Tidal Thames

As instructed, the crews of all the waiting boats all assembled tidily at 9:15 to pack into Teddington Lock to take advantage of the window of high tide that would let us safely down the Thames. This is a spectacular bit of waterway, with all sorts of huge commercial traffic that even the non-tidal bit of the Thames hadn't prepared us for. The stretch from Teddington to Brentford is only 5 miles and took us just over an hour but passing through Twickenham and Richmond then Kew was a world away from our normal sleepy canals.

It would have been nice to have had more time to tie up and explore (i.e. go shopping) but our itinerary on this trip doesn't really allow for that. Next time, maybe – although mooring on this busy commercial stretch of the river is discouraged, I think. We'll have to take a bit longer than two weeks next time if we want to pack everything in.

I felt mixed relief and disappointment as we took the turn off the Thames into Brentford Lock, the last one manned by a lock-keeper for this trip. We shared the locks with our friends on nbKingfisher, through tremendously built-up bits of London, and then shared with them a lovely family Sunday lunch at the Fox in Hanwell.

The six Hanwell locks are much more picturesque, back into green countryside even if it is just a narrow ribbon through London. At Norwood Top Lock we made some new friends who were fascinated by the boat, the locks, the history... I hope they will remember their trip to the canal.
Our last stop for the day was outside the dreaded (but inevitable, and terribly useful) Tesco at the junction with the Paddington arm, where we blagged the last mooring spot and waited for Kingfisher to come and breast up alongside so that we could have a farewell nightcap together.