Richardcn

Hi All We finally made the journey off the Thames and onto the Lee via Paddington. Two and a half days of hard work but great fun. I didn't keep stats but approx 10 of the 43 locks were in our favour about 3 of them with gates open. Apart from Teddington and Brentford we only shared about 10 locks and had the Thames and her locks to ourselves bar 1. Of course, the only oncoming boats that we met were at blind bends and bridge oles, I kid you not! Many thanks for everybody's assistance in planning the adventure. Richard

Oh that's excellent!

Thanks. I guess I could nip along the Hertford on the bike to check for any problems before committing. It sounds like no contest otherwise.

Ah my mistake (and not my first in this post)!

Hi All Which is the better (or preferred) route when heading out of the smoke for the Lea? Canalplan suggests that it's approx 3 miles and 1.5hrs longer and with 2 more locks via Limehouse but I've noted that the Hertford seems to suffer from empty pounds from time to time. (I corrected the difference because I had been comparing a longer journey with other variations) Thanks

Can anybody tell me roughly how long it takes to get through Thames Locks when on 'self-service'. We'll be travelling from Chertsey to Teddington. Naturally I understand that there may be hold-ups for various reasons and that each lock is different in size and operation but I read somewhere that the locks were slower when on 'public power' (as they are currently). How long should I allow to lock through if the lock is empty and there's no other traffic? I found a useful Thames journey planner but unfortunately it doesn't include locking times! Does this look about right?

Yeah I had half an idea to do something similar as we're coming from above Chertsey Lock but I'll knock something up by hand, now that I have an understanding of how it's going to (should) go with the 'new' plan. The locks up to Teddington are on self-service so I'll need to allow for that, unless that changes on 1st Jun. I have the numbers ready to put in my phone once I know we can go, ie Sunbury is opened. I'll be so glad when we can actually get going, all this planning is tiring!

Liking the idea of a passage plan. Is this your own or available on App or Website? Oh and coincidentally, I notice that NB Scholar Gypsy was built in 1979, the same date as NB Karen, which we are hoping to collect!

Oh my gawd. I skim read this on a small screen without having my reading glasses on and assumed that there was a windmill there (even though I hadn't seen one in other photo's). Doh!!!

Thanks for the info. Doing it the way that's been offered as a non-standard alternative we will, I believe, still be working against the tide come Brentford or near high tide so probably a different approach dependant, of course, on conditions at arrival.

That's very useful thanks. I had found that website but I'd not looked at the Richmond page as, at the time, it wasn't relevant. Tis now tho! What a fantastic little piece of history!

That's about the best reply I've ever received. Bloody brilliant! I already had a couple of the pieces sorted, from previous posts but putting it all together and including timings gives me the confidence I needed. I can't thank you enough! I just hope they can raise the titanic before next Friday! I'm actually really looking forward to the adventure now and that's all down to the forum and particularly this post. Again, many thanks

Most helpful. I've got a good mental picture of this now so I'm going to start getting my ducks lined up in case CRT don't come through with a better offer. Thanks to everybody.

Thanks. Fantastic help from you and the forum on this Marvellous thanks.