Limehouse Lock

On Sunday morning, we walked from our hotel along to Limehouse basin. It soon became clear that something was about to happen. The lock keeper first topped up the lock, then emptied it, then went and had a look out at the river. A minute or two later, we spotted a small dot coming round the corner from central London.

As we suspected, it was a narrowboat. The helmsman made his turn from the far side of the river quite early, and drifted sideways down the river on the current.

He'd judged it just right, and made a completely trouble-free entry into Limehouse. I suspect he'd done this before, especially when he apologised to the lock keeper for being a minute late!

Once the boat, called Axe, was in the lock and secure, the lock keeper began filling the lock. The amount of water coming in was quite spectacular, and it took only a short time for the lock to fill.