FUN TIMES AT THE LOCKS

 

Sunset on the Thames

We did spend a couple of days in Brentford, and as a treat the Captain took me back to the Black Dog for tea, and I was right the food was lovely.

We moved down the lock and onto the pontoons in readiness for our trip on the Thames and were joined by NB Whats the Hurry for the night.

What’s the Hurry and a new arrival set off before us ,and when we arrived at the big river lock they had already been locked down by the Lock keeper, so we were ‘billy no mates’, not that we were bothered.

The River Thames is probably the best known of the UK rivers, mainly because it runs through London. It is 235miles long, rises in the Cotswold and flows into the North sea. In the past it was the main way into London for the rich and powerful, and that is why dotted along its banks are historic houses such as Hampton Court and Windsor castle.

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Thames

The locks are huge river locks, and they are either operated by lock keepers or if you have to do them yourself, they are all electric and everything is done with the push of a button. If a lock keeper is on duty I have to hold the boat steady with the bowline, whilst Captain hold the back of the boat with our stern line. If I am operating the lock then the Captain uses the centre line to achieve the same.

Our intent was to get to Walton on Thames. The first part of the journey took us on the tidal part of the river through the outskirts of London with all its huge buildings and bridges. It was an early start as we had to catch the tide, and at the first lock, Teddington, we had to buy our licence, as the Thames is run by the Environment Agency and our CRT licence does not cover it. It should have cost £86 but I think the Lock Keeper calculated our size wrong and it cost us £64 for the week.

The Thames after Teddington is beautiful and non tidal, and it remains so all the way up to Oxford and beyond. Huge houses dot the banks and its very much the case of ‘who lives in a house like this’. Including Hampton Court which you get a great view of from the river.

We did 4 locks that day, a mixture of self service which was indicated by a blue sign as you approached the lock, or lock keeper on duty which was a white sign.

I soon got back into the swing of things.

The moorings at Walton were very good, a grassed area and just the right height for stepping off the boat. We took a walk into the town and were impressed by the number of shops and restaurants. There are quite a few pubs as well, but we only tried the George Inn, a locals pub, but as expected nothing for the Captain. Then we decided to go and sit by the river at the Anglers, as if we hadn’t seen enough water. Much preferred this pub and the food looked good.

https://www.heritagepubs.co.uk/anglers-walton-on-thames

The weather wasn’t great next day and after 3 locks which we shared with NB Jenoria, with Peter and David on board, we decided to stop at Staines, once again the moorings were great, a walk into the town and impressed again. There is a Lidl here, so handy for shopping and we tried the Thames Side Brewery Tap, The Captain did find something in here not surprisingly.

https://thamessidebrewery.co.uk/

The locks came thick and fast next day with 7 to do, its hard to remember which had lock keepers and which didn’t, and I was happy to help out when other boats were using them. Our aim was to get to Cookham, somewhere we haven;t stopped before, and again we were happy with the moorings, although we did get charged £8 for the night. Charging for mooring is not that unusual on the Thames, but previous nights we had found 24hr free moorings. A walk into the town and again impressed with the variety of shops and restaurants, and of course pubs. We tried the Kings Arms first, it was pleasant, then onto the Bel & the Dragon, this was our favourite, then the Ferry, not so nice but a great spot by the river.

https://www.belandthedragon.co.uk/cookham

The lady collecting the mooring fees knocked quite early next day, but we paid happily and set off as we wanted to get to Henley before the bank holiday rush started.

It was at these 4 locks we had the most fun, more boats moving means meeting new people and lots of chatting and banter.

At the first lock just below Marlow we were surprised to see 4 rowing skulls waiting to go in the lock, these boats don’t usually go into locks so I went to see what was happening, actually in the lock was NB Jenoria, 2 pilot boats, and eventually all 4 skulls. A man was running round organising everyone, he turned out to be the lock keeper. The Captain came up as well, and looked on in amazement that this was actually happening. But they got everyone safely up and out of the lock. Apparently its a regular occurrence, but we had never seen anything like it.

Rowers in the Lock

At the next lock there seemed to be a problem and I jumped off to see what was occurring. A lock keeper had just turned up, not a very happy chappy as it was his day off, but they were short staffed so needs must. Due to a problem there were quite a few boats waiting, but it was a big lock so he soon had boats moving. Whilst we waited I chatted to the crew from Jenoria (again) and Sultan’s, a mid sized cruiser. The Captain chatted with the other boaters on the pontoon. The lock keeper soon had everything sorted and everyone on their way.

I turned into the lock keeper at the next lock, locking boats up and down in a timely fashion. It was great fun and everyone was very thankful of my help.

We got to Henley and found good moorings, there was a sign, which said Regatta moorings £15per night but nothing else (this is important for later). We had a walk into town and found a great micro pub Echos down a side street,(well spotted Captain), they had a very moorish coconut chocolate stout on, and a very hoppy lager for me.

https://www.phantombrew.com/pages/henley

Then we tried Stable 34, another dark in here, think in was a stout as it was only described as black, it may have been by Marlow brewery but can’t be sure. I spotted the Captain and crew from the cruiser Sultan’s, and they came in and had a chat, turned out they had only had the boat for 6 weeks and were very thankful for our help at the locks.

Called in at the Bull on Bell Street to finish off the afternoon, very nice.

https://www.bullonbell.co.uk/

An early start next day as we wanted to get to Goring, stopping at Tesco at Reading on the way for shopping. We were waved down by the water bailiff in his little boat as we cruised through the town. He said we hadn’t paid and should have paid on line, but when we tried to explain the sign hadn’t said anything about online payment he insisted it did, but we knew it didn’t, well not the ones we had seen, we know some other moorings do but not these, but he wouldn’t have it. The Captain started to get a little annoyed and almost said he wouldn’t pay, but eventually got his wallet out and off we went. Grumbling all the way to Reading.

After 6 locks and not so much fun we made it to Goring. The moorings here weren’t so good for a narrowboat and I had to climb a ladder to get off, not my favourite exercise. But the pull of the pub was greater than my dislike of ladders. We tried both pubs, the Catherine Wheel, a lovely old pub with an interesting looking menu, and then the Miller of Mansfield, not so impressed but ok.

https://www.tcwgoring.co.uk

We were going to split the cruise to Abingdon over 2 days as we had time to kill, but the weather forecast changed our mind and we did it in 1 day. Good mooring here and free for 3days. We walked into the town to the Brewery Tap, we had been here before and knew there would be a stout on for the Captain, and he wasn’t disappointed.

https://www.thebrewerytap.net/#camra-poty

A quiet day on the boat tomorrow, then Wednesday we will be off the river and back on the narrow canals.

And we have seen our first kingfishers of the seasons.

Kingfisher

99miles and 35 river locks.