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Thames info please


Matt&Jo

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Nice tip there ?

2 hours ago, Jess-- said:

they do make that lock approach fun, especially when there are several boats for the lock.

 

going down the thames from that point take your chimney (and any pram hood) down before you get into oxford itself, if you don't osney bridge will do it for you

 

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Port meadow is beautiful but shallow on the edges ,easy to run aground admiring the view ,if you don’t need supplies Child Beale is a beautiful spot to moor 

Bell and Dragon mooring if you eat their is free in Reading but ring up to book it 

We did Kings to Goring in a day so Child Beale is only another 1/2 hour on from there 

Days lock bookable mooring gives you the chance to walk up Wittenam Clumps for the panoramic view if you have time 

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Thanks all. I literally wont have time its 7 hours a day basiclly......to make it in time with a day or 2 spare as contingency. So how many days will it take to go from entering onto the thames to canal on the k&a im thinking 2 days no messing?

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Please remind me of your boats name as we are doing a more leisurely trip t'other way round. Olanning on joining the Thames on Friday morning.   However as we have tine we are going to Lechlade first then back to join the Oxford. We may meet.

 

General question. Son and family coming for the day. Planning on either Pangbourne or Goring. I have no experience of either place. Any advice greatfully accepted.

 

Matt, hope all goes well for you and Jo. Frouds is a good marina so I'm told.

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4 hours ago, Matt&Jo said:

Thanks all. I literally wont have time its 7 hours a day basiclly......to make it in time with a day or 2 spare as contingency. So how many days will it take to go from entering onto the thames to canal on the k&a im thinking 2 days no messing?

People claim that Osney Lock (just below Sheepwash) to the Kennet can be done in one very long hard day. Its very comfortable in two days. Give some thought to your overnight mooring on the Kennet as the Reading area does not have the best reputation and there appears to be a mini crimewave at present.  The Cunning Man is often seen as the first sensible place to stop and that's an hour or two up the Kennet.  

 

I will sometimes overshoot the Kennet and moor just above the next lock down. Make an early start the next day (just in case there is a lock keeper at Blakes) and get a good way up the Kennet. You should me able to get all the way to Froudes bridge without too much effort.  Some Kennet locks are big and a bit intimidating so don't rush too much.

 

..............Dave

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Im dropping out at Brentford with another boat who have never done any river work in their 12 years :blink:..........Yes I know. So as I havnt done the stretch of the Thames from here to Reading for about twenty years so taking it easy and a short say 4/5 hours where would the concensus of opinion be for a first and subsequent moorings be? We would prefer free but dont mind at all paying if there is a greater chance of securing a mooring. We have to be alongside due to getting dog on and off and dodgy knees ? 

Thanks in advance to the panel.

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36 minutes ago, dmr said:

People claim that Osney Lock (just below Sheepwash) to the Kennet can be done in one very long hard day. Its very comfortable in two days. Give some thought to your overnight mooring on the Kennet as the Reading area does not have the best reputation and there appears to be a mini crimewave at present.  The Cunning Man is often seen as the first sensible place to stop and that's an hour or two up the Kennet.  

 

I will sometimes overshoot the Kennet and moor just above the next lock down. Make an early start the next day (just in case there is a lock keeper at Blakes) and get a good way up the Kennet. You should me able to get all the way to Froudes bridge without too much effort.  Some Kennet locks are big and a bit intimidating so don't rush too much.

 

..............Dave

We moor at the island by the cunning man pub and its a 2 hr stint from the Thames normally ,The island to say the Rowbarge is normally about 5 1\2 houyswithout delays 

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3 hours ago, dmr said:

People claim that Osney Lock (just below Sheepwash) to the Kennet can be done in one very long hard day. Its very comfortable in two days.

 

..............Dave

A few years ago I was involved with moving a pair of working narrow boats from Reading to Ellesmere Port. The long daylight hours of August helped considerably, and the first day saw us go from Reading (Tesco) to The Rock of Gibraltar near Enslow Wharf on the Oxford Canal. We were four handed and once on the Oxford Canal the locks needed to be worked twice as we bought the butty through. This was a very long day.

 

When I moved my latest acquisition off the Thames earlier this month we left Reading (between Caversham Lock and Mapledurham Lock - 2 handed) bang on noon and tied up just after 20:00 at Abingdon. It took a further 4.5 hours the following morning to reach the Oxford Canal at the Dukes Cut. Clearly this was running against the stream but will give some indication that passing the Thames in a day is very doable this time of year in a little over 12 hours - and although I was not trying to avoid it I passed several locks before paying.

 

Whichever way you enter the Thames at Oxford please be aware of the rowing boats, not little wooden pleasure boats but racing boats. The rowing eights are not too much trouble as they have a Cox who can see you, but the smaller boats do not and the rowers have their backs to you - and they are blooming fast :captain:

 

edit = we also had the surreal experience of passing through the middle of a sailing dingy race, which is tricky in a 71'6'' ex-working narrow boat, although we were guided through behind a speedboat !

Edited by pete harrison
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23 minutes ago, pete harrison said:

A few years ago I was involved with moving a pair of working narrow boats from Reading to Ellesmere Port. The long daylight hours of August helped considerably, and the first day saw us go from Reading (Tesco) to The Rock of Gibraltar near Enslow Wharf on the Oxford Canal. We were four handed and once on the Oxford Canal the locks needed to be worked twice as we bought the butty through. This was a very long day.

 

When I moved my latest acquisition off the Thames earlier this month we left Reading (between Caversham Lock and Mapledurham Lock - 2 handed) bang on noon and tied up just after 20:00 at Abingdon. It took a further 4.5 hours the following morning to reach the Oxford Canal at the Dukes Cut. Clearly this was running against the stream but will give some indication that passing the Thames in a day is very doable this time of year in a little over 12 hours - and although I was not trying to avoid it I passed several locks before paying.

 

Whichever way you enter the Thames at Oxford please be aware of the rowing boats, not little wooden pleasure boats but racing boats. The rowing eights are not too much trouble as they have a Cox who can see you, but the smaller boats do not and the rowers have their backs to you - and they are blooming fast :captain:

 

edit = we also had the surreal experience of passing through the middle of a sailing dingy race, which is tricky in a 71'6'' ex-working narrow boat, although we were guided through behind a speedboat !

Reading to Gibraltar in a single day is really going some, especially going upstream with a pair. We normally do the Cunning Man to Days Lock in the first day, and that's with an early start, then Days lock to Kings Lock on the second very easy day. The dog likes Kings Lock!  

Really the Thames should be taken slowly and enjoyed but the licence pricing scheme does encourage the "two day dash". Heading downstream we have done Oxford to Reading via Teddington a couple of times and that's most enjoyable.

 

Its not just the rowers to watch out for, Oxford can be full of tourists in the little rowing and motor hire boats and they haven't got a clue what they are doing.

 

...............Dave

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10 minutes ago, dmr said:

Reading to Gibraltar in a single day is really going some, especially going upstream with a pair.

 

...............Dave

That day was about 16 hours or so, but we were on a mission as we only had 6 days to get the pair from Reading to Ellesmere Port. The next day we were tied a couple of locks down Napton at Marston Doles, then Rowington (Lapworth), then bottom of Factory Locks, Tipton (including a 6 hour breakdown at Hockley Heath), then Adderley, then Chester leaving a couple of hours run into Ellesmere Port the following morning.

 

As I said earlier we were 4 handed with the pair, did not jump any queue and closed every lock gate behind us unless left open for an oncoming boat. I do not think we upset any other boater, but I did upset my wife (now ex-wife) as she drove from Bristol to pick me up and then I fell asleep in the car for the entire journey home.

 

Coming up the Oxford Canal earlier this month was the first time I have ever been along it without a butty, the first time being 1981 and the last about 10 years ago with numerous times in between - and this is certainly one of my favourite canals :captain:

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6 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Im dropping out at Brentford with another boat who have never done any river work in their 12 years :blink:..........Yes I know. So as I havnt done the stretch of the Thames from here to Reading for about twenty years so taking it easy and a short say 4/5 hours where would the concensus of opinion be for a first and subsequent moorings be? We would prefer free but dont mind at all paying if there is a greater chance of securing a mooring. We have to be alongside due to getting dog on and off and dodgy knees ? 

Thanks in advance to the panel.

Teddington above the lock, fee payable. Kingston fee payable. Hampton Court, fee payable. Sunbury, maybe fee payable. Walton –On-Thames, free. Weybridge, free.

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On ‎17‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 10:08, Jess-- said:

they do make that lock approach fun, especially when there are several boats for the lock.

 

It was fun pulling our butty through there with the kayak yesterday [from the other thread].  Shortened the rope and made a paddle powered bow thruster

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The first time I went on the Thames in a narrow boat, we were moving via the Oxford-Reading dash on a fast timetable like the OP, and moored overnight at the back of the long lock landing above King's Lock before making an 8:30 start. Operated that ourselves (easy), bought the one day licence at the next lock Godstow which was by then manned, then got to Goring that night and Aldermaston the one after. King's Lock to Goring took us 12 hours including a one hour stop at Abingdon, so I'd recommend doing something similar. A notice in the lock hut window at King's Lock was unclear but seemed to suggest that we were OK to moor overnight, but you could always moor on the canal a few miles north of Wolvercote then make an early start.

 

I haven't boated down the canal through Oxford, but would guess that the route via Duke's Cut and the river is a faster alternative, particularly going south with the flow.

Do look out for the buoys marking the shallows on that stretch and don't cut corners, or your bow will go thud into a sandbank. Also, take care when approaching Godstow Bridge to be nicely lined up for the right hand arch. But in general the non-tidal Thames is not scary when the flow is normal, and as you'll have just come all the way down from Great Haywood to Oxford you and your boat should be fine by then.

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On 20/05/2018 at 15:33, mrsmelly said:

Im dropping out at Brentford with another boat who have never done any river work in their 12 years :blink:..........Yes I know. So as I havnt done the stretch of the Thames from here to Reading for about twenty years so taking it easy and a short say 4/5 hours where would the concensus of opinion be for a first and subsequent moorings be? We would prefer free but dont mind at all paying if there is a greater chance of securing a mooring. We have to be alongside due to getting dog on and off and dodgy knees ? 

Thanks in advance to the panel.

 

 

Teddington Lock overnight fee = yes so motor on to Kingston (or even Hampton Court) = mooring first 24 hours free.

 

Pootle to Shepperton above lock - Docket Eddy Lane.

 

Pootle to Runnymede fields.

 

Try Windsor or go straight to Cliveden

 

Henley and then swan into Reading.

 

Register here (free to get free moorings).

 

https://www.thamesvisitormoorings.co.uk/moorings/

 

 

Fantastic bit of river.

 

Anchor and Life Jacket.

 

 

 

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22 minutes ago, mark99 said:

 

 

Teddington Lock overnight fee = yes so motor on to Kingston (or even Hampton Court) = mooring first 24 hours free.

 

Pootle to Shepperton above lock - Docket Eddy Lane.

 

Pootle to Runnymede fields.

 

Try Windsor or go straight to Cliveden

 

Henley and then swan into Reading.

 

Register here (free to get free moorings).

 

https://www.thamesvisitormoorings.co.uk/moorings/

 

 

Fantastic bit of river.

 

Anchor and Life Jacket.

 

 

 

Stopped  at Teddington last night couldnt be bothered going further. All suggestions have been greatly received. Looked in our diarys and found we actualy hadnt done this little bit since february 93 :blink: so twenty five years not twenty since we last did it. Lovely wevver innitt again lovelysummer so far since march first ?

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30 minutes ago, mark99 said:

 

 

Teddington Lock overnight fee = yes so motor on to Kingston (or even Hampton Court) = mooring first 24 hours free.

 

Pootle to Shepperton above lock - Docket Eddy Lane.

 

Pootle to Runnymede fields.

 

Try Windsor or go straight to Cliveden

 

Henley and then swan into Reading.

 

Register here (free to get free moorings).

 

https://www.thamesvisitormoorings.co.uk/moorings/

 

 

Fantastic bit of river.

 

Anchor and Life Jacket.

 

 

 

You don't have to register with this  New and dubious TVM outfit ,the EA moorings have always been Free for 24 Hours.

TVM uses similarly worded signs to District Enforcement.there is much Objection to this TVM scheme.

 

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25 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

Tim. When do you expect to get onto the K&A?

Hi Martyn

 

Dunno in all honesty? Probably be Reading friday but we are with another boat so it will depend on what they want............they cant get out of bed. Hes a retired pongo so you know what my problems are :rolleyes:Are you still in that neck of the woods?

 

 

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Embarrassingly yes. Although anxious to get off the K&A, we have got ourselves into a rut and tend not to move if we find somewhere pleasant to moor. We are at Tyle Mill. Open fields for the dogs to cause havoc. 

 

We have committed ourselves to meet family at Pangbourne or Goring on this coming Saturday. Also would like to top up Diesel from Ozzie the fuel boat before the Thames. He's been delayed coz a boat decided to have a sleep in a Lock. There's always delays. If you search long enough.

 

Grandson is in the Army at present. Always thought they were early risers, run around a lot, not so it seems. 

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13 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

Embarrassingly yes. Although anxious to get off the K&A, we have got ourselves into a rut and tend not to move if we find somewhere pleasant to moor. We are at Tyle Mill. Open fields for the dogs to cause havoc. 

 

We have committed ourselves to meet family at Pangbourne or Goring on this coming Saturday. Also would like to top up Diesel from Ozzie the fuel boat before the Thames. He's been delayed coz a boat decided to have a sleep in a Lock. There's always delays. If you search long enough.

 

Grandson is in the Army at present. Always thought they were early risers, run around a lot, not so it seems. 

May well see you then :cheers:

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 20/05/2018 at 19:37, pete harrison said:

That day was about 16 hours or so, but we were on a mission as we only had 6 days to get the pair from Reading to Ellesmere Port

That took me 2 and a half years, Kudos

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