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Mooring between Reading and Teddington


Lily Rose

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5 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.

 

 

Thanks for the Info. it is as we Feared Draconian measures are being used so will avoid TVM/DE sites in future .have never had a problem with mooring operators during a period of over 50 Years boating on the Thames but these new measures are a step too far and should be stopped forthwith.A letter of complaint to EA seems essential.

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Hampton Court update...

 

5 minutes ago I was about to set off when along came a Park Ranger van. Checking boats I thought, but odd if it's DE running it so I spoke to him.

 

He was replacing signs that had been torn down and confirmed that DE are running it and that they do the checks. His view was that the palace should take it back and that this was being considered but following a recent meeting DE have been given one more chance.

 

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1 hour ago, Lily Rose said:

Hampton Court update...

 

5 minutes ago I was about to set off when along came a Park Ranger van. Checking boats I thought, but odd if it's DE running it so I spoke to him.

 

He was replacing signs that had been torn down and confirmed that DE are running it and that they do the checks. His view was that the palace should take it back and that this was being considered but following a recent meeting DE have been given one more chance.

 

That's a shame. The DE man is very persuasive - after all he's a salesman... I've no objection to paying. However a system that only can be used if you have a laptop of a large smartphone on a contract  ( i.e. web enabled) is hugely unreasonable.  I reckon the phone system is deliberately kept unworkable because it costs money to run, but a website is much, much cheaper, so the former is under resourced. Smart eh? 

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16 hours ago, cereal tiller said:

Thanks for the Info. it is as we Feared Draconian measures are being used so will avoid TVM/DE sites in future .have never had a problem with mooring operators during a period of over 50 Years boating on the Thames but these new measures are a step too far and should be stopped forthwith.A letter of complaint to EA seems essential.

Don't tar DE and TVM with the same brush. DE are bully boys and their system is unworkable unless by web access. TVN is more professional and his phone works.

Trust the boater worked well until folks abused the system and waited until they were chased off - se everyone now suffers. 

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I had to stay a few days longer at Hampton court last year due to a breakdown and it was a hassle having to go and queue at the palace ticket office each morning for another ticket. But I also don't like this outsourcing to car parking agencies

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1 hour ago, Dave123 said:

I had to stay a few days longer at Hampton court last year due to a breakdown and it was a hassle having to go and queue at the palace ticket office each morning for another ticket. But I also don't like this outsourcing to car parking agencies

It's a shame that a number of boaters (I use that term loosely...)  have abused all sorts of moorings on the Thames to such an extent that RBC had to employ bully boy tactics to remove what was a problem for them.

No external company is going to make any money out of managing moorings unless the rate is high and/or by extracting 'fines' Not everyone is 'smart phone enabled' and I'm not going to cart a laptop around just because the operator is deliberately making his phone system inoperable.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Our 31 days on the Thames have now finished and we will be heading back up from Oxford to Napton Junction over the next couple of weeks starting tomorrow, Tuesday 21 August.

 

For the record, here is a list of all our overnight moorings during our 31 day trip on the Thames from Oxford to Teddington and return in a 45 foot narrowboat. My observation was that mooring places seemed easier to find on the return leg, probably because I had become less fussy/ more adventurous by then.

 

We probably averaged about 3 hours cruising per day, we rarely exceeded 1500 revs, most other boats overtook us (not just the white ones) and we used less than a litre of fuel per hour. We were in no hurry. We topped up with diesel at Better Boating, although this was almost certainly unnecessary.

 

GOING DOWNSTREAM

 

Day 1 (21/7/18) EA mooring above Abingdon lock, FREE
Day 2 as above, £5
Day 3 Abingdon RHS (Abbey Meadow) FREE
Day 4 as above FREE
Day 5 on LHS just above Days Lock, great view of hill, £5
Day 6 Wallingford on RHS just before bridge £7
Day 7 Beale Park FREE
Day 8 EA mooring above Sonning lock FREE
Day 9 EA mooring Wargrave Lashbrooke FREE
Day 10 EA mooring LHS Marlow FREE (before little wooden bridge, after that it's the park at £13!)
Day 11 Windsor LHS meadow, great view of castle straight ahead, £8
Day 12 Dockett Eddy FREE

Day 13 EA mooring Steven's Eyot, below Kingston Bridge FREE
Day 14 Teddington, bollards on approach to lock £9.50 (£7 boats under 13 metres)

 

RETURNING UPSTREAM

 

Day 15 Kingston, Hampton Court side above Kingston Bridge FREE 1st night (DE so must register!)
Day 16 EA mooring Walton Towpath FREE
Day 17 Staines, small wooden landing stage RHS between railway and road bridges FREE
Day 18 Windsor, behind Baths Island £8
Day 19 RHS a few hundred yards above Bray Lock (look for sandbagged bank) FREE
Day 20 Cookham, Marsh Meadow £6
Day 21 EA mooring, Marlow (as per day 10) FREE

Day 22 Hallsmead Ait, round the back, not in main channel FREE
Day 23 EA mooring, Sonning (as per day eight).   FREE.     ?    ?
Day 24 Pangbourne Meadow FREE
Day 25 "2 boat clearing" on LHS about 1/2 mile upstream from Cleeve lock FREE
Day 26 meadow on LHS about 3/4 mile upstream from Days Lock FREE
Day 27 "1 boat clearing" on RHS side just downstream of the entrance to Abingdon Marina FREE
Day 28 Abingdon, RHS opposite the church FREE
Day 29 Abingdon (as per day 28) FREE
Day 30 EA mooring, East Street, Oxford FREE

 

Total number of nights paid for was 7 at a total cost of £48.50.

 

Arrivals at all EA moorings were registered on line at

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

 

LHS = Left Hand Side
RHS = Right Hand Side
EA = Environment Agency

DE = District Enforcement

 

Edited by Lily Rose
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That's great - so the Thames is not so much of a money pit as folks would immagine.

It is quite possible to spend less - or even nothing at all by using some less salubrious moorings without offending any landowners.

Quite apart from its booking facility TVM's website is a mine of good quality information to help you plan your trip

Edited by OldGoat
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We were on the thames last year for 2 weeks and only paid at Windsor...where I was asked for cash before I had got tied up! ...I think it helped that it was before easter so it was quiet.

 

Found the TVM website very easy to use and good communication when I queried the lechlade mooring...(nothing to tie to & all concrete!) We purposely avoided the DE moorings.

 

It does take a bit more planning than the cut & having done it once we’ve a better idea of what to expect but I’d happily return. 

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Heading downstream just after Staines road bridge on the right you have the Swan hotel with a renovated pontoon outside.

Straight after that is a good/quieter mooring between a couple of trees which is free for 24 hours and a fiver a night for a couple of nights after that. Some new signs - last couple of weeks - have gone up neither of which are of the TVM/DE flavour, including a "Do not create wash" one which is hard to spot as you charge past...

Just after that is another mooring point.

Outside the white flats is another 24 hour only mooring point. All of these are a bit quieter than the other side of the river especially on a weekend. They were a bit overgrown before but were cleared and should stay that way with a bit of use.

 

Most will know of these moorings but perhaps not the additional signage.

Edited by Paringa
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  • 1 month later...

We are on the Hampton Court moorings at the moment.  It is still being run by District Enforcement, the sign is quite clear and the web site worked perfectly on my phone, and I was able to register and get an email booking confirmation for £0.00.  So whilst it don’t like having to do this, the advantage was that when we arrived at 5pm there were, and still are, just 3 other boats here (so room for loads more).  That is in contrast with every other nonregulated mooring spot between here and Sheperton being filled with encampments of CM’ers, so you have no chance of mooring.  The TVM managed sites were also empty, but to be honest despite what you would think the right hand side going downstream looked a bit rough to me and not so sure I would want to moor there anyway.

 

On the deisel pricing, the signs at the two marinas above Windsor both had it as £1.21,  so gave it a miss.  Coming back on the Wey I called the marina at Pyrford and their deisel prive was £1.21 at 60/40 split but they would do any split other than zero propulsion.  I don’t think they do themselves any favour be quoting their price like this at all as it makes it sound expensive.  I was able to use the split I wanted and the domestic price comes out at 90p which is actually cheaper than Better Boating in Reading (92p).  Given I think Pryford marina is in the same group as at least one of the big marinas near Windsor, I do wonder if their £1.21 price is also at 60/40 split, and if they will do any split then they also are not expensive for the Thames.

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37 minutes ago, john6767 said:

Coming back on the Wey I called the marina at Pyrford and their deisel prive was £1.21 at 60/40 split but they would do any split other than zero propulsion.

36 minutes ago, john6767 said:

 I was able to use the split I wanted and the domestic price comes out at 90p which is actually cheaper than Better Boating in Reading (92p).

'Marked gas oil at the rebated rate may continue to be used for purposes other than propulsion such as for heating, lighting and powering appliances such as fridges.'

 

We tend to travel most days, not saying in one place for long, but only travel 3-4 hours per day.  A lot of people, me included tend to go for an 80/20 split - but in this long hot summer it is difficult to argue that most of the diesel is used on heating - certainly the eberspascher  for heating has not been used.  But in terms of the engine charging the battery which is then used for Fridge TV, hot water and lights ( LEDs) how does anyone know how much is used?  

 

 

 

 

 

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16 minutes ago, Tanglewood said:

'Marked gas oil at the rebated rate may continue to be used for purposes other than propulsion such as for heating, lighting and powering appliances such as fridges.'

 

We tend to travel most days, not saying in one place for long, but only travel 3-4 hours per day.  A lot of people, me included tend to go for an 80/20 split - but in this long hot summer it is difficult to argue that most of the diesel is used on heating - certainly the eberspascher  for heating has not been used.  But in terms of the engine charging the battery which is then used for Fridge TV, hot water and lights ( LEDs) how does anyone know how much is used?  

 

 

 

 

 

Not easy, but if you think 60/40 matches your usage then declare that.  The end cost is down to your declaration, but I think some people are not doing the maths correctly when they see prices quoted as £X at 60/40, and I don’t know why a marina would choose to quote it like that, when it is clearer to quote the base (domestic) price.  But I raised it to point out that the price on the Thames is not necessarily that high, compared it some canal marinas, and in the big picture of costs does not make much difference.

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On 21/08/2018 at 11:15, frangar said:

We were on the thames last year for 2 weeks and only paid at Windsor...where I was asked for cash before I had got tied up! ...I think it helped that it was before easter so it was quiet.

 

Found the TVM website very easy to use and good communication when I queried the lechlade mooring...(nothing to tie to & all concrete!) We purposely avoided the DE moorings.

 

It does take a bit more planning than the cut & having done it once we’ve a better idea of what to expect but I’d happily return. 

we were on there for around 8 weeks last year and three weeks this year (anywhere from Lechlade down to Brentford), only ever paid at Windsor (Brocas every time)

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