Narrowboat Tacet

Silent Movement - Our gap year travelling the inland waterways



Thursday 4 April 2013

Regents Canal

A few pictures from our trip along the Regents Canal at the end of last week.  
We left Paddington Basin, which gives a very good, quiet and safe-feeling base for exploring the city and moorings are for 7 days,  giving plenty of time to see the sights.
Paddington Basin
Brownings Pool looking towards Regents Canal

The Regent's Canal was built to link the Grand Junction Canal's Paddington Arm, which opened in 1801, with the Thames at Limehouse.
As you head towards Maida Vale Tunnel there are lots of residential moorings along both sides of the canal making the well known sight of London's Little Venice.
Closer to the tunnel and those blue skies and sunshine look encouraging but it is still very cold and there is ice on the water.
Very soon come the Mansion houses, very imposing homes looking down on the canal.

Then there's Blow-up bridge, where a gunpowder barge exploded in 1874 destroying the bridge. When it was rebuilt the iron columns from Coalbrookdale were turned around and now grooves worn by the horses ropes can be found on both sides of the end columns.

A number of basins were built along the route, one of them is Battlebridge basin where the London Canal Museum is now sited.
Battlebridge Basin
Cumberland Basin

The Pirate Castle is a youth and community project providing lots of water based activities for budding pirates.
Pirate Castle, Camden

And then there's Camden locks, running alongside the famous market. 
Camden locks

I don't seem to have any more photos of the rest of the canal,  at least not from this journey.  Here's a favourite from last year and one which is on our calendar for this month.




4 comments:

  1. Are you heading all the way up the Thames? We are coming back from Oxford to go back on the K&A so wondered if we might meet you?

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  2. Our plan is to get onto the Thames on Tues or Wed depending on tides and weather conditions, so onto the K&A by end of week. Will certainly be looking out for you. Would love to meet you.

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  3. We hope to be back at Reading by Weds evening, all being well, at least we are going downstream this time so should be quicker, not as quick as we did it in October though! Nb Autumn Myst is arriving today so we shall all set off on Tuesday, we look forward to meeting up with you on the K&A for a glass or two! Are you going all the way to Bristol, we are hoping to if the River Avon is OK, haven't been that way since 2008, see you soon

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  4. Interesting articles, nice place,greeting from Belgium

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