Tuesday 1 April
We left Thames & Kennet Marina at 11:00 and immediately encountered a red board on Sonning Lock. The water through Sonning Bridge was not bad and we carried on to Henley, with red boards giving way to yellows. Baglady was moored just below Marsh Lock, so we stopped for a brief lunch and caught up with their news. We cleared Henley Bridge with no problems, had to wait briefly for a diver to inspect the lock at Hambledon, then continued to Bisham Abbey Sailing School, where we stopped for a brief chat with Roy. On past Marlow lock and arrived at Cookham for the night. Despite being off season someone fairly soon arrived at our boat to collect the £6.00 mooring fee.
Wednesday 2 April
The service manager from DB Marine came over on his boat to show us a few vital areas that might need attention in the engine room. Unfortunately the spares that we ordered had not arrived, so he arranged to deliver them to us somewhere downstream. Another mid morning departure, but the river was calm, the locks had dropped down to yellow or no boards, and we made it to Windsor for lunch, topping up with a few supplies at Waitrose. For a change we had a choice of any mooring spot. The weather was grey, but mild. The rest of the afternoon's journey was uneventful. We acted as a courier for a CD ROM going from one lock keeper to the next. The CD contained the Agricultural Tenancy Act. It seems that a rumour was going around that the Environment Agency was about to sell of the lock keepers' cottages and they were about to fight back. We arrived at Shepperton by about 18:00 and moored behind Dorchester. The people on board had ordered a Piper boat, so were very interested to have a look at ours.
Thursday 3 April
We had to hang around until 14:00 waiting for DB Marine to deliver the spare fan belt and filters. They arrived on time, but one large fan belt was missing. Despite our even later departure today we easily reached Teddington Lock by late afternoon and paid the lock keeper for our £5.50 mooring fee. We just hoped that we would not be charged another whole day's licence at £49 for waiting for the tide the next morning.
Friday 4 April
The sun came out. We strolled up to Teddington and bought a few items at Marks and Spencer, then found a small cheese shop that sold hundreds of varieties. Two small slices of different cheese tasted great, but the £8 bill was a shock. We met Felicity at Teddington Station - she was planning to join us for the trip down to Limehouse. There was time for coffee, lunch, and to enjoy the expensive cheese before we moved into the lock at 13:45, just ahead of high water. This should ensure that, after about 30 minutes or so, we would be sailing down at increasing speed on the ebb tide. The plan worked well, we sun stayed out, and we had an uneventful trip down to Limehouse, where after a quick call on channel 80, we were told that the lock was open and ready for us.
.
We left Thames & Kennet Marina at 11:00 and immediately encountered a red board on Sonning Lock. The water through Sonning Bridge was not bad and we carried on to Henley, with red boards giving way to yellows. Baglady was moored just below Marsh Lock, so we stopped for a brief lunch and caught up with their news. We cleared Henley Bridge with no problems, had to wait briefly for a diver to inspect the lock at Hambledon, then continued to Bisham Abbey Sailing School, where we stopped for a brief chat with Roy. On past Marlow lock and arrived at Cookham for the night. Despite being off season someone fairly soon arrived at our boat to collect the £6.00 mooring fee.
Wednesday 2 April
The service manager from DB Marine came over on his boat to show us a few vital areas that might need attention in the engine room. Unfortunately the spares that we ordered had not arrived, so he arranged to deliver them to us somewhere downstream. Another mid morning departure, but the river was calm, the locks had dropped down to yellow or no boards, and we made it to Windsor for lunch, topping up with a few supplies at Waitrose. For a change we had a choice of any mooring spot. The weather was grey, but mild. The rest of the afternoon's journey was uneventful. We acted as a courier for a CD ROM going from one lock keeper to the next. The CD contained the Agricultural Tenancy Act. It seems that a rumour was going around that the Environment Agency was about to sell of the lock keepers' cottages and they were about to fight back. We arrived at Shepperton by about 18:00 and moored behind Dorchester. The people on board had ordered a Piper boat, so were very interested to have a look at ours.
Thursday 3 April
We had to hang around until 14:00 waiting for DB Marine to deliver the spare fan belt and filters. They arrived on time, but one large fan belt was missing. Despite our even later departure today we easily reached Teddington Lock by late afternoon and paid the lock keeper for our £5.50 mooring fee. We just hoped that we would not be charged another whole day's licence at £49 for waiting for the tide the next morning.
Friday 4 April
The sun came out. We strolled up to Teddington and bought a few items at Marks and Spencer, then found a small cheese shop that sold hundreds of varieties. Two small slices of different cheese tasted great, but the £8 bill was a shock. We met Felicity at Teddington Station - she was planning to join us for the trip down to Limehouse. There was time for coffee, lunch, and to enjoy the expensive cheese before we moved into the lock at 13:45, just ahead of high water. This should ensure that, after about 30 minutes or so, we would be sailing down at increasing speed on the ebb tide. The plan worked well, we sun stayed out, and we had an uneventful trip down to Limehouse, where after a quick call on channel 80, we were told that the lock was open and ready for us.
.