Paddington Basin, sandwiched between North Wharf Road and South Wharf Road, is on the north-east side of Paddington Station and the two nearest underground stations are Paddington and Edgware Road.

This view is from the middle of the three footbridges over the basin. Paddington Basin is the terminus of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal which was opened in 1801.

This very modern-looking footbridge, Station Bridge, is the western-most of three footbridges over the basin. The basin is now the centre of a major redevelopment as part of the wider Paddington Waterside scheme and is surrounded by modern buildings.

Although the surroundings in Paddington Basin look very modern there are often plenty of traditional narrowboats moored here. A refreshing change from the floating gin palaces to be seen in St. Catherine's Dock at Tower Hill.

These narrowboats must have a maximum width of 7 feet and a maximum length of 70 feet to be able to navigate the network of British canals.

This interestingly designed footbridge, the Helix Bridge, is the eastern-most of the three footbridges over Paddington basin and apparently slides along its logitudinal axis to permit boats to pass. We haven't seen it working.