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River Thames Red Boards


Dave123

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5 hours ago, Dave123 said:

River Thames on Red for much of the length...was a very strong flow yesterday. Saw a wide beam hire boat get stuck briefly sideways across a bridge! 

That's why EA (and most insurance companies) say do NOT navigate when The River's on Reds.....

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The NBT autumn coal run is temporarily paused due to the Thames having too much water in it, still many red boards.

We went from Goring to Burghfield on Monday before things got too exciting, some yellow boards then.

I've just got home and will be returning to the boats when the captain decides it's safe to proceed, probably in just a few days but we'll see.

Anyone between Reading and London who's waiting for their solid fuels, please rest assured we'll get to you when we can. There is some spare stock on the boats for anyone else along the way (including the Wey!) who  wants it, so just call the usual number, or you could contact me quickly before I set off again.

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It's got worse! The EA just did an update, and now show that everywhere from Lechlade down as far as Shepperton is either on red, or yellow increasing. Below Shepperton is supposedly fine at the moment... until all that water from upstream gets there... And the NT site says part of the river Wey is in flood too.

In the morning I'm off back to the boats at Sonning, and I suspect I might get to know Sonning rather well this week.

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I remember waiting months to bring a boat off the Wey in 2014, the Thames either shut or was on red for months. I could finally see an opportunity at the end of Feb,beginning of March and prepared for the trip, only to see the Thames go red again. 

Never mind, it wasnt levels, it was flow.....

Picked the boat up at Pyrford, entering the Thames , the pool below the lock was a whirlpool, and the rest of the downhill section to Brentford was done very quickly!!!!

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46 minutes ago, matty40s said:

I remember waiting months to bring a boat off the Wey in 2014, the Thames either shut or was on red for months. I could finally see an opportunity at the end of Feb,beginning of March and prepared for the trip, only to see the Thames go red again. 

Never mind, it wasnt levels, it was flow.....

Picked the boat up at Pyrford, entering the Thames , the pool below the lock was a whirlpool, and the rest of the downhill section to Brentford was done very quickly!!!!

I had a little dory I used to trailer launch near there. Been in that whirlpool. Its 21 foot deep as per echosounder. Near the weir where scoured, I found 37 foot. Most of the Thames that way is 11 to 14 foot deep.

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I took my boat from Laleham to Reading on reds and yellows once, taking advice as I went from lockkeepers on each reach. Took me two days.

 

I realise I wasn't insured for some of it, but I took a chance and the boat performed well. Coming into one or two of those locks against an oncoming weir stream was exciting though!

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It's started coming down to yellow 'stream decreasing' now :) With no rain forecast all week it should all be fine by the weekend. Decided to stay put in Wallingford instead of going down to Goring as planned...even though the Wallingford reach is yellow, the prospect of having to wind on the moorings above the bridge and picking up enough speed to have steerage through it seemed tricky to say the least! 

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43 minutes ago, Dave123 said:

It's started coming down to yellow 'stream decreasing' now :) With no rain forecast all week it should all be fine by the weekend. Decided to stay put in Wallingford instead of going down to Goring as planned...even though the Wallingford reach is yellow, the prospect of having to wind on the moorings above the bridge and picking up enough speed to have steerage through it seemed tricky to say the least! 

I would be helpful / of interest to me if you could post here (or p.m. me) what the local response to you is - EA shows that you are now on yellow decreasing boards, so you should move. I don't think the lady (?) who collects fees comes around until 5 pm

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38 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

I would be helpful / of interest to me if you could post here (or p.m. me) what the local response to you is - EA shows that you are now on yellow decreasing boards, so you should move. I don't think the lady (?) who collects fees comes around until 5 pm

I think it is winter moorings from October so unsure of the situation. But if Goring (the next safe mooring) is red I need to stay put for the time being.

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23 minutes ago, Dave123 said:

I think it is winter moorings from October so unsure of the situation. But if Goring (the next safe mooring) is red I need to stay put for the time being.

As I write at 13:22 Goring is still on red but the locks either side are on decreasing yellows. That status was at 12:08 today. Looky here -

http://riverconditions.environment-agency.gov.uk/

 

So by the time you're ready to move, the red may have cleared.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Dave123 said:

It's started coming down to yellow 'stream decreasing' now :) With no rain forecast all week it should all be fine by the weekend. Decided to stay put in Wallingford instead of going down to Goring as planned...even though the Wallingford reach is yellow, the prospect of having to wind on the moorings above the bridge and picking up enough speed to have steerage through it seemed tricky to say the least! 

Its been peeing down all day here in Suffolk

 

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31 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

As I write at 13:22 Goring is still on red but the locks either side are on decreasing yellows. That status was at 12:08 today. Looky here -

http://riverconditions.environment-agency.gov.uk/

 

So by the time you're ready to move, the red may have cleared.

 

 

Yes I am following the EA updates on a minute by minute basis don't worry! And yes it may clear once I set off...Or it may not. I'd prefer to play it safe. I expect my insurance would too! I'm not desperate to leave, a week or so later in the year and I would be with imminent lock closures posing the risk of being trapped on the Thames all winter!

 

Edited by Dave123
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The river's been going down, and now just has yellow boards decreasing most of the way down, with no warnings at all from Boveney lock (just above Windsor) downwards. Go for it! (but of course keep an eye on the EA site as usual)

 

We got the NBT boats down to Weybridge and up the Wey, reaching Godalming yesterday; hoping to get to Brentford in a few days. It did rain on us some of the time yesterday, but cleared up.

 

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The NBT did the deliveries and got out in the end; I left the boats at Molesey lock on Saturday evening, and I expect they're off at Brentford by now.

All through this, the lower part of the river has had less trouble, maybe because it's wider and deeper I suppose.

The Wey was rather lively when I was steering the butty down it on a line on Friday; I confess I did have the stern into the bushes a few times. Nothing was lost overboard, but I did get one leg immersed after slipping on the wet boards on a lock gate.

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On ‎18‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 18:12, matty40s said:

I remember waiting months to bring a boat off the Wey in 2014, the Thames either shut or was on red for months. I could finally see an opportunity at the end of Feb,beginning of March and prepared for the trip, only to see the Thames go red again. 

I had a similar problem when I purchased my boat in early October 2017, moored on the offside at Purley on Thames (just upstream of Reading) and only accessible via another boat. Red boards for weeks and closures on either the Thames or Oxford Canal led to me leaving where it was until early May 2018 and entering into a short term joint ownership to ensure the sellers would keep an eye on it over the intervening months. It was still yellow boards and a bit lively when we set off and I was glad to get back onto the canal at Oxford the next day.

 

I had my first taste of Thames red boards in June 1999 when taking the Narrow Boat Trust Ltd. pair from the Braunston show back towards the River Kennet. It had rained for much of the weekend meaning the Cherwell was well up when we got there, and once in the weir stream of Kings Lock NUNEATON's poor old Petter PD2 was really struggling. The lock keeper at Kings took my money and loosed me through - and bloody hell what a run south that was with a breasted pair of large Grand Union boats and only two of my young sons for crew (they were probably about 10 and 11). We tied at Abingdon after only a couple of hours and waited for the stream to subside, but you live and you learn, and I learned to both respect the Thames and hate it in equal measure - both of which I still maintain today :captain:

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