River Thames:Boveney Court Moorings

Grey and rather miserable start to the day.   Marsh Lock and Hambledon Locks were before hours, so Self Service.  After Henley Bridge we were directed down the rowing course, a dead straight marked and fendered stretch of river leading into the distance to the right of Temple Island.  It seems that a one way system is established here for the time being, upstream traffic directed to the other side of the marked course.   Quite a few rowers were out even at 7:30 in the morning, and the wisdom of this arrangement was self evident.  After Hambledon we met two swimmers heading upstream near the bank but low in the water and not obvious.  Further on we met a lone swimmer, but with a hi-viz orange float towing behind.  He was going to Hurley Lock too from Henley.   Hurley was manned as was Temple Lock where we met another bunch of swimmers doing a 14 Km Sunday fun swim!!   They had floats and two canoeists keeping an eye.   By Cookham the sun was appearing and 5 hours after setting off we were at Maidenhead, a few minutes later than needed because the Boulters Lockkeeper kept the gates shut impounding us all with an empty lock while he had a conversation with the skipper of a shall we say lightly untidy boat who was seen to pull over immediately after leaving the lock.   There were no boats moored below the railway bridge where we have moored overnight before, but as it was still early we thought we would try for moorings at Boveney.  But it was Sunday lunch time and the Windsor Area is a real hornets nest of large cruisers which like to come out at lunch time, so no joy. After Boveney from past experience it is Windsor or bust and the next suitable spot is Runnymede.  So we found a quarter boat length of piled bank upstream of a cruiser and messed around for ages trying to get a line from the bow over a huge bed of nettles, brambles and other assorted vegetation to get a stake in all the while the owner of the cruiser kept watch lest my miserable steel vessel should run back in the stream and touch his boat.  Helpfully the cruiser left late afternoon and we now had a decent mooring after all.

Comments

[sue]

You must have passed us just before Dorney Lake moorings!

[Mike]

Didn’t see you of course. Too preoccupied trying to find a night stop. Boveney is the last chance before Windsor having turned the empty moorings at Maidenhead down. As it turned out there were plenty of opportunities in Windsor (unusually in our experience).