Hello
After hiring for over 10 years, all over the country, it’s about time we did the Thames. Our week’s hire of a narrow boat is at the end of March 2014 and picking the boat up in Aldermaston.
Do you have any hints, tips and advice about what to do, or not. We hoped to head downstream, through Reading, Henley, and Marlow to Windsor. I have done many kinds of locks over the years, and have even conquered staircases! The Thames locks, reading another thread, seem to be vast, electric ones, and with us going in March I take it they will be unmanned, so is there anything I should be aware of, any tricks of the trade?
Also about mooring. The last river we tackled, that may be too strong a word, was the Avon, from Bath towards Bristol. Lovely river but few places to stop and moor, it was a bit of an eye opener after canals, so what about mooring on the Thames?
I suppose all this may be irrelevant if the weather is like it is at the moment. Is the Thames often impassable when water levels are high?
And lastly is downstream as good as upstream, through Wallingford to Oxford, or is it just a matter of where you actually want to go, if you see what I mean.
I look forward to your advice and knowledge.
Jac