Willow Tree Open Space

/Today's Canals : Slough Arm, Grand Union Main Line, Paddington Arm

We have been back home for a few days - mainly so that we could go to a friend's birthday party in Ledbury. A good occasion but we were quite late by the time we had driven back again at the end.

Today we managed to set off in good time as there was not much to load into the car and we sorted it all out yesterday. All was going well and ahead of expectations until just before Marlborough where we joined the tail of what was a very long tailback. We took a Google suggestion to miss some of it but all together we were delayed around 25 minutes - for what turned out to be 4 way temporary traffic lights right in the centre of town! After that it was plain sailing (well, that came later!) and we reached the boatyard by 11:30.

Our first task, apart from walking down the towpath for 20 minutes, was to turn the boat around. This meant going 15 minutes in the wrong direction to the nearest winding hole, then turning around and coming back gto where we started but now facing the opposite way.

We pulled onto the service mooring so that we could unload from the car, almost straight onto the boat. We also took advantage of he elsan point.

It was around half past one when we finally got underway properly. Just after the immediate bridge we had to negotiate around the burnt out remains of a small cruiser. According to the boatyard staff, it had been seen around the Slough Arm for a while and it was thought to be abandoned but was left as it was not doing any harm. Alas, just recently someone thought fit to set it alight and adrift, to eb encountered by other boats right in midstream!

After a couple of miles we passed the entrance to Packet Boat Marina where we once had our winter mooring. This shot used to be an obligatory opener to the first cruise of each season as we left to roam the network.

Just after the marina entrance is another burt out cruiser - we saw this one on the way up a week ago. It may well be that neither boat was much but it was once someone's boat and probably home. Always a sad sight.

At the end of the arm we turned south and almost immediately moored up outside a large Tesco store. We had deliberately not been shopping for the trip so we had to do that before we could have lunch! "Just a small shop" said Christinem brandishing her 'little' list. Mike had another description when it came to carrying the bags but fortunately we had been able to moor but 50m from the furthest we could take the trolley.

Lunch (well, afternoon tea, more like it) rolls were quickly filled and Mike set off steering whilst Christine then stowed all the provisions away.

We commented on the last trip on some of the large redevelopment projects based on the EMI and Nestle sites. This one is still at the site prep stage but the progress is visible, even in a week. Unlike in the past when the rubble that results from demolition would have been  carted away to landfill, nowadays it is processed on site and either used to level the pitch or similarly on another project. Alas, they have not yet conquered that dust problem and were making rather a lot which was blowing across the canal. Not pleasant for walkers, bikers and boaters alike.

A lot of the redevelopment is using the space for dense apartment housing. This block, one of half a dozen on a single site, appears complete and already occupied.

The Nestle site is half housing and half commercial. Pleasingly, a good canal-side strip has been landscaped as a public walkway on the non towpath bank.

The coffee aroma use to be a good warning signal that we were about to reach Bulls Bridge but it gleamed brightly in today's glorious sunshine so not easily missed.

Just onto the Paddington Arm a rubbish collecting boat was moored. It seems to have made a rather large catch!

A little further an new bridge has been constructed since we last came this way. It appears to be an access road to a very large housing project although the  buildings currently being  built are some way away. Alas, this project has already cleared the former gas holder that was a particular landmark with its LH and an arrow painted on the side. It seems that aircraft arriving at Heathrow now have to rely on more technological navigation! The sun was in just the wrong direction so no photos either of the bridge or the buildings but we hope to remedy that on the way back.

Just after passing Willowtree Marina we began to look for our planned ,ooring, a spot that we used on a number of occasions with Take Five, the last time in February 2017.

Our present boat is a little deeper draft, which we found when we came alongside both the the towpath opposite and the mooring itself. A mooring neighbour and visitor kindly helped us pull as close as possible.

The Willow Tree Open Space was previously a brick works but closed in 1960s. Unfortunately the information board has been rather obscured by graffiti so much of the interesting history is unknown (to us) 

10.0 Miles - 0 Locks