A grey start, but a brighter finish.

Overnight rain had passed over by this morning, but it’s legacy was a grey, breezy morning.

The last bend we came around last evening is very shallow, in fact we touched bottom as I cut it a little close. We weren’t the only ones. A cruiser cut it closer than us, and went hard aground. Luckily Imperial Princess was on hand to give them a tow off.

Rescue operation.
We were off this morning at 08:30, arriving at Benson Lock about 30 minutes later. Just as the lock keeper came on duty. I had a chat with him while he filled the lock, it turns out he comes from Bradford, but now lives down here on his Dutch barge near Goring.
He told me something I hadn’t realised; all the water level management on the river is done by hand. Each lockie is responsible for maintaining the head of water at his respective station, keeping in touch with those above and below on the navigation.
The system in use at Rushey Lock that I commented on earlier and that I now know uses “Rimers and Paddles” is the earliest type, later ones use rotating gate sluices, similar in operation (but not scale!) to those on the Thames Barrier.
Thanks for the info, Ian.
I’ve found that most of the guys on the locks, if asked, will give you any amount of information. In fact it’s difficult to shut them up sometimes. We found the same on the River Weaver. These people are inordinately proud of their jobs, and delighted to share their enthusiasm and experience.

Benson Lock

Wallingford Bridge is the next major landmark, with the ornate pierced spire of the church alongside.
The first stone bridge was built here in about 1250, and has been rebuilt and modified several times since.
In 1646, during the Civil War, four arches were removed and substituted by wooden drawbridges. It was restored in stone 100 years later, then had to be extensively repaired in 1812 following flood damage to 5 arches.

Gatehampton railway bridge, built by Brunel in 1839.
Just south of here the river cuts through the Goring Gap, with the Berkshire downs on the left bank and the Chiltern Hills to the right. It drops through Cleeve and Goring locks in quick succession, the first locks after a long 6½ mile pound.

Through the Gap to Cleeve Lock
And the picturesque weir alongside at Goring Lock.

Still sandwiched between the hills, the river winds past Beale Park, site of the Thames Boat Show, and home of the wildlife sanctuary.

Near Beale Park.
There’re some excellent moorings here against the water meadows on the right bank.

A ¾ mile broad reach, past some fine houses on the Pangbourne/Streatley main road, ends at the wide weir next to Whitchurch Lock.
We’ve not seem many sad looking craft on the Thames, it must not be “the done thing”. So this boat, “Triad”, was a surprise. And a shame, I hope she’s being refitted.

Triad
Approaching Whitchurch Lock and weir.
It would be quite hairy getting onto the lock landing in flood conditions; it sticks out across the weir stream.

After the lock we pulled over for the night, on Pangbourne Meadow, administered by the National Trust. It’s a popular spot, there’re a few boats here tonight.
I had a walk up into Pangbourne, with Meg, this afternoon. It’s a useful stop for supplies, with a Somerfield, Post Office, Fish and Chip shop (called The Laughing Haddock!) and a handy DIY shop. A pity it’s got a busy main road running through it.

There's a lot of Thames info on this excellent website, check it out.

Locks 4, miles 12½

More boats and through some posh bits.

Well, the weather man said thundery showers this afternoon. Still time yet, I suppose, but we’ve got away with it so far. Just a light, ½ hour shower this morning as we pulled over just below Abingdon Lock.

I had a quick trip into town for some essentials, then popped into Abingdon Boat Centre and treated the library to a Nicholson’s Guide, # 7, which covers the rivers Thames and Wey, and the Kennet and Avon and Basingstoke Canals. I can now retire my 30 year old, small scale cruising map, bought for our very first boat trip, from Godalming on the River Wey, out onto the Thames, and back again.
I like Nicholson’s Guides, the spiral bound A5 format makes them easy to handle, and the mapping is modified from OS 1:250,000 maps, which are old friends from my hillwalking days.
The boat centre also allows self declaration of diesel splits, so we moved down to their dock to fill up. Not cheap, but much as I expected.

Abingdon
Red-Crested Pochard and Cootlings near Abingdon Bridge.










The Red-Crested Pochard is unusual, in fact the RSPB reckon there's only 29 breeding pairs in the UK. This chap had better get active!

I’m pleased that we’ve not used any more fuel per hour than we would do on the canals, even though we’re cruising at 1000rpm rather than our habitual 800. And we’re covering the ground faster, averaging (including the locks) around 3mph, instead of the canal rate of around 2mph. So we’re actually more efficient on the wider, deeper water of the river. It doesn’t surprise me. The boat seems more responsive, and the engine is running sweetly, away from shallow water.

On the edge of Abingdon, a sign indicates where the now derelict Wilts and Berks Canal joined.

Leaving the town, the river enters Culham Reach, then Culham Cut, heading for the lock, takes off to the left.

Culham Reach
Culham Lock
It’s pretty posh around Clifton Hampden. The church sits on a little knoll above a cluster of thatched cottages.

Clifton Hampden Bridge.

Lots of “No Mooring” signs around here.

We arrived at Clifton Lock at lunchtime, so worked through it ourselves, in company with another narrowboat NB GWLADYS from Lechlade. They pulled over soon after, and we carried on to the picturesque Day’s Lock, with Wittenham Clumps rising behind.

Day’s lock
Passing to the south of the roman town of Dorchester, we did a sharp dogleg past another des-res at Shillingford, then spotted a suitable bankside spot for the night.

“Desirable Property with River Frontage” at Shillingford. If you look closely, you’ll see that the boathouse on the left even has a thatched roof!
Just before Shillingford is where the River Thame joins the main river.

River Thame
Above the confluence, the Thames can also be known as it’s more romantic alter-ego, the Isis. From here on, it’s most definitely the Thames.

While I’ve been writing, with the side hatch open and watching the passing boats with one eye, I couldn’t help noticing this recreation from the movie “Titanic”. They should really lose the coffee cups, though.

Winslett and DeCaprio?Locks 4, miles 12

Just messing about on the river…

At least that’s what the world and his uncle seemed to be doing today. Boats of all shapes and sizes, from inflatable canoes to Salters cruise boats, they were all out enjoying the best day of the year so far.

We had an early-ish start again today, and managed to get up to Godstow before it got really busy.

I hadn’t realised that geese ran a nursery system. We spotted this group, the adults protectively surrounding a couple of dozen goslings.
Under Swinford Bridge, the mellow Cotswold stone looking good in the sun.

We were first into the Godstow Lock, but were quickly joined by another 3 boats.

Godstow Lock full.
Lots of small boats started to appear on the reach towards Osney Lock, but it was after there that it got really busy.

After Godstow we passed the Sheepwash Channel from the Oxford Canal, the route we took onto the river.

Sheepwash Channel

No turning off this time, downstream to London is our route.

Around the island and under Folly Bridge, and we came to the broad stretch where Salters run their cruise boats from, there are several self propelled small boat hirers, and the university boat clubs have their headquarters.

Folly Bridge
And into the fray

University boathouses

We snuck into Iffney Lock just before the lockie went for lunch, but that meant we arrived at Sandford Lock while it was unattended.
There were a couple of boats on the layby, but, never one to shirk a challenge, I decided to work through the lock anyway.
Strangely, as soon as I started to fill the lock, there was activity on the other waiting boats. By the time I’d got it ready and open, we had 5 boats waiting.
I made sure we went in on the left side, opposite the control consoles. Let one of the other idle b***ers empty it, I thought.
And that’s what happened. By the time the lock was empty there were boats waiting at the bottom to go up, so the gates didn’t even have to be closed.

We were looking for somewhere to stop after this lock, and after passing Nuneham House and the Carfax Conduit, we pulled in to the bank.

Nuneham House, built by the Earl of Harcourt in the 1750’s, now the Global Retreat Centre, a spiritual retreat.
The Carfax Conduit.

This was the water supply cistern in the middle of Oxford from it’s construction in 1610 till 1787. It was then moved to Nuneham Park to make way for a road widening scheme. Lots more info and better pictures here.

Everyone enjoying themselves on a Salter's cruise boat.
Moored in the shrubbery.

We’re actually facing the wrong way, having turned to get back to this spot. You can’t do that very easily on the canals! Must remember to turn around again in the morning, though….

Locks 7, miles 14½

What, moving on a Bank Holiday weekend?

Yes, I’m afraid so. Having paid for the privilege of being here for 15 days, we’re going to make the most of it!
And we’ve also got to get to Brentford before our permit expires on June 3rd.

I gave the Teddington Lock Keeper a ring yesterday afternoon. He confirmed that we don’t need a VHF radio to transit from Teddington to Thames Lock at Brentford and the Grand Union Canal. The best time is on the top of the tide. This allows us through Greenwich sluice while it’s open, and gets us to Brentford in the 5 hour “window”, 2½ hours either side of high tide. I might try for about an hour before high tide. That way we’ll have fairly slack water to turn off the river into the lock cut. Just got to check out the Tide Tables, now.
I would have liked to do the full tideway, down to Limehouse, but Mags put her foot down with a firm hand. I made the mistake of showing her a UTube video of a narrowboat ploughing through the wake of a trip boat, and that put her off big time!
And anyway, Limehouse Lock is having new hydraulic ram seals fitted in early June, so will be out of action.

We’ve decided to have early starts and early finishes. That way we’ll miss at least part of the boaty traffic over the weekend, and we’ll also have a chance of finding somewhere to moor.

It worked well today. Off at about 08:30 (OK, it’s not sparrowf**t but it’s early for us!), and we didn’t see a boat till around 11:00. Had the first 3 locks to ourselves, then shared Northmoor with a hire boat from Oxfordshire Cruisers.

It’s been a beautiful day, warm sunshine with just a gentle breeze.

A fine start to the day.
Spotted our first kingfisher of the trip. Once again, not a very good picture, taken on the fly.
But he’s there, nonetheless.

Kingfisher
Another family of young coots was being rounded up by Mum.
And there are lots of goslings around Northmoor.
I’m glad we followed the advice and avoided mooring at the Ferry Inn last night. I don’t think we’d have been very popular, stuck amongst this lot!

Busy at the Ferry Inn moorings.

We ended the day as planned just short of Pinkhill Lock, alongside Farmoor Reservoir.

Moored near Pinkhill
I took Meg for a fine walk this afternoon, doing a circuit of the reservoir. Just under 4 miles, it takes in woodland and open fields, with some good views over the water.

Farmoor Countryside Walk
Locks 4, miles 13

Swans, cygnets and punts.

Had to do a bit more shopping this morning, and then we were away, not long after 09:00.
But not before we shared breakfast with a bunch of itinerant beggars…

Hungry (or greedy) swans.
We were hoping for a good fast run to Bablock Hythe today, but the plan went pear-shaped after just a mile, at the first lock. There was a queue going down, so we had to wait, then we were joined by a cruiser in the lock so everything had to be just so before we could empty.

We let them pass as they would be a lot faster than us around the tight bends to Buscot, and they were already dropping down the lock when we arrived.
The lock-keeper refilled the lock for us, and we went in, then had to wait for a party of punts to join us.

Punting down the river….
They are on a trip from Lechlade to Teddington over the next 2 weekends, aiming to get to The Ferry at Bablock Hythe tonight, then down to Henley by Monday evening. The rest of the trip will be completed next weekend. I bet they’ll be some aching backs after that! They were actually going faster than us on the bendy bits, but we made up ground on the straights.

We joined them again at Grafton Lock, having to wait for a boat coming up first. Then they’d left us behind by the time we got to Radcot. All the locks took longer than on the way up, partly because of traffic, partly because we were having to self operate. Only Buscot Lock had a keeper on duty today.

I’ve always been looking out for a chance to catch a swan giving a lift to cygnets, and today was my lucky day.

Hitching a ride with Mum…
Further down the river, another family. Only one on board, the rest queuing to get on...
We pulled over on the bank where we overnighted on Wednesday, intending to stop just for lunch, and to give Meg a chance to “stretch her legs”. But we were joined by another boat that was heading for the same spot this evening. They told us that there was a cruising club meeting there this weekend, so mooring spots would be at a premium.
So we decided to call it quits here, and get an early start in the morning, before the traffic starts to build. And I expect there will be a lot of boats around, with a good forecast for the weekend.

Locks 4, miles 9

On the Limit at Lechlade

Another bright, breezy day. A drop of rain first thing soon cleared, and the day has improved as it went on, leading to a fine sunny evening.

I had a walk back this morning to Rushey Lock, and spotted this topiary on the lawn in front of the lock house. I don’t know how I missed it yesterday when we came through the lock.

Frog or toad?
The weir here is still manually operated. Paddles are drawn up by hand to open more of the sluices as required.

Rushey Weir. The tops of the paddles are the row of poles sticking up.
Some spares, not fitted.

Our first lock of the day was Radcott, another one with fine gardens and more bush sculpture.

Radcot Lock


The artwork is by volunteers from the local boat club.

The river is pretty remote, the flood plain and meadows mostly empty, apart from the odd field with livestock.

What you looking at?
Then there are the outposts of civilisation, usually at bridges or ferries.

Radcot Bridge. More reminiscent of a canal bridge…
The Thames would have been a major line of defence in the event of an invasion of the south coast during WWII. Blockhouses were built at regular intervals to deny an enemy use of the river.

WWII Blockhouse
And more modern hardware
Still winding extravagantly, the river rises up Grafton and Buscot Locks, and finally arrives at St John’s, the last lock on the river.

Approaching St John’s Lock

It is here that Old Father Thames looks out with disdain at passing boaters. He probably preferred his original home.
We moored on the bank a little before Ha’penny Bridge.

Moored at Lechlade
Ha’penny Bridge, the Toll House on the right. The toll used to be a halfpenny, hence the name.
Meg and I took a walk on up the river. My old map shows the navigable limit just past the bridge, but there were cruisers and the odd narrowboat moored a good ½ mile further upstream. We walked past the confluence of the River Coln, where the Thames and Severn Canal also arrived at the river. On this junction is the Roundhouse, one of several on the canal, built to accommodate the lock-keepers. This is accepted as being the limit of navigation for most powered craft.

The Roundhouse and 3 way junction. Thames to the left, Coln to the right, Thames and Severn Canal up the middle. The canal is part of a restoration project.
Following the river another few hundred yards, we came across a field of cows with calves. We turned back here, Meg doesn’t do cows, unless absolutely necessary!

While we were out we met a couple walking 3 dogs, one called Brian. If he hadn't recently been clipped, you would have been struggling to tell them apart!

Bookends. Meg and Brian
They're both as daft as each other!

Turned into the village on the way back, for a quick visit to the shops.

Lechlade
It looks an interesting spot. The poet Shelley lived here, and there’s some interesting architecture. It’s a pity we can’t linger. We’re on day 3 of a 15 day permit, 12 days to cover the 134 miles back downstream to London.

Locks 4, miles 9