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Trip up the Thames this summer, where's good?


cheesegas

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Hi all. Last year we went from Limehouse to Cliveden (near Maidenhead) on the Thames which was a great trip - manned locks, good mix of countryside and things to see. Mooring at Cliveden was the high point though, and walking up to the house.

 

Anyway, this year we'd like to do something similar as we'll be near-ish to Brentford in August. Around 2 weeks long ideally, not stopping as many times on the way to Cliveden as before and hopefully getting a bit further up to Sonning or Aldermaston Lock on the K&A. I grew up in Reading and have no intention of stopping there...

 

Has anyone got any recommendations of nice places to moor, good walks/pubs/things to see? Is it worth going much further up?

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For an experience The Bounty by Bourn End railway bridge (Cookham side). It is possible to get a narrow  boat in to more immediately below the railway bridge against the wonky and slightly submerged concrete edging. Scramble up the bank.

 

Henley moorings really know how to charge but Marlow only charge after (say) 4 pm

 

Personally I would stick to the Thames and give the K&A a miss unless you like Heavey lock gates and so on. In high summer try to pass through Fobney lock (K&A) early in the day. The local youth tend to like it there, and we have been stoned with apples when turning below that lock and I once saw the youngster diving through the open paddles that a boater was operating. Drugs get consumed there as well.

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7 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

For an experience The Bounty by Bourn End railway bridge (Cookham side). It is possible to get a narrow  boat in to more immediately below the railway bridge against the wonky and slightly submerged concrete edging. Scramble up the bank.

 

Henley moorings really know how to charge but Marlow only charge after (say) 4 pm

 

Personally I would stick to the Thames and give the K&A a miss unless you like Heavey lock gates and so on. In high summer try to pass through Fobney lock (K&A) early in the day. The local youth tend to like it there, and we have been stoned with apples when turning below that lock and I once saw the youngster diving through the open paddles that a boater was operating. Drugs get consumed there as well.

Great, thanks for all the tips. I'll avoid the K&A then, Aldermaston was only for nostalgia as I went there as a child! 

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The Thames above Reading gets better as you go up and up and up. It all depends on what you want; I suspect the pubs ar not one of the highlights (I could be doing them a disservice), but we choose quiet moorings as and when we find them - thus catering is onboard, being country folks we perfer cows farting to folks puking....

 

However, there are pubs around, certainly with drinks, I know not as to the quality of the food - you may find some treasures....

 

As to boating and views and relative quiet then the river above Oxford has a lot to commend it. I'll try and dig soe photos out later, but there are plenty of YouTube videos to give you an idea.

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23 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

The Thames above Reading gets better as you go up and up and up. It all depends on what you want; I suspect the pubs ar not one of the highlights (I could be doing them a disservice), but we choose quiet moorings as and when we find them - thus catering is onboard, being country folks we perfer cows farting to folks puking....

 

However, there are pubs around, certainly with drinks, I know not as to the quality of the food - you may find some treasures....

 

As to boating and views and relative quiet then the river above Oxford has a lot to commend it. I'll try and dig soe photos out later, but there are plenty of YouTube videos to give you an idea.

 

Totally agree certainly the above Oxford bit.

24 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

The Thames above Reading gets better as you go up and up and up. It all depends on what you want; I suspect the pubs ar not one of the highlights (I could be doing them a disservice), but we choose quiet moorings as and when we find them - thus catering is onboard, being country folks we perfer cows farting to folks puking....

 

However, there are pubs around, certainly with drinks, I know not as to the quality of the food - you may find some treasures....

 

As to boating and views and relative quiet then the river above Oxford has a lot to commend it. I'll try and dig soe photos out later, but there are plenty of YouTube videos to give you an idea.

 

Certainly agree with the above Oxford bit. Folly bridge keeps the large cruisers away.

 

Nice walk across the meadows from just above Days lock to Dorchester for pubs and look at the Mid-Summer Murders locations.

 

Abingdon, unlike many other Thames towns seem to actively welcome boaters.

 

However, expect to pay for moorings from £5 a night  and upwards.

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Fobney lock is not nearly as bad as it used to be, but still has a fearsome reputation. You shoud be fine though I would not moor there overnight, though quite a few now do. But the Kennet is hard work and not worth doing unless you plan to explore much much more of the K&A, most of which is wonderful.  I suspect that you wont have enough time but the upper Thames, Oxford to Letchlade is just magical and wonderful. The Thames is all lovely and each bit has its own character so its hard to make recomendations as it depends on what turns you on.  Maybe try to get as far as Oxford???  What boat have you got, is it narrow?

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2 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

 

 

Abingdon, unlike many other Thames towns seem to actively welcome boaters.

 

However, expect to pay for moorings from £5 a night  and upwards.

 

Just to clarify, £5+ per night in many places but not Abingdon. It's free for up to 3 nights. 

 

 

 

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7 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

 

Just to clarify, £5+ per night in many places but not Abingdon. It's free for up to 3 nights. 

 

 

 

 

That is good news. It has been a few years since we boated there, so I did not want to say that in case it had altered.

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4 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

Please don't encourage visitors to stop at Abingdon.  I moved here (on the Marina housing development) and enjoy the peace and quiet.  :P

 

I quite fancy one of the properties that comes with a mooring though I don't know if it would be suitable for a 45' narrowboat. Have you got a mooring?

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6 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

Please don't encourage visitors to stop at Abingdon.  I moved here (on the Marina housing development) and enjoy the peace and quiet.  :P

Well I feel sorry for you. 

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17 hours ago, cheesegas said:

Hi all. Last year we went from Limehouse to Cliveden (near Maidenhead) on the Thames which was a great trip - manned locks, good mix of countryside and things to see. Mooring at Cliveden was the high point though, and walking up to the house.

 

Anyway, this year we'd like to do something similar as we'll be near-ish to Brentford in August. Around 2 weeks long ideally, not stopping as many times on the way to Cliveden as before and hopefully getting a bit further up to Sonning or Aldermaston Lock on the K&A. I grew up in Reading and have no intention of stopping there...

 

Has anyone got any recommendations of nice places to moor, good walks/pubs/things to see? Is it worth going much further up?

Going that way this year, about the same time. If you did not stop at Runnymede last time, it's worth a walk up the hill to the RAF memorial. A spectacular view, from the roof which helps, puts that below in perspective. 

I also love Goring just for a drink & a perambulation. Would agree on the K&A, stay on the Thames.

IMG_6838.JPG

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8 hours ago, Murflynn said:

Please don't encourage visitors to stop at Abingdon.  I moved here (on the Marina housing development) and enjoy the peace and quiet.  :P

What visiting boater would try to moor in that marine. Much nicer by the pool or on the towpath bank.

Also, some spectacular views of the Brize Norton air show from the upper Thames around Letchlade on the right days.

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23 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

 

I quite fancy one of the properties that comes with a mooring though I don't know if it would be suitable for a 45' narrowboat. Have you got a mooring?

 

yes.  The lease states that max. length allowed is 30feet, however some properties that have bought the freehold have full length (57ft?) narrowboats on their moorings.

15 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

What visiting boater would try to moor in that marine. Much nicer by the pool or on the towpath bank.

Also, some spectacular views of the Brize Norton air show from the upper Thames around Letchlade on the right days.

 

you would be surprised how many "furrin" boats enter the marina lagoon and cruise around rubbernecking - maybe looking for somewhere to moor.

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16 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

 

 

 

you would be surprised how many "furrin" boats enter the marina lagoon and cruise around rubbernecking - maybe looking for somewhere to moor.

 

We did that ourselves last time we brought the boat down from Warwickshire to Abingdon in 2018.

 

Got a much better view of the marina than you get standing outside the locked gates looking in. I liked what I saw. It's not as nice as our marina but I might consider it if I get fed up with frequently driving (hate driving) up to Warwickshire even though it's not much more than an hour. I expect it's s a lot more expensive though.

 

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Well, it's feasible to get from Brentford to Lechlade in under a week but it would take out a lot of the pleasure. My favourite spots would be Cookham (visit the Stanley Spencer gallery), Wallingford, Abingdon and Oxford, all with free moorings (not necessarily "official" ones). It's very pretty above Oxford but not many moorings near nice pubs once you're past Wolvercote - mostly Greene King tourist "destinations" until you get to Lechlade. I prefer the lower river. Kelmscott is worth the visit if you can stop on a day when the William Morris house is open (and it has a nice pub about ten minutes from the river). 

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  • 2 months later...

Different strokes etc but I love the upper Thames and happily spent many weeks pootling about between Lechlade and Oxford. Kelmscott is magic - lovely mooring. Admittedly Babcock Hythe is a bit bleak, but Lechlade itself is a lovely place to stop for a few days. River is clean and perfect for swimming too. 

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1 hour ago, Tigerr said:

Different strokes etc but I love the upper Thames and happily spent many weeks pootling about between Lechlade and Oxford. Kelmscott is magic - lovely mooring. Admittedly Babcock Hythe is a bit bleak, but Lechlade itself is a lovely place to stop for a few days. River is clean and perfect for swimming too. 

Seconded. Even for a full length narrowboat.

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4 hours ago, Victor Vectis said:

Whats the water and lock opening/closure situation on the Thames @pres?

I was planning an Oxford - Brentford jaunt there next month but I'm beginning to think that the GU might be a better (wetter?) option down to London.

It is a good question, I and I don’t know.  We are currently above Claydon locks, destination upper Thames.  I did see something about no self service, but I thought that was just what they would do if they introduced restrictions.  I get the Harbour Master notices for the Thames and I don’t remember seeing anything about limited hours or anything, but if anyone knows it would be good to know the score.

 

Just spoken to another boat here, on the way to the festival, they have come from Watford and they said the GU was not good for water.  South Oxford good so far , no issue on the summit.  The next couple of days will see if it gets bad below Banbury as reported.

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4 hours ago, Victor Vectis said:

Whats the water and lock opening/closure situation on the Thames @pres?

I was planning an Oxford - Brentford jaunt there next month but I'm beginning to think that the GU might be a better (wetter?) option down to London.

Last time 'we' had a real shortage of water on t'thames - probably not in many boating lifetimes on here, the EA

jacked up all the overflow weirs, made some restrictions on lock usage (but couldn't  / didn't control out of hours use and boating continued without much, if any,  inconvenience.

 

It could be a touch of rose-tinted-specs, but we managed (sod the rest) or not many NBs cruising anyways. The locals  dont go out of their marinas....

AFAIR some lockies waited until a lock was full of boats before filling / emptying.

Nobody complained - either because they didn't know how to or t'intenet was pretty awful.

 

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I find the talk of locking restrictions on the Thames somewhat disingenuous.

 

My local lock - Penton Hook - which is quite a biggy, takes roughly 750 cubic metres to fill. The flow at Staines is currently 65.8 cubic metres/second, so it would take less than 12 seconds of flow to fill the lock completely (compared to a fill time of 10-15 minutes); but -- here's the thing... when you open the downstream sluice, the water goes back into the river. How would restricting lock use affect flow? It isn't like a canal where each  fill moves water from the top to the bottom.

 

 

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28 minutes ago, Bacchus said:

 The flow at Staines is currently 65.8 cubic metres/second, ................

 

 

 

I am surprised it is as much as that.   If the river is 100m wide and 2m deep, that would represent a speed of about 1ft per second.    Up here in Abingdon there is no perceptible flow at all.  Last winter the maximum flow was  about 2ft per second.

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7 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

 

I am surprised it is as much as that.   If the river is 100m wide and 2m deep, that would represent a speed of about 1ft per second.    Up here in Abingdon there is no perceptible flow at all.  Last winter the maximum flow was  about 2ft per second.

 

It might be lower - I just googled "current flow thames staines" and got that result. Of course I don't see the same bloomin' thing now to screenshot, but links to the NFRA website which suggest that it goes down to about 10-15 cumecs in August. I would say your cross section is about right (slightly narrower and deeper where I am, but 200m2 sounds reasonable), that would give a flow of 5-7.5 cm/s

 

I expect I will be in it at the weekend - I shall try to time myself drifting past the boat (c:

 

would still only take about a minute to fill the lock completely, and is still only an interruption to flow rather than an extraction whether the user is going up or downstream.

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