On top of the world this week

I had to work for a few days so sadly had to leave London behind. When I returned to Little Venice it was really busy with boats breasted up to virtually all of us. I was lucky enough to be signed into The Gherkin building and Rose and I spent a happy couple of hours looking down on the rooftops of London from 180metres (well almost - we weren't standing on the roof!). The highlight for R was when she called her son out to stand on the roof of his flat in Aldgate so that we could see him. He was about a millimetre high!! The aspect of London is so different from upon high, lots of roof gardens, etc. It looked just like a model village. I also saw Tower Bridge open - a first for me which is probably quite surprising, I suppose, for a Londoner. The weather was very unsettled and on Saturday Piccadilly looked like a river when it was rained on heavily for about ten minutes. I popped to Trafalgar Square to see some of West End Live, where (almost) all the London shows showcase 5 or 10 minutes of their production. On Sunday Pat cruised with me from L Venice up to Uxbridge. It was the first time she had left London by such a peaceful route - although her train normally takes only 20 minutes and we took about 8 hours. Back at work for another week and then start the journey back North.

Walking the Thames Path in the rain :-(

Several years ago I started to do the Thames Path walk with a friend. We got from the source to Lechlade but then she was unable to do long walks and it came to a halt. Many times since I have considered getting on with it and several times I have got as far as planning but have yet to complete more sections. It was an unwritten rule that it had to be walked in sequence but this year I decided it was ok if I did the sections out of sequence, as the opportunity arose, so on Friday I went to Hammersmith and walked (mostly in the rain) as far as Millbank, where I popped into the Tate and walked a couple more miles (but not in the rain). I got to thinking that I'll have to do these London sections twice anyway - as you can do North (I thought that was called Middlesex?) and South (erm, Surrey?). I reckon I've walked over 30 miles this week. Little wonder that I have got a blister on my toe!

Having a great time in London

I have walked my feet off over the past few days. Visited Goldfinger's 2 Willow Road today - it looks more modern than its 1939 build date. The tour guide was dressed from the 17th Century which I didn't quite "get" - maybe he usually guides at some other, more suitable property or maybe he always dresses like that (I think this could be true!). Yesterday I went to see Luke's band perfom at a fab little venue near Limehouse, called Jamboree. They certainly entertained the audience and I'd like to say, thanks very much Jimmy and the Lips. Tom, Amy and my niece and her fiance turned up and a good time had by all. Thanks for dropping me at the station, Annie, Cable Street is a very long street at the best of times but seems even longer when you have a tube to catch. Have been trying to get to see Lord of the Flies but it keeps raining at 2 in the afternoon and most evening tickets are sold; I see Two Guvnors is also sold out, as is Alan Bennett talking about the importance of libraries and HOW THEY MUSTN'T be CLOSED. Hear hear - I'd be lost on my travels without the library internet access. Must go - the library is timing me out :-(

A week (or so) in London, a wonderful wedding and a chance meeting

I had an overnight stop at Greenford before arriving into Paddington Basin the day before Rosie's wedding! The weather was glorious and I'd forgotten just how central this point is. I was about half an hour's walk from the wedding venue which was so good for me - no need to worry about buses or tubes just a brisk walk home on a warm evening. On Sunday I went for a wander around St John's Wood, Camden Market and then through Regent's Park. The market was vibrant as ever and had some very nice gear which Kate would love. As I strolled through the park I was drawn towards some music and a festival which I was not aware of - the London green festival. After watching some very talented kids perform at the dance and song stage, I was again drawn to some music which was being driven by a bicycle powered PA. This is where a weird coincidence occurred: sitting watching was Simon from Tortoise who, although, I do read his blog occasionally, I had not seen for five years - in fact we met when I was in my first season of boating and returning from my first trip to London. I had to ask "Are you Simon?" although I was 99% positive that it was. We had a catch up about boats/blogs and other points of interest. I cannot explain how small the world is when I just happened to arrive at the same place at the same time with no forward planning on my part! Tomorrow Lynn arrives and we will find something of interest to fill our day. I'm in the library doing this post so I will return here later in the week to add some, hopefully, more interesting escapades.

Almost reached my destination...

Since my last post I have been to see Laudon Wainwright at The Stables in Milton Keynes. He was very funny and we had an enjoyable evening. In the past I didn't think I liked his songs but Luke recently lent me one of his CDs and I thought it was good. Also on the bill was his daughter, Lucy, who has a very nice voice and has written some great numbers.

The next day I pressed on and cruised Wednesday 18th to Wednesday 25th all of which were decent weather and often very nice warm calm days. On the Saturday I met up with Michelle and her grandchildren on her boat which is currently at Berkhampsted. We had a lovely day. The children went out in an inflatable boat and it was a nice, warm day for it. Lucky really as they got drenched.  Most days I was only travelling 3 to 4 hours - enough for me. I've reached Uxbridge so only another day and a half to reach Kensal Green or Paddington. Last Thursday when we had the first rain of any amount, I only cruised a mile. After all I'm doing this for pleasure not endurance.

Talking of endurance, this weekend (yes, this wet and windy Bank Holiday weekend) I went camping at the foot of Snowdon! Luke and I made a plan to meet Tom, Gemma et al who were doing the 3 peaks challenge. Luke and I started out at 11am, ascended via the easier but longer Llanberis Path and reached the summit around 2pm - Luke, with his long legs went ahead and got there half an hour before me. We decided to descend via the Miner's track as we thought we might meet Tom - and we did - he was virtually jogging up the mountain looking fresh as a daisy!!! Soon after we met two more of his group not far behind him and also looking pretty good. It took another two hours to get back to the road so all done in about 5 and a half hours. I was so pleased to achieve it, having had no fell walking practice for years and I'd last walked up at age 13 when it took six hours!! I'm all geared up to do more now.

Hopefully I'll keep this a bit more up to date during June.

I test out my walking boots!

A short but heavy shower yesterday which included hailstones. I had cruised on down to MK and got the bus back for the car. I had to shelter under a tree while the hail stoned me. Had a quiet evening reading and an early night. I'm obviously unused to all this fresh air. Today I pressed on through a couple more locks and am a few miles South of MK. I had to walk back for the car because it's Sunday and there are many fewer bus routes in operation on a Sunday. I tried out my fairly new walking boots but don't seem to have the sock system quite right so got a bit of a blister. I think I just need to break them in as they fit well and are generally comfortable. Not sure whether I should wear them on the big hill, though. Might just go back to my old reliable if slightly worn & leaky pair. Alas, I have to do a couple of days work before I can continue cruising so if it's going to rain, can it be now please. Just seen the weather forecast, no rain mentioned until about Thursday. So far this trip, nothing unusual or weird has happened to me. Ahem. I'll try to put something more exciting on here next time :-).
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I started out after work on Wednesday and did the first few miles, filling up with water at Weedon and sorting out all needs for the trip. I walked back for the car and parked close to the boat’s mooring.  On Thursday I cruised to Blisworth ready to go through the tunnel next day. Rick brought his boat down and offered to help me lock through Stoke Bruerne. Pete, was also at Blisworth as was Al and it was good to catch up with them. We had a cup of tea and then I got up to go as I needed to walk back 7 miles for the car. However, my luck was in, Al offered to drive me back to the car, so that gave me a great saving of time and energy but was not so good for my exercise (especially my training to climb Snowdon later this month!). This morning I was up and ready quite early. Had a good trip through the tunnel, meeting only 2 boats within. I got into the first lock and there were Rick & Pete (they had come over in my car) and we very quickly got through the locks. I drove them back to their boats and moved car to its next spot which was less than 2 miles from the boat - so just a short walk and then cruised back to where I’d left the car. Did a pile of marking and looked at tomorrow’s pile - it doesn’t look too bad! Lovely sunny evening with a field of sheep opposite - the lambs are getting big already. Onto Milton Keynes tomorrow. I haven’t got the dongle with me as I was hoping to use BTFON but there are not as many hotspots as BT would like you to think so I’ll upload this when I can!!