The Thames
We
have
made a decision not to take Essex Girl across the North Sea again. So
this
year we thought we might take a cruise nearer home, and try "Darkest
England",
the Thames to be precise. And so it was that on Monday July 5th found
ourselves
outward bound from the marina at 0555 heading for the London river.It
was
a bright day with good visibility, by 0715 we had Walton pier abeam, we
were punching the tide, but knew it would serve, and sure enough by
0832
we had the Wallet Spitway buoy abeam and the tide was flooding.
Waiting for the
lock
The Mate is pleased - the lock is opening
Working
in the lock Chertsey
The
passage was good although there was a moderate wind it was N of W, and
we were on a shelter coast. Things changed a bit by the time we had
Southend
abeam, the breeze freshened, and was knocking up a fair chop in the
Thames.
We plugged on, past Canvey Island, the Dartford Bridge and the somewhat
unpleasant Mucking flat, home to one of the biggest rubbish tips in the
UK.
At
last at 1500 we were under the shadow of Tower Bridge, waitng for the
lock
for St. Katherines Dock. Distance run 81nm, in just under 8 hours.
Ironically
in that amount of time we could have been in Calais! However this was
to
be very different.
The
Ship's dog sniffs for
pirates
Third Mate embarks with Ship's
dog
Skipper & Mate being guarded
After
doing the "Touristic London" bit for 3 days it was time to move on
upstream.
It's quite a nice moment to pass under Tower Bridge, and then view the
London Eye, and the Houses of Parliament, from the deck of your own
boat.
Soon we had negotiated the half tide lock at Richmond, and stopped at
Teddington
lock to complete formalities, and obtain our visitor license. Later we
saw on our starboard side the imposing Hampton Court, and by 12.00 were
alongside at Shepperton Marina.
On
Saturday July 10th, we were visited by son Matt & girlfriend
Jennifer,
we had to wait until a downpour subsided before they could get aboard,
but soon the sun came out, and we set off upstream again. We made it to
Penton Hook Marina by1600, and went ashore for a hearty meal. The
Thames
becomes increasingly unspoiled as one goes upstream, and on Sunday we
reached
Windsor, with it's imposing Royal residence, the largest inhabited
castle
in Europe.
Finding
the Windsor Racecourse marina was an adventure, it is approached by a
tiny
waterway not much wider than a ditch! Shades of the upper Amazon.
Alongside
Windsor Marina 1430.
The Amazon? No,
Windsor!
Ship's dog helps feed the
ducks
3rd Mate up the Amazon
Monday
saw us heading downstream again to take the youngsters back to their
car
at Shepperton, which we acheived by 1400, and took on diesel, while we
were there. Fond farewells to Matt & Jen, and a early night .
Tuesday
brought more visitors, in the shape of Helen's sister Margrit and
partner
Darren. We decided on a change of scene for them, and ran downstream to
Richmond, where we lay alongside for a restaurant lunch. It was a
beautiful
hot day, only slightly marred when we hit the propeller on some
submereged
object as we pulled away from the restaurant.......a
supermarket
trolley perhaps!
Then
it was back to Shepperton to delver our guests to their car.
Downstream near Windsor
Ken's
new
Palace
View
upstream
from Tower Bridge
Wednesday
dawned and we had a decision to make, the weather had not been too
good,
and to go further upstream would mean covering much ground that we'd
already
seen, so reluctantly we decided to go downstream again. We departed
Shepperton
at 0900, and locked in to Limehouse basin at 1430, with a partially
fouled
propeller. Fortunately we have a weedbox and I managed to remove a
large
lump of heavy plastic shrinkwrap !
Fine
Steam Pump Tower
Bridge
Sunset over
Windsor
Limehouse Lock
Thursday
July 15th Departed Limehouse at 12.10 about 1 hour before high water.
We
passed throught the Thames barrier again, passed the Woolwich ferries
busily
plying their trade. The wind was about force 4 SW, we passed Sea Reach
No7 buoy at 1547, things got a little uncomfortable when we had to turn
across the wind and strongly ebbing tide to enter the Medway, but we
were
soon past Sheerness and it settled down. Alongside Chatham marina 1800,
52nm run.
EG alongside
Limehouse
Old Bird looks at - the
Mate
HMS Gannet
On
Friday
we visited the Historic Dockyard, and had a very pleasant look around.
On
Saturday, we locked out of Chatham at 11.30 and steamed down the
Medway.
We were caught in a very lively thunderstorm just upstream of
Sheerness,
and visibility went down to about 20 yards for a while, but then it
cleared
up, and although we saw lightning in the distance, and it was all over
grey, we had no more rain during the passage. It was thankfully an
unevetful
trip back to our home port where we came alongside at 1825.
HMS
Ocelot
HMS
Cavalier
"Wooden Walls" experience
Lock Chatham
Marina
Ditto Rochester
Castle
EG in among the Big 'uns
The
total distance of the trip was about 250nm. The river was a very
pleasant
surprise to us, and I am sure that in the years to come we will go
there
again. We will try next time to get there earlier in the season, and
try
to find our way further upstream.