theiC

My best advice is to take advantage of any opportunity to use a decent area of open water to try various things and see... Different combinations of thrust, speed, and tiller will achieve different things on different boats, loading does make a difference, and then once you've got a basic understanding of how your boat behaves (and therefore, how it can be made to behave), you can apply this in the particular circumstances in which you want to manoeuvre. Variables like depth, wind, current, etc, are best managed so that they're in your favour. Finally, never embark on any manoeuvre without having thought it through completely, including how you'll get out of trouble at each stage...

Oxford to Teddington is downstream. Teddington Lock is where non-tidal meets tidal Thames, though the level below Teddington is maintained as far as Richmond, below which the river is purely tidal.

Thanks both. I think we'll plan to have the first night at Hopwood or Alvechurch then, with a visit to Cadbury's (which will please the youngest member of the crew!), before making way to Hockley Heath for the second, unless anyone can suggest an alternative?

As a narrow-boating newbie, from the world of sail and motor-boats (with several years based on the Thames), might I pitch in? In challenging conditions, I'd suggest you need two anchors, both with decent lengths of good, heavy, chain. The boat lies to the friction between chain and bed, not to the anchor, and the anchor is there to hold the end of the chain in place; a rope rode is inadequate other than in very low-load situations. Why two? One (the bower) will hold the boat from progressing downstream, the other (the kedge) is deployed from the stern, to prevent swinging into the fairway or into obstructions etc. If your boat is too long to swing in the width available, and you're making way downstream when you need to go to anchor, you would of course need to use the kedge as the bower, and vice versa, so this needs to be a deciding factor in the size of your tackle (no sniggering at the back!). In my experience, a decent kedge set-up is a great help in mooring with the bow against a small access place on the bank, as one can hold the stern precisely in place and often make a mooring where none was apparently possible - this can be very helpful in busy spots, and achieved many good nights for me on the Thames. Of course, great care must always be taken not to obstruct the fairway, but it's worth noting that with that proviso, it is perfectly in order to anchor on the non-tidal Thames, though you'll need to be prepared for rowers to collide with you, as they don't expect boats to be lying at anchor, and their look-out can leave something to be desired. The perfect set-up has powerful winches at both bow and stern, but that may be going too far on a NB, unless you're going to visit strong currents often...

Hello, I hope someone might offer some thoughts on the following, please? Having bought a share, our first trip will be from Sherborne Wharf, leaving mid-afternoon on day one, to return on day 3. We'd like to get as far out of the city as we can for the first night, but only wish to do, say, nine miles or so, ideally to a quiet mooring with a decent place to eat... We can carry on a bit the next day, but need to be mindful of getting back to Sherborne by about 3 or 4pm on day 3... Any suggestions for routes or places to moor overnight, please?

When I had a motorboat on the Thames, we did Windsor to Oxford and back a number of times. The least time we took was three days running downstream (don't forget that following significant rain, the river will be running at perhaps an average of 1/2 a knot). For enjoyment, I would recommend five days each way, and only take less time if pressured. Also, waiting time at locks can be a problem; we have, in the worst case, spent more of one day waiting than cruising (that was going from Marlow downstream, we waited for two hours at Bray).