Coots, lots of them. Both the River Lee and the Stort are well supplied with coots. In places there are nests every hundred yards or so. At this time of the year most of them have young cootlets. Both of the parents help in feeding the youngsters The locks on the Stort are 13ft wide.
We had planned to stop tonight at Spellbrook lock and go to the Three Horseshoes for a meal. But there wasn’t any suitable mooring space, and also it’s right under the flightpath approach for Stanstead airport. The planes were coming over only a few hundred feet up about every two minutes. So we decided to
12 miles and 10 locks. The river Stort is lovely. Very peaceful, very rural and windy and twisty. The only problem is moorings. Most of the banks have high reeds and foliage so it’s difficult to find anywhere, and the places that are suitable are already taken with more or less permenant moored boats. We
15 miles and 11 locks The River Lee (or Lea) changes dramatically after Ponders End lock. It becomes much more rural and more attractive. The navigation, which for the most part is not the natural river, goes through the “Lea Valley Regional Park”. On this lovely warm June day the locals were making much use
We have travelled 16miles and done 13 locks today. Of those sixteen miles I would guess about twelve of them have been lined on at least one side, and often both sides, with moored boats. The non moving “continuous cruiser” situation in London is much worse that when we last visited a few years ago.
We are moored up along the Paddington arm of the Grand Union between Kensal Green and Alperton. I assumed that this thing alongside the boat was the towpath, but aparently it isn’t, it’s a cycle race track. Yesterday evening we spent quite a while observing a swan’s nest opposite. The poor swan was trying desperately
To borrow a footballing saying, today was very much a day of two halves. This morning was spent in the quiet, serene, cultural environs of Hampton Court Palace. The whole experience is very well done and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Over the last day or so I had noticed that the bilge pump didnt seem
We needed to get Nikki and family back to their car by about 3 o’clock but we had plenty of time so a leisurely chug back via an abortive trip to Pryford marina (their pumpout machine was broken). We went back up Shepperton lock to moor up temporarily back where we were on Friday evening.
Tonight we are moored back in the same place as last night. However we have been down to the limit of navigation and back again. Here’s the proof. It has been really hot today and the good people of Surrey have been out in force enjoying the delights of the river Wey. We have really