The Paddington Arm is a 13.5mile branch off the 137 mile long Grand Union Canal. It runs from Bulls Bridge in Hayes to the Paddington Basin in central London. When it was completed in 1801, it was mainly a rural route, and as one commentator wrote, in the 1700’s “ … next to the beautiful fields and quiet village, the gallows and the gibbet were the principal attractions….” but once the canal opened up the banks became the dumping ground for London’s ash and night soil and it became known as sticking Paddington. Paddington itself doesn’t derive its name from the marmalade eating bear from Peru, but most likely from the Anglo Saxon chieftain called Padda.
Although we had a twitchy tiller, (our boaty equivalent to itchy feet) and we were ready to move on. But there’s always more hidden gems waiting to be explored in London and with hindsight we wished we had booked more than one night in Paddington Basin. Not least because the weather forecast was looking bleak with strong winds and heavy rain, but the crazy booking system, which would allow us a full 7 night stay, does not permit you to extend a single night despite there being spaces available. But as NB Oleanna, who were moored on the next pontoon, was risking the weather with an early get away….
We decided to follow them out.
As all boaters know, to turn a boat through 180° is called winding, as in wind the weather phenomenon, not winding as in wine what you drink. This is because before the days of powerful motors, the old traditional boaters used to use the wind to help them rotate their boats. However despite all our modern advances, winding a 60′ boat in a wind tunnel on a windy day next to flimsy trip boats takes a fair bit of skill. But we did it and soon we were on our way, out into Little Venice and Rembrants garden.
Looking back towards the start of the Regent’s canal
And forward towards the Grand Union, Paddington arm, which would be our route out of the city.
We managed about an hour before the rain started , and oh boy was it heavy, but thankfully the further west we travelled the more places we found to moor. And guess what, no sooner had we tied off the ropes, the sun came back out, but we’d gone far enough for one day and
… it gave Eric a chance to remove all the debris fouling our prop.
Our journey continued over the North Circular, ah happy memories as this was the road Eric drove along, when he lived in the south and I lived in the north
Past some interesting art work under a bridge
And a next to a bridge
Stopping to buy diesel from Willowtree marina (£1.25 -29/09/22) and finally onto Bulls Bridge which is the junction of the Paddington Arm with the Grand Union Canal
(Heading photo, a new developement at Alperton)