Rest of the trip
The rest of our trip didn't go quite as planned. The Environment Agency (which looks after the Thames) has a couple of warning boards they put out at locks to indicate conditions on the river. Yellow means proceed with caution, and every lock we went through had one of these until we reached Northmoor lock, one of the remotest on the river. Here the lockeeper handed me a red card, to match the red boards he'd hung out. This advised us not to continue navigating the river until the stream had abated.
Since the flood in july, the land is so waterlogged that every time it rains, its runs off into the river and causes increased flow. This picture shows how high the waters had been.
After thinking about it over a cup of coffee, I decided it would be a good idea to listen to the advice of the EA and stop there. We moved IRIS forward out of the lock onto the waiting moorings just upstream. There were a few other boats trapped there too, a German family on a hire boat and an old couple on a little 20ft cruiser. They'd apparently been stuck on the river at various points for five weeks. The old boy seemed to be reveling in it - very much the battle of Britain spirit. However when his wife started to tell Mary about their sanitary arrangements (or lack thereof), Mary made her excuses and hid below. Here is IRIS on the lock mooring, with the 'red board' on the right.
I optimistically hoped that we could proceed the next day (friday) as we were trying to get to Lechlade in time to meet my sister and her family who were coming up camping for the weekend by the river. However, it soon became clear that we weren't going to be going anywhere soon. We arranged for my brother in law Steve to come and get us and we could join everyone in our tent, which luckily was on the boat. In the meantime, the sun shone and we did some more painting.
Camping in Lechlade wan't much better really, it rained or was overcast the whole time, but we entertained ourselves. My nephews had not been camping before and were quite excited about the whole thing. We introduced them to the concept of 'wine pillows' - as in inside each box of wine is a magic pillow that can be used (once the previous contents have been emptied) for a variety of purposes. I hope they'll remember that when they're students. Dave Williams was the inspiration behind this one, many years ago in NZ.
Here Mary and William are modeling the translucent variety.
I wandered down on saturday afternoon while Steve went fishing to see St. Johns lock, the last on the Thames. The old man of the river was there, so I complained about the summer, but got no response.
William and I also found this nice bike. Could I look any more suspicious?
Mary's brother Steve came up from London for the saturday night and we all went out for a curry, apparently the same place Kate Moss goes to when she's up this way. The boys had never been to a curry house before, so all in all it was a big weekend for them. I think they enjoyed the experience.
After brunch on sunday at another Kate Moss local - the Black Cat Cafe, we all headed back to the boat, had a cup of coffee and then the others left Mary and I to sit it out.
The relief lockeeper seemed quite keen for us to move on, so as the river was only on yellow boards downstream, we headed back to Pinkhill at a much higher speed now we had the current with us.
We were joined on monday morning by Nev, who was on his way back from working at the V festival. He stayed to help us back down through Osney, which had only just come off red boards that morning, so was still going very fast. This is us at Kings Lock (I think).
I don't think this picture really captures the thrill and terror of piloting a 16 ton boat down a narrow fast moving river with side currents from weirs etc. but you'll have to take my word for it. It was kind of scary, mainly as once committed, there wasn't really any easy way we could stop. Mary and Nev had phoned ahead so the lock was open and ready for us, so we didn't get pulled onto the weir by slowing down.
Once that was out of the way, things became easier. We cruised downriver and found a mooring for the night 30 feet from a pub - how handy. Nev decided to stay the night, and so became the first person to try out the guest accommodation. Here Nev demonstrates while I light some candles to set the scene.
Nev left the next day (was it something I said?) and we carried on downriver. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, apart from the fact that the good weather never materialised. We stopped in Goring for the last night, mooring just in front of the lock.
After that, it was back to Reading and then the three day festival, culminating with Nine Inch Nails and the Smashing Pumpkins on the sunday night. All very Rock'n'Roll.
The rest of our trip didn't go quite as planned. The Environment Agency (which looks after the Thames) has a couple of warning boards they put out at locks to indicate conditions on the river. Yellow means proceed with caution, and every lock we went through had one of these until we reached Northmoor lock, one of the remotest on the river. Here the lockeeper handed me a red card, to match the red boards he'd hung out. This advised us not to continue navigating the river until the stream had abated.
Since the flood in july, the land is so waterlogged that every time it rains, its runs off into the river and causes increased flow. This picture shows how high the waters had been.
After thinking about it over a cup of coffee, I decided it would be a good idea to listen to the advice of the EA and stop there. We moved IRIS forward out of the lock onto the waiting moorings just upstream. There were a few other boats trapped there too, a German family on a hire boat and an old couple on a little 20ft cruiser. They'd apparently been stuck on the river at various points for five weeks. The old boy seemed to be reveling in it - very much the battle of Britain spirit. However when his wife started to tell Mary about their sanitary arrangements (or lack thereof), Mary made her excuses and hid below. Here is IRIS on the lock mooring, with the 'red board' on the right.
I optimistically hoped that we could proceed the next day (friday) as we were trying to get to Lechlade in time to meet my sister and her family who were coming up camping for the weekend by the river. However, it soon became clear that we weren't going to be going anywhere soon. We arranged for my brother in law Steve to come and get us and we could join everyone in our tent, which luckily was on the boat. In the meantime, the sun shone and we did some more painting.
Camping in Lechlade wan't much better really, it rained or was overcast the whole time, but we entertained ourselves. My nephews had not been camping before and were quite excited about the whole thing. We introduced them to the concept of 'wine pillows' - as in inside each box of wine is a magic pillow that can be used (once the previous contents have been emptied) for a variety of purposes. I hope they'll remember that when they're students. Dave Williams was the inspiration behind this one, many years ago in NZ.
Here Mary and William are modeling the translucent variety.
I wandered down on saturday afternoon while Steve went fishing to see St. Johns lock, the last on the Thames. The old man of the river was there, so I complained about the summer, but got no response.
William and I also found this nice bike. Could I look any more suspicious?
Mary's brother Steve came up from London for the saturday night and we all went out for a curry, apparently the same place Kate Moss goes to when she's up this way. The boys had never been to a curry house before, so all in all it was a big weekend for them. I think they enjoyed the experience.
After brunch on sunday at another Kate Moss local - the Black Cat Cafe, we all headed back to the boat, had a cup of coffee and then the others left Mary and I to sit it out.
The relief lockeeper seemed quite keen for us to move on, so as the river was only on yellow boards downstream, we headed back to Pinkhill at a much higher speed now we had the current with us.
We were joined on monday morning by Nev, who was on his way back from working at the V festival. He stayed to help us back down through Osney, which had only just come off red boards that morning, so was still going very fast. This is us at Kings Lock (I think).
I don't think this picture really captures the thrill and terror of piloting a 16 ton boat down a narrow fast moving river with side currents from weirs etc. but you'll have to take my word for it. It was kind of scary, mainly as once committed, there wasn't really any easy way we could stop. Mary and Nev had phoned ahead so the lock was open and ready for us, so we didn't get pulled onto the weir by slowing down.
Once that was out of the way, things became easier. We cruised downriver and found a mooring for the night 30 feet from a pub - how handy. Nev decided to stay the night, and so became the first person to try out the guest accommodation. Here Nev demonstrates while I light some candles to set the scene.
Nev left the next day (was it something I said?) and we carried on downriver. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, apart from the fact that the good weather never materialised. We stopped in Goring for the last night, mooring just in front of the lock.
After that, it was back to Reading and then the three day festival, culminating with Nine Inch Nails and the Smashing Pumpkins on the sunday night. All very Rock'n'Roll.
posted by flatplane8 at 4:23 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home