Thames Ring

25 - 28th October As a last but one fling before the season "ends" Pat & I thought that we ought to try the Thames Ring. This would be a first for us, so a little planning was required. First off was a call to the insurers to check that there was not problem, since the policy excludes tidal waters. No problem. Next was to access the Port of London (PLA) website to check on tides. Yes, we could leave Limehouse on the Sunday at 11:30. The PLA website also includes the byelaws and important "Notices to Mariners" which I downloaded and studied. Navigation lights were required and whilst I have port & starbord lights, Nuggler had no provision for stern light. After a lot of deep thought I fabricated a sternlight using a LCD torch (80 hours battery life) with a block of wood to hold it and bolting onto the studs used to secure the steering gear. The light is transmiited through a standard stern light fitting and gives 250 degree visibility. This avoided the need for wiring and hole drilling. Most useful in the material downloaded was the diagram of all the bridges showing available navigation channels. Final check was with Limehouse and Brentford to inform them of our intentions. The trip would take four days - Harefield to Little Venice, then Limehouse via the Regents, the Thames itself, then finally Brentford to Harefield. Harefield to Little Venice was solo with the dogs. No problem there. Pat met me at Little Venice the next day and we set off down the Regents - first time for her!. We chose the wrong lock at Camden. The bottom paddle on the right hand lock going down would not close properly as evidenced by the turbulence below, but this was not initially apparent and Pat waited for what must have been 15 minutes before I moored up and with our combined efforts we got the top gate open. Camden was quiet and there were no difficulties on the way down to Limehouse where we arrived at about 3:30. I needed a pump out (well the the boat's holding tank did actually) and the lock keepers were very helpful in letting us stay on the pontoon for a couple of hours so that we could "water the dogs". The wall for overnight mooring is rather high for two overweight labradors. The captain also got a personal briefing which was very helpful - answering one or two points of confusion like how are the bridge arches numbered? (Ans. From the right bank going upstream) "Just take arch 2 all the way up". We also received a briefing paper with some instructions that were obviously many years out of date, but useful nonetheless. Saturday night saw us in the "Grapes" where we had some good beer and an excellent meal. Clearly the hang out of waterways folk and dogs (canine kind) appeared welcome. Sunday saw us entering the vast Limehouse tidal lock, lifejackets on and dogs below decks. Got chatting to a cruiser going out for the day and missed the spectacle of the gates opening to let the water out, so all too quickly we found ourselves exposed to the vast openness of the lower pool. As we left, we found a ripping tide so taking care not to let the tide carry us onto the buoys near the entrance, we set off. 1600 RPM on the Beta seemed adequate enough, especially in view of the turbulent water which caused some pitching, but remarkably little rolling. I had taken some precautions against the risk of taking water over the bows, which seemed well needed for approaching Tower Bridge we came across a very rough patch with standing waves which did cause the bows to dig in. There was no hesitation in them rising again, so I suspect that there was not a lot of water taken. On arrival at Brentford there were signs of splashes inside the boat by the front doors, but the well didn't look as if it had been flooded - the dirt was still there! The trip up river was quite thrilling and well worth a repeat (or two). Trip boats around Westminster needed careful watching and we also had to call for clearance from Westminster Control to pass through that bridge where work is underway on one of the piers. Being a Sunday was helpful as there would be no need to look out for heavy barge trains. Soon were were in the upper reaches and after Lambeth Bridge things really quietened down. Arrival at Brentford, 2 1/2 hours later was much of an anticlimax. We now feel well & truly baptised! Our arrival at Brentford was early enough to be able to get under the road bridge without waiting for the tide to ebb. It was interesting to see the strength of the flow though the Thames lock going the wrong way. It seems that one pair of the gates must be partly closed to reduce the flow enough to pass the lock safely, or pop through I guess like a champagne cork. After an overnight at Brentford, the last day was quite routine and we arrived back at Harefied before nightfall.