TRIP REPORTS : THE FELIS CATUS YEARS

AUTUMN 1979

Part 2 : October Half Term : the Lee & Stort

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For more information about our then boat , Felis Catus, see here.

The previous year at Autumn Half Term, a stoppage had foiled our plans to explore the Lee & Stort, so we we decided to do so this year instead.

(left) Duckett's Junction (right) Bleak Hall bridge, Edmonton

We left Maida Hill at 10:36 in cold, dry weather. Roger got brunch while we waited for a gang of navvies with a lighter in Kentish Town lock. The Regent's was full of grot. At Old Ford junction we passed on to the Hertford Union Canal, at the other end of which we joined the Lee Navigation. We had planned to moor at Tottenham but discovered that the locks up to Ponders End are keeper-operated and don't open on Sundays, so we needed to get through all of those. We moored above Ponders End lock at 18:20 and I dashed off to stage-manage a Drama Club performance. Roger & Chris found a Bass house before dinner.

Brimsdown BW transhipment depôt

I returned about 10:00 and we set off at 10:41 in dry, sunny & cold conditions. We stopped before Waltham Town lock for beer at the Old English Gentleman (McMullen's on hand pump), a very friendly pub. Then Chris got lunch on the move. We had a lot of trouble with stuff (mainly leaves) on the blade. We moored by Ware bridge at 17:50 and had some beer at the Spread Eagle (McMullen's) before I cooked dinner.

Chris went off early to work. It was sunny & warmer without the wind as Roger & I started boating at 08:49. we went back to Fielde's Weir junction and on to the Lee Navigation, stopping before Dobbe's Weir lock for me to cook breakfast. Our next stop was below Waltham Town lock for lunch at the Old English Gentleman. As we continued south, the Pickett's lock lock-keeper asked us to go back & tow a broken-down boat from below Ponders End lock to below Stonebridge lock, which we did. A short way above Tottenham lock we ran aground 12 ft from the bank (on a "commercial" waterway!) as we came in to moor in the dark. A later guide-book warned about "underwater parking" on this stretch. We had drinks at the Ferry Boat Inn. Real ale was available but we drank shorts, out of the £5 bounty our tow had paid us. Roger cooked dinner.		Rammey Marsh lock (above & below)
	Commercial traffic at Tottenham Lock

Three Mills

Bow locks

Wendy & Ian joined as we were about to have breakfast. Tottenham Hale was useless for shopping so we set off hoping to find somewhere else. At Springfield Marina we bought diesel (at a good price), watered and used their loo-point.

Before Bow locks we found lots of lighters blocking the cut, so stopped a while. The weather turned very dark and looked as though a thunderstorm was imminent, but it only produced a few drops of rain. We got away again once some of the barges had moved out of the way, and made our way to Limehouse Basin. It was a new experience, being among sea-going stuff (even if mostly disused).

We passed on to the Regent's Canal. I bashed my knee quite badly at Commercial Road lock when a windlass slipped. Wendy did lunch before Johnson's lock, then we made a shopping stop at Mile End Road (in what had been Wendy's and my territory in our student days), where Roger left to go home. Later we continued to above Old Ford locks to moor at 16:39 by Victoria Park. We went for beer (fizz) at the Royal Cricketers before Wendy served dinner. The day had been much-punctuated by weed-hatch stops.

It rained all day. The lock-keeper at Old Ford was running water and we'd settled at an angle on what we thought was a sloping wall (actually probably a ledge). Free of that, we set off at 09:04, passed on to Hertford Union Canal and then the Lee Navigation. We stopped opposite the Anchor & Hope, Clapton, where Ian cooked breakfast. Later, in Pickett's lock, the lock-keeper tied our ropes, and a sudden surge pulled off one of our back cleats and a piece of deck, so I had to re-fix them. We moored above Waltham Town lock at 16:07 and went for beer at the Old English Gentleman before I served dinner.

It was raining again as we set off at 09:07. We stopped above Aqueduct lock and Wendy served breakfast.

We stopped again at Broxbourne Boat Centre hoping to buy propane, but they had none. Nor did Rye House boatyard or Stanstead Marina. (We'd continued up the Lee rather than turning off onto the Stort.)

The rain had now petered out. We stopped at the Old Barge, Hertford , at 16:54 and had some beer at the pub, then Wendy served dinner on board.

We shopped in sunny conditions, and Dave joined. We set off at 11: 03 and at Hertford Town Mill winded at the head of navigation. We used the bus station gents as a sani-station. Later Wendy served brunch on the move. After a weed-hatch stop at Stanstead Abbots we continued to Fieldes Weir junction and the River Stort. At Roydon Mill we managed to buy gas at last. We stopped before Parndon lock and photographed the re-gating work, then winded and returned to Roydon Mill, mooring there at 17:35. We took beer at the New Inn before I served dinner. The water pump needed attention again.

Rammey Marsh lock (above and below)

In moist, misty weather we got up apparently early because the clocks had changed. We set off at 0805, through Fieldes Weir junction and on to Lee Navigation.

We made a breakfast stop below Carthagena lock and another stop below Waltham Town lock for beer at the Old English Gentleman.

Rammey Marsh cruising club weren't able to offer us a temporary mooring space so we went back and moored by the Old English Gentleman, where the landlady promised her husband would keep an eye on the boat until our return in a couple of weeks' time.