Hoppers

Today I toured the Fish Island circuit. From Sweet Water trade moorings by White Post Lane bridge on the Lee I went Southwest along the Limehouse cut, then North along the lower Regents Canal, then back East along the Hertford Union Canal (my typo-prone fingers wanted to make that the Hertfjord Union - perhaps in honour of Alex 'Boating' Gudmestad.)

Reinstated toilet and Elsan at Old Ford Lock 19.

This was my first piece of good news, I bumped into Aidan at Old Ford Locks 19, he was completing the repairs to the toilet and Elsan there, and they should re-open either tomorrow or Sunday!

The accessible toilet is going to be locked off for a while, and will probably be reinstated as the work on the Welcome Station progresses, possibly with a separate, wheel-chair friendly entrance.

Criminal damage done to the hopper Fray's cabin.

Almost all of the rubbish on the other side of the lock has been cleared. But the poor hopper, Fray,  that has taken all the rubbish has been vandalised, the door smashed through and the cabin rifled.

The moorings at Burdett Road Bridge are coming on. I wanted to call these the Frances Wharf Moorings, after the defunct wharf that once operated there, but I suspect the Burdett Road name will probably stick.

SWS Express

Going past the new moorings was this smashing tug, the aptly named SWS Express owned by the S Walsh group. Some moored boats were being pulled about by it as it motored past them at speed, so I gave it a shout and asked it to slow down next to the moorings. They weren't too happy, but they did slow back down.

Coming back up the lower Regents Canal was uneventful. I stopped for a little chat with John, the ex-special forces chap who likes to sit by Ben Johnson lock and help work boats through. He's struggling with the local accommodation for ex-forces folk, it doesn't seem like a very pleasant place for him to be. He has a friend offering to put him up near me in Wanstead, and I hope that will suit him a lot better.

At Old Ford Lock on the Regents a tug and empty hopper were coming down, headed for Bow Free wharf on the Lee Navigation. I watched and helped close the gates, then headed down and around to the top of the Hertford Union.

Bow Wharf and the new leisure moorings.

Alex 'Boating' Gudmestad's been busy confirming that this stretch between bridge 54A on the Regents and Grove Road bridge is not open for mooring. The boats that had been tied to the piling rail there last time I visited had all moved on, giving me a clearer view of the refurbished Bow Wharf and the new Bow Wharf leisure moorings.

I continued slowly down the Hertford Union, making sure the locks were set for the hopper coming down. At the middle lock I stopped and gave a curious gentleman all the facts and figures about my bike. He was planning on buying an electric bike too, and I think I may have helped make his decision about whether to join the purring powered-pedallers.

Eventually I returned to the Lee Navigation and to Old Ford Locks 19. Aidan had to go to the shops for some more parts for the sanitary station (out of his own pocket!), but before he left we hauled the damaged hopper from the disused lock chamber back to a safe mooring behind the contractors hoardings on the off-side.

3 and a half long hours.

Tottenham to Ponders End

After my hard work moving rubbish into the hopper at Old Ford Locks 19, I recommenced my scheduled itinerary. I cycled up to Tottenham Locks, pausing only to say hello to James, the data checker I shared some courses with at Milton Keynes, and to take a couple of photos of the new moorings going in by the flats where the old Lesney factory used to stand.

New Leisure Moorings opposite Wick Woodland.

I reached Tottenham just after 2pm. I was delayed when the new holster I'd made for my bike lock turned out to be not as strong as I'd have liked, and I had to go back to pick both it and my bike-lock up from the path where I'd very nearly lost them into Pymmes Brook.

An innocent bystander.

Stonebridge was as charming as ever. A car fire (apparently deliberately torched to remove evidence of drug dealing) had claimed the nearby Boater Information Board as a victim.

However I was pleased to see the Elsan was cleaner than usual, and that someone had restored the toilet paper dispenser in the toilets. Even the showers didn't look grotty, even if, as I gather from the boaters, they're not exactly wonderful to use.

At Picketts Lock, I sadly witnessed retired lock keeper Alfie Saggs being treated by ambulance men. He was still in fine voice, but he's not as strong as he once was. I wish the finest man on the Lea well.

Ponders End posed different problems. The last boater through had already reported the hydraulic chamber was having problems, but as I closed the top gates and lowered the paddles on the manual chamber it became clear that there was something blocking the top, towpath side paddle. I reported this urgently, hopefully someone will come down from the yard at Enfield to fix it.

I finished off by returning to Stonebridge for tea, a sarnie, and a chat in the café there.

2 hours.

Old Ford Locks 19 - The Stable

I had the opportunity to go inside the left hand side of the buildings by Old Ford Locks 19 today. The sanitary station is still out of action, and although there is some progress being made, it's not helped by boaters desperate to empty their chemical toilets levering up a manhole cover and dumping crap directly into the drains.

The electricity is being restored next week so workmen will be able to begin reinstating the smashed (vandalised) facilities there. In the meantime, back to the next door part.

This was, in the past, rented to a small fishing club, and then briefly squatted when the lease ran out (hence the anti-CRT sentiments expressed on the chalkboard.) To prevent vandalism the steel door of the building was (until recently) welded shut but inside the actual building is in very good repair.

Well preserved stable bits!

I was surprised to see it was set up as a stable and the smell of horses and hay was amazingly still perceptible. There are two stalls with hayboxes and windows above, a small storage come kitchen area to the side, and a fairly substantial loft for storage above. Tim, CRT's ecologist, pronounced the building free of bats, although there were a few rodent droppings around (standard for any London building.)

On the wall above the chalkboard the tattered remains of a horse collar still hang. I imagine CRT's heritage folks would like to hang on to that!

The plans for this part of the building are for it to become a CRT Welcome Station, providing shelter and information for passers by,  and it will also be a refuge for volunteer lock keepers for Old Ford Locks and for the nearby Carpenters Road lock. It's hoped that the presence of CRT volunteers will help keep the reinstated sanitary station from becoming as grotty, unloved and vandalised as it has been in the past.

I took some extra time to help CRT staff clearing up the refuse area on the other side of the lock. Jay, the unofficial artist-in-residence is moving on, and CRT are eager to tidy the far side of the locks and remove the old fishing club's scruffy and rusting-to-bits shipping container. There was a lot of rubbish to move and the hopper, now moved to the manual lock chamber, rapidly filled up.

I'm going to watch the progress on this site very closely.

QEOP to Tottenham

Back from Wales I felt the need to do an impromptu patrol to get back into the swing, and also to test out a slightly different set-up on my bike (I've moved around where I carry my bike lock for quicker access.)

I started from the Wallis Road (Hackney Wick) footbridge from the Olympic Park, cycling down to meet two police constables who were considering a boat moored there for sale. I strongly advised against buying a boat in London on the grounds of price and overcrowding.

Abandoned tent of a rough sleeper on the towpath next to QEOP.

A little way down the towpath, this abandoned tent was still tied to the fencing. This has been there a few months now, and isn't occupied, so I sent in a report asking for its removal.

Rubbish by the towpath and overflowing bins are always a regular concern. It was slow going getting to Wick Woodland, as I sent in report after report.

Bloke sleeping by the canal.

And outside Here East, an actual rough sleeper, wrapped in a filthy duvet and sleeping in a warm patch of sunlight by the canal. I didn't bother him directly, but moved down the towpath a way and phoned in another report.

The day was bright and sunny though, and there were a few highlights. There were patches of canal-side open where boats could moor through Hackney Marshes, no longer quite as jammed-pack as it has been. The towpath through Tottenham has reopened where the Overground bridge was rebuilt, and has fresh tarmac, lush green grass, and a shiny new litter bin.

Markfield towpath, on a lovely day.

At the Lea Rowing Club I stopped for a medicinal custard donut and tea. The cafe was doing good business in the bright Spring sunlight, and the spot looks like an ideal place to hold a weekend Share the Space event. I must suggest it to Darren Starling next chance I get.

At Tottenham Lock I helped advise a boater who had got sideways-on to the lock, and who was asking for some help, how best to steer their boat into the lock chamber. Cue some thanks!

It's not all reporting issues and rubbish, thank goodness.

2 hours.

Away from things.

I'm in Deeside, supporting my partner while she undergoes an operation.

It's a frustrating time, the op has been delayed once and there's nothing to prevent it being delayed again. And I want to be back in London on my beloved waterways, trying to keep on top of the developments leading up to the start of the festival season.

I love it here. And being with my partner. But I'm also yearning for the canals and rivers.

Exploring Jena

She's got a bit of a Heidelberg-style duelling scar!

Jena is the 12' x 60' widebeam the CRT use for meetings, events and volunteer support.

She's also the first CRT boat I ever took the helm of, way back last year, and together we've seen a lot of London's waterways, from Ricky in the West to Ware and Bishops Stortford in the East. I've become intimately acquainted with her systems and her *ahem* little quirks.

Plated for 10 people, in sheltered waters only, crew included.

Today, while we were taking her from Three Mills to Limehouse and then to Ben Johnson's Lock and back, for the first time I read her manual. It's a bit out of date - she's been remodelled internally a couple of times since it was written and some of her features are no longer 'as-specced'. I'm going to take it on myself to have a go at re-writing that manual, as on Monday I have to be part of leading a familiarisation course for CRT crew who are new to her.

I found a few things in the manual I wasn't familiar with - like the location of the forward well-deck bilge pumps, the non-functional black water tank gauge, and the remnants of the (also-non functional) wheelchair lift. I also took the time to measure up for an inspection portal in the galley (for the inverter), a new front-door lock, and to apply new hazard tape to the access ramp.

But today we were using her as a support base for young volunteers with the V-Inspire Eco Talent program. It wasn't our best day, as the grismal weather had deterred many of our volunteers from turning up. But those that did got a lot of value out of the day.

Commercial Road Lock, looking back into Limehouse Basin.

At the same time I managed to check in with my manager and a few other influential CRT people about current goings-on in London waters. And that's always useful.

1 day 6 hours.

If it's Thursday, it must be Stonebridge.

So I started out from Sweet Water trade mooring, my usual starting point on the canals, as it's closest to my home.

Heading North I met a boater struggling with the pump out at East Wick, his cards weren't being read. I did the trick CK taught me: opened the back and pulled out a dead BW card from the slot. But even that didn't help ungum the works.

There was trash beginning to accumulate by Wick Wood already. Hey ho.

Between the bridges at East Wick.

I carried on through Tottenham, where a heron was enjoying the towpath and the unused manual lock chamber at Tottenham Locks had been emptied of its crop of pennywort. Blimey!

In the towpath bushes, some other wildlife had made a home:

Rough sleeping between the River Lea and Pymmes Brook.

My patrol for the day took me up to Ponders End, where I made good on my threat to apply windolene to the control cabin's windows. Then I rambled back to Stonebridge.

There I absorbed quite a few complaints about the state of the services, although the showers seemed to be reasonably fine, the toilets really don't seem to be being cared for properly by CRT's contractors. The toilet-maintenance contractor person has been seen to refuse to replace toilet paper in the toilets because the dispensers are broken.

The Elsan is in a sorry state, with a nasty spray of faeces over the stainless steel. A boater commented that it needs steam washing, or pressure washing, but again this seems to be beyond the remit of the contractor. Having these facilities looking so unloved really does just encourage further decay.

Recyclables? Perhaps Not.

The recycling bins were out for collection, but I fear a similar issue to the one that prevented collection at Old Ford Lock on the Lee might have the same result (uncollected waste) here.

Containers of oil left by the icky Elsan point.

Alongside the Elsan is a collection of containers, apparently filled with contaminated waste oil. The contractors don't take this away - it has to be removed separately.

I was told it could be there because the local, Haringey Council recycling facility had apparently refused to take boaters' waste because they weren't paying Haringey council tax. This, at least was an issue I could do something about (more than just informing CRT.) I cycled down to the site on Park View Road (five minutes away by bike.) And I put the problem to the site supervisor there.

He told me there was no issue with non-payers of council tax, as far as he was concerned that wasn't a problem. He did say that there was a problem with water-contaminated oil, as it was difficult to recycle, but after talking with his boss, he said that dealing with a few containers (not oil drums!) of engine oil a week would not be problem for them.

So, if you're at Stonebridge and you have engine oil to dispose of, please take it to them at the Recycle Centre on Park View Road. If they turn you away - let me know!