Burghfield to High Line Yachting Ltd, Mansion Lane, Iver

[Cinimod]

Hi there, we are after a little advice...

 

Unfortunately the time to sell Miss Behavin (58ft Liveaboard if you are interested, PM me...)

 

We need to take her from Reading, up the Thames, then to Iver (Slough arm of the GU) - what are the considerations for going down the Thames?

Can anyone help with directions - I have run it though CanalPlan - but not sure of any rules and regs as we have to go on a bit of the tidal thames!

 

Help!

 

Ta

[alan_fincher]

Hi there, we are after a little advice...

 

Unfortunately the time to sell Miss Behavin (58ft Liveaboard if you are interested, PM me...)

 

We need to take her from Reading, up the Thames, then to Iver (Slough arm of the GU) - what are the considerations for going down the Thames?

Can anyone help with directions - I have run it though CanalPlan - but not sure of any rules and regs as we have to go on a bit of the tidal thames!

 

Help!

 

Ta

There are no special requirements to go on the tidal Thames just on the Teddington to Brentford stretch, other than taking advice on when to leave Teddington to get the tide right, and booking a passage into Thames Lock Brentford with the BW lock-keepers there.

 

You are exempted from needing VHF radio if you stick just to that bit.

 

Personally as a minimum, I'd want to be carrying an anchor, but that would apply on the non tidal bit too.

 

You don't need a licence on the tidal Thames, but you will have to buy EA Thames licence(s) to cover however many days you spend on the non-tidal bit, if you don't already have a "Gold" licence that includes it.

[cariad]

hi cinimod,

heading to the thames myself and my understanding is if you are a continious cruiser with less than a gold licence

you have to pay a daily rate for tha waterway, with the first day free. the payment will be collected at the first manned lock and i

believe it is charged per foot. the information passed onto me is that the lock keeper will advise you on any rules and regulations

and are apparently very helpful .

hope this is of some help.

[alan_fincher]

i believe it is charged per foot.

Being pedantic, unlike BW, the EA Thames licences are calculated based on length and width of your boat - i.e. a wide beam pays proportionally more than a narrowboat of the same length.

 

You are correct that you can buy them at the first EA controlled lock you get to.

[Keeping Up]

There are no special requirements to go on the tidal Thames just on the Teddington to Brentford stretch, other than taking advice on when to leave Teddington to get the tide right, and booking a passage into Thames Lock Brentford with the BW lock-keepers there.

 

You don't need to book with Brentford if you are going to arrive during their normal working hours (ie during the day)

[alan_fincher]

You don't need to book with Brentford if you are going to arrive during their normal working hours (ie during the day)

That may be the reality Allan, but it's not actually the official line

 

The current "Tidal Locks Availability booklet actually says.....

 

Essential booking in formation for tidal lock users

 

All boaters are requested to contact the appropriate lock office to

give at least 24 hours advance notice of their journey. Bookings can

be made seven days a week between 8 am and 4 pm. If leaving

a message please leave the date and time of your call, a contact

name, the boat’s name and a telephone number we can contact you

on. Please also state which lock you would like to use, the direction

in which you will be travelling and date and time locking is required.

You can also email British Waterways with this information at

london.lockbookings@britishwaterways.co.uk

 

All bookings must be confirmed with lock office

staff who will also be able to advise boaters on local

conditions that might affect their journey.

 

Perhaps I'm just a "too much by the book" man, but as that's what it says, that's what we have done, up until now, and they have never complained that we were wasting their time.

Edited September 24, 2010 by alan_fincher

[Keeping Up]

Apologies, I had thought that the "no booking required" period extended longer than the end of September. I see I was wrong.

[Hairy-Neil]

Being pedantic, unlike BW, the EA Thames licences are calculated based on length and width of your boat - i.e. a wide beam pays proportionally more than a narrowboat of the same length.

 

You are correct that you can buy them at the first EA controlled lock you get to.

 

Being pedantic also, you can buy them at the first manned EA controlled lock you get to.

 

The first EA lock the OP arrives at will be Blakes, which is often unmanned. The first manned lock is likely to be Sonning....

[Jim Batty]

Hi there, we are after a little advice...

 

Unfortunately the time to sell Miss Behavin (58ft Liveaboard if you are interested, PM me...)

 

We need to take her from Reading, up the Thames, then to Iver (Slough arm of the GU) - what are the considerations for going down the Thames?

Can anyone help with directions - I have run it though CanalPlan - but not sure of any rules and regs as we have to go on a bit of the tidal thames!

 

Help!

 

Ta

 

Hi Cinimod

 

Sorry to hear you're selling Miss Behavin. We spent a night aboard her at Kintbury about 4 years ago and very nearly bought her.

 

Have a look at the London Tideway Handbook - Downstream version at Linky for all the details of going from Teddington to Brentford (about 1.5 hrs passage).

[Cinimod]

Sorry to hear you're selling Miss Behavin. We spent a night aboard her at Kintbury about 4 years ago and very nearly bought her.

 

Have a look at the London Tideway Handbook - Downstream version at Linky for all the details of going from Teddington to Brentford (about 1.5 hrs passage).

It is indeed a shame to be selling her, but we have a wonderful and beautiful place to go to.

(11 acres of Semi Ancient Natural Woodland, with planning permission to build a house in a clearing - not something you find every day!)

 

Thank you VERY much for this link - very useful.

[WJM]

Thames Locks at Brentford: I can hardly believe the confusion and misunderstanding about the manning. Here are the FACTS.

 

From April to September inclusive the locks are permanently manned for the four hours around high tide, as long as those hours are with in the 8am- 6pm working day. You DO NOT need to book if you are arriving within these times.

 

For some reason the lock-keepers at Teddington don't understand this and always ask me if I have booked. I say no, they look concerned, I say I don't care I am going anyway. The BW keeper is always there.

[Keeping Up]

The OP is unlikely to get there before the end of September, so booking WILL be necessary.

[alan_fincher]

Thames Locks at Brentford: I can hardly believe the confusion and misunderstanding about the manning. Here are the FACTS.

 

From April to September inclusive the locks are permanently manned for the four hours around high tide, as long as those hours are with in the 8am- 6pm working day. You DO NOT need to book if you are arriving within these times.

I can easily believe the confusion !

 

It's because it is not what BW actually say in their 2010 guide about the availability of the locks.

 

What you say is undoubtedly true in practice, but it is not what the information published by BW actually says.

[Keeping Up]

I can easily believe the confusion !

 

It's because it is not what BW actually say in their 2010 guide about the availability of the locks.

 

What you say is undoubtedly true in practice, but it is not what the information published by BW actually says.

 

Sorry to disagree Alan but I checked it when you corrected me earlier, and that is exactly what BW say in their 2010 guide. It took me several readings to understand it, but look again and you'll see that WJM's description tallies 100% with the guide

 

 

 

Edited to add: See page 5 of the guide.

Edited September 27, 2010 by Keeping Up

[alan_fincher]

Sorry to disagree Alan but I checked it when you corrected me earlier, and that is exactly what BW say in their 2010 guide. It took me several readings to understand it, but look again and you'll see that WJM's description tallies 100% with the guide

 

Yes,

 

Sorry

 

You are correct Allan, if you read the bit that specifically relates to Thames Lock Brentford.

 

I was trying to read it with Adobe reader, and should have gone beyond the first couple of pages it seems....

 

There it clearly states.....

 

Essential booking in formation for tidallock users

 

All boaters are requested to contact the appropriate lock office to

give at least 24 hours advance notice of their journey. Bookings can

be made seven days a week between 8 am and 4 pm. If leaving

a message please leave the date and time of your call, a contact

name, the boat’s name and a telephone number we can contact you

on. Please also state which lock you would like to use, the direction

in which you will be travelling and date and time locking is required.

You can also email British Waterways with this information at

london.lockbookings@britishwaterways.co.uk

All bookings must be confirmed with lock office

staff who will also be able to advise boaters on local

conditions that might affect their journey.

 

Absolutely no mention made there of any period where there are opening hours and you don't need to phone.

 

I think I'd still argue then that as the leaflet is self-contradictory it's not that surprising that people get it wrong. When we went through last it was apparently in the normal opening hours, but I was not told when I phoned that I need not have done so, and they took all the details of my boat from me in the usual way, so there is no harm in so doing, I suppose!

[Keeping Up]

I agree that the leaflet is self-contradictory, rather like almost everything else we get from BW.

 

Incidentally I was told that it is pointless to attempt to make a booking by email. The locky at Brentford says they forgot the password to that email account a long time ago so it never gets checked.

[alan_fincher]

Incidentally I was told that it is pointless to attempt to make a booking by email. The locky at Brentford says they forgot the password to that email account a long time ago so it never gets checked.

Yes,

 

That's completely correct - that e-mail account is not looked at by anyone, I was also told.

 

Also the contact number published for Thames Lock Brentford is in fact the one for Bow Locks, in anticipation that they were going to start using the same number for both, (which they don't!).

 

So it's a fairly crap document, as at least three things in it relating to use of Thames Lock are wrong......

[RichardN]

Thames Locks at Brentford: I can hardly believe the confusion and misunderstanding about the manning. Here are the FACTS.

 

From April to September inclusive the locks are permanently manned for the four hours around high tide, as long as those hours are with in the 8am- 6pm working day. You DO NOT need to book if you are arriving within these times.

 

For some reason the lock-keepers at Teddington don't understand this and always ask me if I have booked. I say no, they look concerned, I say I don't care I am going anyway. The BW keeper is always there.

 

 

You are probably right that "the BW keeper is always there" but it does not hurt to make a phone call and then you know you are not on the tideway with no way out.

 

Richard

[Gillie]

We took a friends boat from Newbury to High Line at Iver in June to be sold.

We went down the Thames off at Brentford and up the GU

It was a wonderful trip and took 6 days with a day spent at Teddington gathering courage for our first tidal Thames journey, and talking to the lock keepers who were so helpful and of course knowledgeable about the tideway.

We went from Teddington with 3 other boats to Brentford which was nice as it was our first time

The Brentford moorings were ok but Brentford itself seemed a bit scary!!

The start of the GU was full of rubbish up to the Hanwell flight but was then ok

The Slough Arm was really lovely and not what we had expected at all after being told various 'horror' stories about it!!

Good luck with your trip.. sad you are selling her.. have seen her out and about on the K & A

[Cinimod]

One more question - we believe an anchor on the Thames non-tidal is optional, is it compulsory for doing that short stretch?

[Gillie]

I thought it was compulsory..

I know when we made our trip a few lock keepers looked over the boat and anchor as well to make sure everything was in order...

but we were on trade plates so maybe that was different

[WJM]

An anchor is not compulsory anywhere.

 

If the river is not flowing fast then you can easily function without one. Think about it; loose propulsion and what will happen? You will drift very very slowly until you either reach the bank or somebody passes and gives you a tow.

 

The tideway by definition flows. Sitting on a powerless narrowboat there could be interesting. Can you picture yourself broadside across three arches of Richmond Bridge on a strong tide? Do you think the boat would roll over before or after it collapses?

 

Anchors are optional at all times. You make your own decisions!

 

 

=============================================================

 

"a few lock keepers looked over the boat"

 

Lock-keepers look over things so that they can offer helpful professional advice. They are not river police, they do not have powers of enforcement on things of this nature. Why do people confuse an authoritative manner with legal powers?

Edited September 28, 2010 by WJM

[Gillie]

 

 

"a few lock keepers looked over the boat"

 

Lock-keepers look over things so that they can offer helpful professional advice. They are not river police, they do not have powers of enforcement on things of this nature. Why do people confuse an authoritative manner with legal powers?

 

Actually the lock keepers had EA paperwork to fill in with regard to the boat and its equipment because we were on trade plates..

I did not think they were river police just making sure all was ok and we were safe...

[bargeeboy]

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