Bow Back Rivers & Olympic Park (Inc Bow Creek to Thames)

[Odana]

We are planning our summer cruise and want to explore all the East London waterways plus Thames Barrier and then up through central London. My new Nicholson's shows that it's possible to get onto or off the Thames from Bow Creek but I can't find much other detail.

Is there a more detailed guide to all this or has anyone recently done the backwaters  who wants to share their experiences? 

On a more general note, how essential is booking all mooring in London nowadays? Last time I took a boat to London was 2001 when things were less crowded, and I never went past Little Venice and Camden then. 

[1st ade]

Magpie Patrick of this parish will be able to comment - he had a lot to do with the work around that neck of the woods for the 2012 Olympics

[matty40s]

If you want overnight stops in Central London an know which dates, it makes sense to book Rembrandt Gardens (Little Venice) and /or the Canal museum mooring in ice house basin.

You CAN get moorings anywhere, but you might be outside other boats. Or you might be lucky. There are far more safe stretches available now that nobody used to moor on in the old days. More boats has made previous no-go zones good to use.

Scholar Gyspy is probably the best source, or have a look at the St Pancras Cruising Clubs itinerary, you could join in one of their cruises.

[Tim Lewis]

56 minutes ago, Odana said:

We are planning our summer cruise and want to explore all the East London waterways plus Thames Barrier and then up through central London. My new Nicholson's shows that it's possible to get onto or off the Thames from Bow Creek but I can't find much other detail.

Is there a more detailed guide to all this or has anyone recently done the backwaters  who wants to share their experiences? 

On a more general note, how essential is booking all mooring in London nowadays? Last time I took a boat to London was 2001 when things were less crowded, and I never went past Little Venice and Camden then. 

The Bow Back Rivers loop is open to navigation, if you want to do the Waterworks River loop you need to book City Road and Carpenters roadblocks, there is no mooring on the Back rivers

Tim

[Odana]

58 minutes ago, 1st ade said:

Magpie Patrick of this parish will be able to comment - he had a lot to do with the work around that neck of the woods for the 2012 Olympics

I was working with Patrick at the time and had a small hand in getting some of the works started, which is why I sooo want to cruise the results!

[Scholar Gypsy]

Here's a general site on Tideway cruising, written by narrowboaters http://www.thamescruising.co.uk/wordpress/

CRT info on the Olympic waterways (aka Bow Back Rivers!): https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/our-regions/london-waterways/queen-elizabeth-olympic-park-waterways 

And a map: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/refresh/media/thumbnail/32686-crt-navigational-map-qeop-the-park-base-map.pdf

And this gives you a flavour of what you will see: https://nbsg.wordpress.com/2017/08/26/reopening-of-carpenters-road-lock/

Bow Creek is useable (you need to book the lock well in advance) but the tides are a bit tricky. For example if you are coming down from Teddington then going to Brentford is easy, Limehouse is quite challenging but doable, and Bow would require a lot of hanging around near the barrier waiting for the creek to fill up with water again. 

My personal view  on the Backrivers is that as well as the formally navigable section it's worth exploring the upper stretches of the Waterworks  River - not open to powered boats. Either on foot or by kayak etc.

If you want to set out a rough plan then I am sure a number of people (me included) would be happy to comment on it. For the tideway my main suggestions are 1) Clean fuel 2) Anchor 3) Lifejackets 4) VHF radio.

[Odana]

Thanks Scholargypsy! 

The plan in the early stages is to come in at Brentford from Teddington, spend time in central London and maybe up the Lea (depending on how long getting to London has taken us - may have to sacrifice that). Explore as much as possible of the Bow Back Rivers then go out from Bow Creek to barrier, then overnight either in Docklands or South Dock or Limehouse (Limehouse default but other options look nice too). Then on another day do Limehouse (or the other starting points) to Brentford. How does that sound?  We're  not needing to do everything in one go - I want to savour London by boat!. Tides around 18-21 July look promising. Another boat (Grassman) keen on a fortnight earlier. 

Edited January 22, 2018 by Odana

[Scholar Gypsy]

I'm away for a few days, so here's a quick holding reply.

That all sounds an interesting plan. Bow, Docklands and South Dock all have quite restricted opening times, so some careful tide planning will be needed. If you leave Bow as soon as you can, you'll easily be able to punch the incoming tide down to Bow Creek and the Barrier, but the question is what you do next, ie whether you can get to West India before it closes. If you push on to South Dock or Limehouse then you'd be going against the ebbing tide. 

An alternative might be

1. Bow to Limehouse, arriving at High Water (so they will have to open the bridge for you!), with an optional excursion up Deptford Creek (photo below of the head of navigation);
2. a separate trip from Limehouse to the Barrier, going out on the ebb tide to arrive at Woolwich at Low Water... Then back to Limehouse or straight through to Brentford/Teddington

 

Edited January 22, 2018 by Scholar Gypsy

[Dave123]

Hi, can't really comment on the tidal sections but as to booking moorings in London. If you want to guarantee a spot in zone 1 then it might be an idea (Rembrandt gardens or the london canal museum) but you will be fine for spaces as far as Alperton/Perivale and this is a nice area with easy transport into central. Paddington basin and Victoria park usually have spaces if you get there on a weekend...the rest of the reagents is pot luck but something will come up if you don't mind double mooring.

[WJM]

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B03GY8gBYGXxMH1