London Living Brentford to Rickmansworth

When we steered Liem round the tight corner on to the Grand Union Canal off the Thames, it was May and the beginning of my Summer season of work for outdoor events. Our maiden voyage and holiday had officially ended and we were to start our lives as London working boat dwellers.

Except I barely spent any time on the boat and Chris single handed her most of the way to Rickmansworth after I packed a bag and drove off in my car to work away for  4 months only occasionally coming back to visit.

Denham was a great place to moor for us with good transport links into Marylbone, easy parking, and the beautiful antiquated Denham village with it's 3 pubs all with lush gardens. Whilst we lived in this area we payed the small amount to use the private facilities of the Harefield Marina. £3 to use the Elsan & Water so good value and friendly enough staff.

Grand Union Denham in Summer pre HS2

There were lots of really beautiful walks in the area. You can see the great mountain of HS2 cement slabbed across one of the reservoirs already - it's absolutely heartbreaking but this battle has been lost and the forest and surrounding habitat will go with it.

Summer Morning just before leaving for 2 more months!

I was lucky as Chris had some time off too so we could enjoy Summer on the boat and walks to the local pubs and drink cider and read books on the roof and keep the doors  and hatches open all hours. We were just beginning to settle in to working boat life when winter started to slowly creep in and our diesel stove was switched on for the first few hours one evening. I remember looking forward to cooking stews on the stove and having a cosy boat but I might have underestimated the challenges a tad!

Misty Mornings. Read all about Winter on a Narrowboat in my next blog.
September