Into Paddington

Because the weather forecast for today was so bad we decided on an early start and were underway by just after 9.00

The long lines of residential boats continued and we gave this one a wide berth as it was sinking and looked in imminent danger of capsizing.

Some of the static boats were a bit more up-market

while others were more decorative. You can just about make out the 4ft tall sunflowers growing on the roof

We'd tried to book a mooring at Rembrandt Gardens but not having had a reply from them we decided to carry on to Paddington Basin passing the station on the way.

By this time it was peeing down and we arrived in the basin accompanied by thunder and lightning to be greeted by the mooring warden

and a singer performing on the band stand

We struggled for a mooring as all the pontoons were full and boats were already doubled up so we slipped in beside the "office boats".

It's not an official mooring but we've been cleared by the security staff who patrol the basin. We'll either move to a better spot in the morning when someone leaves or we'll move back to Rembrandt Gardens if/when we get a reply from the booking office.

Bye for now