Chapter 41
Daisy didn’t know where to look. It was one thing being on the Thames, surrounded by factories and waterworks and other large, nondescript buildings, but she was in London town now. The heart of England. The picture-perfect vista with the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, which featured on postcards and television shows around the world. First, though, they were coming in through the dockland, past the O2 arena with its white canopy and bright-yellow posts and towards the famous Canary Wharf.
‘So, is it what you imagined?’ Yvonne asked as she sat next to Daisy. They hadn’t spoken for at least half an hour; not because Daisy didn’t want to, but because she felt like if she started, she wouldn’t stop, and there was so much she wanted to take in. To soak up.
‘It doesn’t feel real,’ she admitted. ‘None of it. Not me being here. Us being here. Him being here.’ She gestured to the dog. ‘It feels like some part of a dream.’
‘A good one, I’m assuming?’
‘Absolutely.’
Yvonne was holding on to the tiller, keeping them to the right and a comfortable distance from both the bank and boats coming the other way, when Daisy spotted something to make her heart leap.
‘Look, other canal boats! Over there.’
This wasn’t the first time they had seen other boats like the September Rose on their journey, but Daisy struggled to remember where the last one had been. And this was different. She could already feel a camaraderie buzzing between herself and these other boats. They weren’t living life in the slow lane, sticking to the quiet, controlled canals and laid-back lifestyles. They, like her, were adventurers out on the Thames. And she was heading straight towards them, with a desperate urge to wave as wildly as she could.
‘Oh, yes, that’ll be the Limehouse Lock,’ Yvonne said, shrugging nonchalantly. ‘It leads onto the Regent’s Canal that takes you all the way through London. You get lots of narrowboats there.’
It was only when they had passed them and Daisy’s arm was starting to ache from all the waving that she realised what Yvonne had just said.
‘The canal entrance? Isn’t that where we should be going?’
Again, Yvonne offered the same shrug. ‘We could, but it’ll hardly be as exciting. We’ll miss all the best sights if we do that. Don’t worry, we’ll get onto the Grand Union at Brentford. It’s much more fun that way. It’s what my Harry and I used to do.’
Daisy opened her mouth to say something, only to change her mind. Yvonne hadn’t let her down yet. If she said this was the best way to go, then Daisy would believe her. Besides, they could always come through the canal route on the way back.
‘Daisy, love, I’m feeling a bit tired – probably that early morning and everything. You don’t mind if I have a quick lie down, do you? Just on the sofa. You can call me if you need me.’
Daisy looked at the view ahead of her. The twists and turns that appeared so tightly coiled on a map of London snaked much more gently in real life, and while there were countless boats of all shapes and sizes, they were all sticking to their side, giving each other plenty of room.
‘Of course, you go rest. We’ll be all right here, won’t we, Furball?’
The dog barked, somewhat indignantly. Apparently, Furball wasn’t its choice of name. But it was as close as she was going to get to giving him one. That would be someone else’s job. His owner, when she finally found them.
After checking her life jacket was completely secure, Daisy took the tiller from Yvonne before perching herself on the back of the boat. A moment later, she and the dog were alone.
Daisy had lived in London for so much of her adult life that she considered herself an expert on the city. She knew the quickest Tube routes to get you across the city depending on the time of day. She knew which restaurants were always packed on the weekend and when and where all the different congestion zones were. She had seen every landmark from Trafalgar Square to the Tate Museum at least a dozen times, but she had never seen it like this.
As carefully as she could, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened up the video camera. It didn’t matter that she was going to do this same route on the way back in just a couple of weeks, or that she and Theo were likely to do it a dozen more times together during their relationship. She wanted to remember this. This first trip, when she took the September Rose under Tower Bridge with a random dog at the helm. This was the type of life she had only ever dreamed of. And now it was hers.
The closer she got to the centre of the city, the more densely packed the bridges became. Initially, Daisy had thought she would want Yvonne on hand to help her with them, but as she approached, she changed her mind. Every now and then, the soft rattle of a snore made it over the rumbling of the engines and the water. It was clear that Yvonne needed her sleep, especially if her nightmares were commonplace. And it wasn’t like these bridges were difficult. There were boats twice the height of the September Rose gliding beneath them, and three times as wide. And so, Daisy decided, she would go it alone.
‘Go us!’ Daisy shouted with excitement as she emerged from the other side of Tower Bridge. London Bridge was the next one along and already in sight. Still, she expected it to take a little while to get there, which was why Daisy was surprised when, only a few minutes later, she was once again under the shadow of a bridge.
‘Is it me, or did we take that one a bit speedily?’ Daisy said to herself as much as the dog, though he didn’t bother replying. He was currently pacing from one side of the boat to the other, as if he couldn’t decide where it was he wanted to stay.
Deciding that she wanted to take the next bridge a bit slower, and get a couple of videos too, Daisy pulled back on the throttle. Of course, she wanted to get to Theo, but she’d regret it if she didn’t take her time enjoying the journey. And evidence it. After all, if the plan had just been to get there as quickly as possible, she could’ve just driven.
A few minutes later and the speed didn’t seem to have decreased at all. Daisy checked on the throttle, preparing to pull it back further, only to find it was as low as it could go, and yet she was still speeding past the other boats and landmarks faster than at any other point. She was already encroaching on the next bridge, and now she was aware of the speed issue, it felt like she was going even faster.
‘Yvonne!’
She didn’t pull in the tiller. The last thing she needed was to collide with someone at this speed. Her heart rate was now increasing as fast as the boat.
‘Yvonne! I need you to come out here. I think something is wrong with the engine.’
The moment she spoke, the speed surged again, and this time, she felt it. The boat was hurtling forward, cutting through the river, causing a wake the likes of which the September Rose had never produced before. And she wasn’t the only one. Ahead of her, a massive barge was blocking the view of the river, and just to her right, a speedboat was set to overtake, its crew and passengers bouncing around as they hit one wake and then another.
‘Yvonne!’ This time Daisy couldn’t hide the fear in her voice. ‘Yvonne! Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong with the boat!’