From gaileymarine.galadriel@btinternet.com Sat May 1 11:24:49 1999 Date: Sat, 04 Jul 1998 08:24:51 +0200 From: Peter Lawson Reply-To: canals@blacksheep.org To: canals@blacksheep.org Subject: The Peregrinations of Galadriel (12) It is amazing how little the metropolitan sprawl of London impinges on the Grand Union canal. Even the Paddington Arm into Little Venice has rural stretches, and local authorities have also made considerable efforts to enhance its appeal, with a number of attractively painted bridges. It's a pity that these efforts are negated by the graffitti vandals (I refuse to dignify them with the word 'artists'). At Little Venice we moored next to Mercia Maid, a steel-hulled yacht by Peter Nicholls. It is owned by Michael Bedwell, who set out from Nuneaton to do the Oxford-Thames-GU ring to raise funds for Sea Cadets. Not only is he single-handed but has no engine - he propels the boat with a single scull or oar mounted on the transom and made to a special design. This form of propulsion can be achieved with conventional gear; I remember using a symmetrical oar in a notch in the transom of a rowing boat. Near Little Venice we saw our second terrapin (first on the K&A) - coconuts are still in evidence. Also a nb called Krystina - close eh? Continuing up the GU we spent an afternoon and the following morning in the company of another Michael, this one a boat from the Tideway Adventurers Narrowboat Project. The crew were a group of children excluded from normal education generally as a result of antisocial behaviour - three of them had had court appearances postponed to enable them to make the trip. The skipper, a dedicated teacher and youth leader, commented how the children's behaviour changed for the better after only a day on the boat. Here is yet another benefit to the community from canals - it would be interesting to conduct a survey to discover how many people receive therapy on the cut. We passed another Galadriel and a 'The Lady Galadriel'. From observation I would say the most popular boat name is Kingfisher - if we only consider narrowboats then it is probably Steelaway. Janey Young greeted us as we passed through Marsworth bottom lock on Thursday at 08h30. Great to meet another cutwebber. We turned left and went down the arm to Aylesbury. This is an attractive rural narrow canal - to our surprise we found it busier than the GU. There was some imbalance in pound levels near the top, and at one point we stopped to clear weed, weed, and nothing but weed from the prop, but in general the trip was plain cruising. Aylesbury itself is a welcoming port, with an active crusing club; station and town within easy walking distance, canalside Tesco above the last lock. If you moor in the basin TV reception may be affected by your location - we obtained a significant improvement merely by turning Galadriel around presumably because this reduced the interference of nearby buildings. Peter & Jill