Autumn Cruise - Day 10

It was a lovely sunny morning when we woke up after a quiet night in Paddington Basin.  We had a cooked breakfast (our first of the trip), and a relaxed start to the day.  We started a wash load, and set off at 9.30.  Our route took us along the Regent's Canal: though the Maida Hill Tunnel, Regent's Park with London Zoo, before we arrived at Camden Locks.

We stopped for lunch at Haggerston, where we spotted some mooring rings in the tow path.  It's been busy with walkers, runners, and cyclists.  Setting off again, we headed into east London, past Victoria Park, and down several locks.  There's lots of duckweed on the canal, making it look as though we were travelling though a green carpet.  Somewhat bizarrely, it closed up behind us so you couldn't even seen that we'd been through it.

On arrival at Limehouse Basin, we moored up alongside another boat, and set off to speak to the lock keeper about our trip tomorrow.  A large boat was being locked up into the marina, and then a narrowboat was locked down onto the river.  We watched as it headed out through London -- the trip we'll be making tomorrow.  The boat looked tiny on the river.

Once the lock keepers were back in their office, we went and got outselves into the diary for tomorrow afternoon.  Some boats moored on the visitor mooring were just leaving, so we moved to the space they'd vacated.  We went for a drink in a riverside pub where we could watch the Clippers speeding by, then had a walk around the area.  As we returned, a motor boat was coming in, which needed the road bridge to be swung.

9 miles, 12 locks.  (124 miles, 105 locks)