Verulam still looking for water. They are going onto the Thames, so hoped to find another water point at Brentford.

After lunch we considered our options – the forecast for yesterday could be summed up as "If you think it's wet today, wait until you see tomorrow", so we decided to press on to Kensal Green, and spend today sitting tight there.

Being urban canal, you have to show a bit of caution in choosing your overnight mooring if you want a decent night's sleep – there are a number of points along the Paddington Arm that are fine. It's a case of noting where the other boats tie, and Kensal Green is one of the prime sites. Admittedly you are opposite one of London's biggest cemeteries, and Old Oak Common rail sidings are not far away, but hey, you can't have everything.

On our way along the Arm, we saw a load more parrots – green ones, mixing it with the pigeons, and there were some early Canada goslings about as well.

As we got to Kensal Green, the rain started up again, but not too fiercely, and we were soon snug on a mooring, with a Sainsbury's just five minutes walk away.

This morning was indeed extremely wet. We made a leisurely start, for me slightly marred by the fact that, when I got up to make a cup of tea and light the fire, I discovered that we'd forgotten to switch over from the short cruising chimney to the tall one, and in the pouring rain, the fire wouldn't draw. Nothing for it, I had to hop out onto the well deck in pj's and dressing gown to swap them over.

We've had a pretty leisurely day altogether. The rain has eased off quite a bit, and we're hoping that things will show the promised slow improvement as the week goes on, until we have a decent amount of sun at the weekend for the event itself.

Whatever else, it is definitely warmer, so we've done the half yearly switch of clothes. As always, some stuff which got put away last Autumn was deemed unnecessary and will be dropped in the recycling bin tomorrow, and we've decided to dump some of the stuff we got out for the winter which hasn't been worn in six months.

After lunch we took advantage of a break in the weather (it's really very pleasant when the sun is out) to go across the canal to explore the cemetery. Karl Marx is buried there, but we didn't have the stamina to find his tomb –it must be down at the far end from the entrance near Ladbroke Grove that we used.

Tomorrow we'll make an early start (probably), get a last shop at the canalside Sainsbury's here, then go round to Little Venice to join the fun of getting ready for Cavalcade. I'll try to stick with the alternate day schedule for this blog, but don't be surprised if the entries become a little terse!