Down to Thames this year licence required?

[Annie cariad]

We are going from Warwick down the south Oxford onto lechlade then back onto the thames.to the GU . what licence do we need and are they time bound ?? New foray south for us 

 

 

[MtB]

Now would be an excellent time to get a Gold licence, then you can go whenever you like for however long you like.

 

Buy now because Gold costs the same whatever time of year you buy it, but always expires on 31st Dec. 

[GUMPY]

Cheapest is probably to buy a Thames licence. Unless you are staying months on the Thames and visiting other EA waterways then a gold would be more economical.

 

If you get a Gold Licence  Cart should refund whatever remaining licence you have with them and your re-licence date will then become Jan 1st even if it's just a cart licence.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 13 by GUMPY

[Peugeot 106]

43 minutes ago, GUMPY said:

Cheapest is probably to buy a Thames licence. Unless you are staying months on the Thames and visiting other EA waterways then a gold would be more economical.

 

If you get a Gold Licence  Cart should refund whatever remaining licence you have with them and your re-licence date will then become Jan 1st even if it's just a cart licence.

 

 

 

 

We just bought a months worth at the first lock we came to. It was £99 for the month but you can buy it by the day or week as well

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Peugeot 106 said:

We just bought a months worth at the first lock we came to. It was £99 for the month but you can buy it by the day or week as well

 

I've an idea there is a limit to the number of visitor-days you can spend on the Thames per year. I think it's a month's-worth of days in any one year. 

 

How they would know though, I'm not sure. 

[Peugeot 106]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

I've an idea there is a limit to the number of visitor-days you can spend on the Thames per year. I think it's a month's-worth of days in any one year. 

 

How they would know though, I'm not sure. 

I don’t know. We only stayed for a month. ( and 2 days but don’t tell them!) 

[john6767]

The two choices are to get a gold licence or get vusitir licences on the Thames.

 

The gold licence from CRT which covers all the EA navigations as well as the CRT ones.  It’s a 5 min job on the CRT licencing site to switch, and whilst the gold licence runs from Jan it doesn’t matter financially when you switch and when your current CRT licence runs from, when you change you will pay a full year from Jan and get a refund on your CRT licence for the unused part.

 

For the visitor licence route you just buy at the first manned Thames lock you come to, they take credit cards.  You can buy up to a month at once, which is much cheaper than doing it say a week at a time.  A month won’t easily let you go up to Lechlade and then down to Teddington.  The cost will depend on the boat length, well area really, the info can be found on gov.uk just search for it and compare with the gold licence cost.  You probably need to spend something over 2 months on the Thames to make the gold licence cheaper, but work it out for your boat length.

 

 

[matty40s]

5 hours ago, Annie cariad said:

We are going from Warwick down the south Oxford onto lechlade then back onto the thames.to the GU . what licence do we need and are they time bound ?? New foray south for us 

 

 

You were doing this last year, nothing has changed....

Other than the CRT portion is increasing in cost at an ever eye watering value.

29 minutes ago, Peugeot 106 said:

I don’t know. We only stayed for a month. ( and 2 days but don’t tell them!) 

Reported.

 

To our cat, who just shrugged and waited for a chunk of the pineapple and almond roulade we are snacking on biscuits after a very long day.

[pearley]

I thought that this:

 

All Gold licences run from 1 January and expire on 31 December.

 

If you have not previously held a gold licence, you may be eligible for a part year licence. If you have previously held a Gold licence then your licence will be required to start on 1 January 2023.

 

Meant you can start a Gold licence at any time and pay pro rata.

[Tony Brooks]

9 hours ago, john6767 said:

A month won’t easily let you go up to Lechlade and then down to Teddington.

 

Are you sure that you meant this. I think that it would be more than enough unless you stayed put for several days in various places.

 

Oxford - Lechlade - 2 days

Lechlade to Oxford - 2 days

Oxford to Abingdon - 1 day

Abingdon - Wallingford - 1 day

Wallingford - Reading - 1 day

Reading to Cookham - 1 day

Cookham to Windsor - 1 day

Windsor to Teddington - 2 days

 

That is 10 days and with an early start Oxford to Reading can be done in one long day, as can Oxford to Lechlade. A one moth licence should give plenty of time to visit the towns and other attractions.

 

[Peugeot 106]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Are you sure that you meant this. I think that it would be more than enough unless you stayed put for several days in various places.

 

Oxford - Lechlade - 2 days

Lechlade to Oxford - 2 days

Oxford to Abingdon - 1 day

Abingdon - Wallingford - 1 day

Wallingford - Reading - 1 day

Reading to Cookham - 1 day

Cookham to Windsor - 1 day

Windsor to Teddington - 2 days

 

That is 10 days and with an early start Oxford to Reading can be done in one long day, as can Oxford to Lechlade. A one moth licence should give plenty of time to visit the towns and other attractions.

 

Agreed a month. (Teddington to Lechlade) was a dawdle to say the least

[Tractor]

Mooring between St Johns Lock and Halfpenny Bridge, Lechlade.

Watch out for Heffers in this field, they go around in a juvenile 'mob', and will not only lick the boat, and lean on it, but try to eat the rubber window surrounds and the cratch cover

A guy will turn up to collect mooring fees, to explain all this but before this be on the look out for the Heffers.

 

[magnetman]

13 minutes ago, Tractor said:

Mooring between St Johns Lock and Halfpenny Bridge, Lechlade.

Watch out for Heffers in this field, they go around in a juvenile 'mob', and will not only lick the boat, and lean on it, but try to eat the rubber window surrounds and the cratch cover

A guy will turn up to collect mooring fees, to explain all this but before this be on the look out for the Heffers.

 

 

Good advice.  I know someone who put his suitcase generator on the bank there and the cows came and pushed it into the River. 

He came back from the shop and assumed someone had nicked it before spotting it behind the Boat. 

[GUMPY]

23 minutes ago, Tractor said:

Mooring between St Johns Lock and Halfpenny Bridge, Lechlade.

Watch out for Heffers in this field, they go around in a juvenile 'mob', and will not only lick the boat, and lean on it, but try to eat the rubber window surrounds and the cratch cover

A guy will turn up to collect mooring fees, to explain all this but before this be on the look out for the Heffers.

 

Don't leave a gang plank out at night they take delight in stepping on the landward end 🥴

[Scholar Gypsy]

2 hours ago, Tractor said:

Mooring between St Johns Lock and Halfpenny Bridge, Lechlade.

Watch out for Heffers in this field, they go around in a juvenile 'mob', and will not only lick the boat, and lean on it, but try to eat the rubber window surrounds and the cratch cover

A guy will turn up to collect mooring fees, to explain all this but before this be on the look out for the Heffers.

 

The cows are not there this week (photo by Maria S on Facebook). I think this photo is taken from Halfpenny Bridge.

[mrsmelly]

3 hours ago, Peugeot 106 said:

Agreed a month. (Teddington to Lechlade) was a dawdle to say the least

Nice to see a proper old fashioned cannot go wrong method of keeping track of where you have been etc etc. It will last for a hundred years, the batteries will never go flat and can be read instantly. Much better than modern nonsense methods and hope you have leccy, hope the format hasnt changed, hope whoever set the doobrey up on line hasnt switched it off etc etc etc 

[Hudds Lad]

41 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Nice to see a proper old fashioned cannot go wrong method of keeping track of where you have been etc etc. It will last for a hundred years, the batteries will never go flat and can be read instantly. Much better than modern nonsense methods and hope you have leccy, hope the format hasnt changed, hope whoever set the doobrey up on line hasnt switched it off etc etc etc 

We use a Moleskine Daily Diary which the Captain fills in at the end of each day with cruise details (start and end mooring location, locks, rough distance and times, anything of note that happened/was seen/what or where we ate). Habit acquired from the shareboat days where most kept a log.

When i remember, i run an app on the phone called Nebo, which often loses GPS signal when i go to the loo with my phone in my pocket. I do this just for fun and because it drives the Captain mad  I don't pay the subscription so i think it wipes the details after a month.

[Scholar Gypsy]

58 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Nice to see a proper old fashioned cannot go wrong method of keeping track of where you have been etc etc. It will last for a hundred years, the batteries will never go flat and can be read instantly. Much better than modern nonsense methods and hope you have leccy, hope the format hasnt changed, hope whoever set the doobrey up on line hasnt switched it off etc etc etc 

I agree. Here are Scholar Gypsy's logs for the last fifty years. There is also a separate engine log.

 

One of my son's regular crew has produced this (click the link) from a careful analysis of the log for the trips he (the son) has done.  (I am Papa, JJ is the son, Tom B is the mathematician friend). Hover your  mouse over the chart. May not work on all mobile phones (it does on mine:  Chrome on Android)

https://scholar-gypsy.vercel.app/

 

Edited January 14 by Scholar Gypsy
Incompetence

[mrsmelly]

6 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

We use a Moleskine Daily Diary which the Captain fills in at the end of each day with cruise details (start and end mooring location, locks, rough distance and times, anything of note that happened/was seen/what or where we ate). Habit acquired from the shareboat days where most kept a log.

When i remember, i run an app on the phone called Nebo, which often loses GPS signal when i go to the loo with my phone in my pocket. I do this just for fun and because it drives the Captain mad  I don't pay the subscription so i think it wipes the details after a month.

My missus started keeping a daily diary in 89 when we moved onboard. I have bought her a day to a page diary every year since including this year. All in the loft, every few years we dig one out and have a giggle reading it. Lots of daft electronic formats come and indeed gone in all those years but the good old paper diary still reads instantly.

[Hudds Lad]

6 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

One of my son's regular crew has produced this (click the link) from a careful analysis of the log for the trips he (the son) has done.  (I am Papa, JJ is the son, Tom B is the mathematician friend). Hover your  mouse over the chart. May not work on all mobile phones (it does on mine:  Chrome on Android)

https://scholar-gypsy.vercel.app/

I'm not sure i quite understand that, but it's fantastic to look at  

[john6767]

8 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Are you sure that you meant this. I think that it would be more than enough unless you stayed put for several days in various places.

 

Oxford - Lechlade - 2 days

Lechlade to Oxford - 2 days

Oxford to Abingdon - 1 day

Abingdon - Wallingford - 1 day

Wallingford - Reading - 1 day

Reading to Cookham - 1 day

Cookham to Windsor - 1 day

Windsor to Teddington - 2 days

 

That is 10 days and with an early start Oxford to Reading can be done in one long day, as can Oxford to Lechlade. A one moth licence should give plenty of time to visit the towns and other attractions.

 

Sorry, typo was meant to say "easily".  Taking our time we have been Oxford up to Lechlade, down to Shepperton, River Wey to Godlming and back to Shepperton, down to Teddington, then back up to Oxford.  All on a month licence.

[PeterScott]

  

On 13/01/2024 at 18:33, Annie cariad said:

..down the south Oxford onto lechlade then back onto the thames.to the GU . what licence do we need...

For a single trip Oxford -> Lechlade (wind) -> Teddington (and on to Brentford and the GU) the craft needs to be registered for use on the (non-tidal) Thames.  I looked at the 2024 prices for Copperkins (our 58' narrowboat) as an example: the relative costs are similar for any length of narrowboat.

 

Assuming no other side-trips (K&A towards Bristol, RWey, etc ...) and no other EA-waterways used during the calendar year 2024, it looks cheapest to buy the visitor registrations if the Thames trip is for less than 63 days.

 

My workings are from the EA website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/river-thames-boat-registration-charges/river-thames-boat-registration-and-other-charges-1-january-2024-to-31-december-2024

and from the C&RT calculator:

https://licensing.canalrivertrust.org.uk/LicencePrices

 

From which, we are 58' (= 17.68 metres) by 6'10" (= 2.08 metres) hence 36.77 sq metres which is allowed to be rounded down to 36 sq metres.

An annual Jan2024 - Dec2024 Thames registration would therefore be £869 (rounded to nearest £), and that is the most expensive option (*)

 

An ordinary CRT cruising licence is £1,259 - and converting this to Gold is a total of £1,794. So extra Thames-cost is the difference, that's £535.

Alternatively, the visitor registrations, payable on arrival to a convenient Thames lockkeeper, are: 1-day £56  7-days £92 31-days £249   Hence 31-days + 31-days is still cheaper than the Gold option.

Also it's never good value to buy two consecutive 1-day registrations, nor three 7-day registrations. (Also mentioned above is that once there were additional restrictions on how many of these visitor registrations were available in a year. EA have changed the relative costs, so there is no longer a need for them to restrict short-term registrations: they are just very-expensive these days.)

 

12 hours ago, pearley said:

I thought that this: All Gold licences run from 1 January and expire on 31 December. If you have not previously held a gold licence, you may be eligible for a part year licence. If you have previously held a Gold licence then your licence will be required to start on 1 January [2024] Meant you can start a Gold licence at any time and pay pro rata.

(*) Of the many complicating issues, the  EA's new-boat registration is a factor, for a boat that has not been on the Thames (with its current owner) at any time since 1 Jan 2023. This is explained in

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/boat-registration-refunding-or-transferring-your-registration/boat-registration-new-part-year-registration

and from the quote above (if from C&RT ??) it looks as if they have also implemented this scheme within the Gold licence. If that's the case, then changing to a new Gold Licence from, say, Aug2024 - it's all based on calendar months - would be an efffective charge of £223 for the five remaining months of 2024.

 

As an aside, say we cash-in the current £1,259 ordinary licence from Mar2024 to Feb2025 for a new licence Mar2024 to Dec2024 with Goldness from Aug2024: that should cost £1,005 for the 10-month ordinary licence and £223 for the Gold element - total £1,228 - so C&RT need to refund £31.

 

More complication is contained in a refund scheme for a boat leaving the Thames, and not returning there (with its current owner) until, at the earliest, 1 Jan 2026. Subject to a £20 administration charge, it's a pro rata calendar month refund for the unused months.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/boat-registration-refunding-or-transferring-your-registration/boat-registration-arrangements-for-refunding-your-registration

Maybe, then, the effective costs might be reduced to £73 per calendar month plus the single £20 administration fee, all directly with EA. Even less if C&RT implemented it within the Gold scheme.

 

In the summer of 1971, we did Oxford -> Lechlade -> Oxford in a single day, which was the cheapest option 🙂

 

Edited January 14 by PeterScott
arithmetic

[Peugeot 106]

8 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Nice to see a proper old fashioned cannot go wrong method of keeping track of where you have been etc etc. It will last for a hundred years, the batteries will never go flat and can be read instantly. Much better than modern nonsense methods and hope you have leccy, hope the format hasnt changed, hope whoever set the doobrey up on line hasnt switched it off etc etc etc 

Until I loose the book which has in it all sorts of random but useful narrowboat info in it…..