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This was St Pancras Cruising Club's Deptford Creek
Cruise, and I was crewing with David Pearce on Gnashers II. Some of
the boats had left the basin the previous evening, but David and one other boat
planned an early-morning start on Saturday, joining the others at Limehouse.
I
St Pancras water tower |
I arrived at St Pancras Basin at about 07:00 and was
immediately provided with coffee by my host. The boat we were to travel with in
the morning was Denise Keir's Galatea. Crewing with Denise were a chap
called Ollie and Denise's grandson, Rory. We had glorious weather for the trip,
really hot and sunny with little, If any, wind.
St Pancras lock |
It was a tight manoeuvre out of the mooring, delayed
slightly when one of the mooring buoys disappeared under Gnashers II's
counter and had to be fished out with a boathook. Ollie had set the lock
filling some time earlier, and another club member walked round and opened the
gate, so we could go straight in.
We had a good run down the Regent's, despite all the
locks being against us. Denise and Ollie realised that they had both brought
lots of bacon with them, so bacon rolls were prepared for everybody, and David
and I had ours handed to us in the middle of one of the longer pounds.
Islington tunnel |
Gnashers II needed one visit to its
weed-hatch, which David did while waiting above Mile End Lock for it to
fill. Above Johnson's lock we saw a very ill Canada Goose, but decided that
even if we knew a 'phone number for the RSPCA/RSPB or whoever, the creature was
probably too far gone to be rescuable. It could barely lift its head out of the
water. Indeed, when I first saw it, I thought it was already dead. I think it
probably was dead very soon after we left it.
We liaised with the other boats by mobile 'phone,
which meant that when we reached Limehouse Basin they were already in the lock
waiting for us. The three boats we joined were Chérie (Eric &
Sally Naylor), Anne Louise (Beryl Windsor, Steve Burt & a couple of
others) and Thursday's Child (owner Brian Holmes, with Roger Squires
crewing for him).
Commercial Road lock |
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Leaving Limehouse tide lock |
This was a first for me - the first time I'd come out
of Limehouse and turned downstream. The Narrow Street swing-bridge was open, as
it was under repair. There was not too much swell on the river, but we did
corkscrew a bit in the wake of other vessels. The other traffic was mainly
trip-boats, with a couple of fast private boats and one tug. The weather made
for good photography, and I was able to up-date some of my stock shots of that
bit of the river. We were at the back of the convoy, so I was able to get all
the other boats into shot.
Old Limehouse lock |
In Limehouse Reach |
In convoy |
We turned into Deptford Creek and headed upstream,
seeing an interesting collection of vessels (some in use, others derelict) on
the way. The aggregate-carrier James Prior was moored at Prior
Aggregates' wharf. We'd hoped to spot some Black Redstarts, but weren't lucky.
Reputedly the UK population of these is about ten pairs, of whom five pairs
nest in this creek. I guess the weather was too hot and sunny for them to be
about in the middle of the day.
Into Deptford Creek |
Priors' wharf |
Derelict vessel |
We reached the head of navigation around noon, a bit
before the top of the tide, and rafted up for some photos and a celebratory
beer. Steve Burt, who had done a reconnaissance from the shore a few days
before, knew just how shallow it was right under where his boat was, and was
keen to set off again before the tide started falling., so we only stayed about
a quarter of an hour.
The Laban Dance Centre |
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(Left & below) boats rafted-up at our turning
point. |
Heading back |
Ha'penny Hatch bridge |
Convoy's Wharf |
The Creek seemed much shorter coming back down, and
soon we were out on the Thames again, this time with Gnashers II
somewhere around the middle of the group. I was particularly keen to look at
and photograph the Convoy's Wharf site, a little way upstream of the Creek,
having spent an afternoon a few days before in Lewisham Planning Department
studying the outline Planning Application for the redevelopment of the site (a
good proposal, in my opinion, designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership).
Hebridean Princess |
A large vessel (compared to us) was catching us up in the
fairway, and puzzled us to start with. She looked rather like an old-style
Channel Ferry. When she got close enough for us to read her name, she was seen
to be the Hebridean Princess, registered in Glasgow. We guessed that she
probably belonged to Caledonian McBrayne. Checking on the web when I got home,
I discovered that she is a former ferry of theirs (originally the
Columba) which was purchased in 1989 by a firm called Hebridean Island
Cruises and refitted as a luxury cruise ship. Their website also told us that
she was on the last leg of a cruise from Oban to London via the Scillies and
the northern coast of France.
We were the fourth boat of our flotilla into Limehouse
tide lock, with Anne Louise joining us only moments later to
complete the group. It was now nearly the top of a big tide (Springs the next
day, I believe), and I scored another personal first - the first time I'd
locked down from the tideway into Limehouse Basin.
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The flotilla's arrival back at Limehouse tide
lock |
We moored in the basin and lunched on sandwiches and
beer, then lazed around for a while. The boats were planning to stay at
Limehouse for the rest of the day and return to St Pancras next morning, but I
had other things to do, so gave my thanks to my host, made my farewells to
everyone and headed off home via the newly-refurbished Narrow Street
Restaurant and Bar (formerly the Barley Mow pub, and before that the
Dockmaster's House. See
here
for my comments on it.
DAY'S RUN: 13.3 miles,
11 locks in 5 hrs 30 mins
Limehouse tide lock |
Back in the Basin |
The pub beside Limehouse tide lock |
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