BOATING ON THE THAMES

Never underestimate the River Thames on yellow boards - even when the stream is decreasing. Last week we were going upstream and getting ready to moor at Hambleden Lock.  As a boat was coming out of the lock - and had right of way - we couldn't cut across it to get to the moorings. So we stayed on the right and tried to 'hover' in the weir stream. But it's quite difficult to hover in a 27 tons barge and unfortunately we got pushed onto the small island by the current and into a very thick (15cms/6" diameter) branch which smashed through our window. We did everything we could to avoid this but the river kept pushing us back. Luckily we weren't hurt - just a few cuts. But we were shaken - and gutted.

There are five sounds that say 'the Thames' to me: 1. The whoop whoop whoop of the swans as they take flight. 2. The (endless) honking of the Canada geese, especially when you're trying to have a lie-in. 3. The growl of bow and stern thursters in the locks and when boats are mooring up. 4. The 'kerchoomf' sound of rowing blades driving through the water (again, usually at the crack of dawn when you're trying to have a lie-in) 5. The ting, ting, ting of mooring pins as they're being driven into the bank with a mallet. Which are your five?

The Amphibious car rally ... The giant yellow duck ... ...and the sculpture of the happy old man outside a house in the Cookham lock cut 

There's always a surprise around the corner on the Thames. This time it was an amphibious boat club: 65 cars from across Europe.  They cause chaos and queues in the locks - but they put a smile on your face.

  A few weeks ago I was waking up to the sounds of lions and elephants in the Serengueti (see my blog here:  https://www.therichmondreview.com/single-post/2017/05/25/Best-Holiday-Ever ). And at the weekend we woke up to the sound of an air balloon drifting past our barge in Henley.  In the words of Louis Armstrong... what a wonderful world!

Although we've been to Goring many times - and have an ordnance survey map criss crossed with highlighted walks - we'd never done the  Lardon Chase and The Hollies walk.  So we put it on our 2017 Boating Season 'to do' list - and did it over the Easter Bank Holiday. It's a lovely walk and at just 3 miles long, the perfect length for a pre or post lunch stroll with friends.There's one thing I'd change though. Instead of starting at the car park, winding your way down through the Hollies and then walking up Lardon Chase at the end, I'd do it the other way around. I'd walk along the Reading Road, up through The Hollies and then down Lardon Chase. That way you can enjoy the view which - as you can see from the photo - is quite spectacular. Or better still, I'd pack some sandwiches, walk through the gate at the top of Lardon Chase, sit on the perfectly placed benches and have a picnic.

I know most barges don't have steering chairs - it's just not the barge-y thing to do (you're supposed to be made of sterner stuff). But we spent five years cruising along the Thames in one when we had our little Dutch river boat - see above - and found it very relaxing. Especially on the five hour trips from Wargrave to Goring.  So we decided to buy an adjustable barstool on ebay and managed to get the one in the photo for 0.99p plus £9.99 postage and packaging. I couldn't believe it. It's brand new! But because there's a tiny cut in the faux leather no-one else wanted it. We tested it recently and I have to admit that it has completely transformed my barging experience. When I'm standing at the helm I get restless and fidget a lot. But when I'm sitting down I can - quite literally - sit back and take it all in. What's more, it's multi-functional. Because when lowered, our boaty barstool fits under the dinette table in the wheelhouse or out ...

When we packed our bags and headed to the Burgundy Canal earlier this year ( read my post ), we were dreaming of patisseries, boulangeries, charcuteries and all the other ‘ries’. But we found rie-n.   And when we did come across a charming bistro it was usually ferme for lunch.   So imagine my surprise when we found the ‘ Deliciously French ’ delicatessen in Cookham. It’s stocked with French wines, cheeses and pates. It sells croissants, pastries, salads and sandwiches.  And the man who served us was French. I accept there’s something undeniably romantique about France. But when it comes to boating, I’m beginning to think Britain is better.  Take Cookham for example. It's on a lovely stretch of the Thames, it has all the basics including a small supermarket, a DIY shop and a train station, and you're spoilt for choice when it comes to eateries: regular pubs and posh pubs, a tea shop, a coffee shop, a Chinese restaurant, a charming Thai restaurant with a lovely o...

I've spent the last few months looking for one of these: a self hammering mooring stake.  Because when we're mooring along the bank and Mr J wants me to secure the bow rope as quickly as possible, the stake and mallet option sometimes takes too long. Plus it's hard work. So when some friends showed me their self hammering stakes, I decided to get one. But first I had to find them.  My friends couldn't remember where they'd got theirs from and our local chandleries had never heard of them. So it was over to google. After hours searching the internet and cross referencing different key words, I came across a few forums that mentioned automatic mooring stakes. The good news was that the descriptions matched what I had in mind. The bad news was that apparently they didn't exist any more. Undeterred I kept looking and discovered that Viking Marine  in Goole used to stock them. So I picked up the phone and spoke to a lovely lady called Sue. There was more good news ...

A very tight mooring. But believe it or not, we got in without touching the other boats, shouting or gesticulating wildly (and ineffectively) at each other.  Oh how things have changed! When we started boating on the Thames in 2009 we thought we had it sussed because Mr J had sailed yachts in Greece, I’d done a bit of sailing in Brazil and we’d spent a week on the Canal du Midi together. And we did have it sussed to a certain extent. But we didn’t have it completely sussed, which meant that when our mooring attempts didn’t quite go to plan - in the lock lay-by, in the locks themselves, along the river and in the marina – our blood pressure went up, followed swiftly by our voices. So when we upgraded from a 3 ton plastic cruiser to a 27 ton steel barge, the first thing we did was sign up for the Bisham Abbey Sailing School’s practical boat handling course. Because if you get things wrong in a 27 ton steel barge, you can do a lot of damage. And I have to say it was the best th...

Although this blog is about boating on the Thames, I'm going to include a story I wrote about boating on the Burgundy Canal in my RichmondReview blog. You see... one of the reasons we bought the barge is because we're thinking of doing 'the French thing' in a few years time. So our holiday was a bit of a recce. I know that to compare is to despair, but I have to be honest and say that boating on the Burgundy Canal is pretty boring compared to boating on the Thames. And the 12 days we spent on the Canal between Tonnerre and Montbard in June were probably our worst holiday ever. The fact that it rained every day didn't help. And we had problems with our 'luxury' hire boat.  I say luxury in inverted commas because the boat smelt damp and musty, parts of it were downright dirty and brown duvet covers have never been synonymous with luxury to me (I was hoping for crisp, white cotton sheets and plump, lavender scented pillows). Back to the prob...

Three life changing things have happened since my last post on A Man, A Woman and a Boat: 1. I became Mrs J (we got married in September 2013) 2. I closed findaTVexpert.com (earlier this year in fact) 3. We bought a 15 mtr Piper barge which has made boating on the Thames even more wonderful Happy Chance (the barge) is our third boat, as we upgraded from our original 7.5mtr Antaris Dutch cruiser to a slightly bigger Diamond Dutch cruiser in 2012. She came down from Stoke on Trent on the back of a truck and was launched at the Thames & Kennet Marina in May 2015. I wrote a piece about our first year on Happy Chance for the Piper Boat website. I could copy and paste it into this post, but the photo layout wouldn't work as well. So here's the link instead: http://www.piperboats.com/owners-articles-22/

I started A Man, A Woman and a Boat ( BoatingStories.blogspot.co.uk ) in September 2009 when we bought our first boat and kept it up (sort of) for a few years. Then life got busy ... I put it on hold ... and completely forgot my log in details. I've tried everything but to no avail. So after a frustrating week of emails to Microsoft, debates on forums, etc, I've decided to accept the fact that I can't access it any longer. I considered adding my boating stories to my other blog - The Richmond Review - but it didn't feel right. Because that's more about life in general and what I'm doing now that I've closed my business (www.findaTVexpert.com). So I've copied and pasted all the boating posts and photos from my original blog into this one and will continue from where I left off.  Enjoy!

We took our boat out for the first time last weekend - and it was bliss.  There's something hugely relaxing about being on the Thames. Maybe it's because you can't go faster than 5km/hr on the river. So you're forced to sit back and watch the wildlife (including ducks, geese, swans, grebes and - if you're lucky - kingfishers); look at the houses and enjoy the sunshine. What was shocking, however, was to see the tide marks on the trees and garden sheds. The river level must have been up by over a metre (3-4 feet) at times.  And the silt it left in it's wake has coated all the plants, shrubs and reeds in a thin white dust, conjuring up images of what Miss Haversham's garden would look like if she had one. We were thinking of leaving London and buying a house on the river last year.  But after all the rain we've had - and the damage that's been done around the country - I think we'll stick to boating for now.

Although lots has been said and written about the awful weather we've had this year, we've actually been out on the boat more times this year than last year. And other than a very rainy Sunday in September - see below - the weather's been fine. This weekend - 15/16 October - was exceptional, as you can see from the photo I took of the stretch between Henley & Hambleden. Gloriously warm days; cool, crisp evenings; a delicious dinner at The Little Angel in Henley and a fantastic breakdast at the Chocolate Theatre Cafe. What's not to love

... isn't much fun at all. This was a weekend in September - just before the glorious 'Indian Summer'. As it's my job to secure the ropes when we go through the locks, I got pretty wet. But luckily it was a Sunday and we were on our way home. And if I remember correctly, Saturday wasn't too bad. If it had been, we wouldn't have gone out on the boat. There's just no point.

It's been ages since I last wrote, but not because we haven't been on the river. We've actually spent 11 glorious weekends boating, walking and eating along The River Thames since the Easter Bank Holiday. So I thought I'd share some of the highlights. On the walking front, we've discovered there are stunning fields to cross, woods to walk through and picturesque villages to visit within 5-10 miles of Henley. This weekend, for example, we did a 17.5 miles circular route that took us along the river to Hambleden and across wonderful countryside to Skirmett, Fingest, Turvil, Stonor House, Middle Assendon and then back to Henley through a beautiful deer park. A shorter, but equally gorgeous, walk is from Henley to Rotherfield Greys, then up to Greys Court (a National Trust House) and back through the Badgemore Park Golf Club . The options are endless and we're having a fantastic time exploring them. All that walking builds up an appetite, of course, but...

On Sunday morning we travelled the 8 miles back down to Goring , which was as gorgeous as ever. I have to admit I love the place. Stunning location, beautiful walks and the best food ever at the Pierreponts Cafe . So naturally that was our first stop once we'd moored up: a good lunch before our 8 miles walk through the bluebells in Wroxhills Wood, past The White Lion pub in Crays Pond and back to the boat. Then it was a quick drink with some friends on their boat before dinner and bed. Breakfast on Monday was at the Pierreponts Cafe - of course - and as it was a Bank Holiday I was very decadent: french toast with bananas, bacon and maple syrup. All in all, it was the most perfect weekend: glorious sunshine, great food, beautiful countryside, amazing walks and not a traffic jam or airline security queue in sight.

On Saturday morning we covered the remaining 7.5 miles to Shillingford and moored up by the Shillingford Bridge Hotel . (It costs £10 to moor overnight and that includes electricity and the use of the hotel's facilities, which I think is good value.) The afternoon was spent walking up the river to Days Lock, enjoying lunch in the sunshine at the Fleur de Lys pub in Dorchester, walking back along the river to Shillingford and relaxing on the boat in the evening. There's a word for days like this: idyllic!

We sorted out the problems with the motor (see below) and decided to take advantage of the 4-day Easter Bank Holiday to go as far upstream as we could: to Shillingford . It's 50 miles there and back, which isn't far in driving terms. But in boating terms it's quite a hike because you average about 3.5 miles p/hour on the river (taking into account the speed limit and the time spent getting in and out of locks). So we left London at 10am on Good Friday, arrived at the marina 45 minutes later and set off on the first leg of our trip: 17.5 miles to the The Leatherne Bottel riverside restaurant just above Goring, where we had dinner and moored overnight. It took 5 hours to get there, but as you can see from the photo, it's a very picturesque journey.