Harefield to Uxbridge.

Tuesday 22nd April.

Up at 8am to a bright, sunny and warm morning, I took Paddy and my camera for a stroll back up past Copper Mill Lock to take some photographs of Pisces and the Copper Mill.
Pisces is the boat which Hadar is a copy of. Keith worked on Pisces when he was 15; even then he knew he wanted a brand new boat built like Pisces.
Pisces is in need of a paint job, as she is looking a little tired. She is used for youth trips and is run by Hillingdon Narrowboat Trust. She is the whole reason Hadar is now in existence, Pisces gave Keith a dream, which Roger Fuller made come true by building Hadar. So for anyone who thinks dreams never come true, think again. Pisces is moored near Copper Mill.

The big mill was once a paper mill, but once the canal was built it turned to making copper sheets, which were used on the bottom of boats. It has been turned in offices now, but they have retained the mills look on the outside.
Keith and I decided that we would make our way down to Uxbridge, so at 9.15am we left our mooring and headed off past Troy Cut, which is now privately owned. There is a lovely walk down to Troy Mill which is very ancient; there are some beautiful walks around the lake as well.This sign on the back of a wide beam boat caught our eyes, and made us giggle.

Whilst moving we heard a peacock, near Black Jacks Lock.

They are the most beautiful birds, especially when they display their tails.
At Black Jacks Lock there used to be a beautiful mill, sadly it is not looking so great these days; it could do with some TLC.
We stopped off at Harefield Marina to empty the loo, £1 to empty a porta loo out there, but it had to be done.
I love funny signs; this one proves that someone needs to learn how to spell.There was another one after that one, which had the T missing.
The last lock of the 4 locks done was Denham Deep lock which is 11’1” deep. We then made our way past Denham Marina, where Keith’s father was the first Commodore of the cruising club there back in 1968, we later found out that the cruising club is no longer there, but the club house is still in the marina.
We moored up in Uxbridge at 11.55am, and took a walk into the town to find the cinema and have a look around. Having got back to the boat we moved it down to the General Eliot, and will be here for a few days. During the afternoon and early evening we set about cleaning off the dust which had accumulated at Harefield from the dusty towpath and got the brass all clean and shiny. Now wait for it to rain ha ha ha.

Wednesday 23rd April.

The morning started out damp with drizzly rain (what did I tell you), so Paddy had a wet walk, which as you know he hates. Having had a chilly night in bed, I relit the back cabin stove to warm the boat up a little. Marmite and Paddy were soon lying in the back cabin, enjoying the warmth; they certainly know where they want to be today.
We walked up town so that I could get my hair trimmed. If you have read previous postings you will know, I have been trying to find a hair dresser who does not want me to take out a mortgage for a dry trim. I finally found a place that would do a dry trim for £11.95, which is one hell of a lot better than previous quotes. I have long hair and I only want ½ an inch off the bottom, no washing or drying just a trim. So I went into SuperCuts, where you give your name then sit and wait to be called, it was perfect I was the third person there, so not long to wait at all and the young woman did a fab job. I will be using them again if I cannot find a hair dresser on the canal. We also went to the cinema with our free tickets from Nokia (thank you Nokia). We were also entitled to free popcorn and a drink, so hey when it’s free you do not refuse. Armed with tickets, drink and popcorn we went in and watched ‘In Bruges’ with Colin Farrell. I have to say that I would not have paid to see the movie. It was certainly different, not sure if I would have called it a comedy as it was advertised. What let it down badly was the language, the F and C words were used way to much for my liking and there was no need for it. It was as though they could not think of anything else to say so they stuck the F and C word in for affect, which was a shame. It was not one of Colin Farrell’s best films, but that is just my opinion. Still we have seen the film and it was for free, so we cannot complain to much, it also killed a couple of hours. Afterwards it was back to a very warm boat, with Mog and Dog both lounging in the heat. It was a good day, doing things that we wanted to do.