Heading out of London

10th & 11th May

The main task for yesterday morning was a trip to central London for Bruce and Michael, so that Michael could get a train for Newark from Kings Cross. I went along to sort out his ticket, and to bring back the Oyster card he was using. This meant a relaxed start, then a warm walk to Uxbridge tube. In less than an hour we were immersed in tourist hordes under Kings Cross, and I saw Michael onto a train ultimately bound for Leeds, but calling at Newark on the way.

I queued briefly in the Underground Ticket Hall to check on the cash left on my Oyster – after four tube trips (one the long one from Uxbridge) and a bus ride, I still had £9.60 left of the £15 I'd put on it. Truly, using an Oyster card is the way to get round London these days.

Back at the boat in time for lunch, we set off for an afternoon's boating for a change. It's noticeable that people are much more reluctant to slow down passing moorings down here on the southern GU. I'm not one of those sad souls who spends his time lurking in the side hatches bawling "SLOW DOWN!" at every passing boat, but it's come to something when our best mooring pin, the one that's an inch in diameter, comes out of the ground slightly bent after one night's duty.

We'd originally planned to go just a short way uphill to above Denham Deep Lock, but it was such a nice day, we carried on to our next planned stop at Rickmansworth Aquadrome, getting there at around five.

This morning was a classic early summer morning – calm, warm and with a slight mist curling up from the surface of the water. We'd woken early, so made the most of it, and were boating by 7.30.

It was a superb morning, getting steadily warmer as the day went on. At Lot Mead Lock at around 8.30, I was joined in my lock operations by a magnificent ginger tom. He was clearly disgusted that his staff hadn't yet surfaced, and spent the whole time the lock was filling standing on the balance beam beside me to be stroked.

When we left the lock, he gave us a look of disgust, as should say "Another broken reed" and stalked off into the undergrowth by the offside.

At the lower Cassio Lock, we had a short wait whilst a couple of BW guys tried to clear an obstruction from behind the offside lower gate. In the end they gave up long enough to let us lock through. It's Ricky Canal Festival next weekend, so they'll be keen to have all the locks as functional as possible.

I commented on them being about on a Sunday morning, but seemingly they now work shifts seven days per week, on a basis of 'contracted overtime': that is, they do the overtime, but don't get paid extra for it.

Further on in Cassio Park we saw a grass snake swimming along, making its elegant S-bends through the water.

By 12 we were approaching King's Langley. For the last half hour, a rattley vibration, which has been coming and going a bit over the last few weeks, seemed to get worse and worse, until, as I approached North Grove Lock, there was a clonk from under my feet and the noise and vibration stopped. The engine continued to run OK, so I waited until we were in the lock to lift the engine boards.

It immediately became apparent that the idler pulley on the TravelPower belt had disappeared. The belt was still running OK, so I left it be. We were stopping just above the lock in any event.

After lunch, and having allowed the engine to cool down a bit, I had a good look. The pulley had come clean off, and rolled to the stern of the engine bilge, out of the way.

Fishing it out, it was apparent why we'd had all this vibe – the bearing was an interesting oval shape. I knew from previous conversations with Beta Marine reps at the shows that they'd had so much trouble with this idler - it's the second one we've had, the first having seized solid after around 1500 hours – that they don't bother fitting it any more. It's supposed to improve the wrap of the belt around the alternator pulley, but the polyvee belt is so effective anyway, it's not really necessary.

I retensioned the belt so that it won't slip under load, and we'll see how the TravelPower performs in the future.

Tomorrow we're going to plod on up the cut, probably finishing near the Three Horseshoes at Winkwell for the night.