Not Quite 15 Miles on the Regents Canal

A few weeks ago we got together with Cristina & Wycliffe for the first time since their wedding in July. At my suggestion, we decided to try out a boat ride on the Regents Canal which - thank goodness - turned out to be a lovely excursion.

It was the last weekend outing of the year for Jason's Trips, a canal tour company that's been running in London since the early 1950's. The boat we rode in was an authentic 100-year-old canal boat which was originally used as a cargo vessel on the canals before being fitted with a diesel engine and converted to its current duties carrying leisure passengers.

It was a bit chilly and not quite sunny, but completely enjoyable; we started out from the Warwick Pier near an area of London called "Little Venice" (no doubt named for the canals) and disembarked at Camden Lock after about a 45 minute ride. We were able to see the paths that were used for the horses (not mules) that pulled the boats, and on many of the bridge abutments the markings from the ropes connecting the horses to the boats are still visible. Camden has some wonderful street markets that we found by surprise once we got off of the boat, so that was an added plus for the day.

http://picasaweb.google.com/swronsky/JasonSTrip#