The prelude to this this trip was a four hour bike ride along the Grand Union Canal tow path from Rickmansworth to the Slough arm of the GUC looking for a convenient “get in”.
This journey is well worthwhile it, whether walking, cycling or kayaking as it tracks its way through the Coln Valley Regional park and associated green belt.
My reason for starting further down the GUC was to find a gap on the GUC with fewer locks and fewer portages and to explore pastures new.
To complicate matters we took 5 dogs on this trip:
CoCo who has navigated the whole of the river Thames from source to tidal;
Coulan, also a veteran canoer and camper and three puppies, Ziggy, Hettie and Mordi.
It was a first for Ziggy and Hettie and at 17 weeks, their safety vests were far too big, but they seemed to enjoy the journey on the water in their transparent box on top of my kayak.
Mordi was also at the bow of her canoe enjoying the view whilst Coulan snoozed on the lap of her paddler.
This stretch of the canal is well worth a visit, part rural, part industrial and part residential with lots of boat traffic, walkers and cyclers on the tow path.
We started from the Cowley rec, just below Cowley, past West Drayton Station towards the Paddington Branch of the GUC.
On the way back we went down the ‘Slough arm” of the GUC which is a “dead end”.
This canal was originally opened to serve the brick-making industry.
The last commercial traffic was carried in 1960, but it fell into disuse and it was going to be filled in.
These plans were opposed locally and the stretch was re-opened in 1975 and it has remained in use since.
Next time, I would like to start further down and kayak the whole of the Slough arm of the GUC; this is 10 mile trip there and back.
Write up by Phillip