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| Good Morning Sunshine |
There is plenty of eye-candy cruising on the River Thames. I’m
talking grand old houses, boat houses in a sizable garden (the garden was
asking for it!) where the river laps its banks, leafy weeping willow trees,
flower pot pubs with moorings, and the list goes on.
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| Hotel Boat. Look out canoeists |
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| Kiwi cottage?? |
The Thames banks of Bray property have cloned wooden launches
that look perfect for powering sedately across the river to visit the
neighbours, lunch at the pub, or attract the paparazzi to shoot photos of one
Aussie as he voyaged towards Her Majesty’s lock up.....
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| Example of a wooden launch at Bray |
The ‘Yoghurt Pot’ aka ‘Tupperware’ aka ‘Plastic’ abounds on
the River Thames. The rental variety has a pseudo French name (Le Boat) and is
a high-rise water holiday at speed. The happy people will wave as they tear
past us slow paced steels! The privately owned ‘cloud dusters’ are not
outwardly friendly to steel and are rumoured to avoid sharing the ‘self service’
Lock by shutting the Lock Gates as the shapely Bow of steel approaches. The
fear of a-steel ‘kissing’ a-plastic might have disastrous consequences......
From Teddington to Sheepwash Channel in Oxford is a total of
94 ¼ miles (where are the kilometres in this country?) and 23 Locks. It really
didn’t feel like 23 Locks but the book says it is! Past Reading, many Locks
appear to have ‘Self-Service’ notice in situ. The Locks with a Lock Keeper full
up with water quickly (We were going up all the way!) and a fast full means a
strong hold is needed to keep the boat close to the Lock wall. It is surprising
how much the thick boat rope stretches when under tension. (Any physics bod
will know how this occurs. Me and physics are not close friends.) The self
service locks are on slow fill mode. One unattended Lock had canoe school
practising in the Lock pound which is totally unsafe as boats cruise into that
area to moor for the Lock as do craft exiting the Lock! The instructor was not
happy with us for suggesting he act responsibly and not train kids in that
danger zone.
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| Hampton Court Palace |
Mooring on the R. Thames is different to the Canal. To get
information about moorings on the Thames is like getting water out of a stone.
There are moorings and if you a R. Thames-phile you will know where you can get
the freebies. We loved the 24 hour free mooring, officially sign posted at
Hampton Court. We got the last mooring and had to ‘wind’ DB to face in the
opposite direction so we could safely disembark off her stern. We didn’t like
the Mississippi Style Stern Wheeler tourist Boat that went past twice every
daylight hour. It caused us to lurch and curse. That is DB lurched. I suppose
it was helpful in people not overstaying their mooring. Della was happy to have
Hampton Court Park as her playground at our doorstep and she came alive with
her green tennis ball play and meeting all the people walking by. The next
morning on Della’s pre-breakfast walk, an inquisitive worker man stepped out
from behind the high plastic barrier to enquire about Della and her breed.
Obviously he recognised quality and I am talking about Della. Having answered
his questions I said I wanted to take a photo of Hampton Court Palace and he said I could
step behind the barrier to get an unobstructed picture.
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| Hampton Court Palace |
Then it was back to DB, untie and head up river in the
direction of Windsor. We met briefly with Bubbles, a friend of Chris, at Walton-on-Thames
and walked into town to fill our trolleys with disposable ballast i.e. stock up
DB’s pantry. That evening we found a free mooring at Runnymede and had another
park on our doorstep. Della was up for more Ball chasing and catching. She
really likes to catch the ball and her tail wags frantically when she hears the
words Catch, Fetch, More? She is not
always reliable with fetching the ball and will, sometimes, stubbornly stand
there when the ball thrower has done the long throw!! Catching the ball has 100%
Della involvement.
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| Don't just talk about the Green Ball..... |
Windsor is 5 miles from our mooring in Runnymede and we
stopped near The Bells of Ouzeley in Old Windsor to pick up Phil for the short
trip into Windsor and down Memory Lane for Chris.
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| Phil's waiting |
Between Albert and Victoria
Bridges we got views of Windsor Palace in the distance.
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| Windsor Palace |
The towpath loses
contact with the Thames River for less than ½ a mile in the vicinity of the
Palace grounds. In Windsor, itself, moorings were mostly taken and it was no
possible to squash 68ft into 50ft but we found a perfect spot as it happens and
we could assemble the canopies. We didn’t expect moorings to be free in this
location and it was within the hour that we got a ring on DB’s bell. Yes we could
stay at this mooring and an official receipt was given for Windsor Riverside
Mooring £8 per 24 hours which included discounted entry to Windsor Leisure
Centre.
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| Windsor mooring |
No problem. I could walk into town and Della had another green space
for her Ball work-out. She, also, took herself across the park to see if any
picnic people had housework opportunities for her. In fact we didn’t notice her
missing until we put up the canopies Where’s
Della? A sharp clear finger whistle from Chris always gets Della racing back
to him. In her younger days she was rewarded with a tasty treat....Pavlov’s
dog!!
Next day we had rain but Thames cruising meant the canopies
could stay up and we could keep dry as we moved along. Tee hee!!! Phil’s
fleeting visit was over and he walked into the midday cloud and we untied our
ropes and headed to Cookham. No particular interest to stay in Cookham but the
light of day is only so long.
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| Cookham mooring |
The only available moorings were just past the
Sewage works and we moored by a friendly privately owned high-rise ‘plastic’.
It turns out we were officially in Marsh Meadow and moorings were £5 per 24
hours and £1 more as a steel boat! I was not impressed. It was a high bank and
no poles or rings to tie on to. Am I expecting too much?
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| What happened to the light of the silvery moon? |
The River Thames was slowly losing its appeal. We pay for a short-period
license to use the R. Thames. A 7 day license is £79 and a further 2 day
license was £44.50. Yes the longer the time you spend on the R. Thames the
cheaper it is. The automated locks are fantastic and the Lock Keepers and
Volunteers are, in general, helpful and understanding. Well worth paying a
license for. The moorings are a different kettle of fish.
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| Mooring fee sign |
After Cookham we put in a long cruise to get us closer to
Henley-on-Thames. We knew there would be a mooring fee collected in Henley so
pulled in for the night alongside a field between Medmenham and Hambleden where
a Public Footpath and the towpath are and on every tree by the river a cheap
sign is hammered stating Mooring £6 per day. We arrived late in the day and
moored up and were very reluctant to pay for a site if someone turned up, which
they did. I ignored their first attempt at making contact with us. The second attempt
I answered the door and queried the collector from S.R.B Moorings. Why do you charge a mooring fee and what do
you do for the fee? He responded in a surly way stating he collects mooring
fees for Westfield Farm. He has been doing it since the 80’s and thank you good
evening. Next day as we cruised through Henley-on-Thames S.R.B Moorings were
ubiquitous with their mooring signs. It has left a bad taste in my mouth. I
would be happier to pay a rural fee if you could look like you are not just a
back shed bloke and put a few rings or posts in the ground to make the moorings
fit for purpose. You don’t get the thumbs up from me.
We found 5 out of the 8 moorings we used on our voyage to
Oxford were free. Above Sonning Lock is 24 hour free mooring as is Beale Park
between Mapledurham (I like that name) and Goring Locks, and Culham Cut before
Abingdon. Abingdon also has free 24 hour moorings but can be busy if you are
not there before 1500 hrs!
We have cruised the R.Thames from Reading to Dukes
Cut in 2011 on our first voyage on Nb Avalon Mist from Devises on the Kennet and Avon Canal to destination Mercia Marina, Trent and Mersey Canal.
This time, on DB, we enjoyed the easy river cruise at the wheel.
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| Sometimes I steer and can take a photo at the same time! |
Even I enjoyed taking the wheel from time to time. I know one day
it is our plan to cruise the Thames to the head of the navigation at Lechlade and
I would certainly enjoy doing the trip to Reading to get to the Kennet and Avon
Canal. Back on the R. Thames I would
motor it from Sonning to Runnymede and Runnymede to Hampton Court. The tidal
Thames is a repeatable experience. Brentford to Limehouse return is on the
cards.
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| Park dreamer |
Now the Oxford Canal beckons.
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