RichardN

Perhaps she is busy cruising - I have seen her in enough places outside and inside London to see that her cruising circuit is good.

As other people have said it is easier to go upstream but our first solo trip was downstream and if you have someone experienced with you then it is not so much of an issue. The pilot idea is really interesting. We had a pilot when we went down the Severn and he was a total star. If the PLA "bridge pilots" are just half as good it would be good to have them on board and I would think they would be interesting just to talk to and get their story on the Thames. Pilot information is here. For our first trip (which was upstream) we had a trainer on board from the Bircham Newton Training Centre. Now he was really good at boating things but actually had very little experience of the tidal Thames so he kept us safe, taught us loads but was not that good at detail on the tidal Thames. Obviously do look at the SPCC cruising notes (properjob gave you a link) and also look at the tidal guides on Waterscape. Click here select London then download the guide that you want. Make sure that you give Limehouse 24 hours notice that you want to come in. Do go to the Grapes afterwards to celebrate not going to Belgium. Enjoy your trip, sounds fantastic. If you do find out how much a pilot costs, do please post here and if you use one, feedback would be so interesting. I had a quick look at the scale of charges of so much per tonne plus something for the launch and thought easier to ring and ask them how much it costs.

We must have gone past you last Friday just after the thunderstorm? We stopped at the Globe that night - blue boat full of greyhounds with a funny shaped back. Richard http://indigodream.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/the-odyssey-2011-day-7/

If it is for the art work then that is tricky. Here are some ideas featuring boats, the first two from a SPCC trip to the Royal Docks in 2009 and the last one from the 2009 BCN Challenge which needs a bit more mist for atmosphere. I can't remember who but I have a memory of some one posting some brilliantly evocative pictures of the 2009 BCN Challenge - a google may find them. Royal Docks 1 Royal Docks 2 BCN 2009

You're welcome. I did love the comments from other people, particular that little boy as we went through the Grove who lost count of the number of dogs as we went past!

Just to supplement what has already been said: The maths in the IWA Thames Tideway Guide is interesting. They say that leaving Limehouse 5 hours before high water gives a journey time to Teddington of 3.5 to 4 hours. If you leave Bow 4 hours before high water then the journey time rises to 5 to 6 hours. If you leave Bow 2 hours before high water then the journey time is 6 to 7 hours. We have punched the tide once below Brentford, big modern diesel, decent prop, still was hard work for the first hour or so. You can do it but I would prefer to pop out of Bow, punch the tide down Bow Creek, go round to Limehouse and sit out a tide in the Grapes. Only thing is that may turn into sitting out more then one tide.

Ah greyhounds and stairs. Lou was the worse, I don't think she had ever seen a set of stairs before so she thought we were trying to murder her. Mind you stairs were easier then swimming lessons - Blue was the funniest when he had swimming "lessons". Up near Oxford on the Thames I waded out with him as far as I could then let him go. To start with he tried to run on top of the water, somehow got to the bank, Sue ran round trying to catch him then I did it again till he learnt to relax and doggie paddle. Whilst this was going on, innocent walkers looked on and wet themselves laughing at our antics. PM sent.

Following on from RWLP, I did wonder if KandA had been given the draft judgement, then published it ignoring the Court's ruling that it is confidential and Paul Davies's Solicitor has now been given a slap by the Judge. If that is right then it is not a tin pot lawyer but an experienced Judge with a lot more power to his elbow then some tin pot Lawyer. Interesting also that Paul Davies was very active on the web till a few days ago but I have not noticed him posting anything for a few days, though that probably is a good thing - if you are in a hole stop digging. I am sure that the final judgement will be along soon so why not wait till then?

Even more impressive. Stay well Tommy.

Could most of the discrepancy be that the guide is for the Mersey? John's source was our blog here: http://indigodream.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/manchester-ship-canal-notes/ I have left the MSC papers on the boat but will have a check tomorrow night. My memory was that this was the figure that was in the MSC notes but interesting that Pie Eater has 50'. I tend to amend these pages on the blog as I learn more for future reference, 50/55' is not too much difference but I will be interested to know if something has just changed dramatically to 120' so that I can amend ready for next time. Mind you that won't be for a while - this year we are going east, next year will be mainly round London so sadly we won't be that way for 2 years or so.

but 15 is a grand age, well done.

We have 3 greyhounds, have the odd bit of excitement but generally things work well. I am going to write all I can think of but actually it is all pretty minor stuff which I suspect you would do anyway! Blue (sadly died last year) was on our boat when we got our boat and he was only a few days out from Battersea at the time, he did really really well on the boat so 6 months later we got Lou and more recently Lynx who are both really good. The latest addition - jelly boy Ty well that is a story but he is seriously scared of everything and is a work in progress. His first weekend was when we went tidal to the Royal Docks and he was seriously scared. Since then he has had odd days but generally went to my mothers so not been on the boat so much. As we are now out of central London we will see how he copes this weekend Things we have done: Our boat was built with our old arthiritic Lurcher, Indie, in mind though sadly she never saw the boat. That means that we have relatively shallow rear steps and what is basically an enclosed cruiser stern. Easier to keep the dogs in but to be honest they are very good. As we tend to cruise quite extensively at weekends it is very stimulating for them and they then sleep most of the following Monday. If we are out all week they are really quiet for at least 2 days when we get back. You need to have some sort of deck mat as on a hot day the surface gets too hot for them. We have Tesco door mats on the back which we had to staple together as a few times Lou did impossibly long jumps off the back deck and lost a bit of propulsion as the mat went flying backwards so she ended up having a swim. You need steps at the back not a ships ladder. We stapled carpet tiles to the steps as otherwise the dogs found them a bit slippery. The front steps have no carpet tiles and are a little steeper so they tend to prefer the back which works better for us. If you go somewhere like the River Weaver then beware of their plastic decking on the pontoons - they are extremely slippery so dog very much controlled and on a lead. We try to avoid moorings where we need a plank but have had no accidents when we have had a plank out. Jelly boy Ty has a harness as it is easier to control him and should, he fall in, then we will be able to lift him out easily. Yes you can get lifejackets - I would suggest going to a good chandlery and trying them on. I think we have the Baltic ones, one size down from the biggest but we only put them on when we venture into tidal waters. If you leave a message on our blog then Sue will get back to you with the exact life jacket model. We have small (half) sheepskins for carrying into a pub as ours will not lie down on a hard floor. Actually that is no longer true as Lynx and Ty will lie down on a hard floor, Lou still looks at you as if you were mad but is all so much easier if you can put a sheepskin down and they just settle and wait for their sausages to arrive. Loads of photos of them in various places on our blog: http://indigodream.wordpress.com Also plenty of other greyhounds around eg Greygal now has 7!!!!, her blog is here: http://www.dogsontour.blogspot.com/ but she only blogs erratically nowadays. We had 2 slightly older guest greyhounds on board a few weekends ago and they were fine (though one mistook duckweed for a solid surface, one of Greygal's dogs, Miffy, has also done the same near Commercial Road Lock, you never have a camera ready when these things happen).

I checked yesterday, there is still a mooring available at Limehouse for 6 months as a sub-let. If you want more information please PM me. Sadly it does not come with room service.

If you talk to the good people at Limehouse, they may be able to find you a mooring for 6 months as a sub-let. Their web site is here. If you click on customer info that will take you to a section where you can download their mooring fees and their mooring definitions. Cost for 6 months on a grade 1 mooring is £219 /m.

The judgement is published here: http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/wordpress/bw-v-paul-davies-judgement/ I see that Paul Davies has made several comments on noproblem's blog: http://noproblem.org.uk/blog/2011/03/continuous-cruisers-must-continue/

Good point. The people who cc round the network need to be thought about very carefully as I think they are important.

I would also ring the Bow lock keepers as I think there is a stoppage on that will prevent you getting to New Era?

Was that Carrie's boat? It is just awful that someone should break into her boat. Please tell her that I have cursed and sworn extensively on her behalf! Richard nb indigo dream

Sue has been thinking along the same lines and I think she is going to have a chat about practicalities with one of the charities we support - We have been doing charity boat trips for http://www.greyhoundhomer.co.uk/ so we will have them as our charity and their funding has just been seriously cut so they need help. The charity trips have been great, it is a good excuse for us to go for a cruise, people seem to love the trips, we take no money, all goes direct to the charity, our insurers allow us to make 8 trips a year for no extra premium which is mighty generous of them. Oh and for the challenge we could cheat and use our small herd of greyhounds for hauling the boat though they might not understand the concept of tickover going past moored boats if they see a rabbit on the towpath.

but it makes for a better story! :-).

Wordpress does not allow java on sites they host but I would love to be able to write something like this for our journeys: http://www.thecatwhowalksbyhimself.co.uk/other/BCNchallenge/BCNchallenge.php You obviously run the risk that if he can code something this well he no doubt has a filter in place to let him know of any really good ideas people come up with ....

Scary stuff, thank you for the link. We would not have gone through an unmarked arch on a dropping tide, I had seen the PLA notice come through on my rss feed but the implication had not really sunk in till I followed your link to the press release. I am sure the simple guidelines eg on their map make no mention of going through an unmarked arch, nor does the IWA guide or the SPCC guide or the BW guide. It sounds like something that would be classed as a near miss so needs some attention but if that had been us then I would be feeling hard done by. It is good to hear that you are talking to I assume David Phillips.

That is a terrible suggestion Phylis. Obviously it is a requirement to give Helen Mirren a wave if she is out on her balcony but otherwise do not stare at the wildlife, keep your eyes focussed on where you are going.

VTS transmit from an aerial up so high that I suspect you will get good reception on a handheld all the way up the Thames and if I remember right that was the conclusion from a debate a while back here on handhelds v fixed. As you go up higher VTS won't hear your 5W transmission so they prefer you to have a fixed set but even that is not 100% reliable higher up the Thames. The iso lights are interesting. Obviously pay close attention to them but things change, listen on the radio because sometimes the big boys can't make a particular arch but they are really good at getting on the radio and telling VTS. Similarly trip boats tend to tell everybody what they are doing but sometimes in such shorthand that you have to think a bit. As someone else mentioned the working boatmen are generally really really good at what they do and they will look out for you but they do have a schedule to keep and a living to earn. I think the slow moving ones are worse, there is one we call the Battleship Potemkin which is driven well but can really generate a nasty bow wave at quite slow speeds. Oh if you hear there is a cruise ship moving then don't go out of the lock, go to the Grapes instead. I see that Mike's question with a reference to heading for the second arch of Westminster Bridge has a nice twist to it. Nice one Mike. You should have read the document he links to and have a print out in front of you. If you have no access to the printers talk nicely to the Limehouse Lock keepers as they may have some under the counter copies even though it is not officially printed any more. Sound signals: I don't know how much experience you have got so forgive me if I am teaching granny to suck eggs. We have found that the working boatmen on the Thames do use sound signals a lot and they know them. So memorise Phylis's post, get the page from the Waterscape guides with sound signals printed out and paste it up where you can see it. If you are going up on a busy day then get used to counting the number of blasts. We stand there trying to count, agree between ourselves how many and wave as we are never quick enough to toot back. On one of the tideway cruises last year one of the boats in front of us used his tunnel light to reply to a Clipper's horn blast and they ended up having a good chat substituting flashing lights for horn signals so everybody knew what to do - the Clipper made an appreciative comment on the vhf about it. I was thankful that I was a few boats back as I would not have been as quick off the mark with the signals but at least knew what to do.

Does not worry me at all, there was a room packed full of people! and more to the point I fully agree the best thing to do is to have a vhf radio, go on a course and licence yourself and your boat. We have all that and I am mightly glad that I do. The next bit is about how you maintain an effective listening watch (I think those are the words in the PLA directions), well for that I don't think you need a vhf licence though obviously it is better that you have been on a course - post above about randomly pushing buttons is apt. That said Broxbourne used to send hireboats up the tideway with a vhf radio for a listening watch and it worked. Coming out of Limehouse I have talked to VTS on my mobile as they don't hear me when I am in the lock - I have bought a new aerial to see if it makes a difference but that is another story, the point is that VTS don't mind talking to you on the phone though I am sure that they would prefer you to use vhf - I think that is in their directions. The last point is about something going wrong. The Thames tideway is a fantastic trip, but the consequences if something goes wrong are not good. WJM talked of 60 seconds to hit a bridge, 60 seconds to roll over, a nice concise warning. In those circumstances no one will waste time to criticise you if you get on the radio for an unlicenced, illegal transmission. I have no argument at all that it is much better to have been on the course and use the right language. That point that I am sad no one has picked up on is the Harbourmaster stressing several times: Make sure you have an anchor and throw it out when you are in trouble. Well I think he used more technical language but that was the gist and it is very good advice but be aware that you only have some of WJM's 60 seconds to do that.