More Sightseeing

Wednesday/Thursday 18/19th August 2010
Moored at Little Venice
No Miles No Locks.

Wednesday.  We were off sightseeing again today, back into Hyde Park and over to the Albert Memorial and The Royal Albert Hall, the hall was opened in 1871 and it is possibly best known for holding the Annual Summer Proms Concerts since 1941, but for me it's a Bob Dylan Concert in 1966 and it's mention in A Day in the Life by Lennon/McCartney on the Sgt Pepper Album.

Our route then took us along the Kensington Road past Harvey Nichols and into Knightsbridge it was then down Constitution Hill to Buckingham Palace, we knew Liz was in as the flag was flying but she was probably busy so we didn't stop, after watching the overseas tourists climbing over the top of each other to get a better picture,  (there was no changing of the guard today, that is on Thursday so it will be a right Rugby scrum then)  we headed back up Constitution Hill and back into Hyde Park, stopping at a kiosk for a cup of hot chocolate and a piece of cake each, it was then back to the boat.  One thing that did surprise us was that apart from the paths in Hyde Park the pavements around London  are the most uneven and badly maintained we have ever used a wheelchair on, a lot of the slabs are cracked and it would be very easy to trip, the wheelchair came to a sudden stop on more that one occasion when one of the small front wheels dropped into a gap, I think the compensation lawyers in London must be very busy.

Thursday.  As we are moving tomorrow,  today was a clean up and check everything over day, Jayne had the washing machine on while I was outside giving the paintwork a wipe over and cleaning the windows, it was then check the levels on the engine,  have look at the propeller and remove any debris.
There has been a British Waterways Inspection Boat around this afternoon checking for un-licensed boats or those which have overstayed the 14 day limit, the one moored in front of us got a warning pinned onto it for overstaying, good, the mooring around here is tight enough without people doing that. 
We hope to leave at around 7 in the morning, first stop will be at the services about 200 yards away to fill with water,  empty the cassettes and rubbish, Jayne says she is stopping in bed while all this is going on,  it's then off along the Regents Canal including 12 locks down to Limehouse.
Hopefully the Broadband will be better when we get onto the Thames, it has been very bad around here, I thought it would be fast in London, the TV reception has not been good either.

I read that the further south you go the dearer the Beer and Diesel gets, well we haven't been into a pub since Daventry so can't comment on the price of Beer but the Diesel is not any dearer here than we paid in the Midlands.