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Mooring between Reading and Teddington


Lily Rose

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FWIW where you moored is know as 'The Brocas' - given to the poor of Eton and Windsor ( well there were some in earlier days)! Popular with great white boats who can jump across the bank...

On the return trip the best known place to stop is Better Boating  - RHS after Tesco, big sign.

OR ring Thames Diesel - Chris and his dog on  zero seven 921 694287

 

It is possible to moor on the islands by the railway bridge - can be populated by all sorts of folk...

 

Add: I've never had any problem with diesel declarations at any of the Thames MDL marinas, 80/20 is an accepted split for NBs (not so for large white boats) - but then, they know me as a local.... 

Edited by OldGoat
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17 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

Yes, it is a pretty high bank but it would have been easy enough for me, but impossible for Mrs Lily Rose, even without having a gap. I managed to get the gap reasonably small at the front at the expense of a very large gap at the back.

 

I'm not very well up on diesel prices, having only ever bought it in the marina and paid little attention to the price. However, I thought £1.21 sounded expensive for a 60/40 split without really knowing what it would be at, say, Aynho for comparison or what it would be elsewhere on the river. To be fair, a 60/40 split is reasonable for me as I rarely run the engine without moving and don't have diesel-fired heating or hot water.

 

If my maths are correct that is around 90p per litre base price.  I payed 89p per lite base price at Mercia marina a month ago, which I though was expensive, but of course I did not declare 60/40.  So it is not cheap, but not ludicrously expensive given where it is.

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IIRC the difference between the duty on domestic and propulsion is 53p per litre, so £1.21 at a 60%/40% split would make the domestic price 68p per litre, which is very cheap. 

 

It might be that £1.21 is the base domestic price, making the propulsion element £1.74. That would be a more realistic price for the Thames.

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5 minutes ago, cuthound said:

IIRC the difference between the duty on domestic and propulsion is 53p per litre, so £1.21 at a 60%/40% split would make the domestic price 68p per litre, which is very cheap. 

 

It might be that £1.21 is the base domestic price, making the propulsion element £1.74. That would be a more realistic price for the Thames.

I worked on a difference of 50p, I don’t think even at 53 it would come out at a base price of 68p which as you say would make it very cheap.  Just realised you worked it as 100% propulsion, how generous of you!

 

I was surprised by the price at York marina, in big cruiser territory, which was 84p base any split, so they ar3 not always crazy money as that was cheaper thanMercia marina, which I would have expected would be reasonably priced, but not.

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15 hours ago, mark99 said:

 

 

Trying to think where these are?

Opposite the town pontoon moorings, hard to see the signs

3 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

Tonight we've moored by the field on the left after coming under the railway bridge at Windsor. Not a bad spot to moor (apart from the fair a few hundred yards across the field), worth £8 for the view of the castle straight in front of us. Bit tricky getting in close enough to get off to tie up though, probably about 20 inches deep at the side.

 

By the way, I noticed diesel at Bray Marina was £1.21 (fixed at 60/40 I assume). Is it that sort of price everywhere down here or are there cheaper options? I'm not sure I need any until I dip the tank in a day or two but it would be good to know where's best to fill up on the way back up to Oxford if necessary. 

 

Better Boating, Caversham , Reading for Diesel, Self Declare, don’t know the price, but one of the cheapest. You could also give Chris, fuel boat, a ring 07921694287 and find out if he is about. Abingdon, near the bridge, was also cheap but that was  2 years ago.

Edited by F DRAYKE
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1 hour ago, cuthound said:

IIRC the difference between the duty on domestic and propulsion is 53p per litre, so £1.21 at a 60%/40% split would make the domestic price 68p per litre, which is very cheap. 

 

It might be that £1.21 is the base domestic price, making the propulsion element £1.74. That would be a more realistic price for the Thames.

That is more than likely 

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2 hours ago, OldGoat said:

FWIW where you moored is know as 'The Brocas' - given to the poor of Eton and Windsor ( well there were some in earlier days)! Popular with great white boats who can jump across the bank...

On the return trip the best known place to stop is Better Boating  - RHS after Tesco, big sign.

OR ring Thames Diesel - Chris and his dog on  zero seven 921 694287

 

It is possible to moor on the islands by the railway bridge - can be populated by all sorts of folk...

 

Add: I've never had any problem with diesel declarations at any of the Thames MDL marinas, 80/20 is an accepted split for NBs (not so for large white boats) - but then, they know me as a local.... 

He was 95p earlier this month and Bray were £1.21 two years ago http://diesel.fibrefactory.co.uk/

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Thanks for all the info on diesel. I'll dip my tank in the morning to assess when I'll need refueling. I remember passing Better Boating when I came down through Reading so if I need any fuel I'll go there on the way back, assuming I won't be crossing paths with Chris at some point.

 

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Dipped the tank this morning and had only used 27% from Calcutt to Windsor so I'll check again before Reading on the way back up and decide whether to stop at Better Boating or leave it till later.

 

Tried mooring at Laleham Abbey at the only spot I could see that would take a 45' narrowboat without getting tangled in trees but it was too shallow to manage easily so I gave up and moved on to Dockett Eddy instead. Easy to moor and seems to be a really nice spot.

 

 

 

 

 

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My current plan is to go on to Teddington Lock tomorrow and moor overnight before starting back on Friday.

 

A few questions come to mind...

 

1. Is it always possible to find an overnight mooring for a narrowboat above Teddington lock?

 

2. How difficult is it likely to be to find a mooring in Kingston for 2 nights (Friday and Saturday)?  We may want to arrange for some London-based relatives to come over for the day on Saturday and Kingston is the most convenient point for them.

 

3. If we move over the weekend how much harder is it likely to be to find mooring space when, presumably, many boats will be coming out of local marinas to enjoy this weekend's good weather?

 

Thanks.

 

 

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21 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

My current plan is to go on to Teddington Lock tomorrow and moor overnight before starting back on Friday.

 

A few questions come to mind...

 

1. Is it always possible to find an overnight mooring for a narrowboat above Teddington lock?

 

2. How difficult is it likely to be to find a mooring in Kingston for 2 nights (Friday and Saturday)?  We may want to arrange for some London-based relatives to come over for the day on Saturday and Kingston is the most convenient point for them.

 

3. If we move over the weekend how much harder is it likely to be to find mooring space when, presumably, many boats will be coming out of local marinas to enjoy this weekend's good weather?

 

Thanks.

 

 

Not been below Windsor on the boat, hope to rectify that setting off in a couple of week if the Oxford holds up, but I have been to Teddington lock by car, and there is a lot of mooring specs on the approach to the lock, at least a dozon boats worth if I am remembering correctly.

 

Around Winsor we found moving at the weekend very congested, and queues for the locks and loads of boats crammed in.  If you have the time to moor up on the weekend I would say it would be more relaxing, that is what we would plan to do.

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 Kingston has a bit of a reputation, lots of Cmers / CIgnorers around including one Trotman and his ilk.

Hampton Court is much nicer and the Palace - after a poor implementation by The Car parking company - allow free mooring (my info is a month or so out of date). There's a railway station nearby.

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I'll see what Hampton Court and Kingston look like on the way to Teddington tomorrow and then decide where we'd like to moor for Friday and Saturday nights before moving off again sometime on Sunday. Our experience of busy times and places on the canals has led me to believe it starts quietening down during Sunday as the weekenders head back into their marinas. Hopefully that will be the case on the river as well by the time we are looking to moor up.

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Mooring in Kingston is always OK, the best moorings are on the Hampton Court bank near Kingston Bridge - not many there but there's always space on the Surbiton bank a bit further upstream. I've never had problems at Teddington (£7 I think though) Cheers

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52 minutes ago, DavidPeckham said:

Mooring in Kingston is always OK, the best moorings are on the Hampton Court bank near Kingston Bridge - not many there but there's always space on the Surbiton bank a bit further upstream. I've never had problems at Teddington (£7 I think though) Cheers

 

Thanks for that, gives me a couple of options to look out for as we go past today.

 

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Yes there is always space at Teddington as it's a long stretch of bollards and you have to pay each night (no free first night like other EA moorings). You can stay 3 days at Hampton court though (first night free then £5 per night) or also plenty of spots in Kingston on either side of river. :)

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Update...

 

Thursday night, moored at Stevens Eyot, just past Kingston railway bridge. TVM-managed, 1st night free then 2 nights at £5 each if required.

 

Friday night, moored on bollards at Teddington. Lots of space when we arrived before lunch, full up, and with a couple of breasted up boats, by early evening. 24 hours only according to the lockkeeper. Overnight is £7 for boats up to 12 metres (39 feet?). We are 45 foot so it was £9.50.

 

Today/tonight we are moored just upstream from Kingston bridge on the Hampton Court Park side. This is being managed by DE (Distric Enforcement), as is the one just below Hampton Court bridge. It is free for 24 hours then subsequent 24 hour periods, up to a maximum of a further four periods, are £8 each for boats up to 60 feet but £16 for longer boats. If you don't register you get a penalty notice for £100 and this goes up by £100 each day until it is paid. The signs are very clear about this and I was told by a gin palace boater that it is patrolled and enforced. He also told me you have to phone as website registering won't work. I believed this as I had also read this on the forum. However, registering by phone was unsatisfactory due to menu options and only an answering machine rather than a human being answering the call. So I tried online and it worked. I didn't think it would as the button to "Book Now" (I think it was labelled), near the top of the page, just took me back to the list of moorings. Second time around I ignored this as I had spotted a button labelled something like Book and Pay Now, much further down the page. This one works and takes you to a Parkonomy page where you login (or register) and then register your arrival. I promptly received an invoice for £0.00 which was marked PAID.

 

 

Edited by Lily Rose
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3 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

Update...

 

Thursday night, moored at Stevens Eyot, just past Kingston railway bridge. TVM-managed, 1st night free then 2 nights at £5 each if required.

 

Friday night, moored on bollards at Teddington. Lots of space when we arrived before lunch, full up, and with a couple of breasted up boats, by early evening. 24 hours only according to the lockkeeper. Overnight is £7 for boats up to 12 metres (39 feet?). We are 45 foot so it was £9.50.

 

Today/tonight we are moored just upstream from Kingston bridge on the Hampton Court Park side. This is being managed by DE (Distric Enforcement), as is the one just below Hampton Court bridge. It is free for 24 hours then subsequent 24 hour periods, up to a maximum of a further four periods, are £8 each for boats up to 60 feet but £16 for longer boats. If you don't register you get a penalty notice for £100 and this goes up by £100 each day until it is paid. The signs are very clear about this and I was told by a gin palace boater that it is patrolled and enforced. He also told me you have to phone as website registering won't work. I believed this as I had also read this on the forum. However, registering by phone was unsatisfactory due to menu options and only an answering machine rather than a human being answering the call. So I tried online and it worked. I didn't think it would as the button to "Book Now" (I think it was labelled), near the top of the page, just took me back to the list of moorings. Second time around I ignored this as I had spotted a button labelled something like Book and Pay Now, much further down the page. This one works and takes you to a Parkonomy page where you login (or register) and then register your arrival. I promptly received an invoice for £0.00 which was marked PAID.

 

 

That's interesting as the Palace informed me that charges were suspended because the phone line didn't work. So, either they've bee bullied or DE is doing another sharp practice move (I don't mind paying - as in TVM which is well managed) but DE are a get rich quick shower...

I'll ring the Palace next week to see what their view is.   

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I spoke to someone on a white boat as they were leaving this afternoon, having been here 24 hours. She said someone did come round checking boats this morning. Didn't say who they were. This is consistent with what the gin palace skipper told me this morning. He was also of the opinion that the EA favour DE over TVM as the former check and enforce whilst the latter don't/can't. True or not, I have no idea. He also said the lack of information and the confusion/overlap was a shambles (I expect we all agree on that!) and even the lockeepers don't know what's going on.

 

Edit to add...

It would be interesting to have the view of the palace. Even more interesting would be knowing what the EA are intending to do given that, as far as I can tell, most or all of the DE Moorings are listed on both the TVM and DE websites.

Edited by Lily Rose
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20 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

I spoke to someone on a white boat as they were leaving this afternoon, having been here 24 hours. She said someone did come round checking boats this morning. Didn't say who they were. This is consistent with what the gin palace skipper told me this morning. He was also of the opinion that the EA favour DE over TVM as the former check and enforce whilst the latter don't/can't. True or not, I have no idea. He also said the lack of information and the confusion/overlap was a shambles (I expect we all agree on that!) and even the lockeepers don't know what's going on.

 

Edit to add...

It would be interesting to have the view of the palace. Even more interesting would be knowing what the EA are intending to do given that, as far as I can tell, most or all of the DE Moorings are listed on both the TVM and DE websites.

Before DE touted and won the business the Parks Police monitored the whole of Barge Walk and collected fees (as appropriate)

Then DE stepped in, however, there was a problem with their phone system (still is) and the Palace stated to me that there would be no charge until the matter was sorted- I know no more. Whoever checked  the boats (above) could well be the Police as previously.

AFAIK, TVM  are checking moorings and collecting fees. If folks refuse they are referred to EA for further action

TVM is waiting on EA for a decision, but is still continuing to patrol.  There is continued anger / annoyance over the state of EA local management in general amongst active boaters.

TVM set up their scheme in consultation with EA so their apparent volte face is disgraceful - if true - as there's no communication with TVM

Shambles and blood come to mind.....

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