The joys of London cruising is unlimited and when you end up in a place like Three Mills, you either love it or hate it. There is nothing in between. Adnan loves it, Natascha hates it. There you go, a proper relationship dilemma.

It’s a hyper industrialised location where the visitor moorings are and on the other side of the canal is the Blackwall Tunnel Approach, meaning: cars, cars, cars – the air pollution is, quite literally, breathtaking.

Below some photos from the view of our mooring spot:

On 2 December it was time to move on despite strong winds. Adnan wasn’t around and it was Nat’s turn on the tiller and with those strong winds it wasn’t exactly the best moment for a ‘first time alone cruise’. Luckily it was really a very short trip, and not conform to CRT rules, but hey, sometimes you have to break them.

She crashed into the already moored boat, of course, choosing the beginning of Hertford Union canal proofed not to be suitable, the winds got properly channelled and Nat lost control. On top the neighbour complained that she doesn’t like if boats double moor on hers… well, that’s boaters life in London, darling. But it had to do for the night. We don’t like it either but as the boats increase there isn’t any other solution. Unless CRT would install more mooring, but that is another discussion.

Adnan came back and we moved the boat near to Anton’s. We ended up opposite where hot tubs were installed along the canal. On the one side this is our view:

On the other side, that strange Arcelormittal Orbit, which illuminates the misty Londoner night sky somewhat nicely.

But if you know the story behind this steel sculpture, then one wonders whether it was really necessary to built it in the first place. Anish Kapoor’s sculptures are usually sublimely beautiful, but something went wrong here. Maybe because Boris Johnson was involved?

It was getting cold now as can be seen in the photos above, nights were nippy. Still during the day the sun managed to come out and did light magic inside the boat:

The birds gathered and discussed it seemed. Was there another storm on its way? Was this the sign? Autumn at its best with a number of storms criss-crossing the UK.

And so it was, the second storm coming down on us. It’s a different matter to experience wind on a boat, even if it’s on a narrow water way, it pulls on the ropes, things fly through the air if not tied down, even to keep the camera steady is a little bit challenging.

It was a misty London day and on our journey to Upper Clapton we passed Springfield Marina and saw this:

A large traditional barge, quite possibly with fixed mooring. In London.

That looks tempting. Shall we? As in calling and ask for the price? We did and the asking price was £150’000, too much for us at the moment. Financing a boat is way more difficult than a house, you don’t get a penny from the banks for a barge. So we had to let go off this fantasy immediately and stick to our Quintessence.

Time has come, London we are coming back to town! After months out in the country side we were looking forward to be back again and mingle with fellow boaters and to be close to friends over winter. But but but… it was bloody difficult to find a suitable spot to moor. And this in Tottenham?! There were so many boats doubled up already. We did find a place after all. It became clear to us for the next six month or so space will be scarce, nothing like being on your own in nature.

And it is beginning to be cold. We felt the cold creeping in from the bottom and the mattress turned out to be not thick enough. We were freezing in bed. Natascha spoke to a friend, who once lived on a boat too, and she recommended to get a sheep wool mattress topper. Devon duvets does the trick. Not cheap but heavenly warm.

Even the cat enjoys the rare sun rays in full.