A very early start to do the locks the hard way ... and meeting up with friends

20 minutes to 7 on Tuesday (7th May) ...

the pram hood is down ready for those low bridges and I'm setting off to walk to the first lock of 10 that we will do today.  

On the Thames all the locks are press-button operated and so don't take much effort to use (except when they're broken and need lots of winding!)

Approaching Clitheroes Lock and the gates are already open so that's a job less for me today ... and here comes George ...

I wait for him by the lower gates and as he brings Still Rockin' in we swap places and I take over the wheel ...

while George closes the gates behind me ... this is a heavy one!

He gently opens the sluices to raise the boat up ...

then opens the top gates and lowers the sluices again ...

I bring Still Rockin' out and wait by the lock entrance/exit ...

while George closes the top gates and drops the sluices

He gets back on the boat and I get off again, cross the lock ...

and walk on to the next lock just over half a mile away.

Fifteen minutes later I reach Osterley Lock (98) ... the bottom gates are closed but as I reach the top notice that one of the gates are open and needs to be closed so that I can empty the lock and open the lower gates ...

for George.

We execute the same procedure as the previous lock and it's not long before set off to walk to the next ... a flight of 6 deep locks raising the canal a total of 53'2" to the top

Can't wait to see cygnets!

Here I am at lock 97 the bottom of the Hanwell flight of locks and George is just a few minutes behind me.

Our procedure changes here as the locks follow on in quick succession and I will take Still Rockin' into and out of each lock as well as steering her to the next one ... I just hope I don't meet a boat on the move  because pulling over to moor or wait is not my forte (yet).

I'm in the bottom lock (97) and George has opened the side sluices but not the gate ones so that I rise slowly while he starts setting the next lock and opens the gates. Once the water level in the lock is nearly equal to that outside I could get off Still Rockin' and open the lock gates on the non-towpath side while waiting for George to come back and do the same on the other side ...

when I return to the steering wheel and take SR into the next one

Looking back at lock 97 before leaving lock 96 ...

The next lock is on the skew ... no probs ... entered like a hot knife through butter!

Asylum Lock 95

and from here I can see that we've got a CRT lock keeper helping at lock 94

I enter lock 94 after a bit of a 'wobble' ...  I was lined up perfectly but suddenly the bow moved over and when I looked back I could see why ... there's a by-wash flow across the pound (water between two locks) but I still managed to enter without touching the sides!

Soon after completing the Hanwell flight, George takes a photo of me ...

taking Still Rockin' through the Three Bridges ...

This photo describes the three bridges in better detail ... the railway line with the canal aqueduct running above it and a road bridge above the canal and is ... 

(By J Taylor, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13906144)

George has walked on to the next lock (91) Hanwell Lock at nearly 8' deep and lets me know that a narrowboat is coming down ... I panic a bit because I need to pull over to make sure they've enough room to pass ... after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing I did manage to move over and straighten up.  Once my heart beat had returned to normal I felt quite pleased with myself ... 

it's just a good job the narrowboat was travelling very slowly not only for me but for this coot on her nest too!

The last lock of the day (it's now 10 o'clock) Norwood Top Lock ...

is ready for me to enter and George sees me up but had to ask the lock keeper to unlock the padlock (to stop idiots from emptying the pound above) before we could continue to the water point.

Two volunteer lock keepers arrive but too late to help us!

A pair of Mandarin ducks seen as we topped up the water tank.

There really are some crazy boats on the Grand Union but they're all presumably someones pride and joy.

A tightrope walking Coot and a sleepy male Mandarin

Passing the Canal and River Trust boat yard

I'm sure their mum (Coot) loves them ...

but not this chair thrown into the canal

At bridge 202 North Hyde we could see an inflatable beyond the bridge so we pulled over behind a narrowboat until we knew if it was safe to go through

We asked what was going on and were told that they were filming but that it was ok to go through ...

We asked one of the guys what they were filming and was told it was for ITV and when asked what about he said ... zombies!

Looking back on the other side of the bridge the film crew moved back into the middle of the canal

Southall hasn't changed ... there's rubbish dumped everywhere ...

although someone is obviously trying to change attitudes

The Grand Junction pub is still boarded up

Another crazy boat!

Passing Tesco at Bulls Bridge where there's load of rubbish at the water point

The Paddington Arm and there's a boat coming up which we later saw turn right to follow us

Flying buses here too

Goodness me, what's going on here ...

The Nestle factory is coming down!

Persephone was the boat coming out of the Paddington Arm so we pulled over to let them pass at Hayes Town

If it wasn't for the Hanson (Gravel) building, we could be ...

in the countryside, the hawthorn is splendid and smells wonderful

Passing through Stockley Bridge number 195 built in 1914

There was a long line of walkway pontoon outside John Guest Ltd and the last one by the bridge wasn't securely tied and I had to fend it off as we passed by.

I counted at least 14 chicks with this mum.

Not far now from our destination as we pass Tesco in Yewsley ...

and the Slough Arm

By 1pm we were moored up just north of Packet Boat Bridge (190) where I texted Kath to ask if she and Neil were free for a visit and in a couple of hours we were sitting in the sunshine on Still Rockin's deck drinking in tea (to start with) and wine  and catching up.  It was really good to see them and we wished Neil well with his angiogram for the following day.

I've spent the last few days catching up with housework and George has done a couple of electrical jobs for me to make life easier.

On Wednesday it was really wet and I felt so sorry for these little coots and even though they were able to eat the bread I threw to them they still took it from mum too!

Today Friday (10th) has been really warm and we've caught up now with all the bits and bobs we won't have time for next week.

Watch this space!