Brentford to Southall (Bull's Bridge)

Monday 24th July - it was raining although the forecast was for dry weather. Ho hum. So much for staying put in Brentford to avoid the rain! Anyway it didn't really matter as we have our waterproofs.
We set off about 9.30am.

We soon arrived at the first lock. It was my turn to steer and John was setting the locks with Dex. Just as I entered the lock another boat appeared so we waited for them to share the lock with us. It's so much easier with 2 boats as you don't get bashed around inside (usually!) and it's less work on the paddles.

Although this boat looked like a fibreglass boat it was in fact made of steel like ours and apparently was built by a narrowboat manufacturer. I had a nice chat with the lady who was steering. We were glad the men were doing the locks as the gates were really hard to open and the paddles were stiff.

 I was amazed to see this boat with a tent on top - that's a first for me!

At the next lock we had a problem. I went in first and the lady steering Artic Turn (funny how you rarely find out anyone's name so just know them by their boat, like dogs and owners!) couldn't get her boat to turn away from mine as the lock gate wouldn't open fully. She was coming straight for my rear end! The next minute there was a massive crunch and it was like watching in slow motion as our wooden back seat split in two and the back of it was completely torn off the seat part!

Luckily I wasn't sitting on it!!! She was mortified bless her. John looked at the damage and he thinks he can fix it (he made the seat himself) so no real harm done. They offered to pay for the damage but we declined. They gave us a bottle of really nice wine when we left them. Anyway we were to share the next 8 locks together so we decided that it was best if her boat went in first as it was shorter and would give me a better chance to avoid hitting her when I came alongside. We were to do a flight of 8 locks so there were a few chances to take!!
At the entrance to the first lock there was a fast flowing inlet from the right hand side and although John had warned me about it and I was keeping the power on I suddenly lost all control and found myself and the boat being swept into the left hand bank. BANG! CRASH! it was such an awful noise. No real damage thankfully as she's solid steel but it did shake me up. Not my morning!!
Anyway we had help from the Canal and River trust volunteers going up the Hanwell flight so that made it all much easier and I managed to keep control and avoid hitting anything else.

 This boat Top Hat made me chuckle as the name definitely didn't suit it's condition!

The canal water was much cleaner here but it was completely covered with a layer of pond weed. Looked just like a carpet of green and even the lock sides were covered.

We've had so much rain over the weekend that it was pouring over the top of some of the lock gates like a waterfall!

It was at the top of the flight that the worst thing happened. Dex disappeared. One moment he was at the lock with John and the next there was no sight of him. He's really well behaved and normally stays really close by. I was on the boat and noticed I couldn't see him. I called to John and he started calling him. Then I looked round and to my horror could see him in the canal swimming frantically away from us but unable to get out as the banks were too steep and had metal sides. I screamed at John and he went to rescue him and thankfully managed to haul him out by his collar by lying on the towpath and reaching over. He was totally fine to be fair, just shook himself and ran off but I was a shaking wreck! No real harm done thankfully. We didn't see what happened but we think he must have chased a coot or a moorhen (he really hates them for some reason) and he probably thought the pond weed was grass, not covering water. So that was the third and hopefully final bad luck of the day! Not that I'm superstitious just hedging my bets!
Here is canal dog after the event!

This building below used to be an asylum. It looks pretty grim. You can see an archway that has been filled in; that is where the boats used to enter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanwell_Asylum

Soon we reached Southall (Bull's bridge) which is our mooring for tonight. Not the most picturesque but it's right outside Tesco so that's very handy! 😁 I have to say that after the events of the morning I was really glad we weren't venturing further! John's steering tomorrow!!