Hampton to Brentford

Thursday 20th July - the weather has turned and it started raining again as we left. It rained so hard last night we could hear the water pouring down the boat. We were cosy inside though!
We were a bit concerned about getting through Teddington Lock as it's tidal the other side into Brentford and we have never been on the tidal part of the Thames before. We knew we had to get to Brentford lock by 2.30pm as the lock is only open when the canal and river trust volunteers are there and they were leaving at 2.30pm. So the clock was ticking! But we made a good start and were soon passing through Kingston Upon Thames.

We made it to Teddington Lock and moored up. John went to speak to the Lock Keeper to see what the drill was. Because of the tide he said we should wait until 12 so we had about an hour to wait. So that was fine, we could relax and have a coffee and a very early lunch! We mostly eat whilst we are travelling along, I usually make up sandwiches or Pittas for us to have as we don't know if we can moor and also we don't really have time on the Thames as we only have a 7 day licence. We found the lock easy enough, it was of course much bigger than usual and there were 3 narrowboats side by side. There is another lock at Teddington for the really big vessels. 

After Teddington we saw Ham House on the hillside. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_House

 Not all the boats on the Thames are smart, we passed this shambolic looking collection, it did seem that there were people living in there! The funny thing was they had a special floating plant pot with flowers!

 We passed by the wonderfully named Eel Pie Island. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel_Pie_Island

 Soon we were heading into Richmond

 There is always a constant reminder of how close you are to London and it's airports!

 We passed by the Pitcher and Piano which we had visited last year for Sarah's 50th party!

After Richmond as we approached Kew on the right, we saw this amazing sight of 7 herons and some cormorants all sitting together on this branch! 

We also saw a lot of turns (at least I think that's what they were!)

We carried on past Isleworth 

 We could see Brentford in the distance 

Soon it was time to make a sharp left into the Grand Union Canal. 

Soon we passed through Thames Lock

 We saw this enormous barge! 

 Next we arrived at Brentford Gauging Locks

 Dex was so happy to be allowed back on the roof again, now that we were off the Thames

We filled up with water and then found a mooring after the railway bridge and far enough from the M4 bridge to not be bothered by the traffic.