Battle-scars (Bow Wharf to Little Venice Basin)

This morning we gathered, once again, at the re-fettled Bow Wharf to set off towards Paddington where workboat/welcome station Jena is to face the public at the IWA Canalway Cavalcade.

There was a team of Canal & River Trust staff looking over the leisure moorings at Bow Wharf as we left, snagging (looking for issues with the installation.) One of them was very familiar with Jena - having been with BW when the boat was commissioned - and he took a few photos to show how she's changed from the floating office boat she once was.

I have to say, whoever serviced Jena's engine last time, did a good job! We've had three days in which she hasn't over-heated and all her gauges have functioned, all the time. That's impressive (if you're aware of her many issues - I've commented on them a lot in the past.)

RE, CK and myself have navigated the Regents Canal often over the past year, and its issues are well known. We know where lock gates are leaking (Actons Lock top gates) and where bottom gates need a top paddle open a little way to ensure they don't swing back open as you go up (Old Ford Lock, City Road Lock and the Camden flight.) We know where the channel is tight because of triple moored boats and wide-beams where they shouldn't be. And we know which bridges make us breath in and duck as we squeeze through.

I took the helm through the Islington tunnel and up through St. Pancras and Camden. Again, I managed not to touch the sides of the tunnel - which always pleases me. But I made a right mess of handling her in the outflow from St. Pancras lock, and was very red-faced even though I had Jena back in the tail of the lock by the time the lower gates opened.

A spot of reverse gongoozling.

Buildings rising up in Camden.

Ducks!

At Little Venice by three, we were supposed to moor on the Blomfield Road side, but our space was again full of work boats: Pride of London and a little Berky weed-cutter. We stopped for a moment on the Jason's Trip landing.

R moved the weed-cutter off at speed with a wheelbarrow on its tiny deck. And the workboat moved off too, so RE manoeuvred Jena back into her 'correct' space.

 

Manoeuvring shenanigans.

And then the IWA organiser told us we weren't quite in the right space. So we gently moved the pontoon stage and Jena up another fifteen feet (one mooring ring) so there'd be room for a trip boat behind us as well. Finally!

Jena, as you'll see her at Cavalcade.

Jena's not quite the boat she was a couple of years ago when she got her vibrant green and blue paint job. She's seen some heavy use and a little rough treatment (not all at our hands!) And she has a few scars to prove it.

Sometime soon, that paint is going to need retouching, and her bottom re-blacking, before the rust gets out of hand. While she's out of the water, her tiller bearing needs replacing too - there's a lot of 'slop' in her steering now.

 

Jena has got a few battle-scars, that need a touch of paint and re-blacking.

And she should also be resurveyed and re-'plated'. She wasn't originally intended to carry groups of VIP's on trips, and skippers have sometimes had to explain that because of this we can only have ten people aboard when she's underway.

Jena's plate from when she was built by Metro Float Ltd.

If a surveyor says she can carry more, then we can change this up - and use Jena for even more events. RE is working on the Trust to try to have this happen, and it's looking hopeful.

6 hours.