Messing about in boats: Norman Nash
The Lady M
I cannot too highly recommend the use of a narrow boat. I was lucky enough to own one for about 18 years; The Lady M she was called and she took me, my wife, my 3 children and their partners, my 7 grandchildren and countless friends (though not all at once) over most of the 2000 or so miles of rivers and canals.
Perhaps our very best journey was up the tidal Thames from Limehouse to Teddington. If you are not lucky enough to own a narrow boat, you can easily hire one as did my younger daughter and friends, and they motored the round trip along the Grand Union Canal to Limehouse, up the river to Brentford, back on to the Grand Union and so to base.
The Lady M took us on a particularly sunny day, and to motor slowly through the City of London, under all those wonderful bridges, past the West End on the north bank and the South Bank on the other side of the river, the Houses of Parliament and all those beautiful London buildings is one of the most lovely and relaxing ways to spend a day.
The Lady M was a slowish boat too, though you are never allowed to motor on canals at more than 4 knots, a bit more on the rivers. Once going through the Limehouse Lock accompanied by about 6 other boats, we were left far behind in no time at all.
We broke our journey, without mooring up, at Hammersmith Bridge where we embarked a friend who hopped on board as we held the boat into the tide before turning round and heading back on our journey. But a slow journey is what it’s all about. You have to leave Limehouse on the turning tide which then takes you comfortably up the river, for us, just in time to catch the tide turning round again as we entered the lock at Teddington, the end of the tidal reach.
When you have sampled the tidal Thames, try all the other canals and spread Slow Down London to the rest of the country and to your holidays. You don’t need foreign currency or a passport, there are countless wonderful pubs all the way along the canals and if it does pour with rain, just moor up, shut the doors, light the wood-burning stove, get out a book and a bottle, and the day is as happy as you know how to make it. If you prefer walking, you are travelling through the most wonderful countryside and some people take a bicycle on board so that they can extend their travels.
“There is nothing, but nothing like messing about in boats” as Ratty said to Mole, so slow down and take to the water in a narrow boat; you will never regret it.
Norman Nash
February 21st, 2009 at 10:00 am
Great story. I’ve spent many happy days and weeks crusing along canals on The Lady M. For someone who has always led a pretty busy life, canal trips are as slow as you can get (walking is far too fast by comparison!). At canal speed (or lack of it) all sorts of previously invisible things become visible – a water rat feeding its youd, a kingfisher flash across the canal, the intrivate brickwork on a bridge. Slowing down cannot be easier than on a canal boat.