Slough Arm August 2019 - Navigability? Water points?

[tree monkey]

Slough is maybe nothing special but just outside is Burnham Beeches,  one of the best places in the country to see veteran and ancient beeches and other similar trees, oh and some fascinating fungi, if you have any interest in trees it's worth the trip.

 

[Slim]

40 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Slough is maybe nothing special but just outside is Burnham Beeches,  one of the best places in the country to see veteran and ancient beeches and other similar trees, oh and some fascinating fungi, if you have any interest in trees it's worth the trip.

 

And ants. It's where London Zoo used collect their exhibits from . At least, it was when I was last there.

[tree monkey]

4 minutes ago, Slim said:

And ants. It's where London Zoo used collect their exhibits from . At least, it was when I was last there.

Didn't know that

[mark99]

1 hour ago, tree monkey said:

Slough is maybe nothing special but just outside is Burnham Beeches,  one of the best places in the country to see veteran and ancient beeches and other similar trees, oh and some fascinating fungi, if you have any interest in trees it's worth the trip.

 

 

 

Indeed. Used to walk the dogs through the Beeches there. Not too far away too is Windsor Great Park - with its ancient oaks.

 

Ironically now live in a town called 'Beeches.

Edited August 28, 2019 by mark99

[zenataomm]

21 hours ago, frangar said:

Actually it was Mike Nesmiths of the Monkees mother that invented “Liquid Paper”.....tippex came later....and nothing to do with Mickey Dolenz...who I met once in his capacity as a music video director...really nice down to earth chap! 

It's funny that, I remembered it as Dolenz.

This must be like The Mandela Effect.

 

The Internet seems to be equally confused about whose Mother and is Liquid Paper is the sane as Tippex especially Wiki (wow what a surprise)

[wiltshirewonderer]

I took Togg up two years ago with no bother (57 x 13'6 x 3ft at the skeg). 

[Guest]

Managed to do the whole stretch a couple of months ago, apart from being particularly weedy at the far end and somewhat shallow in places didn't have any issues, even made it back to the junction alive. 

[jetzi]

Thanks for the replies, we're moored happily most of the way up the arm at Langley at the moment.

Personally I've found it a particularly wild and beautiful stretch so far. Definitely worth the trip. The two or three aqueducts in the first section is reason enough to go in my view... nothing like driving a boat over a bridge! The canal is unusually narrow and a bit overgrown at the edges but haven't been down the weed hatch once yet. I have been giving her a good blast of reverse every few minutes to help clear anything that may have been caught.

Will update again when we complete the arm!

[Up-Side-Down]

I've found a report that the water tap at the Basin is turned off – but this was in the winter. I'd be interested to know what the situation is now. It's 18 years since I was up there and I remember crawling past lines and lines of moored boats.

[jetzi]

12 minutes ago, Up-Side-Down said:

I've found a report that the water tap at the Basin is turned off – but this was in the winter. I'd be interested to know what the situation is now. It's 18 years since I was up there and I remember crawling past lines and lines of moored boats.

I really hope not as we'll need water by then. But let's see... will report back.

[ditchcrawler]

On 27/08/2019 at 21:12, matty40s said:

I am amazed that the wall of glass on the junction hasnt been punctured yet...

Just what I was thinking today as I turned up the B&F to go to the marina for diesel

15 minutes ago, Up-Side-Down said:

I've found a report that the water tap at the Basin is turned off – but this was in the winter. I'd be interested to know what the situation is now. It's 18 years since I was up there and I remember crawling past lines and lines of moored boats.

Did my back in up there, jared it hopping off the boat

 

[Col_T]

We did the Slough Arm on the 4th & 5th of September this year, so just a couple of days ago, and yes, there is something special about taking a boat over an aqueduct. We found it S hallow and weedy, with three or four trips down the weedhatch in each direction. There is nothing at the basin, and the water-tap will be 'difficult' to find, even if you know where it is - we didn't but then we didn't need it.

 

I'm kind of glad we did it, but it's not on my list of waterways to revisit. The Wendover Arm, on the other hand . . . . 

 

Edited to add - plenty of moored boats after Bridge 6, by the boatyard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2019 by Col_T
Add extra info

[howardang]

I don’t think anyone has mentioned that there is an article about someone who has recently visited the Slough Arm in this months edition of Waterways World. It mentions the tap but that it has been out of order for a while. 

 

Howard

 

 

[jetzi]

15 hours ago, Col_T said:

plenty of moored boats after Bridge 6, by the boatyard.

Indeed I'm amazed at how many boats were moored around High Line Yachting, some triple moored at a guess easily over a hundred.

 

On the other hand I've only seen 2-3 other boats on the cut and judging from the bunting I think they were only there for the Slough Canal Festival which is happening this weekend. I'll pop in today to check it out but it seems far too family-friendly for my liking. Still, I appreciate that they are doing what they can to maintain interest in the Slough Arm.

 

15 hours ago, howardang said:

I don’t think anyone has mentioned that there is an article about someone who has recently visited the Slough Arm in this months edition of Waterways World. It mentions the tap but that it has been out of order for a while.

Oh dear, we're definitely going to need water by then. If it is out of order then I'll just have to make a beeline for Bulls Bridge, a would be a bit of a shame that I can't spend more time here. I'll report back about the tap.

 

Honestly the Slough Arm is up there with my favourite areas. I love how narrow it is and how wild the weeds grow at the edges. And it's really quiet.

 

One secret I can give you about this cut is that since it runs east-west, and since it is pretty much dead straight, the sun rises at the one end and sets at the other. We were literally sailing off into the sunset the other day. And along with the mist on the water this morning the sunrise was very, very pretty.

[ditchcrawler]

I thought there was water at Cowley Lock

[jetzi]

47 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I thought there was water at Cowley Lock

There is, you're right. In fact that's where my current tank of water comes from. In an emergency I could go and get some from there. I just was thinking of going the other way. Haven't been down the Hanwell flight yet.

[jetzi]

Made it to the Slough Basin today. The water tap was kind of working, leaking a bit. Looks like it may have been locked and the housing perhaps dismantled as it was loose on the standpipe. I gave the top nut a turn of a spanner and reduced the leak to a small dribble. Actually went to Wickes to see if I could buy a replacement, do a good deed, but decided against it in the end as I couldn't get exactly the same size.

 

Interestingly, every other water tap I have found takes a 1" (I believe) screw on hose fitting. However this one didn't fit any of my three adaptors (that I'd bought specifically on the off chance of a different sized tap) - it turned out to be a 30mm screw thread. Are there other examples of water taps with alternative sizes?

 

I picked up a lot of crud in the basin, it's very shallow and stagnant. Mostly plastic bags, fishing line and good old fashioned weed. But all in all three weed hatch trips in 5 miles and back isn't too bad.

 

I only encountered two other boats (both moored) past High Line Yachting, which had dozens, that mostly looked unoccupied. There were a couple of boats out of the water on hard standing as well and a few that had recent survey marks. I didn't know they were a boatyard. I did see they had Elsan disposal facilities. I didn't use them - I suppose they are for the permanent moorings and/or for those who pay? Any idea what they would charge? It looked pretty closed.

 

Here's a snap at the basin. You can see the standpipe just to the left of the bottom centre of the pic. 'Twas a beauty of a day.

 

[nbfiresprite]

They crane in and out once a month, So the boat is out on hard standing for a month.