The Fox

We called in at the Old Oak Tree pub with Kate and Robbie to try and cool off out of the intense sun.

Leaving the Old Oak Tree and Steve’s sister and husband in our wake our next public house port of call was The Fox where an old school chum of Steve lived nearby in a lock cottage at lock 93 of the Hanwell Flight.

We moored up after the Norwood Locks next to a boat that we had shared locks with. There were some unusual floating homes along the way.

Rivers came and went along side us as we made progress towards Father Thames.

Most of the locks here have a lock keepers cottage.

We moored just before the Three Bridges. Opened in 1859, 'Three Bridges' was famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel's last major project. From the road, look down at the canal and the railway. The road goes over the canal on a viaduct which goes over the canal on an aqueduct and this goes over the railway.

Steve’s friend lives in this fantastic lock cottage where Steve and Vera called in to see Stephen who was recovering from a party that he had held last night. As a result he had a new girlfriend called Philippa.

We arranged to meet at 19:30 in The Fox, so Steve got dressed to kill (coronavirus).

Vera had a snooze before we walked down the lock flight, passing Asylum Dock.

St Bernard's Hospital, also known as Hanwell Insane Asylum and the Hanwell Pauper and Lunatic Asylum, was an asylum built for the pauper insane, opening as the First Middlesex County Asylum in 1831. Some of the original buildings are now part of the headquarters for the West London Mental Health NHS Trust.

The Fox was a lovely little pub by the bottom lock and we spent the night reminiscing on Steve and Stephen’s schooldays.

This seemed to be in a lovely enclave of West London.

Steve and Vera explored the local parkland before we went to bed on Sunday night.